A GREAT WEEK FULL OF TABLE SPONSORS =)

GREAT NEWS!!
I'm excited to announce that we have a $1000 Platinum Level Donation for our Annual Banquet. On behalf of GTD, I want to express a profound heartfelt 'THANK YOU" to Dana & Martha Ward for their incredible generosity to this ministry. God bless you for all you do to strongly support Going The Distance Adventure Ministry. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!


DOUBLE TABLE SPONSOR ALERT!!
Thank you to my amazing parents, Jerry & Ann Garner ("JAG") for sponsoring 2 bronze tables for our upcoming GTD Banquet!! They have blessed this ministry more than I can ever express. May God bless them greatly for the role they have played in GTD (not to mention my life!) =). I love you Mom & Dad =)


ADDITIONAL TABLE SPONSOR ALERT!!
Thank you Paul & Heather Williamson for sponsoring a table at next week's banquet!! You guys blow us away!! Thank you for your magnanimous support of GTD! God bless you =)


PTL! WE HAVE ANOTHER TABLE SPONSOR!!
Thank you Lindsay Galloway for your table sponsorship for our upcoming Annual Banquet!! We love you & appreciate all the years of support you have blessed this ministry with. Thank you so much! God bless you =)


MORE GOOD NEWS!!
We have another generous Bronze Level Donor. We'd like to thank England Brothers Construction for their kind & thoughtful support of GTD again this year (and over the past several years). We deeply appreciate your generosity. God bless you!


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24 FREE BANQUET TICKETS!!!

We have some generous table sponsors who aren't able to fill all of their seats, but would like to donate their extra tickets to anyone who would like to attend. 

Our Annual Banquet is this Tues night (Nov 13th) at Ruth Eckerd Hall (6:30pm-9:00pm). Dinner is included.

Simply email us at info@goingthedistance.org if you would like to claim one or more tickets.

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HUGE NEWS!!

WE HAVE A $3000 DONOR MATCH CHALLENGE!!! One of our donors (who would like to stay anonymous) has offered to match all the one-time donations we receive up to $3000!!

That means that for every dollar you donate, they will double it!! So if we raise $3000 it will become $6000!!

Our deep heartfelt thanks & appreciation goes out to our Donor Match contributor. God bless you for your kindness & generosity to this ministry!! Praise The Lord!!

Also, this is a great time to sign up to be a 2013 Monthly Partner. Sign up to support GTD for only 12 months. It's a great way to make a big difference all year long!!

Click here for donation information on the GTD website.


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THANKS DONORS!!

Just received an American Flag from Congressmen Bill Young's office for the banquet. It will be a silent auction item. The winner gets to choose the day they would like it flown over The United States Capitol!

I'm blown away by the donations coming in for our banquet! Today we received several more including the United States Flag, massages from Massage Envy, a haircut at the 66th St Barber Shop, tickets to a show at Ruth Eckerd Hall for Valentines! And.... the other day Amanda Briody Paolillo donated a gift certificate to Caress A Salon for a Cut and Style, Jerry Garner donated a deep friend or smoked turkey for Thanksgiving and we got tickets to Weeki Watchee Springs, Bok Tower and The Ringling Museum of Art!!! It's going to be a great night....be sure to RSVP to the banquet if you haven't already!

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2013 CALENDAR

Check out GTD's 2013 Public Event Calendar... hope to see you on some of our God-awesome events next year!!

WHO WILL IT BE??

The JAG Award is GTD's highest recognition award. Each year we present it to the person, church, business, or organization that has had the biggest impact on our ministry over the past 12 months. We will be awarding it this Tuesday night during our Annual Banquet to........ well, you are going to have to attend the banquet to find out who the recipient is =).

Pictured here is the JAG Award which is named after my parents, Jerry & Ann Garner, because of the vital role they played in the building & development of GTD. The award reads as follows,

"GTD JAG AWARD"

"In honor of Jerry & Ann Garner (JAG) whose love, support, sacrifice & generosity enabled the establishment and growth of Going The Distance Adventure Ministry"

"FOR GIVING TO GOD THAT WHICH COST YOU MUCH"

" (Recipient's Name) "


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FOLLOWING JESUS AIN'T FOR SISSIES...

FOLLOWING JESUS AIN'T FOR SISSIES...

