On our way to the USA

This past weekend, we graduated 34 CPx students and this morning we welcomed 20 of them as Full Time Staff at All Nations to serve with us in Cape Town. Most of them will now start the process of being prepared to be sent to various nations to make Jesus known. We are thrilled for what has happened in their lives, but glad it is over! Hard, rewarding work. And the Lamb is Worthy! Jesus is always worthy! Now, our family (all 4 of us) departs Thursday for America and arrives Friday afternoon, July 4th in Washington DC! We are getting very excited! As we prayed, we felt that the theme of this trip is "deepening relationships!" The longer we are gone from our sending network, the more important it becomes to cherish each hour with you. We hope we get to see as many of you as possible. Please reach out to us. We love you and would thank the Lord for any time we get with you.

Here are some of our plans (Please note that we still have two open Sundays to speak in churches! Hint, hint.):

• July 4: Arrive in USA
• July 5: Family!
• July 6: Capital Christian Fellowship (speaking and connecting)
• July 6-21: Noah attending CPx Training in Kansas City, MO (you near there?). Tricia and the kids with family and friends in MD and NY.
• July 21-28: Maryland (family, friends, fundraising)
• **Sunday, July 27: Still available to speak in a church. Invitations welcomed.**
• July 29-31: Lancaster, Pennsylvania (You near there?)
• August 1-12: Maryland (family, friends, fundraising)
• **Sunday, August 3: Still available to speak in a church. Invitations welcomed.**
• August 5: Discipleship Roundtable Gathering (9am-3pm, Capital Christian Fellowship in Lanham, MD)
• August 10: Capital Christian Fellowship (Sending and Partners Reception)
• August 12: Fly back to Africa

Would you support us in prayer over these next weeks?

For strength and grace in travel and transition as a family...

For open doors for meetings, groups, churches, business people to share our mission with...

For favor in raising new financial supporters and increase from current donors...

For precious people-time to deepen relationships with family and friends...

For humility and passion to tell the stories of what the Lord is doing in Africa and around the world...

Thank you for your prayers and love! Thank you for your friendship.

Noah, Tricia, Davis and Lily

Sharing Our Need

Being a missionary and serving in the center of God's will is one of the greatest privileges one can ever experience. Raising financial support for your family to live abroad and serve the Lord is one of the hardest things one can experience. It is just not easy. This blog is not easy. Living under a constant burden of fundraising is no fun. But then the Lord has a way of reminding me of the GREAT JOY and precious honor it is to serve the Lord in Africa and to be a part of the disciple making movements that the Lord is igniting on the continent.

People often ask me, "how do you all make a living....where do you get your funding?" They are often surprised to learn that we must raise every dollar of support from people that believe in God's call on our lives and the work we are doing.

We are SO BLESSED with about 12 churches and 75 people or families that support us in our missions work. However, living overseas and in South Africa is NOT cheap. We live in accountability to EMM regarding our funding and report for every dollar.

At this stage, we are still about $1,500 per month under-funded. In other words, we need to find $1,500 more in monthly support to cover our expenses. Failure to do this will impact the length of time we can stay on the field.

This is part of my task for this trip to America. To raise new support. So, here are a few specific questions we would like to ask you to consider:

1. Are you presently giving? If so, would you be willing to increase your current support amount? Email me and I will help you. 
2. Perhaps you are not a donor. Would you be willing to start supporting our family? $20 a month is a BIG deal to us. Email me and I will walk you through it.
3. Might you be able to make a one-time gift? You can do so online here: http://www.emm.org/donateform
4. If none of the above, might you be wiling to pray with us that we can raise the funding we need in the next 2 weeks?

We are so thankful for you. Thank you for reading this. And thank you for your partnership in the gospel.

Noah, Tricia and the Kids

Our Online Pledge Form

Our MST Treasure recently created this online pledge form where you can pledge prayer, finances, and other support of our work in missions. CLICK HERE TO GET TO THE FORM. We deeply appreciate the support you offer our family. We pray daily that we can be faithful with your investment into the Kingdom through us.

Bullet update of our trip so far...

