A Request

For the full details of this request, please read the rest of the post below. If you would simply like to make a donation to help us reach our Flash Goal of $700, you may click here to do so. The link is included at the bottom of this post as well.

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I am breaking from my normal blogging this week to present a financial request. Last summer on this blog, I announced that a new organization had been created to train pastors around the world. (You can see the website for Pastor Training Community (PTC) and get more information here.) Until very recently, we have not had much to report since I returned from Kenya in January. However, over the past three weeks much has happened. The most recent PTC blog post details a couple of key items including our recent approval as a 501(c)3 corporation. However, one item is missing from that post and is the basis for my request.

Due to the heavy flooding in Kenya, the training I was supposed to do was postponed. While I am comfortably situated in America ready to train over the internet, the pastors were not able to travel to the selected site due to high waters and washed out roads. However, roads are reopening and I learned this week that we can train next week, so plans are being made. 40 pastors are scheduled to attend the training and the topics will be The Gospels in the morning and Spiritual Disciplines in the afternoons. It is an abbreviated class for both, but the two important matters are that a foundation will be laid for these pastors AND our internet training will be officially underway. That is the good news. The challenge is that our ministry partners in Kenya are in need of financial help to make this training fully possible. The biggest challenge is having the money to feed the pastors who come for the training, but a few other expenses bring the the total need to nearly $700 for the week.

When PTC was conceptualized the idea was to provide more of a Q&A time after the pastors/church leaders had done some pre-work. The Q&A would be one to two hours in duration and then each would go, do some more work, and reconvene a few weeks later. However, in Kenya (and presumably other places), this approach will not work. The desire of PTC is to reach under-resourced leaders in under-resourced areas. Most leaders from these “areas” will be required to travel many hours (often by foot) which makes a one or two-hour training session not worth the time for most. For the leaders to benefit from travelling a few hours means they need to stay for a few days and that requires added expense. In my trips to Kenya the expense of providing food and shelter was built into our cost, but I had not properly considered this aspect of the online training based upon the Q&A aspect mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph.

The PTC Board is evaluating how we will approach this issue long-term. But with the class now scheduled for next week, the need is real now. I should let you know that I am an advocate of the phrase, “Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part.” But as I considered that thought this morning, I began to wonder how God might respond. In speaking with the other Board members today, we agreed to expedite our efforts to get our online donations up and running today to see if / how people might respond to this urgent need. (We just received our tax-exempt approval a couple of weeks ago, so we were preparing to launch an appeal for donations soon, but this issue has expedited our efforts.) So, we are making this appeal to see what happens within 72 hours in our effort to not only train, but to also provide food and some shelter cost for the forty pastors in Eastern Kenya next week.

I appreciate your indulging my request. If you cannot give, please pray that we will reach our goal and for the training next week. Whatever happens in these next 72 hours and beyond, may God receive the glory!

If you would like to make a donation, you may do so through PayPal by clicking on this link. You do not need a PayPal account to make a donation. We have also included a Donate link on our FaceBook page (@pastortrainingcommunity – look immediately under the banner on the page), and on our website (click on Give, then on the PayPal link).

As of May 17 at 1:50 am, we already have over $100 towards the goal. I will post an update on the PTC Facebook page (in the comments of the post with the original request) each day through Sunday. Please note: If we exceed the goal, any extra money will be used to provide food and shelter the next time training occurs at this same location.