The Rathbun's

Katie Rathbun has been married to Chad (below - who will also be going on the trip) for almost a year. Katie currently works as a preschool teacher, and will be starting graduate school at CU-Boulder in the fall. Here's what she said about herself: "I love to run, hike, camp, backpack, snowshoe, do yoga, go to concerts, be spontaneous, work with children, and read. I have had a heart for Africa for literally as long as I can remember. I have been praying for about eight years that God would send me sometime. After a few other trips fell through, I realized that my prayers might have been in part selfish. Last September, I decided to give my desire to go to Africa completely over to God. Rather than praying for God to send me, I just simply prayed for God's glory there, however that can best be achieved. Through a bunch of answered prayers, God opened the door for Chad and me to come on this trip. My prayer continues to simply be for God's glory on the trip."


Chad Rathbun just graduated from CU-Boulder with a history degree, and has also been working as an athletic director at Peak to Peak High School outside of Boulder. Here's what Chad said about himself: "Eventually, I would like to be involved in politics somehow. I like to read, play sports, go to concerts, and hike. I started praying about Africa years ago, when I started dating my wife, who has always been passionate about Africa. After hearing about this trip at church, going to a few meetings, and praying a lot, God made it pretty clear that this was a trip for us to be on.

So glad to have Chad & Katie going with us. In June, they will help when our church has a kids camp using SportsReach. The Int'l rep for SportsReach is going to give them a little more training too on how to best use this in South Africa. With that, Chad's experience in coaching basketball & Katie's playing volleyball, they are going to be a huge assest to our time.

I sent an email with SOS insurance information. If you can fill that out, save it and return to me as soon as you can that would be appreciated.

Donations, Deadlines and other Stuff

1. To whom should donations/checks be made out to?
a. If you are staff of Campus Crusade (that would be me, Cayla and Jeff) or a STINTer raising support (Stacey), you can have your donors make gifts payable to 'Campus Crusade for Christ'. You send them in to your CCC account and we run a internal transfer for what you owe. Make sure you take into account the 12% that will come out of gifts when calculating what you need to raise.

b. Jessica Rolf – I think SportsReach is paying for yours out of what you are raising to be a summer Intern. Right? Just have them cut a check to “Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley”

c. Everyone else. You can have them made out to “Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley”. Don’t put your name in the memo, just put all in one envelope with a sticky note attached saying “For Beam Africa Missions Trip – your name”. By having them made out to Cornerstone, your donors can get a tax deductible receipt and there is no administrative processing fee. Cornerstone will send one huge check to Campus Crusade as misc income because I have or will pay for most things with a regional CCC account.

2. What if people want to give my credit card? They can. I think. Contact jan@gocornerstone.org and explain that you have people who want to give this way. Do let me know the amount given by cc because I am the one keeping a running total of what has been given. Everyone has different totals because our flights are so different so it’s hard to keep up with unless you let me know. The deposit you sent counts toward your overall total too.

3. What if for some reason, I need to back out of the trip? Call me know as soon as possible. We each will owe $400 for any changes or cancellations for the flights. For both Andrew and Stacey, I had to also purchase domestic tickets which we may be out the whole total if you cancel. So basically as long as you cover that ($400 + any domestic ticket), so far we are okay. I am going on the good name of everyone that you will pay for these if you have to cancel. We may have to put a deposit down on housing but so far we haven’t had to.

4. When do we need all of the money in? July 1st is a “deadline”. It doesn’t mean that you can’t go if its not all in by then. But mail what you have by that date. This will enable me to have Cornerstone cut a check to Campus Crusade and be sent in time to process before our trip. I will also have a clear idea what you each still owe. I actually will be out of CO from June 15th to July 4th so if mail it on the 1st, you are fine.

5. What if it’s not all in by July 1st? Bring the rest of your donations with you on July 19th along with a personal check for the remaining amount. Give it to me at the Denver airport. We could even hold that check for the remaining amount if you think you will get more donations later.

6. Where do I mail checks? Mail it to my office…
Campus Crusade for Christ
c/o Andy McCullough
5485 Conestoga Ct, Ste 230
Boulder, CO 80301

Jessica Rolf, Letter & Passport Reminder

We have two Jessica's on our trip. Jessica Rolf is a farm girl from northwest Missouri who loves sports and the outdoors. Jessica will be starting her final year of college at Northwest Missouri State University in the fall and will graduate with a major in Biology/Psychology. Her plan is to attend physical therapy school for a couple of years after that and then return to the rural area where she grew up to practice PT.

