Dear friend,

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You are receiving this letter because you are someone whose life— as family, a friend, an acquaintance, or a fellow servant in the work of the Church – has, in some way, been woven into ours. We are writing together, Cynthia and I, to share some news we have been carrying and praying over for some time, and to invite you into what God is doing next in our lives.

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After over forty years of ministry — twenty-eight of them as a pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Woodbridge, VA — I have stepped into a new role as Director of Pastoral Care & Leadership Formation at the 1322 Foundation, a private Christian foundation based in Richmond, Virginia. 

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Over the years, I became increasingly aware of a burden I could not set down. The pastors, missionaries, and ministry leaders I encountered — men and women doing faithful work on the front lines for the Kingdom — were carrying weight that no one was helping them carry. They were shepherding others while going unshepherded themselves. The numbers from Barna and the Hartford Institute bear this out: nearly two out of three pastors now report chronic loneliness, forty percent show a high risk of burnout, and more than half have seriously considered leaving ministry in recent years. These are not strangers. These are the individuals preaching in our pulpits, leading our ministries, and serving in our missions organizations.

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The Pastoral Care & Leadership Formation division of 1322 Foundation exists to offer confidential counsel, executive coaching, and marriage and family support. Additionally, we offer retreats, formation programming for ministry leaders, missionary families, and Christian organizations. Much of this is offered without charge to the ministries we serve. Instead, it is sustained primarily by the generosity of donors who believe, as we do, that the leaders of the Church deserve to be cared for as they care for others.

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One example: This past year, One Challenge International (OCI) — a mission-sending organization supporting church-planting and leadership work in more than 100 countries — invited Cynthia and me to serve as external pastoral partners to their missionaries and leadership team. Through this relationship, OCI families receive confidential pastoral counseling, leadership training, marriage coaching, and teaching, all offered without charge. It is one partnership among several, and it is precisely the kind of work your giving sustains.

We would like to invite you to be part of this work. There are several ways:
 

Pray: Pray for us, pray for wisdom; for the leaders we serve, and for the ministries that depend on this work being done well.

 

Give: This division of the 1322 Foundation operates on a lean annual budget of $115,000, and every dollar goes directly toward sustaining the pastoral ministry described above. Gifts can be made online at donorbox.org/1322-pastoral-care and are tax-deductible as contributions to a 501(c)(3) organization. One-time and recurring gifts are both welcome, and for those considering a major or planned gift, we would be grateful for a direct conversation.

 

Share: If you know a pastor, missionary, or ministry organization that could benefit from this kind of care, please send them our way.

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Whatever form your response takes — prayer, partnership, or simply the gift of reading this letter — we receive it with gratitude. Thank you for the place you hold in our lives. 

 

By Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone,

 

Dr. Victor L. Stanley

Director of Pastoral Care & Leadership Formation, 1322 Foundation

 

Cynthia Stanley

Ministry Coordinator, 1322 Foundation