Archive for the Missions
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
One orphan no longer an orphan
This CNN video is a small reminder of the heartbreaking plight of orphans in Haiti. This was true before the earthquake, and even more now.
At the end of the report, one little girl is unexpectedly reunited with her father.She is a symbol of my prayer for the children of Haiti.
Lord, may all the children find their families, whether that means the family a child was born into or the loving family you have prepared for them elsewhere. Open hearts and homes to receive the desperate children of Haiti.
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Every picture tells a story
I’m paging through the posts and photos from Real Hope For Haiti Rescue Center, operated by the Zachary extended family. I received my online introduction to them from my son Abraham.
The Zacharys have been in Haiti since 1994. In the best of times which are never very good in Haiti, RHFH houses about 60 children who are sick and suffering from severe forms of malnutrition. A scroll through old posts shows before and after photos of some children now healthy and smiling and and other sad photos of little caskets for children who couldn’t be saved.
Now, times are far from the best. How do you find or make formula for the babies when the supply runs out? Will the visiting US pastor be able to get out of the country? With each aftershock, what will comfort 60 terrified children? Will their long-time coworker find his mother alive? Where will they find gas for their vehicle?
They have posted a number of photos taken in Port au Prince, some distance from the center. Some pictures in particular grab me and say: Every person here has a story. Each has her own pain or his own fear. These are not masses of millions. They are persons, one by one–persons frightened and grieving.
This is one picture that makes me want to beg for the story. What is his name? Where was he when the earthquake struck? What is is injury and how bad is it? Where is his mother–is she still alive or is she trapped nearby? Who will help him?
Who will bring hope to his dazed eyes? May God help him.
In addition to the children who are being cared for at the center, people are coming there from the city to try to get help. This requires more than ordinary resources for a ministry that already works on a tight budget. Please consider helping financially; there are easy links at their website for making a donation.
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
Pray NOW for relief workers to enter Haiti
Dr. Steve Nelson is a good friend who has worked in Ecuador for years. He is leading a team from Quito to give medical assistance in Haiti. At this very moment as I write, they are trying to get from Florida to Port au Prince.
We arrrived in Miami around noon … rented a large van in order to get team and equipment up to West Palm beach where a chartered plane is waiting. Unfortunately … they had been waiting all day just to get clearance to fly into Haiti.
Apparently the air above the airport in Port au prince is full of circling relief planes trying to get their chance to touch down. There are only twenty spots on the limited airport space and as the planes land they download their cargo and take off and another attempts their own landing.
Franklin Graham circled the airport today for two hours after having had clearance to fly from here in West Palm beach. But there is a triage system in effect and as they were about to land, aC130 with search dogs “trumped” their landing and they had to return. We have met up the Samaritan’s purse team and now we are waiting together for clearance and have another hour of window of opportunity to get in today. Otherwise we will try and find a place to rest tonight and start again early tomorrow morning.
Please pray that we get a chance to get in … even tonight if possible. We are certain that the medical people we are slated to relieve are so very tired after this now 48 hour marathon in the hospital.
Pray with us too for those dear people who start to face new problems every day even after having survived the first impact of the earthquake.
Steve and the Quito team is experiencing what NBC news reported earlier today. Not only is the Port au Prince airport backed up, so are airports in the neighboring Dominican Republic, and then the roads between the DR and Haiti are in poor condition. As for ships, facilities at the Haitian port are almost completely destroyed by the earthquake.
Pray for God’s provision of a way in.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
“There are foreign countries closer to my Mama!”
There’s a new kind of plane flying to the unreached peoples now. The Kodiak holds more passengers than previous small missions planes. It can take off or land on a much shorter landing strip. And it uses less expensive fuel than most current small planes.
I have a special interest in the Kodiak. My niece and her husband moved way up to Sandpoint, Idaho, soon after their marriage, so Brenton could work for Quest Aircraft Company helping design the Kodiak. Sunny wrote me recently:
I have to remind myself why we are here (because God called us to this place, this company, this mission). I especially need to be reminded around holidays. I know you will understand when I say, there are foreign countries I could live in and still be closer to my Mama! Not everybody understands what that is like, to leave your whole family behind because God called you to a place. And not everybody would see it as such a big deal because after all, we are still in the States.
