Tag Archives: churchfunding

Churchfunding Update 7: Funds Ready, Waiting on House ($69,635)

I deposited a stack of your checks yesterday morning! We have now received over $50,000 of your pledged loans and gifts—a fact that is amazing to write and even more amazing to experience.

Last night I opened a dozen more envelopes with checks. One (from a couple who encouraged me during my college days) contained a thank-you card with the words, “Thanks for giving us the opportunity of blessing you.” Another (from a bishop) included a note saying, “This is a swell idea.” Yet another had a note that said, “The girls need some mail, too, so the stickers are for them.” All three notes were surprising and delightful in their own way. 🙂

(For you who are wondering if we received your check, know that I plan to start sending official email confirmations today—and likely a few snail mail ones, too.)

Thanks to your generosity and the good hand of God, we are now poised to move forward with an offer on a house! So today I contacted our realtor to tell her that funds are in place.

Our first-choice house is still pending sale to someone else, so we plan to wait a while to see if that transaction goes through. If history repeats itself, the house will be back on the market within a week from now. Our realtor contacted the seller’s agent today, looking for more information on the house while we wait to see if it sells.

If this house does sell, it is back to house hunting for us. This means that…


We Still Need Your Help

  • Please pray that God will provide the right house for us. We don’t have a clear second-choice in place right now. But God has full knowledge and power and love to care for us. We expect him to work.
  • Pray for the pledger who lost his job. (See “One Story” here). Last night he told me that he lost his job one week earlier than expected. Pray for faith and finances!
  • Spread the word to help us reach $80,000. About $10,000 more will get us there, giving the cushion that will likely be needed for repairs and minor renovations.
  • If you want to join in, visit the “Official Launch” post and send your pledge info to [email protected]. Then join our Facebook group or subscribe to this blog to stay informed. Thanks!

Progress Report
(As of 10:00 p.m. EST, 10/29/2015)

We are 87% of the way to our goal of $80,000!

Total pledged so far: $69,635.05 (after tithe deducted)
Total pledgers: 88 generous friends
Largest pledge: $12,000
Smallest pledge: $75
Average pledge: $808.12
Most common pledge: $500 (38 this size)

Total loans with interest: $27,929.55
Total interest-free loans: $28,390
Total gifts: $14,795
Total tithe to share with those driven from their homes in the Middle East and the building purchase fund of the Missions Training Center in NYC: $1,480, plus nearly $2,500 in tithes from family gifts

Current maximum projected repayment time (if we receive more interest-bearing loans to reach $80,000): 11 years, 9 months

After we call a halt to this project, I hope to crunch some more detailed statistics, such as:

  • A more detailed breakdown of the range of pledge sizes.
  • How many pledgers we have never actually met. (Quite a lot!)
  • How much was sent by each method: check, Facebook, PayPal, and Square Cash.
  • Is there anything else you’d like to know?

Note: Figures here will fluctuate just a little after we know what exchange rate Canadian contributions actually receive.


I think that’s all for now. I just wanted to be sure you know that this churchfunding experiment is actually working! 🙂

If you have any comments or questions, please share them below. (A few “Praise the Lord!”s are welcome, too!)


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Churchfunding Update 6: Time to Send Your Pledges–Here’s How ($65,895)

Friends, it is with deep gratitude that I announce that we are now ready for you to send in the loans and gifts you have pledged. God has been blessing this churchfunding experiment almost beyond what I dared to hope!

Our total fundraising goal is $80,000, and we will continue to accept microloans until we reach that amount. (Those who join now should still email a pledge first, so we can confirm your pledge is needed before you send it.)

Now that we’ve passed $60,000, we can combine your pledges with some gifts from family and proceed with an offer as soon as God clarifies which house to try for! (More on that below.)

So, here are some options for sending the money you’ve pledged.

Note: If you forget how much you pledged or have other questions, do not hesitate to contact us at dghousefund.gmail.com. And don’t be frightened by the first two options below. I didn’t know about them until a few days ago, and even I can say they are “easy peasy, lemon squeezy,” as one of my little piano students liked to say.


U.S. FUNDS (3 Options)

  • Facebook Messenger (up to $10,000). If you have a debit card, you can send money over Facebook, directly to my bank account. Read about it here, or just follow these easy steps:
    1. Open a chat with Dwight Gingrich (see Facebook help if confused)
    2. Click and enter the amount you want to send
    3. Click Next to add your debit card and then click Pay


      Note
      : If you’re using Payments in Messenger on your smart phone, first make sure that you have the latest version of the Messenger app installed. If you don’t see , tap to find it.

