An Awakening

This is an incredible song! Chris Tomlin sings it like no other. It is one of my wife's favorite songs as well. I wanted to share it with you because it was played at the Hope International Dinner on Saturday evening and then again by the LWCC Worship Team Sunday morning.

This is exactly what our World needs: An awakening.

Guest Writer: Pastor Rob Tucker!!

The Beauty was in Their Faces
When I traveled to Ethiopia I had one prayer before I left. It was simply this: Lord, show me your beauty in this place. When our group arrived at the airport, we came face to face with some pretty ugly behavior. Men toting automatic weapons demanded that we allow them to search all of our belongings, including our medical supplies. They held us up for hours, and for no reasonable explanation they confiscated much of our needed supplies. They told us we could come back the next day, and if they felt like it, we could get them back.

Driving through the city of Addis Ababa was also glum. I was still praying to see the beauty of God in this place, but the city cried in desperation for help - run down buildings, burnt out cars, roads that needed repair. Anyplace that wasn’t a road seemed to be mud. Not a big fan. The hotel was nice, but it was a constant reminder to me that as Americans in this place, we were the “haves”. A glimpse out my window to the rear of the hotel reminded me that we were surrounded by the “have-nots.”

The next day, the medical clinic was swarming with people in dire need of help. All kinds of ailments and diseases were represented. Our doctors told us that many of the sicknesses could have been cured by a $10 visit to the pharmacist back home. But who had $10 here? Might as well have been $10,000. As a result small ailments become full blown health issues. Where was the beauty in this?

I prayed in earnest for God to show me his beauty. And he answered that prayer! As a part of our “village team,” we began to do daily work at the schools with the children, and we also paid visits to people with HIV and AIDs. The beauty was in their faces. And the beauty was overwhelming. What I had missed before I saw so clearly now. It was if Jesus himself was shining through every smile, every touch, every embrace.

My lesson was well learned. Stop looking for beauty in your surroundings. See it in the people who are all around you. You don’t have to go to a foreign land to see God’s beauty in their faces!

Pastor Rob Tucker is the Youth Pastor at Living Word Community Church in York, PA. He is one of the people who inspired me to take a mission's trip to Sendafa, Ethiopia. Please visit his blog by clicking here. Rob and his lovely wife Rob are in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia. You can learn more about his story at his blog. This blog was posted here with his permission 

Did God really create TOO MANY people and NOT ENOUGH resources?

This question was raised tonight at the dinner we attending, celebrating the one millionth micro-finance loan given this year through Hope International to people in poverty stricken countries.

Does the picture to the right make you feel uncomfortable? I hope so. Why are there so many people here in America and other wealthy nations that have so much, while there are people in some countries that have so very little? Did God really create too many people and not enough resources to take care of them?

You and I both know that is not the case. I see this as an opportunity for us to take care of God's people as we would take care of our own children. We can wipe extreme poverty from face of the earth once and for all if there were enough people committed to helping out their fellow man.

I want you to imagine for a minute that this little boy on the left was your child. Could you bear the thought of knowing that he may not live to see tomorrow because you simply do not have the means to put food on the table?

There are days in my house that we throw out more food that this child will probably eat in a week or two. We have been so incredibly blessed. Who are we to shrug our shoulders at this obvious need around the world?

There is hope! Hope International helps provide people in poverty-stricken countries with micro-economic loans with means to start a business to support their families and sometimes their communities. Rather than simply buy them food, Hope International uses the "teach a man to fish" mentality to help eradicate poverty one small loan at a time. They have thousands of success stories and I encourage you to read about them on their website by clicking here. Not only does Hope International provide loans for their physical needs, but they help with spiritual needs as well. Many people have come to the Saving Grace of Jesus Christ through the love extended by this program all around the world.

What are you going to do about poverty?

HOPE International Annual Spring Celebration Dinner

My wife and I are very excited and blessed to be attending this event tomorrow. We will be attending with eight other members of our January Ethiopia trip.

