Official Vision Statement

Sure Foundation International is a Christ Centered non-profit 501(c)3 corporation. Sanctioned by the US Government in 1996, it is dedicated to collaborating with, or starting, businesses or ministries and aiding Kingdom workers in ‘frontier’ arenas primarily in the spiritually or physically oppressed locations in the world where the conditions are hash and the laborers few. Sure Foundation International is essentially an ‘apostolic (*)/entrepreneurial support team’ comprised of a Cross-cultural network of ‘kings’ and ‘priests’, that to one degree or another are associated to the purposes of SFI through established and tested relationships.

(*)– To see the SFI definition for the use of the term ‘apostlic’, please look in Question and Answers.

SFI Core (“Care”) Values

In Scripture we can boil the whole council of the word of God and his commandments to three primary and redundant themes that can be easily derived from our core Scriptures.

1. He first calls us to Love him with ALL our heart, soul, mind and being, (Mark 12:29)

2. He then calls us to Love and serve one another (John 13:34), to treat others as we would wish to be treated (Matthew 7:12), and to look out for others’ best interest just as much as we look out for ourselves, IF NOT MORE (Philippians 2:3) , ultimately exemplifying the mind of Christ.

3. Thirdly he commands us to take this love, the Gospel of the Kingdom, and be Salt and Light (Matthew 5:12-13) into the uttermost parts of the earth and make disciples of Christ of all nations, leading to His return as King. (Matthew 24:14, 28:18-20)

SFI was created to be a facilitator, a vehicle, that implements these three core values. Simply put, we believe that without the Great Commandment we cannot properly do the ‘Great Commission.’ Without active and effective love (1 Corinthians 13), anything we do is ultimately of no value. Yet real love is so much more then encouraging words or good intentions, it must be accompanied by ‘good (God ordained and motivated) works—fruit’ (James 2:14-17).

Read more about SFI’s purpose and outreach…

SFI as a Cross Generational, Cross Cultural Network

As SFI has existed and functioned for twenty plus years, we now have a significant number of ‘fathers’ who have decades of experience in a variety of fields. We have a Biblical mandate to “to be salt and light and make disciples of all nations”. One of the aspects of this is that those of us who are ‘fathers’ in a field should be mentoring, training, and passing down those life experiences (not just our successes but even more importantly our setbacks, mistakes and ‘weaknesses’ 2 Corinthians 11:30), know-how, and expertise to the next generation of the faith, our ‘children’, while simultaneously allowing the upcoming generation to bring their own unique gifts and skills to bear.

For us ‘gray hairs’ we believe we are the ‘John the Baptist generation’. This simply means that we have a call to blaze highways through the wilderness (naturally and spiritually) and lay “sure foundations” in the nations so the next generation can both get there and quickly engage in their call and work of finishing the ‘task’ (privilege, actually) of getting the gospel out to the ‘byways and hedges’ (Luke 14:23) and thus hastening the return of the Lord (2 Peter 3:11-13). We are also building relational and functional highways throughout the globe, cross-culturally and across the socioeconomic and educational divides that exist between the rich and the poor of the faith. As Scripture says in Galatians 3:28-29, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Read more about our Core Team

SFI Beginnings

SFI was originally birthed out of a growing local congregation that had an unusually large influx of potential mission candidates who were stirred to action by a missions program that the eventual founder of SFI was asked to start in the church a few years earlier (1992). So, with the senior pastor’s enthusiastic endorsement, SFI was formed to help screen, select, send, support, communicate with, and be a liaison for mission candidates. The network was officially incorporated in 1995 and received its 501(c)3 US based tax exempt nonprofit status in 96’ at which time, with the blessings of the church, it became an independent entity that grew quickly beyond the servicing of one local church.

The original Board of Directors was comprised of eight businessmen, an attorney, several high-level executives, and a few entrepreneurial business owners, along with two full time ‘clergy’, one clerical and one ‘apostolic’ missionary, This apostolic missionary was also the visionary and founder of SFI and was church planting (successfully) in Kyoto, Japan. It was discovered that this board, though filled with wonderful men of God, was too cumbersome to be effective in managing the ministries logistics, especially as all were not in the same location. So the board was scaled down to those who had specific duties in order to function effectively.

