Proverbs says, "Without a vision, the people perish." (19:18) Christ has given us His sight of building God's Kingdom through the work of His Holy Spirit. With that aim, we desire to use our resources in the most efficient and productive way.

Our five-month-long strategy planning took advantage of decades-worth of wisdom by gathering input, recommendations and constructive criticism from a group of 10 businessmen, consultants, missionaries and volunteers. We developed two main goals.

First, we seek to create 20 sustainable businesses over the next three years.  Our strategy to achieve this goal is to have three main business concepts that replicate across the world.  Sustainability means the businesses will be financially stable and have positive cash flow over a long enough time so that the operators can successfully plant churches. The businesses also must have the credibility to be good witnesses for the gospel. Over the next two years, we're aiming to identify the three main business concepts we will chose for replication.

The combination of your donations and the large lump gift that we received mean that we will be able to hire an employee to run one of the business concept portfolios we've already identified: establishing Fair Trade businesses. We're looking forward to having this individual on board and moving our operations along.

The second aim is to cultivate 5 strong church partnerships over the next few years. We are excited to partner with churches because we believe that the local church is the vehicle through which God displays His glory to the nations. We look forward to drawing on the rich depth of gifts and expertise that Christ in His grace has given His people.

We've already seen strong interest.  Access Partners recently established a partnership with Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD.  Besides sharing a vision for the gospel to be spread to the ends of the earth, Covenant Life Church also has a huge resource with its more than 3,000 members. Members of Covenant Life are already helping provide video-editing expertise, graphic design and technology consulting.  We're also planning to hire an employee to manage this church partnership program.

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:3-6

We thank Christ for your continuing partnership in prayer, donations, and volunteering and are excited to continue this model in which more Christians can participate, working together for the gospel.