August 2007

August 2007:
Change in tactics. Revelation! Instead of mailing letters and making phone calls (easy to turn a person by ignoring a letter or not returning a call – Brad should know he does it frequently). Brad decided to personally visit all the churches in Evansville, Princeton, Mt. Vernon, Newburgh, Boonville, and Henderson, It’s much harder to turn someone down when they’re standing in front of you. So, over the span of two weeks Brad visited 20 churches and spoke with two (yep, count em, two) pastors. Those pesky secretaries can be hard to get past and many of the churches do not have full-time pastors so nobody is around during the day. He did have an envelope with a brochure and explanation he left in the door. This eventually resulted in two scheduled speaking opportunities. Not sure is was such a great revelation but it did change things up a bit which was nice.

You work and work and work and work to try and get an chance to share your heart and then when a pastor gives you opportunity your first thought is “I’m not worthy of this.” We NEVER want to lose that feeling. If we ever get to the point where we think we are really something will someone please set us straight. And, don’t feel like you have to be nice about it. We are serious about this. We ask for your help to keep us thinking right.

Cindy is much better about seeing the spiritual battle that is going on. To help us, especially Brad, to remember who the real battle is with (Eph 6) – principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness – we posted a saying in various parts of the house. It reads “Primero pienso sobre el espiritual”. (It’s the best we can do with Spanish right now). It says “First, think about the spiritual” to remind us to first think about the spiritual battle going on as we move through this process. Ok, well be honest, somedays we do a better job of this than others.

During he month we had the opportunity to speak at the Christian Motorcycle Association monthly meeting. Brad loves to be around these guys and gals. They are such an encouragement hearing their stories and their commitment to God. We also had the opportunity to be with Pastor John and Jane Swain and Mt. Gilead General Baptist Church in Boonville, IN. Brad also had the opportunity to spend a morning with men of North Friendship General Baptist Church in Lynnville, IN. Breakfast was great.

The most powerful thing that happened during August was when we got our first report on the number of shares that people had pledged to support us. When we opened up the spreadsheet and saw the names it brought tears to our eyes. Real, live, actual tears. We just stared at the spreadsheet in amazement. All we can say is “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”