Filled with progressive ‘new wine skin’ personalities, SFI was not created to imitate what other nonprofit mission organizations were already doing. From its inception we have looked to either send out laborers to start, support, or partner with existing indigenous or long term mission leaders to reach out to these ‘hard and hardened’ locations. Our mission is a difficult one by nature. Our early years, when we had little clue as to what we were doing, were particularly difficult. Rarely are there either mentors or manuals to follow, they are being created as we go (as are the relationships, which are usually cross-cultural in nature). There has been much, ‘think it’, ‘pray it’, ‘vet it’, ‘try it’, ‘fail it’, ‘pray it again’, ‘adjust it’, ‘persevere through it’ and finally, by his grace, ‘bear fruit that remains!’

Analogy on Laying Foundations…

Kings and Priests

From the very beginning, SFI has been a start-up, foundation-laying ministry that has sought to create collaboration between ‘kings’ and ‘priest’. The concept was originally based on Zechariah 3, a chapter dedicated to Joshua, the high priest who was collaborating with Zerubabbel, a king, who is discussed in chapter 4. They collaborate to take the remnant out of Babylon and their job was to rebuild the temple of the Lord. There is also reference to the’ two anointed’ ones’ (Zechariah 4:11-14), or the same ‘two witnesses’ that John mentions in Revelation 11:3-4.  Kings do practical things like building the physical temple in the case of Zerubabbel — salt. The priest job is primarily the ministry of the word and the priestly offices. We see the practical application of this collaborative concept in Acts 6, where the apostles who were doing both priestly and administrative work clearly turn over the logistics, administration, and management of finances to seven men chosen by the congregation, while they set themselves apart for the ministry of the word and prayer, a ‘first precedent’ implementation of ‘kings and priest’.- (Revelation 1:6) in the early church era.
For a more detailed explanation of ‘kings and priests’, click here.

The concept of ‘business as ministry’ is a bell weather, core implementation strategy that we have used from the very beginning. If we have a business in place (salt), we seek to establish ministry (light) and the opposite is true if we have a ‘ministry’ in place: we seek to make it self-sustaining or even profitable and practically relevant to the community in some way! We have had no manuals or mentors simply because there weren’t any! We have learned a lot and we now have a pretty solid philosophy and manual of procedures in place. Because of our ‘business as ministry’ model, there have been quite a few misconceptions about what SFI is and what it seeks to do. Click here to read more about the three most common misconceptions.

Supporting, Training, and Sending Laborers

As SFI is primarily a cross-cultural, cross-generational, apostolic/entrepreneurial network with a heavy emphasis on reaching into the ‘byways and hedges’ where, more often the not, Western comforts are surrendered, it should come as no surprise that we are looking to both partner with and send a particular type of ‘soldier’. As this website is created mainly for those who are educated from primarily first world environments, we will emphasize the qualities that we look for in those that we recruit, train, and send out of those cultures. For specifics and more information please send an email to info@surefoundint.org

SFI Training Schools

It is important to understand that as the SFI network is unique, so are the schools (see Vocational Training and Internships for specifics). We are not looking to duplicate what is already readily available through so many outstanding ministries and Churches. SFI schools are NOT primarily discipleship training schools and are therefore not geared towards the primary purpose of individual discipleship development, most of our discipleship takes place ‘on the road’. Our schools are specific and most are practical or what we call ‘Salty’ and are run by seasoned Godly men and women. Though there is most definitely important Biblical and Spiritually oriented teaching, that is not the main purpose of the schools. Our goal is to train up ‘Special Forces’ soldiers that fulfill our three primary purposes as derived from the Lord’s clearly and redundantly stated commands. They are basically a type of boot camp – short, practical, subject specific – with some fundamental spiritual discipleship in the mix. They are somewhat intense. They are not, with rare exceptions, part time or ‘at your leisure’ type of schools. They will demand a full commitment.

To sum it up, SFI schools are looking for the remnant that is willing to come out of Babylon and go to the devastated and destitute ‘Jerusalem’; to the poor and under-reached, and labor diligently with their like-minded brethren to build the “House of the Lord”, the one not made of stone or by human hands! (Ezra 1:1-4)

Culture, Race, and Kingdom Philosophy

As a cross-cultural, internationally based network, we recognize that this particular subject is quite important, so we will spend some time explaining our philosophy. SFI recognizes the great variations of gifting and personalities He has given to all people, and that each culture and nation has something wonderful to contribute. We very much believe the Biblical mandates that “every nation, tribe and tongue” will be represented before the throne. However, we do not recognize any one cultural or nation as greater then any other. We do believe God has made a covenant with the ‘seed of Abraham’ (Galatians 3:29) which is all the sons of God from both the Old and New covenants. We do recognize that the nation of Israel is the ‘fig tree’ (Matthew 24:32) a sign post for those of us living during these times. However, we do not believe in ‘replacement theology’ that says God has totally rejected his old covenant people and replaced them with the New Testament gentile believers, something Scripture clearly does not support.

