Saludos from Chile, where the weather and the activity are hot. God is moving in grand ways as we struggle to get details ready for the construction of Colegio Cristiano Conosur (CCC), our K-12 Christian school for the families around Talagante, Chile.
Does our community WANT Colegio Cristiano Conosur?
We're pretty sure that the answer is "yes." I don't know if I ever told you that CCC will be the first and only Christian school in an extended community that includes about 400,000 people. People say that they want the quality education we promise them, along with the uniform and loving discipline, and the cross-cultural opportunities.
So, it shouldn't be a surprise that we have 300 families who have expressed enough interest to put themselves on our CCC mailing list in Chile. And our marketing guy, Cristian Godoy, has accomplished that all through personal contacts, without one word of advertising and without leaving the city limits of Talagante. Soon he will begin work in Padre Hurtado nearby, which I believe is the fastest-growing community in Chile right now. Our goal is to have 720 families signed up by August. That is 2x the number we hope to enroll in August-November, or 360 students. Imagine the blessing of having a waiting list! It could happen.
Preparations for construction are moving rapidly!
The engineers and architects who are designing the specialty projects, such as construction engineering, electrical, potable water, sewage, etc., are making a heroic effort to have all drawings and calculations ready for review by an independent reviewer by February 23. Then, our own Independent Reviewer will check the calculations, and we will present the information to various construction firms for bids.
At the same time, the plans go in for approval at the Municipality of Talagante. We have had three impromptu meetings with the top guy in the Works Department, each time with good results, so we're hoping our permits to build will come quickly.
PLEASE PRAY FOR PLEASANT SURPRISES ON THE BIDS! Even if God may shock us with costs higher than we want, we are trusting him to open and close doors in clear ways.
The bank continues to send positive signals, asking for more information to keep our file updated.
Did you ever have that feeling about something you prayed for for a long time, then there's that scary moment of "Yikes, God is giving us what we asked for! Now what?" With bank approval and building permits in place, we could be building in early April!
A couple of great advances on the financial front.
Great news on this front. Since our last letter, we have received gifts or pledges totaling $47,800, which becomes worth $95,600 with the contribution of the contributor who will match funds 1-to-1. We need to have $260,000 in hand when we sign the final deal with the bank.
Please consider how you could help make this start-up a reality. God has been fantastic, but he always does it through His people.
Contact me at the email above if you are interested in making a loan to CCM, transferring appreciated stocks, or making a donation specifically for startup.
Cheryl and I and all the Conosur team pray for God's richest blessings to overflowing in all of your lives! Thank you for being partners with us as we work to see Jesus Christ glorified.
Jim Green
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Nervous time in Chile - Would you be nervous with us?
Greetings from HOT Chile (no pun intended)! I (Jim) arrived on Monday from cool Palmdale to torrid temperatures in Santiago. But I have a lot of lizard in me and love the hot weather.
Progress toward construction
Friends, we are moving rapidly now toward the goal of starting the construction of Colegio Cristiano Conosur later in the North American Spring. I just got back from a visit with the engineer designing the electrical system and a group whom we may choose to design the computational networks for the school. It was really fun, but as always God touched my financial nerve as every suggestion from the experts had the smell of money.
God knows our areas of greatest weakness (= least faith), and seems always to hit us at those points to encourage us to overcome in faith.
In any case, we've been pretty successful so far at finding hungry contractors who will give us a good price. Our engineers contracted at 1/2 the price we had been offered in a couple of previous cost estimates through building contractors.
BancoEstado continues to be surprisingly willing to work with us. When we presented a tentative business plan to the agent, he said that they could do nothing until we had hard figures for engineering, construction, etc; however, he said, leave me the document. He passed it along to the risk department of the bank. The first person to analyze the report said, "I like it," and passed it to the top. The last response from that person was, "When will you have the property in a position to be used as collateral. We view this as a very positive signal, and an important reason why we must continue to raise start-up capital (see below).
Financial Progress
We still are a long way from the start-up capital we need in 2012, but this is a project that God has blessed to this point. He will provide. We need $260,000 in hand to pay start-up costs, such as salaries, computers, curriculum materials, and classroom furniture. Since instituting the one-to-one matching plan, we have available $55,000, leaving us with $205,000 more to raise.
As a reminder, you can participate in several ways to keep the project moving forward:
• Donations by check (see the letterhead) or via PayPal;
• Unsecured loans, repayable in late 2014 or early 2015 with 5% annual interest;
• Use of a Self-Directed IRA to allow you to loan funds without having to expose them to current taxation (hit "Reply" with your questions);
And now, you can contribute appreciated securities, such as stocks, bonds, or mutual funds to the CCM account with Fidelity Investments. Please open the attached file to see that it is as easy as ABC. One family has already indicated their interest in transferring a quantity of Apple stock. Very, very, thankful we are. If you look into it, you will find that this method of donations has a double tax benefit.
