Many of you have kept up with us by phone, Facebook or time spent together. But for some I know this report is long overdue, so I apologize now for its length but want you to finish this feeling fully “pulled in”. So grab your coffee…and hopefully you can relax and enjoy!
Before we share our update, let me do a quick recap to help bring you up to date:
2009: We knew that in 2009 we must take a sabbatical to focus more fully on Rebecca’s recovery. 2009 was a tough year as we battled through heavy treatment and some terrible and frightening episodes for Rebecca as she fought this disease daily. Life changed by the hour and our new normal was “survival mode”. This year marked the discovery of an amazing specialist and team of natural practitioners and a physical therapist that literally brought Rebecca from the point of slipping away... back to stability. It was only through your prayers, love and support and that of many family and friends who assisted us daily that we made it through!! We will never be the same for all we experienced during this difficult year. Making it even harder was the realization that 2009 was to be our last year at YWAM NY, as God had spoken to us just before Rebecca became ill that change was in store and our time with YWAM NY was nearing an end. This was especially hard for us as YWAM NY was our home , our family and we had anticipated many more years of service there. As painful as it was to take this challenging step in our family and ministry, we knew we needed to walk in faith and obedience to the word of the Lord. We knew God was speaking to us to step out with All Access in order to research and re-develop the ministry to meet the increasing demands for our program in the public high schools across our nation. This also meant saying some very tough goodbyes to many of our closest staff and friends!
2010: In 2010 we stepped out by placing ourselves under the wise council and accountability of many of our YWAM Northeast leaders along with the Pastor and leadership team of our church here on Long Island. Our hope as we started the year was to dive right in and see All Access back up and running again in just a few short months. We spent the first half of this year hard at work finding new housing and office space here on Long Island so Rebecca could remain close to her doctors and family as she continued treatment. In addition to this our days were full of all the administrative tasks, meetings and fundraising necessary to get things up and running. Eventually, it became overwhelmingly obvious that due to Rebecca’s ongoing health limitations and our minimal staff we were going to have to move at a much slower pace; this was a very HARD pill to swallow!
We have only had one pace since we began ministry 15 years ago- HYPERDRIVE!!! To ease up- finding peace in the slow and steady steps- has been a hard lesson to learn! After much council and prayer we knew following God’s pace and timing was essential for healing and our ability to rebuild with a stronger and steadier foundation. With assurance we knew God was NOT calling us to take more sabbatical time away from ministry BUT….
How could we continue in full time ministry, give Rebecca more time to heal, re-develop All Access slowly and survive financially with our medical bills while living on Long Island to be near Rebecca’s Health Care “team”??? These are the questions that seemed to haunt us daily!!
After some tough months we are excited to report that our forever faithful God has made a way. Here’s the long awaited scoop and God’s answers to our many questions:
HOW CAN WE CONTINUE IN FULL TIME MINISTRY?
As we were pondering this and all our many questions, Dan met with our Pastor to talk and pray. After hearing our situation our Pastor shared a need the church was facing with Dan. The new building they are renovating for our expanding church was taking longer than expected forcing the church to go mobile for a while. The church needed an expert in building a portable sound system as well as training and equipping a large volunteer team to “set up” and “tear down” stage, lighting and sound equipment very quickly- just what Dan has become an expert in after all our years on the road with All Access!! This “mutual need” opened the door for the church to take us under their wing. Understanding we need to move slowly in the re-development of Al l Access, they offered Dan the opportunity to also work on their staff as Media and Production Director meeting their need while getting Dan back to work immediately doing what he does so well in ministry! He is in charge of all media, production, film and editing as well as assisting in the media design of their new sanctuary.
This all took place very recently and so we are adjusting to Dan’s long work days at the church. After two years working hard as full time care giver to us all along with so much All Access administrative work, Dan is thrilled to be out from behind a desk, actively reaching “the un-churched” and seeing many come to Christ and be discipled weekly!!
This was a major concern amongst our council and accountability! Every wise leader that has spoken into our lives has echoed scripture to us that God is most concerned with us and not just what we do for HIM!! Rebecca self admittedly will push beyond reason to bring to life the visions that burn within her for the schools and young people. To take this step back and realize more time is needed for her to heal has been a huge adjustment. HOWEVER…it has also been a season of time she has longed for in the business of our ministry for many years. Time to rest, focus on her treatment and health, and most importantly, focus on being a wife and a mother to our three amazing boys!! The home God has provided us is actually in a small town further out east on the island. It is quiet, peaceful, quaint and completely opposite to our bustling life in Smithtown, where we lived in community for 11 years. It is just what the doctor ordered! Rebecca has just begun IV Antibiotics, which is a heavy duty treatment for Lyme that she was unable to tolerate until now. She will probably have a bad few weeks or months, but we pray the other side of this treatment will bring us to a new level in her ongoing healing and lead to a more vibrant Rebecca!! In the mean time, there is time and peace to heal!!!
