#4 Reason: Senders have to make more of a sacrifice to give then they would have in the past

Previous years, people had more dispensable income, people could give to missionaries out of their wealth without even seeing the affects of their monthly giving. This is not a bad thing--giving to missionaries is ALWAYS a good thing--Don’t let me talk you out of it. But, this does remind me of one of Jesus’ teaching moments in Mark 12:41-44. In this passage, Jesus is at the temple watching people give their offerings. At the temple there were a group of the rich people who were giving large sums of money and a poor widow came to give all she had, a penny. Correct fund-raising would tell us to push past the widow and focus on the richest people. We want to focus on those able to give the most to God’s work. Right? Lets check in and see what Jesus told his disciples "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on." Jesus saw the true faith of that widow. It’s not bad that the rich people were giving to the Lord, its not bad if rich people support me : ) BUT its when people give in FAITH that truly counts. It would be nice if a rich person just gave me all of the money and send me on my way BUT it would be a billion times better to work along side a team of faith-filled people giving and investing in God’s work in Thailand.