I’ve tried to think through different ways of communicating the subject of this post (which was an email) and I’ve sat down a few times to work on it but gotten drawn away to other things. Part of why I’m so easily distracted is that the subject of this is my least favorite part of our ministry.
Full disclosure of a critical need
While the details of how our livelihood and ministry are funded may not be known by you, I think you all understand that as we are “faith-supported missionaries”, we are not receiving compensation from Ethnos360 as we would in a traditional job. We are responsible to develop a community of individuals, local churches and businesses that commit to give financially each month, quarter or year. What is given to us, through these means, provides for our livelihood and parts of our ministry. From that we do everything from buy groceries, to pay for health insurance; from giving to our local church to paying for the occasional date night; from school supplies for our kids, to repairs to our home.
Because of that “income” we receive, I am able to work full-time with Ethnos360 and we get to be a part of God doing absolutely incredible things. And everyone that gives to us also gets the blessing of being able to participate in those absolutely incredible things. New missionaries are joining the team every year, new believers are joining the body of Christ every day around the world, new books of the Bible are being translated and printed so those new believers can read God’s Word in their own heart language, all through the efforts of Ethnos360 missionaries and their partners, including you all!
The amount of support we receive every month varies in a big way. That’s consistent with how God has provided for us over the years. As you can imagine though, living with that up and down makes it hard to live within an already tight budget. We’ve had big needs come up in the past, and we’ve asked the Lord to provide, and He has, through you all, our faithful team. The last few years especially, God has provided through some unusual means but none the less, we have seen His faithfulness to meet our needs.
The Need
That said, over the past few months, we’ve seen a decrease in our overall support while at the same time, we’ve had an increase in needs. Jack’s schooling for this fall, along with a number of house repairs and maintenance needs have popped up and yet we find they exceed our current income. And so we have a deficit, a serious shortfall. Our budget is stretched thin and we are utilizing other savings intended for items we knew were coming up, like Bethany’s mom’s nursing care when the time comes.
So, will you pray with us?
We’re simply requesting you pray intentionally for God to specifically meet these needs we have. Pray that we would be refreshed as we trust His wisdom and timing in this need. And pray for wisdom for us to steward well the resources He brings our way.
If you want to or are led to…
You may give financially to our ministry by clinking the button below.