Greetings!  

There is hardly a day that goes by now that someone does not ask us, "So, when are you leaving for Italy?" Good question! If only the answer was an easy one. What makes it even harder is that roughly 1650 Italians die each day and on average, only about 17 of them know Jesus as their Savior. For every day that we remain in the US, there are over 1600 Italians that will spend eternity separated from God! The Lord has given us a burden to reach them with the Gospel, but we have to get to Italy first.

Our goal is to be on the mission field by the end of 2011. We have currently raised 25% of our monthly living and ministry budgets. So, only 75% more to go and we can leave, right? Unfortunately, it's not as simple as getting our last pledge and then boarding a plane. Before we can leave, we must apply for visas. This can be a complicated and time-consuming process and we must have pledges for at least 70% of our monthly support before we are allowed to apply. In order to make it to Italy by the end of the year, we need to start the visa process by September 1. However, that means we must raise an additional 45% in monthly pledges in the next 90 days.

If we had to do this on our own, we would throw in the towel now. This is a truly a God-sized challenge, along the lines of a teenage boy slaying a 10-foot giant. Standing before us is a giant that seems impossible to overcome. But when faced with Goliath, this is what David said to him:

"I come to you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the army of Israel... Today the Lord will hand you over to me... The whole world will know that Israel has a God. Then everyone gathered here will know that the Lord can save without sword or spear, because the Lord determines every battle's outcome..." (1 Sam. 17:45-47)

With David's words ringing in our ears, we stand before our giant believing that God CAN and WILL overcome! David's weapon of choice to slay his giant was something that he had used hundreds of times before - a sling and a stone. In the same way, the Lord has always chosen His people to carry the Gospel to the world and we believe that He will also use His people to meet our challenge.

Over the next 90 days, we are looking for 90 new ministry partners to pledge $40 a month towards the work God is doing in Italy - the 90x40 Challenge! Would you pray and ask God if He would have you be part of the team that will help us take His Message of love and forgiveness to Italians?

Maybe you've already heard our story and have felt God tugging on your heart to get involved. Now is the time! Just click here to let us know! Or, maybe you still have some questions about the mission work we'll be doing. We would love to meet with you to share more about it! Call us (706-201-5570) or email us (info@theverners.org) and we'll set something up. May the Lord guide you as you seek Him about your part in taking the Gospel to Italians!

Until All of Italy Hears,

Stephen and Brandy Verner