Greetings ~
Below is a post from my friend and missionary Christie Magera's blog. They have been given an amazing opportunity but in order to do it they need ALLLL of us to assist. - you can follow Christie on her blog
Ekubo Christian Academy {25k in 25 days}
In 2010 as God directed our steps to start a ministry in our village, the vision we had was to live out the Gospel in community with the families, forge relationships with them, and provide a Christian education for as many children as we had room for in our school as we worked with the families to see how we could provide job opportunities for them. In turn, they would become self-sustainable and be able to pay their children's school fees. The plan to get there was simple; we would connect each child with a sponsor and that sponsor would financially support them until their family was able to. Unfortunately that worked out perfectly on paper but played out completely opposite. For 3 years now we have yet to have a year when our school has operated with all the funds needed. We have been praying diligently for an opportunity that would allow our school to be fully funded so we could direct our fundraising efforts toward some of the other things on our faith list - a bus we can use to generate income or a bakery that will be used to provide jobs, food for our school, and food for selling.
Ekubo Christian Academy now has the capacity for 320 students. The parents are asked to contribute to their children's educations by supplying small amounts of firewood, maize, or whatever they grow or have access to that meets a need at our school. This serves two purposes - to push the ownership of the children's educations back to the families and to help us keep the sponsorship amounts around $300/child. We made some much-needed changes to our program and now your financial gift will cover all the children, not just one. Go here to read more about it. Our faithful supporters were excited about the changes and we picked up some new sponsors in the process. The operational expenses for our school are $96,000 and while we haven't heard back from all of last year's sponsors as to whether or not they will be renewing this year, we have raised the $16,000 needed to cover through the end of last month. So for the 7 days of this month we have gone backwards - the school continues to run but no funds are coming in. Just when we were beginning to feel defeated, God whispered, "I am not silent. I am working."
Friends, when we feel God is silent - He's not. He is moving mountains that we don't see. Some we never knew were there. Oh, when we feel He is silent it just means we are not to the point in our journey that He is revealing His plans to us. Brothers and sisters, be courageous! He is our Hope. Let's walk boldly on the path He has set out before us, even if we can't see where our next step is. For that silence may be Him preparing hearts to join us on this journey.
And that was exactly what He was doing. A couple of nights ago I was catching up on emails when I got a message from a sweet family.
We are beyond excited that God is using them to build our faith and answer our prayer. We invite you to help us. If we can raise $25,000 in 25 days, they will match it and we will have $50,000 toward our goal of having the school fully funded.
Ekubo Christian Academy now has the capacity for 320 students. The parents are asked to contribute to their children's educations by supplying small amounts of firewood, maize, or whatever they grow or have access to that meets a need at our school. This serves two purposes - to push the ownership of the children's educations back to the families and to help us keep the sponsorship amounts around $300/child. We made some much-needed changes to our program and now your financial gift will cover all the children, not just one. Go here to read more about it. Our faithful supporters were excited about the changes and we picked up some new sponsors in the process. The operational expenses for our school are $96,000 and while we haven't heard back from all of last year's sponsors as to whether or not they will be renewing this year, we have raised the $16,000 needed to cover through the end of last month. So for the 7 days of this month we have gone backwards - the school continues to run but no funds are coming in. Just when we were beginning to feel defeated, God whispered, "I am not silent. I am working."
Friends, when we feel God is silent - He's not. He is moving mountains that we don't see. Some we never knew were there. Oh, when we feel He is silent it just means we are not to the point in our journey that He is revealing His plans to us. Brothers and sisters, be courageous! He is our Hope. Let's walk boldly on the path He has set out before us, even if we can't see where our next step is. For that silence may be Him preparing hearts to join us on this journey.
And that was exactly what He was doing. A couple of nights ago I was catching up on emails when I got a message from a sweet family.
They have generously offered to match all donations up to
$25,000 through March 31st!!!
We are beyond excited that God is using them to build our faith and answer our prayer. We invite you to help us. If we can raise $25,000 in 25 days, they will match it and we will have $50,000 toward our goal of having the school fully funded.
How can you help?
GIVE sacrificially to help us. God has already made provisions to have every dollar matched. You can give your tax-deductible gift through Visiting Orphans. We encourage you to send a check as there is a 5% fee for credit card donations. A check would enable your entire gift to be matched and applied directly to the need. Please make checks payable to Visiting Orphans, put Ekubo Christian Academy in the notes and send to:
Visiting Orphans
449 Metroplex Drive
Nashville, TN 37211
PRAY that hearts are moved to help us and that God pours out His blessings in and through each one of them.
GIVE sacrificially to help us. God has already made provisions to have every dollar matched. You can give your tax-deductible gift through Visiting Orphans. We encourage you to send a check as there is a 5% fee for credit card donations. A check would enable your entire gift to be matched and applied directly to the need. Please make checks payable to Visiting Orphans, put Ekubo Christian Academy in the notes and send to:
Visiting Orphans
449 Metroplex Drive
Nashville, TN 37211
SHARE this amazing opportunity. Talk with your family. Your friends. Your small group. Your faith family at church. Share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and any other social media sites you use. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates that you can use to share with everyone you have encouraged to give. Watch with us as God brings His body together to fill this need and restore our faith in Him!
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