Jessica who is interning this summer with SportsReach will have served at several clinics in the US before she goes us for the Beam trip. About her summer as a whole, she says, "I really hope to connect with the kids during the sport outreach. Through relationships formed with them, I hope to talk to them about Jesus and the hope and trust they can have in Him when maybe everything else in their life seems bleak. I just wish for some light and truth to be shed into their lives from a source much powerful than their situation in life."

If you want to get an idea of a support letter you can use, I just sent out one to my friends and donors. You can read a version on-line or download a pdf. If you want I can send you a version in publisher that you can just cut and paste.

Note too that if you don't have a passport yet you will want to get on that ASAP.

David Grochowski & "Required" Things

We will promote another California person this week. Dave Grochowski is the President & CEO of Gratitude Enterprises, Inc in Newport Beach, CA. Dave, who quit his job in corporate America to become a real estate investor, will help teach the small business skills while we are there. (Erika is inviting the guys of a nearby "carwash" and some of the ladies whom they have trained before and have their own sewing business now and some spaza shop owners. ) Dave wrote, "I want to help serve those that are less fortunate than me."

There is a passage I have been mulling over lately. Many of you might know it well and most of what I write will be 'preaching to the choir' since you are coming on this trip. (You can click the links embedded for extra credit.)

The passage is Micah 6:8. "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Let's look a little closer. I am actually going to take these three action points last to first, because the progression I think goes from humility to mercy to just acts.

To walk humbly with our God - In the New Testament, James, the brother of Jesus, writes that those of us who are rich should take pride in our low position because we will fade like a flower. I used the inclusive language of 'us' because we are so rich in comparison to most of the world. Humility says I have nothing except what has come from God above. If it all comes from Him and we can fade like a flower, what can we really take pride in? We should choose to humble ourselves before Him. It's not about us. God dwells with a man who is humble. God delights in a humble woman. Humility is the first step toward God. it says "I need Him and I can do nothing apart from Him".

For us, this July, I believe we should all choose to say, "Apart from the grace of God, I could be in the same situation as the people I serve." We need to choose to not be 'ugly-Americans' but humbly choose to serve, to humbly walk with our God.

To love mercy - Mercy looks on people with compassion the way Jesus did and moves with acts of compassion that Jesus did. It's a heart like Dave's that says, "I just want to serve those less fortunate than me". Mercy is always interpersonal. Mercy is forgiving 70 times 7. Mercy is like the Good Samaritan who when he saw the man in need put himself in harm's way to minister to him. It is the fruit of a wisdom that comes from heaven. Mercy does not show favoritism. As pride is the opposite of humility, judgment is the opposite of mercy. Mercy triumphs judgment. And when you show mercy to the least of these, you show it to Jesus. (Matt 25:31-40)

A love of mercy should be the heart that drives us. We should remember that God is merciful to us. We all need mercy and received mercy, so we all should love mercy and give mercy. As we show love this July, it should be out of a merciful heart.

To act Justly - Isaiah 42 tells us that Messiah Jesus would come to bring justice to the nations. Justice is crying out 'thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven'. Justice is seeing the oppression of people and taking what is wrong and trying to make it right. Most often Justice in scripture speaks to the most vulnerable... the widows, orphans and strangers... those who are rarely experience justice. James says that what God our Father accepts as pure and faultless religion is: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. The LORD himself goes one step further speaking about David: "He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" (Jer. 22:15-16) . Justice is at the very heart of someone who knows God and follows Him.

Justice sometimes is harder. Mercy can take a few minutes but Justice may take a long time. Perhaps we can do major 'righting of wrongs' in a week. But we can go with a heart that chooses to act justly. Maybe for us just looking after orphans and widows in their distress is the acts of justice we can do.

Ashlie & History Link

In our first of Team Introduction Posts, we will highlight Ashlie Watts.

Here's what Ashlie says about herself: I'm originally from Kansas City, Missouri but has lived all over. Currently, I'm living back, (yes back :), in Los Angeles. My full-time job now is doing budget consulting for associations as well as timeshares and resorts so I travel quite frequently. I also dip into some other jobs such as teaching yoga and dance. I love being active and can be seen frequently dancing, hiking, running, cooking, at the beach, etc. I'm involved in my church, Mosaic, in Los Angeles and use dance as my ministry platform. A few words that describe me would be adventurous, altruistic, audacious, spicy, disciplined, tenacious, thrill seeker, wild/fun, random, silly. If you know what Strength Finders is mine are Woo, Communication, Discipline, Belief, & Input.

