Robyn and I had the pleasure of sharing dinner the other night with three “kids” that were part of my very first youth ministry group, their spouses, children and the dear friend and pastor that gave me that opportunity of leadership. It is truly amazing that God has placed us all in the same region of North Carolina nearly twenty years after bringing us together in that small congregation in southwest Indiana.
Now being married and starting families of their own, we sat around the table remembering family, friends, the antics of their youth and the silliness of their leader and pastor. But the one unspoken thing I heard in each and every one of them was a strong foundation of belief and reliance on their faith. Though there are many factors that led to the growth of this faith, I know that providing the opportunities to experience the love of God first hand and to see the example of other people in their lives being “lights”, gave the fertile environment for the seed to grow.
As Robyn and I continue into full time ministry in the mission field, our purpose is to be “a light” for those investigating missionary work on a short term basis in Belgium. We will be working with and providing a firm base for teams of 20something - 30something missionaries. We will be facilitating their immersion into a new culture and giving support in the development of their ministry so that it may be effective in the growth of the church.
This ministry in Belgium has its first teams of missionaries nearing completion of their terms and is looking to expand the number of teams in September. However, without the proper leadership joining the teams it may be impossible. Robyn and I have as our goal to join the teams in September, but in order to do this we need to attend required pre-field training in June, which requires us to have 70-80% of our monthly support raised by the end of May. Then to move to the field, we need to have 100% of our total monthly support and 100% of our outgoing expenses raised by mid-August.
God has given us the gifts, abilities, and life experiences, as well as desire, for the task. Now we trust He will also provide the partners we need to come alongside financially for this ministry. We currently have approximately 15% of our support raised and we thank each and every one of you that have provided that blessing. To those of you that are considering partnering with us in this ministry, an investment of $62 a month would meet 1% of our total monthly support need for Belgium. This includes salary, insurance, taxes, ministry expenses, local travel and other related costs. In addition, we need in excess of $45,000 in one-time contributions to cover outgoing expenses such as pre-field physicals and immunizations, required pre-field training, airfare, documentation, shipping and customs, language & cultural acquisition, household setup and other related costs.
We are not only asking for you to commit to us, but we are making a commitment in return to inform you about our ministry by sharing our challenges and our successes. Enclosed you will find a commitment card for you to prayerfully consider supporting our ministry. Thank you for your prayers of support as we continue down the path God has led us on. We look forward to discussing our ministry with you in the near future.
