Going to the next level

In August 2010, God challenged us with seeking people to partner with us ministry from both a financial and prayerful stance. We fought this idea of seeking assistance from others for our needs as domestic urban missionaries. After all, this is the same God who, just a few short months before, had really laid heavy on us the concept of being ‘tentmakers’ and being self supporting in ministry. Then we received our first anonymous donation and we realized, but not fully, that partnership was necessary and healthy for us to sustain ourselves while we ministered to people. We still made a conscious choice to only pray for provision-not seek it out through partnership. The time is upon us for this to change. As we feel an even stronger pull into our missional life, we recognize our need of support from others in order to do it. Simply, this is a journey we can no longer weather alone. While we have humbly relied on government assistance for food (covering about 80% of our food costs each month) and medical coverage over the past 2 years, we are still left with a huge gap to fill in the rest of our expenses to cover as modest of lifestyle as possible. Until now, this has been partially covered by maxing out the student loans available to Jason and using what remained after paying tuition not covered by scholarships for our rent and utility expenses which are just under $14,000 for the year (and, yes, this is living in one of the most impoverished area in Holland!). There is an annual cap on the number of hours Jason can work with Campus Safety which, when maxed out, falls several thousand dollars short of our basic living expenses. This does not take into account any resources we need in order to continue outreach to our ministry responsibilities or cover any additional living expenses that we incur as a soon to be family of 6. We are essentially living a life of intentional poverty, with no credit cards, no consumer debt and very, very few non-essential expenses (which are bound to happen with 3, soon to be 4, kids!). Our rent is currently covered through August 2011. After that is when living by faith truly kicks in.

We have come to learn that we will always be provided for by the One who knows and sees all. We trust in this and trust in the people who know and love us to come alongside us now, in partnership, to see and inspire the STEPS vision to continue and grow!

Please pray about you part in helping take things to the next level! You can make a secure, non-tax deductible donation through either clicking the ChipIn link below or the donate tab on the left hand side.  For mailing information, please click here.