Fundraising Letter

9/29/2017

Dear Friends and Family:

            Recently I made the decision to answer God’s call to ministry. I am excited about this opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ, as a local licensed pastor and eventually possibly an Elder in Full Connection in the United Methodist Church and I am writing you to let you know how you can be involved.
            “Why Ministry?” you may be asking.  “Don’t we have enough Pastor’s already?” Did you know that there are over 10 million in the state of NC and of those 10 million people, 48% (or 4.5 million) of those people state that they practice some religion; and of that only 12% (540,000) state that they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That means only 5.4% of North Carolinians adhere to Christianity or profess to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. People are hungry for truth, for love and for hope. “How than can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!” (Romans 10:14-15)

            OK, here are some details for you. I will be attending a discernment weekend in Gastonia on the weekend of November 3-4^th. During this weekend retreat I will be meeting my ministry mentor for the first time as well as participating in small group discussions with my mentor for the first two of six mandatory meetings as well as a two part psychological evaluation. For this retreat and this entire discernment period I am going to need lots of prayer. Prayer is really the key to successful ministry and this is no exception. Each one of the exploring candidates needs prayer to be united and to always be focusing on God no matter what happens. I will also need prayer for me personally to stay looking to God and that God will be directing each one to the path to which He has called us. However, I am also seeking financial support. I will also need financial support. The Retreat complete with Psychological exam will cost $425 and I am trusting God to supply for His work. This will cover my transportation, psychological evaluation and retreat materials. I know you may not be able to help financially but prayer is just as important. If you are able to give financial support or are willing to pray for my ministry, please complete the enclosed form and return before September 30^th.

            In closing, I would like to say thank you for reading this letter and for considering my needs for prayer and financial support. Please contact me if you have any questions. I am extremely excited about this ministry and hope you can share in my excitement. 

www.gofundme.com/raisfaithjourney
www.paypal.me/RachelAnders

Go Fund Me

I know many people are leery of sending money via paypal to a ministry or even to someone they know. So I have set up a go fund me account. You can donate at: https://www.gofundme.com/raisfaithjourney
As I have said time and time again, I can't go forward without support and I am fully expecting God to give me this money. Be blessed my friends.

Trusting God

Scared...yes, that is exactly what I was tonight as I opened the envelope that had come in the mail. I am moving forward in my call to ministry. I knew, after my dinner with the district superintendent, that this was really real.
However, until I held the envelope from the Office of Ministerial Services (OMS) in my hand, it seemed like a distant dream, a far-fetched goal to be called into ministry by the creator of the universe. However, holding that envelope, seeing my name and address on the envelope and reading the monetary cost that is needed to get me through the candidacy process, I am feeling more and more overwhelmed.
At this point, I am needing little more than $450 and honestly, if you know me, I am like many people getting started in ministry, I am broke. I hate begging for money, so as I stared at the envelope sitting on my lap, I laid it on the coffee table, laid my hands on the papers, and said "God, if this is where you want me and I am doing your will the I need you to provide the means for me to continue from this point on."
And that is what I am doing. I did set up my paypal.me account today and you are certainly allowed to use that if you want to donate to my ministry and help me reach my full potential to the Glory of God. I can tell you that 100% of whatever is donated will be used to get me through the candidacy process and then whatever is left over will be donated to my church and our various charities in the UMC.
www.paypal.me/RachelAnders if you want to donate.

I'll Say Yes!

I have spent lots of time in prayer about this announcement. Mainly because I want everyone who is special to me to know what exactly is going on in my life. I know many people will not accept it; because they either one know me, how I was raised and many will think that this is just a phase. However, I will tell you that I have fought this for over a year now and I am honestly answering the call of God and where He is leading me. I did not wake up at 3am, have a craving for fried chicken and discern that as a calling from the Lord to ministry.

