My Time of Need

I come to you now requesting your very best prayers.

I have been working more than 60 hours a week for many weeks.

Nearly all that time was focused on preparing the crowd funding platform.

By the grace of God that site went public last week.

I sent out prayer requests and promoted the site to many dozen of my contacts.

Honestly I had fully expected to receive some donations by now.

I did get feedback today saying that the introduction video audio quality is poor.

I will reshoot that video and replace the original one soon.

As of noon on Tuesday there were zero donations.

Frankly I feel surprised and disappointed.

This has caused a minor crisis of my faith.

I had felt sure that God was guiding me in this direction.

I had felt that this will lead to both paying my modest bills and getting me on the road trips.

There are many more ways to promote the crowd funding site that I have not used yet.

I have 27 more days until the campaign end on October 5.

The goal is 3 thousand dollars and I had hoped to raise 5 thousand.

I have been using other options to promote the crowd funding site already.

Pray for God to grant me His wisdom in doing this effectively.

There are many online articles about how to do this.

I have read some and applied their instructions.

I will read and apply more.

Meanwhile there are bills to pay.

I had been very blessed by generous donors recently that got me this far.

However here is what is due and past due.

I had been waiting and hoping for income from the crowd funding site until the last minute

But now I need to request special prayers for these immediate needs.

I recall that during the last 10 weeks God had provided at the last minute before.

31 dollars for a month of cell phone

30 to 100 dollars for 10 dollars per night to sleep at the homeless shelter 3 to 10 nights

70 to 140 dollars with fees is a minimum

110 dollars for storage of my things to be paid before September 19 or goes on auction

I have paid for my stay tonight at the shelter.

I need to pay at least 10 dollars by tomorrow evening.

I would like to pay 30 to 100 dollars.

I hope that my cell phone service does not get cut off.

Then there is likely an additional fee to reconnect.

Pray for God to guide and provide.

May the Lord Jesus Christ lead my thoughts, words and deeds.

If you have lots of faith then go ahead and pray for the 3 thousand dollar goal to be met.

Pray for the 500 dollars to come in soon that will break the ice.

The 500 and 3 thousand dollars can be raised as God leads me to promote the site.

Here is the link to the crowd funding platform.

You can go there to promote it to others and to make a gift.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/road-trips-to-relieve-severe-poverty/x/8411792

Shalom 

Ice Breaking Time

Long ago God delivered me from drug addiction and a cult due to answered prayers. God put me in a loving Christian community for my drug rehab. There I learned about Jesus and the Bible. Thanks to many more answered prayers I was born again January 16, 1977. I was 23 years old then and that same year God called me to ministry.

During the past decades I have done my best to follow Jesus by faith daily.

I have made dozens of attempts to launch ministries. All of those ministries were Bible based, educational and used the latest medias. None of those attempts got the plans off the drawing table.

I have kept the best parts of all those visions and game plans. That is why the materials online are dozens of pages of text and hours of videos.

During the last 2 months God has answered many more prayers. By His grace many logistical and technical problems were solved. Many internal challenges were met. Some examples of those internal challenges include the following: Perfectionism, procrastination, fears of success, failure and rejection.

Last week I finally promoted the crowd funding platform to the public. It was a stretch to go beyond sending the link to friends. I sent the link to strangers. And I asked them to promote it to their social media contacts. That took some humility and courage to let people come see my less that fantastic presentation.

Zero money has been raised as of this minute. Yet the dashboard of the crowd funding site gives me this report: 92 is how many visits there were to the site and 16 is how many referrals were made using social media.

The fund raising goal is only 3 thousand dollars. That is 1 thousand for each of the following: 1. prepare a promotional DVD, 2. fund initial road trips and 3. my living expenses.

My living expenses include the following: housing, storage of my things, cell phone and personal care items.

I have been sleeping at a Christian homeless shelter for many weeks. For only 10 dollars a day I get a bed, hot shower and 3 meals a day. My plain Jane cell phone bill is only 31 dollars a month. The rent to store my things is 110 a month. Personal care items include bottled water, Gatorade, etc.

I named this message Ice Breaking Time because it is time for some support to appear on the crowd funding site. That will break the ice and make it easier for others to support too. It would take an act of faith in God and trust of me to give during these early stages. But I believe God will make a way.

God has brought me this far. He will not leave me or forsake me at this important time.

