New Job!

After several months of transition a routine is starting to emerge!  On August 1, John started his new position with Food for the Hungry.  John’s new position is Program Director for the Luke 2:52 project and Director of US Church Engagement.  (That is the name we are using now, although the title is subject to change as the position becomes more clarified.)  John will begin his job focusing on organizing and launching the expansion of the Luke 2:52 program. 

The Bible verse, Luke 2:52 talks about the wholistic growth of Jesus.  These four areas (mental, physical, spiritual and social) provide the framework for all development strategies used in the FH fields.    The Luke 2:52 program is a project that seeks to encourage and strengthen local indigenous churches through wholistic ministry principles.  By taking churches through a 10-module training, over the course of 5 years the program seeks to reveal God’s intentions for the local church and its role in overcoming all forms of poverty within its people and the community for which it is located. 

The Luke 2:52 program has existed and been running for over 10 years in several Southeast Asian countries and has produced incredible results.  By empowering local churches through ideas and principles rather than finances and material resources the program is changing the way local Christians think, which is in turn changing the communities they live in.  Over the past ten years 1,000 churches have been trained through this program and several hundred have declared their local communities as having been lifted from severe poverty through this project. 

John’s connection to this program is as follows.  For the past 3 years in Bolivia John has been working to implement this program among local churches around Sucre.  Through training up 3 Bolivian pastors as project leaders, the project has slowly “taken off’ in Sucre.  Though only a few of our churches in Sucre have officially graduated the program, much positive fruit has been observed  As we have witnessed the churches walking in obedience to God we have seen God be faithful in providing for them in numerous ways. 

Around 6 months ago, John started the process of handing over this project to several key pastors and leaders.  This transition has happened in order for John to take his current position, which is overseeing the expansion of this church-strengthening project globally.  As this project looks to expand into other countries and regions John will be in charge of organizing and launching these programs.  John will spend a great deal of time developing new training curriculum and organizing manuals for teachers and students alike. 

Along with the Luke 2:52 project John will also be working with a variety of churches and organizations here in the US to train and implement Missions education.  John will teach and train in various lessons dealing with poverty, worldview, and the role of the local church.

We are very excited about this new role and look forward to sharing more as his position grows! 

Debriefing

In mid July three of us (John, Jennie and Ella) took off for Colorado Springs to attend missionary debriefing and renewal (DAR) with an organization called MTI (Missionary Training International).   We spent a week at a retreat center call The Hideaway with 16 other families that were also moving back to the US from various countries all over the world.  The main topics we touched on were stress, transition, and soul care.  Most importantly it was a time to share with each other the good, the bad and the ugly, and to discover that what we are feeling is completely normal!

The Hideaway

Ella had her own "class" of 5-6 year olds.  Everyday she also talked and played with kids that were in the same position as she was.  Her amazing teacher, Sandy, helped these kids to learn how to figure out how they were feeling and helped them to put words to those feelings.  We as parents learned invaluable strategies to work with Ella in helping her grieve in a positive way and adjust to a new culture.  We learned a lot about how this transition is different for her than it is for us.  We left Bolivia and came back to something familiar.  For Ella, Bolivia was what was familiar and more "home" to her than the US.

We can't speak highly enough of this amazing opportunity to attend DAR.  We met incredible people and cherished the chance to take a break from our crazy life-in-transition- to really process what we were going through emotionally.  We learned wonderful coping skills and made great friendships as well.

The beautiful view of Pikes Peak we woke up to every morning.

Ella's class

DAR debriefing group, July 2012

July: Still on the Move

After 2 great weeks we said our final good-byes to friends and family in Cincinnati.  Sunday afternoon June 24th Jennie and the girls took a flight from Columbus, OH to Sioux City, IA and then on to Yankton, SD by car.  John took off with the moving truck the next morning.  He stopped in Indy to pick up our good friend Bill Fisher, who graciously offered to accompany John on the 15 hour drive to South Dakota.  It certainly made those 15 hours fly by and we are so grateful for Bill's willingness to come.  