I have a huge heart for the Aids cause especially with Aids kids in South Africa. So I currently contribute, volunteer, or support things that help this cause now anyway that I can. I have actually been praying to go to this specific area of South Africa doing what we're doing for 5 years, and finally the Lord said "Yes!" My life goal is to radically impact someones life positively to cause a spark to positively change the world. I hope in my short time there that I can plant some seeds and help foster them in the future to see the world changed one person at a time.

Another cool fact is that Ashlie played Volleyball and taught it to inner-city youth in college. So she brings that expertise to our Kid's Sports time.


As we prepare one thing it might be good to do is brush up on our history of South Africa. History gives us good insight in the understanding the people we will be ministering to. There are a lot of good movies you can watch or good books to read out there. I am currently reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography. One of my favorite memories is watching Cry Freedom in a crowded theatre in Kisumu Kenya 20 years ago. I was very aware of my whiteness.

You can read a short history on-line.

Update on team and tentative schedule

This is our team (as of 4/24)...
1. Andy McCullough (Team leader)
2. Cayla Hatter (Assistant Team Leader)
3. Jessica Bigler
4. Sue Ann Bigler
5. Jeff Clay
6. Brent Cody
7. Stacey Garner
8. Dave Grochowski
9. Ashley Hatter
10. Cole Hatter
11. Marta Hatter
12. Brock Johnson
13. Andrea Miller
14. Chad Rathbun
15. Katie Rathbun
16. Jessica Rolf
17. Ashlie Watts
18. Andrew Hayes

Tentative Schedule
SAT 7/19 - Fly to London
SUN 7/20 - Fly to Johannesburg
MON 7/21 - Arrive, Rent cars, go to Pretoria,settle in
TUE 7/22 - Mornings teach adults at BEAM; Afternoons Kid's Sports Camp
WED 7/23 - same
THU 7/24 - same
FRI 7/25 - same
SAT 7/26 - Visit to Kids AIDS Hospital / Lion Park
SUN 7/27 - Church
MON 7/28 - Back to Beam
TUE 7/29 - Beam
WED 7/30 - Fly to LON
THU 7/31 - Arrive in US

"Name storming"

Start by developing an initial list of potential sponsors.

As with brainstorming, in name storming there is one cardinal rule ANYTHING GOES. No name is disqualified. Just mentally erase any clouds of doubt from your mind and let there be "blue sky". Don't decide for an individual whether or not he or she is interested. If you limit yourself to those you feel will or can give, you may be prematurely disqualifying those God wants to become sponsors. Later you will need to prioritize whom to contact first, but for now, don't disqualify anyone! God’s ways are not always our ways! (Isaiah 55:8) Many times God reminds us that He is in control by providing in the most unexpected ways.

Develop a list of at least 50 potential partners. As you name storm, associate various professions, businesses, and places with any friends and acquaintances they bring to mind. To aid you, we have provided some thought provokers.

Take plenty of time an hour or more to mull over these categories. Push yourself...see how many names you can put on your list.

After taking an hour or so for free wheeling "name storming," label each contact either "T" for top priority, "M" for medium priority, or "L" for low priority. These designations refer to your evaluation of how likely they are to give. Now you are ready to go!

THOUGHT PROVOKERS

Family members Former co-workers Friends of parents

Sorority sisters Fraternity Brothers H.S. / College Friends

Church Elders Church Friends Prayer Group

People Led to Christ Sunday school Classes Bible Study Groups

Students Missions Committee Christian Business Groups

Pastors Neighbors (present / past) Coach / Teammates

Former Teachers College Professors Accountants

Parents' employees Dentist / Orthodontist Doctor

Retired people Community Clubs Community leaders

Barber Church newspaper ads Guy at Starbucks

Civic leaders Family attorney Christmas card list

Insurance salesmen Realtors Missionary societies

Parents' employer Civic clubs Life Groups @ church

Letter / Telephone Strategy

Step 1: Write

Now that you have” name stormed” to develop a list of potential sponsors, you need to write your letter to your potential supporters. Try to start mailing your letters within one-week. You’ll be glad you did!