I am requesting extra special prayers for this. If you have been following my updates then you will know that God has provided lots of money right on time over and over again for the last few months. Here is a blog with the records of those provisions since late June http://guidemejesus.blogspot.com/

Recently as I have prayed about this my faith shifted. Most of the time yesterday I was believing God for 500 dollars to break the ice. Just before I fell asleep my faith peaked at 700 dollars. Then this morning while I was feeling groggy the best I could trust God for was 150 dollars. So I will request your prayers for God to provide 500 dollars very soon. He might do more than we ask and even go over 700 dollars.

Besides that specific short term prayer request to break the ice, I have published a list of general long term prayer requests on this blog. Please go here and pray over the items. You might want to print them out to take to your prayer closet.  http://oscintercessors.blogspot.com/

You are invited to go to the crowd funding platform to pray over it. You can use the social media sharing links there to share the vision and game plan for Our Stewardship Community. Your referrals might lead to more prayers and financial support.

Let us look to God that He will used us to bring together people, resources and opportunities. We will provide educational resources through Community Centered Libraries. Those will help to relieve poverty for subsistence farmers, orphans and rural pastors in developing countries.

Here is the link for you to go there and to share. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/road-trips-to-relieve-severe-poverty/x/8411792

Shalom 

Rejoice with Me

God has answered many prayers and thankfully a major milestone was passed. I have finally gone public with the ministry of Our Stewardship Community.

That was a major breakthrough so I invite you to rejoice with me. Dozens of internal and external challenges were met.

After years of research, preparing and planning it is time to go public with my dream of launching and leading an innovative educational nonprofit organization.

I have been working for weeks to set up a crowd funding platform for raising the initial seed capital. This will get the ball rolling. I will use the money raised by this first campaign to start to go on road trips to 5 cities and 3 countries. There I will present the vision and game plan for Our Stewardship Community. I will enroll a Launch Team of intercessors, advisers and donors.

Together we will collaboratively create and distribute educational modules that will bring practical education about the basics of agriculture, literacy and Christianity to those in developing countries. We will aim to serve subsistence farmers, orphans and rural pastors. They will access these materials at community centered libraries. There will be basic audio and video recording equipment so that local teachers can teach their people as well as the materials we will provide.

I believe that there will be plenty of college students that will volunteer to assist with this enterprise online. The significant and measurable results will appeal to generous donors. All along the way many will be praying. And answered prayers is the only way I have gotten this far.

This is a huge and complex undertaking that will reach all the way around the globe. We will be bridging the gaps of language and culture as we bring together people, resources and opportunities.

Today I am requesting your very best prayers. Pray for the fund raising goal of only 3 thousand dollars to me not only met but exceeded.

There are some ways you can help me today.

You can go to this blog where I have a list of prayer requests http://oscintercessors.blogspot.com/

You can go to this blog that has links to the short videos and text versions of the presentation. When you get there I welcome your comments, suggestions and questions. http://oscadvisers.blogspot.com/2014/09/links-to-presentations-for-your-feedback.html

You can use this link to go to the crowd funding platform and from there you can share it with those in your social media contact base. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/road-trips-to-relieve-severe-poverty/x/8411792

When you get there then you are asked to give a generous donation. Your money will make a big difference as it is added with others who together get the ball rolling. After others notice some momentum then they will more likely give. Your dollars today will help to convince them to give later.

Together we will provide practical education that will relieve severe poverty for future generations.

Shalom 

Bumps Along the Path

VIDEO

I failed to get the last video online today by noon like I had hoped.

My accountability partner has been very busy so we will meet at 445 today.

I will have it online by then.

PHONE

My cell phone bill is due tomorrow.

10 dollars was needed and 7 dollars was contributed.

There is just 3 more dollars needed.

That is the money needed beyond what I have in my Pay Pal account right now.

Please pray for God to make that provision soon.

SHELTER

I talked with the clerk at the homeless shelter.

He forgot to talk with his supervisor about my account.

The supervisor can pull the records.

It will show how much I have paid and how long I have been there.

That will reflect if I still have nights already paid.

I think I am paid until Tuesday or Wednesday.

But the current record says only until Monday.

Pray for the truth to be revealed clearly.

Pray for God to provide more money for next week.

WATER

It has been very hot and I have not been able to afford bottled water or Gatorade like at first.

Pray for God to provide funds for that too.

EXTROVERT

This morning I realized another big reason why I have taken so long to raise funds.

All my life I have been content to remain behind the scenes.

