Excellent Things to Donate To
This page is a mirror of the donations information page from Shammah's Rest of the Old, Old Story website
This web site doesn't need money, and we don't need money. Here's what does need money.
As of this writing in December, 2007, we carry all these ministries without donations from any outside sources. We are learning to cut back on our own lifestyles in order to do all the things God is calling us to do. We know that God will supply, but we also know that people have told us that we have provided no means for them to help even if they wanted to. I know personally that I and friends, in the past, put money in bank accounts while waiting for places that we felt good about giving to. I at least want to make these things available as an option.
How to contribute is given at the end of these ministry listings. All contributions to us and to the other ministries listed after are tax-deductible.
Single Mothers
Rose Creek Village supports nearly twenty single moms who live here and contribute to the running of this village. They teach in our school, help produce our quarterly newspaper (download copies of this excellent paper here), and make many of the social activities of Rose Creek Village happen. We don't send them off for jobs, because we want them to be able to raise their children just as our wives do. We support that completely out of our businesses and income.
Mission Trips
We are involved with Voice of Gospel in India, and we try to make at least one trip per year there at Pastor K.V. Daniel's request. We are committed to two churches in Kenya, and we have contact with at least five missionaries in Myanmar, all of whom are asking for teaching as well as financial help when necessary. All the problems of American Christianity are being exported abundantly to these countries, and we are devoted to establishing a stronghold for the true Gospel, for unity, and for the building up of the church in these countries. We also spend a great deal of time visiting orphans every time we go to one of these countries.
Note that all these places have other ministries that provide for the orphans. We do not do that ourselves, although we do give to these ministries. Look under the other ministries section below for links to those web sites.
Festivals and Performances
Every year we conduct a VillageFest to share this Life with others. It is quite a large production, and we bear the cost of it ourselves. We are very careful about costs, making most of our own costumes and reusing them as often as possible. It still runs several thousands of dollars, however. While we charge a nominal amount to enter the VillageFest in order to help with counting those who attend, the entry fee is completely donated to Voice of Gospel's Mercy Home Ministry.
We have three bands—Kula, Troen, and One Heart—that bear a great deal of their own expenses. WindDance does the same. Celtic music will never command the kind of fees and income that more popular music does. The festivals we go to do the best they can, but the band members, all of whom hold full-time jobs, pay almost all travel costs themselves, as well as the costs of maintaining instruments and replacing old ones. WindDance purchases their own costumes with monthly dues they collect from the dancers. No band member or dancer collects any income at all from their performances, and performance sees simply offset a portion of the food, lodging, and travel expenses of the performers.
The feedback from our performances is tremendous. We are told the performances are well-done, but that is not the point. We are told that we inspire young people, demonstrate that there are better things for young people to do than what TV and media offer them, and that even our young men's bands demonstrate the power of friendship. We have been asked repeatedly how we raised children like the ones audiences have watched perform, to which we are able to reply, we gave them to Christ. Kula, Troen, One Heart, and WindDance are as much a ministry, and as powerful a ministry, as any preaching we do. More recently, they have begun performing at a local youth rehabilitation center, and are asked about regularly by the youth there.
School
School is one of our major expenses. Unlike the typical private school, we do not attract wealthy families and charge tuition high enough to support teacher salaries. We school the children of those who come to Christ, weeping and longing to be part of a church that is truly united in a real and whole commitment to Christ.
When we began schooling, we began often with people who came out of poor public schools or poor home schools. We weren't sure how to proceed, and many of our mothers were first-time home schoolers. That was over a decade ago, however, and our schooling is now excellent and well-rounded. Children who were behind have caught up or are advanced. Best of all, we have children who have not only been taught facts and skills, but who have been taught to love learning. They know how to get along, how to love life, how to attack life boldly and confidently. They minister, travel, and are active and effective members of the community.
Our school is registered with Home Life Academy, complies with all Tennessee state laws, and is regularly visited by the school officials of McNairy County. We can now issue diplomas, but before that was possible, our children regularly set county records for high scores on the GED.
