By Dr. Dilip Abayasekara
The people of the Susquehanna Conference produced the most generous spring yet since we started Bishop’s Partners in Mission to support Imagine No Malaria and reduce the debt of Mission Central. The Miles for Missions Walk/Run-a-Thons held in all seven districts in April and May involved more than 300 walkers and runners supported by about 200 sponsors and other supporters to yield a total of $54,920.73 as of June 14, 2018.
The generosity of hundreds of people turned the rain (in five of the seven district walk/run-a-thons) into showers of blessings for people in need at home and around the world. The special offering taken at Annual Conference at the Ordination Service yielded $41,817.62. So the spring total amounts to a record-setting $96,738.35.
This brings the grand total raised since the inception of this campaign in 2013 to approximately $835,000! We are excited as we approach the one million dollar mark, which represents thousands of lives saved from the scourge of the killer disease malaria, and also vital support for Mission Central in its amazing work of providing God’s resources for human need.
A special thank you goes to all who made the fundraising success of this spring possible: Miles for Missions Team leaders and team members from each district, each district superintendent, and the BPIM district and local ambassadors who have provided sacrificial and generous support. The BPIM ambassadors are: Altoona District, Pastor Richard Fluke; Harrisburg District, Pastor Russell Goodman, Carol Evertts, Pastor Jason Schwartzman; Lewisburg District, Rev. Bethany Wood; Scranton/Wilkes-Barre District, Cathy Wilcox, Megan Wolff, Pastor T.J. McCabe, Nancy Brooks; Williamsport District, Pastor Kevin Brophy; York District, Larry Speer, Pastor Lourdes Stevens, Deaconess Fawn McCallister, and Rev. Richard Bowers. Unsung heroes behind the success of BPIM fundraising efforts have been the bishop’s executive assistant Christy Mackey, and Bishop Park himself, who conceived the idea of the conference-wide walk/run-a-thon, and ran in all of them.
All glory goes to the One who has called us to this work, as is expressed in the theme verse for BPIM from Ephesians 3:20 “For God is able to accomplish far more abundantly than all that we can ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us.”
With gratitude for the opportunity given to me these last two-and-one-half-years to be Field Coordinator for BPIM, I have ended my term as I transition into full-time pastoral ministry. Bishop’s Partners in Mission will be continued by the bishop’s office, until, with God’s help, we persevere to attain our goals for both Imagine No Malaria and Mission Central.