I have been a silent observer.

I have hung out in libraries.

I have had customer service jobs and failed at sales jobs.

I can deal with people who come to me with problems.

I dislike going to strangers and pitching an item sell.

I have operated the video camera and TV camera in church services.

I have rarely been on the platform and held the microphone.

This is the hyper introvert becoming more of an extrovert.

The pressure of money and housing is forcing me to confront these matters.

The times I did present brown bag seminars on topics I researched I enjoyed that.

What is in my mind and heart are literally many dozens of lessons.

But those Christian lessons assume I have a platform and an audience.

The last week has helped me to sketch out the many short videos I will make soon.

PLATFORM

The pressure is on me to do what it takes to just launch the crowd funding site.

It will not be super-duper amazing.

But it will be an important step forward.

It will be a critical step toward gaining better cash flow.

I will need to overcome internal resistance during the next few days.

Please pray for courage and strength.

Shalom

Strangely Reluctant

Yesterday I had a small but important breakthrough.

I published 3 short videos online.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnFmcTJDzAgb-tiTGY8XxCIg_urRblj5q

They were based on the Central Diagram of Our Stewardship Community.

I had shared those messages with dozens of individuals over the years.

Using that Central Diagram I can share more short videos.

It gives the big picture overview.

The Central Diagram is like the skeleton that connects the many parts.

I already have rough drafts of the Power Point slide for next few videos.

As I have stated before the vision and game plan for the ministry is huge and complex.

The videos I put online range from 2 to 4 and a half minutes.

Each one covers a small part of the whole.

My ongoing challenge is to keep it simple.

I want the videos to be 1 to 3 minutes long.

But some will need to be longer.

I know that the attention span of most people is very short.

But then there are always the minority that do not care how long it goes.

The Holy Spirit has been inspiring me in how to present the many small parts.

There are two online services I plan to use after I have some more short videos online.

One of them is named Prezi http://prezi.com/

It will allow me to share the short videos using a large graphic context.

And I can include short text documents on this too.

The other platform is named Udemy https://www.udemy.com

It is an online teaching platform.

The short videos would be offered in more of a linear format.

Also text can be woven in with the short videos.

There is an option to either see them in sequence or skip around.

I like this platform because later I plan to offer biblical lessons there.

Previously I mentioned the crowd funding platform Indiegogo https://www.indiegogo.com/

Using that platform is essential to the next round of raising funds.

They have a huge operation and many people who hang out there.

That is where I will connect with strangers who are there.

And I will use promotional tools and methods to drive traffic there.

But what it does best is to serve as an initial contact point.

Then from there the new people will be linked to the short videos mentioned before.

That is like the display widow in a busy shopping mall.

That can catch initial attention then my job is to cast the vision and sketch the game plan.

What I lead with there must be short sweet and simple.

It needs to emotionally engage the stranger and make them want to know more.

That is easier said than done.

By the grace and providence of God the Lord put the following video into my life.

It has instructions on just how to make such a promotional video that will lead to more interest.

The few key points to cover are mentioned and the importance of expressing passion is there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w3a8NlHAaE

Please pray for me to learn and apply this guidance.

During the video mentioned before he said it is essential to express your emotions.

It many take many takes to get it right.

He said it is hard to do that just with the camera.

But it is useful to imagine an audience of a very receptive and supportive person.

When I made face to face presentations years ago most people said I was very passionate.

My voice tone changes and my body language got animated.

But so far I have not been able to tap into that when recording alone.

Pray for me to learn that skill and or maybe God will put the right person for me to record with.

Maybe I can adapt a Google Hangout or Skype call format and record that.

The title of this message is Strangely Reluctant.

When I am sharing with a person the vision for ministry using visual aids I get very excited.

When I pray and seek the will of God for my life for decades it comes back to this.

When I am not working on moving forward with the ministry I get depressed.

If I stay depressed for a long time then I tend to get into despair.

The only proven way out of that valley is to take actions to prepare for the ministry.

I have been working from 800 AM to 700 PM at the community college for weeks.

But I have not had the outcomes I had expected.

I am closer than I was.

I had used the image of a woman that was 10 months pregnant.

I have felt over due on birthing this ministry.

Right now it seems like the head of the infant has just appeared.

Now comes the hard part for me to PUSH.

Then I must PUSH more.

I hope and believe that soon this that has been inside me will get outside.

It has been on the drawing table for many years.

It will come out and become a reality that will benefit others.

