I Made the Decision
As many of you are aware, I am now on Campus Staff at International Students, Inc (ISI). I felt God leading me in that direction late last year. After I found out I had a brain tumor, and the subsequent surgery, in recovery I knew this is where I needed to be.
ISI is a wonderful missionary ministry. However, it is a missionary effort in reverse. Instead of spending lots of time and money training and sending missionaries to the nations, we are sharing the gospel with the nations while they are here in the US!
Consider this:
- Over 1 million foreign students will study in the US this year
- 40% of the world’s heads of state have studied here
- 60% come from the 10/40 window blocked to the gospel
- 75% of them will not be invited into a US home while they are here
Going on staff at ISI has been a great blessing for me. You know me, my heart has always been for students more than engineering, or about anything. However, for the first time in my life I am completely dependent on the Lord and His people to provide the resources to do this. Not sure if I ever told you but I took out half of my 401k to start my ministry to students in Folsom. That was a huge leap of faith as that was my retirement, my future security, that is now gone. My SDI runs out in 3 weeks. I am at my Red Sea crossing. They say where God guides He provides. I am about to find out if God really has guided me to do this. I am about at 70% of my support goal of $36,000. I am pretty sure ISI will not allow me to continue after Jan 1, 2015 if I don’t raise my final 30%. So, that is why I am writing you this note. Please pray if God would have you give to me and this work. The donation link is right on My ISI webpage, below. A year-end donation would be great but a recurring donation is better for me. All donations are tax deductible and ISI will send you the receipt and EIN info. Also, would you be my advocate if there are people or a missions board at your church who might be interested in supporting me? Please don’t feel any pressure to give because of our friendship. None of this will affect that or our history. It is really only about if God is moving your heart to provide (Ex 25:2).
<<Letter to my family>>
Dear family- I thought I should let you all know that I am now on Campus Staff part-time as a missionary for International Students, Inc (ISI). I officially started on Aug 21. Before that I was a Ministry Rep where I was pretty much a volunteer that just got reimbursed for expenses I incurred ministering to the students. At the urging of ISI and, oh yeah, the Holy Spirit, I made the decision that it would honor God to take a step of faith and go get more involved. It was a difficult decision from the standpoint of it being very humbling as I have to now ask friends and family for ministry support (link, below). In my entire life I have never had to ask for $ as I was able to minister out my own finances. But, a lot has changed in my life and it is clear that I can’t do it all by myself, anymore. I need the help of God’s people to do more things, including doing ministry. ISI is a great, time-tested (60+ years) ministry started by 2 heroes of the faith – Billy Graham and Dawson Trotman (Navigators). God has a special place in His heart for the world but especially orphans, widows and foreigners and the poor. In the links below you can quickly see all the supporting scriptures to support this statement. Right now I am still on disability and will be for 3 more months. So, I am using this time to raise support so that when Jan 1, 2015 hits they can pay me for my work from now to the end of the year and then, hopefully, I will have enough commitment from God’s people to continue and go full-time. I am not paid very much but it will be enough to keep my house and do what I love to do- work with students. I am not going to bug you guys about this so please just pray about it. If you want, I can call you and give more information. Otherwise, it’s all in God’s hands. Where God guides, He provides, Chuck Smith used to say. Your prayers are very much appreciated as this support raising is way out of my comfort zone. – Erv
PS There are also some pretty useful links in the upper right corner of My ISI webpage
PSS No, this is not ISIS. It is ISI
International Students, Inc (ISI) website
http://www.isionline.org
My ISI webpage. <To Donate and resource links>
http://isiervthomas.weebly.com
ISI page, just for students
http://www.internationalstudents.org
How God views foreigners
http://www.isivolunteers.org/what-does-god-say-about-internationals-and-aliens.html
Biblical reasons for reaching international students
http://www.isivolunteers.org/biblical-reasons-for-international-student-ministry.html
Tax Advantage for the Kingdom
- http://isiervthomas.weebly.com/giving-irs.html
Pics
https://plus.google.com/photos/100257104980691576980/albums/6053038271389882641
"When it comes to reaching the world for Jesus Christ, I cannot think of a more strategic ministry in the Lord’s work today (than ISI). These future leaders from around the world will go back home carrying the good news of the Gospel" - Billy Graham
As many of you are aware, I am now on Campus Staff at International Students, Inc (ISI). I felt God leading me in that direction late last year. After I found out I had a brain tumor, and the subsequent surgery, in recovery I knew this is where I needed to be.
