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Faith Promise

The grace of giving is one of the most amazing blessings of the Christian life. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God reveals that He intends that His redeemed people - those bought by the blood of Christ - are to be the channel for His gospel to be extended to all the nations of the earth.

"But how are they to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'" Romans 10:14-15

          It is both the privilege and the duty of the Christian to send missionaries by way of generous financial gifts. In ways beyond all human understanding of logic or of math, God takes our gifts, multiplies them, uses them, and repays the giver with blessings. As a spirit of selfless generosity is a mark of a healthy Christian, so the practice of collective benevolence is indicative of a vital church. The adage, "Show me your wallet and I'll show you your heart," is as applicable to the church as a whole as it is to the individual.

          Funds designated for world missions are called by a variety of terms, the most commonly used being Faith Promise. However, the nomenclature used is far less important then the fact that these gifts flow from the hearts of God's people through the local congregations and denominations to the various ministries around the globe.

What is Faith Promise Giving?

• A method of giving which grows out of first giving ourselves to the Lord and then to His service. "They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will." (2 Corinthians 8:5)

•  A method which encourages voluntary, purposeful giving. "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.' (2 Corinthians 9:7)

•  A method which encourages generous, sacrificial giving.  "We want you to know about the grace of God that has been given to the Macedonian churches.  Out of their most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability." (2 Corinthians 8:1-3) "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." (2 Corinthians 9:6)

•  A method which encourages giving in which we trust God to provide our material needs and to give us spiritual blessings. "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8) "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ." (Philippians 4:19)

 

Where does the money come from?

 

Here are three possible sources to consider for Faith Promise:

1.  Change your spending priorities - Look at your ex­
penditures and ask, "What am I willing to give up, or
sacrifice, so that the Good News can be proclaimed
and churches planted?" This reordering of priorities is
likely to pinch, but it is fully biblical. The Macedonian
Christians gave out of their poverty and beyond their
ability.

2.  Be creative - You might make an investment and dedi­
cate all the proceeds to Faith Promise. You might take
on a second job for a few hours a week or month. You
might use carpool income. You might make and sell
crafts. The point is that if giving for missions becomes
a priority, you can think creatively of ways to have more
money available for the purpose.

3. Through serendipity income - Many of us receive
income we didn't really expect throughout the year. It
may come in the form of gifts, overtime, an investment
that pays off beyond expectations, an inheritance or a
tax refund. This extra income could be committed, all
or part, to missions.  Instead of using it to buy some­
thing for ourselves, we commit to giving it so that we
may make Christ known.

How do I do it?

•    Pray about your desire to give more to the support of missions.

  •    Determine what you would like to do for the Lord in the next year
in support of missions, and indicate that intention by filling out a
Faith Promise card.

 

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Anna Fleming

Asbury Theological Seminary

Anna is a full time graduate student at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. While studying for her Master of Divinity (graduation in May of 2009), Anna participates in many aspects of the Asbury Community.

This year she is working on the Worship Design Team that plans and holds the chapel services three times a week for the seminary. Next year, Anna will be the Worship Design Team Leader, working closely with J.D. Walt, Dean of the Chapel, and a team of students to pastor the pastors at ATS.

Anna also leads a freshman girls' bible study at Asbury College in Wilmore, tutors two Ph.D. students in German, and enjoys living in quaint and beautiful Wilmore. She lives with three housemates — Laura, a fellow M.Div. student from Michigan; Stephanie, a Biblical Studies student from Kentucky, and Bailey, the adorable white lab mix from Kentucky.

Anna is the eldest child of St. Paul members Donna and John Fleming. Her sister Kate is a graduate student at John Hopkins University and her brother, John Andrew is a freshman at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.

After graduating from St. Martin High School in 2000, Anna received her Bachelor of Arts in Inter­national Studies from the University of Mississippi. While attending Ole Miss, she served on the student leadership team of the Wesley Foundation, and later she worked there a year as an intern; at this time Anna felt the Lord calling her to seminary to prepare for pastoral ministry.

Anna is also in the process to become a Certified Candidate for Ordination in the Mississippi Conference.

JOHN 14:12

" I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing."

