You've Put the Words of What is in My Heart

Mga Igsoon ko,
Gatulo akong luha in reading your emails today.
Firstly, thank you very much Ren for losening up and openning up. Honestly I dreaded the scenario that I will be push to choose to delete anyone in this egroup.. So I was really praying hard that love, tolerance, acceptance and embracing oneanother would prevail even if we have different preferences. .. Thank you too for your advice. BTW we are in Bangladesh not in Cambodia. But please do not let me stop thinking and praying for our root, figuratively, I will die if I would be disconnected with you people (hehehehe).. We doing fine in our adjustment, although we have to really burn candles in our language study. Its really difficult, they said Bangla is the next hardest language next to Chinese. We are also getting meaningful frienships with some locals.
Rub, you've put the words of what is in my heart...haay tulo na pud ako luha. How I desire to to see our CebuNavs community what you have seen in Acts, and what the Moravian C did a century ago. Yes all did their part to advance the Kingdom accoding to the role that God gave them. They go to place in group, some doing business some working and some and handling the Word but they as a community is creating an impact hard to resist by the locals becuase of the life the've shown as a loving community. This is actually the heart of vision of the Navs today.
Now how do we apply this in Cebu Navs community? We have a base Min. in Cebu and we are all scattered all over the world? I think what you are sharing now could be the answer.. Mga Igsoon, God is so gacious to us that He would open our eyes to the opportunity to be partners with Him. He blessed with people who can do fulltime min work. 40% of the fulltime Navs Staff are form CebuNavs, and 83% who left the Phils as Navs and went overseas with Missi... in mind .. are also form Cebu. I think we are beginning to see that He has also blessed many of us the capacity to earn not only for ourselves but most of all, to be His partners in the furtherance of His Kingdom. At the end of the day mga igsoon ko, its not how high we have climb the ladder of success that will give us "Life" but its the King and giving ourselves to the furtherance of His Kingdom that will. Our King has promised us that He came to give us Life and have it abundantly.. .As a community let's start living abundantly by being consumed with Him and His Kingdom..
Lastly di gyud ko maimutang kung di ko makaappreciate sa mga tirada ni Bay Venric... lupig pay abogado ug mga philosophers of the past.... Saludo na pod ko bay venric..y

The Acts 2 Model

First, I would like to take the chance to send my greetings to Oxy, especially kon ulay man pud diay ka as you are so candid:) Seems like you'll be with us forever kay si Rene ni submit na man:)

Abi nimo R.G. naa na jud koy gisulat few weeks ago when I woke up one day, clear kaayo akong mind and I rushed to type them in pero wa nako ma send and at the end of the day I accidentally close it without saving. I just couldn't retrieve the thoughts and could not replay the moment. what a waste!

awat ko ani ni oxy..below are my worthless thoughts on the finance issue at this point..

Bahin sa pangutana ni Oxy kon asa ang mga staff in the survey preparation. .maybe somebody else has to answer her kay wa gani ko kabalo nga kini si R.G.. dili man diay staff:).

However, as to the objective of the survey.. I mentioned having a survey or something to base our future/immediate engagement to this issue. That was because of R.G.'s comment not only once in this egroup but the last time noted was on the 27th of February he wrote..

".. I think we from Cebu navs, God has raised many committed workers, working full-time in the ministry and willing to risk to mission fields both locally and overseas, but we are also not very good in terms of giving... "

I took the first part of the phrase as a compliment/strength worthy of praises to the Lord. The second part is somehow expected as a weakness that needs to be addressed through the survey. Based on the result, the last 2 questions are critical.. it shows that givers appreciate the sincerity of the partnership as not only when the person is actively supporting financially but as prayer partners first. The giving plan is generally based on the need seen and the personal relationship. I hope the survey will give the staffs and leadership some ideas in what really matters to donors and how the donors appropriate their giving.

I am aware that this will not be easy because the Navs has its own structure and ways of running the ministry. However, if we and the leadership are open to the alumni's or outsiders' (not a staff) ideas of running our local affairs i.e. cebunavs then we in this egroup could step in and take care of our own concerns as a group.

As Edd suggested, we can set up a Local Investment Fund to support needy staffs and other emergency concerns. And I agree that it should have to be managed well and have transparency in how it is being appropriated. . Based on what I learned from this exchange.. I could say, it doesn't make sense and not morally right to see a staff hardly surviving. How could we let this go on??

On the other hand, it is not enough to ask people to give or criticize them for not giving or for giving reasons not to give. I believe this is a group of generous people. In fact, we need to celebrate that cebunavs is on target of what the ministry is all about.. raising committed laborers for His harvest!!

The Acts 2 model of believers working together is worth emulating. Each one of us in this egroup is an asset to the ministry with unique set of gifts. Some may not have cash but have time. Some may not have the luxury of time but have a special talent or have a great network connection. Anyway, there's a lot of potentials this egroup is sitting on and we could utilize them. Each one's contribution to the Kingdom is valuable in God's economy. We just need creativity and teamwork to turn this into a tangible outcome.

My out of the box idea is to have a paid staff to relieve the burden of fund raising. At least a base/living allowance! This in turn will encourage new graduates to continue serving the ministry while waiting or looking for a job considering they don't have the experience to raise funds. But, there should be a different criteria for the paid from the unpaid.

Another avenue is to expand the carenderia investment that was started already or some sort of business venture that everybody could take part.

uyy, taas na man..

Blessings to all of you,

Ruby

Suggested Application

Hi,

I would like to congratulate Amir and the rest of the family for putting up a good
survey on the issue of finances. I just made my vote and I can imagine the efforts
you put into it. Well Done Guys!

Siguro, dunay actions nga atong buhaton pag-abot sa resulta. Kay kung ang atong
buhaton igo ra sa pag-hatag sa resulta didto sa kaulohan, murag kulang siguro ang
atong paningkamot. Akong sugyot nga maghimo ta ug general fund where alumni can
make deposits then we will manage that fund and appropriate the money to the needy
staff. Kinahanglan lang ug maayong management siguro.. Sugyot lang ni.

Bahin kang Ms Oxy, akong ma picture nga mura tag mga hamtong nga mga
batan-on nga nagdula ug soccer (foot ball sa Europe) sa usa ka playing field.
Lingaw kaayo ta, siging katawa, dagan ug ang uban namo-mo kay napandol.

Unya sa takulahaw lamang, miabot ang bag-ong silingan nga nagdalag bula kay
gusto mo-apil sa dula. Ang naka apan lang kay lain nga bola iyang gidala - oblong
para sa rugby. Lain-lain ang reaction sa mga nag-dula. Ang uban sa atoa dili dayon
paapilon si Oxy. Ang uban lain sab ug tinan-awan. Walay nangutana kung dis-a
siya gikan ug nganong oblong iyang bola. Unsa kahay maayong sipaon ang
oblong o lingin nga bola? Ako kay medyo gulang naman, gamay na akong bola,
golf balls na lang he he he he.

Para sa akoa, ako siyang pangutan-on "where do you come from with your thoughts"?
Are you worth my attention?

Siguro kung babae ni siya, ulay kay murag candid man matod pa ni Venric. Kung lalake,
tawagaon ko nalang ni siyang Mr. Moron. Heh he he he he he.

Ayaw kasuko Oxy ha? Basig ipa barang ko nimo? Daghan ra kag kaila matud pa ni Amir.

Regards,

Edd