FTM PROGRESS REPORT

Transcription

1 FTM PROGRESS REPORT In 2005 I had been pastoring at Living Waters AOG in North Charleston for seven years. After starting Living Waters Food Bank ministry it continued to grow until we were distributing over 30 tons of food per month and our data base had almost 8,000 participants along with 200 volunteers from different churches, groups and families. When we came back from a 45 days mission trip to Lagos, Nigeria I knew that the Lord wanted us to be doing more than pastoring a church and running a food bank. The Lord showed me that one of the areas of greatest need in the church was ministry to the Pastors and Leaders. As I prayed about this new avenue of ministry we continued as Pastors of Living Waters Church along with Directors of Living Waters Food Bank. One day, as I was reading in John chapter one, the Lord spoke to my heart about verse 48 as he spoke a word of encouragement to Nathanial. I knew that the Lord wanted this ministry to be one of encouragement to Pastors and Leaders. Because of this Bible, and what was taking place, we were to call this ministry Fig Tree Ministries. In June of 2006, after returning from another mission trip to Africa, I felt God wanted us to start this new ministry to Pastors and Leaders. By September I knew that we would be moving from North Charleston, SC to Inman, SC. The vision for Fig Tree Ministries became quite clear as we continued to pray about direction from God. As we prepared to re-locate to a new home, we established a Board of Directors for FTM and worked on developing a purpose, constitution and bi-laws and operation manual. Our goal was to start operation of FTM by 2007 January of We knew that this would be a true faith ministry because of no pledged financial support by churches, institutions or individuals. This would not be the first time that we stepped out by faith in obedience to God. By the end of 2006 we had completed our house move and were ready to start FTM in earnest was going to prove to be a very busy year for FTM and us. The first FTM mission trip was taken in February to Brazil. I spent 15 days crisscrossing different States in Brazil and visiting

2 various churches and groups. The center of our travels took us to Conselheiro Pena which is approximately 8-10 hours of road travel from Rio de Janeiro. Understanding the native language (Portuguese) proved to be the hardest thing about the whole trip. In January we built a small garage and woodworking shop in back of the house. This permitted us to convert our house garage to an office for FTM and also provide room to make a woodworking shop for producing FTM wood items to help raise operating funds for the ministry. April saw us entertaining Bishop Jacob Okose from Nigeria as well as traveling to the Gulf Coast to see my brother in Ocean Springs, MS. FTM conducted a ROOTS OF CHARACTER a thirteen week seminar at Calvary Christian Center in Boiling Springs, SC. A lot of time was spent introducing FTM to area churches. On top of this FTM held a Brazilian Church Leadership Conferences in Boston, Myrtle Beach and Charleston, SC and Wilmington, NC. A monthly FTM newsletter was started and we held a FTM Board of Directors meeting. We planned some strategy for both national and international mission endeavors. On the financial front the FTM donor base rose to 13. While the funds raised did not fully meet the overhead expense we are very THANKFUL for what the Lord has supplied. We are looking at making some items in the workshop that people might be able to receive by giving a donation to FTM. The 2007 trip was funded, in part, by a Brazilian church in Myrtle Beach along with several individual donors The Board of Directors held two meetings this year and greater clarity in direction and purpose for ministry was established. A greater emphasis on making FTM available to local churches and ministry was discussed. Some of that was realized but much more could have been accomplished. A second mission trip to Brazil was planned for January 31 st to February 11 th. On this trip I took Reverend Allen Dawkins, Pastor of Believer s Fellowship, Spartanburg, SC. We traveled to a number of cities in Brazil and saw great results of an evangelism crusade that was held during the Brazilian Carnival. I started taking language classes for learning Portuguese. I am not sure if it is the language or my age but this is one tough class. In February we were tested with some surgery that Lucy had to endure in regards to cancer. Thank the Lord that was successful. In April we launched FTM web-pages Robert Sanborn from Indianapolis, IN is our Webmaster. W e were very excited about this new presentation of FTM. Each month I write a new article that I feel pertains to current events and God s Word. June saw us going to the Gulf Coast again for FTM as well as entertaining Bishop Okose from Lagos, Nigeria

