Category Archives: Blog

Punk Monk Newsletter – September 2022

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Hey Team Punk Monk!

I hope you had some time to do a few fun activities over the summer. At the Neudorf household we got to go to a friend’s cottage and we spent a few days at the Crieff Hills Retreat Centre. Our whole family enjoys the walking trails and the chickens and sheep on the grounds. I also made use of the labyrinth and the little prayer chapel that is about the size of a garden shed.

Medical Update:

In my June newsletter, I let people know that I was taking a medical leave from GOHOP to deal with the anxiety I have been experiencing since January. I have made a lot of progress with my therapist, learning and practicing coping strategies. It was around the middle of August that I realized that I had a lot more tools in my mental health tool box than I had back in the spring. I’ve also been learning to reframe the stories I have been telling myself about some of the bigger anxiety attacks that I have experienced. There is a lot of grace being infused into these sessions. 

My other big medical issue has been years of chronic pain (in my hands, feet, and back). I noticed a huge improvement this summer. My physiotherapist has helped me with an exercise routine that has made me a lot stronger and this has greatly reduced my pain. My family were pleasantly surprised that I was able to hike, swim, and be really active without pain or flare ups this summer. I have also been able to enjoy playing guitar more. I do still get some random flare ups but they have been shorter and more manageable. It feels good to be strong.

  • Please pray for continued access to therapy. I’m at the end of the free counselling sessions I was approved for. I will need to assess what type and frequency of therapy is helpful for me. Pray for wisdom in making these decisions. 
  • Pray into my transition back to work. I expected my anxiety to increase as I started back to work, but I wasn’t prepared for how much my anxiety would increase once work was back in the mix. I’m easing back into things over September to find a sustainable rhythm.
  • Pray that my chronic pain would continue to decrease in frequency and severity. I would appreciate some specific prayer for my left wrist. Over the last couple weeks it has flared up and impacted my ability to play guitar and lift things. 

Thank you so much for your understanding as I’ve been taking the time to care for myself over the last 3 months.

GOHOP Gala Fundraiser: Sat. Oct. 15th (5:30-8:30pm)

You are cordially invited to celebrate GOHOP’s 21st Anniversary and the launch of our new Prayer Room. We want everyone to dress up to the nines (just like a fancy wedding) and bring your friends (or even your enemies) for an evening of food, live music, artist showcase, silent auction, storytelling and celebration. I’m one of the artists being showcased and will have some my posters and paintings on display (and for sale). Here is a link to the Facebook Event Page: https://fb.me/e/3EE71Fxyo

Cost: Tickets are $20 and include entrance, dinner and dessert. Kids under 12 are FREE.

Here is how you can help out:

  • CLICK HERE to buy a ticket!
  • If you can’t make it (or you live too far away) you can make a donation in lieu of your ticket.
  • Are you an artisan or a business owner? We are looking for donations to our silent auction. I’m happy to pass any contributions on to our planning team.
  • Tell your church and invite your friends! We really want to spread the word. We would especially like to have pastors and leaders who don’t know about GOHOP to come. If there is someone you think we should offer a free ticket to, (or if your budget is a little tight right now) we do have a few extra tickets to give away. Contact admin@gohop.ca about free tickets.
  • Volunteer at the event. We will need people to help with serving food, selling art, etc…|
    Contact admin@gohop.ca if you would like to volunteer.
  • Pray for the Gala. We really want people to come out and get a sense of what GOHOP is all about and how we can partner together to play with prayer.
  • Pray for our prayer room ministry.  GOHOP is very excited to once again be hosting a prayer room, but there will also be growing pains since we have been without a prayer room for over 2 years due to the pandemic. In many ways it feels like we are starting something completely new and at the same time familiar.

