My apologies in advance for the length of this, but when we're asking you to donate money, we want to give you as complete a picture as propriety allows.
When I wrote you on 14 November, I told you that I would update you in December on how our fundraising efforts for the Rev. Dan Chambers had progressed. I *think* I had indicated then (if not, I meant to) that I would *not* be belaboring things as if this were some sort of PBS endeavor, dunning you at every crucial moment of the movie we used to tease you into watching our telethon, etc. We do not wish to become a new law, "challenging you to best one another's offering" or otherwise browbeating you into giving, but simply to lay the needs before you and let you do as the Lord gives you ability to do, updating you as we go along, because we are committed to being accountable with the funds we raise (100% of what we receive going to the intended recipient) to you who give (and to the IRS, as mandated by law). Before I update you on Pastor Chambers, I want to bring up another need for you to consider: a pastor who has been removed from his parish and needs some help to make ends meet for the next few months because of a (governmentally-imposed) limitation on what he can do to make them meet himself. The situation is this: An LCMS pastor served a large-ish parish that decided did not want to be 'that Lutheran', so they removed him with three-months' 'severance pay'. In that three months, he and his wife scurried to find whatever jobs they could and have managed to get jobs that will bring their income up to ⅔ what his income was serving that congregation…without, of course, insurance benefits (and he has children who will also be uninsured now, too). Adding to the problem is that there was no parsonage, so this family had to buy their first house (he's been a pastor for almost 25 years, all in parsonages, all without any housing equity allowance set up, etc., which is, frankly, an atrocious way to set a pastor up for eventual suffering). They bought it when the $8,000.00 tax credit was in place. On ⅔ income, they can't afford the mortgage…but they can't sell it until after February, or they have to pay back the $8,000 on top of whatever they might lose on the house. To make matters worse, their laterals (septic system) had to be fixed, setting them back another $3200.00. In short, they are hurting…but their hurt is not very ad-friendly; it's not as easy to give to something where there is no visible, measurable end result to which one can point. Unfortunately, that's the sort of situation The Augustana Ministerium has *usually* faced these past several years…making it more difficult to raise the funds that we need to help take care of faithful pastors. Still, our financial records now say that we have provided over $140,000.00 in aid. Thus, I would encourage you, beside the continuing need for Pastor Chambers that I am about to address, that if you would like to make an end-of-year gift to help in this situation to The Augustana Ministerium--a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, so your gift IS tax-deductible--I would like to suggest that you just write "Antiseptic" (plays on words are a staple of life!) in the Memo line of your check so that we know how to direct the gift, OR, if you use PayPal, that you log in to your PayPal account and send your gift to [email protected] with a notation that it is for our "Antiseptic" campaign, OR, if you would like to use a debit or credit card, that you go to http://augustanaministerium.org and click on a 'Donate' button and then make a note that it is "For Antiseptic" when you donate. [Note: using a credit or debit card will bring up a screen that references PayPal, because they process our credit and debit payments, but you DO NOT have to establish a PayPal account to donate.] To send a check, send it to: The Augustana Ministerium c/o The Rev. Gregory J. Schultz, Bursar 721 Payne Avenue North Tonawanda, NY 14120 We will let you know next month what has been received, as well as updating you on other needs. ALSO, unrestricted gifts to The Augustana Ministerium would be quite welcome at this time, as there are MANY pastors who will need our help in the coming year, just as there have been in years past. Now, onward to Pastor Chambers: First, the less important matter—how much has been raised *and distributed* to date: As of this weekend, The Augustana Ministerium's bursars had cut five checks to help with Pastor Chambers's expenses: Check #1 $4,919.35 Check #2: 1,146.10 Check #3: 1,233.60 Check #4: 825.00 Check #5: 8,270.01 Total sent so far for the overall Dan Chambers fund drive: *$16,394.06* Check #5 included $8,244.51 that was raised by the viewers of "Lutheran Satire" as a ransom to unbind the hands of the series' creator, Pastor Hans Fiene. (See his initial plea at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCpVcQvUOCw&list=UU2-3Cf7Hw10b3NW05p2Z7IA&index=2 and his update at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvz4__-L1xk&list=UU2-3Cf7Hw10b3NW05p2Z7IA&index=1) (By the way…I'm not sure it was absolutely clear going in, but: since the Lutheran Satire 'ransom' was donated through The Augustana Ministerium, a 501(c)(3) corporation headquartered in Illinois, it is my understanding that gifts given in response to Pr. Fiene's call are also tax-deductible. Please check with your accountant/tax lawyer to be sure, as we do NOT hand out legal advice here, but I do believe that this is the case. THERE IS STILL MORE that needs to be collected, and more IS still coming in for Pastor