Crown Financial Ministries

Facing the crisis of an $800 monthly shortfall

My husband has been driving a truck over-the-road for the past 14 years. In January he made a sudden decision to “hang up his keys” and get a job so he could be home. We were aware that this decision would create a financial challenge, but we thought it would be worth it to have him home. Wow! We could not imagine how challenging it would be. With only two days of driving left, the differential went out on the truck, resulting in repairs exceeding $7,000 before we could even put the truck up for sale. The truck, on which we owe approximately $60,000, has not sold, no longer produces income, and still requires a sizable monthly payment. Our fixed expenses exceed my husband’s new take home pay by $800 a month. The good news is we were forced to reevaluate and study our non-fixed expenses as we urgently searched for ways to cut back. In so doing, we discovered we had a water leak. (I had thought the increase in our water bill was due to the fact that a son was doing his laundry at home.) It is very satisfying to plug two leaks, one of water and another of money to pay for that unused water.

I got out Larry Burkett’s budget guidelines and compared his percentages to what we were spending. We are overspending on insurance, car, and house. We are in the process of bringing one of those areas into line with our new income. Please pray for us to have the courage to deal with the other two! God provided a little three-hour-per-day job for me. I will only earn $400 per month— half of our shortfall—but it is in food service, so God is richly feeding us because I am allowed to bring home food that cannot be served a second day. The most awesome thing about this experience is the sense of God’s loving, nonjudgmental presence. I know it is our foolishness that has brought us to this point, but He just offers us grace. When I only had enough money to pay the principal on the truck loan, I followed your counsel to communicate with those whom we owe.

Along with the check for the principal, I sent a note, explaining that we had put the truck up for sale, that I had taken a job, that we were aware of our debt and intended to pay it in full. In just a few days, we got a fat letter from the loan company. I was sick at heart, fully expecting it to be a reproof and threat. Instead, we found that they were rewriting our loan, giving us grace in the month of April (no monthly payment due), charging us basically only principal in May, and then beginning us with monthly payments again in June. With an income tax payment due in April, this grace gift is so appreciated. God has shown me how to be creative with the resources I have. He has reminded me that He provided enough manna for one day at a time, and He has uplifted me with gracious prayer—and notes from Crown.

Sincerely,

John and Ann

 

Editor’s note: Since this letter was written, John and Ann’s truck has sold. They had used two loans (from different creditors) to buy the truck and hoped to make enough to pay off both creditors. The price for which the truck sold was enough to pay off one of the loans, with an additional $101 remaining. The creditor issued them a check for this amount. They have four payments remaining on the other loan.

South Korea Day 1

Wed. May 28th was a banner day for the South Korean work! We met early with the senior Pastor Soo Lee Young of the largest Presbyterian church in Seoul with membership of 10,000.

We are sitting around his office Board table listening to his plans to train every member of his church.

This church has agreed to be our 'come and see' church in the downtown district of Seoul. They have already taken all 56 of their pastors & elders through the 10 Week Small Group Study. The senior Pastor personally leads the groups. They plan to start taking all their members through the course starting this fall. It will take them a few years to do it but they are committed to the task! The Pastor has already started his series from the pulpit paving the way for the fall season!

Dr. Park and his wife have been the pioneers of the Korean work in the USA and now are seeing their dream for their homeland coming to reality! We are standing in front of this church with our new acting Country Director, Paul Shin, Wilson Cheah, our Asia Pacific VP, Matt Elsberry and Steve Emerrit.

Later that day we had a formal commissioning service for Paul Shin. He is the current President of Galtronics Korea, makers of cellular antennas for most mobile phone companies world wide. It is a probability that you are using his product daily!

He and his wife Park are standing with Dr. Park and Mrs. Park after the commissioning ceremony. Paul presented Korea's long term business plan to reach 5% of their nation and have an impact on all Korean people world wide. They have a plan and are already rolling it out!

