Our Current Situation in Detroit

Amy and I and the Burton family would be honored if you would read through this and contact us this week. God is really doing some amazing things around here!

Last May we made a seemingly crazy decision to move against the massive flow of people out of Detroit, and to move here to help prepare the region for revival.

Since then we’ve developed some amazing and important relationships, started Revival Church, ministered in churches and raised up a solid team of revivalists.

The reason for the mass exodus out of the Detroit area is the tragic level of unemployment. I’ve heard it said that there’s ONE JOB for every 90 people looking for a job!

We knew we were taking a huge faith step, and with little guaranteed monthly finances we’d have to live on the miraculous giving of our friends and partners.

Those of you that know me understand very well that I embrace a lifestyle of thankfulness, joy and faith. The following situation is not a complaint or an expression of frustration, but a simple and very real analysis of our current situation.

• Since I had to start working outside the church, my actual time involved in ministry has been reduced to near zero (the goal is to be invested 40-60 hours a week, and I’m currently ministering less than 5)
• Church plant coaches say that a key and initial goal is to raise enough money so the planter doesn’t have to divide his time and energy by working outside of the church. (The time necessary to be involved in prayer, study, pastoring, networking, developing, creating teams, marketing, etc. is quite extreme… it’s way more than a full time job in itself.)
• Due to the high time requirements and demands of church and ministry leadership, Steve Gray of World Revival Church in Kansas City recently said, “…every pastor, if they are working a job outside the church,their goal should be, as fast as possible,to get rid of that job."
• My energy and focus has been divided significantly due to the need to get a job (again, thankful, but wisdom demands an evaluation of this)
• I currently work until around 6pm every day, and then work for my own design business most evenings from 6pm to bedtime and also on Saturdays.
• I’ve been preparing my sermon for Sunday’s Revival Church service the hour before I leave for service every Sunday, which just can’t continue.
• The preparation of revival requires a massive time commitment, and I don’t want my part of the mission to remain on hold for much longer. The work to be done is huge, and I must give myself to it fully.

We are boldly asking for you to financially partner with our ministry. We need to raise at least $3000 a month to replace my job, and another $1000 or so to replace my design business.

You can give via credit card at www.johnburtonministries.com/donate. If you setup recurring monthly donations, that would be a huge blessing. If you’d prefer to make a special donation, that would bless us as well!

The donations are tax-deductible. If you’d prefer to send a check, just contact us and we’ll get you the info. My email is [email protected] and Amy’s is [email protected]. My phone is 313.799.3473.

THANK YOU SO MUCH. We’d love to hear from you and share more about this huge mission in Detroit!

We love you!

John, Amy, Skylar, Parker, Jet and Ella