Monday, August 18, 2014
New CoG Evangel Article
Check out the new article on us in the August 2014 Church of God Evangel issue. Page 18 here. {Of course, you can feel free to read the whole issue...}
Sunday, June 15, 2014
I want to update you with a great opportunity!
We here at Discipleship College are striving for the day when we will be operationally self-supporting. A while back, we started a few projects separate from our educational ministry in an effort to get there.
We have a tree farm here on campus where there are blue gum trees maturing to become power-line poles for the electric company. We should be able to start harvesting in about 1-2 years. That should net us several thousand dollars. The great thing about this project is its no-hassle process; after a small initial investment in purchasing the seedlings, we just sit and wait for them to grow.
We also have started a diversified farm on our land about an hour away. If we had $25,000 all at once, that project could get up and running at full speed with the potential to more than replace the amount of support we get monthly from our World Missions allotment. Since we do not have that, we have started small and are developing one acre of crops and one cow at a time.
A third project which was started earlier under the management of a staff member who is no longer at the school is the fish ponds. Due to the way it was started, there really was no cost on our part since there was funding available from the national government's fisheries department. Since it was not managed well, it has not produced any income to this point, however (though we do still have several hundred fish in the ponds as you can see below). With the addition of Mike Goodwin to our staff just this last month, this project has taken on new life. Since I knew Mike was a fish guy, I was looking forward with excitement for him to take over the ponds on his arrival and he has done just that! He has met with the fisheries department, has visited another location, has had a representative of the fisheries department visit the campus (with another visit this next week), and has started cleaning the ponds and preparations for expansion. We can still get the fingerlings for free from the fisheries department, but there no longer is free food available.
With only a very small investment buying plastic sheeting and some bags of cement, and then harvesting some trees on the campus, we will be able to build greenhouses over the ponds and put in about 10 more ponds on the campus. The greenhouses are needed to warm up the water and fish since we are at high altitude and the cold stunts growth. Each pond should gross about 2,000,000 Kenyan shillings per year - almost $25,000 each - with a harvest each 6 months. {This is a realistic projection if managed properly. Mike has already visited a location which makes more than twice that much with a smaller pond. So the potential is even much greater!}
The opportunity for you and your church is this:
The sponsorships can be submitted to Church of God World Missions. Please note the project number for each:
We have a tree farm here on campus where there are blue gum trees maturing to become power-line poles for the electric company. We should be able to start harvesting in about 1-2 years. That should net us several thousand dollars. The great thing about this project is its no-hassle process; after a small initial investment in purchasing the seedlings, we just sit and wait for them to grow.
We also have started a diversified farm on our land about an hour away. If we had $25,000 all at once, that project could get up and running at full speed with the potential to more than replace the amount of support we get monthly from our World Missions allotment. Since we do not have that, we have started small and are developing one acre of crops and one cow at a time.
A third project which was started earlier under the management of a staff member who is no longer at the school is the fish ponds. Due to the way it was started, there really was no cost on our part since there was funding available from the national government's fisheries department. Since it was not managed well, it has not produced any income to this point, however (though we do still have several hundred fish in the ponds as you can see below). With the addition of Mike Goodwin to our staff just this last month, this project has taken on new life. Since I knew Mike was a fish guy, I was looking forward with excitement for him to take over the ponds on his arrival and he has done just that! He has met with the fisheries department, has visited another location, has had a representative of the fisheries department visit the campus (with another visit this next week), and has started cleaning the ponds and preparations for expansion. We can still get the fingerlings for free from the fisheries department, but there no longer is free food available.
With only a very small investment buying plastic sheeting and some bags of cement, and then harvesting some trees on the campus, we will be able to build greenhouses over the ponds and put in about 10 more ponds on the campus. The greenhouses are needed to warm up the water and fish since we are at high altitude and the cold stunts growth. Each pond should gross about 2,000,000 Kenyan shillings per year - almost $25,000 each - with a harvest each 6 months. {This is a realistic projection if managed properly. Mike has already visited a location which makes more than twice that much with a smaller pond. So the potential is even much greater!}
The opportunity for you and your church is this:
- You can help us get started on this journey of good stewardship for the college
- Please consider sponsoring a cow for the Ainabkoi farm and/or the establishment of a new fish pond
- Consider taking this opportunity to your pastors, missions committees, Rotary clubs and other civic organizations, and anyone else you can think of
- A sponsorship for either of them would be only $500. That is the cost of purchasing a beef cow and fattening it for a year before it is sold. That is the cost for setting up a new fish pond and feeding the fish for six months before the harvest.
The sponsorships can be submitted to Church of God World Missions. Please note the project number for each:
- #101-7001-36 - Ainabkoi Farm - Discipleship College
- #101-7001-26 - Special Projects: Fish Ponds - Discipleship College
Church of God World Missions
P.O Box. 8016
Cleveland, TN 37320
P.O Box. 8016
Cleveland, TN 37320
Tree Planting
This week the students bought about 30 trees to be planted according to the new campus master plan. As several of them are preparing to complete their studies, they wanted to leave something of themselves as an imprint on the campus. We got out on Friday and laid them out according to the soon-coming internal roadways...a good improvement to the campus.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Ainabkoi Farm
We have been able to make a small start with the Ainabkoi Farm project. We have three cows, 1 for dairy (pictured below) and two for beef, at this point. We have planted maize, napier grass, and barley primarily for feed for the cows. We still have a long way to go until the farm is able to start supplementing the income for the college, but we do not despise the day of small beginnings!
Monday, May 19, 2014
An Update and Special Appeal
Please use this project number for any help for our important trip to the General Assembly:
#065-0871-004 - General Assembly/Gene Mills
Thursday, May 15, 2014
The Residency...
Still little things here and there to do, especially the cosmetic things, but we are certainly enjoying the new office building!
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