One common question that Lisa and I hear from students is, “What is your job?” and “How are you able to do what you do?” We even get these questions from some of our friends from church and even some of you. Well, this post is a bit of an expose… Or maybe better, a FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions post. So here it goes

Do you work for the university?

Since we are so closely tied to the local university, many people ask if we are employed by the university. We are not. We do not work directly for any specific university. We work for a Christian organization called International Students Inc. (ISI – isionline.org) As it says in our mission statement “ISI exists to share Christ’s love with international students and equip them for effective service in cooperation with the local church and others.”

Do you work for your church?

While our church in Arlington, Fielder Road Baptist Church(http://fielder.org) supports us in many ways and they graciously allow me to use one of their offices, we do not work directly for Fielder or for any church. Fielder and many other churches and individuals are part of our support team and while we are of course first responsible to God, practically we directly “work for” ISI, a 53 year old national christian organization based in Colorado Springs, CO, with nearly 200 staff around the country focused on touching international students.

So, what is your job?

Lisa and I are Campus Ministers for ISI. We directly minister to international students but just as importantly we help others catch the vision and to be equipped in also helping international students and showing them Christ’s love. Roy, the DFW director, is also responsible for the team of 10 who do the same on 8 campuses in the 6 county Dallas/Fort Worth area that have around 10,000 international students.

How are you able to do what you do? Do you do another job to make this possible? How are you paid?

While for 8 years we did this as volunteers and another six years Roy worked part time as an engineering consultant to supplement his income with ISI, over the last four years, Roy works full-time for ISI. ISI is not like a church in that it receives general offereing and then we receive a salary from that general offereing. Our financial resources come from several sources.

• First, some churches including our home churches in California, and our home church in Texas as well as one small foundation support us as missionaries. This is a real blessing to us and really makes a difference financially but also in emotional and spiritual support (letters, sermons, e-mails, contact with our kids, prayer, etc.)
• Second, quite a few friends, family, and just “People Who Care About Students” (PWCAS) support us with monthly financial gifts. Some give as little as $5 a month and others as much as $500 a month. All make a huge difference and their gifts comprise the majority of our funding. Of course there is the tax benefit for them, but most give because they care about us or our ministry. Some give online at our website www.yabukibreeze.com, others give using payroll deduction, and others give via good old snail mail to our home office designating our ministry as the recipient of the funds.
• Third, a group of friends, family and PWCAS’ give maybe special one or few time gifts or perhaps gifts that regularbut only once or twice a year to help us in our ministryonline, using payroll deduction or through the mail. We have had gifts as litttle as $5 and as much as $5000.(which happened to be in the form of stocks)

Through this community of people, we are able to do what we do. focusing our time on students.

How do people know to give and can you make enough that way to live and do what you do?

We pray for opportunities to share about what we do and we try to talk to people who seem interested. We also share about our ministry through this blog, through a weekly and monthly (more or less) prayer e-mail and through a quarterly mailed newsletter.

While many in our team receive enough support for full time 40 hrs/week support, we do not. We currently have enough support for Roy  to “officially” work 27 hours per week but Roy in reality works 40+.  The amazing thing is that even though we are not yet at full budget, God has always provided just enough to survive. (with a relatively small amount of debt) Still, our desire is to some day be “officially” working 40 hours a week so we don’t have to “be filled with anxiety” about our finances any more.  Still, we believe in God’s provision and His place for us here right now so we are not worried. He always takes care of us. Still, if you are interested in learning more about helping us, please let us know.