We have been doing this now since the beginning of 1982. That’s 38 years. For thirty eight years we have not received a wage but in all that time we have been provided for. The very thought of it confounds and confuses bank managers and tax departments and other financial officials. It is something they cannot get their head around. One bank manager, when we wanted a loan to buy a house in Auckland when as Director of WBT I was to move the HQ to Auckland, held his head in his hands and said, “The bank can’t loan you money on that basis Mr & Mrs Vail. There is no guarantee. You would have to write to all of your supporters and get them to sign a deed with the bank guaranteeing their gifts to you.” God takes care of all of that. We have seen when one supporter needs to stop because their situation has changed and they can no longer support us, another one comes along to support us. There was a time when Matamata Baptist could no longer support us as they had done. But God had others set aside for that moment. And between the cracks we learn to trust God in the process, learning as Paul said to be content whether in plenty or whether in lack. That is what God said to us through Larry Allen, the itinerant prophet who came to Matamata on the 20th of December 1980. That’s right, you read it correctly. Almost a full year before we were called as such, God was preparing the way. Just as He prepared Garry and Glenys Danswan to be our house managers months before we even knew we would need house managers. And that was after God told me twice through two different people on the same day that I was not to sell my house to fund what we were going to do, but He would take care of it. I was told these things by strangers at the very moment I was thinking in my head the only way we were going to cover the costs of all that was before us was to sell our house. It was all so uncanny but God was saying. I will take care of you.
How does He take care of Barnabas and Saul and Ian and Tania and all the people in between? Through those who identify with them and support them in the process. This new body of believers at Antioch had taken up a collection to send money to those in need in Jerusalem. The child is taking care of the parent. It is all so amazing. And do you know what else is amazing? We have experienced the fact that so often the ones who give are those ones who can’t afford it. They are the ones who have a little, but give that sacrificially. I told you about Clarice in Gem 1565, the little lady in the aged care home in Matamata and her bias toward Te Poi. But this little lady was also the one who on hearing that Ian and Tania were going to go out to the place of our calling came up to me and said she wanted to support us. I told her we didn’t expect her to support us, she didn’t really have the means. Her response still rings in my ears. “Ian Vail don’t you rob me of the blessing of supporting you in this work. If I choose to support you then you need to be willing to receive it.” I have learned much since those days Clarice.