3 Brazilian church leadership seminars were held in Myrtle Beach, Charlotte, and Charleston. Also FTM started a mentoring program with a couple of Pastors in the local area. The monthly Mission Newsletter was sent each month to almost 50 families. The Roots of Character seminar was given at Covenant Worship Center in Spartanburg, SC. It was the best class ever! The financial picture for FTM did improve a little this year. We are working real hard to increase our donor base. A new web-link was established where we list different products that can be obtained by sending a donation to FTM. Letters were sent out to each of our donors THANKING them for their continued support of FTM. The 2008 trip was funded, in part, by Brazilian churches in Myrtle Beach and Charleston as well as three individual Brazilian donors Feb. 10 th I traveled to Charlotte to make my flight connections to Brazil. Vertigo plagued my every step and the car trip from home to the airport was just awful. Feeling that this trip was more about a divine assignment I pressed on to the airport. Getting my luggage out of the car was a struggle because of the intense vertigo. It was not until I walked through the doors of the airport and was standing in line at the ticket counter that I realized the vertigo had left. This FTM mission trip to Brazil proved to be the greatest to date as we visited many different churches, cities and several Brazilian states. Many miracles were seen as well as Pastor after Pastor became encouraged as we spent quality time with them, listening, teaching and praying. The Leadership Seminar for the whole city of Conselheiro Pena was a phenomenal success. As I looked back I could see why the devil did not want me to make this particular mission trip at all. Our days were filled with writing articles for the FTM web-page ( sending monthly mission letters and attempting to enlarge our donor base. Because of the overall financial crisis in this country we too are struggling with our donations keeping pace with current expenses. Once again FTM presented the ROOTS OF CHARACTER study course at another church in Inman (Heart of God Faith Ministry). This 13 week course presented a great challenge to all who attended. Two young men that I am currently mentoring helped me teach these classes. In April I traveled to NYC and Boston for two more Brazilian Church leadership seminars. Language classes continued as I struggled to learn Portuguese week after week. I was looking forward to using some of the language skills had picked up on my next trip to Brazil. The FTM Board of Directors meetings were held again this year. Once again we looked at our purpose and focus to see what was taking place. We talked about developing a product page that people could look at on our webpage ( Nancy and Bob Sanborn

4 worked real hard to bring freshness and new approach to our web pages. Their efforts paid off big time as more and more people looked at our web pages. While we did not meet our financial goals for 2009 we agreed to shake it off and start over for The 2009 trip was funded, in part, by Projecto Vida in Brazil as well as several individual FTM donors In spite of the very difficult financial climate in the US we knew that God wanted us to make another trip to Brazil (our fourth!). I re-doubled my effort with the language classes in Portuguese and prepared to stay in Brazil for an extended period of time to help Projecto Vida (in Conselheiro Pena) establish some operational procedures that mission ministries need to make. On this mission trip to Brazil the Lord opened up many new doors for ministry in cities we had not visited before. The Leadership Seminar held in Conselheiro Pena turned out to be the best yet and it was held in the new Projecto Vida missions building. I invited Dr. John Guffy, the Pastor of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship of Inman, to make the trip for the Carnival Evangelism Crusade. It was a huge success as he spent a little under two weeks and we went to a number of different cities and churches to preach the gospel. During a trip to Campinas I met Anna Joyce Pontes. Anna expressed an interest in helping FTM so she is translating the monthly FTM articles into Portuguese for us. After nine weeks of mission ministry in Brazil I was ready to come home. While I was still in Brazil, on February 19 th, our son and daughter-in-law presented us with our FIRST grandchild - Evan Grant! Upon coming back from Brazil I spent one week with the kids and our new grandson before returning back to Inman. On March 29 th we celebrated forty years of marriage and ministry. This year was proving to be a very busy year as we did some major changes to FTM web pages ( added several new links including one in Portuguese. I also worked on expanding our donor base as well as going contacting more churches and ministry leaders to see if FTM can be of service to them. The first of this year I started a mentoring service. It has grown far beyond what I had expected. Currently FTM is mentoring Pastors in India, Kenya, Nigeria, Brazil, Philippines, Canada and the US. There are Pastors in several other countries that have expressed a desire to become part of this FTM ministry. Currently FTM is helping to build churches in the Philippines and India. We have many needs but two of the most urgent are funds to help Pr. Almer in the Philippines to get a computer for his ministry and Bibles for the churches. In India Pr. Pastor kiran Kumar needs to have 50,000 Indian Rupees (a little over 1,000 US dollars) to purchase iron so the cement they have will not turn to rock and become useless. If you can help with any of these or other FTM mission needs please let us know.

5 At our Board of Directors meeting in May we talked about expanding the ministry of FTM. This is exactly what is taking place. There is a Leadership Seminar being scheduled at Believer s Fellowship this Fall. We are considering the dates when FTM would be able to go to Japan and Australia to present joint leadership/evangelism meetings to Brazilian churches in those countries. Our monthly mission letter is keeping our regular donors up-to-date with current FTM activities. On the FTM web-page ( a new link has been established to feature one of the ministries we help support once a quarter. Donor giving for 2010 has dropped sharply. However, I know that the Lord will supply each of our needs as we step out by faith. Please pray that donations to FTM will keep pace with the demands coming in asking for ministry in foreign countries. We know that the Lord will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). We have five more months to see God s mighty hand bless FTM and all that it attempts to do for the Lord. The 2010 trip was funded, in part, by Projecto Vida in Brazil and by individual donors and a Brazilian church in Charlotte, NC.