Grateful for your support

After six months of this year, I wanted to take the time to personally thank our readers for your financial and prayer support of Religious Affections Ministries. As you know, RAM is dependent upon donations like yours, and so I’m very grateful for your help.

I’ve been excited about these first six months of Religious Affections Ministries. I’ve done a lot of traveling, spoken with many people personally, on the phone, and through e-mail, and I’m encouraged by the number of people who have similar burdens as I do regarding the music and worship in churches today. Please continue to pray as we move into the second half of this year and look forward to what the Lord has for us.

All of the finances of RAM are overseen by our board of directors. I report to them quarterly, so you know that you support is being used wisely. However, I wanted to at least give you a general picture of how your money is being used.

During the first two quarters of the year, we received $12,874.23 in financial support. This came from 2 churches and 11 individuals/couples (9 of whom have promised regular, monthly support). Most of the individuals/couples are giving somewhere between $25-$100 per month, for which we are very thankful! Our total operating budget for 2009 depends on $59,000 in income (which comes from support, product sales, and honorariums/love offerings), and so far we have brought in $25,110. So we’re about $4,300 short of what we’d hoped for the first two quarters, but we’re confident that the Lord will meet our needs.

Our budget covers a modest salary and medical expenses for our family, travel expenses, operating expenses, and publication expenses. Just so you know what we’ve been up to this year, here is a list of what has occupied my attention:

January 5-9 – attended and displayed at the Wilds Music Conference
January 17-18 – spoke for two days at Tri-Lakes Baptist Church in Brighton, MI
January 21 – spoke at First Baptist Church in Rockford, IL
January 22-24 – organized, lead, and spoke at the Camp Joy Music Ministry Conference
January 25 – spoke at Berean Baptist Church in Sterling, IL (AM)
January 25 – performed a hymn service with Becky at First Baptist Church in Rockford, IL
January 27-30 – attended and displayed at the Northland Heart Conference
February 1 – Spoke at First Baptist Church in Rockford, IL
February 6-7 – lead the services at the Minnesota Baptist Association Men’s Fellowship
February 7-8 – spoke two days at First Baptist Church in Granite Falls, MN
February 24-28 – attended and displayed at the Lansdale Leadership Conference in PA
March 14 – had a book signing at the Bob Jones University Campus Store
March 25 – was interviewed on the CrossTalk Radio Program on VCY America
April 6 – our daughter was born!
April 26 – preached all day at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Scarborough, ME
April 27-28 – preached at a regional FBF Meeting in Scarborough, ME
April 29 – preached at Heritage Baptist Church in Dover, NH
May 2 – preached all day at Beth Eden Baptist Church in Fitchburg, Mass
May 17 – preached all day at Faith Baptist Church in Sterling, IL
May 18 – attended and displayed at Conference on the Church for God’s Glory, Rockford, IL
June 7 – sang at Northwest Valley Baptist Church in AZ
June 13 – participated in Michael Riley’s wedding in AZ
June 14 – spoke all day at Berean Baptist Church in AZ
June 16-19 – attended and displayed at FBFI National Meeting in Schaumburg, IL
July 19 – spoke all day at First Baptist Church in Troy, MI
July 26 – spoke all day at Fellowship Bible Church in Ann Arbor, MI

Projects:

• recorded and published God Himself Is With Us: the Gospel Proclaimed Through Hymns
• wrote many articles and papers
• produced two booklets
• developed and launched ChurchMusicFiles.com, a website that recommends good music
• published two issues of Issues of the Heart and two issues of InTune
• edited and moved toward publication of Contextualizing the Gospel book
• finished first draft of hymn list for new hymnal
• worked on compiling list of hymns for new children’s CD

None of this would have been possible without your help! So thank you once again for your contribution to helping churches think biblically about worship. If there is every anything I can do to help you, please don’t hesitate to ask.

© 2009, Scott Aniol. All rights reserved.

Scott Aniol

Scott Aniol holds a bachelor's degree in church music from Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC), a master's degree in musicology from Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL), and has studied theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN) and Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained to to the gospel ministry by First Baptist Church (Rockford, IL) in April of 2004. As the executive director of Religious Affections Ministries, Scott speaks on the subjects of music and worship at various churches and conferences. His most recent speaking engagements include the Preserving the Truth Conference, Central Seminary’s Foundations Conference, International Baptist College, and Bob Jones Seminary. Click here to read and/or listen to important talks from Scott Aniol. Curriculum vitae

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1. How You Can Support Religious Affections Ministries
2. Ministry Update | September 5, 2008
3. Ministry Update | May 20, 2008
4. CCGG09 Addresses Challenges in Fundamentalism Past and Future
5. Ministry Update | October 6, 2008