by Andrew Sharp

The move from the old SEND house to the Rosedale International Center meant saying goodbye to one community and plugging into a new one. As part of the effort to make connections in the Shepard community, SEND staff and interns spent some time helping out at the Shepard Community Association’s annual Family Day on August 21, an event that featured a drumline, a petting zoo, face painting, and more.

SEND staff helped set up and serve a cookout-style meal to people from the neighborhood. RIC Center Coordinator Bob Stauffer said that while they weren’t doing anything extraordinary, it was a way to make connections in the community—to “rub shoulders and show that we care.”

“A few of us got to [join in with] the community steppers and it was just a good time of getting to know people out in the community,” SEND staffer Austin Beachy said.

Bob said it was refreshing to see all the families at the event and the strong sense of community that was evident.

Posted by RMM Blog Administrator at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

by Carolyn Beachy

Ride For Missions means:

• afternoon discussions about heaven in the motel lobby after the day’s ride
• crowding bikes, riders, and luggage into the motel elevator
• major decision making about where to eat after the day’s ride
• using bicycle manners and terms, such as
  • “car back” – car coming from behind
  • “car up” – car coming toward you
  • “pace line” – single file line of riders
  • “domestique” – the first rider in a pace line, who bucks the wind
  • “drafter” – the rider(s) behind the “domestique” who benefit(s) from the draft he or she creates
  • “bonk” – what a rider does when he runs out of energy
  • “tandem” – a bicycle built for two riders
  • “stoker” – the rider on the back of a tandem
  • “SAG (support and gear) wagon” – the vehicle always ready to pick up and/or help riders if they need it

    Continue reading "A Glimpse of Ride for Missions" »

    Posted by RMM Blog Administrator at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

THANK YOU to those of you who chose to give support to the 2010 Missions Day Offering.

2010 goal for the Missions Day Offering: $440,000

Pledges and gifts as of August 5, 2010: $262,000

The Offering in recent years has been about $240,000, so while we are still trying to reach our goal, we are very grateful for all the support so far. In particular, the offering at the Missions Day program at CMC’s Annual Conference was higher than usual: about $77,000.
 
The annual Ride for Missions set a new high mark this year with $52,000 raised (about $45,000 after expenses)!
 
Contributions toward the Missions Day Offering continue throughout the year, so any gifts we receive by December 31 earmarked for the Missions Day Offering will bring us even closer to the goal.

Click here, if you would like to give to to Missions Day Offering.

Posted by RMM Blog Administrator at 06:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

by Andrew Sharp

It’s time to pay the monthly bills. Pick up a pen, grab the checkbook, and cross them off the list. At the same time, send off a few donations to various good causes. Then get back to life until next month’s bills come due.

Sound like fun? Hopefully not. Sound familiar? Maybe. Most of us have probably approached giving as a duty at some point. When that happens, it’s time to sit back and evaluate how and why we give.
As the missions agency for Conservative Mennonite Conference, Rosedale Mennonite Missions is supported for the most part by donors. We recently talked to a few of them about why and how they contribute. We hope their stories (told anonymously) will inspire you to think about giving in a fresh way, to ponder why you give, and to approach it creatively as more than a duty.

Gifts of Time
Missions work is in itself a gift of time, so we could include countless stories of mission workers. But many others, not called to overseas missions, have given time to RMM. Recently during the renovation of the Rosedale International Center, hundreds of volunteers—individuals and church groups—spent thousands of hours helping the contractors. One of them was a semi-retired painter who traveled to Columbus and gave seven months of his life working with another volunteer to paint the interior of the 33,000-square-foot building. Together they rolled and brushed hundreds of gallons of paint in dorms, hallways and classrooms. They also helped supervise volunteer groups who were painting. “I guess you’d call it a challenge. I like challenges in my life,” he said. He pointed to his experience as a time of spiritual growth and making new friendships.

Continue reading "" »

Posted by RMM Blog Administrator at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Help Launch the next century of missions at RMM!

Missions offerings started small in CMC. In 1915, five years after the conference was founded, the fledgling conference was still exploring ways to go about missions. Although outreach was emphasized from the beginning, a formal missions agency was years away. So that year the offering was designated for “charitable purposes,” and came to a grand total of $44.

A few years later, there was an offering of $440 toward paying for a children’s home and establishing a new missions fund. Many years later, in 2010, our goal for Missions Day Offering is a little higher yet—$440,000.

If this figure seems high, it’s because it is nearly double the usual offering. In 2008, the Missions Day Offering came to $267,000, and in 2009 it was $237,500. But as we approach the next century of CMC missions, we are expanding, and that growth comes with a price tag.

Part of that price tag is paying for new programs and initiatives at the Rosedale International Center (RIC), our new training facility. We are excited about expanding REACH, bringing in more groups for City Challenge, and offering more training for missions workers.

Our goal for this year’s Missions Day Offering is to celebrate CMC’s 100th anniversary with a one-time landmark offering of $440,000 that will serve as a springboard for the next century. About half of the goal ($240,000) would go toward RMM’s general fund as usual. And anything we receive over that amount would go toward the new training and programs at the RIC.

Things have changed a lot since 1910. CMC has commissioned RMM as an agency with a clear vision for international church planting. That vision has been backed by a generous increase in support from the conference. That offering of $44 in 1915 would be about $950 in today’s value. The $440 donated in 1919 would be worth about $5,500. Today, we are blessed every year with offerings in the hundreds of thousands. We are grateful.

Click Here to Give to the Offering

Posted by RMM Blog Administrator at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)