You can probably see more success by handwriting a personal letter presenting your needs and then making a personal phone call to ask potential partners to join your team.

For time, you can easily use a computer. But try to personalize each one, even briefly, with a paragraph (and don’t forget to change the greeting!) The main body of your letter can be copied substantially "as is", but you already know that . . .

Be sure to include these in all of your letters:

Specific date.

Remember they are a person, not a Dear Friend..

Connect with the person. What do/did you have in common? Help her say, "I know who you are!"

Bring your reader up to date with what you're doing.

Educate your reader. What IS a missions project, what’s the purpose, why you have decided to participate, and what do you hope to accomplish?

Explain your need. The purpose of your letter is to give your reader an opportunity to help. Make sure you explain exactly what you need.

Involve your reader by asking him for specific action, based on the needs you have shared. This can include challenging him to cover part or all of the cost of the summer project. State your deadline for your money needs. Specific action includes not only your request, but also your commitment to follow up by telephone if they do not respond by mail.

Acknowledge your relationship again with an emphasis on thanks, appreciation, gratitude, partnership and commitment. This ties your opening acknowledgement to your request.

Include your telephone #, address (school and home, with dates you’ll be at home); e-mail address might be a plus too.

Close the letter and sign it (you can type your name so it is easier to read, but always personally sign it).

At the end of this section is a sample letter.

Pray

“God is faithful who has called you and He also will bring it to pass.”

- (I Thessalonians 5:24)

“Don’t be anxious for anything, but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” - (Philippians 4:6, 7)

Prayer, focus, and a little time and you are done with the letter—ready to see how God works it all out!

Not Such a Good Idea. . .

Never apologize for writing or calling a person whom you wish to involve in helping you meet a need.

You are providing them with an opportunity to be involved in a spiritual ministry through resources God has blessed them with. Remember, the giver needs to give far more than any person or cause needs to receive a gift. "Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account" (Philippians 4:17).

Preparing to Mail your Letters -

Get those stamps and envelopes. (Remember, if you want, you can use cash gifts, when your supporters specifically tell you they do not need a receipt, to cover these expenses.)

Enclose a self addressed return envelope for a quick and easy response. However this is not necessary. Step 2, a call is more effective than a stamp.

Step 2: Call

If it is getting close to a deadline and you still haven’t heard from someone (probably more than one person, actually!), don’t panic. This is when you may need to give the person a call. Many really do want to be a part of your support team, but most people suffer from "Information Overload." Unless it's from a good friend or your parents, how much of your mail do you really read? Mail is easy to ignore or forget. If you haven’t heard back from them, they may have overlooked your letter unintentionally or just forgotten to follow through. It happens all the time!

Time Frame: You have a lot of money to raise in a short period of time. A follow up phone call will help you find the people God already has “called” to be on your support team.

Courtesy to your sponsors: Many people will want to help you but won't unless you call to answer any questions and to get their decision. Your phone call takes the burden of response off them and puts it on you. We know this is probably a “crunch” time for you, but anything you can do in this arena will be worth it in the long run.

It’s getting harder and harder to reach people by phone so sometimes an email or a text message still works. It might depend on the age of the person who you are trying to get back with.

The Phone call:

“Hey Mr. Wilson, this is Kari. I am wondering if you received my letter. “(Wait for an answer. If they can’t remember of they remember getting it but can’t remember what you wrote, explain the gist of your letter over the phone.) If ‘yes’ and/or after explaining it again… ask, "Have you had a chance to pray about a decision?” . (Wait again)

If someone decides to become a partner--arrange a time to stop by and pick up his or her check. If they live out of town, ask them to mail it in the self addressed envelope that you enclosed with your letter.

Note: Your partner's check must be payable to Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley in order for him to receive a tax-deductible receipt. If made out to you, you can still accept the check, but the donor will not receive a receipt.

After getting a person's decision, always ask them to refer you to other people who might like to invest. Have a pen ready! Sometimes they really do know people who would be even more enthusiastic than they are, so don’t forget to follow through!

Step 3: Thank

Send a thank you note the same day you get a response if you have even a few minutes to write. It's too easy to procrastinate, misplace information or forget. Be sure to keep a record of this so you'll know who has and who has not been thanked.

A verbal thank-you is important, but your letter is an even more important part of showing your appreciation and developing a friendship with your partner.

