|
Even
Hostile Listeners Keep Listening
October 19th, I
called upon our atheist listeners to tell their friends to listen at
4:20 PM. At the appointed time, I told a story of God's answering
my prayer by speaking to me directly. I explained that I had told
the same story to some teens the day before during Sunday School.
The entire segment of that show was taken up with the story. Just
as soon as the station went to an advertising break, our toll-free line
lit up. The caller told me, "Your God told me to tell you
to.....#@%^@%&." Since it was the kind of thing that I don't
normally hear, and the caller was distorting his voice, I could not
really understand most of what he said. I asked him, "What god
told you to say that?" He said, "Your
God." I told him, "My God does not use that kind of
language."
He then went on to chastise me, saying that they should not let me
around children. I invited him to give his
feedback on the air but he had to agree to not use profanity. I
even offered to give him free air-time to advertise his business.
He did not have the courage to use his real name, to use his real
voice, to tell of his business or to go on the air. However, he
is listening to my show and hearing my Christian extremist rhetoric and
testimonies of God's work.
Ministers-In-Training 
Bethany - Just completed her
seventh semester of college pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in
Bible and Religion with an emphasis on worldviews. She completed
the development of a biblical worldview curriculum and faced the
gauntlett of a board of review to defend her senior thesis.
Speaking to the congregation at Restoration Church
in Hampton, Virginia, she explained that she is preparing herself for a
ministry to women who are or have been victims of human
trafficking. Some in the congregation responded by providing
financial support for Bethany to attend the URBANA Missions Conference
in St. Louis, Missouri, this December 27-31.
With
3.5 years of College paid for primarily through miracles and
sacrificial giving of some of Freedom Ministries' supporters, Bethany
has just one semester and $4,158.00 to raise in the next four months to
receive her degree.
 Jesse - (Video Version)
(Audio
Version)
Just
completed his seventh semester of a ten
semester college program. He is pursuing a dual major as
Bachelor of Science
in Environmental Field Studies and Outdoor Education. Jesse has
been selected to join a group of eight people who will spend the next
four months in a program called "Immersion."
They will spend several weeks in the mountains of Montana, living in a
self-made ice shelter, learning
first responder and survival skills. They will travel to many parts of the country, in
various environmental conditions, learning to live with and support
each other while still fulfilling a demanding course of study.
Upon completion, they will be awarded the Outdoor Leader, Wilderness
First Responder and CPR Certifications.
Jesse
looks forward to heading into a post-college
vocation working with Christian outdoor challenge ministries,
administering and facilitating personal growth programs. His dual
major will equip him with a broad range of professional qualifications
that will help further his
Christian ministry ambitions.
Jesse, to date for December, still
needs $2,192.00 so that he can progress on to the Immersion
program. He was nominated by a board of the faculty of
Montreat College. Each of them nominated Jesse in particular for
this very demanding program. and he was nominated by each of
them His
monthly fees from January through April are going to be $2,492.00 per
month, for four months. Thus, we are selling what we have, to
meet that need.
|
 Leslie Carmichael
- Hands
on Ministry -
- Youth Teach -
- In & Out-Reach -
Freedom
Ministries is the banner under which the Carmichael Clan of Hampton,
Virginia, carry out the great commission of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Financial support for Freedom Ministries provides the
Carmichael's with subsistence, pays for operational costs, and supports
other ministries. David's ministry consists of engaging the
culture with biblical truth, and providing biblical counsel to those
who seek it after listening to his radio show and reading things posted
on the internet. Bethany and Jesse are at the upper end of their
training, participating and leading in ministry activities; preparing
to continue the work of the ministry in their vocations. Isaac
and Abby are enjoying their childhood while they are being reared in
the fear and admonition of the Lord under a program of homeschooling,
and being engaged in church training and ministry.
The primary human enabler for these activities is
Leslie. What does Leslie do? Ask the many groups of people
that Leslie finds herself ministering to. Leslie seizes
opportunities for preaching the gospel and making disciples in the
myriad acitivities where her passions and gifts lie. She is no
doubt the most often requested soccer coach in the Phillips Athletic
Association recreational soccer league. Every participant knows
very well that they are truly loved by her. They experience
through Leslie's behavior the love of our heavenly father.
Whether from soccer teams or Restoration Church youth activities, there
is a steady stream of young ladies that come to Leslie for counseling,
encouragement and even reproof. Her teaching ministry at
Restoration Church Youth Department and AWANA ministries continues to
be vibrant and indispensable.
Faith & Freedom Ready
For Phase IV
In Phase
I, we tried out our Faith & Freedom talk show format with a
cosmopolitan audience on a rock music station. We found that it
irritated some of our rock music listeners but it also drew some new
listeners to the station.