• We have been back in the USA since Friday morning. So far, so great! Warm welcomes and gracious visits all around. Our family really rolled out the red carpet for us!
• We are still jetlagged.  It is lasting longer than it usually does this time. Not sure why. I have been up at 2:30am, 3:45am and then today 4:15am. Guess things are moving in the right direction. Davis joined me at 4:30 again this morning.
• Yesterday, we were at our home church and it was a PARTY!!! They welcomed us like pros. I dare someone to find a more supportive home church and spiritual family than Capital Christian Fellowship.
• Want to hear something cool? We got almost 1/4 of our needed additional support in ONE HOUR yesterday morning at our home church! People showed up and GOD showed off!
• Today is all about the 4 of us reconnecting. Family day. With a little Walmart and Target action. ;-)
• Tomorrow is all about Visas for three more years. We go to DC and submit all our hard work and paperwork to the SA Embassy. Pray for favor.
• Wednesday we head to the shore with my entire family for a 4 day thanksgiving vacation in a holiday house that sleeps all 18 of us! We will need tranquilizers and have a BLAST!

Searching for Partner Churches

Our family is heading to the USA in 15 days!! Read about that HERE. In order for us to return to and remain in Africa for this next 2 year term, we MUST raise additional funding. In fact, with rising costs in the US and here in South Africa, and the fact that we were slightly underfunded last term, we must raise another $2,000+ a month!  As a result, our time home will be very intense as we search for new partners and meet with churches and donors.

We still have 2 Sundays available to speak at churches during our trip. November 25 and December 23 (which is really the purpose of this blog). And maybe a third (December 16)...waiting to hear.  We would also have plenty of weekday opportunities to connect as well.

However, here's the deal...we need to spend those two Sundays with churches (not already partnering with us) that can take us on as new partners in mission starting in 2013 and beyond. We need churches that will not only partner with us in prayer and relationship, but will also commit to financially support our ministry.

Do you know of a church like this? One that loves mission and wants to partner with a family committed to see Africa and the Nations discipled toward Jesus?? Would you please help us?

PS- We are searching for PEOPLE too! Want to join in on what the Lord is doing? Email me at noah.ccf@gmail.com to become a regular partner or click HERE to donate now.

The Family is Coming to America!

It's time for the Lily debut! Our family is coming to the states together for the first time since leaving home January 12, 2011! We will be in the USA from November 16 until December 31.

Our goals for the trip:

1. Significant family time
2. Connecting with Friends
3. Sharing stories and visits with our financial and ministry partners
4. Fundraise for our next term (will need new supporters!)
5. Teach what we have learned and share the stories of God moving in the Nations! (Will lead a JDx in Maryland--details coming)

Here is how you could help us in our preparation:

1. Connect us with potential new financial or ministry partners (maybe it is YOU!) We want to spend time with people sharing the vision and gaining the financial support we need to continue the work the Lord is doing.
2. Invite us to come share our work and speak to crowds. This could be a church, bible study, board meeting, or a party you throw for us and all your friends. We still have some dates available.
3. Plan a party for us and your friends or neighbors that do not follow Jesus yet!  Jesus has put it on our hearts to include people in the joy of what we do even if they are not "churched"! We would love to share what is happening in the world with plain ole good people that may not go to your church.
4. Pray for us. We are looking for 45 people that will pray for the 45 days we are in the USA. Would you be one?

44 days and we depart! Looking forward to seeing you.  Will you help us make the trip a success?

Generosity, Faithfulness & A Farewell

You can say what you want about Americans, but let me tell you one thing I deeply appreciate about this place and these people...they are radically generous!! And you can say what you want about God, but let me tell you one thing I know about Him...he is unbelievably faithful.

We came on this trip with three goals:

1. Strengthen Ministry Partnerships (check) 2. Strengthen Personal Partnerships (check) 3. Fundraising! (One time gifts, continued monthly donors, increasing monthly donors and new monthly donors.) (check)

Our need was to raise $25,000 in three weeks. This would allow us to stay on the field the rest of this term.

We raised....

Drumroll please....

Over $25,000!!!!

AND more is committed.

AND we gained a number of new long term partners.

AND a whole lot more amazing stuff happened.

I just wanted to post a blog before leaving let you know that GOD DID IT!

And farewell. Thanks to all of you who filled Davis and my heart with love and our bags with goodies for the girls.

Headed to Lancaster & Pittsburgh

Do you live in Pennsylvania near Lancaster or Pittsburgh?

If so, I would love to see you.

Let me invite you to two events....maybe one works for you:

1. This Saturday, June 2nd I will be leading an all day training event about the counterintuitive values of disciple making and church planting that we are seeing fruit with in Africa and around the world. Let me say it this way: if you want to rethink how you make disciples and see churches multiply, COME! It is this Saturday from 9am until 3pm. Location: Vision Columbia located at 291 South 4th Street, Columbia, Pennsylvania.
2. Then on this Sunday, June 3 I will be preaching in the Pittsburgh area at around 10am. Then, leading a round table discussion on simple church values at 2pm. Come! I would LOVE to see you at either event! Location: Crossway Community Church located at 109 Davis Road in Valencia, Pennsylvania

Since Arriving in America...