  • Square Cash (up to $2,500). NOTE: Please do not use this option until we solve a glitch that is causing transactions to fail. Thanks! This works much like the Facebook option, by using debit cards. If you already use Square Cash, simply send a payment to [email protected].

If you are new to Square Cash, here are two easy options:

1. Just send the money.  Open the following link, enter the amount and your debit card information, and you’re done! https://cash.me/$DwightGingrich
2. Create a Square Cash account. If you have a smart phone, sign up at the following link, then send a payment to [email protected]: cash.me/app/KNLHDNM. (This will give both you and Rodney Troyer, the CPA helping me, a $5 bonus.) If you don’t have a smart phone, sign up here then follow option one above: https://cash.me/

Note from SQ: “There’s an initial $250 weekly sending limit for personal use Cash accounts. When you send more than $250 in one week, we’ll automatically ask you to verify your name, date of birth, and the last 4 digits of your SSN to increase the sending limit to $2,500 (in most states). Another option is to link your Facebook account and enter the last 4 of your SSN.”

  • Check. Mail a check to Dwight Gingrich the following address, then send an email to [email protected] telling us you have done so:

Dwight Gingrich
25964 265th Ave
Leon, IA  50144


CANADIAN FUNDS (2 Options)

  • Bank draft/cheque in U.S. funds. Have your bank create a cheque in U.S. funds, mail it to the following address, then send an email to [email protected] telling us you have done so:

Dwight Gingrich
25964 265th Ave
Leon, IA  50144

Note: If you are wondering if it is safe to mail a bank draft, you may read this assurance from TD Bank.

  • PayPal. To use this option, contact me privately and I’ll send you the email address to send the money to. (I don’t want to post that email address here.) Important note: If you use a debit card or credit card to send money over PayPal, there will be a transaction fee on top of the exchange fee: “2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (the sender decides who pays this fee).” To avoid this fee, use your bank account or PayPal balance.

No matter which option you choose, we will plan to send you an email confirming we have received your money. (We will aim to send this email within 4 days of receiving your money. Feel free to contact us if you do not hear from us that soon.)


Progress Report
(As of 6:00 a.m. EST, 10/23/2015)

We are over 3/4 way to our goal of $80,000!

Total pledged so far: $65,894.55 (after tithe deducted)
Total pledgers: 81 generous friends
Largest pledge: $12,000
Smallest pledge: $75
Average pledge: $828.89
Most common pledge: $500 (36 this size)

Total loans with interest: $28, 504.55
Total interest-free loans: $26,140
Total gifts: $12,500
Total tithe to share with those driven from their homes in the Middle East and the building purchase fund of the Missions Training Center in NYC: $1,250, plus nearly $2,500 in tithes from family gifts

Current maximum projected repayment time (if we receive more interest-bearing loans to reach $80,000): 12 years, 2 months

Note: Figures here will fluctuate just a little after we know what exchange rate Canadian contributions actually receive.


How You Can Help

  • Pray for the pledger who is about to lose his job. (See “One Story” here). I chatted with him recently, and he said “We can feel many folks praying for us.”
  • Pray that God will preserve and provide exactly the right house for us. (See “Update on ‘The House'” here.)
  • Pray that we will trust him well, so that he can receive the glory he so richly deserves.
  • Pray that God will perfectly control the timing of our move from Iowa to Atlanta, and that we will finish well the work he has for us here before we go.
  • Pledgers, be sure you have emailed all your information to [email protected]. (Your name, pledge amount, mailing address and phone number.)
  • Spread the word to help us reach $80,000.
  • If you want to join in, visit the “Offical Launch” post and send your pledge info to [email protected]. Then join our Facebook group or subscribe to this blog to stay informed. Thanks!

Let me end by repeating our warmest thanks to each of you who are praying, pledging, or otherwise encouraging us in the middle of this faith-walk! We feel God’s love through your love. Thank you.


If you have questions or comments, share them below. God bless!


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Churchfunding Update 5: Almost Ready for Your Pledges! ($60,995)

Hi friends! This is a very short announcement for you who have pledged loans and gifts to help us buying a house in Atlanta.

Thanks to a recent surge in pledges, the pledge total is now $60,994.55. This is enough that we should be able to make an offer on a house! Please stay tuned for another post tonight or tomorrow on how you can send in your pledge money.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, please look for other “Churchfunding” posts, which will be full of details.

Please pray that Christ will be honored as we move into the next phase of this project. Thank you!

For Christ and his Church,
Dwight


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