It all starts at the beginning
We just got back from our trip to Bluegrass Aquaponics in Versailles Kentucky, and we are excited to get started.
We have changed our journey model a little bit in that we are still building the greenhouse and farm stand first, but we will be building a studio apartment above the farm stand to house us as we stand up the business end first.
You might be wondering, why the focus on the Aquaponics business first?
This is a fair question and is at the heart of our ministry model.
Each week, thousands of missionaries around the world book appointments at churches to give their presentations in anticipation that some churches will adopt them and pay them each and every month for the next 20 to 40 years.
Lets look at the expenses.
The average missionary just out of college needs to cover
Salary
Health insurance
Travel expenses
Ministry expenses
School loans
Children's education
Housing
Taxes (including 100% of their social security)
Continuing education
Retirement
Cost of overseas housing
On average it takes $6000 per month to cover all of these things. That's $72,000 a year, which is more than many people make in a whole year.
Now I don't begrudge the cost of missions, but what if there was a better way?
We see in Acts chapter 18 that Paul teamed up with Pricilla and Aquilla because they were all tent makers. Paul continued to support himself and his ministry through making tents and this is where he found people who were open to the Gospel as well as ministry partners.
What if instead of relying on 100 churches to each chip in with $50 or $60 a month, and hoping that none of those churches fell on hard times and eliminated you as a line item in their budget, and instead you could make $6000 a month in your own business?
When I saw Aquaponics for the first time, my mind immediately said "what if we could take people away from their dysfunctional lives, away from their drugs, their alcohol, their so called friends, their government programs, and put them in an environment where they could learn to take care of themselves, work with others, relate to the public, get sound biblical teaching, and biblical counseling? What if we could provide this environment for them for a year? Would this be enough to teach them how to re-enter society as a productive member? Would they be able to break the cycle of poverty? More importantly, would they be able to break the cycle of sin that has left their lives devastated?"
Over the next few days, I'll talk about Aquaponics with you so you can see the business model and how we plan on funding our own ministry, but we can't stand the business up without you. We still have to purchase some initial tools to get started, tools like Land, a Greenhouse, The Farmstand, and eventually a house that can accommodate our dining, classroom and counseling facilities.
If your small group, church or civic organization would like to enjoy an evening of Christian comedy and hear the story of the discipleship center and have an opportunity to help fund these building blocks of the ministry, just go to our website and look for the $75 fool for Jesus tour and register, or click here.
