Richard and Josi Ingram

Being in the mission field can sometimes be lonely, whether that field be in the far-flung reaches of the world, or right here in the United States. Missionaries cannot work alone—without partners, missionaries are alone. Our ministry with Pioneer Bible Translators depends on partnerships with churches and individuals. We hope you will prayerfully consider becoming financial and prayer partners with us in God’s work of Bible translation.

Invite Us to Your Church
We understand that it is of utmost importance for our partners to be informed about and involved in the ministry of PBT. We would enjoy visiting your church and speaking about the work of Bible translation and our plans for ministry. We can share with your congregation, church leaders or missions board, or any small groups within the church who would be interested in learning more about reaching the Bible-less people groups of the world.

Newsletters and Updates
Our regular newsletters provide the most complete information on our ministry with Pioneer Bible Translators. We would be glad to add your church to our newsletter mailing list. If you wish to receive our newsletters, please let us know using our contact information on the first page. Our newsletters are available by email or regular mail.

Prayer is an important part of our ministry. We value your partnership in prayer. An electronic prayer update is available on a weekly basis.

Financial Partnership
Our main financial need is for commitments of regular monthly support. Pioneer Bible Translators, which is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, uses a system of deputized fund-raising which ensures that PBT receives and has control over all funds. Checks should be made out to PBT and mailed to our home address. Our names should not be noted on the check itself.

Don’t want to keep writing checks? Then there are two other ways to financially partner with us:

Bank Account Transfer—you can have your monthly donation sent by an electronic funds transfer directly to Pioneer Bible Translators to partner withRichard and Josi Ingram. To download the EFT form click here.

Credit Card Donations—your monthly donation can be charged to your credit card, directly to PBT to partner with Richard and Josi Ingram. To download the credit card form click here.

General Financial Account for Richard and Josi Ingram
We are W-2 employees of Pioneer Bible Translators. PBT is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Financially, PBT works under the IRS’s “Deputized Fund Raiser” model. We have been deputized by the PBT Board of Directors to raise all ministry expenses (including salary) that are in our annual budget.

As faith-based missionaries, we are completely dependent upon the financial gifts of partners. If there are shortfalls, we go without; PBT has no endowment or other sources of income. In 2008, about half of our financial support came from our sending church, Cactus Christian Fellowship in Phoenix, Arizona. The remainder came from individuals. Not only do we need to raise enough support to pay our own salary and ministry expenses, but also PBT’s half of FICA. (The FICA (Social Security) & Medicare taxes that most people see come out of their monthly paycheck are actually only 1/2 of the total tax; their employer pays an equal amount. So, for example, if someone is paid $100, and gets $10 taken out for FICA, they’ve netted $90. But their employer also had to pay $10 for FICA, so the real cost to the employer is not $100, but $110. In essence, FICA & Medicare taxes are twice as high as it appears.)

This is our basic budget for 2009:

Budgeted Items	Monthly Budget	Annual Budget
Base Salary	2,880	34,558
Housing	1,590	19,080
Work Funds	915	10,985
Professional Development	36	432
Total Amount	5,385	64,623

Base Salary-These are the funds that pay for our taxes, retirement, health insurance, and other miscellaneous items. This would include our spending money and savings.
Housing-This covers our rent  and utilities, such as water, electricity, and basic phone service.
Work Funds-All expenses that are work-related. We receive no funds from Pioneer Bible Translators to cover things like travel expenses, we must raise them ourselves. This would also include expenses such as postage for our newsletters, publishing costs, and promotional materials.
Professional Development-Currently this item is for the class Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, which is required by Pioneer Bible Translators. This would also include continuing education courses and seminars that are work related.

Our move to Dallas and the increased cost of utilities and rent has substantially impacted our budget. We were at 53% of our 2008 budget. We are presently at 47% of our 2009 budget.

Update: Several individuals and ministries have committed to financial partnerships with us. We have now reached 53.7% of our 2009 budget. Praise the Lord!