Praises

You know, I should have expected that our Adversary would try to stomp on this from the very beginning. No matter how much Satan tries to stop us, we will succeed by hoping in the Lord and counting the blessings that He bestows in His grace.

Praise the Lord for men of God who encourage young men to keep their zeal and increase in wisdom.

Praise the Lord for a friend of mine named Jonathan Danson looking at the project and now praying about joining the cause, meanwhile looking at what he can do to make us a logo. That's two people now for that part of the project. God is good.

Praise the Lord for a wife who encourages me to follow what I believe God wants me to do.

Praise the Lord for friends who mean well when they counsel and who are praying that God's will be done with this project.

God is good. God will keep us going.

Is There Not a Cause?

Many, I'm sure will ask, "Is your project a ministry of a local church?"

The short answer to the question is, No - but keep reading...

At this point, we are not a ministry as you would think of one in the context that many ministries are thought of in respect to churches.

This is one man's dream of striving to help missionaries by launching an independent one-time project. 

Now, I really hope that someday we can do this all again and fund more "lilypads", but it's nothing more than a fundraiser to help complete the building of a local church on the foreign field. 

Being really big on making sure things are Biblical, I consulted the Bible for Its counsel on the subject of fundraisers and things like that. What I found was interesting. 

For those of you who ask about whether or not this is a ministry of a local church, here's your answer:

Act 11:27-30  

 "And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea: Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul."

Now, as you read the context here, you'll see that from the church in Jerusalem was sent unto the church in Antioch prophets. During an assembly (or church service, we would say), they had a prophet stand up and prophesy that there would be a famine in the years ahead. Therefore, the disciples took up an offering and gave individually as much as they could toward the local church in Jerusalem. Then the church of Antioch sent that offering via two faithful servants named Barnabas and Saul who had been working and teaching in the church of Antioch. This would seem to restrict any contributions to the work of God to be done strictly through the local church. But does it? We have no record of whether or not other churches in the area were asked for relief, but we do know that Antioch was. Let's think about this: each one of us should be a member of a church somewhere. You will be asked to partake in this offering for a local church in Kharkov. If it is your standard to do so, please present this project to your church and they can contribute to the cause. This project will be headed up by myself assisted by a team in partnership with FaithLauncher under the blessing and authority of Faith Bible Baptist Church in Kharkov Ukraine. 

 

Sometimes, it is necessary to break out and do something unexpected...

If you think back to Sunday School when you learned about Jonathan and his armor bearer sneaking away from their Israelite army as they relaxed on the frontline, you'll remember that their valor was neither condoned by King Saul nor their victory congratulated when they returned. Here we would all agree that Jonathan and his armor bearer did the right thing because King Saul wasn't doing what needed to be done.

We do not strive to promote and complete this project to receive any recognition, we do so that the objective of missions may be accomplished. We may be few, but there is a job to do.

To the skeptics who watch with no involvement for whatever reasons they claim; When like Eliab, uninvolved people fling their accusations, "Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle." I will quote little David who had the right focus and purpose, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?"

Praying for Helping Hands.

It seems weird blogging from my iPhone, but it's better than driving all the way down to McDonalds. Downloaded Google's Blogger app so I can more conveniently update the project's blog.

Spent some time today praying about who to ask for help concerning the Gospel Lilypad Project. If even Jesus prayed before He chose the twelve disciples, I definitely ought to pray concerning my need for assistance concerning a project or ministry, if you will, like this.

Of course, I cannot force anyone to follow God's will concerning this, but I will pray for them that if God wants them to dedicate their time, talents, and treasures to this cause that they would.

I contacted another friend of mine who I have considered teaming up with in the past. I love Brother Smith's focus on prayer and the need that exists for it. Without prayer, we cannot and will not succeed. Anything done by merely our might will only be to our glory - and that does not glorify God. Therefore, we must have a strong and sincere emphasis on prayer realizing our total dependence on God to bless our efforts and supply the needs of this project as we work to accomplish our goal and ultimately Christ's goal of saving the lost, healing the broken, and restoring the fallen.

