Thank You
Image via Nebojsa Markovic/Shutterstock.com
2015 growth graph. Image courtesy bluebay/shutterstock.com
We are only two months into 2015 and it has already proven to be a busy year. There is much to be hopeful for in this coming year and much work still to be done on changing the hearts and minds of those in positions of leadership. We are so thankful for our community of supporters who invest and encourage our mission and ministry!
U.S. Capitol Building. Photo: trekandshoot / Shutterstock
I live in community. What constitutes living in community means different things depending on whom you're talking to. To my 80-year-old grandmother it means that I have joined a cult. In reality, I live with my 10 fellow interns.
Together, we are all learning what it means to live and function as a cohort, how to pour the love of Christ into one another, and how to borrow strength from friends when we need it most. This includes sharing a home, sharing a budget, and sharing the last bit of ice cream that is left in the freezer.
A few nights ago during dinner sharp demands bounced from person to person. Many of our simple requests were stated as demands. Of course, when feeding 10 hungry people there is understandably a bit of an urgency to get food. But, there were no pleases and very few thank-yous.
I's late at night. I walk in the door after a meeting and my wife is laughing her head off.
I just finished Jim Wallis’ thought-provoking editorial “A Real ‘Values’ Agenda” (January 2008).
Our publisher, Joe Roos, picked up Joyce Hollyday and me at the airport on our return from South Africa. We had just traveled non-stop for 30 hours after an intense visit there of almost six weeks. We were exhausted.
One of the first questions I asked Joe was about our spring financial appeal. We knew Sojourners was at a critical crossroads and that we needed our readers' help to reach out to more people.
When Joe told me what the response had been, a big smile spread across my tired face. I just knew our readers would come through! We have always depended on you, and I instinctively felt we could trust you now, when our future was really at stake. I believed that if we just laid out our situation and offered a solid and exciting plan for the future, we could again count on your support.
Your contributions exceeded our hopes and put us well on our way to raising the money needed for a substantial outreach effort beginning in 1989. So many of you gave generously and sacrificially. One elderly couple apologized that they could only afford $10 because they had both recently gone through serious surgery. "We wish it could be more," they regretted. To all who helped, we can't thank you enough.
Each one of you who contributed should have gotten by now a personal letter of thanks from Joe or me. Your support means more than we can say. Our goals are in sight now, and, with God's help, we believe we will reach them.