An MPD story....
I'd like to share something with you that the Lord did last week in our progress. A fellow who was referred to me by a large church in SC told me at our meeting of his excitement for what we were doing. His church, he said would probably never support us, since they have their own denominational missionaries, but that didn't stop him from supporting us personally: he's owner of a chain of restaurants in the Augusta, GA and Aiken, SC areas.
A month later, we received a check for $100--and we thought, naturally, that was ongoing. After we returned from our staff conference we realized that we hadn't received any more gifts, So I started calling. When I was finally able to get them, I discovered the gift had been intended as a one-time gift. (And we had already counted it as ongoing, having received the first check). This prompted me to call someone else who was a little behind, also assumed to be a $100/month supporter. Sure enough, they were also one-time givers. We have been making fairly good progress lately, so that double-setback was a little discouraging. But the very next telephone call alerted me to the news that a local church had decided to partner with us.
When I called the pastor, I discovered they had already approved (you guessed it) $200/month! This is a very small church, with approximately 40 in attendance; so this news, and the way we discovered it, was so indicative of God's work, that it brought me to tears. I spoke in their morning service on Sunday, went to the Pastor's house for lunch afterwards, and the Pastor and his wife shared with us that they will be PERSONALLY supporting us for another $100/month. We are absolutely stunned by this!
I spoke to a ministry partner in the parking lot last night after church, and we discussed how all of this shook out last week. "What you're living," he said, "is something you couldn't make up." Meaning that God continually does things to remind us in very personal ways of His sovereign hand in our life, and introduces us to His choice servants as testimonies to us.
A month later, we received a check for $100--and we thought, naturally, that was ongoing. After we returned from our staff conference we realized that we hadn't received any more gifts, So I started calling. When I was finally able to get them, I discovered the gift had been intended as a one-time gift. (And we had already counted it as ongoing, having received the first check). This prompted me to call someone else who was a little behind, also assumed to be a $100/month supporter. Sure enough, they were also one-time givers. We have been making fairly good progress lately, so that double-setback was a little discouraging. But the very next telephone call alerted me to the news that a local church had decided to partner with us.
When I called the pastor, I discovered they had already approved (you guessed it) $200/month! This is a very small church, with approximately 40 in attendance; so this news, and the way we discovered it, was so indicative of God's work, that it brought me to tears. I spoke in their morning service on Sunday, went to the Pastor's house for lunch afterwards, and the Pastor and his wife shared with us that they will be PERSONALLY supporting us for another $100/month. We are absolutely stunned by this!
I spoke to a ministry partner in the parking lot last night after church, and we discussed how all of this shook out last week. "What you're living," he said, "is something you couldn't make up." Meaning that God continually does things to remind us in very personal ways of His sovereign hand in our life, and introduces us to His choice servants as testimonies to us.
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