Stepping Out on Faith

Global Impact Conference, Urbancrest Baptist Church

Stepping Out on Faith..... what does that look like? Well, for the Bogan family we have said we are leaving for Uganda in September. Since saying that almost two weeks ago, God has done some pretty amazing things. Several people have stepped up to join our team to serve alongside of us in Uganda. This has grown our faith tremendously and our children have seen first hand what reliance on God looks like. When Aaron and I knew God was saying September, we knew that there was still a long way to go before reaching 100% of our monthly support. However, God wanted us to rely on Him totally and not on man. We still have a ways to go, but in the last week he has brought several people to support and encourage us in this journey. Praise God for this, because it is only through Him did this happen.

Aaron contacted the dean of the seminary in Uganda, Vernon Sivage, to tell him the great news and for them to start looking for a house and vehicle for us. They are very excited and things are starting to be prepared on that side for our arrival. There is much to be done on this side as well as over there, but we know God is numbering our steps and we pray we stay faithful to not get ahead of Him. So please pray for more people to come alongside of us to be a part of what God is doing in Uganda. All of us are so very excited to have a month pinpointed for departure.

Last week we were invited to a missionary conference at our home church, Urbancrest Baptist Church. This was the 5th year that we had participated in the Global Impact Celebration in some way. For the first few years we hosted missionaries in our home during this celebration. Now I can't believe we are the missionaries!! Isn't it funny how God works? We have always connected so well with missionaries, because they are as crazy as we are:) We had a wonderful time meeting new missionaries along with other ones that we have known for years. So many people were there loving and encouraging us throughout the week. It was such an inspiring time!! I'd like to thank the Overbey Sunday School class for taking such good care of our family. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to share with all of you our heart and calling to Uganda. You're class is so supportive and giving, and I thank God for this time that we had to get to know all of you. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this week special for all of the missionaries.

Please continue to pray for our family. There is much that will be taking place over the next few months. However, we want to remain focused on Him who gives us life each day. Pray that we will continue to make connections with churches and individuals you want to partner with us. Prayer is essential for us to continue down this road. Please, please, pray for us and our trek to getting to Uganda and beyond.

Please Pray

Things on the fundraising homefront are starting to move. In the last week we have hit the 25% monthly support mark. We are very excited about this and realize that we do have a ways to go. However, we know God is all knowing and all powerful. The time is fast approaching when Aaron will be unemployed in May. To be honest that makes me a little nervous, but we are stepping out on faith knowing that God is in control and not surprised by this fact.

Two weeks ago we visited Northview Baptist Church in Hillsboro, OH. We had a wonderful time there with our brothers and sisters in Christ. They all made us feel so welcomed and treated us like family. We like to thank everyone who took the time to talk to us. For those who said they would be praying, please continue. We look forward to visiting with you again in the near future.

We feel very blessed to have a nice warm home. I think it is most in the forefront of my mind when the weather is as bad as it has been. Miami University has been cancelled the last two days. That is saying something:) We have about 3/4" of ice and snow to boot. However, I know by comparison to some other states this is nothing. I thank God we haven't had a power outage so far. Aaron and I keep saying to each other that we hope this is the last winter we have to experience ice and snow. We pray by next winter we will be in Uganda, where there is no snow and ice:)

Please keep praying for God to make a way for us to leave by summer. We know without a doubt that God does answer prayers. Thank you to all the faithful prayer warriors that we have on our team. God hears so please continue to lift us up. We hope we can get across to individuals that if everyone would commit to $10 a month, then we would be in Uganda in no time. Please pray whether God may be stirring your heart to be a part of educating those in Africa about Christ.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

I know it's been awhile since I've last posted. We now are trying some new ways for our family and friends to keep up with our journey to Uganda. Check out our new webpage at www.gatewayglobaloutreach.org/Bogan for all the latest news and links to many other sites. One of the links is our monthly newsletters that we send out. If you would like to receive this each month, please either contact Aaron(boganaw@muohio.edu) or I(danabogan@hotmail.com).

