Statement of Faith

The following is a brief statement of the essential biblical doctrines which are held by the Evangelical Development Ministry.

WE BELIEVE:

To utilize and benefit from the training and services offered by the Evangelical Development Ministry, we believe any Christian educational, missionary, evangelistic or service organization should have similarly expressed in its charter or official statement of faith these same doctrines.

Moreover, this should be evident that the organization is promulgating its statement of faith, both in spirit and practice, through its present programming. Other than exhibitors and select faculty members, U.S. based organizations sending representatives to EDM trainings shall also have a current non-profit designation issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

History

The Evangelical Development Ministry was incorporated in the State of Texas in December, 1987. The current president, H. Andrew Read, along with Olan Hendrix, founding Executive Director of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), and a part-time administrative secretary, began providing development training and counsel to worthy non-profit organizations in early 1988. By late summer of that year, an additional full-time counselor-trainer was added to the staff along with a part-time associate staff member. The West Coast Office was opened in California at that time.

Because of high demand for services, additional part-time counselors (called associate staff) and one administrative position was added in our Dallas office during 1989.

In the spring of 1990, the East Coast Office was opened with the addition of another full-time counselor. Now, EDM, in addition to its offices in Texas, California and Virginia, has offices in Florida, Colorado, and Oklahoma as well.

Responding to a crying need for practical development and management training, the first multi-track development and management training seminar was conducted in Fort Worth, Texas in October of 1989. One hundred forty development and management professionals from over 100 different organizations and Christian ministries attended that first successful EDM Institute (EDMI).

Since that time, highly-successful EDM Institutes have been conducted in cities throughout America.

Each year the size and impact of the Institute has grown as word spreads about EDMI. The ninth EDM Institute was recently held in Orlando, Florida with individuals registered from over 150 different ministries. The Institute this year included international representation and tracks were offered in Spanish and a contingent of ten ministry leaders from Latvia attended to receive the training to reduce their dependence on funds from America.

Organizational representatives who have attended previous Institutes have reported that they have taken home the principles they've learned at the Institute and raised significantly more money which has resulted in the successful implementation of important ministry programs and projects.

In March of 1996 EDM conducted its first International Institute in cooperation with Campus Crusade for Christ, Latin America in Miami, Florida.

Currently, there are seven full-time staff and three associates working with EDM.

The Vision

The EDM exists to serve religious non-profit organizations--including educational institutions, rescue missions, foreign missions, social service organizations and churches--through research, training and counseling provided by an experienced team of development and management professionals. The desired result is to contribute to the advancement of the cause of Christ and His kingdom by encouraging wise stewardship and increased organizational ministry fruitfulness founded on biblical principles.

The Need

Many Christian ministries and religious non-profit organizations today are struggling under adverse development and management conditions while aggressively trying to accomplish their mission.

While some non-profits are able to attract well-trained development and management professionals, there are many more organizations than there are qualified personnel resources to meet these needs. Therefore, most of them are largely staffed by untrained and inexperienced, but committed, motivated workers.

Revelations over the past few years of how some Christian and secular non-profits alike are managed coupled with the New Era debacle have caused donors to be more skeptical and less trusting of many such organizations. As a result, donors give with increased scrutiny. Although giving was higher than ever in the U.S. in 1997, with the highest percentage going for religious causes, the environment has changed so that fund raising is more difficult today than in recent history.

Many organizations are not able to afford all the help they need to develop the resources required to deal with these complex problems. Most consultants have definitely priced their services beyond what is feasible for the newer, smaller, yet worthy organization. Even larger, more-established ministries are also re-evaluating the expenditure and worth of these services.

A Solution

Where can these evangelical Christian organizations turn for help? EDM provides one solution.

As noted above, EDM is a team of experienced management and development professionals available as trainers and counselors to help non-profit organizations and ministries accomplish their mission as effectively as possible. It is our mission to provide professional services in a non-profit context where financial remuneration is not the primary motive. EDM has, therefore, been established as a non-profit ministry itself.