Upon arriving in Chile, I began meetings with Nélida, the future Principal of the school, making great progress toward the policies, administrative structure, and curriculum of the school. In March, we will have a visiting pastor David Espinoza and his wife Mona from La Trinidad Church in San Fernando leading a mini-revival in our churches in Chile. At the same time, CCM board member Kathy Downs will be in Chile presenting to the team a school-wide discipline program we would love to see instituted in Colegio Cristiano Conosur. More details later on this very effective program.
We need your prayers for God's coverage and protection. If you or someone you know can work with us on raising the capital we need, your efforts will be directed in a way that bears eternal consequences. Thank you all for a great 2011, and we look forward to an even better 2012.
Love in Christ,
Jim and Cheryl Green
Progress toward construction
Friends, we are moving rapidly now toward the goal of starting the construction of Colegio Cristiano Conosur later in the North American Spring. I just got back from a visit with the engineer designing the electrical system and a group whom we may choose to design the computational networks for the school. It was really fun, but as always God touched my financial nerve as every suggestion from the experts had the smell of money.
God knows our areas of greatest weakness (= least faith), and seems always to hit us at those points to encourage us to overcome in faith.
In any case, we've been pretty successful so far at finding hungry contractors who will give us a good price. Our engineers contracted at 1/2 the price we had been offered in a couple of previous cost estimates through building contractors.
BancoEstado continues to be surprisingly willing to work with us. When we presented a tentative business plan to the agent, he said that they could do nothing until we had hard figures for engineering, construction, etc; however, he said, leave me the document. He passed it along to the risk department of the bank. The first person to analyze the report said, "I like it," and passed it to the top. The last response from that person was, "When will you have the property in a position to be used as collateral. We view this as a very positive signal, and an important reason why we must continue to raise start-up capital (see below).
Financial Progress
We still are a long way from the start-up capital we need in 2012, but this is a project that God has blessed to this point. He will provide. We need $260,000 in hand to pay start-up costs, such as salaries, computers, curriculum materials, and classroom furniture. Since instituting the one-to-one matching plan, we have available $55,000, leaving us with $205,000 more to raise.
As a reminder, you can participate in several ways to keep the project moving forward:
• Donations by check (see the letterhead) or via PayPal;
• Unsecured loans, repayable in late 2014 or early 2015 with 5% annual interest;
• Use of a Self-Directed IRA to allow you to loan funds without having to expose them to current taxation (hit "Reply" with your questions);
And now, you can contribute appreciated securities, such as stocks, bonds, or mutual funds to the CCM account with Fidelity Investments. Please open the attached file to see that it is as easy as ABC. One family has already indicated their interest in transferring a quantity of Apple stock. Very, very, thankful we are. If you look into it, you will find that this method of donations has a double tax benefit.
Upon arriving in Chile, I began meetings with Nélida, the future Principal of the school, making great progress toward the policies, administrative structure, and curriculum of the school. In March, we will have a visiting pastor David Espinoza and his wife Mona from La Trinidad Church in San Fernando leading a mini-revival in our churches in Chile. At the same time, CCM board member Kathy Downs will be in Chile presenting to the team a school-wide discipline program we would love to see instituted in Colegio Cristiano Conosur. More details later on this very effective program.
We need your prayers for God's coverage and protection. If you or someone you know can work with us on raising the capital we need, your efforts will be directed in a way that bears eternal consequences. Thank you all for a great 2011, and we look forward to an even better 2012.
Love in Christ,
Jim and Cheryl Green
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
God at work in cold, cold, Chile
Blessings to everybody from Chile, where I'm freezing my po-po. No, really, I'm sitting on a wooden chair in a house where I can see my breath, and I think my rear end is freezing. Last week, Santiago, which statistically has the same climate as Los Angeles, ¡hah!, had snow on two days. We didn't get it at our end of town, but it was really coming down in the upper part of the city.
But still in all it's great to be here working to advance Colegio Cristiano Conosur, our future Christian school of excellence for low-income Chilean families. With the help of our architect's firm, we are learning all the tasks we will have to do in order to get building underway - a list three solid pages long (so far).
It is nervous time, because we are moving forward as if the funds were all there to build. We have counted the cost and depend on God to provide the funds, taking seriously "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." It is, of course, God's call, but we must operate as if He had already done the work, which we are watching unfold.