Christmas is fast approaching and I hope all of you have a Wonderful and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!! Our family will take some much needed rest and slow the pace down a bit. We are looking forward to having some quality time with the children. We try so hard to focus on Christ during this time and for it not to be about the gifts and parties. However, I'm finding unique ways to share stories about Christ through these ways. Christ was our ultimate gift from God, and I hope you take the time to share with others during the holidays how He has/is impacting your life. I am so grateful that He saved a sinner such as me. He didn't have to, but Christ chose to come to earth as a baby and live as a human. Not only that, but in the end Jesus was crucified on the cross for all the corrupt things I have done and do. Lord I thank you for such a sacrifice as this and pray I never get over the glorious gift you gave me five years ago.

I want to thank God for all the family and friends who have been such a great support to our family. The Lord has been so good to us. Take some time during this season to reflect and focus on how blessed you are. Have a Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!!!!

Lots Going On

Sorry, I haven't updated in awhile. So much has been going. We have been visiting churches, individuals, and groups sharing about Uganda and the vision God has given us. It has been a great time and we are praying that we are exciting others about missions. We hope not only do we excite them about what is going on in East Africa, but we are also exciting others to go, share, and disciple with those that they meet. Even though God has called us to Uganda, as a Christian, you are called to share with others where ever that may be.

I hope many of you reading this are receiving updates by our newsletters now. We are sending out monthly updates to better inform you what we are doing, where we are heading, and how much support we have raised thus far. If you are not receiving them and would like to, please contact us.

This weekend we will be meeting with Anthony and Misti Shelton. They are a missionary family serving at the Uganda Baptist Seminary who are on furlough until early next year. We are anxious to spend time with them, since we will be working along side of them in Africa. It will be great to learn more about life in Jinja, and what they suggest for being the most prepared to move there. They will be visiting Urbancrest from Thursday through Sunday. It should be a great time of fellowship and fun.

Please pray for our family as we continue on this path. We are working hard to network, share, and spend time with those that God puts in front of us. He has opened many doors up in Oxford to minister to university students and the community. Along with that we are trying to incorporate various ways to keep our support team informed and others excited to be a part of our team (emails, newsletters, webpage, prayer cards, etc.). We are also participating in a missions training course through our church every Wed. All this among Aaron teaching and me homeschooling makes for a busy home. However, God has blessed us beyond measure with the amount of time needed, health, and stamina to get all accomplished that needs to be done. I know many of your prayers are being answered. Please continue to pray for our family.

Our Time at FBC

Last week our family was blessed by participating in the missions celebration at First Baptist Church Waynesville. It was a great time getting to know the congregation there and meeting other missionaries. Thursday night we kicked off the celebration with getting to hear from a couple that works out of Xenia, OH with Athletes in Action. Friday night we were invited to share in a home of one of the memebers from FBC. Thank you Mike and Sherri for being so gracious to our family. We had a wonderful time! Saturday afternoon we had fun at Hidden Valley with the other missionaries and then lunch after at Der Dutchman. We spent that time hearing about the other missonaries' ministries and the awesome way God is using them. That evening we were back at the church to share more with the congregation and to take part in the ice cream social. Needless to say the children enjoyed that part of the conference immensley:) Sunday was spent with the missionaries sharing in Sunday Schools and church service. Thank you to the youth group for hosting and putting up with us. Mike and Naiomi who have a cowboy ministry in Arizona shared. Mike preached the message and they both sang together. Sunday evening we closed with Q&A and prayer time.

To the many who gathered around us and prayed for our family, we thank you all for your sincere prayers and support that you gave us. We pray that we inspired and encouraged you as much as you did us. Thank you Dennis and Juli for all your hard work in planning and organizing this celebration. I pray that the Lord blesses you with seeing a church that catches the vision the Lord has given you!! We encourage you and all of FBC Waynesville to continue to reach out to your Jerusalem, Judea, and the ends of the earth!!

Raising Support to Serve in Uganda

So we are now moving forward with actively raising support to get us to Uganda. We thank you all for praying us through to this point in the journey and ask that you continue to labor in prayer for us as we seek to establish a support base.

The campaign that we are starting we will call the 4/40 pursuit. What we need to be in Uganda is $4,000 per month and $40,000 initial deployment expenses. This will get us there, keep us there, and provide the necessary funds should we need to evacuate the country for any reason. Since we do not have a large organization supporting us (or taking a cut of our donations :-), this is imperative. We would be happy to share with anyone interested the specifics of this budget as we wish to be absolutely transparent concerning the financial side of things. The more eyes that take a look at something, the more likely we will catch things before they become nasty surprises.

