Time to reveal two new features to this blog!
The first is something quite personal to me. You may know that I pastor a house church. We are a fraction of the size of your church in all likelihood. We're just a handful of families.
You may ask, as many have asked me, just what can a house church accomplish of significance? Without the manpower and financial strength, not to mention the denominational backing of a big church, what can we possibly do? On top of that, what could a guy who writes a blog like this possibly care about?
Well I'll tell you. We noticed there's a lot of suffering people in Africa who don't know Jesus. That seemed like a good place to start.
You'll notice a new button on the left side of the page, and a link at the end of this post. Save Africa is our church's new ministry. I've been waiting a long time to tell you about it as it has taken shape, and I'm really excited. Here are a few of our modest goals:Send a missionary from our church in February to preach to 100,000 people in Sudan.
Bring revival to local churches so they can absorb and disciple the new Christians.
Finance the construction of basic schools in war-torn and illiterate Sudan.
Send Bibles into the country for people who are learning to read.
Yeah, that seems like a lot, but that's how we roll. Not bad for a wimpy little house church. Go see the website, because there's a lot more to say, and by no means is the focus of this blog changing. You'll still get the acerbic, mildly entertaining, marginally cohesive sarcasm you've come to expect from me. I just want to share with you what is really on my heart these days by sharing this ministry with you.
The second new feature is the new Church of No People Store! Now you can cover yourself with amazing blog bling! You'll also see that button on the left side of the page and a link at the end of the post. Inside, you can purchase T-shirts, mugs, buttons, magnets and other goodies for dang cheap prices.Plus, I'm still giving away free stickers to anyone who asks.
Why am I doing this? To make a lot of money? Ha. I'm storing up treasures in heaven, thank you. The store proceeds benefit Save Africa. I don't keep any of the money. There's also a store on the Save Africa site. I think the black T-shirts look pretty awesome.
Our church is financing the preaching mission, and we can do that since we are a house church. But there's lots of other things we want to do over there, and that's where asking people we don't know for money comes in. There's lots of ways to raise money. For example, I could paste advertisements all over this blog and make you sift through them in order to read my brilliant blog posts. That's good for some people, but not me. You want to support this, you get the choice, and I'm not going to twist your arm. I leave the strong-arming to Jesus. You see enough advertising everyday. I don't need to show you any more.
So, sweet blog-related products + no advertising + awesome cause you can feel good about supporting...Sounds like I'm doing you a favor by making all this available! In fact, now that I have so many goodies at hand, I may just have to do another, bigger giveaway...
Go visit Save Africa and read our story. Pray about the options there to partner with us. Go to my store, if only to check out the mildly amusing product descriptions. Then leave a comment about how you bought everything and it's all awesome so everyone else will feel peer pressure to do the same.
11 people say amen!:
Cool beans, dude!
~Luke
Yay! I'm so happy for you and the church. May God bless these awesome endeavors... and I'm going to check out the bling (I'm a sucker for tees and hoodies).
What size are the tote bags? I like sturdy, reusable totes for shopping, but I like to keep them within a certain size range. Though they cost 14 times what the reusable bags from the grocery store cost, they are 100 times cooler, at least. :)
wv: untyp- also know as deleting
I'm of the persuasion that Africa needs to save us!!!!
Nice! Our little church sends money every month to a missionary in India who then turns and supports 40 pastors and their churches and orphanages there. We believed the crap that we weren't big enough to do anything and then we just had to take a step of faith. I'm hoping to go with another pastor coming up in March 2010 so that would be amazing.
Keep up the good work (on all fronts- sarcastic or otherwise).
I am committing to supporting with the little I have. I am leaving for South Africa as a full time missionary in January. My heart dances when I read things like this. Viewing the website "Save Africa" I am convinced that your desire to use the money so appropriately will be a huge blessing to those you serve but even to those doing the serving. We are asked to be good stewards of what God has given us.
Count me in for a black shirt soon as well as use of the blog button and my loud mouth.
Thanks Matt for your obedience, it speaks volumes.
Ryan
Thanks for the support, people. To answer your question about the bags, I don't know the size, but by the look of the picture, it looks to be about 'grocery store' size. I know they're more expensive, but there's actually very little markup on that and every other product.
I think it's awesome that you are looking to Africa, particularly Sudan, which is very close to my heart.
I was just wondering whether you guys were partnering in some way with evangelical agencies working in the region, such as Africa Enterprise or Open Doors to ensure sustainability?
Prise the Lord ! Matt and all the saints who are with you.
You are extending your borders.
Don 't under estimate your strength. Little becomes much when God is in it. You are Jesus Army.
May God bless your mission.
I like what Gabriella Eden said.
@SB - no partnerships yet, but we are looking at what we need to do in that regard. We have a personal contact living in the States from Sudan who can advise us in some important ways. We know there are lots of established churches - they just need some revival. So it's a big task. But as far as funding the campaign, our church is taking all that on - no help from any big organization. Thanks for the suggestions on who we can partner with.
My sis and BIL lived in Nigeria for 17 years where he was an engineer, they knew several missionaries from SIM - Sudan Interior Mission
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