Since arriving in America...

• I am over jet lag. Took 2 days.
• I am carrying more faith in God's provision than I have in a long time.
• I am thankful for my family in ways I cannot express.
• I realize the depth of relationships that we had formed with friends in our life and church in our last season of life and ministry. I LOVE these people. A lot.
• I feel like I am forgetting to call or reach out to important people. So they better reach out to me. ;-)
• I am sad at some of what I hear and see around me. In the culture. And in the Christians. But I do not blame them. And I need to have grace, not judgement.
• I am EXTREMELY excited each day about the next person I get to see and hug.
• I am impressed with my son's emotional fortitude. Yet concerned about his little heart. This is a lot to take in. And he feels so confused when people act like he should remember them.
• I am thrilled for the honor to speak to and influence Pastors, starting tomorrow.
• I am trusting God for $25,000 in gifts!
• I am trusting God for ALL of our current financial partners to remain with us and even increase.
• And I am trusting God for new financial partners.
• And I believe in Faith that he will do it.
• Because since arriving here, I am more sure than I was before, that we are right where we are supposed to be.

Flying to USA Tomorrow

After a GREAT, fruit bearing trip to Kenya for our EMM retreat, we settled back in, did the laundry and got packed again. Had a great Mother's Day today with the girls and have now printed our boarding passes to leave tomorrow. Davis and I take off tomorrow at 1:50pm local time. We are so excited, though sad to leave the girls behind!

Davis and I will be in the USA from May 15 through June 4. The schedule is already quite full with some great things. But there is room for more time...perhaps with you.

The three goals of this trip are: 1. Strengthened Ministry Partnerships 2. Strengthened Personal Partnerships 3. Fundraising! (One time gifts, continued monthly donors, increasing monthly donors and new monthly donors.)

HERE is a post with where I will be sharing and when. Come. I would love to see you!

And HERE is a post with a tad more detail on some teaching events I will be leading for Pastors and Church Leaders. Come. I would love to see you.

Finally, if you are local in the DC area, PLEASE consider this your invitation to join Davis and I at Capital Christian Fellowship in Lanham on Sunday, May 20 for service at 10am or Friday, May 25 for a BBQ and sharing about our work at 6:30pm.

Love, The Kaye Family (especially the hunks in the photo above)

Coming to America!

Last week we sent this news to our partners and supporters. I thought we would go ahead and tell the rest of the world too. Exciting things! Here are some excerpts of the letter we sent out:

After hearing from the Lord on it as a family, seeking counsel from our leaders and our Missionary Support Team, we have decided that Noah and Davis will make a trip to America together in May!

Purpose of the trip: FUNDRAISING, meeting with Pastors and churches, speaking and sharing what we are learning, and strengthening the realtionship with our partners in ministry. And of course, it will be precious to see family and friends. Oh, and did I mention Fundraising (priority time and energy will go to current and potential donors)?

Dates of Trip: May 15 through June 4.

Why Davis? 1) Daddy does not prefer to travel alone, 2) Mommy does not prefer to keep two kids by herself when one of them is an infant, 3) There are a few people in America that would like some quality time with a certain 5 year old, and 4) after much prayer and waiting, Jesus paid for Davis's plane ticket through some special gifts!

Already looking forward to being with our home congregation, Capital Christian Fellowsip on Sunday, May 20th! It will be neat to be back home after 17 months on the feild!

While Tricia and Lily would love to come, we believe that it is right that they do not. Lord willing, we will be in the USA as a family in November and December as was originally planned.

With anticipation, 

Noah, Tricia, Davis and Lily

Our Week...Filming

This is a pretty cool week.  We have guests visiting us from America.  Their names are Nathaniel and Aletheia Elliott. The crazy thing is that we actually never met this couple until they landed here Friday night. We have skyped and emailed in preparation for this trip, but never me tin person. Aletheia has a heart for justice, Nathaniel has major gifts and a degree in film making and they are both in love with Jesus and Africa. The Lord put a desire in their hearts to come here to South Africa to film our story and the stoires of others here in Masi. This is such a special gift to us. This morning we filmed five hours of footage in Masi. Soon, we will be releasing some videos and photos (pic above is from today). We are thanking God for this chance to share what the Lord is up to.

