[updated 26 October 2006]
Until now, I haven’t done much sharing of what our needs are as missionaries with you. I discuss them with the Lord, of course, and He often puts things on people’s hearts to give to help with things. Sometimes people ask us what our needs are, so here are both the long and the short lists. The short list: prayer and money. We can’t stay in full-time mission work without prayer. We don’t serve money, but it serves us well when it is time to pay the bills and to expand into new areas of ministry.
Here is the long list:
- Prayer interceding for effective ministry, strong marriage, wisdom parenting, safety, health, provision, and whatever else the Lord leads you in prayer.
- Money for an urgent replacement for my primary notebook computer. The warranty has expired, and the cost of repair is prohibitive. Actually, I’d like 3 computers: a fast desktop computer for software development in Microsoft Windows and Linux (2.66 GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB Hard drive, DVD Writer), a notebook computer for travel and for testing software in a normal user (not software developer) configuration (except with at least 100 GB Hard drive and 1GB RAM, Windows Vista ready), and a MacIntosh computer (Intel-based, capable of running OS X 10.4 or later) for cross-platform development testing. Those 3 are listed in priority order. The first one
(about $1,192) is the one that is most urgenthas been paid for and is on its way to our house. Praise God! The notebook computer could run $550 for a minimal one to $1,126 for a nice one. The cheapest Mac suitable for software development is a Mac Mini for about $799 + the cost of an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor. - Another vehicle, preferably 4WD and big enough to hold our family. Rainbow Missions, Inc. accepts tax-deductible donations of vehicles that still run. 🙂
- Money to cover the additional costs of finalizing Rachel’s adoption, including extra travel to PNG and back for Lori, Rachel, and myself (about $8000). This has to be ready by this Spring. (It would be really nice if Evan could come along, too…)
- Money to pay off all the rest of our debt.
- Enough new regular supporters so that we can both pay our bills here, travel as the Lord leads, and return to our field assignment at the right time, without going into debt again.
All that mention of money reminds me of something Pastor Bill said in his sermon tonight, about an analysis a certain denomination did to determine how many dollars it took to save a soul. I guess they just divided all church spending by the number of people saved and got something like $65,000 per soul. Of course, that number (and any others like it) is superfluous, because (1) not all of that money was really spent directly to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and (2) it certainly isn’t the money doing the saving. Jesus already paid the price with his blood, so salvation is free for us. It really does cost money to get the Gospel to people, though… sometimes very little, and sometimes a great deal, depending on exactly who is being reached by whom and how. God’s economics are hard for me to figure out, but this much I know: if God didn’t spare His own Son’s blood to save people, He certainly isn’t going to balk at calling us to spend significant time and resources to get the Good News to people so that they can be saved and God’s Word to them so they can be discipled. He also has been known to perform miracles to provide for those doing His work, and those who support His work. In any case, it will definitely be worth it, storing up treasures in Heaven.
We used to be our own biggest supporters, using funds saved up from when I was working as an engineer. That well has run dry, but the Lord has many wells. 🙂