By the grace of God and through the answers to many prayers I am at this point.

I am no longer stuck with the following issues

Perfectionism

Procrastination

Fear of failure

Fear of success

Fear of rejection

Fear of responsibility

I made a commitment to my accountability partner last week.

I committed to have published 3 kinds of videos and made a list of resources.

One of those 4 has been completed.

And 2 could be completed as soon as today, but by tomorrow for sure.

Now I feel confident that all 4 will be online before the deadline on Saturday.

Then I have several more measurable tasks for the next week.

I will commit to do those and that will keep me moving forward.

I am no longer stuck in excessive planning.

My next step is to enroll lots of prayers for my financial needs.

As others pray then I believe God will answer.

I will have more than enough for my basic needs.

The main need now is 10 dollars per night at the homeless shelter.

That includes a bed with sheets and blanket, hot shower and 3 meals.

I talked with the clerk yesterday about the mix up on my account.

He will talk with his supervisor.

I thought I was paid up for tonight.

But maybe the records will show I need to pay for tonight.

This is written a little before noon on Wednesday August 6, 2014.

I need to meet with the clerk today between 530 and 730 PM.

What I want is to have at least 30 dollars to put on my account.

God woke me up from a sound sleep last night.

He gave me faith in a moment to trust him for 7 nights or 70 dollars.

Then I believe that within 7 more nights the crowd funding site will be online.

Like I wrote yesterday my cell phone bill of 31 dollars is coming due on August 10.

But right now that is long ways off.

There are other needs and wants.

But the top priority is to secure my housing.

There are fees that come with Pay Pal and the ATM.

So please pray for God to guide and provide.

The need is for 35 to 75 dollars today in the next few hours.

I will need to contact individuals to ask them

That is how God met my needs before.

Pray for me to know who to contact and how to approach them.

May I find favor.

May this need for housing be met right on time.

Today I feel strangely reluctant.

Maybe that is due to the needs to PUSH.

It is my hope and expectation that after the ministry is launched there will be joy.

I will have various ways to express my passions for that energizes me.

Shalom

My Needs for Your Prayers

I have learned over the years that God answers prayers.

It is a fact that when we ask then we receive.

I have found that my faith can be weak to trust God to meet my needs.

But when I share my list of needs with others then they pray.

After a while God guides me and He provides.

I am still in a season of transition.

I am living one day at a time.

It is not pleasant but necessary for a little while longer.

Yesterday I had a big breakthrough in preparing the short videos for online fund raising.

I have the rough versions ready this morning and I hope to shoot the videos this afternoon.

All I need is some time to concentrate on completing the slide show.

Then I need for the community college dining commons to be reasonably quiet.

Putting that online is a small but important step toward appealing to strangers for funds.

The crowd funding platform will allow me to make many contacts and some of them will give.

Also there has been positive news about the Marriot connection.

That major support could begin in less than a week.

I would continue on this same path but my basic needs would be met.

By the grace of God my stay at the homeless shelter is paid up until August 7.

Mostly God has provided that need 3 nights at a time at 10 dollars per night.

Pray for God to guide and provide again just as He has these past weeks.

There has been a mix up in my computer record at the shelter.

I need to go this afternoon to untangle that matter.

Please pray for that to go smoothly.

Besides that need there are also the following.

31 dollars due on my cell phone by August 10

Also there are the following needs for your prayers.

Bus fare to go to church on Sunday

Coin laundry

Bottled water, soda, Gatorade

Fees

Margin

Right now I have less than 3 dollars.

Thankfully the shelter offers 3 modest meals a day.

Also there is a ministry opportunity that God has met many times it the past.

It is for 120 dollars.

Hopefully that need will be met this time but maybe not.

Here is a summary of needs for your prayers.

30 dollars for 3 nights at homeless shelter

31 dollars for cell phone for a month

29 dollars minimum for other

100 dollars as minimum fund raising goal

120 dollars for ministry opportunity

220 dollars total

More would be better but that is all I have the faith for in this moment.

Please pray for God to guide my thoughts, words and deeds.

May these needs be met on time.

And hopefully in less than a week the crowd funding site will be generating funds.

Shalom 

Please Pray for Provisions and Productivity

I admit I am powerless again over how I will pay for my stay at the homeless shelter tonight. God has brought me to this place of trusting Him for my immediate provisions several times in recent weeks. Each time He provided my need right on time. I hope and expect that He will again. But that provision always happened after I had requested prayers and that is what I am doing now.