Well, here’s the big deal. MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) received their first Kodiak in March 2009. JAARS (the aviation arm of Wycliffe/SIL) dedicated their first Kodiak in September, for use in Papua New Guinea. New Tribes Mission has ordered 14 Kodiaks and took possession of their first just last week.
And those are only three of the agencies who will be using Kodiaks. We can pray that they are just the beginning of God’s use of the Kodiak for getting to some of the hardest-to-reach places of the world.
So I say to Sunny: You and Brenton are indeed part of spreading the fame of Jesus’ name where it hasn’t been known. As hard as it can be sometimes, there’s no better place to be than where God wants you to be. I loved you already and I love you even more now.
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
Do something now
A few days ago, Talitha and I were at Passion 2010 in Atlanta, among more than 21,000 enthusiastic university-aged people. Johnny has spoken there most years since the movement began, but this was the first time I had attended.
I knew Passion is a rich mixture of worship and missions. What I didn’t expect was how “now” the missions emphasis is–not just looking toward the future, but the challenge to do something now.
Here’s the report of the results, posted at the Passion blog by Louie Giglio–phenomenal. The goal of $500,000 for their partner ministries was more than doubled.
____________
The heartbeat of the Passion Movement is not simply about filling arenas, but a generation mobilized to carry the message of God’s fame to the unreached, oppressed and forgotten wherever they are on the planet.
To that end, one of the five statements of the 268 Declaration is:
Willingness To Shine The Gospel To All People—
Because God is seeking worshipers of all peoples, I will spread His fame among the nations, fully participating in His global purposes while engaging poverty and injustice in Jesus’ name.
[God, kindle in me the desire to go anywhere, at anytime, at any cost, to do anything to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.]
While the worship at Passion is vital, it is not an end in itself. Rather, our songs and anthems are fuel for our journey to the nations. Thus, Do Something Now is front and center in all we do, a major component of every gathering.
At Passion 2010 we introduced 12 partner organizations with causes totaling $500,000. Our goal was not pledges for the future, but giving on site together in four days. In the end (and this number will continue to grow), the total passed on to our 12 partners includes:
Building an education center for the Dalit people of India through Operation Mobilization. Goal–$75,000. Given–$92,753.91.
Small business loans for women in Haiti through Hope International. Goal–200 x $200 loans. Given–$64,412.34 for 322 loans.
Bible translation for Shatika and Rom People of SE Asia with OneVerse. Goal–translate 4000 verses at a cost of $100,000. Given–3134 verses/$78.359.
Sponsor 100 seminary students in the Middle East with E3 Partners. Goal–$30,000. Given–$45,318/151 students.
Build 10 wells in Guatemala with Living Water. Goal–$50,000. Given–$113.865/22 wells built.
Provide 100 cleft palate surgeries for children in Afghanistan with Cure International. Goal–$55,000. Given–$68,160.54/111 children get surgeries.
Package and send Bibles to unreached people in Asia through Bibles Unbound. Goal–3000 Bibles packaged and $3000 to cover cost. Given/Done–3000 Bibles packaged/$9,530.56 given to send more.
Build a border outpost in Nepal to intercept sex trafficking victims through Not For Sale. Goal–$25,000. Given–$86,516.72 for 3+ border outposts.
Support a Child Survival project in Indonesia through Compassion International. Goal–100 students x $20 a month for one year = $24,000. Given–205 students x $20 a month for one year = $50,170. (The 12 month commitment represents pledges for this cause).
Package meals through our partner Feed My Starving Children. Goal–package 100,000 meals at Passion 2010 and give $17,500 to cover costs. Given/Done–108,432 meals packaged and $17,533.32 given.
Sponsor children affected by HIV/AIDS in Mozambique with World Vision. Goal–200 students x $35 monthly/package 1000 Caregiver kits. Given–174 students x $35 monthly/1000 caregiver kits assembled.
Drink coffee and fund projects in Ethiopia through our partner Gobena Coffee. Given–$24,548.
Total given at Passion 2010 = $724,480.42.
IN ADDITION, a family at Passion 2010 matched the total as of Tuesday morning with a gift of $668.597.00.
For a Passion 2010
As well, 14,820 towels and 72,600 pairs of socks were given to assist the homeless shelters of Atlanta. [brought by students when they arrived]
Obviously, it’s not all about the money. But we know the verse, “where your money is your heart is also,” applies here, and believe many lives have been captured by His global purposes in these days.
