Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Where did the money come from? (This is written mostly for seminarians but could help others thinking about mission.)
Getting the funding has been a mission on its own. I am writing this as a help to those who may follow us.
There is a saying that I like. When you want to dig a hole, pray and then grab a shovel. At least in my case, God only provided those things I could not. Getting to Honduras has meant suiting up and showing up. It meant putting myself out there. Ultimately God was involved as there was more "yes" then "no" in receiving the money to go but, I had to be willing to spend the time and effort seeking those sources of funding out. For this mission it meant putting out the Alms bowl. In retrospect, I did not have to set it out to far.
If you are thinking on going on mission and you are a seminarian you probably do not have the money. You might think this is a problem. It is not. If you (and your family- remember I wrote grants for five not one!) are meant to go, the way will come.
Here are were our main steps-
1. Deciding we were being called.
For us this came in two stages. In the first stage we were pretty sure we wanted to go. This led me to apply to SCOM (see link info below). I was rejected which was disappointing BUT, this led to the second stage. The second stage was praying with my wife that we were really being called and that our mission was worth a substantial portion of our savings if we could not find the help elsewhere.
2.) Pray! We did not start getting results until I began asking people in my prayer group to start praying for us. After we started sharing our needs with others in prayer we began to understand our call with more clarity. We began to make important contacts. The money began to arrive. Pray! Pray! Pray! Never think you are doing this on your own.
3.) Keep your Bishop in the loop. When my wife and I first started to think about a mission and my need for an immersion to become bi-lingual we were looking for places to go. We began to look in the Dominican Republic. We looked at Costa Rica. It was my Bishop who recommended Honduras. Now it helps that he was once Bishop of Honduras but, having the blessing of my bishop meant that going forward was certainly not opposed to some other plan or expectation. (ie CPE)
3. Sources of Seminary Funding.
A.)The first source which is a great source is SCOM. There application was due in late November. There application was not that difficult but if you wait till November to fill it out it can be a bit of a stretch to get it done under the load of seminary.
Even though I was not helped by SCOM I don't begrudge them because their application helped me to focus my ideas about what our family was going on mission for and their rejection helped my wife and I really determine that we were being called. (For more info see links below)
B.) The second source is only helpful for seminarians at Virginia Theological Seminary. It is the Windows on the World Grant. The head of this committee is Rev. Dr. Jones. Please see him. He is a huge help and wants seminarians to explore mission to become better priests. There is no web address for Windows on the World. You will have to do it the old fashioned way and call him. (You can email but he's not all that active on line either)
Windows on the World only can help seminarians. If you are going with family you will have to seek help elsewhere with their needs In my case I could only write my grant with my financial needs. This was due in February. If I remember correctly this grant helped me flesh out what exactly what I was going to do on mission. I found that you can not simply send the same grant request that you sent SCOM. This is more work but a good thing. I found that my ideas about wanting to go on mission grew. Had I simply received the funds from SCOM I may not have had this deepening. This process has helped me focus on ministry in the United States more clearly.
The great thing about Windows is that they decide incredibly quickly. I had an answer by late March. In grants this is pretty quick.
C.) The friendliest grant was EES. Sorry SCOM. Sorry Windows. Don't get me wrong everyone has been great. It is just that EES has Penny Saffer who is incredibly friendly. All three grants are decided on by committee. What makes working with EES a little more user friendly is that as Executive Director Penny's sole responsibility is EES. This meant that in the fall she came to campus to explain what the society does. This meant I could call her to talk about tips in writing my grant. She did not write if for me but was open to questions. It certainly made the process easier. (Info below)
EES is also due in February. Since their board is all over the place don't expect to get an answer soon. I did not find out until May that my family had been selected. Now there was not guarantee that my families needs would be supported but in light of our request they opted to support us.
The most interesting thing about their grant was a difficult little question they have. I remember hearing about this from a past grantee and my experience was the same regarding the question. The question asks the grantee to explain the proposed mission in 35 words or less. It's a great question because it forces you to really boil down exactly what your hope is in going on mission. (Links are below)
If you have difficulty with any of the links below, please realize I had to break two of them to have it fit on the page. If I write "Type" above the link, you will have to type in whole address to address bar to access what I had originally intended people to see.
If you are a student at Virginia Theological Seminary see Dr. Richard Jones who chairs the Window's on the World grant committee. This is a mission fund for students of VTS.
Seminary counsel (?) on Mission (SCOM) links
Type in whole link to address bar to get article
(http://www.christianpost.com/article/education/632/full/
scom.awards.grant.for.32.episcopal.seminarian.and.students/1.htm)
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/epgm_30829_ENG_Print.html
Episcopal Evangelical Education Society links.
http://members.aol.com/eeesociety/EEESPAGE.html
Just a great financial link if looking to explore the breadth of Episcopal church. This is not related specifically to mission but may help.
