In case you haven't already noticed, this website is a little different
than most, and this page will be no different.
I was listening to a Christian program one night and heard the man who
was speaking, list several things that were going to take place for several of us listeners.
He said that God would give us a strategy on how to order our ministry
and how to build the finances we needed to do what God was calling us to do, He would give us a financial plan, we would be
debt free, God would reveal to us the hinderances to doing what He had called us to do and that His annointing and glory
would be on everything we touch.
This seems to be what quite a few preachers are saying these days, so
it seemed to be a valid question to ask of God.
His answer was pretty simple, uncomplicated and, uh..., not exactly humanly
acceptable, for most who would hear it.
He told me that He had already given us the strategy for our ministry
and we have already been following it.......Trust Him for the provision and the direction when He CHOOSES to give it.....Go
where, when and how He tells us to go.....Give what, to whom and when He tells us to, and do what He has told us to do when
and how.
There are no hinderances slowing down our ministry.....We just need to
wait upon His timing and direction and obey when He SENDS us.....
When we have obeyed and done what He has told us to do, there has always
been results and we have experienced His annointing and, often, His glory. But we have always witnessed His favor, other's
response to Him AND His blessings upon our lives.
God also reminded me of some scriptures that He had given me to guide
us on this issue:
Zechariah 4:6-10
Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain, and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts
of Grace, grace to it.... Also the word of the Lord came to me saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of
this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts sent me to you. For who has despised
the day of small beginnings.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things
will be added to you.
Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good
measure; pressed down, shaken together and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.
When God led us, in 1993, to set up the ministry that we have now
the foundation had already been laid back in 1973, when different items started appearing in my room, and I had no personal
need for them and no idea where they had come from. But God would tell
me to hold on to them until He brought their intended owner across my path.
I didn't know that was the beginning of our actual ministry. I just
thought it was just training for where I and, later, my husband would eventually be headed.
Over the years from 1973 and 1993, I, then we, built on that foundation
of giving whatever came our way and finding new ways to give and different ways of getting it to the intended owners.
We registered our ministry in 1995, even though it was officially started
in 1993, because none of us could agree on the same name for the ministry for two years. Can't register a ministry or any
legal entity without a name.
At that time, God had told us not to apply for nonprofit status. We thought
it was to keep us below the radar, since we knew that sometimes we could be going into dangerous situations.
In 1997 we and our partners had become more familiar with the nonprofit
designation because of the women's ministry some of us were in at that time. We discussed whether to register or
not, the same with incorporation. We discussed this and prayed over it for months and kept coming back to the same answer...NO!!!
Around this time, I received an email from a Christian incorporator who
laid out the guidelines of what nonprofit, incorporation and qualification for church or ministry status required.
Becoming nonprofit or incorporated does not make an organization a church
or a ministry. It just qualifies them for a nontax status and REQUIRES that they raise funds and one third of which must
be from outside sources, not of their own group.
In the USA it also limits what the minister can say in an official capacity
if it is considered at all political in nature.
What we do is what qualifies us to be a church or a ministry, such
as being ordained, registering the ministry with the state and doing the types of things that churches are noted for, such
as regular meeting times, ministry literature and a stated doctrine.
God had already told us not to solicit funds or to take offerings, although
it was alright to accept what was offered to us, unless He told us otherwise, so we really couldn't fulfill the nonprofit requirements
anyway.
We have found that if we just give out or use, in the pursuit of ministry,
most of what we have received, we don't need to worry about paying taxes anyway. Except for sales tax, you only get taxed
on what doesn't get used above a certain amount.
We also have the freedom to say whatever we are led to say. The ACLU
can't take away what we already don't have. The big PLUS, also, is that when we have the funds for a trip, we know that
God is in it, because He has to provide the way for us to go. No human is paying our way.
In the following pages, I tell about how God has provided for us, and
the circumstances surrounding each situation.