We had the first-ever meeting of future parents for the school last Saturday, with a turnout of about 20. We're learning the best ways to get people out, confident that the level of interest is very high. The response to our presentation of the school was very positive. We now have a big sign out in front of the property with the school and church advertised (pix below). Please pray for the next meeting on Saturday, August 27.
The new church on the school property is prospering very well (pix below). Averaging around 24 adults, the church is already supporting several of its own projects, like new seating. Also they have offered to help financially to restart the swimming pool as an evangelistic tool and baptistry. On Sunday I met a member who is a crack landscaper, who just rattled on about the things we can do a low cost (!) to beautify the grounds. It was fun to have someone else thinking about strategies!!!
Enjoy the fotos. Imagine the beautiful buildings that are to come on the property. Pray for God to "throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you [and the school] will not have room enough for it." Please consider whether you have any kind of access to donors who might fall in love with the school project. We have two families who are planning to go to Chile with us in December. The more the merrier!
But still in all it's great to be here working to advance Colegio Cristiano Conosur, our future Christian school of excellence for low-income Chilean families. With the help of our architect's firm, we are learning all the tasks we will have to do in order to get building underway - a list three solid pages long (so far).
It is nervous time, because we are moving forward as if the funds were all there to build. We have counted the cost and depend on God to provide the funds, taking seriously "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." It is, of course, God's call, but we must operate as if He had already done the work, which we are watching unfold.
We had the first-ever meeting of future parents for the school last Saturday, with a turnout of about 20. We're learning the best ways to get people out, confident that the level of interest is very high. The response to our presentation of the school was very positive. We now have a big sign out in front of the property with the school and church advertised (pix below). Please pray for the next meeting on Saturday, August 27.
The new church on the school property is prospering very well (pix below). Averaging around 24 adults, the church is already supporting several of its own projects, like new seating. Also they have offered to help financially to restart the swimming pool as an evangelistic tool and baptistry. On Sunday I met a member who is a crack landscaper, who just rattled on about the things we can do a low cost (!) to beautify the grounds. It was fun to have someone else thinking about strategies!!!
Enjoy the fotos. Imagine the beautiful buildings that are to come on the property. Pray for God to "throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you [and the school] will not have room enough for it." Please consider whether you have any kind of access to donors who might fall in love with the school project. We have two families who are planning to go to Chile with us in December. The more the merrier!
Love in Christ,
Jim and Cheryl
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Things warm up in January in Chile
Greetings everyone in Jesus' name. Hoping your winter is going well for you. I (Jim) just returned from a month of warm summer weather in Chile, still working to give birth to Colegio Cristiano Conosur near Santiago.
What a roller coaster ride the last month has been! There are 'way too many things happening to include the details. Suffice it to say that I've gone from confident to despairing to shakily confident again that we are operating in God's will. It seems that the higher the stakes, the higher the demand for faith and the less God makes himself visible on a moment-by-moment basis. I just hope my heart, both literally and figuratively, can stand the stress. Please pray for Cheryl and me, as that stress is taking a toll.
Here's the news and our needs:
* The land subdivision project I wrote about last newsletter has gone on hold, as in the process of due diligence we discovered a problem with possible flooding. It's not an impossibility to build a restraining wall along the river. It's just money. But we could not bear the risk of not being able to build on 30% of the land because of 2-3 days of yearly light overflow from the river. Not a dead issue, but the Lord will have to put something very obvious on the table.
Please pray that God would give us wisdom to choose well, and that he also would provide soon the capital we need to proceed with building the school.
* I think I mentioned in the last letter that we have a new architect for the school project. She is a whirlwind and s-m-a-r-t. The bad news is that we lost about 10,000 sqft of our property to eminent domain for an exit lane on the main road along the school property. Someone should have caught this a long time ago, and thanks be to God the new architect did almost immediately. As a result, she had to do a complete re-design of the layout, taking the lost ground into account. She worked fast, and will be presenting the project to the city fathers of Talagante next week. It's a beauty.
Our architect is not a Christian. Please pray that the testimony of my life and that of my coordinator Santiago Salinas, along with contact with our church, will affect her life and desire to know true salvation. Also that the authorities would give us an approval before the new regulatory plan for Talgante is approved. If not, we basically will be dead, because the new plan will be extremely restrictive on use of the land.
* The students of Hillcrest Christian School in Granada Hills did it again! They dedicated the months of November and December 2010 to the school in Chile. I introduced the theme "Bringing Light to Chile" in an assembly, and they did the rest. The kids and a couple of adults donated enough money to buy ALL the lights for the 5800-sqft house that will serve as offices and workshops for the school. That's 44 indoor decorative lights, 24 fluorescents, 51 outdoor decorative lights, and 5 security spotlights with motion detectors. Not too shabby for a group of ankle biters (that doesn't include the adults!).
