What’s Next Part 2 –
Financial Partner Development
The other big next step is that we are just beginning to seek out who might be called to partner with us financially to cover the costs of taking on this endeavor. We expect that this will include both individuals and churches. We know that not everyone will be able to do that, but we look forward to discovering who will be able to partner with us on the financial side of things, in the same way it has been a joy to see who has partnered with us in receiving our prayer letters and in praying for us!
Our home church, Evergreen Bible Church, has graciously planned to pay my full salary for 2025 as we step into this new role, even though I’ll be gone for a couple months. What a huge blessing that we’ve been given! We expect that starting in 2026, I will receive a reduced salary at Evergreen, in line with my reduced workload, and that we will need to raise enough to cover the difference in our monthly needs, plus some additional funds to cover these new travel and ministry costs.
If you would be interested in partnering with us financially, there are a couple easy ways to do that. You can get all the information you need at https://www.uim.org/donate-online for how to give either by check, or to give online. We have an account set up, so that anyone can either send checks directly to the UIM home office in Glendale, AZ, or you can set up online giving through Paypal. I have also built a website that is intended to help introduce us to others who may not know us, as well as providing a place to house all our update letters. You can find that at www.donovan5.xyz. And we have tried to outline clearly how financial partnership works on our website, at https://donovan5.xyz/financial-support/.
One question people have asked is whether we have more immediate needs for financial support even though I have a full salary for this year. The short answer is yes, we do. Although I don’t anticipate drawing any salary from the support we receive until 2026, we would be blessed to be able to draw some reimbursement for things like travel costs. Because we are needing to travel at two separate times, that is double the cost for gas, food, lodging, etc, that we will spend while we make the trip. Also, any financial gifts we receive now will help build up what is essentially a savings account, from which we will be able to begin drawing our monthly support once we need to do that in January, 2026.
Prayer Needs
- That we will find long-term Financial Partners to join with our strong team of Prayer Partners.
- That we will have success in reaching out to other churches where we are not as well known as EBC.
- That we will do well at trusting the Lord as we step into a bit of a financial unknown territory.
Rock Nest Summer Schedule
For those who are curious, this is what the summer camp schedule will look like this year.
- High Ropes Training – June 24-28
- Summer Staff Orientation – July 1-4
- Teen Camp (13-15 years old) – July 5-12
- Junior Camp 1 (9-12 years old) – July 14-19
- Junior Camp 2 (9-12 years old) – July 22-27
- Family Camp – Aug 1-3
- Lead Camp (16-18 years old) – Aug 5-10
Ok, that’s the last of the series of three emails this week. We sure appreciate you all who have prayed for us and with us since we’ve started sending these letters. It’s a huge encouragement to us to know we are making these steps on our own, but we have a team of folks who are with us in this.
Ryan and Leanne Donovan
