Praise Reports October 31, 2007

It’s really  cool to be able to post praise reports before we even leave for Honduras.  Every time I’ve been on a mission trip, I’m always amazed at how things fall into place in spite of my ineptness and anxieties.  At this point in my life, I shouldn’t be surprised when God answers prayers or provides in neat ways.  But, I always am.  Oh me of little faith.

We are taking shoeboxes for the kids at one of the orphanages.  Last week, Allison Marino who went on the Honduras trip this past summer, contacted me about having her Key Club at the high school where she teaches make shoeboxes.  Not only are they going to make shoeboxes, but I’ll also have a chance to talk with the students about what we’re doing.  Please be praying that this might open some doors to sharing Christ with students at Allison’s high school who aren’t Christians.

This past Sunday we had our Soupfest fundraiser at church.  It was a big success, and we raised quite a bit of money toward the trip.

These past few weeks my community group has been studying The Church of Irresistible Influence by Robert Lewis.  We talked about how to build bridges to our community so that we can earn the right to share the Gospel.  We talked quite a bit about how we know what “bridge” to commit too and how we do that in our society that is so busy and fast-paced.  When so many bridges are needed and we only have a limited amount of time, where do you start to build?

These two praise reports remind me that some bridges need lots of workers to help build them.  This mission trip needs lots of bridge builders–people to pray, give, organize Soupfests.  The five of us going couldn’t do it on our own.

That’s another thing I love about mission trips:  getting to see the body of Christ at work–each person serving according to the gifts God has granted.

Team Profiles: Jennifer October 26, 2007

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Originally uploaded by jarobers

So, one of the members of the Honduras team is my best friend from college, Jennifer. I have known Jennifer for almost 15 years. We met the first day of college in our orientation group, lived in the same dorm for three years, and were both English majors.

Jen went to Grace Kingsport until about nine months ago when she moved to Florida for her job. I’m so excited about her going on this trip. She said her role on the trip was to keep me sane (an impossible task, I might add!). Jen has amazing organizational abilities and is a great aunt to some really cute nieces and nephews, so I know the kids will have a fun time with her.

Everybody needs a friend that knows the good, the bad, and the ugly and still wants to be a friend. Jennifer is that kind of friend for me. She has got to hear (or rather been made to listen) to alot of my stories from these trips the last few years. It’s exciting to talk about something and then be able to show that to friends and family.

Why Orphans? October 24, 2007

I’ve been taking a great class this semester called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. I have learned some really great things about missions that I want to share more about here.

Last night our speaker was Phil Hudson from New Missions Systems International. He talked about different ways of viewing the task of reaching unreached peoples. You may have heard of the 10/40 window. Phil also talked about some different “windows” for reaching the world.

One of these is the 5/15 window. I’m not sure of the exact statistic, but something around 96% of the world’s Christian population comes to faith between the ages of 5-15 years old. Phil recounted his travels in Africa and meeting some AIDS orphans. He recalled seeing a group of young kids walking along wearing tattered clothing and shoes. He asked his companion what those kids were doing. “They’re orphans,” his friend replied. Phil said his first response was to want to run to those kids and embrace them.

A little while later they were driving along and met a group teenagers wearing the same tattered clothing and shoes. Phil said, “Why are they?” His friend replied, “They’re orphans too.” This time Phil’s response was to lock the door.

He then asked the question: What happens to a generation of children who raise themselves? What happens when there are no boundaries or restraints put in place by families or church or an education system or the government? What happens when children are left on their own? It doesn’t take long to read these articles, to see what happens.

That question alone answer why ministry to orphans is important. Here’s some statistics from Unicef about orphaned and vulnerable children:

• In Central and Eastern Europe alone, almost 1.5 million children live in public care
• In Russia, the annual number of ‘children left without parental care’ has more than doubled over the last 10 years, despite falling birth rates.
• Conflict has orphaned or separated 1 million children from their families in the 1990s.
• An estimated two to five per cent of the refugee population are unaccompanied children.
• An estimated 143 million children are orphaned by one or both parents. (‘Children on the Brink 2004. A Joint Report of New Orphan Estimates and a Framework for Action. UNICEF/UNAIDS/USAID. July 2004).
• The number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS is expected to jump to more than 25 million. In 12 African countries, projections show that orphans will comprise at least 15 per cent of all children under 15 years of age by 2010.

Orphaned children are more vulnerable to violence, trafficking, exploitation, and other abuses. These children also have less access to education, health care, and other services.
I think about my own childhood that is so completely opposite of what these kids experience. I was thinking today about all the people throughout my life who have been faithful to show up and disciple me–everyone from my parents to Sunday School teachers to godly women mentors and friends–I have been blessed with an abundance of people who care about me. The opportunity to share a little bit of that with the kids we’ll meet is worth any amount of effort or sacrifice to do so. In fact, it’s really no sacrifice at all if one kid can know that Christ in him, the hope of glory.

Fundraising is Underway October 24, 2007

Fundraising efforts for the Honduras trip have begun in earnest this week. It’s hard to imagine how we will raise $7500 in less than 2 months. We’ve been learning in our team meetings about support raising and whether or not it is Biblical.  One of the things we’ve been learning is that support raising–both prayer and finances–is essential.

First, it expresses our dependence on God.  Ultimately, He is the source of all our support.  Support raising is also a spiritual battle.  Satan can easily discourage us from going on cross-cultural missions because of a perceived lack of funds.  That is probably the number one excuse that I have heard people give for not going on mission trips.  I’ve never seen people who are committed and called by God to serve in missions not raise the needed support.  As hard as that is for me to believe sometimes, it is true.  Missions is never a financial decision because the God of the all the universe is our source of support.

Here’s a few ways to be involved as you feel led:

1. Contribute a shoebox full of a variety of gifts to be distributed to the children
2. Attend Soupfest on Sunday at GFC Kingsport. All contributions will go toward supporting the Honduras Trip.
3. Send a financial gift to the team.  Send contributions to GFC Kingsport and put Honduras Mission trip on the memo.
4. Pray for us weekly as we prepare and daily as we are in Honduras.  If you can only do one thing, choose this one.

Honduras Video October 19, 2007

Here’s a video I made to show in church on Sunday to announce our shoebox collection.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5005921249585032839&hl=en

The dates of the shoebox collection are actually November 4-25th, 2007.