Missio Colonia | Kevin and Kathi in Cologne, Germany

It's been a hectic week in our support raising journey. I came back from the Dallas seminar really geared up to tackle support raising with more appointments. But, most of the week I hit nothing but walls. I made some appointments but I had people mostly avoiding our financial needs. It was getting really discouraging being frequently rejected in that way. I also had at least three appointments cancel as well.

I realized today that I think I'm trying to do too much of this in my flesh. I've been so focused on the money that I've lost sight of two things. First, I've forgotten my first love. I need Jesus, not money. Second, I've forgotten the goodness and joy of what we are doing. It has instead become a burden, which is what we wanted to avoid all along. Please pray for us. It's really hard not to focus on the monetary needs. Pray that we would trust God for those needs with every part of our being, and that we would be blessed by this time.

Well, I got back from Dallas last night at around midnight. It was an interesting couple of days to be sure. I came away with a lot to think about in regards to support raising. At the beginning Kathi and I prayerfully developed the conviction that support raising needed to be done with tremendous love, gratitude, and sensitivity with a continual acknowledgement of the providing hand of the Lord. We shied away from the up-front, in-your-face, business type model that we had experienced before. But, after this training I'm thinking that maybe our support raising model needs a little boldness to it. Maybe it's not so bad to boldly challenge people up front to give of their finances. I'm not sure. Just things I'm chewing on.

Dealing with money in our culture is so hard. People normally avoid the subject like the plague, and anyone who asks for money is seen frequently as a begger. How do we continue to emphasize our conviction that support raising is a love ministry while at the same time boldly challenging people to sacrifice for the Kingdom? I would be grateful for any thoughts or encouragement.

This afternoon I'm flying down to Dallas, Texas for a support raising seminar. The mission is requiring that we go to this program called Support Raising Boot Camp. I really need your prayers concern this. I've been a little apprehensive about this training seminar, and I really need the Lord to help me to be teachable during this time. I'm afraid that the training they'll be giving will fly in the face of everything God has been teaching us about raising support. Please pray also for Kathi. She's not able to come with me because of her job, so pray that she would be comforted while I'm away. I'll keep all you informed on how everything goes.