January 01, 1984 by

We are busy trying to save others. We are proud of that. As the world's largest cooperative mission center, with people from over 60 mission agencies working here every day, only S people are spared to work on the Touch Ten plan, which is our exclusive means of raising money to pay for our property. We are here to save the cause of missions, not just ourselves.

Are we saving others? I'll skip over all the non financial contributions we are making. For example, during this month alone 660 students in 14 centers across the country are studying our block buster basic college credit course on missions. Twenty thousand have studied our thick text in the last three years. They will become the backbone of mission supporters in their churches. Many will go overseas. Through them we are helping churches and mission agencies. Not us!In terms of money alone, we are already raising $3.2 million per year for others through the Frontier Fellowship, which is mainly an educational and inspirational activity which we started. Soon we hope that will grow to $100 million per year, given through this movement to many, many other groups. Not to us!

Right here more than $5 million per year is generated for the agencies participating with us on this campus. But not  for us!

Indirectly, our posters, our facts and figures, our research in dozens of striking new avenues, is flowing into the veins of the U.S. and world evangelical movement, inevitably assisting in the raising of other millions. Not for us!

Why not for us?

Precisely because we encourage other organizations to consider this Center a place to work together on the final mission frontiers, our conviction of Sods will for us (ever since 1977) has been to avoid competition for funds. That has led us to THE WORLDS HARDEST WAY TO RAISE MONEY  namely, to ask for a small one time donation from a large number of people.

The Best News Yet

God has remembered us in our need. So have the mission agencies. Wycliffe Bible Translators, in some ways the biggest mission going today, has decided to help us.

How? Wycliffe leaders have offered to ask their 5,040 missionaries each to become $15.95 Founders. They are also willing to urge their supporters to do the same.

Isn't this amazing, Isn't this truly magnanimous? Surely it is

But is it Gods best plan? If we are truly serious about the necessity of broadening the base of missions for all agencies, perhaps God would rather we encouraged Wycliffe supporters and staff to each send invitations to hope further out to people who may not now regularly give to the mission cause.

That way they will help add new supporters to the cause, not just get more money for us from e>nsting supporters. And these new founders of the Center can in turn become potential continuing donors for Wyclif fe. But not for us!

We know that this is a harder way to go. And our crisis is as great as ever, perhaps even more so. But we think that this plan is better in the long run because the cause of the frontiers will become known to many, many more people.

Synopsis of Previous Installments

1. Last Sept. the $6 million final balloon payment came due on two thirds of the campus.
2. But our TOUCH TEN campaign had already opened up an ocean of good will, and produced the beautiful picture you see across the page  of 13,034 new people responding for the first time to the challenge of the worlds Hidden Peoples!
3. Mow it worked: we sent out one first class letter as a cry for help. Almost immediately 402 stalwart people in local congregations accepted entire "MOPE Chests" (with 100 packets in them, each packet containing 10 invitations..)
4. Roughly half of those packets were placed in the hands of a small army of (about 6,500) willing workers who in turn agreed to try prayerfully to "Touch Ten" people further out¬beyond their own congregations.
5. We estimate that eventually 53,000 invitations were sent out by this method. As of Jan 16 exactly 13,034 (about 24%) had come in. In terms of the suggested $15 gifts, these gave $200,000. Many gave sore, especially former donors, so that a total of almost $1 million cane in.
6. But that didn't total $6 million. Thus we were unable to make the balloon payment and had to accept a 2 year escape clause that imposes both higher payments and higher interest (still under discussion).
7. With what the Lord did give us we were at least able to pay what was overdue from June. We also paid the new legal minimum of $300,000 for Sept 1st. And we have since paid the next $300,000 due Dec 1st. Now, noon or. Jan. 26, we have $236,899 toward our March 1st payment.
8. However, looking at the picture to the left, you can see that additional $15.95 donors are now only trickling in. (Same with other gifts.) ?o make the March 1st payment we may have to dig into reserves intended for other purposes. Even that will not be sufficient for the June 84 payment.
9. So, the question is, "How can we get moving again?"