Any fees charged by EDM are set by an independent board of directors on a sliding scale based primarily on the size and need of the organization requesting EDM's services. These fees along with gift support are used to cover operating costs and expansion of EDM's services. To cover the difference between the fees charged and the actual cost of providing the research, training counsel, EDM needs and develops gift support to accomplish its purpose.

Since the philosophy of EDM is to approach training and counseling from a "team" perspective, each organization receiving services from EDM has access to the entire team. The team at EDM provides quality on-site training and counsel to Christian ministries and non-profit organizations of all sizes to assist them in accomplishing their goals, objectives and mission.

The result will be that these organizations can 1) avoid the mistakes made by many others, 2) take full advantage of program opportunities as they arise, and 3) be wiser stewards of the resources which have been provided to them. They will then be better able to utilize resources, even in today's complex environment. Therefore, their own services can be accomplished more effectively and efficiently.

The Strategy

EDM was founded and exists to serve non-profit organizations in the critical area of development and management and through research, training, and counseling provided by a team of experienced development and management professionals. Our staff and faculty have the educational background, personal training skills, work experience and commitment to the religious non-profit sector to assist you.

Training

We believe that if "You give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But, if you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."

As a result, EDM trains thousands of non-profit organizational leaders, board members, individual staff members and missionaries, and development personnel each year -- locally, nationally and internationally. Each EDM seminar which is offered is painstakingly researched, developed, and fine-tuned before it is presented in various cities and organizations. EDM offers this training at the National Institute as well as regionally and locally.

Responding to a crying need for proven development and management training, EDM offers a four day, multi-track development and management training seminar. EDM Institutes have been conducted in cities throughout America over the past nine years. Each year the size and impact of the Institute has grown as word spreads about EDM.

Ministry representatives who have attended EDM Institutes have reported that they have taken the principles they've learned at the Institute home and raised significantly more money which has resulted in the successful implementation of important programs and projects.

Based upon an increasing need, EDM has begun conducting International Institutes in cooperation with Campus Crusade for Christ, Latin America and other international and national ministries. The first such Institute was conducted in March,1996 in Miami, Florida. Additional EDM training institutes and seminars have also been conducted in Latvia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Germany, Italy, Hungry, Poland, Japan, India, The Caribbean and the Philippines

Many non-profit ministries are requiring their international operations to raise their own funds from within their own country. Many do not know how to do this. However, one Latin ministry EDM has trained has grown from almost no in-country support to a position where they are now raising over 70 percent of their entire budget from within the Latin American countries where they work. Another South African ministry, which attended an EDM institute, implemented the principles taught and saw a six fold increase in their gift income. This decreases the dependence on U.S. funds and increases the discipleship of nationals in the area of stewardship. EDM also has invitations from ministries in Italy, Latvia, South Africa and other countries which want an EDM Institute held there locally.

Counsel

EDM not only trains individual non-profit personnel and missionaries at events like the Institute, but we also go on site and provide management and development counsel.

EDM by going on site helps ministries increase their effectiveness and helps them become wiser stewards of the resources God has entrusted to them -- people, dollars, and facilities. A dollar invested in EDM is leveraged many fold because we not only provide our expertise in ministry operations but also teach them to develop the financial resources necessary so that they become more financially sound.

Because not every non-profit organization or individual serving within such an organization can attend one of the trainings we offer nor secure the services of an on-site counselor, EDM publishes a newsletter called "Development Dynamics." This publication goes to over 18,000 individuals involved in full-time vocational ministry. Each Development Dynamics newsletter is full of helpful development and management principles and strategies for individuals serving in ministries to use.

Research

Because the quality of any decision made is directly impacted by the quality and amount of information available on the topic at the time the decision is made, EDM conducts research for ministries in the areas of development, management and discipleship. An example of this is the work we helped produce called the Religion News on Television: Questioning the Gatekeepers. This research project examined how local television newscasts cover stories about religious persons, events, or activities, including what news managers' attitudes are toward religious news.

