Nurturers and Entrepreneurs
We were having coffee when I asked his advice. He looked up and said quietly, "You need nurturers and entrepreneurs."
Nurturers care about a particular six-year-old girl, rapidly approaching the point where cataract surgery won't help -- her brain will have permanently flipped the vision switch off. Entrepreneurs wonder, "Could there be some way to reduce the travel, complexity, and higher cost of pediatric surgeries - so we can help many more six-year-old girls?"
Entrepreneurs relish seeing multi-generational disciple-making, and plan prayer-walks and processes and practical tools to accelerate that glorious cycle. Nurturers ask if the blind pastor in the middle of all this has enough bus fare, and, "Who will encourage HIM?"
Nurturers are energized by individual stories of how a blind student came to camp as one person, and went home a different person. Entrepreneurs ask, "What resources would it take to start a self-replicating discipleship work (and a summer camp) among the blind in a whole new country?"
Most of us lean one way or the other. The entrepreneur Paul made it his ambition to preach the gospel where Christ had not been named; the nurturer Dorcas left a legacy of clothing and grieving-but-grateful recipients.
Without abiding in the Spirit and bathing it all in prayer, either way leads to chaff. Our Lord alone perfectly modeled this dependence, and both mindsets -- He set His face resolutely to accomplish that redemption that will reverberate for all eternity, but He was never too busy to stop and pour into the one.
External Ministry Focus:
National Christian Foundation
"It is required of stewards that one be found faithful" (1 Cor 4:12). If you are like me, as you grow older, you think more about being found faithful.
What if I told you that simply by changing how you give, whether to RBI, your church, or another ministry, you may be able to give 20-30% more? National Christian Foundation (NCF) exists to help Christians give non-cash assets, pre-tax -- saving the tax, increasing your deduction, and allowing timing flexibility. Last year, they channeled over one billion dollars to other ministries.
They essentially have two great options -- set up your own family "foundation" to disperse to various ministries, or give to an established ministry "foundation" like RBI. Here is their page on
how it works (my experience was that the gift transfer form took about five minutes). If you want this to count for 2017, you need to get moving.
By the way, the quote I started with was from one of NCF's workers, who greatly encouraged me.
Some Recent Opportunities
- The "coincidence" of a Christian disciple-maker in Mozambique going blind -- at the same time a school for the blind is opening in his town.
- A Facebook plea for help from a Pakistani man with a blind son and daughter.
- A chance to assist with surgery logistics (already funded) for two blind Philippine women on a remote island.
- A young journalist asking what can be done for the many blind in Ghana.
Whether you are a nurturer or an entrepreneur, we need you, and we thank you for praying, giving, and engaging as the Lord leads.
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