The beginning of any ministry is likely to trace its origins to a very humble start, and the Christian Explorer Ministries is no exception. My goal here is to outline the nature, scope, and mission of this ministry and briefly discuss the ministry's future. These are exciting times for me as I feel the Lord is beginning to set the foundation for this ministry. I'd like to share with you the vision of the ministry as I have tremendous faith that this is the will of the Lord for my life and that someway, somehow this ministry will grow into the vision I've been given.

This ministry is to exist in two fundamental parts. The first part of this ministry is a mobile element, called the "Odyssey". This mobile part of the ministry will be centered around a specially equipped truck. My calling here is multifold By traveling from town to town, mainly in rural America, I feel led to meet with a variety of churches and to listen to their ministries then bring the lessons, inspirational stories, and witnesses of the works of the Holy Spirit here through this web site and wherever else the Lord opens doors for me in the future.

As a servant of the Lord, it is as much my task to assist and be as active in doing the Lord's work as a servant of man as much as possible. I understand this to mean that I may find myself one weekend serving as a food prep cook or server in a food line at a homeless shelter. I may on another week be helping a family rebuild the roof on their house after a storm damaged it. I simply don't know at this time where the Lord may want me to be from day to day.

I feel that in preparation for the ministry it will be important for me to get my amateur radio operator's license so that I can possibly be of service in areas suffering from a natural disasters, forest fires, or man-made disasters. Likewise I know I am to take several classes to get a CPR and First Aid certifications. There are many other things I will need to prepare before this portion of this ministry as well.

The second fundamental part of this ministry will be establishing a permanent home. The Internet interface to the ministry is very important in that through this a virtual portal to the witness, testimony, and accountability of the mobile ministry will be maintained. The ministry's permanent home will house the servers and communications equipment the ministry needs to build a much more comprehensive web site and web services. With the bulk of the ministry occurring on the mobile part, the cost of the permanent home needs will be relatively inexpensive.

I will work on providing many more in-depth and detailed documents on the full scope of where I see this ministry going. On the "Ministry Plans" information page I'll post links to the full business plan, documentation on licensing, and my vision for where the ministry is going in the future. There is a significant portion of the web ministry I haven't fully discussed the yet, mainly because I feel that the most significant portion of the ministry will be what is occurring live, in the field.

My plan of action to get the ministry started is to put everything in God's hands and stand on faith that my progress in this ministry is His Will for me. Everything else comes second. Obviously, any healthy ministry will actively seek to establish itself in guidance and with accountability to the Laws of the nation. In America, respecting and adhering to the Internal Revenue Service's taxation code known as section 501 (c) (3) will not only provide tax breaks for the ministry and tax deductions for the contributor, but it also adds legitimacy for the ministry. To qualify for nonprofit status with the Internal Revenue Service, the establishment of a corporate entity status prior to applying for section 501 (c) (3) is necessary. The importance of establishing these credentials is obvious.

Unfortunately the process of achieving this is also expensive and time consuming. My current speculations are that under my own funds, it will take me three or more years to raise the funds for the lawyers and the licensing fees. My research shows that it may be significantly more affordable to achieve this by completing the bulk of this process personally and then hire a lawyer to review everything and file the paperwork.

This process may take me a while, but I will be posting reports on the progress here on the web site. I'll also be posting the actual documents, the business plan, and a journal of my experiences as I work to gain all the documentation and officially establish this ministry. My hopes are that maybe a few of you who come across this site and know a few things about creating business plans and working through the proper forms will review the documents as they become available on the site. Honest criticism and constructive comments will help me more than anything right now so that I can continuously improve on the documentation and all licensing projects until they reach fruition.

Once this step is complete, my focus will be establishing the home base for the ministry. By founding a physical location, the ministry will have that stone upon which this house will be built. A physical building housing all of the necessary records for taxation purposes, the supporting technology for working with the mobile portion of the ministry, and a small office to handle the business needs of the ministry. Fortunately, the needs of this ministry in property is very small. The bulk of the ministry will be the mobile "Explorer", moving from town to town, serving, exploring, and reporting it all back to the Internet site.

The needs of the mobile ministry will be more significant. This becomes the third major step which will launch the ministry into full operation. Most of the web development and maintenance for the Internet portal will be done right there on the road as I travel. By basing the mobile ministry out of a pickup truck with a custom camper built onto it, I will be able to get into some of the most remote communities in the nation. The truck will house a mixture of high-tech electronics, computers, digital video and audio recording and editing gear, as well as communications gear for use to provide timely Internet updates and to be used in the ministry where needed.

A trailer pulled behind will contain modest RV amenities so that I basically have my personal human needs met while on the road. It will primarily contain a bed, a shower and toilet facilities, kitchen and food prep equipment, provisional camping gear, and food stocks. A pair of generators for generating electricity where needed and a variety of tools that may be of use in the field will also be in the trailer.

Again, the provisions for the ministry in its entirety is a mission in faith. It is simply beyond my current income to make these things manifest though I am absolutely sure this is my calling. Every aspect of this ministry as it comes together is a testament of the Holy Spirit at work. I have no doubt this ministry will be operating soon, but I simply don't know the exact timetable the Lord is working with for me. At this point in time, I'm going to simply work on the licensing material and building this web site so that even the foundation of this ministry can be a witness and testament to the wonder and power of the Holy Spirit in everyday life.

If you've read this far and not left yet, I want to thank you for your time in reading this. I hope you return often as I will be putting as much information as possible up on this site and updating it frequently. I could also use your support and prayers as the challenges that lay ahead are many mountains to overcome. God bless.

Yours in Christ,
Matthew