Old Reverend Randell Debut:

I have had a number of music projects over the years, my newest one is called Old Reverend Randell. This is the name I’m using to play the gospel songs I write that are a little further off the beaten trail of songs we might sing at church. I choose the name Old Reverend Randell for a few reasons:

  • The biggest musicians tend to “make it” when they are young (before they are 25). Being 46, I’m an old guy in the music world and just wanted to own it. I also have some nostalgia in my music where I play vintage guitars and have a little bit of an old time vibe. I want my music to feel like something that has been around for a long time. Like I could have been a contemporary of Hank Williams, or Stompin’ Tom.
  • I don’t want to hide the gospel side of my music, so I put the word “Reverend” in to make that up front. It also has a feeling of campiness to it with the work “Old” tacked on. It lets me play in bars and coffee houses while still feeling safe for a secular crowd. There are other musicians who have the title of Reverend in their stage name who just use it for show.
  • The name lets me play music at churches in a way where I get to show people that God can be “weird” in a good way. I know that my music is never going to be the next big worship song but I think my music can speak to the topics and people that are often forgotten about in church. 

I have a couple demo songs posted. Here is where you can listen to them: https://oldreverendrandell.bandcamp.com

My first Old Reverend Randell Show happened last month at L’arche Hamilton’s Inclusion Coffee House. Their tag line is “We are people with and without intellectual disabilities creating a community coffeehouse.” It was a packed house and I have never had such an enthusiastic audience. There was thunderous applause after every song (and sometimes in the middle of a song with a pause), a couple enthusiastic dancers, and one very cool ukulele player who got right up front with me. 

The coffee house is located inside a city recreation centre. It was such an honour to play a mix of old hymns, cover songs, and my own tunes in a public space. That is really my dream is to be able to create something that can sit inside and outside the church in a way that is honest and helpful.

Looking for Kindness: A Creative Teaching on Faith & Anxiety

I have a creative teaching that I’ve had the chance to try out on a couple different churches. It incorporates some of my “Looking for Kindness Cartoons” along with some of my Old Reverend Randell songs. I use these creative outlets to talk about my own struggles with anxiety and how I have been leaning into the Fruit of the Spirit (especially kindness) as part of my faith journey. A number of people have talked to me afterwards about their own mental health journeys and thanked me for speaking so openly and honestly about my experience with anxiety.

If your church, small group or conference is looking for something a little different I would love to share this creative teaching with you.

Financial Update:

While I was on medical leave I had to set aside working on fundraising to just focus on getting well. The unfortunate reality of my job is that when I’m less active, donations tend to be less frequent. This trend started back in March and has steadily been increasing ever since. Here is a snapshot of where my fundraising numbers are at:

  • $2897 is my monthly fundraising goal. Details of how I came up with this number are posted here.
  • $1384. is what comes in from Monthly Giving Plans. 
  • -$1513 is how much additional funds I need to raise each month to reach my goal. Up until March 2022 I was able to raise this through people giving one time donations and annual donations. For the last 6 months I have not reached this goal.
  • $1425 is how much extra Honorarium Income I have made this year through doing guest speaking and workshops. That offsets about one month of fundraising. With being on Medical leave I had to turn down some opportunities. 
  • -$6209 is the total amount I’m behind in my GOHOP budget(as of September 2022), in addition to the -$4539I will still need to raise for Oct-Dec 2022. 

As I’m writing this I would like to give a firm fundraising goal for the rest of 2022, but somehow that seems to be less important than ongoing sustainability. Realistically, I won’t be able to make up an almost $11,000 shortfall by the end of the year. 

Going forward, I need to either reach my monthly fundraising goal, or I need to reduce my GOHOP hours and seek additional employment elsewhere. I don’t want to make that decision rashly. I will be trying to raise an additional $1513 each month, but more importantly I’ll be trying to raise that through an increase in people signing up for monthly and yearly giving plans. That is where I really need to focus my energy.

  • Pray that God will expand my circle of support. This doesn’t happen without God making it happen.
  • Pray that I would not be anxious about fundraising, that I would just stay the course and do the work.
  • Pray that I would have more opportunities to preach, share music and lead workshops. The honorariums that come along with these things are nice but more importantly it lets me connect with people interested in my work with GOHOP.

CLICK HERE to sign up for a MONTHLY GIVING PLAN

DONATE ONLINE through CandaHelps.
Info about donating by CHEQUE can be found HERE.
One time & annual donations are also welcome!

