Transparent Thoughts

We need your support more than ever before!  I’m not simply referring to financial need, though that truly is a greater need than ever.  For 2014 we were more than $3,700 short of our budget needs.  Payroll for the second half of December was not met until after the New Year.  This has not happened in the entire history of our ministry (2000).  

The board of directors has taken notice and believes the LORD is trying to get our attention.  I’m not certain what that means, but we ask you to continue to pray about what the LORD would have you do in the area of finances for Sight Ministry.  Our faith in the LORD’s provision has not wavered.  In these past 14 years I have not missed one single meal due to lack of financial provision.  You should know before I would let myself miss a meal I would invite myself to your house for dinner.  My heart is deeply moved by those of you who give regularly to this ministry and I truly thank GOD for each of you.

An equally important reason why we need your support more than ever is because those of us who personally deal with attractions to the same gender feel more and more ostracized.  We feel more alienated by the pressures of the environment in which we live each day.  We feel more alone than ever before.

Most of us involved in Sight Ministry have surrounded ourselves with our own personal support base through our small group ministry and, even more importantly, through the local church that we are connected to.  However, due to the almost unanimous acceptance of society toward embracing a gay identity we feel that we are total outsiders looked down upon buy our culture.  The pressure is mounting for us to follow the norms of our culture or risk complete alienation and rejection.  Sometimes it becomes nearly unbearable and leaves us feeling alone and rejected. 

                                                                                                  

This is magnified, more than you can realize, as the Church and Christian community seems more and more disinterested in being tangibly involved in the redemptive process that Sight Ministry, and other ministries like ours, is committed to.  The silence and lack of support from the overwhelming majority of churches and Christians is extremely disheartening.

During our group meetings I often look around the table at the faces of the 20-25 people involved.  I often begin to weep as I think about their stories and how they have been deeply wounded by their experiences with the Church.  I think about their commitment to follow JESUS rather than to succumb to the pressures of society or to their almost unbearable needs for intimacy with someone of the same sex.  In my opinion these people are real heroes of the faith.  I often need to repent of my anger toward the hurtful silence and neglect from the faith community.

We need you!  We need the Church and other followers of JESUS to stand with us, to walk with us, to love us unconditionally where we are.  We need you to support us in tangible ways . . . please do not forget us in 2015!  We need you!

[If you would be able and willing to give financially to Sight Ministry please make your checks out to SIGHT MINISTRY & mail to:  Sight Ministry, PO Box 140808, Nashville, TN  37214.  Check out our website:  www.thesightministry.org.  If you need assistance in any way please feel free to email me at:  richard@thesightministry.org.  Feel free to call me at 615-509-0782.  I am the only one who will answer that number and all calls are strictly confidential].