Students are downloading and submitting applications for next summer’s mission trips. We are planning, making airline reservations, and updating preparation materials. A sense of anticipation is building. Yet, as good and exciting as that is, there really is something keeping Tom awake at night.
Our new Training Camp land
2012 is the summer that Royal Servants Training Camp will be hosted on our new land! For us, it’s like crossing the Jordan and going into the Promised Land! We are full of gratitude for the hundreds of friends who have helped make this happen. And if that were not enough, the land will be used to launch hundreds of students to spread the Gospel around the globe this summer.
The land is paid for and cleared, the old farmhouse removed, the barn refurbished, the road installed, the new administration building near completion, cooking facilities constructed, and grass has been planted. We have come so far, and we are so close to being ready for the students. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Reign Ministries' staff constructing a cooking cabana
We have a Training Camp To Do list that must be completed to before Training Camp can start. This fall, Tom, the entire Royal Servants staff-team, our support staff, everyone in our office, and even Kairos students have been working hard to finish everything on the list so we can be ready for June 16, 2012—the day our staff disciplers step foot on the land for the first time.
But, we are not quite there yet, and we see we cannot get there alone. There are still too many items on the To Do list, and that is what is keeping Tom, the Director of Royal Servants, awake at night. We cannot go the last stretch alone.
The new bathrooms go in the walk-out level of our new admin. building.
Here is our plan: All the work that remains can be completed by unskilled labor with the assistance of a few skilled craftsmen. We are organizing volunteer work teams to begin in March, creating weekend-long, mission trip style, light construction projects to help augment our own manpower. I am writing at this time because we need supplies and construction materials to put those teams to work.
We need $26,000 to finish the bathrooms. This will cover the rough-in plumbing, which is in-place, all the shower stalls and other fixtures, the hot water heaters, pipe, etc. We can do the labor with our staff and construction teams, but only if we can get the materials on site.
However, the bathrooms are not the only reason Tom is not sleeping. We slowed Tom down enough this morning to get a list of the remaining tasks, and he handed me the Training Camp To Do list. It outlines 78 priority tasks, including the restrooms (10 to-do’s) requiring an additional $22,000. The bathrooms and 68 other items, that must be completed, are looming over Tom. $48,000 would help Tom sleep.
As I sat down this morning to write a bathroom letter we saw the enormity of the final sprint—an effort that is bigger than our staff. And then we remembered the words I (Mark) read a few days ago:
[Moses said,] the Lord will drive out all the nations ahead of you, though they are much greater and stronger than you, and you will take over their land. –Deut. 11:23
We are so close! But we cannot do it alone. And somehow that feels right. We are depending upon the Lord. And so, we are writing to ask, would you prayerfully consider being a part of helping us to prepare for Training Camp 2012? Reign Ministries staff members are lifting hard and doing all we can, but it is not going to be enough. We need you.
This Christmas season we are praying for two things for Reign Ministries:
- $26,000 to complete the restrooms and check them off the priority list.
- A $21,000 help-Tom-sleep-at-night top-hat to bring him some rest.
We are seeking 80 friends of the ministry (see the donation plan below) who will consider a year-end gift that would enable our construction teams to complete the restrooms. And, we are praying for a top hat. Can you help at this time?
Thank you for your consideration and your prayers for our situation. We look forward to the Lord’s provision!
| Gift Amount | Gifts Req’d | Running Total |
|---|---|---|
| $2,500 | 1 | $2,500 |
| $1,500 | 3 | $7,000 |
| $1,000 | 5 | $12,000 |
| $500 | 10 | $17,000 |
| $250 | 20 | $22,000 |
| $100 | 40 | Total » $26,000 |
| Top Hat » $21,000 | 1 | $21,000 |
| Grand Total » $47,000 |
from the
Liked this? Share it with your friends!