We need to raise an additional $2020 of regular monthly support by the end of 2020 so we can keep serving.
If you know us even just a little, you probably already know that we are members of a large organization called Ethnos360. We’ve served with them as missionaries for 20 years now and have had the privilege of serving in some truly unique and fulfilling roles. From the other side of the world to Michigan, Papua New Guinea, Brazil and Mexico to Florida and a ton of stops in between all of those places, life has never been dull.
One of the unique things about the lifestyle of many missionaries is that we are responsible to raise our living expenses. We don’t receive a “salary” like many of you do, we raise the funds for that salary ourselves. It’s through people in our community; individuals and families, churches and even a foundation, who give regularly, that we can serve.
In Ethnos360, everyone from our CEO Larry Brown, down to me, the social media guy; from the Bible translator in Brazil to the Bible Institute teacher with a Ph.D. in Theology, we are all looking to God to provide what we need to live every month.
Now, it’s not like we just pray for God to provide, quietly and to ourselves and hope we get by each month. We do talk about our needs and the ministry we get to do because of it. But we don’t do that much. And let us be honest, fund-raising is really hard work and oftentimes isn’t comfortable! But it is necessary.
Because the amount of support that we live on each month has gotten so low, we have to take time away from the ministry responsibilities we have at our Home Office to just focus on strengthening the community who invest in our ministry and do what we can to see that community grow.
That looks like spending time across the table at coffee shops and in living rooms, sharing our hearts and the opportunity God is giving the Church to be a part of seeing people reached. It looks like a benefit dinner at our local church. It looks like sharing stories of how God is nurturing bodies of believers all over the world, the result of our teammates working to reach and teach previously unreached people groups. It looks like time in prayer with others in the same boat, declaring our dependence upon the God who has invited you and me into this work with Him.
And when it’s all said and done (which it never will be until the Lord, our God, returns for us!), in this year of 2020, we are asking the Lord to provide through His people, an additional $2020 of regular monthly support. That won’t take us to 100 % of the recommended income level that Ethnos360 has laid out but it will take us to a much more sustainable place.
If you are led to give and be a part of that goal being reached, you can get started by clicking the “Give” button in the menu bar above. There will be instructions on how to make your gift a recurring monthly one.
And if you’ve got questions about this ministry, you have to let us know! We’d love to talk more about this with you. You can email us at joel_potter@ntm.org or bethany_potter@ntm.org or you can also reach us via phone: (407) 312-6549 (Joel). It’s best to text the first time as we get many calls from numbers we don’t recognize. We’re also leading a group on Facebook just focused on the ministry we’re a part of the team that holds us up as we do it. We’d love for you to join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pottermission/