For the month of July, Yankton was our home and Jennie's parents let us "move in".  We can't thank them enough for making their home our home and helping out with the girls as we took on the task of transitioning our lives back to the US.  Our list was big and at times very overwhelming: house, cars, insurance, cell phones (surprisingly the most stressful decision!) schooling for Ella, etc.  Jennie's parents were pactient with us as we slowly made progress and the Lord was so good in providing for our needs. It was indeed a very special time to live with parents/grandparents.  One that doesn't happen often, but we really had a great time and enjoyed our late evenings of pinochle.

Enjoying the "beach" at Lewis and Clark Lake, Yankton SD

One of the amazing ways the Lord provided for us was in our housing arrangements.  We knew we would have to start out renting, as getting a mortgage without having lived in the US for several years was going to be impossible.  We really wanted to find a house (rather than apartment or condo) to rent since John was going to be working from home and needing an extra bedroom for an office.  We were really struggling to find something in our price range that was in a decent neighborhood.  We discovered that good homes were renting really fast.  So Jennie made several appointments to see a few rentals and we headed up to Sioux Falls one weekend.  The very first home we went through had been foreclosed and stood empty for 2 years.  A couple purchased the home and were in the process of redoing everything...so it was in rough shape.  But the potential was awesome and it was in our price range.  We filled out an application that same day but were bummed to learn that 3 others had filled out an application that same day as well.  The only thing we could do was to sit and wait.  Two days later, we received a phone call from the landlords saying they wanted to rent their home to us!  Just one day of house hunting and 2 days later we were able to cross off a huge item from our list.

Moving day was three weeks later.   We went back to the storage unit in Sioux Falls where we had unloaded all of our things a month earlier.  A big thanks to my family for helping us move in.  (Uncle Dean, Dan-O, Cousin Riley, Uncle Dave, Cousin Matt, Dad and Mom for watching the kiddos!)  We've moved that stuff into and out of storage units quite a few times in the past 2 months, and all the help really made it all seem pretty easy!

Back to the States!

We officially left Sucre on June 8th.  After spending a few days in Santa Cruz, we got on our 2:30 am flight to Orlando, Florida via Panama City, Panama.  (Thanks Ces for finding us a place to stay!)  Despite the early hour, everything went without a hitch.  We were excited to get through the flight and on to our little mini family vacation in Florida.  After spending 3 days at Clearwater beach we flew into Columbus, Ohio where we were received by our family, signs and wonderful smiling faces!

We spent the following 3 weeks in Cincinnati.  The best way to tell you about our time there is to thank everyone who did so much to help us in our first transition back to the States.

Thank-you to the Angstadt family for hosting us!  We invaded their home with our 2 young energetic children and over 10 pieces of luggage.  They fed us, played with our kids and let us do loads of laundry.

Thank-you to the Kendall family for letting us borrow their car for three weeks!  It was an invaluable gift to us.

Thank-you to the Hope Missions committee for taking us out to eat, and listening with open hearts as we shared about our time in Bolivia and the next steps God has laid out for us.  Your continued support means so much!

Thank-you to the Journey and Empty Nesters communities, and the kids ministry of Hope Church for allowing us to share about our journey home and sharing in our excitement for our new ministry.

Thank-you to the Jensen family, for the awesome welcome home basket that was waiting for us a the Angstadt home.  For the fun night out on the town, great pool afternoons, for taking our family for a fun day to King's Island, and for your amazing friendship!

Thank-you to Erin for driving down to Cincinnati to spend the afternoon with Jennie.  It was great to have a heart to heart with a great friend.

Thank-you to Collin for helping to organizing a troop of people to help us pack up our moving truck.  And of course for everyone that showed up to help us move!  (Denny, Steve, Joe and Lori, Lee, Melvin, Jeff, Rob, Collin, and Greg)  We couldn't believe you all showed up and how quickly we were able to get it all done.

Thank-you to Matt Jensen for coming over for "ice cream" which turned into a 3 hour-repacking of our 24 foot truck to fit in a few last minute things.  (Can you see Matt in the picture below...way back in the truck on top of everything?)