Type in whole address to address bar to see list
(http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/
Christianity/Denominations/Anglican/Episcopal_Church_USA/Organizations/)
One I found just searching around.
http://www.episcopalian.org/Pewsaction/
There is a saying that I like. When you want to dig a hole, pray and then grab a shovel. At least in my case, God only provided those things I could not. Getting to Honduras has meant suiting up and showing up. It meant putting myself out there. Ultimately God was involved as there was more "yes" then "no" in receiving the money to go but, I had to be willing to spend the time and effort seeking those sources of funding out. For this mission it meant putting out the Alms bowl. In retrospect, I did not have to set it out to far.
If you are thinking on going on mission and you are a seminarian you probably do not have the money. You might think this is a problem. It is not. If you (and your family- remember I wrote grants for five not one!) are meant to go, the way will come.
Here are were our main steps-
1. Deciding we were being called.
For us this came in two stages. In the first stage we were pretty sure we wanted to go. This led me to apply to SCOM (see link info below). I was rejected which was disappointing BUT, this led to the second stage. The second stage was praying with my wife that we were really being called and that our mission was worth a substantial portion of our savings if we could not find the help elsewhere.
2.) Pray! We did not start getting results until I began asking people in my prayer group to start praying for us. After we started sharing our needs with others in prayer we began to understand our call with more clarity. We began to make important contacts. The money began to arrive. Pray! Pray! Pray! Never think you are doing this on your own.
3.) Keep your Bishop in the loop. When my wife and I first started to think about a mission and my need for an immersion to become bi-lingual we were looking for places to go. We began to look in the Dominican Republic. We looked at Costa Rica. It was my Bishop who recommended Honduras. Now it helps that he was once Bishop of Honduras but, having the blessing of my bishop meant that going forward was certainly not opposed to some other plan or expectation. (ie CPE)
3. Sources of Seminary Funding.
A.)The first source which is a great source is SCOM. There application was due in late November. There application was not that difficult but if you wait till November to fill it out it can be a bit of a stretch to get it done under the load of seminary.
Even though I was not helped by SCOM I don't begrudge them because their application helped me to focus my ideas about what our family was going on mission for and their rejection helped my wife and I really determine that we were being called. (For more info see links below)
B.) The second source is only helpful for seminarians at Virginia Theological Seminary. It is the Windows on the World Grant. The head of this committee is Rev. Dr. Jones. Please see him. He is a huge help and wants seminarians to explore mission to become better priests. There is no web address for Windows on the World. You will have to do it the old fashioned way and call him. (You can email but he's not all that active on line either)
Windows on the World only can help seminarians. If you are going with family you will have to seek help elsewhere with their needs In my case I could only write my grant with my financial needs. This was due in February. If I remember correctly this grant helped me flesh out what exactly what I was going to do on mission. I found that you can not simply send the same grant request that you sent SCOM. This is more work but a good thing. I found that my ideas about wanting to go on mission grew. Had I simply received the funds from SCOM I may not have had this deepening. This process has helped me focus on ministry in the United States more clearly.
The great thing about Windows is that they decide incredibly quickly. I had an answer by late March. In grants this is pretty quick.
C.) The friendliest grant was EES. Sorry SCOM. Sorry Windows. Don't get me wrong everyone has been great. It is just that EES has Penny Saffer who is incredibly friendly. All three grants are decided on by committee. What makes working with EES a little more user friendly is that as Executive Director Penny's sole responsibility is EES. This meant that in the fall she came to campus to explain what the society does. This meant I could call her to talk about tips in writing my grant. She did not write if for me but was open to questions. It certainly made the process easier. (Info below)
EES is also due in February. Since their board is all over the place don't expect to get an answer soon. I did not find out until May that my family had been selected. Now there was not guarantee that my families needs would be supported but in light of our request they opted to support us.
The most interesting thing about their grant was a difficult little question they have. I remember hearing about this from a past grantee and my experience was the same regarding the question. The question asks the grantee to explain the proposed mission in 35 words or less. It's a great question because it forces you to really boil down exactly what your hope is in going on mission. (Links are below)
If you have difficulty with any of the links below, please realize I had to break two of them to have it fit on the page. If I write "Type" above the link, you will have to type in whole address to address bar to access what I had originally intended people to see.
If you are a student at Virginia Theological Seminary see Dr. Richard Jones who chairs the Window's on the World grant committee. This is a mission fund for students of VTS.
Seminary counsel (?) on Mission (SCOM) links
Type in whole link to address bar to get article
(http://www.christianpost.com/article/education/632/full/
scom.awards.grant.for.32.episcopal.seminarian.and.students/1.htm)
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/epgm_30829_ENG_Print.html
Episcopal Evangelical Education Society links.
http://members.aol.com/eeesociety/EEESPAGE.html
Just a great financial link if looking to explore the breadth of Episcopal church. This is not related specifically to mission but may help.
Type in whole address to address bar to see list
(http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/
Christianity/Denominations/Anglican/Episcopal_Church_USA/Organizations/)
One I found just searching around.
http://www.episcopalian.org/Pewsaction/
