Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Email sent to Carla, our church secretary, on May 15, 2012

Hi Carla!

I hope this email finds you doing well.  I'm coming to you for some direction on an idea that I have regarding fundraising for my next trip to Africa. 

I already have people wanting to make monetary contributions towards my next trip to Kenya at the end of this year.  The idea that I have is, if these people make the checks payable to me, they don't get an tax advantages because I am not a non-profit organization.  Could and would First Lutheran Church be able to or interested in accepting these donations on my behalf?  A couple of reasons for this question...first, any people that contribute would have a taxable deduction at tax time.  Secondly, the company I work for will match any associate donations 2:1.  For example, if I contribute $1 to a non-profit organization, they will send an additional $2. 

Do you know the answers to these questions or is there someone that I can ask/meet with?  Any help you can provide would be beneficial!

Thank you,

Jordan Bremerman


Response from Mrs. Moczygemba, Treasurer of the Church Council

Jordan,
  Please let me know if you get this e-mail.  I sent you an e-mail last week, but may not have sent it to the right address.
The Council of FLC would be glad to help you with your next trip to Keyna.  We have a fund set up for anyone who
would like to make donations.  Anyone can send a check to the Church and just put a designation on the check that
it is for your trip to Africa. We would cut you a check shortly before you leave on your trip.  We are all extremely proud
of you and your willingness to spread God's word to the far corners of the earth!! In fact, I am somewhat jealous that you
have caught the meaning of discipleship at such a young age.  It has taken me a life time to learn what your already know!!
Keep in touch and all the best.  Patty Moczygemba

Daily Hope

It's 6am and I can't sleep.
My alarm is set for 7:30am. The day I am allowed to sleep in, I'm not able to sleep.

God has been speaking to me this morning. You might think I'm crazy, but I'm not.
Because we are going on this trip alone, I've prayed almost everyday for our safety, that nothing out of the norm happens to us, that our trip is a smooth one, and that there is no way I can possible think of all the stuff that we're going to need so I've turned that over to God to help with.

I am emailed on a daily basis a bible study. It's usually the first thing I do before I start my day.
Here is today's Bible Study:

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Your Mission Comes from God by Rick Warren

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV) You have a mission; we all do. When we become a part of God’s family, our mission is given to us by God himself: to help others join that family, too. Since God loves everyone, there is no one in the entire world he doesn’t want to be in his family. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV). When Jesus tells the Church to go to “all nations,” he isn’t talking about countries; he’s talking about people groups. He tells us to go to every people group and make disciples. Today, there are 13,000 people groups in the world; 6,350 of those people groups have churches among them, but less than 2 percent of the population is Christian. Christianity has spread to every major language group in the world. Yet there are 3,800 people groups that, 2,000 years after Jesus’ death on the cross, still have no church in their language. Why? We simply don’t care enough. We’re too busy with our own lives to care about people who are dying spiritually. Instead of telling those 3,800 people groups about the love of Jesus, we tell them by default to “go to Hell.” Certainly, it’s a huge task. God’s mission is global. But it’s not mission impossible; it’s mission inevitable. The Great Commission will be fulfilled. It’s a certainty. In fact, the Bible gives us a picture of its fulfillment in Revelation 7:9: “There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” One day there will be people from every language group in the world standing before the throne of Jesus. The only question for us is, will our generation be the ones to do it? Or will we give up our responsibility and pass it on to someone else? Will another generation be the ones who get the privilege of fulfilling God’s great mission that he created the whole universe for in the first place? What might keep you from fulfilling your mission? What is God asking you to do this Chrsitmas season to help fulfill the Great Commission?

You see? I'm not crazy, God has been speaking to me.