Thank-you to the Pinkston and the Dowling family for storing some of our things for 3 years (!) in their basement!

Last but not least a big thank you to the Warden/Dowling family.  For welcoming us home with open arms, watching our kids, all the fun sleepovers with cousins, and showering our kids with gifts and special outings.  We love you and appreciate your support.

The danger of starting a list like this is that it's impossible to record everyone and everything that was done for us while we were home.  There is probably people who were doing things in preparation of our return that we aren't even aware of.  So...for those of you not on the list, for all the dinners and lunches, and encouraging words shared with us, THANK YOU!

May: Selling, Packing, Good-byes

To begin to explain the craziness of May, we really have to preface the month by explaining what happened a few months earlier as we were planning our trip back to the US.  We knew we were going to have a LOT of luggage.   We also knew that American Airlines (the only US airline that flies to Bolivia) just reduced their baggage allowance to only one bag per person, with the second back being $70.  With this in mind, we were going to fly on Aerosur Airlines, a Bolivian airline and the only other airline besides American Airlines that flights nonstop to the US.  They just started flying into Washington, DC, which was perfect for us, because we could fly Southwest from there to Columbus and avoid any kind of luggage fee.  When we went to purchase our Aerosur tickets in March, we found out that just the day before Aerosur had suspended all their international flights.  It was the beginning of a huge mess, including bankruptcy, which the airline was and is going through.  It's a long tale of corruption and government involvement that I won't get into in this blog, but basically...it really fouled up our plans.  Eventually we would find out that we couldn't even fly Aerosur domestically, which in and of itself opened up it's own can of worms.  We were left with 2 options.  Either the expensive American Airlines ticket or another South American carrier that would stop for a layover somewhere in South America. We decided to try COPA airlines which stopped in Panama City and eventually continued on to Orlando, FL.  The flight was super cheap, which was wonderful, but there was one big downside...the flight left at 2:30am in the morning!  

By the time May arrived we had most of the departure details figured out, now it was time to sell our stuff!  And boy did we have stuff to sell.  We moved to Bolivia with just 6 big duffle bags and 3 small carry-on bags.  Months later we moved into an apartment that had NO furnishings...not even appliances.  We had to purchase all those things on our own, so now it was time to sell them.  We made a list of all the things we had for sale and started to circulate them around to everyone we knew.  (Craigslist hasn't made it to Sucre yet!) Much to our surprise, we had a LOT of interest in our things and sold most of the major items by the end of April.  To sell the rest of our things we decided to have a garage sale, despite the horror stories we had heard from other missionaries.  We thought the best way to avoid many of the problems others had was to be super organized.  So we worked for several weeks, pricing everything and groupings like items together.  The hardest part of the garage sale was doing all of this with 2 children underfoot.  Anything we wanted to put out for the sale would quickly be undone by our 1 year old.  And our 5 year old was not happy to keep finding price tags on her toys!  We really couldn't set anything out until the night of the sale.  We were up until nearly 2am getting everything ready, but everything went really well during the day of the sale, and we were able to sell most of our things.  

Once we sold the things we weren't taking with us, the next task was packing up everything we were taking with us.  We couldn't fit everything into our suitcases, and ended up packing up 7 boxes to ship. We took a couple of weeks to carefully pack the boxes,  trying to select items that took up space yet weren't very heavy.  We were happy to finally seal up the boxes and take them, via taxi, to the post office.  

You may have looked ahead at the picture below to see open boxes.  No, we did not put the pictures out of order.  When we arrived to the post office we found out, much to our dismay, that the process for shipping boxes to the US had changed.  We were going to have to use boxes issued by the post office, and each and every item would have to be individually weighted on a little tiny scale.  UGGGG.  So our 20 minute trip to the post office to drop off our boxes turned into a 3 hour ordeal.  

With all the crazy details of physically moving we also had a lot of goodbyes to go through.  John was doing one last staff training before leaving, and before his training session the office surprised him with a 15 min time of appreciation and farewell. 