In Phase II,
from July 2007 to April 2009, we broadcast for one hour, once per week,
during rush hour, in a metropolitan area in South- Eastern
Virginia. We discovered that folks were taking notice of what we
were doing and many people began to deliberately tune in to the station
on Thursdays just to listen to our show. I began to be invited to
some networking opportunities. I was also invited to speak on
freedom of religion during a legislative rally at the Virginia Capitol
and then to a legislative committee in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Phase
III was launced last May when we broadcast a two-hour talk show,
five days per week, back in West-Central Florida on a station that is
just changing their format to talk radio. We found out that we
were reaching a broad array of listeners not normally captured by talk
radio. Besides introducing a large audience to a biblical
worldview, we demonstrated that we had what it takes to provide
substantive and attractive talk radio - drawing in a variety of
listeners, from a variety of backgrounds. They are exactly the
people that we want to reach.
Its time to move on to
Phase IV of V.
What The Next Phase Looks
Like
Up to this point, we have
provided all of the funds for air-time through ministry
donations. We provided advertisements for ministry organizations
at no charge. It was necessary just do whatever we had to do to
secure an opportunity to broadcast. We tested our program and
honed it so that it will be marketable to a mainstream station that is
willing to broadcast our screemingly
Christian theme. We now need to press forward and find support so
that we can take our demonstrated program to a metropolitan area, five
days per week (Phase IV).
To do that, we have to find people, ministries, and businesses that are
willing to provide financial support in return for rights to the
advertising air-time, whether or not they really need to do any
advertising. We need their support. If they would like to
advertise their business or advertise some ministry organization or
their favority cause for that air-time gift, that will be their
prerogative.
|
Phase IV - Activities:
The Faith & Freedom show requires extensive
research for each show. It is a full-time job to do a five-day
per week, two or three-hour show. Raising a support network to
begin a full-time show in a metropolitan area is also a full-time
job. I can't do both at once. In order to have the
necessary time resources, we are
limiting our broadcast to two-hours on Saturday until we raise the
support needed to cover the air-time costs. The first goal is to
raise the support necessary to pay for and expand the listening area of
our Saturday broadcast. The next goal is to find support through
selling advertising air-time to pay for a full-time broadcast in a
metropolitan area.
Rummage Sale - To Fund
Ministers In Training (Video Version)
(Audio
Version)
Calling all interested investors who realize
how savvy it is to
transfer your assetts into something that is tangible and in growing
demand.
We have $160.00 face value in collectable U.S.
silver coins dated from the 1890s to 1964. This was passed on to
me as an inheritance. We are going to use it to pay for our
children's education that is desperately needs to be paid in literally
the next several days.
The minimum numismatic value is well over
$3,200.00. The buillion market value (melt-down) is over
$2,700.00.
We have 21 karat (87.5% pure), 18 karat (75%
pure), and 14 karat (58.3% pure) gold
jewelry.
We have a Ron Jon surf board (7'0")
We have a 2004
Ford Mustang with 85,000 miles on the odometer.
|
Cliff Hanger In Progress:
We go from cliff hanger, to cliff
hanger. Most people don't have a clue of what we have that
enables us to survive, and what we don't have.
Today, we are on a financial cliff that is
higher than any we have known. There is a massive financial chasm
that is merely weeks away from us on our current trek. On the
other side of the chasm are some wonderful opportunities for the
expansion of our ministry and the increase of its effectiveness.
We have faith that the Lord will see us through. However, the
inconveniences currently associated with the wait make life a bit
tricky for us each day.
We are committed to doing that which we can to meet
some of the needs, but even the success of the efforts that we are
making are
totally in the Lord's hands.
In September of 2008, right in the
middle of the first wave of the financial collapse, I tried to sell
gold coins at a price below the bottom dollar in order to pay for
Bethany and Jesse's college fees. It was at a time when gold was
artificially low. It was the
perfect time to shift assets to gold as the financial world was coming
to a collapse. I told those on our
newsgroup list about these coins, and I also tried to sell them on
EBAY. I could get
noone to buy them. I had the distinct impression that it was the
Lord who was preventing my success. It gave me great opportunity
and motivation to repent of anything that I could think of. I
tried again in February 2009 when gold went up by 41.6% to a record
breaking high. Every one of the gold coins sold like hotcakes for
top dollar. I sold them for about twice as much as I tried to
sell them five months earlier. It paid for two months worth of
tuition costs rather than one.
Now we are in a similar situation, but
worse. Bethany's fees for this month were $1,108.00 and we paid
for them but there was no money available to pay this month's bill for
Jesse at $2,192.00. It was due on December 1st.
Jesse's
bill has to be paid by the end of the month so the school will let
us keep him in his program for the next semester. That will then
require us to pay four months of $2,492.00 each for
Jesse and $1,039.50 for Bethany for each of those four months. to get
her to graduation. ... And of course, to get Jesse
through his "Immersion" program that will give him his needed
certifications.
Again, we are training these two for lifetime
minstry
vocations. They are both on track to right now to graduate with
honors.
They are giving the Lord their best and willing to trust the Lord for
their very survival.
|