We will be attending the missions celebration hosted by First Baptist Waynesville, Ohio this weekend. The dates for this celebration are from Thursday the 30^th until Sunday the 2^nd. Pray for the connections we might make here and that Christ's mission is moved forward as a result of our attendance. This is the first missions conference that this church has undertaken so pray for them as they sail into uncharted waters. We look forward to being used by God to encourage others to catch His vision for world missions!

We are happy to speak at any venue that we can fit in with our current schedules. Please, please, please, please share what God is doing with our family with others. We would love the opportunity to speak to your church or group to simply share the vision that God has given His people for the nations.

If you are interested in being a financial partner with us, I’ve given details on how to do this below. I assure you that you are investing in a venture with the best return on investment you can imagine.

How you can help financially:

Pray!!!! After having done that, consider how you might partner with us financially as we seek to impact Africa for Jesus. A pledge of any amount monthly is our primary need at this point. If 100 people give only $40 per month, we have met our monthly expenses. The math is simple and no amount is too small. Every $132 pledged monthly buys us a day on the field providing high level conservative theological education to African pastors and teachers. These pastors and teachers (UBS students and graduates) are currently impacting an estimated 170,000 African children. The multiplication from this work is staggering. The fruit from this endeavor will be shared by all who are connected to it through praying, giving, and going (see Philippians 4:14-20). However, none of us can be a part until the funding goals are met. If God leads you to be a monthly partner with us, simply contact me and I'll record your pledge and you can start giving right away (see below).

If monthly support is not feasible for you at this time, a one time donation toward our initial deployment expenses is another way to help. We will be purchasing and shipping a 20' container with all of our household goods in it from here to Uganda. We will also need to purchase 6 plane tickets. There is the expense of purchasing a vehicle in Uganda. Ugandan work visas must be purchased. All of these (and more) things are needed before we can go. We welcome general donations or donations toward specific parts of the mission.

Any and all donations are tax deductable and all of your donations will go directly toward supporting this mission (we have no admin overhead). There are two ways to give:

By check:

Make your check out to Gateway Global Outreach; annotate on the comment line BOGAN Uganda

Mail it to:

BOGAN c/o Gateway Global

PO Box 591

West Chester, OH 45071

Electronically:

We have coordinated with our home church (Urbancrest Baptist Church) to receive electronic (credit card) donations. Note that there is a 3% service charge levied by the credit card company that is taken from all donations tendered in this manner. Go to http://www.urbancrest.info/Donations. Enter the amount of monthly or one time donation in the "Other" field. Enter BOGAN Uganda in the box below that and select the one time or repeated option as appropriate. Click "Donate Now" and you'll be directed to the PayJunction site to make your secure donation.

The Decision Is.........

We are going to serve in Uganda at Uganda Baptist Seminary. Aaron made it home safely, and since then we have been praying, talking, and working through options. God has made it abundantly clear that we are to serve in Jinja, Uganda. We are so excited to have a direction!!! Thank you to those of you who have prayed for us and supported us through encouraging words and hugs.

So what are we going to be part of when living there, you may ask? Well, Aaron will be teaching at a seminary that educates pastors from all over sub-sahara Africa. He will begin by teaching a few courses the first year, along with us learning the language and culture. The faculty there was quite excited to know that he had taken Hebrew and would be willing to teach that course:) I will be busy acclimating the family to a new culture and homeschooling the children. There may be opportunities to assist the nurse practitioner, Evelyn, at the seminary to help do nursing care for the students. Also I'm hoping there will be time to volunteer at the local orphanages with our children. Our whole family is excited about the many opportunities and possibilities in Jinja. There is a tremendous amount of support in place from other missionaries that have lived in this area for several years. That helps quite a bit when you have a family and this is the first time living in another country. God has blessed us tremendously by placing us in an area with that kind of support and a place where our home church visits yearly. I could have not asked for anything more:)

The next phase is to concentrate on raising up a support team that will help get us there. Right now we are planning on trying to be in Uganda by June 2011. Please pray for churches and individuals to partner with us in Uganda. We are so excited to see how God is going to work through us. Our prayer is to remain obedient and rely solely on Him. If you feel led to pray and/or financially support us please contact us at boganaw@muohio.edu. We will get you on our distribution list for updates and further information on how you can become partners with us.