While our days were full, we tried to make sure we took time to have a few last visits to our favorite places and last dinners with friends.  It was especially important for us that Ella have good good-byes with her friends.  She had spent more of her life in Bolivia than in the US, and it had really become home to her.  She is doing a lot of blogging about her experience that you can read about on her blog if you are interested.  

Where HAVEN'T we been?

Well...the past few months have been a whirlwind adventure for our family.  We have learned that moving internationally is not for the faint at heart.  We can definitely say that we have walked through the most stressful and overwhelming time of our lives and are glad to have many moments behind us!

Here is a brief timeline summarizing our last few weeks:

June 3rd Flight from Sucre, Bolivia to Santa Cruz, Bolivia
June 5th 2:30am flight from Santa Cruz to Orlando, Fl, with one stop in Panama City
June 5th - June 8th - Family vacation in Tampa, Florida to recharge our batteries
June 8th flight from Orlando to Columbus, OH
June 8th - June 24th  Cincinnati, OH, spending time with family and friends, touching base with supporters about our new ministry position.  Packing up the moving truck with our things from Cincinnati.
June 24th - Jennie and the girls fly from Columbus to Sioux City and drive to Yankton SD to Jennie's parents.
June 25th - John and our friend Bill Fisher leave in the moving truck for the long drive to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
June 26th - unpack the truck in a storage unit in Sioux Falls, look at several rental home options (we found one that day!) and test drive minivans
June 28th - present - We are currently staying with my parents and slowly getting back on our feet.  We are working on a million details, new cell phones, health/car/rental insurance, enrolling Ella in school, etc, etc, etc.


 While there were days where it seemed nothing could go our way, God has been so faithful throughout our journey and has blessed and guided us along the way.  He has used so many of YOU to bless and encourage us and for that we say THANK YOU.  We will try to chronicle our adventures in the next few blog posts.  Now that some time has passed we can now look back and laugh at the funny stories that added to the craziness of our adventure...hopefully they will bring a few laughs for you as well!

The Three Amigos!

Over the past 3 years John has been working with a great staff of FH workers.  With that said, we would like to introduce you to 2 very special FH friends who have blessed us and been a significant part of our ministry and family during this time.   Both Luis and Marcelo are pastors and have been a part of John’s church strengthening team over the past 3 years.  Both of them are very gifted and talented and have an incredible heart to see the local church growing in thriving in its role of transformation in the community.  John has learned so much from these 2 friends and he credits the success of their project with churches to the prayerful heart and passion of Luis and Marcelo. 

Marcelo Lazo is the country director of church strengthening for Bolivia.   John first met Marcelo the first week he was in Bolivia.  Two months later John and Marcelo traveled to Lima Peru for a church strengthening and worldview conference and God has continued to shape their friendship ever since.  Marcelo has a great sense of humor and has been a huge support of John over the past 3 years.  Each time Marcelo visits Sucre from La Paz he joins us for a dinner or lunch and we as a family have enjoyed getting to know Marcelo.  Ella has especially become a good friend of Marcelo’s.  John has found it a privilege to support Marcelo in his efforts to reshape the philosophy of working with churches and they have become great friends through the challenges, obstacles and difficulties of working with churches.

Luis Negron, is John’s co-worker in Sucre.  Luis joined the church strengthening staff about 2 years ago.  God could not have provided a better fit for John in the work he has been doing here in Sucre.  Luis is an incredible man of God and has such a humble and joyful spirit.  Luis and John have been working with over 20 churches the past 2 years and John is blessed to be sharing this responsibility with a pastor who has such a passionate heart and is so gifted to do this work well.  Luis has an incredible testimony of transformation and God has used his story to touch and relate to so many pastors, families, and youth in Sucre.  John looks forward to working time with Luis each day and together they make a great team!!!

Both Luis and Marcelo have been such a blessing to us here in Sucre.  Our work with churches has grown due to the amazing spirit and heart that both of these men have.  John has learned so much from both of these individuals and is thankful for the unique friendship that has been fostered over the past 3 years.  