Business
We are not asking for contributions for our businesses. I merely want to talk about the load our businesses carry in ministry.
Our businesses are not just businesses. They are ministries. Our people have turned heads of corporate leaders, local government officials, homeowners, and fellow subcontractors. This doesn't cost us anything. It's simply a benefit of employing brothers.
What does cost us money, however, is taking on the responsibility of whoever comes to us. If it is possible for us to employ newcomers to the village, we do so, often paying them more than they benefit the business, because a family cannot live on minimum wage nor even the low wages typical of this area. We live in one of the poorest counties in the country, and sending people out job-hunting can be a problem. If a newcomer does get a job, but doesn't make much money, they often cannot bear their portion of the costs of living at Rose Creek Village.
Our businesses are healthy, and they can bear these costs. However, they are not only bearing these costs, but they are also bearing the costs of everything listed above.
Other Ministries
Some of these other ministries are mentioned in our Mission Trips section above. All of the following ministries are set up to receive their own money, so you don't need to give to them through us. The following are all excellent ministries, and we can vouch for the honesty, integrity, and sound business practices of all of them. Some details are given below so that you can know what they do. We contribute ourselves to each of these:
Voice of Gospel, India
Voice of Gospel has two main purposes, common to ministries in 3rd world countries: evangelism of the unreached and supporting orphans and widows. India is not really a 3rd world country anymore, but sections of it most definitely are. Voice of Gospel sends missionaries into Hindu villages that have never been reached with the Gospel of Christ. I am very slow to say that any religion is awful, but Hinduism is an awful religion. A polytheistic religion, it promotes the oppression of lower classes of society, limits the freedoms of women, and has led to rampant poverty as well as having a history of the prostitution of little girls (re: any of Amy Carmichael's books). Voice of Gospel trains and sends missionaries to many of the thousands of unreached villages of India.
Voice of Gospel is also the provider of Mercy Homes, of which there are at least seventy now, supporting up to 10 orphans each. Unlike typical orphanages, orphans are taken into Mercy Homes as part of a family to be raised by a godly couple as their own children. Voice of Gospel thoroughly reviews and continually checks on all couples who volunteer to be Mercy Home directors. They are visited regularly not just by Pastor Daniel, but also by American sponsors. We can personally vouch for the happiness, health, and devotion to Christ of the children in over twenty Mercy Homes that we have visited.
Mercy Homes have opened doors into villages that were hostile to the Gospel. A number of Mercy Home directors have borne persecution as they moved into a neighborhood and received orphans from Indian authorities. The love and care towards the village orphans, however, have repeatedly opened the door to sharing the Gospel of Christ with the village.
As a side note, we are looking into expanding the Mercy Home ministry into Kenya.
Heaven's Family
Heaven's Family is three separate ministries. Shepherd Serve holds pastors' conferences for pastors in many countries, many of whom are from nominal Christian backgrounds and are in desperate need of training and guidance. I Was Hungry provides for a variety of needs in distressed and impoverished areas, including supporting widows and providing rice and corn in areas where Christians are persecuted and thus in great need. Orphan's Tear provides money for orphanages in many countries. We recently returned from visiting the supported orphanages in Myanmar.
Heaven's Family provides the rather unusual option of being able to donate directly to ministries, so that 100% of your gift goes to the ministry supported. You can also contribute to their general fund to support the administration involved. We've seen what they do and the few people they employ to do it, and we can assure you that they are far from overstaffed. I have personally wondered, in fact, how they pull everything off.
I understand that they will soon be offering the chance to sponsor indigineous missionaries as well. This is something I believe you can already do through Voice of Gospel.
How to Contribute
Unfortunately, you have to mail a check to contribute to us or to Voice of Gospel, though that may change soon. Heaven's Family is nicely set up for online donations. Checks for any of the things we do above should be made out to Rose Creek Village Ministries and mailed to P.O. Box 307, Selmer, TN 38375. If you have further questions, you can contact us here.