Thank you so much for getting all the way to the bottom of this email. It means so much to me that you took the time to catch up with what is happening in my ministry with GOHOP. 

Grace & Peace to you,
Randell (Randy) Neudorf
Artist /// Musician /// Punk Monk

Punk Monk Newsletter – June 2022

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I have heard from a few people that they have missed my newsletters. I’m sorry for waiting so long to update you. Back in January I shared that I was dealing with anxiety attacks. It has been quite the struggle. There have been many months where I have had an anxiety attack every week, and they could last 3-4 days. 

Thankfully I was connected to a therapist and was able to get some strategies to help recognize the start of an attack and try to curb it before it got worse. It turns out physical exercise is a big part of releasing anxiety for me. The 2nd piece of the puzzle has been medication. 

It has been a huge blessing to have the cost of my therapy covered by the Health Centre that my family Doctor is out of. I’m half way through the 20 free sessions that I was approved for. It has been a very hard and all consuming journey. I have so much respect for the strength and endurance of the people that I know that live with mental health issues. 

The team at GOHOP (Greater Ontario House of Prayer) has also been very supportive, allowing me to adjust my hours as needed.

Even with all this help I’m still having a really hard time with anxiety attacks. As of right now I’m going on a medical leave to rest, reset and focus on getting the anxiety attacks under control. My plan is to reassess with my doctor and therapist as of the beginning of July to see how I’m doing.

  • Please continue to pray for my mental health and that the anxiety I experience would subside. 
  • I would also appreciate prayers for my physical health. My chronic pain flares up in weird ways. This month my right foot, left achilles and left wrist have all been giving me a lot of trouble. 

Now that you are caught up with my health, I would like to let you know what I have been up to with GOHOP.

TrueCity Conference & Prayer Room:

Every year GOHOP creates a 2 week 27/7 prayer room as part of the TrueCity conference. It was my job to curate the stations and physical space of the prayer room. I had 6 artists contribute art for the room and a large team of GOHOP staff & volunteers help create prayer stations and the ambience of the room. The first thing people saw when walking in was a 12 foot labyrinth that I was able to draw on the floor. 

I was also able to contribute a series of paintings on the Stations of the Cross. With the help of Erin Steckley (who did a student placement with GOHOP) we created a resource for Visio Divina (a way of looking at art to meditate and pray). We had art all over the room, and invited people to be open to what God might want to say to them through what they were looking at. If you would like to learn more about Visio Divina, feel free to take a look at the attached resource. 

t was so great to see the prayer room come together. So many people contributed art, prayer stations, and helped shape the space. After 2 weeks of volunteers and the local church participating in 24/7 prayer we were getting ready to completely disassemble the prayer room. We were happily surprised to find out that we will continue to be able to use the fellowship hall at Wentworth Baptist Church as a prayer room for the next year. The idea is still taking shape but we are working towards having drop in hours in the prayer room in the fall on a weekly basis. GOHOP has been praying for a year round accessible prayer space for a while so this is a big answer to prayer.

  • Pray for GOHOP as we start to create drop in prayer opportunities in our new prayer room space. 
  • Pray that God would build on the experiences, relationships, and connections that were fostered in the TrueCity Prayer Room

Asah: Creativity & Prayer Studio

Asah has been really building. During Lent we made traditional Ukrainian Easter Eggs and learned about how for Ukrainian Christians the practice of decorating eggs is deeply tied to their faith and prayer life. 

We were able to host Asah nights in the TrueCity Prayer Room. Each week we focused on teaching people the spiritual practice of Visio Divina and then engaged in some prayerful drawing. I led a workshop on drawing in your bible (my version of underlining and taking notes). We had some new testaments for people who wanted to try out the idea but didn’t want to mark up their own bible.

Prayer Retreat at Maple Grove:

I was invited to lead a 3 day prayer retreat at the Maple Grove Christian Retreat Centre. My son Ethan and I got to stay in a very nice cabin (always great when one of your kids gets to come on a work trip).

I led people through:

  • An Introduction to spiritual practices. People engaged with the practice of Visio Divina (through the attached resource) and my Stations of the Cross paintings. I also shared some stories and ideas on Prayer Walking based on my Visual Guide to Prayer Walking. 
  • A Gospel Contemplation Meditation where people engaged with a gospel story through the lens of their imagination. I like to use a theatrical lens where people hear the story as the director (set the scene), then as an actor (choose a role), and finally people were invited to break the fourth wall (showing up in the story as themselves and have a conversation with Jesus).
  • Abstract Art Worksop on Drawing the Fruit of the Spirit. Adults and kids got a chance to think about drawing as a way to pray and learn about God.
  • I preached on the prayer practice of silence and solitude at Maple Grove’s Sunday service. Whenever I teach on prayer I try to include lots of practical ideas and end with a time of trying out those ideas. 

For some people this was the first time they were exposed to ways of praying that weren’t just folding your hands and talking.

Pray that God would grow more opportunities for people at Maple Grove to be exposed to the wider tradition, wisdom, and streams of the church.

Anxiety & Kindness Project:

I have been working on a number of songs and cartoons that have come out of my struggles with anxiety. Last week I got the chance to share these creative endeavours with my friends at the Meeting Place Church in a sermon. I mixed together stories, drawings and songs to talk about my journey and what God has been teaching me. Many people found the teaching very encouraging. 

I have also been posting the drawings on Facebook and Instagram. Here what I posted along with the drawing above:

In 2022 I started having anxiety attacks. It has been really hard. I have been seeing a therapist. One of the things we have been talking about is core beliefs and personal life rules. The beliefs that we live by without even really being aware of them. They are kind of like the bottom of an iceberg. We have to go down pretty deep to see what is hiding down there. If a core belief is causing problems we need to try to replace it with something more helpful.

For me, many of my life decisions have been formed around the idea of “justice.” Dig a little deeper and what I’m really seeking to do is make “perfect” decisions. If I can make the perfect decision or be perfectly prepared I protect myself from being wrong and I protect myself from failing. If I can do all that, “I WIN!” 

I have never thought of myself as a perfectionist, and in many ways I’m not, but I hate being wrong. I hate making mistakes. I always try to make the best decisions, the most perfect decision. 

This all works fine until there is no perfect thing. Every choice is not even close to being second best. Perfect justice is sometimes unattainable because it would have needed to have happened in the past, or even to someone else. The wrongs and injustices are bells that can’t be un-rung. 

That all brings me to my new goal. I just need things to be “good enough.” The idea of kindness has been coming up again and again for me. I’m starting to aim for the “kind thing” instead of the perfect/justice/right thing. The new core belief I’m trying to live into is “doing the kind thing is good enough.” 

To start to absorb this belief and to watch for kindness in my life and the world around me I’m going to be trying to make some little cartoon drawings in my art journal. 

You can see more of these drawings here: 

Please be praying that God would continue to open doors for me to teach, lead workshops and share my art, stories and songs. 

I have the following lessons ready to go for churches and small groups looking to book a guest speaker or workshop:

  • Prayer Walking
  • Silence
  • Visio Divina
  • Art & Prayer
  • Anxiety & Kindness (a teaching through stories, cartoons, and songs)
  • Entering the Gospel through our Imagination (learning the spiritual practice of Gospel Contemplation).

Financial Update:

Thank you to all the people who have been giving towards my GOHOP support fund. From January to March I was 100% on budget (my goal is to raise $2903 a month). As of the end of May donations were $1445 under budget. I did get a number of guest speaking and workshop requests so with the honorariums I have received, I actually am only about $300 under budget, as of June 1st. 

I am currently up to 16 households signed up for monthly giving plans (3 new givers signed up in the last few months). To reach my monthly goal of $2903, I need to raise an additional $1244 a month.

Please consider contributing a monthly or annual donation towards the work that I do with GOHOP.

Make an Online Donation Through CanadaHelps:
If you would like to sign up for a monthly giving plan or make a one time donation online tonation towards my support you can do that here: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164

For more info about monthly giving plans
or how to make a donation by cheque, visit: 
https://randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate/

Please be praying for my ongoing fundraising efforts. As I’m currently on sick leave I will not be able to do any fundraising right now. Pray specifically that the short term funds needed would come in over the summer months.

Do you get GOHOP’s newsletter?

The GOHOP newsletter would give you a broader picture of GOHOP’s ministry, whereas my Punk Monk newsletter focuses more on my portfolio and activities within GOHOP.

Thank you so much for taking an interest in my ministry with GOHOP.  I’ll aim to have my next newsletter out for you in September.

Grace & Peace,

Randell Neudorf
Artist /// Musician /// Punk Monk

Punk Monk Newsletter – January 2022

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Hey Team Punk Monk!

I wanted to start off by saying thank you to everyone for supporting the online Punk Monk Fundraiser in December. Your prayers, likes, shares, encouragement and donations made the fundraiser a big success. 

There are a number of new people getting this newsletter this month, so welcome to the team! This newsletter is a place for me to talk about my ministry with GOHOP (Greater Ontario House of Prayer), share prayer requests, and to give fundraising updates (financial accountability is always a good thing). 

I won’t always be putting finances at the top of the list but in light of all that has happened in the last few months it’s a good place to start this time.

The Punk Monk Fundraiser Story:

The idea was super simple, I was just going to post selfies online asking for money to help finish my first year with GOHOP on budget. No rewards, no shaving my beard, no song or dance, just an honest ask for help. The very first donation that came in was for $10, with a note that read “Praying God multiplies this!” God absolutely took that first donation and grew it. The goal was to raise $3000 and by Christmas I raised $3655. On top of the online fundraiser an additional $1905 came in from other places, which brings the November & December total up to $5560. I am overwhelmed with the generosity God has shown me through friends, family and strangers.

Fundraising in 2022:

My monthly fundraising goal is $2897. If you would like to see the cost breakdown of my hours and rate of pay, click here. 
The most sustainable (and least stressful way) for me to reach that goal is increasing the number of people signed up for a monthly giving plan. Right now I have 13 monthly givers contributing about $1300 in total each month. To reach my monthly goal, I need to raise an additional $1597 each month. With the extra money that came in at the end of 2021, I have now raised enough to be paid in full until the end of February. 

Here are some ways you can be praying for my fundraising:

  • Pray that more people would sign up for a monthly giving plan. Currently 44% of my monthly goal comes from giving plans. I’m praying that this would increase to 75%. 
  • Pray that one time and annual donations would continue to make up the monthly difference. Please pray that I wouldn’t have a month this year where I have a shortfall and need to do crisis fundraising.
  • Pray that I could connect with potential givers & prayer partners in my wider network or even outside my current network. 

Here are a few other practical ways people can be helping:

  • Ask your church, small group, or network if they would like me to come speak, sing, or lead a creative prayer activity. I’m happy to connect with groups no matter how large or small. I work hard to always combine stories, learning and practical application into everything I do (whether it is preaching, singing or leading an activity). Here is a participant quote I got after leading an Imaginative Gospel Contemplation workshop at a church planting retreat:

    “One of my favourite parts of our New Venture retreat this summer was the Gospel Contemplation hosted by Randall Neudorf. I am familiar with lectio divina but have never really tapped into my imagination the way Randall encouraged us to. I absolutely loved considering the different roles, as though I was reading a screenplay from different perspectives and then as an active participant in the story. It spoke to me deeply and I’m grateful to have another way to immerse myself in the scriptures.”  – Christina  
  • If you gave a donation last year and plan on doing so again this year, consider splitting up your donation into a monthly giving plan. Last year’s$120 or $1200 donation could be this year’s $10 or $100 a month giving plan. I know the math works out the same but the monthly giving plan adds the gift of predictability (and stress reduction) to that number. 
  • Introduce me to someone who you think would like to be part of the Punk Monk Team. If you know someone who might like to learn more about my work, be part of my prayer team or make a donation, please make the introduction. We all have different networks of people with different gifts and strengths. I’m always happy to meet and connect with new people. 
  • If you would like to make an Online donation to support my work with GOHOP you can do that here: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164 (to donate by cheque click here)

