My support Letter

Dear Family, Friends, and Respected Acquaintances,

There’s a lot of wisdom in the well-worn cliché, “never say never” but, as we all know, wisdom like this is rarely wasted on the young.  It certainly wasn’t imparted to me as I made “my list” upon entering seminary.   Rather than a list of all the things I hoped God would let me do in ministry it was mostly a list to let him know what I’d never do.  I was never going to work in a church, be a missionary, work weekends and absolutely never “raise support.”  So, it’s as much a shock to me as it is to you that I want to share my decision to: join a church, on the mission field, for nine months and I desperately need your support.  (Never say never...)

Faith is a journey and my journey hasn’t always lead me places I expected or even anticipated.  I believed I’d be opening doors, but didn’t realize God would start with the doors in me.  I knew God was going to take me different places, but I didn’t realize the destination might actually just be the journey itself. I thought I was already free but am now discovering a new freedom in knowing what the creator created me for.  This journey is a gift to be given away and my quest has been to find how.  I’ve decided “how” is in serving the church.  However as I’ve prayed these last two years I’ve come to realize I would need a “where” as well.  My where is Crossroads Church in The Haag.

Crossroads church is a 10 years old thriving community of 300 believers in the Netherlands. This church has a heart for reaching out to their community through service to the community and the witness of their daily lives.  While at Crossroads I will be in assisting in several ministries that already exist, such as, Alpha, service evangelism and different dialogue based outreaches.  In addition to serving at Crossroads, I’ll be working in the European Office of Christian Associates International (CAI).  CAI is a church planting organization striving to plant Christ centered communities throughout Europe. Currently they have 28 church plants in different cities.  With CAI I will be assisting with organizational assessment of thriving churches to help understand their success and scalability to other church plants.  In addition I hope to aide in the strategic development of future church plants and supporting ministries.  After many years of anticipation and wondering, I can say with confidence, that I feel like this the next step of the journey for me.

Someone asked me this week what was the hardest part of this process.  I told him it was the support raising but not for the obvious reasons.  Its true, financial topics are never easy and I don’t think most people enjoy asking for money but that’s not really what’s difficult for me.  For me raising this support is hard because its where “the rubber meets the road.”  It’s where faith meets provision.  I can have this passion, belief, calling.... whatever you want to call it, but it means nothing if not backed and affirmed by the provision of God through my community.  My prayer is that as I try to muster the courage to stand vulnerably in front of you, saying here’s what I feel called to do, you courageously ask yourself, what do I feel called to give.  I can go nowhere without you.

Bluntly put, I need to raise $32,000, and that’s hoping the dollar stays strong.  The only way I’ll achieve this goal is not only through your prayerful and financial support, but your relational support as well.  Please pray for me and for Crossroads.   Please write a check as generously as you dare.   Also, would you please share my information with people you know? I really do pray that not only will you be blessed for supporting me, but you’ll truly feel apart of a work going on 4,000 miles away.  So, you have three options, you can pick any or all of them:

1) If you’d like to give me a one-time gift you can send it to:

    Christian Associates Int’l

    18950 Base Camp Road

    Monument, C0 80132-8009

    Reference my ID #50395 in the memo field of your check.

2) If you’d like to make an electronic donation you can click on the link in the top left corner of this page or go to:  www.christianassociates.org

3) If you’d like to talk about this adventure and what I hope to do in the coming year you can drop me a note at my blog, which is where you are now, and we’ll set up a time to get together.

Whatever you decide, please know that I value and appreciate what each of you have meant in my life and ministry and pray that we can continue to walk this road together.

Peace be with you,

JASON 

http://jasoninthehague.blogspot.com/

One Down

I have offically finished my last term paper for my seminary degree!!! It feels very good and is quite exciting. With that I have one major project down. The next step is fully starting to raise support. I have a support letter that I will be sending out in the next couple of days and then will continue contacting churches to seek support.

I had my 30th birthday this past monday and that was a lot of fun. Thank you to all who wished me happy birthday and to those who made it out to the party, it was a night to remember. I couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of driving around two members of the CAI theological team and sitting in on a meeting they had with Greg Boyd. This was an amazing experience to just sit and listen to the discussion that these great minds had. For most of the conversaiton I was just trying to keep up and it showed me that I have a lot more reading and thinking to do. This was a very encouraging experience because I was able to get a feel for where I could be of help with the academic side of CAI and it looks as though I will be able to make a contribution.

I have been challenged and excited about all that has unfolded the past month. Being approved by CAI, and getting a better idea of where I can fit into this organization has been a comfort to myself. With that it gives me a better idea of how to be preparing myself for what is to come. A lot is happening on the personal side of my life and that is good...lots of friends having babies and getting married, always cheerful events.

Prayer requests are:
1) That I would continue to be connected with people for support.
2) That God would continue to shape me and challenge me in these last months.
3) That I would be free from illness over the next couple of months.

I thank you all for your support in all its forms and continue to pray for all of you.

Blessings,
Jason