June Recap

I just wanted to share some of the highlights of our month of June.

We started praying, every night, for our support raising process, our supporters, and those God had called to be a part of our support team.  Josh dedicated more time than ever to fundraising.  We had five meetings.

One family joined our prayer team.  They were so encouraging and we learned that they'd already been praying for us regularly.  Our evening with them blessed my heart more than I ever expected.  Plus, their daughter is stinkin' cute.

In addition to that, we had three couples and an individual commit join our support team in the months to come.  Throughout the next couple of months, as those families send in their pledges, we'll see a jump in our percentage.

As if that wasn't enough, just today we received word that a couple who had originally committed to support us throughout our time in recruitment is planning on continuing their support.

That puts us at 13% and counting.  God has truly been working in the hearts of our supporters all along.  We're just giddy at thinking of how He'll continue to work in the coming weeks.

Want to know more details about our month of June?  Email us at baldwins@avmi.org to subscribe to our newsletter!

Waiting for His Timing (Part 2)

I know the arguments swirling in some of your heads right now because I sat there and argued with others and myself against this idea.  God gave everything for us, sending His son to earth knowing all along that the day would come where He would have to witness him die the cruelest death of that time, so why do we fight so hard on giving back to Him 100%?  I was convicted this past weekend that I want God to provide NOW and I want Him to provide ALL, while giving back about 0.1% of myself to Him.  I am positive that God has called Meghan and I to Italy to serve a people bound and broken in sin, so I rest assured that He will provide.  At the same time, though, I was not allowing God to have control of this particular area of my life.  I wanted to accomplish this in my own strength and after 10 months I am weary and do not wish to bear this load alone anymore.

Now, rejuvenated and going out with a boldness that could only be sparked by the assurance that God is in control, Meghan and I set out to share our passion for ministering to a lost people.  A people who have no idea they have a heavenly Father who loves them very much.  A people who search and search for fulfillment, but only find emptiness.  Our mission is set before us and now it's time to execute.

We need partners.  We understand not everyone is in a position to give financially, but there is so much more that goes into someone going out into the world to take the light of Christ other than money.  We need people who will dedicate time each day to pray for Meghan and me as we prepare and, eventually, leave for Italy.  We need people who can connect with others who would be interested in supporting us financially on monthly basis for five years.  And, yes, we do need those who can give and are willing to give to do so.

Together we will all be doing the work of God as one.  In Corinthians Paul compares the makeup of a church to parts of the human body, every individual part unique and none less important than the next.  I feel this analogy can also be applied to those who partner with missionaries; we are just one part of this body.  If you would like to commit on any level for any amount of time please email Meghan and I at baldwins@avmi.org so we can get in contact with you.  With your help and God's grace I know that 12 months from now Meghan and I will be heading for Rome with 100% of the support needed.

Josh

Waiting for His Timing (Part 1)

Meghan and I had the pleasure of spending this past weekend with the rest of our team going to Rome here in Kansas City.  It was a “semi-retreat” for the team, as we had all not been together in almost a year now.  It was a great time to catch up with everyone, enjoy a Royals game (even if it was a losing effort), and discuss Rome and ministry.

One of the big topics of discussion of the weekend was support.  As a missionary in deputation this topic is not new or unfamiliar as it is something we address in our everyday lives.  This post is just a fraction of the progressive conversation we had about this topic this past weekend, but it is one of the most crucial aspects of support raising, at least in my opinion.

70%, 85%, 100%...how acceptable these percentages are depends heavily on context.  I don't think anyone would mind buying something at 70% off and I know that if it were me I'd take an 85% on school work any day of the week!  Looking through the glasses of a missionary raising support these numbers carry much more weight than a good sale or passing grade.  I think if you were to ask any missionary on the field or preparing for the field, their goal for support is 100%, so then why is it that 100% has become the exception rather than the rule?

