Dear friends, family and fans of Inspire Ministries…
Last year this month we were praying, planning and preparing for our first year of full time ministry with Inspire. Here we are a year later and we are pleased to report of God’s faithfulness in 2014 to this ministry and the amazing ways that He has used us to encourage, motivate, teach, train and inspire people to live lives of passion, purpose and praise. We have ministered to many couples, families, single parents, children in crisis, students and leaders…offering classes, workshops and special events as well as individual coaching and counseling.
Here are some highlights of what was accomplished this past year and what we hope for in 2015:
- We held monthly events in our home for couples, moms and parents. These events were well attended with more than 50 people walking through our doors each month to benefit from the things being shared by us as well as special guest speakers. Moms raved about how blessed they have been by our Titus Teatime to encourage moms of all ages and stages of life as the journey through motherhood. At our Couples Coffee Club not on only did we learn practical ways to strengthen our relationships but we enjoyed the wisdom and fellowship of other couples who desire to let the Lord be at the center of their marriage. Both single and married parents were built up and encouraged while learning valuable parenting skills during our Passionate & Purposeful Parenting Workshops. And Dan met weekly with a group of guys to study the Word of God and challenge one another in their faith.
- We were thrilled to help families begin to establish family traditions that would be both meaningful and memorable through two different day long conferences – Family Faith Traditions gave ideas on traditions that would center on faith and spiritual growth in the family and Treasured Traditions was all about making the holiday season centered on the Lord in a fabulous and festive spirit. We also spent countless hours video taping sections of the Treasured Traditions Conference for those who could not attend due to schedule conflicts or location. The response from all of these opportunities was tremendously enthusiastic. We received countless texts, messages and emails sharing photos from those who were inspired to begin these traditions that are impacting their families in powerful ways!
- Our passion for strong marriages is the motivation we have for spending dozens of hours every month preparing and praying for, meeting and counseling with couples who come to us to help them prepare for marriage as well as those who need serious help to restore their marriages. We had six couples we ministered to in 2014 and we saw amazing results with most of them. Unfortunately we were unable to help them all to succeed and this is heartbreaking for us. However when we recently saw a post on social media from a wife of one of the couples we counseled saying …”Inspire Ministries saved our marriage” we are very encouraged to carry on in this important facet of our ministry.
- Inspire Ministries was committed in 2014 to mentoring both the youth and youth leadership at Lakeview Assembly. This was a very time consuming and yet rewarding part of our year. We were able to develop a comprehensive youth program for the church, mentor the leaders and disciple the youth. We developed many relationships that we know will be have a lifelong impact. We also met with several of our former students throughout the year for monthly and weekly discipleship. Dan and Beth also committed to teaching a few high school classes weekly for Cornerstone Co-op, a group of homeschooled students. We do love young people!
- 2014 brought us several influential speaking opportunities where we were able to minister to men, women and believers at retreats, men’s & women’s events and in churches.
- Life Coaching for individuals of all ages and life situations has been consistent throughout the year with a half a dozen people being helped to find their passion, purpose or direction for life. Some of these meetings are one time while others are weekly or bi-weekly as we work out a solid life plan for individuals seeking coaching.
- One of the areas of greatest impact we had this year was in the important ministry of helping children in crisis! Our hearts beat passionately for the lives of children both unborn and born, orphans and foster children as well as those young adults who were part of the system and were never connected to a “forever family”. This year we accomplished much –
- speaking on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday and sharing our adoption story
- Participating in the Walk for Life
- Holding several informational events in addition to many individual appointments to recruit CASA’s for SJ County (we recruited 5 in 2014)
- Researching all the” ins and outs” of foster care in SJ County to better help people who are interested
- Advocating, Mentoring and Counseling a couple young ladies who have aged out of foster care and are trying to navigate life on their own
- Taking a two year old child into our home through Safe Families to love and care for while her mom…a former foster child…stabilizes her life
- Advocating, Mentoring and Loving our CASA kids through weekly get togethers, school open houses, meeting with foster parents, going to court and taking them out for special events and activities that they do not have the opportunity to enjoy as foster kids.
And now for a support raising and financial update:
- We raised 70% of our 2014 budget through monthly supporters and one time donations. We deeply thank all of you who were a part of that support… TRULY we could not do what we do without your financial support, prayers and encouragement. Consider yourself hugged! (and we do pray for you regularly)
- We made it through 2014 in the black by staying on a very “bare bones” budget, which is the good news. The bad news is that Dan was unable to draw any staff salary in 2014. While this kept the ministry up and running, it put us personally in a very precarious financial state which we will not be able to continue in the upcoming year.
- The bottom line financially for Inspire Ministries in 2015: In order to continue with both Dan & Beth full time in ministry, which we believe to be crucial to the effectiveness of what we do, we will need to rely on ALL our current supporters to give in 2015 at least the same monthly or yearly donation they did in 2014 AND we will need to add an additional $30,000 in donations for the year. (that could be 100 new donors at $25 a month OR 50 new donors at $50 a month OR 30 new donors at a one time $1,000 donation OR even 6 new donors at $5,000 or 3 at $10,000….however it can happen we will rejoice in it!)
- We believe that there are people out there who believe in Inspire Ministries as well as many who love & support us. We are praying that that faith, love & support will result in financial support so we can continue to press ahead with all that He has called us to do in this life.
- If you would like to join our support team and can contribute any amount in 2015….we would be so very grateful! You can email us at inspire@bethlambdin.net and ask us how to donate through a monthly credit card payment or check draft or you can donate online here – https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=XQAW9RQ2BNP88 or you can mail a check made out to Inspire Ministries to – 313 West Robinhood Dr Stockton, CA 95207
We are expecting the Lord to do GREAT things with Inspire Ministries in 2015! We would love to hear from you with any words of encouragement or ideas and information that you have to help us continue to serve the Lord through this ministry.
May the Lord bless you all abundantly,
Dan & Beth Lambdin
Inspire Ministries
Inspire Ministries 