Acts 1:8 ACTion Fund

Year-round Missions Giving Above and Beyond Your Tithe

At Calvary, we want to strengthen the focus of our mission emphasis and be faithful to the calling of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 and the great challenge of Acts 1:8 in both finances and people utilization. We feel like these goals can be accomplished with a year-round giving fund. We believe the Acts 1:8 ACTion Fund will allow us to dramatically increase our financial gifts to missions as well as increase personal participation! This fund will allow us to be selective in our mission endeavors with a greater impact for the kingdom of God and plan-long term for our investment in missions.

FAQs

Where are the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, SBC Cooperative Program, and Associational Missions donations?
These donations will continue to be made from the Unified Budget.

Why are we separating missions giving from the budget?
The Finance Committee, Budget Planning Committee, Missions Council, and the Pastor and staff believe this separation will allow Calvary to dramatically increase our financial  gifts to missions as well as increase personal participation.  

Who made decisions about the Acts 1:8 ACTion Fund?
The 2012 Missions Council spent hours in meetings, decision making, and prayer to develop this fund and choose its beneficiaries. First, in consultation with our pastor and administrator, they established basic but fundamental criteria to review our current mission endeavors:

• Align mission endeavors with Calvary Tuscaloosa’s Mission Statement

• Increase service opportunities for Calvary members

• Increase number of participants in missions by focusing efforts on select events

•  Consistently maintain local, national, and international mission activities  

Additionally, once this was established, the Missions Council closely reviewed all Mission Support activities in the 2011 Unified Budget, sought new recommendations from Church members and staff for additions to our mission endeavors, and held thorough and candid discussions of each mission endeavor to insure those mission endeavors met the criteria presented to the Church for inclusion.  The Council has spent numerous hours in joint meetings along with personal time and reflection in completing this work.  At each meeting, the Council prayed for wisdom and guidance in their work.

The Missions Council members for 2011 are Dot Powell, Cathy Skinner, Jim Isbell, LaDonnah Roberts, Bob Mckenzie, Jane Weller, and Billy Hatmaker. Additionally, they met with 2011 recipients of funds. 

Can I still give to organizations not listed for Acts 1:8 ACTion?
The Council closely reviewed several other mission activities and endeavors that have been previously funded through the Mission Support Budget.  Without question, these activities are worthwhile and provide meaningful service to people.  However, in most cases these simply did not fit our criteria for selection due to involvement of only a very few Calvary members.  While the Council does not recommend these activities be funded from the year round Acts 1:8 ACTion fund, an account is established in order that those wishing to donate specifically to these charities may do so through Calvary.   These mission activities are as follows: Rio Medical Center, Christian Ministry Center, FCA, Russian Mission Trip (Trinity Missions), and Hospice.  

Get Involved

Calvary will hold an Acts 1:8 ACTion Fair on March 25, 2012. You can learn more about organizations benefiting from this fund and how to get involved.  

Additional Comments on Decisions:

The following notes were made by the Missions Council:  

Soup Bowl: While this fits well into the Mayor’s Hope initiative, we believe there is a strong need to obtain more Calvary people in working with the Soup Bowl.

FCA : While this is a most worthy National Organization, we had difficulty finding a way for Calvary to participate other than financially, which just does not meet our criteria.

Prison Fellowship: We need additional information about the Prison Fellowship.  We believe that this is for Angel Tree program for children for prisoners.  If so, this may better be folded into the Mayor’s Hope Initiative.

New Wine Ministries: Is this a qualified 501-3-C charity?  If not, our first efforts may need to be to get this established properly.  All Council members were impressed with the service this program offered but wanted to insure that principles in the program were protected.

Reach Out Tuscaloosa: This program was previously successful in repairing schools and other public resources and sponsored by the Tuscaloosa Prayer Network.  The Council recommended that this be folded into the Mayor’s Hope Initiative.

Campus Crusade: This mission seems to overlap with Calvary’s College Ministry.  While it does not meet our criteria as there is limited opportunity for Calvary members to serve, if this is the program that supports Lynn and Clay Cook, we need to gradually reduce our support.  We would recommend 2/3 of current donation is 2012, 1/3 in 2013, and elimination in 2014.

Mobile Clinic: We believe this is a part of the previous Venezuela Mission that has been completed.  If so, this mission is not recommended.  If something else, we will are willing to reevaluate.

House of Hope: This program fits our criteria well.  We strongly recommend that additional Calvary personal participation be sought and a program to insure this participation is started.

Caring Days: Additional service opportunities for Calvary members are needed.

Hospice: There are several well run Hospice programs in Tuscaloosa.  While we support the work of Hospice, there are many funding sources for this program.  The program has limited ability for an organized Calvary member participation.

TES: While we are concerned that TES does not allow presentation Christian ministry per se, the organization is efficiently run, well organized, and has outstanding accountability and vetting of recipients.  We do need additional service opportunities for Calvary people.  We need to follow the example of Jesus in feeding and clothing all.