This is an article from the March-April 1994 issue: Wycliffe Bible Translators

MF Behind the Scenes

MF Behind the Scenes

 

 

Thank You!

wood.JPG (4591 bytes)The first thing that I want to say this time is, thank you, to each of the 146 people who have sent in gifts of $136.50 or more and to the dozens who have sent in smaller gifts to help MF since our last issue. This is such a great improvement over the previous four months. Zealous readers in almost 20% of the "Groups of 70" have now covered the costs of all of 1994 for their areas. This is wonderful! We are applying all 188 gifts to 1994, hoping soon to cover all of 1994.

Did we goof in our math or what?

One observant reader noted that 93,000 US and foreign copies times $1.95 is $181,350 not $136.500. ($1.95 is the cost of printing and mailing 6 issues of MF to someone in the US.) This does not include the cost of sending the 15,000 copies of MF to people overseas.

When Dr. Winter first presented this cost-effective method of paying for MF in the Jan-Feb. 93 issue, he figured out that we needed 1,000 groups of 70 to help shoulder the costs of Mission Frontiers for only the 70,000 who live in the US. Being a former missionary he felt reluctant to badger people overseas for help. Why? Because it costs a lot more to send MF out of the country and also because that is where missionaries and national leaders are less able to pay.

He felt that if at least those in the US could deal with their own costs, as an institution we would try to support the overseas costs. We also appreciate the gifts from those of you who want to help us cover the costs for these key Christian leaders.

Of course, there is nothing magical about the number 70,000. As our list in the US increases, we will need more groups of 70-as we have said before-each of which will, we hope, be able to handle their own areas.

As a matter of fact we are already sending an additional 4,300 to the USA and that then means we need to hope that 61 more (4,300/70) groups will be able to cover their own costs. In other words, the goal is now a total of 1,000+61. The thing to remember is that our circulation and costs of printing and mailing MF are continually changing and so the actual number of people needing to send in gifts will change also. Our financial goals for the continuation of MF are approximations of what we will need.

One of the very important activities in any Group of 70 is not just 1) to raise money or even 2) to save money, but 3) to make sure that the impact of Mission Frontiers is not wasted on some addresses and not being sent to others where people would love to receive it.

However,4) the most important activity of a Group of 70 arises from the fact, that many different churches are usually represented in each Group of 70. This means that it is very strategic for people in these groups to pray for one another and encourage one another in their efforts to see new frontier mission vision to grow ever stronger in all congregations already represented in each group.

An Open Door?

As mentioned in the last issue, we are no longer sending Mission Frontiers to the 15,000 key Christian leaders on our overseas mailing list because of the extreme cost of mailing things from the United States. This has been a very distressing situation for me. I would like to keep sending it to them-we all would.

We have been working to solve this problem and we believe that we may have found a solution that will enable us to print the Jan.-Feb. 94 issue and mail it to the overseas people sometime in March. But the details have yet to be worked out and it could still fall through. So for the moment, the overseas people are not yet receiving MF for 1994. Please pray for the Lord to work out this problem for us. I hope to be able to report some really good news in the next issue.

If you want to make sure that your friends overseas will receive MF no matter what, then you may send in $13 for each yearly air-mail subscription. Those people overseas who have paid for an air mail subscription have had no interruption in their service. When we do resume the general overseas delivery, the air mail subscribers always get it more promptly.

Where is my Sept.-Dec 93 MF?

Some of our readers have been asking this question. The fact is that we did not print another MF between the July- August 93 MF and the January- February 94 issue. We wanted to take the coming new year as an opportunity to put MF back on schedule with the magazine being printed and mailed before the date on the magazine and not after. This March-April 94 issue is being printed in February instead of April or May as has happened in the past. I hope you will enjoy our new punctuality.

Shaken but not damaged

Most of you have heard about the earthquake that struck Southern California on January 17th and seen the incredible pictures of the damage on television. I wanted to take a moment to let you know that, unlike previous earthquakes, the US Center suffered little damage from this one. We never lost our power or water and never suffered any of the serious problems that people near the epicenter of the quake have endured. We thank God for His mercy toward us and at the same time pray for those who have lost so much.

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