Learning From A Bad Experience

If you have recently read our other blog, newsletter or Twitter you know that we just fired 12 of the Honduran construction workers who had been building our ministry sites. This was one of the worst days we have had as missionaries in our three years in Honduras.

For over a year our team has been building two ministry centers in La Ceiba, Honduras. In that time we hadn’t missed a payroll or been late on a payment for supplies. In fact, in the past year God raised and we spent over $250,000 for the two ministry centers. So, what went wrong? How did we get to a place where we were forced to fire half of our labor force?

Seldom did we ask for financial support. We trusted in the Lord’s provision. When God wanted us to have money He sent it. This resulted in very sporadic and unpredictable giving. One month we would receive tens of thousands of dollars in contributions and nothing in the next three months.

For the Armenia Bonito ministry center, in six of the past 12 months we didn’t receive enough contributions to even cover our monthly payroll. We used previous month’s contributions to make ends meet. For the downtown ministry center, 60% of our total contributions came in during a two month period and less than 40% of our total came in during the remaining 10 months.

In an effort to be good stewards of the blessings God is giving us and to help us better budget and plan, we have devised a solution. We are asking churches, individuals and foundations to prayerfully consider supporting either of our two ministry centers at a modest, yet predictable monthly amount.

Here are the two projects:

The Armenia Bonito ministry center sits on two acres in the middle of the super poor community of Armenia Bonito. On this property we are building an indoor soccer field, a five-classroom high school, a four exam room medical clinic and a church. If you would like to provide monthly support for this project print, fill out and mail in THIS FORM.

The downtown ministry center sits on a small plot in the middle of busy La Ceiba. On this property we are building a dorm for visiting mission teams, a high school, a theological seminary, a homeless children drop-in center, a medical clinic and a church. If you would like to provide monthly support for this project print, fill out and mail in THIS FORM.

Please repost this link on your blog, Facebook or Twitter and forward the information to your friends and church leadership. And, please prayerfully consider your role in God’s amazing work in Honduras.