I am pleased to announce that after three years of fighting uphill, Monday, we were finally been able to file with the Internal Revenue Service for our 501(c)(3) Not For Profit Exemption. Though we have not yet been approved, this is more of a clerical matter than a necessity.

We are not required to have this exemption, but many donors and organizations require it as a form of validation that we are a legitimate and legally sound organization. We are blessed by a generous donor and dear friend to our ministry who has helped us in many ways over the last two years. I’m not naming names because I don’t like dropping names without consent, they know who they are, and I could not thank them more.

This Non-Profit, tax-exempt status will allow us to obtain discounts and donations of many items we currently pay a great deal of money to maintain. Freeing up these expenses will allow us to grow even stronger and bless so many more people. One of the projects that will benefit significantly from this exemption will be our Scott’s Pantry Project. Scott’s Pantry is a food and resource support program for the homeless and in need that we had to suspend due to a lack of funds to maintain it. We have had conversations with several major grocery providers in our area that are eager to help us supply such a project once we have this exemption letter in hand. This is just a small example of the intensity this will bring to us. I patiently wait on the edge of my seat for news on this filing. We ask that you pray for the Lord’s blessing on this, and we thank all of those who have helped get us to this stage.

God Bless,

Pastor Steve Hofmeister

It should be quite visual if you have visited any of DIMOM's websites lately, that we are making a lot of changes.

Following Thanksgiving, we took all of our websites offline and rebuilt them from scratch. This had more to do with the software and technology behind the scenes than the sites' content.

We cleaned out a lot of antiquated content from the sites and are making the sites more secure and user friendly. It will take some time for them to be repopulated with content but believe me when I say if things go as the Lord has been leading there will be plenty to share.

We have had changes in our Reform NOW Ministry Project as well.

After discussions with the Maryland Board of Elections, local political leaders, and our team, we felt it was in the ministry's best interest to separate the SAVE OUR SCHOOLS Initiative of the Reform NOW Project from our ministry. For this initiative to function as it should legally, it needed to take on a different organizational structure that was not cohesive with that of the ministry organization structure.

The initiative is now known as the School Reform NOW PAC. It is organized as its own independent organization incorporated as a limited liability non-profit and registered with the Maryland Board of Elections as a "SuperPAC" identity. It is no longer managed or funded by Diakonos Independent Ministries of Maryland. You can learn more about this new identity at https://srnpac.org.

Another goal we are working to meet this year is establishing a church plant here in our hometown of Abingdon, Maryland. This goal has been delayed for many reasons over the last two years.

First off, of course, is the funding needed to do it properly. We know the Lord provides in his time, and we pray and work toward this need. The second was the madness and fear that ensued with the COVID19 Pandemic. Though we did not live in fear of this pandemic, it drastically affected our outreach and community interaction. So we ask that you please pray on this for us, and if you would be interested in being involved please reach out to us.

On a more personal note, you may have noticed that I (Pastor Steve Hofmeister) have not been doing my live stream sermons, or producing new podcast episodes. For the last month and a half I have been going through intensive occupational therapy for a medical condition I have had since I was a child that affects my mobility when not kept under control. Now in my mid-40s I felt the symptoms of this ailment limiting my abilities to give my 100% to this ministry. I am happy to say that after a great amount of work I am in much better shape and eager to get back in the trenches recording again and giving my all for my Lord and Savior. Though this therapy is not quite done we are in the final quarter.

and lastly, I need to mention our sermon streaming and recording. It is a monumental effort to prepare and produce for a livestream sermon when you are doing all the work yourself. Once we are up and going again, the sermons will be prerecorded. I can record two sermons in a day verses one live stream a week. It is more important to spread the word in quantity than spread it live. We are also leaving YouTube. So many Christian video creators are coming under fire or are being booted off the YouTube platform. We will be utilizing Rumble when we get back to production. The first order of business will be to reproduce the lost sermon media from my careless mistake earlier this year when I deleted our YouTube channel. In conclusion I once again ask you to pray for our ministry, help where and how you can either physically or financially if possible.

May Christ Bless You. - Pastor Steve Hofmeister