Giving our Project a Name

To have a logo, you've got to have a name. It honestly didn't take long before the concept of what we are trying to accomplish transformed into concept. What is this all about? 

It's about spreading the Gospel, training disciples, and building families through the Biblically-approved method of planting churches and from those churches sending out more people to do the same. That's where the concept of the lilypad came in. Each of us need a place to serve God and a place that will support us when we strive to obey God. Sometimes that church needs to be a launch pad for exploration into regions that have never had the Gospel or very little exposure to it. That's where this concept comes in. 

I have a special burden for missions. God gave it to me after I prayerfully considered the needs of missionaries on foreign fields. After becoming sensitive to the burden God gave, God used it in my call to Russia. But Russia is not alone in its need for the Gospel - neither is Eastern Europe, but one thing at a time right? In an effort to reach through a once "godless" region with the Gospel, we are going to build a support line of churches that will assist Gospel-preaching missionaries right through the whole area - a network of "lilypads," if you will, to propel the Good News into the regions beyond.

Therefore, we are going to call it the Gospel Lilypad Project.

Building a team

Today, Fernando and I reviewed my progress in narrowing my goal. This past week, I've been trying to expand my network on Facebook so that more people can potentially be reached about the project.
I gave him my goal: $40,000. That would complete the church building in Ukraine, allow FaithLauncher their 15% fee for helping with the project and maybe even help the missionaries son find proper treatment for his deformed finger (two doctors, two surgeries later on a splintered bone). Steven, the missionary's son has worked on the church building regardless. Most would accept worker's comp (if available) and forget about working until their body was healed - but Steven isn't typical in this regard and neither is the work that needs to be accomplished. 
So, my homework for this next week and the week after is to assemble a team of like-minded, like-hearted individuals who have a burden of their own for missions work. I have a few Bible college classmates who may be willing to help - but it's going to take a ton of work no matter who volunteers.
I sent off a rough piece of concept art to Philip Vaughn, a college friend who has skill in that area. He has kindly agreed to look at it and maybe will help with the design of the project logo.
Contacted another friend who will pray about joining the team. I have a few other names in mind.
Of course, everyone has busy schedules. One just has to figure out what is most important and prioritize accordingly.

Getting Started

Wow, I am overcome by this idea - this burden to help missionaries. While checking Twitter one day, I noticed a new follow, FaithLauncher.
"Who are they?" I pondered.
Turns out, they share a similar interest in that they help with the funding of faith-based projects. For a long time, I've wanted to do great things in missions on a large scale. I wondered for awhile if this was a God-send for I had many missions-related dreams sharing my heart. I decided to casually check them out by stopping by their site while at the library one day.
"Various projects; a few worthwhile causes", I estimated.
"How about one that can further the Gospel in a big way? Nah, I'm not sure that I would be successful at something like this..." I thought to myself.
But, knowing that one cannot walk anywhere without taking the first steps, I decided to sign up and submit my project...

The following week, I talked on the phone with the coach they assigned. His name was Fernando. We got to know each other and come to find out, he has a heart for missions work too.
We talked over the goals and plans that I had. He advised that I should select from all that I dreamed of doing and focus on that one.
"But which one?" I questioned within myself.
My homework that week was to pick one and find the exact amount that we were going to work to raise - then we'd talk about it the same time next week.

That day, I talked with one of the missionaries that I was thinking about fund-raising for. He happened to be my father-in-law who had come home on furlough (a period of time when missionaries return to the States to report to their supporting churches). He and his family were ones that I had followed on Facebook for awhile, reading their reports of church services in spite of sub-zero temperatures. They and their small church had sacrificed much to meet together in the first church of its kind. I had the privilege of visiting Ukraine for about a week during a two-month missions trip to Russia and not only watch them in ministry but participate with them as they distributed the Gospel, shared the Gospel in their neighborhoods, and built by hand the church building themselves. This they do to save money.

Though I might go alone at first, I'm starting this project and carrying this torch. There are so many missionary families out there that give of themselves to further the Gospel - somebody needs to do something while most of us Americans enjoy the comfort of living here.