"Why are you so insistent that we join you for dinner tonight Sylvia? Why feed strangers?" I asked our eighteen-year old Kenyan hostess as I took a seat on the dirt floor of
her family's tent.
"I never pass up an opportunity to serve Jesus a meal," she answered with a smile. As she prepared our meal, she began to share her story. The portrait she painted contains no green pastures or still waters--only violence, death and devastation--yet she told it with full confidence in God's goodness and faithfulness...
By tradition, violence follows Kenyan elections. The losers attack those that supported the winner, often burning their towns to the ground. Four years ago, Sylvia's village experienced this, and she had to flee for her life. Some of her friends and neighbors escaped, but many of the children and elderly were chopped to death with machetes. Sylvia remembers watching four young boys seek shelter in a church. The enemy boarded up the doors and windows with them inside and then set it on fire. No one made it out.
Sylvia watched this. She experienced it.
Why then do she and her family wake up every morning
thankful and praising God?
In the video below, I told her to preach to us. She was the most qualified one in the room to educate us about what our response should be in the face of destruction, to explain how we as sons and daughters should respond to the subject of destruction in our lives. "The floor is yours Sylvia. Tell us, because none of us knows..."
What a privilege to have Mike Shaul and Ben West speak to our entire office staff at a recent gathering! Ten years ago, while they were in high school, Mike and Ben served on an Adventures summer outreach. They traveled to Lima, Peru with a team of twenty and planted five churches in one month's time. Throughout their trip, they saw God work many miracles, and they sensed Him confirming His callings on their lives.
Since that time, Adventures has partnered with Mike and Ben, discipling them and helping them build the Kingdom in unreached parts of the world. Both men met their wives on an Adventures trip, both now have bilingual children, and both have received multiple short-term teams from us.
I can barely express the excitement I felt as I listened to these guys speak about how they and their families have given themselves to the Lord in full-time ministry. Their ministries represent a common theme around Adventures: 20 and 30-somethings responding to God's call to go and disciple... In fact, we have a brand new team of missionaries in Kenya, and I will be visiting them in April and July. Want to join me?
Watch for my next blog about traveling with me to Kenya!
Since we launched the ministry last month, Kingdom Dreams is on a path to become the premier location to be inspired, equipped to pursue your God-given dreams and passions.
Kingdom Dreams helps you dream and experiment, clarifying your dream and connecting you to others who may be able to help you.
Our basic premise is this: God loves dreams. And he
loves to use his people to bring his will on earth. So, we want to find
out what those dreams are, hidden in people's hearts, and bring them to
fruition through connecting people, ideas, and opportunities.
On a technical level, we're offering coaching, curriculum, and community to anyone who has a dream (or a passion for dreaming).
We're only a month into this thing, and we're already seeing tremendous fruit.
Hundreds of dreamers and organizations have shown
interest in being a part of Kingdom Dreams, and we're trying to keep up
with how quickly God is moving through this initiative.
A dream this big needs the help of the body of Christ. Here are some ways to get involved:
1. Provide an opportunity: We want to provide our dreamers with a job, ministry, or volunteer opportunity that matches their passion. Let us know if you have an opportunity for passionate world changers.
2. Help us network: Many dreamers need to serve under someone else's dream while they mature and grow. Contact us if you can connect dreamers to a variety of opportunities
3. Become a coach: Dreamers need mentors and coaches. You have life experience and wisdom to share. Help walk someone down their unique path by becoming an advocate.
4. Spread the word: Do you believe in this vision of
making God's dreams come true through connecting people with
world-changing ideas? Share Kingdom Dreams with your friends, church,
pastor, and other network by:
Reposting this post on your blog, or writing your own.
Talk about Kingdom Dreams on Twitter or post a link on Facebook. You can use the shortened URL http://bit.ly/kdreams.
Most of these students come from 3 different orphanages, of which non of the kids can afford to get an education, this school exists for the least of these in Haiti.
During our YMATH trip to Haiti last week with a team of bloggers and storytellers, our videographer Ian accidentally fell into a hole. (For more on this, read Ian's blog he posted today: What Not to Do in Haiti: Fall in a Hole).
We were fortunate enough to have several skilled people on the trip who were experts at applying hand sanitizer to gaping wounds.
Here's Ian telling more about his battle with the hole:
And here's the hole:
Falling in holes aside, it was a great trip. Thank you for your prayers. The Lord is truly moving in Haiti in amazing ways. Find out more about how you can join him by clicking here.
I just returned from Haiti a day ago. And hopefully, if you've followed my blogs, you've been able to see some of the hope that has arisen in the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere (before the earthquake). What was supposed to be a week dedicated to revelry with the enemy transposed into a week of dancing for Jesus as the country fasted and prayed for Haiti's re-birth.
The process of re-building Haiti will be long and tedious and it will go beyond meeting just people's physical needs. Spiritually the Bride of Christ, in Haiti is hungry for more of him and you are the vessel he wants to use. We put together a video of some of the footage from the latest trip about what it will look like for you to go.
If you've read our Haiti blog; you've heard about the hope running rampant in the streets of Haiti. Here is another couple of videos of a parade of people dancing and praising Jesus as well as an interview with a local about the festivities.