However, we do not hold the view that God loves or respects any one people group more than another, and Scripture clearly tells us this in Galatians 3:28. We fully believe, “the ground is level at the Cross” and that God is not partial to anyone based on their race or culture or socioeconomic position (Romans 2:11). Each one of us will give an account for our individual lives and gifts according to His Word no matter where we are from or what our back ground is. Ultimately, IN OUR AGE (since the Cross and resurrection) no man (or woman) comes unto the Father except through a revelation of Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God, no matter their genealogy or cultural background. To deny the deity of Christ, even under the threat of loss of life or favor of family, is to exchange life in this world, and later hell, for eternal life in The Kingdom with the Lord Jesus Christ and the rest of the Saints (Matthew 10:32,33, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 12:11).

Continue reading Culture, Race and Kingdom Philosophy…

Philosophy on Politics

At this time, though we have some NA’s who have individual relationships with political leaders and secular authorities, SFI as an entity does NOT partake in, or seek to influence this particular sphere in any nation by actively participating. Simply put, SFI is not affiliated in any way with any specific political agendas or campaigns and will never release a statement, take a stand, or endorse any candidate, or participate in any ‘protest’ or ‘get out the vote’ campaign under the name or authority of SFI. (We do, however advocate intercession, prayer, supplication, and fasting as that is mandated by the Lord in many places in Scripture. 2 Chronicles 7:12- 14   and Daniel 9 being two prime examples). We do recognize that ‘politics’ (government) has a critically important impact on our lives here on this earth, both in terms of our freedoms and standard of living, but also in the ability to preach the gospel It is also recognized that many of the old testament prophets and much of it’s corresponding prophecy is directed ‘politically’ to nations as well as kings and rulers! However, such discourse was ALWAYS in the framework of proclaiming truth and righteousness and the righteous ways of the Kingdom (government) of the true and living God who is the ultimate King and ruler and will judge all on the final day!

Individual NA’s, of course, are completely free to hold a position, take a stand, make a statement, ‘prophesy’, or even run for political office on their own behalf. However, that will be done entirely outside of the realm of the SFI network and no NA, even the founder and president, has the right to make any political representations on behalf of the network called Sure Foundation International! SFI, and its NA’s, are not subversive to their legitimate, individual secular governments in anyway. The only ‘Kingdom’ we want to subvert is Satan’s kingdom of deception where he has brought so many under bondage, and we do that through the methods Christ clearly demonstrated. All of that said, SFI is not anti-political. We believe that this is a major and legitimate sphere of influence that one can be called to as we see in the Biblical cases of Joseph, Daniel, David and others. It just happens not to be our calling as a ministry. SFI is simply a-political as were (as far as we can tell from scripture) Jesus and the founding fathers of the faith, who told us in 2 Timothy 2:3-5, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.“ And as Peter also instructed us in 1 Peter 2:13-17 “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme,  or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.  For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men — as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.  Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.”

Continue reading SFI’s Philosophy on Politics…

Spiritual Accountability

Concerning ‘accountability’, — who we ‘answer’ to or who is “over us” ecclesiastically- SFI is a relational network
and as such, we are first accountable to God and secondly to each other. Simply put, we are neither a church,
denomination, nor a para-church organization. Over the years there have been seasoned and Godly men, that we know well,
who have brought oversight, counsel, wisdom, and correction to us, especially in our early developmental years. Now we
have many ‘gray hairs’ (or no hairs) and “fathers” in the network who are ‘in authority’ themselves over churches,
ministries and businesses! We simply seek to collaborate and ‘submit to one another’ in our respective areas of expertise
and anointing. The Lord himself specifically told his disciples (future leaders) that they should not be as the gentiles
who ‘lord it over each other’ (exercise authority over each other) but to serve one another in humility.

Luke 22:25-27 
“The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’
But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he
who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am
among you as the One who serves.”

SFI is a network and entity that simply seeks to follow and obey the Lord’s examples and clearly-stated commandments on
this particular subject. We seek to rule over no one, nor do we allow others to rule over us. We are called to be one
body with many parts.