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Campus Outreach - University of South Alabama

Duane Baxter

Duane’s hometown is Ocean Springs. He graduated from USA in 2000 with a major in Biological Sciences. He has been with Campus Outreach since 2001. He is married to Kim and they have two children, Bailey and Owen.
 

College students are at a crossroads in their life, making lifetime decisions, and moving out to influence the world. Campus Outreach exists to help college students know Christ personally, and as they leave the college campus be equipped not only to build their careers but also help others know Christ personally.

Their vision is to send leaders of laborers from their campuses to communities and churches throughout the world to partner in the Great Commission. They desire to glorify God by influencing the world for Christ by exporting trained graduates who will provide leadership in every sphere of influence (the church, community, business, medicine, education, missions, etc.) on the Gulf Coast, the United States, and around the world.

Campus Outreach ministries bring together the college campus, the local church, and the mission field for maximum impact. Since its beginning in 1979, the ministry has grown to reach 65 campuses in the United States as well as campuses in Thailand, Central Asia, New Zealand, Brazil, Japan, and South Africa.

Campus Outreach Gulf Coast is committed to sharing the claims of Christ with college students and investing in their lives. The Biblical and proven method of lasting impact is through spiritual multiplication (2 Timothy 2:2). They desire to lay a foundation of faith and practical applications so that students will labor for a lifetime.

Good News Jail and Prison Ministry

Joe Collins

Joe is a native of Bristol, VA and a graduate of Belmont University, Nashville, TN. He served as pastor at First Baptist Church, Charlotte, TN before coming to Good News Jail & Prison Ministry in January 1997. He served as Chaplain for the Dickson County Sheriff's Department (TN) until May 2001. In 2001 he moved to Harrison County, Mississippi to begin the ministry at the Harrison County Detention Center. In 2000, Joe was named Chaplain of the Year by Good News Jail & Prison Ministry. Joe lives in Long Beach, MS, with his wife, Becky. They have one son.

Good News Jail & Prison Ministry was incorporated in December 1961 as a non-profit organization formed for the purposes of organizing a visitation program for the benefit of inmates of institutions in the State; witnessing to inmates and their families; aiding in a physical and spiritual rehabilitation of men and women upon their release from an institution; and provision of an educational program within the institutions to encourage continuance of formal education among the inmates, as permitted by said institutions. The practical application of these purposes is embodied in the provision of trained, ordained men and women to serve as staff chaplains in correctional institutions throughout the United States and abroad.

From its beginning with one chaplain in the Fairfax County Detention Center (Virginia), Good News Jail & Prison Ministry now provides over 425 staff chaplains, serving 361 institutions in 24 states, the countries of Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Ghana, India, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Uganda, Ukraine, and Venezuela and one U. S. Territory, American Samoa.

Good Shepherd Community Center

629 Cherry Street

Vicksburg, MS 39183

Good Shepherd Community Center opened its doors on September 1, 1986 as an outreach of the United Methodist Church.

The fundamental philosophy of Good Shepherd is that of prevention. They believe that it is better to prevent bad things from happening to children, youth, adults, and families than to attempt the rehabilitation after they have failed. Good Shepherd provides a holistic program that will enable the very poor and disadvantaged of society to meet the demands of life on closer parity with other, more affluent and advantaged members of society.

This philosophy is accomplished through the following programs:

Even Start Family Literacy for the entire family

Daycare - for children six weeks through four years of age

Tutorial/After School Program Family Literacy Program (GED)

Free Medical Clinic

Saturday Enrichment Programs

Specific Aid to Individuals

Summer Programs

Community Center Activities

Emergency Food Service

Week Night Gym Program 

629 Cherry Street, Vicksburg, MS 39183

 NOTE: This is one of nine community centers around the Mississippi UM conference that provides vital ministry to children, youth, families, and adults. The centers serve the poor and disadvantaged by offering affordable high-quality childcare and after-school care and other children's programs, training and educational opportunities, abuse prevention and intervention, summer enrichment, older adult services, health checks, and other ministries.

Mark 16:15:

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."

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The Gulf Coast Women's Center for Non-Violence

http://www.gcwcfn.org

The Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence, is a non-profit agency that supports and serves victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and family members of homicide victims. They strive to educate the community, and act to reduce incidences of violence.

