Dear Friends; Over the past twenty years that I have been engaged in Affirming ministry, I have tried very hard not to do a great deal of fund raising. Honestly, I do not like doing it and I never want anyone to get the false impression that all the church is about is money. But by the same token, it takes money to be able to do the work of the Lord. Frankly, there are precious few ministries on this planet that do as much as ours does. We have for many, many years been engaged in some of the most aggressive internet outreach of any LGBT Affirming ministry. Years ago we used to send cassette tapes of our weekly messages to recipients all over the globe. That was a very costly venture. We did not ask for one penny and we did not solicit donations in any of our recordings. As our internet ministry has evolved, we have been able to publish all of our messages to websites like YouTube and Vimeo. This has saved us thousands of dollars annually as people around the world are able to view video of our sermons without our having to physically send out tapes. Most people do not realize that it takes hours and hours to edit and publish videos to these websites. I generally do not get to bed until very, very late on Sunday nights as I try to get our messages posted online as soon as possible. When I am running late, I generally will get messages from folks overseas who wake from their sleep in Monday mornings and immediately look for our videos so they can watch the messages we shared that Sunday. So, as a rule, I am up until at least 4am on Sunday night/Monday mornings getting our morning and evening messages posted online. I go through a similar ritual on Tuesday evenings getting our Bible Studies posted to the web as well. Our internet ministry is only one small aspect of all we do. For a church of our size, we do (and try to do) far more than most churches. Everything we do as a church we do for all our members, not just those who can afford to participate. So when we have a fellowship (social) outing or activity, everyone is invited to participate, regardless of their financial situation. Sometimes we just pay for the activity out of the church budget, while other times various members help to pick up the tab for those who could not otherwise afford to participate. I have never belonged to a church that approaches these sort of things the way that we do. But this has been my conviction ever since I pastored my very first church back in the 1980s. Having grown up in church and not being able to participate in so many church activities because I did not have the money required to do so, I have always vowed that this would not be the experience of anyone who attends any church that I pastor. And in 30+ years I have kept my word. Because our church has for so very long struggled to simply exist, we have seldom been able to do things like advertise. We cannot do nearly as much local outreach as we would like as we do not have the resources to buy outreach materials or even to print fliers. Often times I have had to contribute my entire monthly income to the church, just to pay the rent and utilities. I have frequently charged my personal credit cards to the limit in an effort to pay for a few little extras that the church budget simply cannot afford, like our monthly Fellowship Outings. I have personally charged ink and paper for our printers, gas for the church van, meals for members who cannot afford to eat out with us on Thursday nights, etc. I do not mind doing this, but this is just part of the reason why outside donations to our ministry are so heavily counted upon. We could easily use to double our current budget, at least. This would at leats lesson the personal financial burden on me and allow us to do some of the things we really need to be able to do but cannot afford to do at this time. To be able to advertise and promote our church in any effective way, we would have to have an additional $2-3,000 a month. (Advertising in the local Voice publication is very expensive, but it has historically proven to be the most effective way for us to reach our community and generate visitors. We have, in the past, spent $5,000 on an ad campaign that lasted only 90 days and consisted of ads that were only ¼ page in size. ) In recent weeks I have once again been reminded of one very important truth... You cannot count on ANYONE with the exception of Jesus. About the time you begin to think that you can always count upon certain individuals to be people of their word and that they will always do what they say, you are painfully reminded of the fact that they are also only human and cannot be counted on completely. All year long I have been anxiously awaiting something that a longtime friend and supporter of my ministry promised us way back at the start of the year. Suddenly, weeks before the promised pledge is due to arrive, I am called by this individual and told that he has done something differently and will only be sending HALF of what he had promised. Our ministry barely makes its’ bills every month. Most of the time we are only able to do so by my personally contributing the better part of my monthly income. We never have the resources to do anything extra, including advertise, print outreach materials, participate in PRIDE, etc. We count very, very heavily upon outside gifts to be able to do any of the extra things we cannot do on our own throughout the year. What hurts more than anything is not the amount of the gift, but the fact that from this day until the day I die, I will never look at this individual the same way again. I will never be able to trust that what they say is what they will ultimately do. Sadly, for nearly two decades, I had always thought that I could put my full trust and confidence in this person. I never questioned a word they spoke or feared that they would not do exactly what they said. I no longer have that confidence. It really is sad. Once your ability to keep your word has proven to be inconsistent, like any break in trust, it is hard won back. We cannot afford to continually have to rely upon one persons support of our ministry to be able to do the things we cannot otherwise afford to regularly do. We REALLY need people who will make a commitment to help us on a monthly basis. This will help us to do things that can assist in helping us to grow our church, not just keep the doors open month after month. I am not going to go into a long begging session. All I can say is this; We REALLY need your help! Occasional gifts are greatly appreciated, but consistent monthly gifts would be of far greater help to us. We do not ask anyone to do anything that they cannot afford to do. I only ask that if you have the ability, you please consider making our church one cause that you faithfully and regularly support. I appreciate your reading this lengthy letter and pray it finds you well and blessed. Thank you in advance for your consideration of this plea. God bless you richly, in Jesus name, Pastor Charles & The ONE Church Family Gifts and offerings may be given through our website at: onechurchtx.org/0011-DONATE.html
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 14:14:55 +0000
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