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Dear Friends of Faith At Work,

You have never received a letter like this from Faith At Work. This letter and the enclosed Change Lives brochure describe a campaign entitled "Change Lives" to raise an additional $500,000 endowment for Faith At Work.

The earnings from these funds will allow Faith At Work to respond to increasing ministry opportunities. Marjory Bankson's enclosed letter describes a part of this process. Currently, Faith At Work finds itself in the delightful but challenging position of having more vision than resources to accomplish the vision. We need to ask you, and others who have been nourished by Faith At Work, to help us bring our resources in line with our vision.

We believe we have been careful stewards of not only our current endowment from Julia Vrooman's 1983 bequest, but also our annual contributed income. We have concluded that the time is right to ask those impacted by the Faith At Work ministry to invest in the future of our organization.

With the Vrooman bequest, Faith At Work was able to nourish the women's ministry which today is a vibrant and important program, offering spiritual renewal to women across the country. The Vrooman bequest also allowed us to reignite Faith At Work Magazine which is sent, subscription free, to over 20,000 supporters as a small group ministry.

Faith At Work events for men, women and mixed groups continue to be held throughout the country. We offer resources ranging from Marjory Bankson's books, Braided Streams, Seasons of Friendships and Call to the Soul, Dick Meyer's two great small group how-to books, One Anothering, Volume 1 & 2, reprints of Nancy Boyle's fantastic relational Bible studies together with classics by Karl Olsson, Keith Miller, Wally Howard and Bruce Larson. All of this is orchestrated from one small office in Falls Church, Virginia, staffed by two dedicated and overworked staff, Marjory Bankson and Bill Johnson. Our total budget is a little over $230,000 annually or about 10% of the average Fortune 500 chief executive officer's salary.

Three years ago, the Faith At Work Board recognized it was not getting any younger and embarked on an exciting program to recruit a group of new Faith At Work people in their twenties, thirties and forties to carry the Faith At Work ministry into the next century. We succeeded beyond our expectations. Well over half of the Board is a new, turned on, generation of men and women for whom the relational style of Faith At Work is life giving and life sustaining. We do need additional funding to keep these efforts going. This is the reason for the "Change Lives" Campaign. Each member of the Faith At Work Board has made a financial commitment to this program. To date, over $100,000 toward the goal has been received in cash and in pledges.

Please prayerfully consider a one-time endowment gift to Faith At Work. Pledges are payable over three years. Cash, securities, life insurance and will bequests will be gratefully accepted. If you are ready to help insure the future of the ministry of Faith At Work, print the online pledge form and then call, write or fax us. For more information, do not hesitate to write or call 1-800-245-7378.

Best regards,
Stephen E. Gehring
Chair, Development Committee