Also at this gathering were 3 Korean military Chaplains. These men have put together a plan to teach every military freshmen God's Financial principles.In Korea all high school graduates must enroll in 2 years of military service before going on to University. They average over 300,000 new recruits annually.

They already have approval for this program and the Major General is presenting their plan to us on PowerPoint. The program is scheduled to begin in 2009! I must admit I was overwhelmed and praising God at the end of this day. I had no idea the impact that Dr. Park is having on this nation!

Watch for tomorrows update. We found ourselves in the middle of a riot over the import of USA beef to Korea. We didn't start it but the action was happening outside our Hotel! More to come.

-Dave Rae

Hong Kong Day 2

Today I visited the senior Pastor of one of the largest churches in Hong Kong at his church location.

This church EFCC Yan Fook (Means Peace & Blessing) has an attendance of 10,000 weekly. Their building is a downtown skyscraper with 19 floors. God provided this facility at 1/5th the current value and it will be totally paid for in the next 6 months! God's message through Crown has significantly impacted these leaders!

The men in the picture from left to right are Victor Wan, Board chairman, Pastor Patrick So, Senior Pastor, and Pastor Paul Cheng. These men are committed to Crown and agreed to conduct our first official Catalytic Event, that they will host. This is the most influential church in Hong Kong and there main sanctuary holds over 3,000.

You can see some literature that these men are holding. This is a proposed Biblical Theme Park layout that will be constructed in one of the northern province in MAINLAND CHINA. Yes mainland China! The government has agreed to this since the Bible is sold in bookstores and Jesus is the author of Peace
- Harmony. Harmony is a big deal to the Chinese and Pastor So has written approval to do this.

They are engaged with leaders from all over the world with expertise in Theme park design. It will be high tech. and we have been invited to showcase whatever God puts on our heart to do. Short Films???
More to come on this.

We graduated 7 Leading Stewards leaders last evening and we are celebrating their 5 months of study over a meal. These people enjoy food and the meal time is an important place to converse and engage.

We are off to South Korea today.

-Dave Rae

Day 1 in Hong Kong

I arrived in Hong Kong late Sunday evening May 25th at the start of a 9 country 27 day ministry trip to meet with the leadership of these countries and their Board of Directors. Our first stop is Hong Kong where we have already met with a number of Pastors and business leaders to discuss the official launch of Crown later this year.

The water front and the density of this city is stunning.

This is a view of Hong Kong from Kowloon at 6am.

The streets are already busy with people off to work and there are many early risers who enjoy morning exercise. Most of the people I saw exercising where elderly. This seems to be a way of getting out and mixing with friends. They invited me to join them & I did. They must have thought I'd fit right in - still trying to lose weight!

We met over lunch with 2 influential Pastors. The one on the right is Pastor Abraham, Hiutung Chan from Hong Kong, who was an excellent translator for me. Beside him on the left is Rev./President/Dr. Yilu Chen from Guangzhou mainland China.

Dr. Chen is the President of a Three Self Theological Seminary and traveled from mainland China to hear our message & strategize with us regarding teaching his students God's message of Stewardship.

This city is gripped by materialism and business greed. Tonight we will meet with our Board of Directors for Hong Kong and a number of influential Pastors and business leaders.

-Dave Rae

Business Leaders Conference in Volgograd Russia

Peter Briscoe is teaching to some 60 businesspeople who came to our first event in Volgograd Russia.

Pastors Conference in Volgograd Russia

Peter Briscoe, VP for Europe, and Ukraine National Director, Anatolyi Musiyenko, begin teaching the first Russian Pastor Conference in the city of Volgograd (formerly called Stalingrad).

This is where Volgograd is located:

View Larger Map

What a sacrifice

Peter Briscoe (L) and Andrés Panasiuk (R) greet brother Yuri Pochekutov (C), who traveled for three days on train from Siberia, to participate in our Crown Seminars in Volgograd, Russia.

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