Could it really have been a year and a half since anyone paid any attention to this blog? I wonder if we can get it going again. This will take some work...have any SR stories you want to share? Things that will help others? See what is below, old as it is, and see if it inspires.

Hey all you support raising fiends,
Just wanted to see if anyone ever checks this or wants to send someone a note.
See you in April!

Dumb-founded

So, I just checked out my contribution report, and was once again delightfully surprised by the way God has been providing for the artsy-fartsy girl eagerly (and, a bit impatiently) waiting to move to Philadelphia to start her end of ministry.

He's so good.

Here's the kicker though.. For a while I've been convinced that the numbers on my tntMPD program were way off. I've figured that I've been at 35-40% for the past month, although the program dared to say otherwise with a higher number. Because it was a higher number, I figured it was wrong.
So tonight after plugging in my contributions for the 1st to the 15th, I said to myself, "Okay, it's time to figure this out (at 1:30 in the morning, no less) and get things straight." So I looked up specifically my financial supporters and added up their pledges myself, rather than depending on the program to add it all up - because there was no way it could be right.

Well, my friends, I learned an important lesson tonight: my program is right with it's calculations.
I can scarcely even believe it, and I don't know what to think, but I am at 56% pledged of my monthly goal!! That means I'm at about 50% RECIEVED. Woah!!! For a girl in a full-variable position, that is SO SWEET.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Burnout

I've been hearing it a bit more in the past couple weeks. As accountability groups check in with me they've reported that they are starting to feel a little burned out after such a big support raising push. It is understandable. Yet it doesn't seem to be a struggle for a few groups. Let us know what keeps you from getting burned out or your suggestions for others...or how you are going to celebrate once you hit 100%!!

2 Chronicles 15:7 "But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded."

An idea from Joy

Hey Class,
This went out with a postcard and email requesting information back. We wanted to slim down our recently combined mailing list (350 total!) and get updated emails, blogsites, etc. And find out if there was a big enough contingent who would prefer the email/blog version of our newsletter. Since the return rate is so low on things like this, we made a few incentives. We stamped the postcards (extra $40). We also made the catch line: “RSVP and win a trip to France!” See below for the rest of the text. In the first three days, we got 45 enthusiastic email returns. We’ll see how we do on the postcards. Keep on keeping on. Joy

(subject) RSVP and win a trip to France!...
… Alright, not really –but close... all emails that are returned will be entered in a random drawing on November 1. The winners will receive a French cuisine dinner for 4 - made by yours truly! Yes, this means if you live far away, we’ll come and visit.
Your feedback is important to us. In an effort to put into your hands the best form of communication about our work in the CCO, could you please take a minute to indicate your choices in a reply?
1. YES - Please keep me on your mailing list!

Please indicate one or more:
› I like getting “real” mail.
8 I would prefer to read your newsletter in an email/attachment.
: I would prefer to read your newsletter on a blog site with an email alert when it’s been updated.
2. Could you please fill in any/all of this information so we can update our records? We won’t share it with anyone shady!
Name/address:

Preferred phone:
Email:
Web/blog site:
Alma Mater/date of graduation (if you went to college):
Other:



3. Please take me off your mailing list.


Thank you so much.

The best thing that happened this week...

Okay, since no one else has posted about Cami's latest question and I just found out about Cami's question, I'm jumping in and laying it all out on the table. It's time to brag on God.

For the month of September, the Lord provided $960 total from the 1st to the end of the month. That's pretty sweet in and of itself, considering how awesome it is to see the amounts going up in tntMPD.
Recently, because I'm a B, I recieved my contribution report. Actually, I got it on the 19th. Up until that point, from Monday to Thursday, I was checking it about twice a day to see if my report had come in yet. I'm sure you ALL know what that's like, right?

Recap: Total for September was $960.

I see at the top of the Crystal Report Viewer page this number: $4,225.00.
"That can't be a real number..." I said, not believing at all what I was seeing. So I scroll down the page, look at all the contributors until I hit the bottom of the page.

The number was the same, my friends. $4,225.00. WHAT???
Now before we get too excited, that's not a monthly deal, just what came in with two brand-spankin' new annual gifts, a handful of one-time gifts, and a handful of monthly gifts. Guys and gals, brothers and sisters, can I tell you something that isn't really that big of a secret? GOD. IS. AWESOME!!

If you're feeling down and out because you're struggling with support, here's a story for you. Since I got back from New Staff Training, I had struggled on and off quite a bit with raising support. Not in the sense that it was too awful for me to ask people, but in the sense that I kept hitting voicemail, after voicemail, after voicemail, after voicemail for the same people. Far too many of the people I know are my own age, and are either still in college or have just recently graduated college and have no steady income. My church is a hard place to go to for support because my church is a church-plant in a small community. I was getting discourged because I thought I was beginning to run out of options.
Because I thought I was running out of options, I got even more discouraged and sometimes would question if this was the place God wanted me to be. I wanted to work with art students in Philadelphia for Jesus' sake, and I still want it in such a terrible way. Despite discouragement and doubt, I kept making phone calls and sending out letters and emails. God's been providing all the way, which has encouraged me abundantly. This time around though? It's kind of like God was saying to His kid down here on earth, "And you thought I wasn't going to provide for you..."

Listen up, guys, because GOD IS GOOD, and GOD WILL PROVIDE! Jesus said that if we believe that we already have what we ask for, He will give it. I'd been praying that the Lord would provide in amazing ways, whether it got me out to Philadelphia by November, or in six months. I resolutely have decided that I don't care how long it actually takes, I want to serve the LORD and reach out to art students for Him.
September left me with about 18-ish%.
I figured out the math, and I'm pretty bad at math, but if I'm right then just half of this month the Lord bumped that up to about 33%.

God will provide for all of us. Ask Him to provide, believe that He will (and HAS), and keep chugging through phone calls and letters!!! Continue to be faithful to your ministry and do the support raising that allows you to DO ministry. If God provided for me in such a big way, and I don't deserve it, I know He's going to provide for you in a big way too!

What was the best thing that happened to you or your PMA this week?