A year ago, I was approached by my minister and asked if I felt the calling of God on my life to do something more than just sit in church on Sundays. We spent a few Sunday school hours speaking about what I felt like God was calling me to do. I explained to him that I did feel the call to minister, but I wasn’t sure what that ministry would look like, and I certainly wasn’t sure if it was to preach. During the time that we were speaking about this, I was really unhappy in the school district and after I got my job at Lowe’s I put ministry on the back burner. I still did things for my church, of course. I even drove the church bus to the Ordination service.

After the ordination service, I again, began feeling a lot of uneasiness about my job at Lowe’s. I was happy, but not content. Immediately I started praying “God, are you calling me again?” “Why can’t I just be happy at Lowe’s?” and answers started coming. “This isn’t where you are supposed to be.” I sat down and read Paul’s words “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” Over and over and over these words would course through my mind. Then one morning I woke up and I said “Okay, God, to live is Christ and to die is gain!” That Sunday, I told my pastor, “We need to talk.”
I met with my minister the following Thursday. I was terrified. I was walking into the parsonage office as an inquiring candidate to become a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is NOTHING in this world more intimidating as knowing that the creator of this world is calling you to minister HIS gospel.  And while it is intimidating, it’s incredibly humbling that God will use someone so insignificant to tell others about His love.

I walked out of my minister’s office with a copy of the historic questions, a 2012 Book of Discipline and more questions than answers. I came home, sat down and wrote to my district superintendent. I was again terrified. I knew that I was being called, and I knew my next steps would be to meet with the DS and find out if he also felt that I was being called. On Thursday, September 7^th, I met with the DS and I told him verbally my statement of call, the fact that I had been raised in church, professed my faith at 9 years old as a Christian; was picked on in youth group as the weakest link, very nearly gave up on God and my faith. The fact that I always felt like a black sheep because my faith wasn’t in plastic preachers and a fake gospel of prosperity. The fact that I had endured being asked to leave a rather large local congregation after I did everything to keep peace and felt the sting of undeserved church discipline. Instead of judging me, the DS looked at me and said “Rachel, why do you want to be a minister? Why now?” I looked at him and said “Dr. Arrington, I believe that all I have been through is a testament to the work of God and that somewhere in my story, others can pull encouragement for their own journey.” The next question he asked was “How does Methodist theology differ from what you learned as a child or even in the churches that you attended as an adult or even at Liberty University?” I told him, “We as Methodist, actually try to live out our faith daily.”

I walked away from that meeting knowing I was doing exactly what God was calling me to do. The meeting set my mind at ease to be able to say “Yes! I am being called to pastoral ministry!” I am excited, I am scared, but most of all I am humbled to know that I am finally walking according to God’s plan in my life.

The next few months of my life aren’t going to be easy and I get that. I have one weekend retreat, several mandatory meetings with a mentor, a psychological evaluation and a meeting with my church’s Pastor/Parish Relations Committee and a meeting with the Charge Conference; as well as a meeting with the District Committee on Ordained Ministry to become certified as a Candidate.

What I need from my friends and family is prayer and support. I will be updating my blog the1witness.blogspot.com as I journey through this time in my life. You can share the posts if you like; and of course, you can always contact me for information about my journey if you want to know more.

For those that want to support my ministry or help offset some of the cost of my retreats and psychological testing, you can donate by using
Paypal: randers@att.net

Be Careful what you post

Brothers and Sisters, Please watch what you post on Facebook. We are all guilty of posting things that don't bring glory to God. Today as I was looking through different timelines of friends and reading the news, I came across this post.

This post offended me. Not because I am fan of the Obamas, because I am not a fan, rather I was offended because 1) as a Christian I should never want to see anyone die for anything and 2) as a Christian we shouldn't post this stuff that stirs up strife. The other thing that bothered me was the post that was posted just a MINUTE prior to posting this about the Obamas. The first post was: 

Friends, please be aware of what you are posting online; it could be a stumbling block for someone, or it could be the weight that tips a persons decision for Christ or against Christ.