The Center supports and serves victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and family members of homicide victims through a comprehensive program. The Center encourages victims served to develop and/or strengthen responsi­bility for themselves, their family and their community.

The Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence opposes violence in word or action by any individual or group against any other individual and/ or group. The Center promotes equality in all relationships and provides services to individuals across all racial, social, ethnic, religious, and economic groups regardless of age, sex, or life-styles. Education, services, support, and leadership are recognized as critical factors in ending violence in the family and in the community.

Services offered include:

24-Hour Crisis Line Information

Temporary Shelter for Battered Women &Their Children

Community Education

Individual & Group Counseling

For Adults & Children

Therapeutic for Children Ages 3-5

Children's Services

Legal, Medical & Economic Referrals

All services are free and confidential.

Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence
PO Box 333
Biloxi, MS 39533
Crisis Free: 800-800-1396
Office: 228-435-0074
SERVICE AREA: George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone

JN 13:34,35

"As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

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Will and Ella Faircloth

ISAIAH 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send Me!”
 

Will and Ella Faircloth are volunteer, non-salaried missionaries serving the Methodist Church of Costa Rica. Will and his family have been members of St. Paul’s for many years, while Ella is a member of Christ Community Church in Columbus, Georgia. Prior to moving to Costa Rica, they both had experience living abroad and working with short-term mission groups.

In 2003, while Will was working on a Masters of Theological Studies degree at Duke Divinity School, the couple first made contact with the Costa Rican church, meeting with the bishop and the dean of the seminary, who both expressed a need for help in theological training of pastors and laity in the Methodist Church there.

So it was that after much prayer and consultation, Will and Ella raised initial support throughout the summer of 2004, and moved to San lsidro, Costa Rica, that September. Will’s primary work was running two regional seminary centers, offering classes in Bible and Methodism to local church leaders. Meanwhile, Ella, among other tasks, directed a food ministry for homeless men and women in the city.

"As much as we were loved and nourished by the church in San Isidro, last year we began to feel God’s call to move to San Jose and work more closely with the central seminary," Will said. Again, with much prayer and confirmation from the Lord, we moved up to “the big city” in November 2006.

Will’s work now centers on classes at the main seminary, where pastors from around the country attend week-long sessions each month. Ella is working on the Methodist Children’s Home project, in partnership with another missionary couple and several churches in the United States. They are also involved in a children’s program in an impoverished area south of San Jose, providing food and Bible lessons to 60 children each week.

For more information about the Faircloths' ministry, visit their website, www.fairclothcostarica.com or e-mail them at fairclothcr@hotmail.com. As volunteer missionaries they rely on the financial support of many people in the United States. All gifts are tax deductible and may be sent to St. Paul UMC, P.O. Box 909, Ocean Springs, MS 39566. Please make checks out to the church, and designate "Costa Rica" in the memo line.

The couple requests your prayers for their health and for the growth of their ministry.

St. Paul Missions Board,

Hi there!  I wanted to write and say thank you so very much for joining my team.  I look forward to keeping in touch and partnering with you as the Lord works in my life and in Kazakhstan!  I look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks at the conference.  Thanks so much again--what a blessing you are! 

Love in Christ, Victoria Scanlon

Dear Friends and St. Paul UMC,

Greetings on this lovely, spring-like Sunday!  Thank you so much for your partnership in our ministry.  Randy arrived in Venezuela yesterday, and has had a smooth transition back into Spanish.  He preached twice this morning, and starts the seminary module tomorrow. I leave on March 15 with nine students for a week of ministry in Mexico City. 

Blessings, Rachel and Randy

St. Paul UMC, 

Thank you so much for your interest and support of Hands and Feet Ministries.  We are in the midst of a very busy spring and summer planning with more participants than we have ever had.  We are also very excited about the new children/youth director that we have hired in Mexico.  She will be a continuous presence in our community alongside our year long interns and summer staff.  This year we have opened a new site in Tulum, Mexico and would appreciate your prayers with that.  I look forward to seeing you soon. 

Blessings to you all. 

In His Love, Zach Brining, Hands and Feet Ministries