Campus minister Tim Casteel hosts a fantastic blog on Leading in Ministry.
I've benefitted from a number of his posts, especially the one titled Money To Fund the Mission. In it Tim points out how critical finances are to the mission of moving the Gospel forward.
During the spring of 2012, every single Cru staff member in the northeast region had to take 5 whole weeks off of campus to work on raising financial support. The sad reality is that almost all of us are under-supported and struggling at some level. Both our personal support accounts and our campus accounts are low. And without adequate finances to live, eat and minister staff must pull back from time on campus, meeting up with people and spend time looking for new financial partners.
In Tim's article, he references a Mark Driscoll video where he describes THE game changer in the history of Mars Hill (Seattle).
He says there was " a single thing that took them from 40 people to 800. A turning point that made the difference between their church shutting down and being the global influence that it is today through the Acts29 Network and Mark Driscoll’s teaching.
It wasn’t hiring a key staff. Putting on a big outreach. Giving a great sermon. Getting a new website. Him yelling at a bunch of men (that was a different video).
It was money.
A gift from a generous couple – a $200,000 gift that was 100x greater than any gift they’d ever received."
I recommend reading Tim's article where he includes insights from both Bill Hybels and R.C. Sproul.
He concludes:
"As ministry leaders we spend countless hours thinking through how to reach more people with the gospel. We plan ways to raise up new leaders. Get excited about new books/ideas that could be gamechangers. Dream of new websites that will singlehandedly reach the campus with the gospel. But we rarely think of money.
I just wonder what would change if our ministries and staff were abundantly funded. Imagine what God could do."
That's our goal! Stephanie and I are in a place where we actually need to raise $1300 in new monthly support. Even as we take seminary classes in Colorado this summer, we are working to raise money. God has raised up three fantastic interns for next fall; Will Poon, Mercy Gbenjo, and Kelsey Karys. But if we don't get adequate support, they'll be ministering on campus without us!
We want to see the Cru ministry at Cornell truly taking the gospel to every student. We can no longer afford to be barely making it as staff or running on financial fumes as a ministry.
If you are reading this, and you are a financial supporter of our ministry, I want to thank You! If you aren't, and you would like to be, please be in touch, or check out this link.
