June 1, 2006
Dear Friends and Family,
I wanted to give an update about my recent trip to Sri Lanka and ask for your continued support as my financial needs increase with Word Made Flesh.
I returned from Sri Lanka in early April; our week-long trip was filled with meetings but managed to be refreshing as well. Almost all of our Bolivian, Indian, Nepali, Peruvian, Romanian, Sierra Leonean, etc. leaders came with us to Sri Lanka. This is a monumental step forward for Word Made Flesh and a springboard for the future.
We have always said that we don't want North Americans to lead; we want to see true partnership and to participate in this heavenly picture of people coming together from different nations and different languages. We have seen pieces of this, as Romanians have traveled to Peru and Bolivia, and Nepalis have traveled to India for short-term opportunities.
We have tried to live this partnership out, but we are just in the early stages of what we hope to accomplish. We would love to see this cross-pollenization of missionaries take place as we seek together to give the world a taste of the special place that God has in His heart for the poor. The symbolism of this time together in Sri Lanka and the promise for the future was important to and for our friends overseas.
A new staff member, Sarah Kim, will join the WMF office next year to coordinate a Partnership Platform between the various WMF organizations. We anticipate this taking several years to put together but are excited at what we hope will be a ground-breaking missional deference to one another as we serve among the poor.
When I returned from Sri Lanka, I was thrust into preparations for our late April board meeting. This meeting went well and I appreciated your prayers over that weekend. As soon as that finished, we started reconfiguring the office to meet our new department focus. This means that we will stay busy through the middle of June.
In addition to this work, I have asked our board for an independent audit that will be conducted within the next month. I want Word Made Flesh to be a model of transparency and accountability.
My support needs will go up to $1,200 each month starting in June. I continue to ask for prayer and for financial support as I serve with Word Made Flesh. You all have been incredibly gracious when I have asked for help as I serve our staff overseas. I am deeply grateful for the many sacrifices you make to send in support. I can only say that I serve Word Made Flesh with great honor and with great humility.
Love,
Brent