Thanks to everyone who joined this amazing cause. Let’s continue to give everything until His grace, hope and healing are extended to all.
Humbled,
LG
You can still give $5 by texting OMC to 20222 and by supporting the causes at onemillioncan.com. All monies given by text after Passion 2010 will go to onemillioncan causes.
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
Goodbye, Kenya
From Talitha:
Today is a sad day for my mom and me. Today is March 10, 2008… which means that today is our last full day in Kenya. Tonight we leave at 11:30pm for our flight to Amsterdam from Kenya.
Part of me wants to stay. Part of me wants to leave and see my church, school and just be at home.
I have seen so much for me to process. Some of what I saw made me angry. Some of it made me sad. Some of it made me happy.
Seeing the poverty made me mad and sad. Seeing the children happy and asking us “how are you?” made me happy.
We take so much for granted in “the states” and we don’t even think about other people in the world who may not have the same things that we do, or may not have it at all. I encourage you (in the states) to pray earnestly for these (broken or hurt or happy) people in Kenya.
Also when you catch yourself being picky about a certain food ( don’t feel bad, I do it too) remember that there are people in the world who don’t have any food or live on less than a dollar a day so they eat what they can get for their family.
One thought I definitely come away with on this trip is that there really are trees dying and a lot of us waste paper in the states and we don’t even think about that there really are trees dying.
I given you a lot to think about, so process it slowly and maybe you have some thoughts.
God bless you and keep you and give you a heart (if not already) t0 be on your knees for these people in Kenya and all of Africa. May Jesus Christ’s name be hallowed forever in Africa!
Saturday, March 8th, 2008
"I Cry Every Day"
From Noel:
Today I went with Craig and Francis about 1 hour to Old Kijabe Town for a workshop with community leaders. The purpose was to promote God’s vision for his creation. At the beginning Craig and Francis asked for memories of what the land was like 30 or more years ago.
One man said “There were so many wild animals–elands, antelopes . . . . Anytime you cut across the forest, if you met a buffalo, you were safe, because the trees were so thick, he couldn’t get through to you. Today you would be dead.”
Mr. Stephen Ngungi Munga (pointing to the bare hills) said, ” I cry every day. I was born here in 1941. There were huge forests here. Today I look at it and cry because I reflect back and remember how it used to be. The land is groaning. The forest is weeping. If those who have already gone to the Father were allowed to come again, they would leave again immediately.”
There was much to ponder in Craig and Francis’s presentation. One thing I’ll pass on right now. God created everything to display his glory. That includes us and all of nature. “Apart from the scriptures, the creation is the most complete and spectacular physical evidence of God’s reality and glory.” So damaging and destroying creation insults God and hides his glory.
Friday, March 7th, 2008
My thoughts, by Talitha
From Talitha :
Hey Everybody! I hope everybody is safe and blessed.
ok, Some thoughts here. When I saw how the women have to walk down this steep steep hill to get firewood and back up carrying it, it struck me how hard these women work to get food for their families. They (i think ) get firewood down the steep escarpement 3 times a week. That takes a lot of muscle.
The firewood they carry is a huge old pile. Some women did not have shoes. Some women did not have husbands because they were widowed. Some women had torn and dirty dresses and scarves. That is one of the reasons (I think) that they loved the scarves.
We in The States take for granted the firewood we burn because we can buy firewood. And we have cars to go get it. A lot of us use cars to go get firewood, clothes and other stuff. When they have to walk maybe some miles to go get the essentials for living.
Also when I saw some of the children walking to school, it struck me how sometimes they have to walk a long way to get to school. And we sit back and relax in buses. Seeing this taught me that I shouldn’t complain when my bus comes late because i should be grateful that I get to ride a bus at all. Also some kids at my school live farther away, They should be grateful that they do not have to walk the 20 or something miles.
I have given you alot to think about, so process it slowly. If you have questions or something to say, give me a comment. Blessings!
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
Fields of Dreams?
From Noel:
While Talitha was getting her hair braided (don’t miss the post just previous to this one), I was attending a workshop, Farming God’s Way presented by Care of Creation staff.
