Crucible

Wall of text incoming… 

Woke up to this letter this morning.

This is almost getting comical, except its not funny. In the past few months we have lost 8 committed regular supporters.

Everyone who has stopped has given really solid reasons as to why they are stopping so there is zero condemnation or judgement, that’s not what this is about, we feel ZERO percent entitled to anyones hard earned money.   

8 supporters lost is ONE FORTH of our support team. The timing doesn’t make sense at all in this new season of life.  Our expenses are at the highest they have ever been with the move out here to a high cost of living area and the addition to our family. 

God’s timing surely is funny though.  Had this happened before we moved out here 6 months ago… God knew we probably wouldn’t have come. 

Losing a couple supporters here and there is par for the course if you are relying on ministry partners for the bulk of your salary.  But losing over a quarter of our team?  What gives?  I think I need to fast and pray and see if we’re doing something wrong. 

One of this mornings proverbs was “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold but the Lord tests the heart.”

The other day when I found out we were losing our 7th supporters I went over to the first worship morning of the quarter.  We just got a batch of 30+ new students who are here for their Discipleship Training School.  They will be here for 3 months getting trained and getting ruined for the ordinary, and wrecked and transformed by the love of God and then head overseas to share the gospel and help people in need. 

Through tears I worshipped the Lord.  Not tears because we’re destitute, we’re not, but tears because it is so evident that this is what we we’re created for and called to do.  And sometimes you have to realize in your own heart that even if we lose 1/4 of supporters we’re gonna keep going. 

What are we called to?  To encourage and equip wide eyed foolish young people (sorry guys, I was that at 18, probably still am now, thats why volunteer for this organization and don’t receive a paycheck from them) who believe God wants to use them to change the world. 

To inspire and train followers of Jesus at every age to ACTION.  To BE and demonstrate love in a real hurting world.

To help people value what they say they value. 

Jess’ Biblical Core Course just graduated 14 students, all of them in their late teens and twenties.  And do you know what they did in that 3 month school?  Read through the whole Bible, dug into the original context, made observations and interpretations of the text and then applied it!  That’s no small undertaking.  And we’re sending a team of 7 to Mongolia to work with believers there to help equip them to better study, teach and apply Scripture. 

So maybe this is the crucible and God’s testing our hearts.  Are we in this for the money?  Are we in this because we get to live in Hawaii?  I don’t think so.  We’re just trying to be obedient to what God’s calling us to, that’s why we’ve never lived anywhere over 3 years.  Right now it just happens He’s called us to a beautiful place and we need to be more intentional about enjoying the beauty while He has us here. 

Maybe I haven’t done a good enough job over the past year to keep you all updated.  I wasn’t on social media in 2018, because I find it harmful to my soul.  I find it a distraction from what I feel called to really be doing.  I find it stealing my joy and energy.  I feel it fueling envy in my life and allowing disgusting insecurities to surface. 

But I guess you cannot full time fundraise without social media.   So I’m back.  And I’m gonna get after it. 

I cannot sit and dwell on this loss of over a quarter of our committed supporters.  I can’t sit and feel sorry for myself.  I’ve got a family to take care of and we’ve got a mission to accomplish.

As my family has grown I’ve thought about what our family mission, vision and values are.  And I recently moved the word “RESILIENCE” to the front of our values.  The Bakers are resilient.  My parents have bounced back from serious hardships and set an example for me to do the same. 

When I think about resilience, I think about my dad who was the first person in his family to go to college, and when he lost his teaching job in NY (I was 4) he went and worked as a manager at mcdonalds, and then at a toy store, he didn’t quit, he didn’t withdraw and hit the bottle like some men do, he pushed forward, humbled himself and did what he needed to do for his family. 

Yesterday I made the lock screen on my phone a picture of Ansel in a shirt that says be strong.  There’s no more crawling back in bed and trying to hide.  I picked up this side job cleaning construction offices for you son.  Because Bakers are resilient.  We also walk in loving kindness, and prudence and diligence.  I’ll do a facebook live soon sharing about that.  

So if you’re facing adversity today I encourage you keep after it.  Double down, put in the extra effort.  We can’t shrink back right now.  Remind yourself of the why of what you do. 

Even beyond the programs we run, we do it for the individuals.  The other day we sat with a twenty something who was asking for relationship advice.  Ya know what?  Family is the foundation of society.  And the worlds message on relationships is way different.  I’m glad that Jess and I can have a voice in young peoples lives when it comes to marriage, family and relationships. 

I recently went to a Church hospitality training where the last session was from the Honolulu Police Department on active shooters.  They started out their session by thanking the faith community for raising up the next generation with morals stating that it was making their jobs easier. 

We try and set an example of life and family for the people that are younger than us here.  We’re just a tiny step ahead, but we are trying to share the reality of the battle of everyday life.  The disciplines that we’ve put in place to stay sane and have a trajectory of success.  And the reality that some days you get plowed over and have to brush yourself off and get back up again. 

We’re not destitute, just losing a quarter of your donors is not a good trend.  I do have a part time salary from my part time Pastoring job and I’ve picked up a part time job cleaning offices.  But we are relying on our ministry partners from the Bakers ministry for the bulk of our salary. 

In the mean time we will keep doing what we’re doing, and I’ll be better about sharing what we’re doing.  We’re going to  choose to stay encouraged.  Keep good attitudes and keep pressing in.  Enjoy the beautiful scenery that God is allowing us to live in.  We’ll readjust our budget and be wise stewards and frugal. 

So if you’re the praying type we’d love it if you’d pray for us.  Pray that God would raise up more committed ministry partners.  People who truly believe in and want to partner in what we’re doing. 

We really believe in prayer.  And we wanna pray for you too.  If you feel like you’re facing adversity in your finances or any other area of life, message us and we’d love to pray for and encourage you. Lets keep, keeping after it.