Because EDM trains thousands of non-profit organizational leaders, board members, individual missionaries, and development personnel each year -- locally, nationally and internationally -- EDM is acutely aware of the needs of the non-profit organizations in our community, city and state.

Scholarships

In order to provide the maximum assistance for continued growth and service to these non-profit organizations which have very limited resources there is a great need to provide scholarships to EDM sponsored training seminars and workshops to enable these organizations to send their personnel to receive the training necessary to develop the resources they need to achieve their urgently needed mission -- helping to improve the quality of life in our community through programs designed to meet the intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of the people in our community.

With these funds these organizations and ministries will be able to develop a plan to significantly improve their situation and reduce the stress and strain of inadequate financial resources as they seek to achieve their mission.

At our most recent EDM Institute, the participants themselves gave or committed over $8,000 for scholarship funds to help other organizations and ministries receive the same training which they were receiving.

With additional scholarship funds, EDM will be able to offer some of the finest resource development training within the local communities and in our nation to religious non-profit organizations.

An Opportunity for You

Daily, the missions of credible and urgently needed religious non-profit organizations are hindered by the absence of crucial resources. Though it may be impossible to change this situation for all of them, it is certainly possible with your help to see many of them overcome this obstacle. Through your partnership with these organizations and the services which EDM can provide, we can help these organizations change our city, nation and the world.

By becoming a partner with the Evangelical Development Ministry, you can have a lasting impact on many religious non-profit organizations. You can know that they will receive the quality management and development training they so desperately need. And you can be assured that they will become better stewards of their resources -- including those which you provide.

The Results

The results of EDM's ministry can best be shown in the lives of the individual staff members and the non-profit organizations and ministries which have been benefited from counsel and training provided by EDM.

Therefore, we submit the following representative comments:

"EDM has been a great blessing to our ministry. We have added urgently needed staff while increasing our income at a greater rate than ever before. EDM really cares about reaching people for Christ."

"Can four days make a difference in the life of an individual and a young ministry? I answer that with a resounding, YES!"

"Your institute has given me some very practical tools to implement. These tools will enable me to lay a foundation of donor support that will help keep our ministry on solid ground."

"Every year since we started to work with EDM our income has more than doubled. Our staff has doubled. And, I know our ministry is on solid footing to become all God wants us to be. I no longer worry about the future, knowing it is in God's hands and we are doing the right things."

"This is my first EDMI. I am very impressed with all the EDM people. The Institute is very professional and practical and a major learning event. Keep it up!"

"Excellence at its best! Professionalism -- high standards -- thank you for honoring God..."

"Very helpful! Great variety. I came to EDMI a new development director with absolutely no working knowledge of development. I left greatly benefited by my attendance. Andy promised my attendance would advance my knowledge two years, it is probably more."

The Biographies

H. Andrew Read

Mr. Read is a graduate of both Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

While attending Temple University, Mr. Read majored in Architectural Design and Building Construction Technology. During his senior year, Mr. Read received the first place award for the senior class project--the design of a local community park which was ultimately built and given to the city of Philadelphia by the Tastycake Baking Company, a local Philadelphia corporation.

At Pepperdine University's School of Business and Management, Mr. Read received the Bachelor of Science in Management degree and Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree from the graduate school.

Mr. Read has been heavily involved with several local churches holding major lay leadership roles.

His experience also includes serving with Campus Crusade for Christ for 26 years in key management and leadership positions. Mr. Read also served as the first U.S. National Director for the Development Association for Christian Institutions (DACI).

Mr. Read also has extensive experience in training new and senior staff members of numerous major ministries,including Campus Crusade for Christ, from both a philosophical as well as a practical standpoint in the areas of development, management and discipleship.