Due to these years of illness we have not been able to put time into our fundraising to continue to build our support team. Even with our committed monthly gifts we were beginning to drown with medical bills and the rising cost of a family of 5 living on Long Island. Seeing our struggle the church offered us their continued financial support along with some additional income to supplement our current support and steady us out financially. Even with this we still could not afford our own housing on LI to stay here. Yet again God intervened and All Access received a donation to cover the rent needed for a year to house us and provide us an office and start up expenses for the ministry- WOW!!!!!!! Grateful does not begin to describe our feelings!!
With your continued support and the support of our church, for the first time in 15 years of ministry we have been able to pay our monthly bills without overwhelming stress or falling behind! We will still need to raise additional money to cover all of the medical debt that has accrued over the last 2 years (about $8,000) as well as some ongoing doctor bills and some of the more expensive treatments. However, to go from having nothing to put toward these expenses monthly to at least having something to put a dent in it is a MIRACLE!!!!
HOW CAN WE CONTINUE TO REDEVELOPE ALL ACCESS SLOWLY?
SLOW…is a hard word for us but each day we are learning that slow and steady really does win the race!! It would be impossible to have not seen the blaring news reports over the last few months about the rising crisis of bullying and suicide in our schools. This has made it even harder for us to hold steady and not lunge into action, but we know a crisis calls for a clear and calculated response!! We believe God has a clear plan for All Access and right now our job is to continue to pray, complete all the background work needed in regards to 501c3’s, etc, and take each step as it comes. We believe as we do this that God’s perfect plan will emerge along with Rebecca’s healing and ability to take on all that is necessary to put All Access back in the schools!! We have our office set up here at home and we have our tasks set out ahead of us, believing God that each simple step of obedience will produce His clear plan of action! When that plan is clear, we have received full support for the re-launch of our ministry from YWAM East Coast, our amazing church and many friends who have offered their expertise. They have offered us not just the prayer and financial support but many of the physical means we will need to get up and running again- including theater, rehearsal space, equipment, websites, branding, etc.In addition, some other exciting opportunities have been presented to us…stay tuned for more! God is up to something great and we are willing to take it slow so we don’t miss a minute!
Soooo, after that long scoop, here is our question to you:
WILL YOU STAY THE COURSE WITH US AS WE ENTER “ACT 2”?
I wish we had the perfect drawn up plan to give you. We want to know, but this season of our life calls for patience in times of struggle so we can build perseverance to complete the race. True faith is born out of these seasons in our lives! We have received multiple words from many trusted leaders and counselors that God is forming us for what is to come, and our personal words from the Lord have confirmed that! This season is not the end of something but the beginning of a new journey in which God’s plans will emerge and astound us; they already have!
The stage is being set. Will you walk this journey of faith with us and believe not just in the ministry that is to come, but in the ministry we are involved in now? We believe fully in the ministry God has called us to do with True North along with the background work we are doing with All Access. It’s all a part of our “Act 2”!!
We know that we cannot continue in full time ministry without each one of you. We humbly ask for your to prayerfully consider partnering with us in 2011 so together we can see God fulfill His purposes both here on Long Island as well as in the Schools across our nation! “Act 2” is about to start- don’t miss it! CURTAIN PLEASE!!!
*PS. Here are some additional questions we thought you may have for us…THE DETAILS
HOW CAN WE RECEIVE WEEKLY OR MONTHLY UPDATES FROM THE BURD FAMILY ALONG WITH PRAYER REQUEST?
It seems that email and blogs have become some of the best ways for missionaries to stay more intimately connected. Newsletters have been a struggle for us since Rebecca became ill, due to the time and cost involved in sending one out. We will continue to do our “end of the year letter” and any others in between that we can manage. But blogging and emailing is something we can do in less than 24hrs, costs nothing and Rebecca can even do it on her sick days in bed. We will update it as often as possible including MINISTRY, FAMILY and HEALTH updates (and pics of course)! So Welcome to our Blogs :) Please feel free to comment back and/or send us an email!!
Our blogs: www.theburdseyeviewact2.blogspot.com and www.rebeccashealthupdates.blogspot.com
DO WE STILL SEND CHECKS TO YWAM OR IS THERE A NEW WAY TO PROCESS THEM?
As of January 2011 we will not be able to process our checks through YWAM NY. Since we have not yet completed our 501c3 we were graciously offered a few options to process our support and still get you your tax deductable receipts at the end of the year. If we processed it through YWAM we would need to use a different YWAM location out of state which is complicated. So...our church graciously offered to process our support checks for us. Checks will now need to be made out to “True North Community Church”. Please include a note indicating the gift is for "The Burd Family". Please do NOT include our name anywhere on the check. The church is not charging us a processing fee, so all your support will go directly to our family as you have indicated!! Checks can be sent to our mailing address which is given below. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
*If you have any questions about our transition or our current ministry, please feel free to contact us by email at dburd@allaccessny.org or rburd@allaccessny.org
Our new mailing address is:
4 State Street, Hampton Bays, NY 11946
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