2 Timothy 3:12: "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

SIU babie, SIU... Suck It Up!! It's on the enlistment papers from the very first day you sign up to follow Christ. You will be persecuted. When you take that amazing step of asking Jesus into your heart you are "born again"... and with it comes eternal security & internal blessings that will daily make your inner man celebrate. That's the great news!! The "bad news" is that you were born again with a birthmark in the shape of a target right smack-dab in the middle of your chest. Bummer dude! Now rub some SIU ointment on it and get your God-awesome butt off the ground and journey on for the glory of God ;)

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SWAMP THING (Dec 14-16)

Just over 1 month to go until SWAMP THING!! (Dec 14-16)

Check out this video from our 2010 swamp hike. Enjoy =)

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ANOTHER TABLE SPONSOR & THE GTD DOGZ

TABLE SPONSOR ALERT!!

Thank you Kiwanis Club of Pinellas Park for sponsoring a table at our upcoming banquet. This is the Kiwanis 4th year in a row sponsoring a table at the GTD banquet!! Thank you for your kind support of this ministry! God bless you =)

The GTD Dogz hope you don't have a "ruff" day today. Be blessed!

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness... do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself..." - Matthew 6:33-34

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A (LONG) LETTER FROM DUG

"They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness..."  - Psalm 145:6-7a

     We have so much to celebrate in Christ! As a ministry we have so much to be thankful for! One major thing we are thankful for is that we survived a near death experience... we survived The Great Recession! That's not to say that everything is smooth sailing now, but we have slowly returned to stable condition. This is no small task and nothing less than a reflection of the grace of God. According to the U.S. Census Bureau over 270,000 small businesses went out of business between March 2007 - March 2010. That's more than a quarter of a million businesses that died! GTD was not one of them. We got hit hard, but we lived to fight another day.

     In the summer of 2009 we hit rock bottom without warning as participants & groups abruptly cancelled events with our ministry due to their own personal financial woes. That loss of income and the continued projection of lost income nearly knocked us out. I often describe our situation as a near death experience. In financial terms we were in the emergency room with profuse arterial bleeding. Our pulse was faint and our blood pressure was dropping fast. We needed blood donors STAT! Incredibly, a couple who wants to remain anonymous showed up to the "ER" with a $20,000 zero interest loan that served as a gauze pad to stop the bleeding. God used them to save the life of this ministry. As our blood pressure and heart rate began to stabilize we had to make some difficult decisions to keep from bleeding out again. We had to minimize expenses at all costs. Since we run a very lean ministry the only option we had was to eliminate salaries. That meant we had to let go of our entire 6-person paid staff, including myself & Laurie. The two of us stayed on as full time unpaid volunteers in order to repair the damage, but we lost all of our full time help as well as many volunteers who had to tend to their own personal needs. In order for Laurie to do this she moved into a spare bedroom in my parent's house (and sometimes at my sister's house). She has become a nomad. As for me, I continued to live in a spare room in the GTD office. It makes my commute to work pretty fast! Since then we have both begun to receive part-time salaries.

     Over the past 3 years we have poured our lives into this ministry to get it back in good health. I'm blown away by the generosity that we've seen from our donors. Usually 70-80% of our annual income comes through what we charge for our events which means that 20-30% of our remaining budget comes through contributions. In 2010 groups still weren't able to sign-up for events like they had in the past so our donors increased their contributions to cover 45% of GTD's revenues and help make up for the lost events. My jaw is still dropped about this fact. During the most difficult economic time in our country since The Great Depression, we had an abrupt increase in donations. It was also during this time that our vans died from a blown engine and a blown transmission. They were too old to repair so we sold them for salvage. I was looking into rental vehicles when an incredible couple went out and bought our ministry a pre-owned 2005 King Ranch Edition Ford F-250! It wasn't an extra truck they had sitting around. They assessed what we needed and went out and bought it for GTD and dropped it off at our office. I'm still speechless about that. They're generosity floors me. And to top it off, we had 2 other incredible donors that donated trucks to GTD (Jerry Mullins & The City of Pinellas Park). Each one has been an enormous blessing to our ministry. Somehow we went from 2 vans to no vans to 3 trucks in about 4 months! That is the power of God! That is God on a rescue mission.

     Each year God surprises us with another miracle, another way that he moves the heart of others to support this ministry. Earlier this year an amazing couple, that asked to stay anonymous, handed me a check for $10,000 made out to GTD. They wanted to bless this ministry... and they did just that! It humbles me; it moves my heart. It leaves me speechless. Then to add a cherry on top Celebrate Pinellas Park donated $1000 to GTD last February.  It touches my heart more than I can express to see God move in the hearts of people during these tough economic times in order to strongly support this ministry.