(Video below was their promo video for this trip.)

Financial Support of our Work

Our family is sending you each the greatest holiday love and blessings that we can! We count it a high honor to serve Jesus here in Africa and the partnership of many people, families and churches make God's calling our reality.

It is hard to believe that we are wrapping up our first year in Africa. We both tend to think that God has done more IN us than THROUGH us, but we have deep gratitude for both.

As we wrap up 2011, we look back thrilled with what we have seen. As we head into 2012, we are sure that the future is bright with opportuinities to love people and make disciples.

The truth is this-- we cannot be here without financial partners.  Period. And we are stll in need of investors. $20 a month is a big deal to us! A one time gift of a few hundred dollars helps tremendously. As the end of the year approaches, might you consider one of two things:

1. Might you be willing to make a one time contribution to our missions work?  You can do so online with a debit/credit card by CLICKING HERE or by mailing a check to:

Eastern Mennonite Missions

PO Box 458

Salunga, PA 17538

(Be sure that "Kaye Support" is in the memo of the check.)

2. Might you be willing to make a monthly pledge for the coming year? If so, you can set that up online by clicking HERE or simply email me, message me or comment here and I will personally walk you through the process. 

It would be so encouraging if the Lord would lead you to act on this invitation to partner with us!  We trust the Lord for His continued provision through you.

"Every time we think of you, we give thanks to our God....for you have been partners in spreading the good news about Christ..."  Phil. 1:3-6

Mozambique Trip Threatened

Let me cut to the chase with the short version:

There is a very special trip coming up next week with local guys we work with...the trip is being threatened because of finance and could be saved if I can find a few people who can give a few hundred bucks!

Full Version: 

If you have been following our ministry here in ZA, you are aware that I have been working with a new church plant for about 6 months, made up of men from Mozambique. You can find a number of posts and videos about them on my blog.  A few weeks ago, we baptized 6 of the guys!  Read about that here. 

For the last few months we have been planning an expidition back to their home country of Mozambique for a missionary journey/ discipleship trip. Never done anything like this, but we really believe it was led of the Lord to go.  It is a response to their faith, early in their faith journey. The guys want to go back to their families and friends and tell them all about what Jesus has done in their lives. I belive that we will see some impacted lives and salvations on this trip!  We also hope to gather people in groups and may end up doing some teaching about simple church planting....with the guys as real life examples of what it produces. 

We were scheduled to leave on Friday September 30th. The plan is for 5 of us to drive there (Noah, Viktor, Shawn, Ernest and John). It will take two days to get there.  All of the guys have come up with money--as much as they can, but they are short.  We need more money to cover the expenses of the trip (food and transport).  We met tonight, discerned together and decided to look to the Lord for provision and make the decision in a few days as to whether we wil still go or cancel the trip.

If I can find 3-5 people that could give a couple hundred bucks, we can go!  To these guys, that seems impossible.  They make about $15 a day. To someone reading this now, it may be extremely possible.  

If you can help, just shoot me an email or let me know however you'd like.  I'm easy to reach.

I you cannot help, would you just pray that we'd somehow get the money to go? 

A Tax Return for the Kingdom

It is the wonderful tax time back in America where some of my dear friends and family are freaking out that they owe money while others are dancing over their good refund. Last week, I got a note from someone that we paying their full years's missions support for us out of their tax refund.  And it got me thinking. What a great idea.  

We want to make you aware that our family has still not raised our full budget.  We are about $25,000 short and if we do not raise it, we will be coming home earlier then we feel we are supposed to.  

So, my question to you is simple: If you are getting a tax refund, might you consider clicking HERE and sharing some of it with our cause for missions? 

Thank you for considering us in your giving to the Lord. And if not us, than give to your home church or another Kingdom cause!  I think it is pretty cool to use some of your tax refund for the Kingdom.  We plan to do the same!

So Close, Yet So Far...

I'm so thankful for our missions organization, Eastern Mennonite Missions (www.EMM.org) who believes in us and our calling! They've been great to us. In fact, they made an exception by allowing us to come here to South Africa without all our funds raised. We're thankful for that and believe it was the right call.
We are so close, yet so far away. So close because having raised $130,000 in 5 months, this seems so small. Yet it seems so far away because 30k is still 30k. And we are far away physically to be able to work at finishing this fundraising. Makes it harder across an ocean.
So...can you help? Can you make a one time gift or a monthly commitment? We still need some partners in order to stay where God has sent us. Will you walk with us?

If you can, simply shoot me an email to Noah.CCF@gmail.com.