Please pray for God to guide and provide.

May the Lord guide my thoughts, words and deeds.

The need is 10 dollars per night at the homeless shelter. Mostly God has provided that 3 nights at a time. So with fees it would be 35 dollars. The gate closes at 800 PM and so to have margin I need that before 700 PM. I could make it one more night for just 12 dollars.

Also I learned what the bill is on my things in storage. There is a past due amount of 33 dollars and 97 dollars is due before August first. A friend has paid the 33 dollars and I need to repay that soon.

My bare minimum need is 10 dollars a day. I can also use money for bottled water, fruit drinks, bus fare and laundry. God has provided those needs before. May I have faith and take actions to raise that money too.

The reason I am in this jam is that it has taken far longer to get the crowd funding platform online. At first I thought that would be active within the first week of my homeless season but that was more than a month ago. There have been lots of obstacles that included relational, logistical, technical, mental and emotional.

The Holy Spirit has prompted me to consider the possible spiritual warfare parts of these challenging weeks. I ask you to pray for God to grant me His wisdom and insights about these matters. I do not want to either neglect this might have been a factor nor go into imbalance and put all blame of my discomforts on the works of the devils. What I seek is discernment. I want to know what I can repent of, pray and request prayers for related to these matters.

From where I sit at this moment there is no logical reason I could not create a few more short videos this afternoon. I could make some more tomorrow and finally launch the crowd funding site shortly after that. I cannot set a hard deadline just now but I hope that will possible soon. When that online service is active then I know ways to promote it. That will lead to funds from strangers that want to partner with me in launching the innovative educational nonprofit. Then my modest living costs will be met. I will continue to add more materials to the crowd funding site and enroll more supporters.

The title of this message is Please Pray for Provisions and Productivity. I both need money to meet the immediate needs and I need to become far more productive. That will lead to increased income streams. I am reminded of the three words that you can pray about that will help me the most.

FOCUS

I always need to learn to focus better.

I have lots of online tools to aid.

I spend time with them.

Maybe I spend too much time planning some times.

But when I neglect those I get very scattered and waste many hours.

DISCIPLINE

I like to plan and organize plus I do that very well.

But I do not have self discipline to follow through on my plans.

That is a different kind of skill that I must learn to develop with steady practice.

There are times I wish I was more like a robot that I could just program.

But I have human nature that needs to be disciplined.

I am seeking for one or more accountability partners to help me.

I need to set reasonable yet challenging goals for each day and week.

Then I need to declare those to my partner and give updates.

This is one proven way to gain more traction.

Others have used this system before and I am willing to use it.

But I need God to connect me with the right person or people.

Please pray for this connection.

PRODUCTIVITY

Get the job done is a motto that I say to myself.

There are always far too many possible tasks every day.

There will be things left not completed.

I need to learn to execute on those tasks that will bring the best results.

When I get into the creativity zone then this unfolds gracefully and quickly.

I can get an amazing amount accomplished in a few hours when in that flow.

I have come to associate that with abiding in the True Vine Jesus Christ to bear good fruit.

FIRE

There are two related issues happening here. On the one hand I need to put out the fire of paying for a place to sleep tonight. That is the immediate and urgent need. On the other hand I need to take wise action steps to prevent needing to put out this kind of fire again in the near future.

I need God to connect me with generous donors again and grant me favor in their site. I promise you I dislike going through this over and over again.

Then I need to greatly improve the focus, discipline and productivity. As that happens then it will lead to funds from strangers that will move me to a more stable financial base.

MUST
There is a spiritual part of this that I sometimes get a glimpse of and it boils down to I must to STAND UP ON THE INSIDE. Then I must JUST BOLDLY DECLARE WHAT GOD HAS BEEN SPEAKING TO MY HEART FOR MANY YEARS. Then I must just let the people respond. Some will like it and others will not. So I need to be OK with what gets back to my fear of rejection. I must LET GOD USE ME TO CAST THE VISION AND THEN WATCH HIM PROVIDE THE SUPPORT TO BRING IT TO PASS.

Normally I do not include the Pay Pal link in the request for prayers but the time is short. So if God is prompting you to give then the link follows. Note that the goal for today is 35 dollars. The minimum to make it to tomorrow is 12 dollars. http://www.freewebs.com/jsohub/give.htm

Again the central prayer request is for God to guide and provide both short term and long term.

Shalom