Please give thanks to God that he has youngsters who can still taste the excitement of watching him at work without worrying about the outcome.
* The church in Ciudad Satélite (www.icisa.cl) made a firm commitment to plant a new church on the grounds in Talagante, beginning immediately. This is news I have been waiting for for almost 2 years! Evangelistic teams will be going over soon, with a view toward the first official service of the church on Easter Sunday April 24. The church got all enthusiastic when we made the announcement, and I know that they will gain a great deal of ownership of the new church and the school.
WE NEED CHAIRS! The church in Ciudad Satélite is really strapped for funds. Both the mother church and the daughter need seating, about 200 chairs total. Also tables and school equipment for levels K-5, including whiteboards. I'm hoping to fill a container in the next month or so. Would you please keep your eyes open for opportunities to obtain donated, good-quality equipment, especially seating? Please keep the churches and the needs in prayer. Also, if anyone would like to participate in the grand opening, the invitation is open - please consider going down to Chile at Easter time to rejoice with us.
We have to learn over and over again -- it is the CHURCH that is the apple of God's eye. Schools and the like are tools in his hands.
* It is pretty plain that God is not providing the big-time funds we hoped to obtain for the school. I was truly despairing that the school is even a possibility. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I had another meeting with Steve Phillips, who really knows the Christian School business. He assured me that we can build for a LOT less than we had budgeted, and was kind enough to provide specific plans from a current project to our architect to demonstrate to her how it is done. With the new preliminary design, we are getting a pretty firm idea of the costs necessary to begin.
The indications are that we will be able to begin with around $220,000 capital and a loan of around $400,000. While this still seems high, the five-year cash flow analysis suggests that we will be able to expand using only cash flow, not requiring further loans. THIS IS A BIG DEAL if it holds up.
And because the construction techniques are simple, we can save 30-40% if we can get volunteer work crews to visit from February-July of 2012 to put up panel walls, work concrete, hang doors, and do finish work. We should also have a strong team of co-workers from the church by that time, including the new Christians from the new Iglesia Cristiana Talagante.
Would you and your friends please consider the enormous benefit you can be? An even bigger impact would be to buy a classroom for about $12,000 - Imagine the sense of accomplishment of providing the materials AND participating in the construction of a classroom for 30 students where Jesus Christ will be in charge!
There are only around 150 Christian schools in Chile, and many do not confess Christ. Rather, they market the name in order to gain a certain clientele. You need to be a part in fortifying this weapon to advance the kingdom of God. The needs and the solutions are now getting very specific. Again, will you be a part?
May God pour out his richest blessings on you as you prosper in kingdom matters, the only things that really matter.
Love in Christ.
What a roller coaster ride the last month has been! There are 'way too many things happening to include the details. Suffice it to say that I've gone from confident to despairing to shakily confident again that we are operating in God's will. It seems that the higher the stakes, the higher the demand for faith and the less God makes himself visible on a moment-by-moment basis. I just hope my heart, both literally and figuratively, can stand the stress. Please pray for Cheryl and me, as that stress is taking a toll.
Here's the news and our needs:
* The land subdivision project I wrote about last newsletter has gone on hold, as in the process of due diligence we discovered a problem with possible flooding. It's not an impossibility to build a restraining wall along the river. It's just money. But we could not bear the risk of not being able to build on 30% of the land because of 2-3 days of yearly light overflow from the river. Not a dead issue, but the Lord will have to put something very obvious on the table.
Please pray that God would give us wisdom to choose well, and that he also would provide soon the capital we need to proceed with building the school.
* I think I mentioned in the last letter that we have a new architect for the school project. She is a whirlwind and s-m-a-r-t. The bad news is that we lost about 10,000 sqft of our property to eminent domain for an exit lane on the main road along the school property. Someone should have caught this a long time ago, and thanks be to God the new architect did almost immediately. As a result, she had to do a complete re-design of the layout, taking the lost ground into account. She worked fast, and will be presenting the project to the city fathers of Talagante next week. It's a beauty.
Our architect is not a Christian. Please pray that the testimony of my life and that of my coordinator Santiago Salinas, along with contact with our church, will affect her life and desire to know true salvation. Also that the authorities would give us an approval before the new regulatory plan for Talgante is approved. If not, we basically will be dead, because the new plan will be extremely restrictive on use of the land.
* The students of Hillcrest Christian School in Granada Hills did it again! They dedicated the months of November and December 2010 to the school in Chile. I introduced the theme "Bringing Light to Chile" in an assembly, and they did the rest. The kids and a couple of adults donated enough money to buy ALL the lights for the 5800-sqft house that will serve as offices and workshops for the school. That's 44 indoor decorative lights, 24 fluorescents, 51 outdoor decorative lights, and 5 security spotlights with motion detectors. Not too shabby for a group of ankle biters (that doesn't include the adults!).
