In this post I want to introduce you to one of my GFM staff and tell you about a very cool event happening at Washington University next month.  I think you’ll not only want to know about the event, but if you’re not too far from the St. Louis area you might want to go!

Here’s a quick look at the event and a link  to more details including registration.  Its a free event, but you have to register.  They’re anticipating a full house!

https://www.carverstl.org/the-carver-conversations-event/

Our staff member with Graduate Faculty Ministries at Washington University is George Stulac (photo).  George joined GFM in 2014 after a 33 year long tenure as the senior pastor of Memorial Presbyterian church in St. Louis.  George is a deeply thoughtful pastor and scholar.  GFM was blessed to welcome his maturity and undimmed energy for the mission of Jesus.

In one of our team’s zoom sessions a number of months ago, I remember George saying that he was excited about an initiative at Wash-U involving Christian faculty members coalescing around an outreach strategy.  Dr. John Inazu is one of the faculty George was talking about.  You can read about him on the Carver Project website.  More about Dr. Inazu in future posts, but for now, I’ll say I was thrilled to find out that he’s on the Board of Trustees for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA.

I was also excited to discover his book.  I’ll have more to say about Confident Pluralism and John Inazu – but for now wanted you to be aware of the event and to be praying for George’s GFM faculty group at Wash-U.  This will be a terrific event that will help propel InterVarsity’s ministry on a pretty challenging campus.  If you have questions about GFM at Wash-U or how the Carver Project connects with InterVarsity’s ministry there, feel free to email George.

george.stulac@intervarsity.org

March 2018 marks one year of working on my fundraising goal of $97,300.  I’m oh so close to having a year’s worth of funding either already donated or pledged.  As of today, $89,630 has been committed.  I’ve also been on payroll with InterVarsity since September and am earning about 85% of my full pay.  Let me just stop and say how grateful I am for everyone who has helped me get here.  I could barely think about where this was headed a year ago!

I have two milestones yet to accomplish with funding.  1- I do still need to get to 100% of my annual budget in order to begin working my full job description.  My supervisor is paid not to budge on that!  2- I now need to reassess some of those early jump-start funds people gave me asking the question, “Is there enough on-going giving to sustain my budget into the future?”

When I first started working this Piktochart, I figured I could get to full budget with about 61 donors.  Seems a bit random though it made sense at the time.  You can tell from the numbers that this pretty much did bear out. Well, almost.  I’ll likely need more than 6 new givers to make full budget.  I’ll also need to supplement some of those jump-start gifts with new monthly and annual donors.  How much longer might that take?

Please keep praying for my funding to firm up.  I’m so encouraged with where I’m at.  I’m soooo close! Help me find my “Finish-Line” donors who’ll push me to 100%.  I’m so grateful for where I’m at – but I’m really not where I have to be yet.  Some evening soon you’ll be out on a walk in the warm spring air and you’ll hear a lunatic shouting for joy in the distance.  That would be the sound of me making full budget.