During the morning, twenty-one farmers first conversed about the difference in yields over the last 30 years. The farmers harvested an average of 19.6 bags of corn/acre in 1977 and in 2007 it was only an average of 6.5 bags. The land is depleted by erosion, irregular rains, pests, etc. All of these are connected in various ways to the vast deforestation–no root system to hold the water, no nesting places for birds who eat the pests, and the loss of the moisture provided by trees that contributes to rainfall.
Then they heard from Craig and his coworker, Francis, the biblical foundation for taking care of God’s creation. Though farmers are considered the bottom of the heap here, they are working in God’s image, God who was the first farmer (Gen. 2:8-9).
After lunch Craig and Francis gave instruction in the method of Farming God’s Way. One of the first questions was this: With your dead cornstalks is it more important to feed your cow or your soil? The instinct is to feed the hungry cow. But every year your cow gets hungrier because you have fewer cornstalks. If the cornstalks become mulch to enrich the soil and hold moisture, both your cow and you eat better next year. The method involves tilling the soil only once, at the beginning. After that the farmer keeps the ground covered and just digs seed holes.
Well, I could go on. There was 3 hours of great biblical and practical information. We ended by visiting the demonstration farm, where corn and beans were just harvested. The farmers felt the coolness of the mulched soil and were amazed at the height of the corn stalks and the amount of yield.
Pray that they will be convinced to try something
new. They are from 10 different churches and as many different communities, so there won’t necessarily be supportive neighbors when they don’t do what’s always been done.
Pray that God will prosper the work of the Care of Creation staff with many “fields of dreams.”
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
There Used to Be Trees
From Noel:
I don’t know when I’ve been so tired–and humbled. We left the house at 6 am to drive to the edge of the escarpment leading down to the Rift Valley, which is wide, deep, and distinct here. We waited at the top for women who would be walking down into the valley to collect fire wood. They would already have been walking 2-3 kilometers, then it was another 3-4 kilometer walk (not the right word) down rocky, dusty semi-paths to find a place where there was still wood to be found.
Hill and valley as far as you can see used to be covered with forest and rich land, maybe just 30 years ago. Now it is all eroded down to grass, rocks, scrub, and gullies. The firewood the women collect, we would call kindling. That’s all that’s left now.
Here’s the humbling part. We went down too, but not as far as the women. Going down, Talitha was glad for a helping hand several times when the slope was steep and the rocks slippery underfoot. But she was energized on the way back–way ahead of me.
By the time I was about halfway back up, I was testing the bench qualities of boulders about every 30 feet. And I was carrying nothing. I hope not to do this again for a long time, if ever. But these women, some in their 70s, carry 40-50 lbs of wood on their backs up the escarpment 2-3 times a week. Many women spend 30 hours a week collecting firewood and water. Around that they do all that a woman does to care for her household. This includes cooking over a fire, while I just turn a knob.
You could hardly ask for a more clear illustration of how much Care of Creation is needed, in particular here, for the planting of trees to renew the land and to help people live more productive lives.
On the way home we stopped at a school where one Bethlehem team helped to build a water tank where water is caught from roof rain run-off. Another Bethlehem team built a fence around the tree nursery there–very young saplings that are nurtured by water from the tank. Dozens of fruit trees are ready to be sent home with students who have been instructed how to plant these in their yards. Other types of trees will be suitable to grow for firewood.
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Going to Kenya
From Noel:
Talitha and I leave for Kenya on Friday. We will be visiting Craig and Tracy Sorley, missionaries sent out by Bethlehem Baptist to serve with Care of Creation . Our main purpose is to find out more about Care of Creation so we ourselves can pray more intelligently and so we can bring back to Bethlehem a greater understanding and vision of the ministry of Care of Creation.
The combination of ecology and missions is not a familiar sort of ministry for me. Here’s a parallel that I found helpful. We’re used to the idea of medical missionaries trying to heal people’s bodies, which provides a pathway for the gospel, with the prayer that people’s souls will be redeemed and healed. Care of Creation is working to heal the environment, which provides a pathway for the gospel, with the prayer that people’s souls will be redeemed and healed.
I know we’re supposed to be stewards of the world God put us in, but I’ve always been wary of environmental activists, because so many seem to make the world itself into god. So I’m excited that to learn more about these things with a biblical foundation.
I found Ed Brown’s book, Our Father’s World: Mobilizing the Church to Care for Creation, to be a very helpful beginning.
