Ministry Update - July 5, 2024
Dear Partners,
The recent 30 Days of Impact Crusade, Conference, Tent Meeting is coming to an end in Bissell and reports from Daniel and from the many pictures and short videos that have been sent to us, everything that was hoped for appears to have been achieved. They had commitments for Christ numbering in the 150 range during the Crusade part of the event and the impact on Pastors and Church was excellent. The event was very well attended and very organized. We are sharing some of the photos here, but you can go to Daniel's facebook page and Elijah Soine's facebook page for more.
Elijah Soine is the new executive we had asked Daniel to hand pick to communicate directly with us. This is so we can keep those that support the ministry in the know, as well as begin an outreach here in the US. With Daniel's busy schedule, we were behind on the day-to-day goings on. We talk with Daniel weekly, but his time is being consumed with operations of the Ministry, so we suggested he find someone to handle this.
As we have communicated over the last year and a half, the Church's growth has been explosive and we are committed to doing everything we can to help Daniel and his team of Pastors to sustain this outreach. The problem we see is the funding issue, because there is not a lot of opportunity for financial growth in much of the territory where these churches are being established. That being considered, Daniel has been working on various ideas, but none of them, in our opinion, will solve the long term funding problem. Our goal through this Ministry will be to try to share our purposes and goals to more contributors on this side of the Atlantic.
Our first project, which is now underway, is to get pictures of every church, its leading Pastor, and its location. These will be added to our website for everyone to view. This sounded easy to Bill and I, but eight months later we were going nowhere on this. The problem, which our Brothers and Sisters were embarrassed to share with us, was the lack of many Pastors' ability to send pictures of their Church and Families, as they do not own smartphones. A task we thought was simple, turned out to actually be quite difficult.
This is where Elijah Soine comes into play. Daniel picked him to help us accomplish some of the communication tasks that we feel are very important going forward. Elijah will be visiting every church and getting pictures of the churches, as well as Pastors and family members. He will be traveling with a surveyor who will map the coordinates and tie them in to Google and our website. The goal is for viewers to click on a map and see where each church is located with as much details as we can provide. We believe the long term benefit will be our ability to share the Ministry outreach with you and others in a meaningful way. It is going to take time, but we hope to have it together by late September. We are also in talks with our local church in Cincinnati. They are in the process of putting together a Mission Trip to Kenya in October and are planning on meeting with Daniel and other pastors during this trip. They have been very impressed by what Daniel, in conjunction with our Ministry, has accomplished.
We currently have resources to cover these expenses, but the total cost for these plans alone will be in the neighborhood of $15,000 USD. We will need to purchase a motorcycle, pay for Elijah's travel expenses, as well as the surveyor expenses. Other expenses are going to be an updated computer from our end as well as travel expenses related to the Mission trip. The Breakdown is:
$2000 motorcycle
$1500 surveyor
$7500 travel expenses
$4000 computer
$14,500 +/-
We are looking at this as an investment for the long term, because the odds of 50-70 donors keeping this Outreach continuing is probably not realistic, but with God, you never know.
We also have many other expenses weekly, such as extra needs for individual Pastors and Churches beyond the monthly stipends we have been sending. We are currently sending $12,700 USD each month to pay for 201 Pastor salaries. Church repairs, rebuilds, and repairs are running about $3,000 USD monthly. We continue to meet these obligations and I am sure that our Church Family in Africa is thankful beyond our imagination!
Between all the craziness we have seen in this world over the last four years, it is wonderful to be able to report that growth in this Ministry has been a blessing to all of us. Your steady support has enabled the essentials that were originally envisioned to continue. As we move forward and press on, my goal is to keep what was started by you all going and to blossom into what Jesus and the Father intended for this calling to be. Romans 8:28
This is the third Mission Update attempt I have written in the last month, but everything has been changing rapidly. So, this is actually where we currently are and my guess, by next week, something new will occur. We will keep you as informed as possible as we move the vision forward.
Yours in Christ,
Dino Costanzo
Resourcing Ministry Partners INC.