Thanks Luis and Marcelo for making our ministry and time here in Bolivia such a joy! 

Poverty Part 3

EMPOWERING THE LOCAL CHURCH

The moment Adam rebelled against God in the Garden everything God created became corrupt.  Since that moment God has been redeeming the carnage that began with Adam, resolving the brokenness and restoring all things to himself.  By following the Apostle Paul’s dialogue in Ephesians chapters 1-3 one realizes the important role of the church.  Ephesians 1:22-23 states “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in everyway.”  As believers in Christ, the church (local and global, individual and corporate) should be a representative of God’s fullness in everything and in every way.  The church should be the most compelling poverty alleviation advocate that exists!  The church will never be perfect, but this is God’s intention as revealed to Believers through the apostle Paul. 

Paul continues this thought in Ephesians 3:10, “His intent was that now through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.”  The Oxford Dictionary defines “manifold” as: “many and various, having many different forms or elements.”  The wisdom of God is multi-dimensional, expansive and seeks to include the restoration of all that was broken in the fall.   As the church obeys Christ’s purpose, it administers his agenda and declares the manifold wisdom of God.  This results in some major ecclesiastical implications!  I believe the scriptures are clear, that God desires to accomplish His redemptive purposes through using the church (local and global, individual and corporate). 

Since the local church is composed of sinful people, it is not without flaws.   However, one should realize that this is the agent that God has utilized to demonstrate and carry out His intentions.  As Christians seek to eliminate and combat poverty, they should also realize the important role the church has in this process.  Whether it is a group of local believers united together to make a difference or an organized structured church established in the vulnerable area, these indigenous groups can and should be a strong ally for Christian relief and transformation.  Not only will the church have the opportunities to make lasting relations with those being served (which should be an open door for working on the roots of reconciliation) but the church also has important ownership in making this change to better their community.  A local church that grasps its role in holistic transformation can work at the roots of the problem much more effectively and more quickly than outside organizations because of its prior relationships and knowledge of the culture.  Though often times limited in material resources, a local church with a heart for transformation can still have a profound impact on a congregation that trusts in God’s multiplying power while living out his manifold wisdom.  Empowering indigenous people and the local church to transform their own communities is the most effective weapon against global poverty.    

Sometimes limitations and circumstances may arise when the resources of the local church are not enough to serve the needs or crisis of the community. When this happens it is often necessary to enlist the services of other outside resources.   Whenever possible, it is important to encourage the local church to implement a poverty alleviation plan.  Reaching and encouraging the local church to grasp this responsibility can be filled with a multitude of challenges.  Nevertheless, incredible rewards await when the church is empowered and equipped to be the agent and leader of poverty alleviation and transformation in their community.    

THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE

The issue that faces Christians today is not whether money should be given to alleviate poverty. In fact, one could argue that more money could and should be given. Rather the question is, are the resources given being used to fight poverty while also working at the root of the problem to bring long-term sustainable transformation. Helping the poor and poverty alleviation are two distinctive duties. Christians are clearly called to help the poor, that is an undisputable biblical mandate for those who follow and claim Jesus as Lord, but they are also called, as well, to have a deeper impact on the effects of poverty.   Poverty alleviation begins with the reconciliation power of Jesus. A redeemed life should result in a biblical value system, which establishes Godly behaviors and ultimately results in positive consequences. The poverty of man is a profound and multi-dimensional issue, so any effort to truly alleviate poverty should also be multi-faceted and diverse. There are a multitude of ways Christians can give money to be cost effective, which is important and valuable, but seeking impact effectiveness and transformation should be the goal. 

Partnering with organizations or local churches that see poverty not from the secularist worldview of solely material resources, but rather from a biblical worldview rooted in the brokenness of our fundamental relationships could result in an eternal investment that is immeasurable.  I believe the biblical method of poverty alleviation is partnering with groups and churches that seek to care for the needy while at the same time connecting the individual to the greater need of reconciliation with God.  The task is not easy and the results may not be immediate, but the calling is clear.  Christians should not be distracted from the target, but rather compelled to be God’s agents of reconciliation seeking to alleviate poverty and to encourage others to live in healthy relationships with God, others, themselves and all of creation.    

