Bryan Erickson

Friend,

Thank you for taking the time to receive this. I am writing personally because the Community Storehouse Initiative is not something I am promoting — it is something the Lord has been forming over a long period of time.

In the late 1990s, I served on a small committee of community leaders who spent four years vision-casting what eventually became the Shasta Regional Community Foundation. During those same years, I worked with several of my clients to establish charitable trusts naming the future foundation as primary beneficiary — more than $3 million of pre-funded capital committed to a vision still being formed. I have lived with that experience for twenty-five years, and I have watched that foundation grow to nearly $40 million in assets while providing over $65 million in grants serving Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama Counties.

What I am describing now is not a new idea. It is a pattern that has worked once already, in a different form.

The Storehouse Initiative is anchored in two scriptures that together describe a single biblical pattern. In Acts 6:3, the early Church chose leaders "known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom" before resources were distributed — leadership came first, and provision followed. In 2 Chronicles 29–31, King Hezekiah consecrated the leaders of Israel, leaders gave first, the people responded, and storehouses were built to steward an overflow that exceeded what anyone had expected.

Provision did not flow because of need. It flowed because of aligned leadership.

The Community Storehouse Initiative is the restoration of that pattern in a modern, scalable form. Local Community Storehouse Funds, governed by Spirit-led leaders in each community, receive resources from local business leaders and partners, deploy 50% directly into local impact, retain 40% for long-term community capital growth, and reinvest 10% to seed new communities.

A central Storehouse Development Fund — administered through WaterStone, the financial platform our model is built upon — catalyzes the launch of each community and sustains the network until reinvestment from established communities funds all new launches indefinitely. By Year 3, the network funds itself.

What is different now from twenty-five years ago is that the relational network has already been forming. Pastors and business leaders in Redding, Cottage Grove, San Jose, Fayetteville, Riverside, and Elk River–Otsego have been quietly being prepared. Aligned financial advisors are stepping forward. A long-standing partner at WaterStone has already committed an initial $50,000 seed grant for the Pilot phase of the Development Fund.

My wife, Melissa, in this first year of our marriage has fully leaned in with me on this vision and has taken an active role. While the vision predates our marriage by twenty-five years, she has come into this with full faith and excitement. Her voice has helped clarify and re-imagine the messaging behind the vision. Together, we look forward to bearing witness to all that the Lord has in store through this transformational endeavor.

This invitation is not approached as a transaction. We are inviting a small group of trusted friends and leaders to pray, listen, and discern what the Lord may be inviting them into. Some will be founding partners with significant capital to direct. Others will be advisors helping clients structure giving. Others will be pastors and business leaders providing local discernment. Others will simply pray. Each role is essential, and the right role is the one God reveals.

"Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you." — Joshua 3:5