HOPE International (HOPE) is a Christian faith-based, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on alleviating physical and spiritual poverty through microenterprise development. To read more about this incredible ministry, you can visit their website by clicking here.

This event will be attended by over 30 ministry partners from all over the world to celebrate the work that God is doing through HOPE International. They will also be presenting the Thurman Award to a client "who exemplifies HOPE’s values of perseverance, innovation, and service". We will also get the opportunity to hear from Dr. Scott Todd, a visionary leader in the fight to eradicate extreme poverty in this generation.

Please join us in prayer that God will work this special event and through this ministry to reach people with His Grace and Understanding throughout the world.

I Want to Know Your God

As I write this, and am overflowing with excitement! This story is incredible! Let me slow down and tell you from the beginning...

My wife and I visited this woman when we were in Sendafa in January. She and her husband have HIV and are currently on anti-retro viral drugs that we are providing to almost 500 people in the village of Sendafa. Their two children also have HIV.

She is a stay at home Mother and her Husband has no full time job. He works wherever and whenever he can find odd jobs to do. He also rents some weaving equipment and makes beautiful cloth (she is holding some in the picture), but he cannot afford the supplies that he needs to make enough to sell in the market.

Shortly after we left, the PAAV (Project Adopt a Villeage) staff contacted the man and told him that we could help him with a small business loan in order for him to purchase the weaving equipment (rather than rent it) and get enough supplies to begin weaving full time.

He was elated and immediately began weaving full time. He and his wife now sell his fabric in the market and make enough money to support their children comfortably. He has even been able to open a small savings account in the village's new bank and is making payments on his loan already. When he talked to Dr. Frew he said that he was so proud and happy "because my children are no longer hungry". (Bianca and I wept when we heard this)

But wait! ...it get's better! When Pastor Steve Almquist was telling us this story this morning he also shared the best part: Two week ago, as Dr. Frew was leaving the clinic, this man was waiting for him outside the gate. He said that he did not have an appointment, but wished to speak to him. He then thanked Dr. Frew for all that we had done to help him, and told him "I want to know your God. I want to worship the God that you worship. Please tell me about him." As Doctor Frew told the man about our God, he accepted the Lord as his Savior on the spot! He then asked the Doctor to come talk to his brother about Jesus too. The brother has not yet accepted Christ, but with our prayers and your prayers, I have a feeling that he will soon.

This family attended Church last Sunday for the first time in their lives and they plan on attending regularly. God is so good!

It is so encouraging to hear how God is working in the hearts of these people in our village of Sendafa, even while we cannot be there. Please join us in prayer that may Ethipian's will come to experience the over-whelming grace and love of God and will invite Him into their hearts.

God bless you, and God bless Sendafa!

This previously unreleased footage was shot and edited by Clifton Kern.

(see his website here)

Please keep your heart open while watching it.

God bless Sendafa.

Push Back The Darkness

This month at Living Word Community Church, we are presenting our Global Missions Focus. As I sat and listened to the guest speaker yesterday morning, one thing that he said kept ringing in my head. This morning and throughout the day it continued to echo in my head over and over. What he said was: "Push back the darkness!" The way that he pronounced it, it was almost a rally cry or a command. Maybe that it why in embedded itself so deeply in my mind.

One scripture that the speaker focused on was Romans 10: 13-17.
  
¹³For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
 ¹⁴How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
 ¹⁵And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

I love these verses. Contained in them are a promise, a logical progression of thought, a conclusion, and a statement of the reward that comes to those who reach out to others with the gospel.

Of course, other that the promise of Salvation, the most important message in this passage is the question of how shall people hear the Word without a Preacher. A Preacher can be anyone. You do not need to be ordained and licensed to tell others the Good News. This is why Missions is so important. By supporting missions, you are indirectly reaching people that you would never have the opportunity to speak to.

I encourage each of you to give to your local Missions programs through your Church. Please also consider supporting Ethiopia.