Please give thanks to God that he has youngsters who can still taste the excitement of watching him at work without worrying about the outcome.
* The church in Ciudad Satélite (www.icisa.cl) made a firm commitment to plant a new church on the grounds in Talagante, beginning immediately. This is news I have been waiting for for almost 2 years! Evangelistic teams will be going over soon, with a view toward the first official service of the church on Easter Sunday April 24. The church got all enthusiastic when we made the announcement, and I know that they will gain a great deal of ownership of the new church and the school.
WE NEED CHAIRS! The church in Ciudad Satélite is really strapped for funds. Both the mother church and the daughter need seating, about 200 chairs total. Also tables and school equipment for levels K-5, including whiteboards. I'm hoping to fill a container in the next month or so. Would you please keep your eyes open for opportunities to obtain donated, good-quality equipment, especially seating? Please keep the churches and the needs in prayer. Also, if anyone would like to participate in the grand opening, the invitation is open - please consider going down to Chile at Easter time to rejoice with us.
We have to learn over and over again -- it is the CHURCH that is the apple of God's eye. Schools and the like are tools in his hands.
* It is pretty plain that God is not providing the big-time funds we hoped to obtain for the school. I was truly despairing that the school is even a possibility. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I had another meeting with Steve Phillips, who really knows the Christian School business. He assured me that we can build for a LOT less than we had budgeted, and was kind enough to provide specific plans from a current project to our architect to demonstrate to her how it is done. With the new preliminary design, we are getting a pretty firm idea of the costs necessary to begin.
The indications are that we will be able to begin with around $220,000 capital and a loan of around $400,000. While this still seems high, the five-year cash flow analysis suggests that we will be able to expand using only cash flow, not requiring further loans. THIS IS A BIG DEAL if it holds up.
And because the construction techniques are simple, we can save 30-40% if we can get volunteer work crews to visit from February-July of 2012 to put up panel walls, work concrete, hang doors, and do finish work. We should also have a strong team of co-workers from the church by that time, including the new Christians from the new Iglesia Cristiana Talagante.
Would you and your friends please consider the enormous benefit you can be? An even bigger impact would be to buy a classroom for about $12,000 - Imagine the sense of accomplishment of providing the materials AND participating in the construction of a classroom for 30 students where Jesus Christ will be in charge!
There are only around 150 Christian schools in Chile, and many do not confess Christ. Rather, they market the name in order to gain a certain clientele. You need to be a part in fortifying this weapon to advance the kingdom of God. The needs and the solutions are now getting very specific. Again, will you be a part?
May God pour out his richest blessings on you as you prosper in kingdom matters, the only things that really matter.
Love in Christ.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
How God makes things work on a shoestring
Greetings in the love of Christ to everybody from Chile.
It has been a tremendous three weeks of work since I arrived in mid-October. So much has happened, it’s going to be hard to do it justice. God has blessed in very unexpected ways.
So, let’s get the bad news out of the way. The mission is suffering some very hard times financially. I was not able to pay my Chilean coworkers their honoraria for October, and won’t be able to in November, unless something very unexpected happens.12 Miguel Clavet at work.jpg Our average income from the gifts of supporting churches and individuals averaged $2700 per month for the first 6 months of 2010, but has dropped to an average $1500 per month the last three months.
I know that resources are very tight right now in the US, but I am sending a plea that if you have the funds available and feel the call of God to support “just a little bit more”, I know that a lot of people will breathe easier here in Chile.
The good news is that I am officially a temporary resident of Chile, with a shiny new visa. With the visa I can get my identity card. Without an identity card, I simply can’t do anything official in Chile. Of course, getting the identity card should be simple, now that I have the visa. However, welcome to Chile. I just finished week number 2 chasing down errors in the system that produced rejections of my application. But it’s done.
Also I officially have a new company in Chile, “Colegio Cristiano Conosur”, all duly registered in Chile’s IRS so I can pay taxes. Yay!
Detail work continues toward completing the house on our property to be used as offices, workshops and teacher work area. I’ve included a few pictures.
We are also hot on the trail of getting the architecture finished for the school. After some difficulties with our previous architect, we have contracted a firm that is very professional, and because of the nature of our project are giving us a very good deal. Also, we have begun to solve problems – there are always some little problems – for instance, a “phantom subdivision” in our property that appeared recently in a plot map in a municipal office. After multiple visits to the town hall, everything is in movement toward a simple solution.
It’s just fun to watch God work.
