The PCA can rejoice with us as we see how the Lord has worked powerfully in and among the people serving as staff, volunteers, and partners in the ministries of MNA.

I used to be a RADAR technician for F-4 fighter aircraft. Doing that job, I learned that there are times when ground clutter returns so much energy that real targets disappear from the scope. We at MNA seem to have been in one of those periods since the last MNA update. Given the weighty matters addressed in our report to the General Assembly, it seems likely the clutter will not clear just yet. Even assuming that, it would be a shame to miss some of the amazing things the Lord has done over the past six months in MNA.

With this update, I’d like to briefly do two things: first, tell the PCA specifically what has been done so far, and second, highlight just a few of the ways the Lord has worked powerfully in some of MNA’s ministries.

New Funding Model

The way MNA pays its people and funds its work may be common, but it’s been quietly broken for a long time. Fixing it is the single most important institutional change we’ve begun to make. We’re being deliberate in the pace of our adoption to avoid unintended consequences or outrunning our resources, but we are committed to the new direction and have already moved African American Ministries and Mercy Ministries into the new model.

Most know that under the previous (outgoing) model, almost everyone in ministry is responsible for raising their own personal support. In practice, this has meant that people called to ministry spend significant time and energy as individual fundraisers, and the time devoted to financial survival can compete with the time needed to fully focus on ministry. It also means that donor relationships become individual assets that ministry leaders guard carefully because their personal livelihoods depend on them.

This approach has significant downstream effects. In the last update, I explained that we had an unhealthy net asset mix in MNA because nearly all funds were restricted and designated to specific ministries. The result was an imbalance between restricted and unrestricted funds that constrained MNA’s ability to operate as a unified mission organization. The new model changes that. Ministry leaders now submit outcome-based budgets that explain what they intend to accomplish and the cost to do so. MNA then provides that funding, drawing first from each ministry’s designated support accounts, then from specific ministry general funds, and finally from the MNA general fund as needed. Fundraising remains important, but achieving the ministry’s objectives becomes primary.

The shift does two things for us. First, it frees our leaders to focus on the outcomes they were called to produce. Second, it creates real accountability — when MNA underwrites and participates directly in a ministry’s work, it has standing to ask whether the work is being done.

Cost Discipline and Structural Reform

Beyond the funding model, we’ve implemented a series of operational changes. Discretionary spending was frozen. Most salary increases were reduced or suspended. Our footprint at General Assembly has been scaled back significantly, including the elimination of the hosted luncheon, which, however great its relational value, could not be justified with MNA’s current financial posture. We similarly scaled back the number of funded GA attendees.

We also made structural changes with a longer-term impact. One of those was the conversion from a traditional PTO model to Flex Time, which eliminated a growing earned-leave liability. We are also launching a common platforms initiative to consolidate digital tools and websites into lower-cost, enterprise-class subscriptions, delivering immediate savings that compound over time.

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