September 25, 2013
Dear Friends & Family:
Thank you for your faithful support, both financially and in
prayer. Because of the intensity of the
spiritual battle I was involved in, I haven’t written a letter for a while. However, I do write about ministry related
events and issues at dottiedch.blogspot.com if you would like to keep in touch there.
The Update
I have been helping on- campus
Christian Clubs (since 2007), Baccalaureate (since 1999) and the Pearland Youth
Ministry Alliance (since 1991) – just as a
reminder of what I have been doing in Pearland.
2009 was a year where everything was
looking up. Club ministry was really coming
together. People were coming to
help. Pearland was becoming a team. The
vision (and the task) was becoming clearer.
2010 was the pivotal year. At the very end of the year, the on- campus
Christian club support team was destroyed by a divisive partner. A youth pastor put himself in charge of
Baccalaureate and the Pearland Youth Ministry Alliance. He also attempted to take control of all on-campus
Christian Clubs as well.
2011 was the healing and affirming
year. After the move to put me out of everything I had been doing,
I had two simple goals: 1) Finish well:
finish the 2010-2011 school year with one club. 2) Move on: move out of Pearland to another
community. By April
2011, I realized I was doing more clubs and working with more students
than I had been, before the clubs were taken away. Graciously, someone pointed out that God will
prosper you in what He has called you to do – I couldn’t have figured this out
at that time: I was too wounded. My
calling was affirmed.
By November 2011, something was
taking place in me. I realized that I
was the point person for unity and working together in my community; it was
unity and working together that was Satan’s target, not me. I realized that the number one group hurt
when we don’t work together is our children, our schools and the poor and weak
among us. I moved from licking my own
wounds to a new healing and trying to rebuild, trying to help my community
regain the ground that had been lost.
During this time, I started to
view what I was doing differently.
Rather than just someone doing what she could, I saw myself as uniquely
called, uniquely trained, uniquely designed by my Creator for my community, for
clubs,
for students, for such a time as this.
Rather than just doing a good thing, I started to see myself as engaged
in strategic warfare for a generation. My
perception-shift was critical:
I did not attend Baccalaureate 2011
– the first Baccalaureate I’ve missed since 1994. The attendance was about 35 graduates per
high school..
The low attendance was a balm to my ego, but also an assault to my
community spirit – how could they ruin such a wonderful opportunity to
influence students to godliness, and enable churches to work
together? I attended Baccalaureate
2012. Attendance was even lower –
about 24 graduates total. I helped with Baccalaureate 2013 (because my daughter, Allie was a graduate),
the attendance of the graduates from both HS schools was down to 12 graduates.
The
1999 through 2010 Baccalaureate programs had been attended by about 100
graduates per year.
During July 2013, the ministry I was
working with, Cross in the City, closed down very quickly: I had less than a week’s notice. This left me without an income and without a
way to raise any support. With only my
husband’s income, our income is at poverty level; it is a critical situation for our
family. Frankly, without God’s
intervention, I don’t see how we are going to get through this one. It is difficult enough to go without a
paycheck, let alone without 6 months of paychecks.
In spite of our situation, I knew I needed to be sure of
what God wanted me to do, not just continue to persevere because He was
prospering my work, or run out and take the first job I
was offered because our family was so desperate for the income. It was definitely a challenge to wait on God
at this point.
I also had real questions about whether I wanted to continue
in Pearland. I had two contrasting
realities:. God was clearly prospering what I was doing
with on- campus
Christian clubs: 6 clubs were receiving
support at various levels, totaling about 600 students a week. I was interested in supporting any type of on-campus
Christian Club. But, the local youth
pastors decided that they would push a certain model of club with their youth
groups. So, if I supported a sponsor or
student in their desire to do a different type of club, sometimes sponsors
received critical emails. It was an odd
position to be in: I want to support
Christian Clubs. I want to encourage
students to attend church. I want
students to live out their faith on their campuses. However, doing this caused me to be to be at
odds with the youth pastor community.
I prayed. I looked
for jobs. I evaluated my strengths. I considered my family and their needs. I really thought I was going to give up on
ministry and find a “real” job.
The Future
And then, I got this exciting invitation: to work with Youthworkers Support Network
(“The Net”). I have the opportunity to be part
of a team and create community. I will
have the opportunity to encourage clubs all over the Greater Houston Area. I will have the opportunity to help develop
youth ministry networks all over! This
is the biggest thing I have ever done and I am excited about the possible
impact.
Some of the best news is that it
will be part-time (20 hours per week), which will allow me to juggle my family
issues, and will also allow me to continue encouraging the Pearland club
leaders. It will also give me time to evaluate
whether I should develop a 501(c)(3) organization
to provide this support for Pearland.
(YSN will avoid developing or supervising direct-ministry programs, so
it can focus on networking and leadership development.) In the process, I will get to serve at a
level that will be both challenging and fulfilling to me. I will get to help sponsors and students from
all over our metroplex, start and improve their on -campus
clubs. I will get to help youth workers,
who have just realized their community could be better if they worked together,
start networks. I will get to connect
people. … .
I am:
A unique person, in a critical position, who is called
by God to bring people and churches together to reach students for Christ.
Since joining YSN’s staff on
September 1, I have two immediate projects:
#1 Rebuilding my support base: I’ve never had time to focus on fundraising –
I’ve always jumped into doing ministry, and
fundraising was put aside. Now I will
have a season to do this. My prayer is,
that by January, 2014, I will be fully funded!
Please pray for my family’s needs during this time.
#2 Researching area See You at the Pole efforts:
“Where is SYATP going on?”, “Who is promoting it?”, “How can we help
them next year?”
Will you consider joining me? My initial goal is $30,000 per year. This will cover my part-time salary of less
than half that of a starting school teacher (which I’ve never received before),
plus my taxes and basic program expenses
This will take as a little as 100 people giving $25/month,
or $300/year – to keep me in this critical position. Will you be one of my 100? Will you be two?
Please
pray for me.
Serving
Him,,
Dottie
Hinesley
Schools-Network
Coordinator