Tomorrow, through a brother in the church in Ciudad Satélite, I will be meeting with two big empresarios to see if they are interested in financing the school. Please pray that God would show himself through us.
I hope to have some exciting news very soon that I so much want to talk about, but it’s just a little early. Please just remember to pray that our meeting with the business leaders will produce fruit for the kingdom of God.
Richest blessings to everybody!
It has been a tremendous three weeks of work since I arrived in mid-October. So much has happened, it’s going to be hard to do it justice. God has blessed in very unexpected ways.
So, let’s get the bad news out of the way. The mission is suffering some very hard times financially. I was not able to pay my Chilean coworkers their honoraria for October, and won’t be able to in November, unless something very unexpected happens.12 Miguel Clavet at work.jpg Our average income from the gifts of supporting churches and individuals averaged $2700 per month for the first 6 months of 2010, but has dropped to an average $1500 per month the last three months.
I know that resources are very tight right now in the US, but I am sending a plea that if you have the funds available and feel the call of God to support “just a little bit more”, I know that a lot of people will breathe easier here in Chile.
The good news is that I am officially a temporary resident of Chile, with a shiny new visa. With the visa I can get my identity card. Without an identity card, I simply can’t do anything official in Chile. Of course, getting the identity card should be simple, now that I have the visa. However, welcome to Chile. I just finished week number 2 chasing down errors in the system that produced rejections of my application. But it’s done.
Also I officially have a new company in Chile, “Colegio Cristiano Conosur”, all duly registered in Chile’s IRS so I can pay taxes. Yay!
Detail work continues toward completing the house on our property to be used as offices, workshops and teacher work area. I’ve included a few pictures.
We are also hot on the trail of getting the architecture finished for the school. After some difficulties with our previous architect, we have contracted a firm that is very professional, and because of the nature of our project are giving us a very good deal. Also, we have begun to solve problems – there are always some little problems – for instance, a “phantom subdivision” in our property that appeared recently in a plot map in a municipal office. After multiple visits to the town hall, everything is in movement toward a simple solution.
It’s just fun to watch God work.
Tomorrow, through a brother in the church in Ciudad Satélite, I will be meeting with two big empresarios to see if they are interested in financing the school. Please pray that God would show himself through us.
I hope to have some exciting news very soon that I so much want to talk about, but it’s just a little early. Please just remember to pray that our meeting with the business leaders will produce fruit for the kingdom of God.
Richest blessings to everybody!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Watching God's Timing
Greetings in Jesus' name to everyone as the Fall season begins. It's a time of transition for our ministry in Chile, as we begin the next steps forward to establish our K-12 Christian school, Colegio Cristiano Conosur. Your prayers and support continue to move the project as we see God's will a little bit clearer each day.
Thanks to all who spent a special time of prayer during the 40 days between July 12 and August 20. You may remember that within three days of beginning the 40 days of prayer, our site was robbed of about $5000 worth of tools. The Accuser of the Brothers (Rev. 12:10) continues to believe that he can destroy our faith in God's purposes by introducing physical loss into our lives. Won't happen. It's obviously a setback, but God will provide.
Another difficulty we are facing is that income has dropped dramatically as we approach the finish line on renovation of our 5800-sqft house to be used as offices. As a result, I had to tell my Chilean coworkers that their monthly aid from the mission was about to come to an end. These people are indispensable to the progress of the the school project. We have been helping two of the three with university costs, but in truth they all are working for a fraction of what they are worth. Within a day of my warning to them, we received very generous gifts from a Hillcrest Christian School family and from a church, allowing us to continue forward for two months. Again, all this occurred during the 40 days of prayer. Prayer changes things.
Sadly, we have come up short on the funds to finish the house. We are about 90% done, but the architect underestimated the total cost. We will have to finish each sub-project as the funds become available. This is how missions work, and while we are a bit grumpy with the development, we are confident that God will provide everything we need when he is ready. Jesus said that we should count the cost of our projects before beginning (which we did), but at the same time we must go forward in faith (which we are doing).
I'll give a testimony to what I'm saying. (if you get bored, just skip down to the last paragraph). When Cheryl and I wondered whether God was calling us to Chile, we decided to make a trip to test the waters. We didn't have the $4000 for tickets, but we had our airplane up for sale. It had been on the market for a month with not one call. I was in my office in the labs at Unocal Research and prayed, "Lord, if this is your will, it would be great if you would sell our airplane. And even better if you would sell it for a little more than we expected." Fleecing God 8-) Well, 30 minutes later our agent called to tell me we had a buyer. Bottom line, after commission, taxes, etc, the bottom line was $4066 more than we had expected. The $66 went for airport fees. Not bad, huh?
