7 SUPPORTERS!    DFO673   2/78
--For Brave Pioneers!--Or YOU!

         1. YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO SUPPORT THIS WHOLE THING AS FAR AS GOD WANTS TO GO WITH NOTHING BUT LITNESSING! You've got to start provisioning, winning disciples with forsake-alls, writing appeal letters, FFing, music & jobs!--The seven major sources which God could use!--And has used!
         2. Our FIRST form of support was the MAIL MINISTRY.--Next came forsake-alls, through winning souls! The disciples we had gave everything they had! We won souls right & left & all their money was coming in with them!
         3. Where are your monthly PRAYER LETTERS showing what a good work you're doing, showing how you're helping people, to encourage your friends & family & people back home & contacts to keep on supporting your work?
         4. You can't go to the EXTREME on ANYTHING. We used everything!:--We won souls, got forsake-alls, learned about provisioning, wrote prayer letters--& now we litness, FF, play music & get jobs!
         5. IT'S IMPORTANT TO GET OUT THE WORD, but when you're doing it just because you need the money, you've got the wrong motive! I'd rather you'd get out there & give them away with the right motive, then I know God would supply your needs! We used to give away millions of copies of the little Warning Tract & God supplied all our needs! But now God wants us to use a balance of all these means of support.
         6. Where's your FAITH? If you're not obeying the Letters you can't have faith, because you're not obeying the Word! Without obedience it's impossible to have faith, impossible to believe God, & it's certainly impossible to please God, He says so!: "Without faith it is impossible to please God!" (He.11:6)
         7. If you HAVEN'T got the FAITH for GOD to supply your needs, you're DISPLEASING Him.--And the reason you haven't got the faith is you're not obeying. So if you're not well supported, I can't help but think it's your own fault. You're not really using every possible avenue of support.
         8. REGARDING PIONEER GIFTS: HOW ARE THEY GOING TO LEARN FAITH if they don't learn to trust God instead of us? We'll help them to get started & that's all! That's the way the New Testament Church did it:
         9. Paul was expected to raise his own money as he went, to trust God to support him, & He did. I'm sure they sent him off with what they could, & as he went along establishing new churches, they helped him get to the next place where he could establish another one, & so on.
         10. I think such LOCAL PIONEERING is the best way, just like the Early Church. The Mother Church sprouted a bunch of little chicks & they went out from the Central Mother Church into the surrounding areas.
         11. BUT OF COURSE, IF YOU RUN OFF TO SOME OTHER COUNTRY halfway around the World, & you're a total pioneer in a brand new country & there are no local churches, then somebody's going to have to help you somehow.
         12. The very first thing to do BEFORE you leave is to find as many friends as you can & start advertising what you're planning to do to other local Homes, Family, relatives, contacts & friends. If they like the idea & have confidence in you & know that you've done a good job at home, they'll want to help you.
         13. Don't be afraid to ASK! Try to raise your support in advance, raise your fare in advance & try to get people, friends, other Homes & families to promise to help, to pledge regular monthly donations toward your field support.
         14. Then when you get there you had better KEEP IN CONTACT & report to your supporters how you're doing, what you're doing & show you're doing something, so they will know they're getting something for their money!
         15. You'd better keep letting your supporters KNOW, even if you write by HAND or crank it out on a little mimeograph like I used to do! You can at least write them a postcard to let them know that you're still alive! Communicate! Keep in touch! Don't neglect your lifeline!--Your supporters at home that keep you in the field!
         16. If you have been in this work any time at all you ought to be keeping an ADDRESS BOOK loaded with contacts. My address book in my pioneer days was my bread & butter! The most valuable thing we had was an address book full of friends! We supported ourselves on the evangelistic, pioneering & witnessing field for years mostly just by mail!--Getting out a little prayer letter every month.
         17. (QUESTION: WHAT'S YOUR FEELING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO GET JOBS TO KEEP THE HOME GOING?)--Where it's impossible any other way, of course! Paul did it, he made tents part-time! (Ac.18.) But I still believe that you can support it by all other six means, at least some of them, & still devote your full time to the work. But I would say that if all else fails & there's no other way, get a job.
         18. It's certainly permissible if necessary.--Especially if you've got some local contacts or some local drop-in fish who still have their good jobs & want to live-in & join you & live with you like part of the Family, but work out.--Don't knock it, use it! (See ML No.27 & 542.)
         19. THE 7 SUPPORTERS!: MAIL MINISTRY, FORSAKE-ALLS, PROVISIONING, LITNESSING, MUSIC, FFing & JOBS!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family