     We are not quite back to where we need to be, but we have stabilized. We are still making huge sacrifices and working day and night to get this ministry to great health. Even with the great testimonies I just shared we still need to raise $20,000 at our Annual Banquet in 2 weeks. The great news is we can go another year with that $20,000! God does a lot through this ministry in one year with that little amount. God continues to make an eternal impact in a lot of young people's lives all year long through our programs. We look forward to highlighting some of these at the banquet. I want to invite you to be a part of our special night at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Nov 13th. It's always a fun and encouraging time as we celebrate what God has done over the past year and prepare for what He has in store for the next year. I also invite you to partner with us financially by sponsoring a table, making a one-time donation and/or becoming a monthly partner for the next 12 months. Even if you can't come to the banquet you can still support GTD. Every dollar is an investment in someone's eternity. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter & supporting GTD. I hope to see you soon at our banquet or on an event.

God Bless You,
Doug Garner
CEO, Founder


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BANQUET NEEDS & MORE

Hey GTD Friends! Do you own a business or are you artsy/crafty? We are looking for people who would be willing to donate either goods or services for our fundraiser banquet November 13th. In the past we've had people donate computer services, photography services, handmade quilts, pottery, jewelry, unused tools, gifts or items bought that were never used, handmade themed gift baskets, cleaning services, photography prints, a boat ski day, dance lessons, or people who have donated gift cards or items they bought to contribute to the fundraiser. Please contact me if you have something you would like to donate. We would love to hear from you! Thanks, Laurie

ANOTHER TABLE SPONSOR ALERT!!

We have a person who wants to remain anonymous sponsoring a table for our upcoming banquet. Thank you for supporting of GTD! God bless you for your generosity Mr or Ms Anonymous ;)

TAMPA COVENANT CHURCH'S MEN DO THEIR OWN STUNTS!

1 week until the TCC men take the plunge into another GTD event... and we can't wait =)

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BANQUET UPDATES & LAURIE'S COSTUME

13 DAYS UNTIL THE GTD BANQUET!!!

Please come and enjoy our special night =)

TABLE SPONSOR ALERT!!

Thank you People Helping People of Pinellas Park for sponsoring 2 tables at our upcoming banquet. Thank you for your generous support of GTD! God bless you & the work you do for our community =)

GTD is honored to announce that the Olympic Chaplain for Team USA, Asif Shaikh, will be giving our Invocation at our Annual Banquet on Nov 13th at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

LOL, guess who came into work dressed up as "Doug hiking thru the Grand Canyon" for Halloween today? Very funny Laurie Finger! (click picture to see all that went into her "costume") - hahahaha... it was pretty close to accurate - haha!

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You Are Invited!!

 

You are cordially invited to attend GTD's Annual Fund Raising Banquet on Nov 13, 2012 held at Ruth Eckerd Hall in the Margarete Heye Great Room from 6:30pm - 9:00pm.

Come celebrate 16 years of ministry with GTD! Be a part of an amazing night of inspiration, excitement  & ministry growth. And help take GTD to the next level as we seek to raise $20,000 to go towards our 2013 ministry programs. 

$25 per person (or $40 per couple)   |   Table Sponsorships start at $150

Dinner Included (Catered by Ruth Eckerd Hall)

Dress Code: Semi Formal / Business Attire

- Highlight Videos -

- Testimonies -

- Balloon Pops -

- Raffles -

- 50/50 -

- New Ministry Partner Pledges -

- One Time Donations -

Ruth Eckerd Hall

Margarete Heye Great Room

1111 N McMullen Booth Rd

Clearwater, FL 33759

$20,000

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit outdoor adventure ministry we rely on donors for 17% of our annual budget. That means that each year GTD needs to raise $30,000 of our $175,000 total annual budget.  It's a small, but vital percentage. 

The remaining 83% ($145,000) of our annual budget comes from what we charge for events. We believe that the Lord has led us to be a program supported ministry instead of a donation dependent ministry. Our goal over the next few years is to be 100% program supported, but we're not quite there yet.

Our goal for this year's Annual Banquet is to raise $20,000 of the $30,000 we need to raise over one year. We pray throughout the year for God to prompt the heart of donors for the remaining $10,000.

2 MAIN WAYS TO HELP

There are 2 main ways we will attempt to raise $20,000 at this year's banquet:

ONE TIME DONATIONS: Any money you pay or donate towards the banquet goes towards our goal. That means that every banquet ticket sold, every table sponsored, every raffle ticket purchased, every donation mailed in, and every contribution made at the banquet will go towards our fund raising goal.
Donate Now  |  Attend Banquet

MONTHLY PARTNERS: From now until the end of the year we will be asking generous people like yourself to sign up to be one of our Monthly Partners for the next 12 months. All you do is pick an amount that you want to donate each month to GTD and sign-up to become a Monthly Partner. You can make automatic payments online through our website or through your bank... or just write a check each month and mail it in. We calculate the total amount that you plan to pledge over the next 12 months and put it towards our fund raising goal.
Become A Monthly Partner

Another way you can help us meet our goal is by donating auction items and raffle items for the night of the banquet. Please contact us as soon as possible if you have anything of value you would like to donate (call our office: 727-394-9483).