He also is one of the co-founders of the Evangelical Development Ministry and currently serves as its President. The Evangelical Development Ministry exists to serve evangelical organizations in the critical areas of resource management and development through research, training and on-site counseling provided by a ministry-oriented team of experienced development, management and discipleship professionals so that the cause of Christ and His kingdom is advanced through wise stewardship and increased ministry fruitfulness.

Mr. Read has long ago committed his career to full-time Christian work and ministry. His work, therefore, is more than merely doing a job--it is a commitment to the individuals and ministries he assists that is personal, professional and highly ministry oriented. It is his desire to transfer his skills and "know-how" to the ministries' staff leaving the ministry self sufficient.

Mr. Read also frequently uses his experience and training in evangelism to reach the lost. Recently, he has participated on small teams of mature missionaries to speak evangelistically while also planting new mission churches in Russia and other Central European countries.

Mr. Read  also served as the Special Assistant to the President for Development for CBMC of USA.

Mr. Read has been listed several times in various versions of Who's Who. He has been married to wife, Brenda for 24 years. They have two sons--Bryan Andrew is a student at John Brown University and Joseph Benjamin attends Carrolton Christian Academy in Carrolton, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, TX.

Holmes M. Bryan, Jr.   

Mr. Bryan is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana.

While at Louisiana Tech University, Mr. Bryan majored in Civil Engineering. During his senior year, he was elected president of the Civil Engineering Honor Society which became the Chi Epsilon Honor Fraternity during that same year. He was also awarded the Outstanding Senior of 1976 by the Louisiana Tech chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Mr. Bryan is active in his church in leadership roles including vice chairman of the Deacon Board, and he has served as chairman of various church committees. He also teaches an adult Bible study class.

Until 1988, Mr. Bryan was Internal Development Consultant for Campus Crusade for Christ which included responsibilities for guiding the planning and implementation of the development programs of many of Campus Crusade's U.S. and international ministries as well as planning and modeling of new development programs by the central development office.

Previous experience with Campus Crusade for Christ includes Director of Foundation Relations, Director of Development Systems, Director of Current Giving and Director of Development.

Mr. Bryan was also responsible for the design and implementation of a successful staff support training program for Latin American national staff with Campus Crusade for Christ and a very successful faith promise dinner program for the Jesus film project.

Additionally, Mr. Bryan has lectured at the Development Association for Christian Institute's national conferences and at the Christian Stewardship Council's "Funding the Christian Challenge" conference on topics including the raising of funds from foundations, development systems and development principles.

Currently, Mr. Bryan serves full time as the Vice President of the Evangelical Development Ministry where his primary responsibilities include providing development counsel and training for Christian ministries.

Using biblical principles of relationships and development, Mr. Bryan has designed and developed training programs and manuals in personal support raising and delivered this training for a variety of organizations in many countries including Japan, Poland, the Caribbean, several Latin countries as well as the U.S.

Holmes has been married to Teresa for 21 years and they are the parents of five children: Benjamin-16, Jonathan-13, Sarah-11, Bethany-7 and Noel-3.

The Headquarters

EDM's Corporate Headquarters, Dallas, Texas

The Evangelical Development Ministry trains thousands of mission leaders, Board members and individual missionaries and development professionals each year in cities throughout the nation and internationally.

Each EDM seminar program is painstakingly researched, developed and fine tuned before it is presented in cities near you. In addition, the National Institute is regarded as the premier training opportunity available to mission agencies, churches, Christian schools, Bible colleges and universities and other service organizations today.

In order to serve you better, EDM has developed an Executive Training Center in Muenster, Texas. Watch for exciting training opportunities and other services to help you become a wiser steward of the resources the Lord has entrusted to your care and to become more fruitful in your ministry activities.

Please contact us at (940) 759 - 5088 for more information and let us know the ways we can best serve you.

Evangelical Development Ministry, Inc
PO Box 814809
Dallas, TX 75381