Poverty - part 2 - At the Roots

When discussing the term poverty, it is vital for Christians to approach the dialogue from a biblical perspective. Though our American cultural has told us that poverty is the result of the lack of material resources, I believe the Bible sees poverty as a deeper issue. Human beings, God’s crown jewel of creation, have profound potential and value. The place this potential often falls short is through the fallen nature of man first brought about through the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. With the entrance of sin came the reality of spiritual, emotional and physical poverty, a complex and devastating result that continues to afflict the world today. The poverty of man is grounded in the brokenness of his four key relationships established by God from the beginning. The most obvious and detrimental broken relationship is man’s separation fromGod. Separation from God and brokenness in this primary relationship has both severe current and eternal consequences. Next is man’s brokenness with others, himself, and all of God’s creation. These four relationships are characteristic of all humans, each made in the image of their Creator. Therefore, poverty as defined by Bryant Myers in Walking with the Poor (pg 86) is “a result of relationships that do not work (are broken), that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable.” The consequence of this holistic brokenness manifests itself in a multifaceted poverty that can cause pain and grief in all aspects of individual, family, and societal life. Many of the examples of poverty that exist in the world today (hunger, enslavement, sickness) are a direct result of broken relationships that have brought about corruption or oppression, therefore, resulting in severe poverty.


On the flip side, when viewing poverty from a biblical perspective one recognizes that material wealth does not bring holistic poverty alleviation. The secularist worldview that promotes the stockpiling of money and material resources may provide for physical necessities, but it does
not reconcile our broken relationships. Some of the wealthiest people in the world are suffering from severe spiritual and social poverties. The brokenness they are experiencing from being separated from God has lead to a life without purpose, wrecked marriages and shattered relationships. The decay is there and is often masked by material wealth and worldly recognition. The reality is this. Without the reconciliation power of Jesus Christ, man continues to live in a spiraling state of spiritual, emotional, and physical poverty.


Hope is not lost. Christians believe that the blood of Jesus was shed to redeem mankind and “reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Col. 1:20). When a person submits his life to the Lordship of Jesus a restoration process begins. Hope for the brokenness of his relationships in all capacities is restored. What Christians must also realize is that poverty is a deep rooted issue in cultural and societal worldviews. For this reason, the immediate impact on physical poverty is many times not apparent. Poverty, in many cases
is a generational issue, re-enforced through lies that have destroyed and debilitated one’s ability to grow and develop his potential. Many of those living in severe material poverty have developed a fatalistic mindset that breeds hopelessness for any sort of change or cure to their current condition. They live with little optimism of things being any different than the way they have always been. Therefore, Christians who toil at the deepest levels of poverty alleviation must be advised that overcoming physical poverty takes time, effort and great intentionality. However, in the midst of these obstacles is recognition of God’s life- changing power. The faith of a Christian is rooted in the assurance that as man submits, God restores, promise returns, behaviors are changed and poverty (from a biblical perspective) can slowly be alleviated.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION

Not all physical poverty is equal. The child dying of starvation, the widow desperate for medicine or care, or the family displaced by famine, hurricane or earthquake is in need of immediate action. Christians must not wait. Christians must react with due diligence and passion to serve and care for the immediate physical needs of these individuals. With each bowl of rice served, and every dose of medicine given, Christians must realize that a greater message is being spoken. This is a message of hope and reconciliation. A message that declares that all men have been made in the image of God and have infinite value, dignity and purpose. As Christians serve they must also connect. The Christian aspiration should be to not only connect the individual to the love of Jesus but also connect them to an entity that can walk with them through the hardships of life and disciple them in the promise offered through Jesus Christ on the cross.


Enter the local church.


The final section of this article and next post will focus on the power of the local
church and the Christian response.

