Practical Ways You Can Help

People will often ask us, "Are there any practical ways that we can assist in the ministry on a regular basis?" The answer is a definite, "YES!" There are so many things that go into taking the Gospel to the streets of this nation that many people might never stop to think about. Here are just a few of ways that you might consider partnering with us for souls!

PARKING: Each week our team here in New Orleans takes "Raven Street Church" to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter - and not unlike other big cities - the amount of "free" parking available is miniscule and seldom available. We have given up on driving around for an hour looking for a spot and [because of the equipment we use] parking a long distance away is not practical.

That means that we are required to use public parking areas that charge an hourly rate. The lot that we use provides us: 1) Security for our vehicles 2) A central meeting place for teams joining us 3) A short jaunt to Bourbon Street - - - that's the GOOD NEWS

The down side is obviously the cost involved. With the time that we spend ministering on a given day, our parking expense will typically be $13 on average. With our team ministering (3) nights per week - that is nearly $40 EVERY WEEK (or over $150 per month) or $1800 annually!

Would you consider sponsoring (1) or more nights parking per month? Perhaps you feel led to cover the expense of our parking each month or every other month or something.

GASOLINE: It is (15) miles from our front door to the French Quarter - about a (20) minute drive with light traffic. It works out to about 100 miles a week just to get back and forth! That is over 5,000 miles a year that we will drive just to do that part of the local ministry! That is a lot of miles and a lot of gasoline. Maybe you would desire to buy (1) tank of gas per months ($45) or send a prepaid gas card or something. That would help with the estimated $950 per year that is cost simply to host our weekly Raven Street Church.

OIL CHANGE: We really try to get the most out of everything that we have - that means taking care of the vehicles that we drive. Most of our vehicles are 10+ years old and have tons of miles on them. One thing that keeps us going is regular oil changes. These cost about $30 each now.

VEHICLE REPAIR: (97 Monte Carlo ) - donated by Steve & Jodi Ignowski a few years back needs fuel pump replaced and new head gaskets soon.

BATTERIES: Having a "mobile ministry" requires that we have "moble equipment" and as a result we go through a ton of batteries each month. Raven Street Church requires (10) D Cell batteries and (1) 9 volt battery each week. We pay $1 each for the D Cells and $2 for the 9 volt. That comes up to about $625 per year just to power our sound equipments. That does not even take into account the $5 spent on batteries each week to power our camera equipment. That is an additional $260 a year for a grand total of nearly $900 a year for batteries!

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As you can tell these practical aspects of the ministry come at a cost of over $3700 per year alone! So, if you are looking for a way to help eleviate some of the financial burden that we face in reaching the lost - this might be a good way to get involved in the process.

You can give securely online by going to: http://www.paypal.com/ and using our email address Raven@BigGrace.com as the recipient or by mailing your offering to:

Raven Ministries International - PO Box 2102 Kenner, LA 70063