An Appeal from Father Joseph Suaidan

Update (December 14 NS) While the “Thank You” video is still up on YT (as a matter of record), we are still asking for help. The road to January has been filled with unforeseen expenses, and while I’m still committed to doing this full-time, the costs are surprisingly coming from all directions. I can’t do this without your help and I remain grateful for your support. You can donate using one of the methods below, or if you prefer using GabPay, PayPal or CashApp, scroll to the bottom of the page. It is all greatly appreciated. To all our donors be assured of our prayers for you, whether in the altar for those of the Orthodox, or at the icon of Christ for those not yet Orthodox. May God richly bless you.

Note (October 15 NS): we are updating this with our campaign on GiveSendGo. Things are becoming urgent!

From the GiveSendGo Appeal:

Hello. My name is Fr Joseph Suaidan, and I live in Northeast PA with my wife and youngest son. You may know me from our website, NFTU, our YouTube Channel, or my writing/goofing off on Gab or Twitter. We have been providing news and apologetical work from a True Orthodox Christian perspective for years. In May of this year, I participated in a public debate on a much larger YouTube channel than ours. The debate itself had a snowball effect everywhere: we went from relative obscurity to getting weekly requests for missionary assistance. My Bishop and Metropolitan decided that if I was going to publicly represent our Synod, I should be elevated to the priesthood (Having been a deacon for over a decade, this was a shock). In the midst of all this great stuff, I would get hit with what would start out as what I thought would allow me transition to working full-time doing missionary and apologetical work on YouTube (somehow it became monetized at the end of September) instead leading to where I am, which is asking you for help.

In April of this year, I changed my legal name (created by a paperwork error in my grandfather’s immigration to France) back to my traditional family name, “Suaidan”. (I spelled it as “Suaiden” for 19 years till I reviewed the paperwork. Full story.) Because of the annoyances of changing my name, I changed it first with my bank in June and then with Human Resources at my job in July. A day later, managers at my job of almost two years were asking who was the new person in the Group chat. The next morning, I was fired. In May I was the top customer-reviewed representative in the department. Two months later I was applying for unemployment while looking for work. In the process I found myself helping more people come to the Orthodox faith, and God has given me experiences I would never have imagined as recently as January. Driving across states, baptisms, catechesis. And I followed the rules, applying for work, and waiting on a decision from PA Unemployment. (They denied me Sept 12, and I’ve discovered this week it’s on a false basis, but I was basically told I’d have to sue.) Bills piled up. I began asking for donations, and people helped us get through, for whom I offer prayers every service in my home chapel. It seems like the more I do, the harder the bills get.

To make matters worse, I switched auto insurance companies. A month later my insurance company cancelled me without ever sending a cancellation or even a bill. When I called to pay my bill it turns out I was a few days late and they told me they cancelled me. They have a sister company, however, and offered to insure me that way. All was fine until I got a letter from the PA department of Motor Vehicles effectively saying I had to turn in my registration if I was without insurance and driving (you must sign an affidavit saying you did not drive the car during the uninsured period, with a fine and/or jail time if you are lying.) Having no choice but to let the time elapse, I’ve since been informed I can skip the penalty for almost $700. Or I can give up my car’s plates on the 2nd of November for three months.

I firmly believe there are no such things as coincidences. And that’s why I’m here, asking for help on GiveSendGo. I’ve seen so many stories of lives changed through GiveSendGo that I always thought of it as a “back pocket” solution for people in case of an emergency.

Well, it’s now a state of emergency for us. So here goes.

May Our Lord richly bless you.

(June 25 NS) Good evening. This is Deacon Joseph Suaidan. I am making this video because, to be honest, I have been putting it off for about three weeks. I had planned to create this video and had a script ready. However, I ended up losing the script when I had to reboot my system. This setback held me back, and then other things, like the birth of my grandchild, kept me busy. I could come up with many reasons for not doing this three weeks ago, but the point I’m trying to make is that I’m doing it now because I feel it needs to be done.

Basically, I have come to some conclusions about what we have been doing here in terms of apologetics and growing the site. As you may have noticed, I am merging the Orthodox Apologetics Channel into the general NFTU website experience. I am only halfway through this process, and there is still a long way to go. I have a long-term plan for what we are doing here, which I did not have before. I was trying to keep everything separate because I have a full-time day job that takes up a lot of my time (40 hours a week). I won’t go into detail about my job, but it’s not relevant. The simple truth is that I have learned that many people are unaware of certain things, even through recent debates. NFTU has not only been a news resource but is slowly becoming a historical resource. However, there is a lot more that can be done, and I am aware of it. The one thing I lack is time.

The more I think about this and look at what we have been doing, I realize that a part-time effort is not enough. That’s why I have started the process of trying to monetize NFTU and build it further. I understand that some people may ask for money, and I won’t pretend that I’m not asking for support in this case. I have included a SubscribeStar link for those unfamiliar with it. SubscribeStar allows you to subscribe to support our work. We have also implemented tiered subscriptions on our Odysee channel. The idea behind this is to see if we can build subscriptions until we have enough to sustain the site and eventually make it my full-time job.

I believe that we can make a big difference in the world, and we are already doing so. However, to take it to the next level, we need more resources. I’m not talking about superficial things like a cool headset, but rather investing in significant technological advancements for the Church. I’m thinking of things like AI for the Church and global directories for True Orthodoxy, allowing people to find true Orthodox churches worldwide. I want to provide more consistent reporting and daily updates, which are currently beyond my reach. These are plans I have been considering, but with my current humdrum job, I can’t dedicate the time necessary to achieve them. I’m not looking to become a millionaire; I just want to make better use of our time and make a real impact.

So, my goal is to see if we can build a community of like-minded individuals who are willing to support this cause. I know there are people out there who want to help, and I believe that if we work together, we can expand this endeavor beyond what it has ever been. We can spread the Gospel, grow true Orthodoxy worldwide, and make significant changes. I have created subscription tiers on SubscribeStar and Odysee to provide options for support. I have even created a special tier for Bishop Enoch, who has done incredible work defending the Orthodox faith. He lives in a monastery, and while he has time to do this work, it is unpaid. We can’t all work for free, so I’m being realistic about the financial needs.

I am grateful to everyone who has supported us, not just financially, but also with prayers and volunteering. I hope we can take this to even greater heights and move forward together. Thank you to all our listeners and readers. I wish you a productive fast of St. Peter and Paul and a good night.