"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" Matthew 6:25-26
My first support raising experience was simple. After I graduated from college, I decided to go work in an orphanage in Mexico. Most of my daily costs would be covered by living at the orphanage. I would need money for insurance, food costs on my days out of the orphanage, gas money to travel back and forth to the orphanage in Mexico and the office in Texas, and other miscellaneous expenses. My home church promised me monthly support as well as several relatives and individuals. Within a little more than a month, I was ready to go. I don't think I even had health insurance.
After my two-year commitment there, I resigned and looked for another ministry where God could use me. God opened the doors to Guatemala. This time I was asked to raise $400 a month in support. That sounded like an astounding amount to me after my first experience. The mission agreed to let me go even though I didn't have that much promised yet, and they would help me find more support after I arrived. In three months, I was in Guatemala.
When I left Guatemala for the Philippines, my support requirements increased as did my connections. By the time I left there, though, I was working for a church that gave me a salary and no longer needed monthly support.
This experience is completely different. Because of overseas travel, medical sharing expenses, and the cost of living, we are being asked to raise a phenomenal amount. We are hoping to demonstrate that we can live well on a lot less than is recommended, but until we have enough to cover our daily expenses so that we can buy (or rent) a place to live again, we won't know. We are frugal people. We don't believe we should be living lavishly. We want our supporters' money to be well spent in ministry.
My past experiences of raising support were simple. Raise what you can, go, and expect God to meet the rest. This time we can't do that. Although we might end up living abroad, that is not currently the plan. The current plan is to live in the US and travel to other locations to teach.
I sometimes wonder how in the world we will raise this kind of money. We're talking more than twelve times what I was asked to raise thirty years ago. But God is able. He can either raise that kind of money for us or show us how we can reduce our expenses so that we can live on lots less. Either way, it will be God who meets our needs.
We would appreciate your prayers for us. We have had requests to go teach which we have had to turn down because our support isn't high enough yet. We are currently at 7% of our stated requirements. In order to accept more teaching engagements, that number needs to come up.
My first support raising experience was simple. After I graduated from college, I decided to go work in an orphanage in Mexico. Most of my daily costs would be covered by living at the orphanage. I would need money for insurance, food costs on my days out of the orphanage, gas money to travel back and forth to the orphanage in Mexico and the office in Texas, and other miscellaneous expenses. My home church promised me monthly support as well as several relatives and individuals. Within a little more than a month, I was ready to go. I don't think I even had health insurance.
After my two-year commitment there, I resigned and looked for another ministry where God could use me. God opened the doors to Guatemala. This time I was asked to raise $400 a month in support. That sounded like an astounding amount to me after my first experience. The mission agreed to let me go even though I didn't have that much promised yet, and they would help me find more support after I arrived. In three months, I was in Guatemala.
When I left Guatemala for the Philippines, my support requirements increased as did my connections. By the time I left there, though, I was working for a church that gave me a salary and no longer needed monthly support.
This experience is completely different. Because of overseas travel, medical sharing expenses, and the cost of living, we are being asked to raise a phenomenal amount. We are hoping to demonstrate that we can live well on a lot less than is recommended, but until we have enough to cover our daily expenses so that we can buy (or rent) a place to live again, we won't know. We are frugal people. We don't believe we should be living lavishly. We want our supporters' money to be well spent in ministry.
My past experiences of raising support were simple. Raise what you can, go, and expect God to meet the rest. This time we can't do that. Although we might end up living abroad, that is not currently the plan. The current plan is to live in the US and travel to other locations to teach.
I sometimes wonder how in the world we will raise this kind of money. We're talking more than twelve times what I was asked to raise thirty years ago. But God is able. He can either raise that kind of money for us or show us how we can reduce our expenses so that we can live on lots less. Either way, it will be God who meets our needs.
We would appreciate your prayers for us. We have had requests to go teach which we have had to turn down because our support isn't high enough yet. We are currently at 7% of our stated requirements. In order to accept more teaching engagements, that number needs to come up.
No comments:
Post a Comment