Another testimony... When the time came to buy a building for our rapidly-growing Chilean church in 1996, the mission had no money. Sensing that the time was "now", Cheryl and I sold our last possession in the US, our house. We used the $50,000 to buy the building, a unit at the end of a small strip mall. Obviously, we had family plans for that money, but God had put the church in our hearts. Two years later, we were traveling through the back roads of Oklahoma on a tour of supporting churches, without enough money to pay tolls on the main highway. As the bugs splashed on the windshield, I suddenly had this strong sense that God was going to replace a part of the funds. I even told Cheryl what I felt. Long story short, on our visit in Phoenix, the church took us to lunch, and for dessert gave us a check for $80,000! Our mission gave us permission to replace our funds and put the rest into savings. In 2000, the extra $30,000 went toward the purchase of the church's second building, asking price $100,000, purchase price $40,000. Another move of God, but I won't bore you with details, hehe.
So, you can see why we remain confident that God will provide for the school and our workers. Cheryl and I are into it to the tune of $250,000 - how could we resist when we sensed God's call to put in that money? He has been faithful to provide our needs in the past, we have no reason to doubt that he will in the future.
At the same time, I do not think it is a lack of faith to ask you to participate financially with us in making this school a reality for the families of Chile who desperately need a high quality Christian education. As one of our church leader friends put it, our total need for the next two years would be met by 200 people setting aside $1 per day for the two years. Perhaps God is making a special call on you right now to participate with us. But if not, please keep the school and mission in prayer. God will provide.
Hoping that our God will bless you to overflowing!
Thanks to all who spent a special time of prayer during the 40 days between July 12 and August 20. You may remember that within three days of beginning the 40 days of prayer, our site was robbed of about $5000 worth of tools. The Accuser of the Brothers (Rev. 12:10) continues to believe that he can destroy our faith in God's purposes by introducing physical loss into our lives. Won't happen. It's obviously a setback, but God will provide.
Another difficulty we are facing is that income has dropped dramatically as we approach the finish line on renovation of our 5800-sqft house to be used as offices. As a result, I had to tell my Chilean coworkers that their monthly aid from the mission was about to come to an end. These people are indispensable to the progress of the the school project. We have been helping two of the three with university costs, but in truth they all are working for a fraction of what they are worth. Within a day of my warning to them, we received very generous gifts from a Hillcrest Christian School family and from a church, allowing us to continue forward for two months. Again, all this occurred during the 40 days of prayer. Prayer changes things.
Sadly, we have come up short on the funds to finish the house. We are about 90% done, but the architect underestimated the total cost. We will have to finish each sub-project as the funds become available. This is how missions work, and while we are a bit grumpy with the development, we are confident that God will provide everything we need when he is ready. Jesus said that we should count the cost of our projects before beginning (which we did), but at the same time we must go forward in faith (which we are doing).
I'll give a testimony to what I'm saying. (if you get bored, just skip down to the last paragraph). When Cheryl and I wondered whether God was calling us to Chile, we decided to make a trip to test the waters. We didn't have the $4000 for tickets, but we had our airplane up for sale. It had been on the market for a month with not one call. I was in my office in the labs at Unocal Research and prayed, "Lord, if this is your will, it would be great if you would sell our airplane. And even better if you would sell it for a little more than we expected." Fleecing God 8-) Well, 30 minutes later our agent called to tell me we had a buyer. Bottom line, after commission, taxes, etc, the bottom line was $4066 more than we had expected. The $66 went for airport fees. Not bad, huh?
Another testimony... When the time came to buy a building for our rapidly-growing Chilean church in 1996, the mission had no money. Sensing that the time was "now", Cheryl and I sold our last possession in the US, our house. We used the $50,000 to buy the building, a unit at the end of a small strip mall. Obviously, we had family plans for that money, but God had put the church in our hearts. Two years later, we were traveling through the back roads of Oklahoma on a tour of supporting churches, without enough money to pay tolls on the main highway. As the bugs splashed on the windshield, I suddenly had this strong sense that God was going to replace a part of the funds. I even told Cheryl what I felt. Long story short, on our visit in Phoenix, the church took us to lunch, and for dessert gave us a check for $80,000! Our mission gave us permission to replace our funds and put the rest into savings. In 2000, the extra $30,000 went toward the purchase of the church's second building, asking price $100,000, purchase price $40,000. Another move of God, but I won't bore you with details, hehe.
So, you can see why we remain confident that God will provide for the school and our workers. Cheryl and I are into it to the tune of $250,000 - how could we resist when we sensed God's call to put in that money? He has been faithful to provide our needs in the past, we have no reason to doubt that he will in the future.
