God has opened the door for me to serve in…
dun dun dun..
Gainesville, GA!
Some confirmation God gave me on the Race was that He isn’t moving me to be a full time overseas missionary [as you can imagine, my ma is pumped]. God is calling me to be a missionary right here, in the U.S.! If you’d like to read a blog that talks more about God confirming this passion on the Race, click here.
Nearing the end of the Race, I was invited by Adventures In Missions [AIM] to move to their headquarters in Gainesville and serve in their missions-based offices. AIM’s primary focus is to mobilize missionaries to advance the gospel all over the world. I will serve in one of one of AIM’s departments on a daily basis, and I will be part of a program called, “Adventures Fellowship,” in which I will continue in leadership development.
I thought about coming back to Tampa and working in corporate America again.. but I prayed about it for a few weeks, and I am confident that serving with AIM is the best decision to continue in the direction of the calling God has placed on my life: to serve as a leader in ministry. After a ga-jillion years of public schooling and short-term mission tripping, I am beyond excited to finally start pursuing this calling full time!
So what is the ‘Fellowship’ Program?
In short, AIM sees potential in me as a rising leader. God continues to give me confirmation that He has gifted me to lead and shown me that I’m passionate about developing and discipling the American church.. but I don’t quite know what that looks like for long-term.The Fellowship is a unique opportunity for developing leaders to make a significant leap in leadership development [through work ethic, project management, one-on-one coaching, presentation skills, mentoring others, etc.] while serving in different departments at AIM for 6 months beginning in September. I have faith that as I finish out the program God will show me the next steps, exactly where He wants to “plant me”.
How Can You Help??
I am currently building my support team! My ‘team’ is a core group of people who will continue to invest in God’s call on my life through a number of ways:
- prayer/receiving updates so you know how you can be praying
- supporting me financially
- referring me to others who you think might be willing to give
The total cost of the Fellowship program for 6 months is $9,950 and this is how it breaks down:
~$1,000 monthly stipend for 6 months, to cover living expenses
*housing, utilities, food, gas, etc. — Fellows will live in community together.
~Program costs [remaining $3,950]
*Curriculum [books, instructors, lessons]
*Fellowship retreat to launch the Program
*1 event during the program
I would like to invite you to join my team, whether through prayer, supporting me financially, or referring me to others! I just ask that you consider it and take some time to pray about it. I am looking to raise monthly, ongoing support starting now until the program ends in February of 2015. If you cannot give monthly, one time gifts are welcome too! If you would like to give once or monthly, it’s really easy. I am still fundraising through my World Race blog, so all you can click on the ‘Support Me’ link here or on the left column of this page. To cut the small online processing fee, you can also mail your contribution to:
Adventures In Missions
P.O. Box 742570
Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
**Be sure to indicate the purpose of your gift on your check: For Erin Costello
By September 1st, I must have $3,000 in my account. And all donations are still tax deductible!
I will continue to post through my World Race blog, and email monthly newsletter updates of what God is doing and how He is growing me during these 6 months. Please let me know if you would like to receive monthly email updates! Also, I am trying to meet with as many people as possible [for just a few minutes] to share stories from my the World Race and more of my passion/vision too! Let me know if this would be something that interests you. My email is [email protected] and my [new] cell is 813-440-8248. And there’s always Facebook!
Thank you so much for following along and being part of what God’s doing in my life.
Yours for the journey,
E 🙂
THANK YOU again to all who supported me and followed my journey on the Race! If you didn’t get a chance to view, here is some of my Race journey, in picture form:
