Support Micah's Journey to Serve Others

Hi, I'm Micah. The following story is told really in two parts; the first, an explanation of who I am, and the second, a microcosm of the injustice many people face instantiated in my life.

I was named in honor of that great verse from the prophet Micah, "O mortal, what does the Lord require of you? To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God." I've tried to live into those ideas my entire life, which led me to become a teacher in a Title I school, a campaign manager for marginalized candidates, a community organizer working to help people experiencing homelessness, and a minister to those left outside the church.

For the past three years, that ministry has taken the form of an online community called the Llama Pack, which we joke is made up of the people who weren't allowed in the sheepfold. We are people who primarily identify as queer, leftist, and deconstructing harmful faiths they were raised with. My work has included organizing lots of leaders to share different expressions of new traditions they are exploring to preaching biweekly to counseling people almost every day in private messages and in person. I am not the best at asking for money for myself, so this work has largely gone unpaid--and, to be clear, I would gladly do it all again in a heartbeat to be able to help the number of people I have been blessed to love through that ministry.

My full-time position was recently cut due to budget cuts, and as I apply to new opportunities to help the people I love, I keep running into the problem of organizations I would love to work with not having quite the budget to help me cover all of my bills. Before 2023, I could have accepted any of these positions without too much concern. But after losing our house due to mold the landlord refused to rectify, the birth of my daughter, and my cancer diagnosis, our bills are just too high to afford that kind of paycut. One position in particular would allow me to work with some people I love, doing dynamic work in a complex setting, that would give me the experience and support I need as I continue to pray about the future of my ministry. But at the moment, I can't afford to take the position.

Which brings me to the injustice I discussed at the beginning:

I was raised to believe that college was the way to get ahead in life. My parents couldn't afford to support me financially, so I worked my butt off in high school to get as close to a full ride as I could, and throughout college, I was able to earn additional scholarships so that I paid close to nothing for my last two years. I took out private loans equivalent to about one year of room and board for a total of $33,203. I am incredibly privileged to have only had to take out that amount.

Since college, I only stopped making payments for my first year at seminary, and so far have paid $38,179.60, or about five thousand dollars more than I initially took out. And I still owe $13,212.12. At my current rate of repayment and the 12.37% interest, my far-better-at-math-than-me friend has told me I should expect to pay close to $80,000 dollars for my $33,203 loan.

Given that I pay about $500 for two student loan repayments per month, if I paid off my highest interest loan of $6,538.94 at 12.37%, I would be able to take a $3k pay cut (Goal 1). If I paid off both that loan and the next loan of $6,562.63 at 11.39%, I would be able to take a $6k pay cut (Goal 2). An additional $6k would help me pay off our hospital bills for the birth of my daughter and my cancer diagnosis, and hopefully be enough to cover the additional check-ups in the next year, and mean I could take up to a $9k pay cut (Goal 3).

Thank you for helping me be able to afford the opportunity to help others in this new and wonderful way. It is a great privilege to get to use my skills to love on people. I hope that I am able to be to you as a great a blessing as you have been to me.