Chambers; this is an ongoing project, and we hope that you will consider donating each month until the Lord has gotten Pastor Chambers back onto his feet, both literally and figuratively. Now, for the more important part, which I'm going to truncate greatly: with your gifts in hand and the agreement of his insurance carrier (after many of you persistently called as his advocates) to cover his first two weeks, Pastor Chambers is now in a top notch rehab facility--one where his therapy time on Saturday was more (in just one day) than what he was getting *all week* previously. Pastor Chambers was *clothed* for the first time *this year* at this new facility, and they are going to work him hard; getting him to walk is their vocation and their desire, and with our Lord's blessing, their work will bear its fruit. As I said, I'm making this short: there was much drama that the Chambers family had to suffer through to get to this point, but rather than belabor it, we're simply going to encourage you to thank and praise the holy, blessed Triune God with them and with us that these efforts have turned out *in every way* better than we had imagined that they could. We sought $6,000 to buy an extra month of therapy where Pastor already was; instead, through you God provided what will likely be over three times that much by the beginning of the new year AND placed him where the quality of care will be what he really needs for his recovery. Thanks be to God who has blessed you not only with the resources, but with the compassion in Christ to provide for this suffering brother and his family! Again, I want to encourage you to consider joining The Augustana Ministerium (pastors) or Confraternity (laity) both as a show of commitment to the ongoing work of serving Christ's servants in their struggles and to make sure that you are kept up to date on *all* that the Ministerium and Confraternity do. Because our commitment is to get the dollars to those in need, all of our administrative costs are borne *only* by our dues-paying members…and, at that, 1) we don't use *all* of their dues for administration, but invite them to direct 50% (pastors) or 85% (laity) to the aid of pastors, instead, an 2) when one member of your immediate family pays dues, we consider that payment to cover *the whole family*…which also means that the whole family has free admission to our annual theological conference, which has featured speakers such as the Rev. Dr. Steven Hein, the Rt. Rev. James Heiser, the Rev. William Weedon, the Rev. President Brian Saunders, the Rev. Dr. Burnell Eckardt, the Rev. Robert Schaibley, the Rev. Gary Gehlbach of LutheranLiturgy.org, and the Rev. Bruce Ley. Our 2013 conference will be in the Chicago area in early August. Thank you for prayerfully considering these needs! Once again, to donate: By check: write "Chambers" or "Antiseptic" in the Memo line of your check so that we know how to direct the gift, or leave it blank and we will use your gift for whichever needs our Administrative Council declares most pressing--but ALWAYS FOR AID, NEVER FOR ADMINISTRATION. By PayPal: log in to your PayPal account and send your gift to [email protected] with a notation that it is for our "Chambers" or "Antiseptic" campaign or just for general pastoral aid By debit or credit card: go to http://augustanaministerium.org and click on a 'Donate' button and then make a note that it is for "Chambers" or for "Antiseptic" (or just leave it blank for general aid distribution) when you donate. [Note: using a credit or debit card will bring up a screen that references PayPal, because they process our credit and debit payments, but you DO NOT have to establish a PayPal account to donate.] To send a check, send it to: The Augustana Ministerium c/o The Rev. Gregory J. Schultz, Bursar 721 Payne Avenue North Tonawanda, NY 14120 TO BECOME A MEMBER, please see our web site, http://augustanaministerium.org Again, thank you so much for your help thus far, and please remember to keep Pastor Chambers and all the servants of Christ and His Church in your prayers and on your gift list as you prepare to celebrate our Lord's birth and, soon we pray, His return. For more news, please check our web site (which, God willing, will soon be streaming our Facebook page). To learn more about Pastor Chambers as he goes through rehab, tune into his and/or his wife's (Karen Graf Chambers) Facebook feeds. Rev. Eric Stefanski, Dean of Communications The Augustana Ministerium ________________________________________________________________________ The Rev. Eric J. Stefanski Member of The Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America Holy Trinity Ev.-Luth. Church (Unaltered Augsburg Confession) P.O. Box 2612 - Harrison, Arkansas 72602 [email protected] http://www.HolyTrinityLC.com http://ELDoNA.org http://www.cat41.org "Stefanski is the David Helfgott of theology...a few moments of brilliance in a life filled with much incoherent muttering" ________________________________________________________________________ + Information for Confess And Teach For Unity's eList Subscribers + Posts to this list are sent by/through the Confess and Teach For Unity List Administrator at his sole discretion; you are receiving them because you are *or have been* a subscriber to one or more email lists run by Confess and Teach for Unity (CAT41.org). If you are no longer on any CAT 41 list and do not wish to receive such periodic mailings regarding new mail lists and other services, please click the 'unsubscribe link'. 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