At the same time, I do not think it is a lack of faith to ask you to participate financially with us in making this school a reality for the families of Chile who desperately need a high quality Christian education. As one of our church leader friends put it, our total need for the next two years would be met by 200 people setting aside $1 per day for the two years. Perhaps God is making a special call on you right now to participate with us. But if not, please keep the school and mission in prayer. God will provide.
Hoping that our God will bless you to overflowing!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
We need a prayer Commitment!
Fourth of July holiday greetings to everybody! Hope you all have been blessed as we remember in the US our struggle for independence and freedom. Our short-term mission team just got back from Chile, where we had a wonderful and wet experience. Along with Jim and Cheryl, the team consisted of Robby and Jason Kennedy (a father-son team of Hillcrest Christian School fame), Kaitlyn Brochu (Hillcrest senior 2011), and Andrew Green (Greens' grandson, Chile native, Palmdale High junior). We built a cover for a dry play area for Chilean earthquake victims still living in the small houses, distributed lots of really cool rain boots to kids, and later did welding and plumbing work on the house that will be offices in the future school. Pictures at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=10517&id=100000797428280
The house looks good and is 85% done. It appears that we have enough to finish its conversion to offices. That's the good news.
Now the bad news. (Well, only if you believe that God won't provide!) With all the costs of personnel, advertising, maintenance, and other details, we basically need to have available $5000 per month for the next 18 months.
The purpose of this letter is NOT to ask you for more money. Rather, I'm asking for something we haven't been very diligent about.
WE NEED TO KNOW THAT THIS MINISTRY IS COVERED IN PRAYER EVERY WAKING HOUR. People close to the school project have been praying, we know. But who knows if "we" have the words and wisdom that God is wanting to hear? There are gifted prayer warriors out there.
SO, WOULD YOU DO 'TWO' THINGS RIGHT NOW?
1. Please click on http://www.christianstandard.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1565 and read the article. It was a bit eerie for me, since the need mentioned in the article was $2.5 million in capital within six months. That is where we stand, also needing $2.5 million in six months in order to open in March 2012!
After, and only after, you have read the article...
2. Please hit "REPLY" to this email and state a date beginning on July 12 and ending on August 20. We are asking you to pray for 30 seconds or more at the top of each waking hour on the date you choose, e.g. 8:00, 9:00, etc. Please pray that God would show you all the "great and unsearchable things" (Jeremiah 33:3) he has in mind for the work of our school in Chile. Pray EXPECTING ANSWERS. Let us know what it you are learning. For those who call on him, he promises "healing and abundant peace" after the time of struggle (Jeremiah 33:6). Right now I pray that God would do all that for you.
We can't set up a sign-up sheet with everybody so spread out, so we'll depend on the Holy Spirit to cover all the dates. With about 300 on our email list, we should have every day covered with at least 7 people.
WILL YOU DO IT? Please do. Hit 'REPLY' right now.
We need you and the blessing you can provide through your prayer.God bless you richly!
The house looks good and is 85% done. It appears that we have enough to finish its conversion to offices. That's the good news.
Now the bad news. (Well, only if you believe that God won't provide!) With all the costs of personnel, advertising, maintenance, and other details, we basically need to have available $5000 per month for the next 18 months.
The purpose of this letter is NOT to ask you for more money. Rather, I'm asking for something we haven't been very diligent about.
WE NEED TO KNOW THAT THIS MINISTRY IS COVERED IN PRAYER EVERY WAKING HOUR. People close to the school project have been praying, we know. But who knows if "we" have the words and wisdom that God is wanting to hear? There are gifted prayer warriors out there.
SO, WOULD YOU DO 'TWO' THINGS RIGHT NOW?
1. Please click on http://www.christianstandard.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1565 and read the article. It was a bit eerie for me, since the need mentioned in the article was $2.5 million in capital within six months. That is where we stand, also needing $2.5 million in six months in order to open in March 2012!
After, and only after, you have read the article...
2. Please hit "REPLY" to this email and state a date beginning on July 12 and ending on August 20. We are asking you to pray for 30 seconds or more at the top of each waking hour on the date you choose, e.g. 8:00, 9:00, etc. Please pray that God would show you all the "great and unsearchable things" (Jeremiah 33:3) he has in mind for the work of our school in Chile. Pray EXPECTING ANSWERS. Let us know what it you are learning. For those who call on him, he promises "healing and abundant peace" after the time of struggle (Jeremiah 33:6). Right now I pray that God would do all that for you.
We can't set up a sign-up sheet with everybody so spread out, so we'll depend on the Holy Spirit to cover all the dates. With about 300 on our email list, we should have every day covered with at least 7 people.
WILL YOU DO IT? Please do. Hit 'REPLY' right now.
We need you and the blessing you can provide through your prayer.God bless you richly!
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