TrueCity 24-7 Prayer Room:

This year I’m leading the planning team for the TrueCity Prayer Room that is part of the annual TrueCity Conference. The conference is happening on April 29th & 30th and the prayer room will run 24-7 for two weeks after that. I’m very excited to be given the opportunity to lead this team. This prayer room has always had an emphasis on connecting people to creative forms of prayer and building bridges between churches, which are two things I’m very passionate about. If you are in the Hamilton area and would like to help create an indoor (or outdoor) prayer station, please let me know. We will also be approaching local churches and challenging them to fill a 24 hour time slot as part of their TrueCity journey. 24 hours might sound like a long time but all it takes is 24 people each praying for 1 hour to make that happen. It is amazing how fast an hour goes by in the prayer room. 

Here is how you can be praying for the Prayer Room and the planning team:

  • Pray for flexibility. We are going to need to hold all our ideas and plans very loosely, as we wait to see what the COVID regulations look like in the spring.
  • Pray for safety & creativity. We will absolutely be following all the health and safety guidelines, and we will be working hard at finding creative ways to host a prayer room that is both meaningful and safe. My goal is to always look for the idea that feels like a “get to” and not just a “have to.”  The way to find those “get to” ideas is to allow safety challenges to push us into creative solutions 
  • Pray that we can connect with the right volunteers, churches and individuals to be part of the prayer room. Last year the prayer room was online and it took a much smaller volunteer base to make that happen. Pray that we will have a strong group of volunteers and participants to re-engage with this annual expression of prayer and church unity. 

Art Journal and my Personal Journey:

When I was out Christmas shopping I ran into a stranger at an art supply store who really surprised me. They said, “Hey, Randell, you don’t know me but I follow you online. I really appreciate your art journal posts, especially the ones on pain. They are so important because so many people don’t know what it feels like to live with chronic pain.” A couple weeks before that I got a message with a donation that said “Your art is truly a ministry. I’m thankful that you are spreading God’s love through this thought provoking medium. Many blessings to you!” Both of these surprise compliments have encouraged me to keep being really open and honest with my online art journal posts. In that spirit of openness I wanted to share a little bit about my latest Art Journal post. 
Christmas is a really hard time at my house and that proved to be true again this year. Christmas day I had a panic attack and it came and went over the next 3 days. Sometimes it would even hit me in the middle of the night and I would be in panic mode for a couple hours. The best way I can describe these episodes is that it feels like everything is buzzing in a bad way (like a swarm of bees rather than a strong cup of coffee). In my latest Art Journal post I talked about my panic attacks and some of the things that helped me get through them. The response to these drawings and stories continues to be very positive. I know this isn’t the main part of my job but it really feels like an important part of my ministry. 
You can see all my Art Journal stories here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10164895225245179&type=3

Here are a few personal prayer requests:

  • Pray for my mental health and my chronic pain. I am in the process of seeing a counselor but that is just starting. I also have a spiritual director and a physiotherapist, so I’m working on my mind, body and soul. My pain has been under control better lately and I feel like I’m getting stronger. I have even been able to play guitar more recently, which is very helpful (sometimes my pain interferes with my hands) 
  • Pray for my family. I know everyone has experienced hard times during the pandemic but we have definitely found that it exacerbates our unique dynamics. 
  • Pray for my art journal posts, that God would continue to use them. Pray that the right people would see them. Pray that I would continue to find creative outlets that are life giving. 

Leader Magazine: 

For 5 years I have been writing articles for Leader Magazine (a Mennonite publication). It has been a great opportunity to talk about where I have been seeing God show up in my neighbourhood and ministry. In my latest article I got to highlight a resource I created called  “A Visual Guide To Prayer Walking.” The guide is a series of drawings and prayer prompts intended to inspire people to try out prayer walking. Every few years the magazine switches up their contributors to hear from new voices. My prayer walking article was my last piece. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to share so many of my stories with people all across Canada and the United States.

