We were Created to Create.

The genesis of Mills Creative Minds began with one focused, burning desire: to provide much-needed funds for missionaries.

Specifically, it was to give support to Ray & Laura Pittman, who have been serving in Fiji since 2001. Ray & Laura are what we like to call "true missionaries." They're the ones who have sacrificed everything for the sake of the Lord's calling in their lives. They're the ones who have a heart for their local community, reaching out to those in need. They're the real deal.

To be precise, however, our goal is not just to provide additional financial support for The Pittmans, but to meet a specific need in a profound way. As a missionary myself, I've witnessed firsthand the financial stress and pressure that often accompanies traveling. The cost of a ticket for one person is bad enough, but when you multiply that by a family of four or five or more? Well, you quickly understand how draining it can be just to come home and visit with family and supporters. It's even more expensive and exhausting if it's for a last-minute family emergency.

Burdened with this constant need on the mission field, our goal is to use money generated through Mills Creative Minds to help pay for missionary travel expenses. Whether they need to come home to visit friends, spend time with family, or just get away to recharge, Mills Creative Minds wants to help make it happen.

Why would we do this? Because to the same degree that God has blessed us with insanely Creative Minds, He also made us insatiably generous. Giving is in our DNA. We simply love to give. This is why we made generosity a permanent cornerstone of Mills Creative Minds. For every dollar that we receive, 70% of it will be given away.

You read that right. 70%. 50% will go toward established ministries & charities, while the remaining 20% will be set aside for "discretional giving" (helping those in need, rewarding character & integrity, spontaneously buying of a stranger’s lunch, paying off a medical bill, various random acts of kindness, stuff like that...).

Still, some wonder why in the world we would ever want to give so much away? They argue that 70% is a lot. And they're not wrong. But the thing is, we strongly believe that everything we possess in this life is a gift from God, that it all comes from His hands: Family, friends, health, wealth, business skills & connections, talents & creative inspiration and insights – it all comes directly from Him. He is the ultimate Creator. The original, true Creator. So using our skills and resources to repay Him for His initial generosity is just a natural response. We give, because we've were first given to. We are blessed... to be a blessing.

Thus, the governing philosophy behind Mills Creative Minds can effectively be summed up in our company lifeverse, Colossians 1:16.

"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities,

all things were created by him and for him."

Everything we'll ever create was originally created by Him and it's all created for Him and His glory. Creating is what we do. Generous givers is who we are.

This is the driving vision behind Mills Creative Minds.