“While chasing down a sponsorship story, the Runner’s Club caught me,” is a feature article on p. 4 of the July-August 2010 issue of Seeds for the Parish. To view the article and a related sidebar about Dr. Jim and Carolyn Brown (ELCA missionaries serving in Cameroon), visit www.elca.org/seeds or click here to go directly to p. 4. 

To entice you to read the article and sidebar, here are two “bonus features” that didn’t make it in print.   Blessings!  Sue Edison-Swift, associate director for Global Mission Support.

Bonus feature #1

Dear Linda!  Dear Runner’s Club!

Oh, my goodness.  You made my day.  This is THE BEST story.  Way to go, women!

Your story is dear to me on so many levels.  I was the associate editor of Lutheran Woman Today for its first 13 years and my mom and her various circles were faithful subscribers to Scope. I have been a part of the team that produces the ELCA Good Gifts catalog…filled with ways to make giving concrete and fun.  (You were pioneers in that endeavor!)  And, now I am privileged to help raise needed funds for ELCA missionaries. 

 Linda, you wrote the story so well that I can “see” it all…including the “little box” that holds the offerings.

 This is a stewardship story.  This is a women’s story.  This is an evangelism story. This is a missionary story.  This is a story of Christian community linked “hand in hand” between South Dakota and Cameroon.  WOW!

 Good story blessings,  Sue
P.S.  WOW!

Bonus Feature #2

“Covenant sponsors,” like the Runner’s Club, make a financial, communication, and prayer commitment to support an ELCA missionaries like Dr. Jim and Carolyn Brown (Cameroon).  Learn more in the Hand in Hand Guide for Covenant Sponsors (www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship). 

With or without a covenant commitment, your gifts to ELCA Missionary Sponsorship make it possible for more than 240 missionaries to teach, preach, grow, build, heal and nurture with companions in 50 countries. You may donate through your ELCA congregation or Women of the ELCA organization, by calling 800-638-3522, by visiting www.elca.org/4missionaries, or by mailing a check directly to ELCA Global Mission Support at 8765 W. Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631.

Your gifts and your prayers make a world of difference.  Many congregations pray for missionaries each Sunday and many individuals use the Global Mission Annual of ELCA missionaries as a prayer prompt.  The 2011 Annual will be mailed to all covenant sponsors at the end of October, 2010.  Others may reserve a copy by calling 800-638-3522 or by sending their name and home address to RIS@elca.org.

 As you read and hear the news, as you read “missionary stories” on the Hand in Hand Blog Digest (https://blogs.elca.org/handinhand), pray for our missionaries and companions; it’s a great way to turn worry into action and thanksgiving into praise.