You can download your own free copy of “A Visual Guide to Prayer Walking” here: https://randellneudorf.com/prayer-walking/

Connecting with Pastors & Leaders: 

GOHOP’s Pastors & Leaders prayer time is going really well. As the interim coordinator, I have consistently been able to book in a really diverse group of leaders for our listening prayer ministry. We have prayed with pastors, chaplains, denominational leaders, church planters, leadership teams and students. I have also been able to attend a number of networking events for pastors. This has helped me to connect with a number of leaders I hadn’t met before from a wider range of denominations. At one event, I was giving my listening prayer spiel to some pastors who were new to Hamilton when a bunch of other Pastors in the room jumped in and said “You need to go and pray with GOHOP!” It was amazing to realize that half the pastors in the room had already been prayed for by GOHOP in the last year.

Pray for my work with pastors & leaders:

  • Pray that I would be able to continue to book in a diverse group of pastors and leaders. 
  • Pray that we would continue to practice listening prayer in a safe and supportive way. My prayer is that our prayer time would open up the idea of listening prayer to leaders that have never experienced listening prayer before.
  • Pray that we would be able to pray for more denominational leaders. I would love for them to feel confident to refer their pastors to GOHOP for prayer.

Thanks so much for following along with my journey. 

Grace & Peace,

Randell (Randy) Neudorf
randellneudorf@gmail.com
905-379-3717
randellneudorf.com 

CLICK HERE to make a donation 
in support of Randell’s ministry with GOHOP https://randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate/

The Punk Monk Fundraiser!

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Hey church friends, I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at the info below about my year end fundraiser. If church isn’t your thing, feel free to just skip this. If you are curious and do decide to keep reading you can think of this fundraiser as me “crowd funding” my job.

I often describe my job title as being a “Punk Monk.”

I’m on staff with GOHOP (Greater Ontario House Of Prayer), a new monastic ministry connected to the world wide movement of 24-7 Prayer. We aren’t a monastery but we do live a community life dedicated to the monastic rhythms of prayer & service. That covers the monkish part of the job but what about the punkish part? For me, punk music is all about creativity with a strong DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic. I think of prayer in that same way. We can learn to play creatively with prayer as a way to connect more deeply with our maker and each other. For me this permission to play with prayer is very punk!

The other DIY part of my job is that I have to raise my own support. Believe it or not but being a Punk Monk is my family’s primary source of income. I’m 1 year into this crazy adventure and I have been able to raise all of the money I have needed up until the end of October. I’m now trying to fund-raise an additional $3000 before the end of 2021.

Some people who have helped me so far have donated $5 and others have donated $300 (as well as everything in between). I have even had a few donations over $1000. I am so grateful for all this generosity and it has convinced me that God is going to use a diverse group of people to help me finish my first year at GOHOP strong. Would you please consider making a donation towards my support? Any amount is much appreciated.

You can make an online donation right now through CanadaHelps.org https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164

GOHOP is a registered Canadian charity,
and all donations are tax deductible.

If you would like to make a donation by cheque
scroll to the bottom of this page to find out how.

I think it is really important when talking about money to be 100% transparent. If you would like to find out more about my job (including what I get paid) you can find all that info here: https://randellneudorf.com/gohop/

Any money raised above the goal for this fundraiser will help create a buffer for my ongoing fundraising efforts in the new year.

Thanks so much for taking the time to consider partnering with me on my Punk Monk journey. I also have an e-newsletter that I send out about 4 times a year. Email me if you would like to be added to that list: randellneudorf@gmail.com

Grace & Peace to you!

Sincerely,
Randell (Randy) Neudorf

How to send a donation by Cheque:

  1. Make cheques payable to “GOHOP”
  2. Important: Do not write names on the memo line (or anywhere else) on the cheque. Revenue Canada disallows the use of cheques with allocations written on them for charitable donations.
  3. Please attach a letter or post-it note indicating how you desire the funds be allocated. It just needs to say something like “GOHOP Support for Randell Neudorf.” Be sure to include your contact info as well to receive a tax receipt.
  4. Mail your cheques & note to:
    GOHOP, Box 57022, Jackson Square, Hamilton, ON L8P 4W9
    You are also welcome to hand your cheques in directly to me if you would like.