Also remember to send a thank you to those individuals who gave you contacts. There is no need to mention the amount given by them. Just say they were positive, encouraging, and helpful.

Completion: Checks and Cash Processing

The money you have received for your missions project should be mailed to Andy or directly to Cornerstone Church. If you mail them to the church, make sure they know they are for you and the trip. There are some important specifics you need to know. If you want the money ready for your summer AND you want happy support team partners, don’t skip this section. The process is considerably less painful than ever but still needs your careful attention!

Make sure all checks are made payable to Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley. Let your supporters know this before they write their check (even though some will still forget. It’s inevitable!) For those of you on staff or interning with CCC, you can have checks made out to Campus Crusade for Christ and submit an internal account transfer.

If the sponsor prefers to make his check payable to you and does not want a receipt, that works. See step 3 below. Just be sure they understand that they will not receive a receipt!

If you have cash gifts, replace with a single check of your own payable to Cornerstone Church. Please note on the check memo line that this is to replace cash gifts. You can save some of the cash to pay for expenses related to the project such as stamps, printing, envelopes, shots and travel per diem.

Send all of your checks in the envelope by July 1st deadline to Andy

Andy McCullough

c/o CCC

5485 Conestoga Court Ste 230

Boulder, CO 80301

.

If a CCC staff member would like to sponsor you from his personal staff account we can do an account transfer. Email Andy their name and acct # and the amount...

Double-check everything before mailing. Make a photocopy of all your checks for your records in case there is a problem at some point in the process.

IMPORTANT: All checks from partners must be sent to our regional office by you. July 1^st enables me to call and see if how everyone is doing on their support and make sure we have a plan for next two weeks.

Sample letter on following page…

May 1, 2008

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Turk,

Hello from Boulder! I hope you are doing well. Lisa and I really had a great time at dinner last Sunday with you and the Brantley’s.

I wanted to bring you up to date on my plans for this summer. As you probably know, I graduate soon with a degree in nursing. I’m in the tough courses right now, so I’m working hard with the hope that graduation is just around the corner.

Recently I received my acceptance to participate on a summer missions project with my church in Boulder. I’ll be going South Africa for the last two weeks of July along with 16 others from my church and around the country.

Our Missions Project will proclaim the compassionate words and deeds of the gospel through serving AIDS orphans. South Africa is now the epicenter of the AIDs Crises and has 1 millions AIDs orphans. Our team will be working in a township outside of the capital, Pretoria. We will serve alongside a local mission, Beam Africa, which runs a Development Center in this township. Every day Bream feeds and helps meets the needs of over 100 kids. Most of these kids are orphans who live on their own in tin shacks in this township.

For the week we are there we will serve Beam in several ways. In the mornings we will teach some of the adults in the neighborhood life skills. Then after school ends for the day, we will run a Kids Program using Sports to share the gospel. We will also serve alongside Beam as they feed these kids. We also hope to visit kids who are HIV positive at a local hospital. We also will spend one day interacting with future leaders on a local university campus.

I’m so excited about this opportunity! Ever since a good friend of mine went on a summer missions trip in 2006 and came back with so many amazing stories of how God used him on the summer project, I’ve had a growing desire to tell others the Good News about Jesus and serve others in His name around the world. I’m hoping that through this summer experience God will make it more clear to me what He wants me to be doing when I graduate next year.

As great as these sounds, I can’t do this alone. I need your help. In order for me to participate on the summer missions project in South Africa this summer I need to raise $3500 to cover the cost of my portion of the summer project budget.

In order to meet this need, I’m asking people to prayerfully consider becoming a partner with me in this outreach in Africa in two ways: one is by praying for me regularly, and two, by supporting me financially.

Mr. George and Mrs. Margaret, would you prayerfully consider being a partner with me in ministry this summer by praying and giving financially? I'm trusting that God will raise up partners who will support me $50, $100, $200, or more by my support deadline of July1st. I know that not everyone can give those amounts so really any amount is appreciated. God is the one who must speak to people’s hearts to be involved in my ministry this summer. I’m anxious to see how He raises this money.

If you would let me know your decision soon regarding this, I’d greatly appreciate it. You may use the enclosed response card and just mail it back to me here at school. That will really help me in my planning. Because my support deadline is quickly approaching, I will give you a call to see what you are thinking if I don’t hear from you by June 25^th.

Again, thanks so much for all your encouragement over these last couple of years.

Serving Christ with You,