Click here for more details.

Praying For Storm Victims

Praying for family, friends and everyone residing in the northeastern US who are encountering the "perfect storm".

So sorry to see the unfolding devastation taking place in NJ, NY and surrounding states. Thoughts and prayers are with them and the heroes risking their lives to save & assist others.


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SAC Sunday w/ Smiley's

Had a great time with some great people on our Sunday After Church (SAC) event for Smiley's Young Adult Ministry (part of First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks). We went canoeing for 4 miles on the Cross Bayou Canal. Squishee ball wars, flipping canoes, canoeing thru tunnels - good times!!

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Dr Walp To Return To Grand Canyon In 2013

I'M THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE... Dr Aaron Walp & his wife Tammy will be returning next year on our Grand Canyon Trip to teach on Creationism!! It's a life changing event!

Mark it on your calendar: Oct 10-15, 2013 (includes Columbus Day)


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XFL Coming Back 1 Year From Today (Oct 26-27, 2013)

IT'S COMING BACK 1 YEAR FROM TODAY... Oct 26-27, 2013
The XFL Cross Florida Bike Ride!!! 2 Days; 160 Miles

Coast to Coast across Florida
Tarpon Springs to Cocoa Beach

Start planning now.
Start training after the Christmas holidays.
Make this one of your New Year goals!


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Trailer Lot Clean-Up Represents HUGE Progress

It's been on my to-do list for 4 years, but I haven't had any spare time to tackle it. I'm referring to the work project of cleaning up & clearing out a ton of overgrown bushes, weeds, tree limbs, and defective & broken gear in the back lot of our office where we park our trucks & trailers. It has taken me 3 days this week, but the mission is nearly accomplished. This may seem small to the average person reading this, but it represents a huge milestone for me. It means that, after years of being behind on projects due to so much administration work piled up on my plate, I'm finally getting caught up! It feels so good to be able to get on top of projects that have been hanging over my head and placed on the back burner for so long. I know it's just a basic work project that millions of people do everyday, but to me it feels like a mountain is being lifted and thrown into the ocean. I'm sooooo happy about the progress =)

 

 

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IGNITE Was Great!

Last weekend's IGNITE Fall Camping Retreat was a great time. We spent our time at a beautiful group campsite along side of a crystal clear spring fed lake. 

Friday night we set up camp and enjoyed a delicious taco dinner. Afterwards we spent time around the fire ring fellowshipping and making smores. Our Impact Point topic was "Rest" and the importance of taking time each week (and throughout the year) to have times of rest so our body, mind, heart and soul can grow, recover and prepare for action. Our verses of emphasis were Matthew 11:28-30 and Genesis 2:1-3.

After a good night's sleep we woke up to gorgeous weather on Saturday. We had eggs, sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast. Our devotional time was a great way to kick off the day as we spent quality time in God's Word & prayer. 

Afterwards we canoed the lake and got into a huge squishee ball war. It was a blast! 

For lunch we made Pizzadillas then relaxed on hammocks. We had an unexpected visitor stop by as we got to witness a small bear walking around looking for food. That was quite thrilling!

In the late afternoon the group played several games of volleyball. We had so much fun! On the menu for dinner was chicken and mashed potatoes... yummy!! Our Saturday night Impact Point around the fire centered on staying worry-free as a way of maintaining the times of rest that we talked about the night before. Nothing can rob you of restful moments more than an anxious mind full of worry. We focused on Matthew 6:25-34. Right after our Impact Point we enjoyed an outdoor movie night as we set-up a projector, sound system, and a large bed sheet. The movie choice was "Salt" and everyone loved it. GTD owns several edited movies that have inappropriate content & foul language professionally removed so we can enjoy a great flick without all the trash. The temperatures began to drop on Saturday night as we headed off to bed.

Sunday morning was just as pretty as the day before, but with a little more chill in the air. We had pancakes for breakfast followed by another good devotional time. Throughout the morning & early afternoon the group enjoyed free time to play volleyball or go canoeing or just relax. For lunch we had sandwiches and chips. Around 1pm we began to break camp and pack the trailer. Thank you to everyone for helpping with the hard work of packing up.

God blessed us with a great time together on IGNITE this year... we are already planning out IGNITE 2013!! All glory to God!

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE 2012 IGNITE PICS ON OUR SMUG MUG ONLINE PHOTO ALBUM

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