ISI is a wonderful missionary ministry. However, it is a missionary effort in reverse. Instead of spending lots of time and money training and sending missionaries to the nations, we are sharing the gospel with the nations while they are here in the US!
Consider this:
- Over 1 million foreign students will study in the US this year
- 40% of the world’s heads of state have studied here
- 60% come from the 10/40 window blocked to the gospel
- 75% of them will not be invited into a US home while they are here
Going on staff at ISI has been a great blessing for me. You know me, my heart has always been for students more than engineering, or about anything. However, for the first time in my life I am completely dependent on the Lord and His people to provide the resources to do this. Not sure if I ever told you but I took out half of my 401k to start my ministry to students in Folsom. That was a huge leap of faith as that was my retirement, my future security, that is now gone. My SDI runs out in 3 weeks. I am at my Red Sea crossing. They say where God guides He provides. I am about to find out if God really has guided me to do this. I am about at 70% of my support goal of $36,000. I am pretty sure ISI will not allow me to continue after Jan 1, 2015 if I don’t raise my final 30%. So, that is why I am writing you this note. Please pray if God would have you give to me and this work. The donation link is right on My ISI webpage, below. A year-end donation would be great but a recurring donation is better for me. All donations are tax deductible and ISI will send you the receipt and EIN info. Also, would you be my advocate if there are people or a missions board at your church who might be interested in supporting me? Please don’t feel any pressure to give because of our friendship. None of this will affect that or our history. It is really only about if God is moving your heart to provide (Ex 25:2).
<<Letter to my family>>
Dear family- I thought I should let you all know that I am now on Campus Staff part-time as a missionary for International Students, Inc (ISI). I officially started on Aug 21. Before that I was a Ministry Rep where I was pretty much a volunteer that just got reimbursed for expenses I incurred ministering to the students. At the urging of ISI and, oh yeah, the Holy Spirit, I made the decision that it would honor God to take a step of faith and go get more involved. It was a difficult decision from the standpoint of it being very humbling as I have to now ask friends and family for ministry support (link, below). In my entire life I have never had to ask for $ as I was able to minister out my own finances. But, a lot has changed in my life and it is clear that I can’t do it all by myself, anymore. I need the help of God’s people to do more things, including doing ministry. ISI is a great, time-tested (60+ years) ministry started by 2 heroes of the faith – Billy Graham and Dawson Trotman (Navigators). God has a special place in His heart for the world but especially orphans, widows and foreigners and the poor. In the links below you can quickly see all the supporting scriptures to support this statement. Right now I am still on disability and will be for 3 more months. So, I am using this time to raise support so that when Jan 1, 2015 hits they can pay me for my work from now to the end of the year and then, hopefully, I will have enough commitment from God’s people to continue and go full-time. I am not paid very much but it will be enough to keep my house and do what I love to do- work with students. I am not going to bug you guys about this so please just pray about it. If you want, I can call you and give more information. Otherwise, it’s all in God’s hands. Where God guides, He provides, Chuck Smith used to say. Your prayers are very much appreciated as this support raising is way out of my comfort zone. – Erv
PS There are also some pretty useful links in the upper right corner of My ISI webpage
PSS No, this is not ISIS. It is ISI
International Students, Inc (ISI) website
http://www.isionline.org
My ISI webpage. <To Donate and resource links>
http://isiervthomas.weebly.com
ISI page, just for students
http://www.internationalstudents.org
How God views foreigners
http://www.isivolunteers.org/what-does-god-say-about-internationals-and-aliens.html
Biblical reasons for reaching international students
http://www.isivolunteers.org/biblical-reasons-for-international-student-ministry.html
Tax Advantage for the Kingdom
- http://isiervthomas.weebly.com/giving-irs.html
Pics
https://plus.google.com/photos/100257104980691576980/albums/6053038271389882641
"When it comes to reaching the world for Jesus Christ, I cannot think of a more strategic ministry in the Lord’s work today (than ISI). These future leaders from around the world will go back home carrying the good news of the Gospel" - Billy Graham