THE 7 PILLARS AWARD! ....50% OF OUR ANNUAL DONATIONS COME FROM OUR TOP 7 DONORS! ......AAAAAND OUR TOP 7 DONORS FROM 2018 ARE:

"Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars." - Proverbs 9:1

(1) $9191.59
(2) $7500.00
(3) $7000.00
(4) $6000.00
(5) $4800.00
(6) $4000.00
(7) $3837.00
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= 42,328.59 (TOTAL DONATED BY OUR TOP 7 DONORS)

This $42,328.59 is 50.8% of the total of $83,330.40 donated to GTD in 2018

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A couple of years ago I came across Proverbs 9:1 when I was reading through the book of Proverbs. It talks about the 7 pillars that wisdom has built her house upon. Since we've always refereed to our donors as "pillars" that structurally support the work of the ministry I decided to do the math on our top 7 annual donors. Do you know that every year the top 7 donors in our ministry make up about 50% of our annual donations?! That's a huge chunk by a small number of people! And it's not always the same 7 people/families or the same amounts. But year-in and year-out regardless of the total amount donated that year the math stays relatively the same - 50% of our annual donations come from the top 7 donors.

We average about 100 awesome donors each year (thank you awesome people!!). It's really remarkable to see how scripturally accurate that verse is regarding our non-profit ministry. 7 donors (50%) + `93 donors (50%) = 100%. Amazing!

If we removed those top 7 donors then our building would "collapse". Likewise, if we removed the other 93 donors the building would "collapse". Every donor is an indispensable part of what God is doing through GTD. Every donor is a supporting pillar of this ministry. We are profoundly thankful to anyone who donates $1 or $1000. It all adds up to equal a powerful impact!

Since God's Word makes it a point to recognize the structural importance of these seven pillars we thought we would do the same. 2 years ago we began to recognize the special role that the top 7 donors play in the life of this ministry. We designed an award called "The 7 Pillars Award" to present to our Top 7 Donors. Since many of our donors prefer to stay anonymous we've recently decided to present these awards privately. But we do want to publicly honor them too. Therefore we have decided to list our Top 7 donor amounts only without their names. They know who they are! And we are awarding them this special award privately. But publicly we want to express our overwhelming gratitude for the sacrifice they make to enable this ministry to function year-in and year-out!!!

FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS, THANK YOU 2018 "7 PILLARS" AWARD WINNERS!! GOD BLESS YOU FOR THE MINISTRY YOU PERFORM IN GTD!!!!

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We are also creating a spot on our website to track the Top 7 Donors of the current year. Who will be this year's Top 7 Donors? Who will receive the 2019 "7 PILLARS AWARD"???

CURRENT TOP 7 DONORS (as of April 2019):
(1) $2000
(2) $2000
(3) $1600
(4) $1400
(5) $880
(6) $550
(7) $500


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LIQUID PERFECTION!

We had so much fun today with 25 adventurous people on our annual LIQUID Paddling Trek! Perfect weather, fun-loving people, beautiful destination!

Click on the following link to see all the pics from our adventure together.

Happy Easter Weekend!!

SOLD OUT! LIQUID OVERFLOWS!

GTD's LIQUID Paddling Day Trip scheduled for Saturday April 20th is officially SOLD OUT!! Thank you to everyone who signed up! We look forward to doing this liquid adventure with you =)

We also hope to add another FREE day of paddling to our calendar this fall sooooooo keep checking back for the next LIQUID adventure =)







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TOUGH AS NAILS! .....HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY!!

Two of my favorite quotes about the voluntary sacrifice that Jesus made by dying on the cross for humanity's sin are:

<> "It wasn't the nails that held Jesus to the cross; it was love."

<> "One time a young boy asked Jesus how much He loved him. Jesus replied, 'This much' and stretched out his arms as wide as possible and died on a cross."

Sometimes love sheds blood. Sometimes love lays down its life. Sometimes love gives everything. That's how much God loves you... loves me... loves us. His love is as soft as velvet, and it's as tough as nails.

His love which He demonstrated through His brutal sacrifice ushered in the greatest free opportunity offered to mankind: forgiveness of sin, intimate friendship with God, eternal life, and unending meaning & purpose.

For those who have wholeheartedly received it there aren't enough words to describe its value & impact. We wouldn't trade it for anything (or everything) in this world.

For those who haven't received it there is no better time than right now to embrace the free gift from God of eternal life. We aren't promised that we will be here tomorrow. All we have is the present. All we have is right now.

We can't earn His salvation through any amount of good deeds. It's a free gift that can only be received.

This free gift of grace is accepted through faith simply by wholeheartedly transferring your faith from self-reliance to the finished work of Jesus' life, death on a cross, & resurrection (the Easter story!). Jesus took care of all the work for us!

The most common way we place our faith in Jesus is by praying a simple but significant prayer of humility like this, "Dear God, thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to die on the cross and rise from the dead to remove my sin. I'm not perfect. I've missed the mark. I've done wrong against You, against others, against myself. I can't save my soul. I can't do what only You can do. I need Your help. I need a Savior. I ask you to forgive me. I ask You to come into my life and make me whole. I ask You to be my Savior and Lord. I give you the throne of my heart, mind, body, and soul. I give You my life. I commit to seeking You, Your kingdom, and Your righteousness first in my life. I commit to following You and letting You use my life for Your glory. Thank You for hearing my prayer. Thank You for saving my soul. Thank You for becoming my Best Friend. Amen."

If you sincerely prayed that prayer then the Bible says that you were just spiritually born-again. You are a new creation in Christ! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! That is the best decision you can ever make! Spiritually speaking you are now like a newborn baby.

Like any newborn you have to eat, drink, learn to crawl, interact with others, and so on in order to grow and develop. Spiritual food and drink comes from: reading the Bible, applying what you learn, talking to God about whatever is on your mind & heart, finding a healthy church that teaches the truths found in the Bible, and starting a journey with God to live out your full God-given potential.

There is no greater road than the road that leads to Heaven! Welcome to the greatest adventure in life!

Happy Good Friday!!!


- "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

- "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9

- "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" - 2 Corinthians 5:17-18

- "Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.'" - John 3:3

- "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." - John 15:13


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IF IT'S FREE THEN IT'S FOR ME! ...JOIN US APRIL 20th FOR OUR FREE ANNUAL PADDLING DAY TRIP!! ........INCLUDES A FREE LUNCH!!!

Every year on the day before Easter GTD provides a FREE paddling day trip that's open to the public. This year we are heading back to Weedon Island Preserves in St Petersburg, FL.

You have to register by April 18th in order to participate. (If you don't register we can't promise that there will be enough kayaks, canoes, or food available when you arrive.)

FOR DETAILS & REGISTRATION visit the GTD Liquid website here




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GOOD TIMES WITH MORNINGSTAR!!

Our Men's Retreat with MorningStar Church of Tampa was a blast! Here's a taste of all the good times =)

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Check out this link to see all of the nearly 300 pictures taken of this event.
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