We closed our monthly support (for the first time) on August 27, 2026.
Since then, we’ve been asked some version of the same thing, in a hallway after a presentation and once on a phone call: if you’re already fully funded, what would our gift even be for? Mostly it comes out sheepish, along the lines of “will this even matter?”
I get that, I really do. Usually I chuckle and tell them, “We’re never tired of people wanting to partner with us.” (One church opted to support us anyway, despite the fact that we’re fully funded!)
The short answer: every commitment over 100% protects us against future losses that we absolutely will incur. The long answer takes a little math.
Have No Fear
If a church or an individual is still praying about this, have no fear.
The truth of the matter is, life happens, and statistically, there is a 0% chance that when we come back for our first furlough, we will have all of these people still on our team.
That’s the nature of life and ministry.
People’s financial situation changes. They lose jobs, they retire, they don’t have as much disposable income as they used to…
…and, believe it or not, sometimes people die get to meet Jesus sooner than we do.
We’ve already lost a few partners since August (at the time of writing, it’s October of the same year), losing people partnering with us for the gospel in Durban:
- One $100/month donor recently lost his job just two months after partnering with us.
- One man’s wife wasn’t there for our presentation; she wasn’t comfortable with the amount he pledged, so they agreed to stop.
- One guy had trouble getting his card to stay authorized, and when he found out we were fully funded (and technically over-supported), he decided to give up altogether. It’s the acceptable risk of being transparent with our finances.
All of this felt like news to us. Never did we feel like we saw any of those circumstances coming, and yet when we talk to other missionaries, they all nod and tell similar stories. This is a common thing in a lifestyle that is not yet common to us.
It makes me incredibly grateful to have a cushion.
Let’s Do The Easy Math
I’m a visual learner, so it’s hard for me to describe in text, but here’s my best effort:
What’s going to happen a year from now (or two)(or three) is that Person A is going to lose a job, and they’re going to lose the ability to send $100 a month.
So if a church or individual comes on today for $100 or $150 or $200 a month (let’s just call them Church A and say $100 for easy math) -- If this church gives us $100 a month over our current budget, that puts us at 101%.
When we lose that $100 donor in the future (because that absolutely will happen), suddenly we’re at 100%… and our account is $1,200 above budget, and we operate moving forward at 100%, no shortfalls.
Then when a second person (Person B) loses a job or passes away and we lose another $100 a month, we’re at 99%. But we still take 100% of our budget, because we have that extra $1,200 in our account.
Does that make sense?
That’s not a math trick or a sneaky way to get more money out of anyone. It’s just what a budget does when it has a little slack in it.
Every Commitment Over 100% Does Three Jobs:
- It protects us against future losses down to 100% that we’ll incur,
- It builds a buffer that protects us when additional losses accrue below 100%, and:
- It covers future budget growth that would put us below 100% incidentally (i.e. health insurance premium increases).
Honestly, everything about moving has been more expensive than expected, and we haven’t even moved yet. Bubble wrap is $35 for a roll! It cost $5,000 to move two refrigerator-sized boxes to South Africa.
Above and beyond that, we’ve had what feels like a hundred little expenses pop up that aren’t moving-cost related, just “hey, general life is getting more and more expensive” -- like $12 a copy for our birth certificates. We’ll need a certified copy of each birth cert, with an apostille attached, and those are $10 each. That’s $22 for each family member to prove that we were actually born where we were, and that’s not a moving cost, it’s a life cost. However, we can’t renew our visas in South Africa in 2 years if we don’t have them, so they’re necessary expenses, just not moving costs. It’s way cheaper to get them here and take them with us than it would be to order them online and ship them to Durban later. Plus the fear of losing them in the mail or the delivery running late…
This cushion, to do what needs done now, has been invaluable.
What $5 A Month Actually Does
The other thing we run into is people who are uncomfortable with large monthly commitments, and they underestimate what $5 a month can do if 10 people do it.
$5 a month, 10 people, is $600 a year.
That’s six months of Person A’s gift, covered by people who thought $5 was too small to matter.
So Should You Join?
If you are (or your church is) still praying about this, I would greatly and strongly encourage you to pray more.
What someone gives, and where they give it, is entirely between them and God. Every Christian is called to invest in Kingdom work through their time, their talents, and their treasure, and how they do that is 100% up to them and the work God is calling them to do and support.
So if you feel that you should be part of our team, absolutely join our team. We’re doing God’s work in Durban, and if this is something God is nudging your heart to be part of, don’t let “but they’re already funded” be an excuse.
Whatever you decide, we trust that you’re following the Lord’s leading to give somewhere. Go do that!
The Takeaway
Every commitment over 100% protects us against future losses, builds a buffer, and covers future budget growth. This is a massive impact now that sets up months, maybe years, of faithful work in the future. Absolutely join our team.