Last week we ran out of gas [butane] and could no longer cook for the crowds at our campsite. Not to worry, someone else had some gas and we were away again, brewing coffee and flipping crepes. Same thing just happened with our finances. Our mission funding took a wicked hit this year and we have been compensating by cutting expenses and getting creative. Even becoming homeless for a season. But a big unexpected cut just happened and we no longer have enough funding for our personal needs as well as some mission projects over the next few months.
Thus, I had to cancel my USA trip this week to the Christian Web Conference [thanks for being understanding - I think Cynthia Ware might be taking my place in the Great Debate and she will do much better than me]. And we will not be doing our furlough in USA this year [last time was 4 years ago] because it is too expensive and because we think we can raise funds just as easily through the web. Or maybe we can just postpone it until we get our feet on solid ground.
Anyway, this week we are putting our heads together on how to raise funds, how to be more economically creative in our lifestyle and ministry, and how to become more sustainable in the long term through social enterprise and micro-business.
A few things have been put into motion including the idea of monitizing this blog with some link ads that you will probably hate and will complain about but hey . . . I need to feed the family . . . and this is one way I think I can make ends meet.
But the immediate need is for some creative people to help me figure out how to involve more people in our mission projects and raise some immediate cash. And so, if you have some good ideas for doing this, please let me know. I am working on a givezooks.com account, btw, which will give people the chance to help spread the word through their social media accounts. Any advice?