Before I go much farther I do want to preface all of the following with this:  sitting at our one-year-until-deployment mark this past weekend I was truly convicted about how much I have been trusting God and relying on Him throughout our deputation.  I can make excuse after excuse, but in the end it comes down to trusting in me and my own power instead of God’s power.  Isaiah 26:4 says, "Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock."  How often we forget that He is there and wants to be in control of all situations.  Make no mistake, both Meghan and I believe with all our hearts that through trusting in God's provision our needs will be provided for and we will reach 100% of the support we need to get to Rome, but the only way that is possible is holding on to that trust all the way until the end.  Now that the disclaimers have been stated; enjoy! 

Working in the home office at Avant Meghan and I are exposed to much more of what goes on “behind the scenes” at a mission agency.  To many missionaries and supporters the agency with whom they are affiliated with or to whom they give support is nothing more than a clearinghouse for checks and a free bed to sleep in on furlough.  Sometimes that is the harsh reality, but I feel that more often than not the agency (or church) that a missionary is being sent by should be viewed as the authority on those subjects that pertain to mission.  How on earth could I, a 25 year-old Bible college grad who hasn't taken a math class, of any kind, since dropping college algebra 6 years ago, know more about finances than the 30-year missionary veteran?  It's foolish to think that I could tell them anything about this stuff, right?

I digress a little, but seriously, why is it that we have shifted from going to the field with 100%, or more, of our support raised to only going with just enough to get us by? Nowhere else would this make any sense, right!?  Would you leave for work knowing you only had 85% of the gas you need to get to work and pray that somewhere along the way God's going to provide the last 15% of gas?  No, you wouldn't...not even those of you who are trying to justify it just to be cynical. We all know that your car would eventually creep to a stop and you'd have to beg for change at the Quiktrip and eventually come to the conclusion that you're not going to work that day because, let’s face it, no one believes someone begging for money at a gas station is actually going to buy gas with it.  A better solution to this scenario would be to take a little extra time, put some more gas in your car, hopefully more than you need just to get to work, and avoid the headache altogether.  Yes, God can do, and does, amazing things, but He also asks us, over and over, to wait for HIS perfect timing, not ours.  “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

                                                                    

I know my analogy and banter is making light of this issue, but in the end I want you to take what I'm saying seriously.  More than likely, the end result of leaving the States with less than 100% of the support needed will result in a missionary having to eventually leave the field to try and raise enough support to stay above water.  Instead of taking a few extra months to raise that few hundred-dollars a month more, you come home and never end up going back.

As I am transitioning into raising support for Italy full-time I have started reading a book called View Points by Steve Shadrach (expert on this kind of stuff) and he says that "if you're looking for short-term, marginally effective people who feel emotionally and spiritually drained, then turn a blind eye to this critical issue." Dude doesn't mess around, right?  Let me just tell you that this is not the popular stance to take on the subject, in fact some might say that requiring someone to have 100% of their support committed is counter mission.  By putting this requirement on appointees you hinder lots of perfectly good missionaries from getting to the field because of a few hundred dollars.

Seems pretty minor I guess, but let me put it in perspective; a few months ago Jack Elwood, Avant's President and CEO, said that if every missionary on staff were to raise 100% of the required amount of support for the field they were assigned Avant would have a $3,000,000 surplus.  That's $3,000,000 that Avant would get to invest back into their most important asset:  their missionaries.

The Mission of God

Missions exists because worship doesn't.

What's the theme of the Bible?  That question could have 1,000 answers, but each one is encompassed in this:  The mission of God is that all men would know Him.  Everything in the Bible goes back to this.  God wants us to know Him.  Its an umbrella statement.  But its so true.  And, when it sinks in, it's like a punch in the gut.  If we call ourselves Christians, the mission becomes ours.

Hi.  I'm Meghan.  I'm a Christian.  Everyday I take one step closer to becoming a missionary.  That's what this story is all about.  Taking the love of Christ to the people of Rome, Italy.  Writing Hope on their hearts.

Writing hope on the hearts of people in Rome, Italy.