Please take time to read the two emails below from my dear friend, Gretchen Passantino, who I expect many of you know. She has served on the faculty of both the Colorado and Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference as a keynoter and continuing session instructor. She has been part of my prayer team for many years and is someone whose counsel I highly respect. God has used her in Ephesians 3:20 ways in her apologetic’s ministry, Answers in Action. And I’ve watched her and her husband, Pat, live their faith as Pat had a serious stroke in December 2012 and died but was revived. He was not expected to live much less recover but God had other plans.
As Gretchen explains in her email, they are in danger of losing their home which also houses their ministry. As you can see by the picture she shares below, they live simply.
An anonymous donor (see Gretchen’s second email) has offered to match gifts up to $10,000. I’m mailing a check today (their address is below) to avoid 10% going to the Go Fund Me site. However Father leads you to help (please ask Him), you have only through June 30 for your gift to be doubled. Without our help, their home will be foreclosed July 8.
Looking to Jesus to provide through His people – Marlene
From: Gretchen Passantino-Coburn [mailto:gretchen.passantino@answersinaction.org]
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 5:52 PM
To: Gretchen Passantino-Coburn
Subject: Emergency Passantino Coburn Answers In Action Support Request
We are in critical danger (July 8 sale date) of losing our home & home office & research library to foreclosure. We believe that God wants us to stay in this home/office, devoting the stamina & energy he provides us to Christian ministry. We have exhausted all other options.
We need $20,000 within the next 2 weeks to save our home from forced foreclosure sale & reinstate mortgages & update property taxes. We need $20,000 over the next year to meet our expenses until our Answers In Action non-profit status is restored, my early retirement SS begins, & Pat’s pending hardship VA benefit kicks in.
God has called us to ministry focus: me with 40 years of full-time Christian ministry in apologetics & discipleship, & Pat with his trauma, combat, & critical medical crisis experience sharing the grace & sufficiency of Christ with others in crisis & trauma. Please pray about helping us to stay in our home & serve the Lord.
God blessed my late husband Bob & me (& our 3 children & the ministry of Answers In Action) with this home in 1997. In June of 1997 we had $800 to our names & an eviction notice. By August the Lord had used our friends & brothers & sisters in Christ to fund our purchase of this modest 1950s tract house w/a 20% down payment.
For 17 years God has used this home to shelter us, to raise our children, & provided well over 50% of the home for ministry purposes, including housing our 8,000 specialty research library used not only by us but by other Christian apologists, disciplers, & teachers. My late husband Bob Passantino died & went to be with the Lord in this home. My husband Pat died in this home 9 years later, but God gave him new mortal life & he has spent the last 18 months recovering here. This home has been a safe, friendly, warm place for Bible teaching, worship, evangelism, & discipleship.
We are convinced that God wants us to stay here & continue using this home for life & ministry. We need your help to accomplish that. After exploring all of our options, praying, & discussing this with our Answers In Action Board, they concur.
This is one of the most vulnerable e-mails I’ve ever sent. It is embarrassing to expose our failure. It is frightening to relinquish any hope of solving the problem ourselves. It is risky to boldly claim “God told us” without seeing His answer. It feels shameful to ask for housing help in front of the ones who have stepped in twice in the past 18 months to help with this. I’m reminded of 2 Timothy 1:7-9. We’re not the Apostle Paul, & our home is not in prison, but Paul’s advice encourages me to be bold & have a God perspective rather than a fallen human perspective: “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”
Here is how you can help: (1) pray, (2) encourage us, (3) share with others God might call to help, (4) prayerfully consider helping us financially, which you can do by going to this Go Fund Me link: http://www.gofundme.com/agrtwk (or you can e-mail me privately).
If you do Facebook, you can go to my Facebook page (Gretchen Passantino Coburn) & get more details & pictures of our home we believe God has given us.
Below are some pictures of our “Little Hobbit Hole.”
Thankfully & lovingly in Christ,
Gretchen Passantino Coburn
858 Joann St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627
949-290-2819
Director, Answers In Action
From: Gretchen Passantino-Coburn [mailto:gretchen.passantino@answersinaction.org]
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2014 1:02 PM
To: Gretchen Passantino-Coburn
Subject: Special Matching Funds Offer for Emergency Passantino/Answers In Action Support Appeal This Week Only
Wow! The Lord has provided a HUGE encouragement for your support of our housing security THIS WEEK ONLY. An anonymous benefactor has pledged to MATCH DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR every gift (via Go Fund Me or otherwise) for this cause now through June 30, 2014 (one week from today), UP TO TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS ($10,000).
Last week I shared with you our precarious housing situation which affects not only our residence, but our Answers In Action ministry office & specialized 8,000 volume research library, our current & future stability for life & ministry, & my husband Pat’s health & well-being (OK, mine, too). We believe the Lord led us to share our vulnerable circumstances with you for prayer, encouragement, & support. Let me add that we also believe the Lord wanted us to be open about our need so he could be open about his blessings & provision.
The response to our appeal is epitomized by this benefactor’s most generous matching funds program. Please pray about taking advantage of this gift program. If you are planning to gift us, this week is the week to double your gift courtesy of our benefactor. If you donate $500, we will receive $1,000; donate $100 & we will receive $200; $50 & we receive $100, etc.
We are already 20% toward our half-way point (combined gifts from Go Fund Me & otherwise) that will secure our immediate housing, office, & support; & 10% toward our support needs over the next year. I said before that this was a fearful step for me to take — in fact, I stalled doing this for far too long. I’m thankful God is not fearful & that his People & his Plan of Provision are testimony to his Promises.
Easiest way to give is through Go Fund Me, or you can contact me directly if you prefer. (Go Fund Me charges the fund about 10%, other avenues 100% goes to us.) Message if you have any questions, & thank you — those who have given, those who will give in this matching appeal, & especially those who pray for & encourage us.
Here’s a picture of Pat & me & our dog, Samwise Gamgee, this weekend walking on the bluffs by our Hobbit Home. (That’s a whole other blessing & intervention by God — Pat’s neurologist gave him a new medication to affect his brain’s perception of stamina & he almost instantly started experiencing greater stamina & energy. I’ll report on that later. God’s moving so fast I can’t keep up on-line!)
Blessings in Christ,
Gretchen
[MJB]
And my favorite pic of Gretchen and Pat:
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