Poverty - part 1

Last year we featured a few blogs discussing more in-depthly what our actual ministry is here in Bolivia on a day-to-day basis. Many times when you mention you are doing church strengthening it comes with a respond like, “great, so what exactly are you doing?” A legitimate question to say the least. As explained last year John has spent the last 2 years training Bolivian pastors in a variety of biblical principles such as worldview, ethics, and holistic ministries values. This training is part of a three phase process that John and his co-worker Luis have initiated and been walking with pastors through for the past few years. Over the months we have been greatly encouraged by the results of this work and the impact it has had on many Bolivian families living in extreme poverty. 


As expected, changing worldviews and alleviating poverty is a very long process. That is part of the reason the whole project that John is apart of is focused on training Bolivian pastors to catch the values and principles being taught. The goal would then be that these pastors replicate the ideas in their own churches as well as with trainings to other colleagues and leaders in the ministry. Raising up new leaders who grasp the biblical perspectives of the role of the church is the key to transforming families, communities, and a nation. In order to explain this idea of poverty alleviation and its connection to the local church, we would like to post an article written by John on this idea. We will separate the article into a variety of different blog posts, in order to keep it manageable. We hope this explains even more about what we do in Bolivia and why our focus is on the local church. 


Poverty Alleviation from the Roots 
A buzz phrase among many evangelicals and within the Christian Church today is the expression “poverty alleviation”.  For many Christians this topic elicits a plethora of thoughts, ideas and actions that are often associated with the command to reach out and care for the “least of these” (Mat. 25:40). Many Christians are well aware of the over 400 verses in the Bible that identify God’s concern for the poor.  Christians understand that God is a Father to the Fatherless (Psalm 68:5), a deliverer of the needy and the afflicted (Psalm 72:12), and a God who secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy (Psalm 140:12).  The God of the Bible is an active, protective, fatherly God who sees the poor as precious in his sight (Psalm 72:14).  So how do Christians live out these commands and help the poor to embrace God’s plan for their life?  What actions can Christians take to combat poverty and empower the poor to change and reach their potential?   


In the February 2012 issue of Christianity Today, an informative article entitled “Cost-Effective Compassion: The 10 Most Popular Strategies for Helping the Poor” points out some very succinct ways to be cost effective in outreach and service to the poor.  Not only does this article help enlighten Christians on how to be well-informed when giving money to poverty alleviation efforts, but it also re-enforces the very important and biblical concept of stewardship.   With that said, I would like to take a moment to dive deeper into this concept from a little different angle.  Not only should Christians seek to care and serve the poor in their immediate circumstances, but there should also be an emphasis on creating a long-term sustainable answer that will change the poor for generations to come.  


PRODUCTS OF OUR CULTURE
As citizens of the United States and a product of a very secularist culture, many U.S. Christians struggle with a materialistic worldview.  Materialism rests on the presumption that the universe is comprised of one substance and one substance only – physical matter. Thus, a materialistic worldview perspective focuses on the physical world and brings a heightened emphasis towards material resources such as money, technology and natural resources.  Such a paradigm puts great emphasis on development strategies that garner the transfer of material resources as the answer to poverty alleviation.   This perspective often leads to such ideas as “the most effective way to eliminate poverty is to give the poor enough money or material resources so they won’t be poor anymore.”  Simply stated, poverty alleviation or development efforts with a materialistic worldview focus on the transfer of wealth, resources, technology and know how from the more well-off to the less well-off.  This philosophy in many ways has become the unconscious focal point of current day poverty efforts.  Accompany this culturally bred concept with the need for emotional gratification (another weakness of the U.S. culture) and the result is millions of dollars being given yearly, by well-intentioned Christians, towards poverty efforts that exclusively deal with the consequences and not the roots of poverty.   The reality is there are millions of hungry, sick, and abandoned people in the world and Christians have a responsibility to reach them.  The challenge for current day churches, organizations and individuals is how to do this in the most effective manner that utilizes a biblical worldview to create long-term transformation.  


The next post will continue this idea and narrow in on the roots of poverty and poverty alleviation.

Visitors to Sucre

One of the blessings of working in Bolivia is the opportunity to host missions’ teams or visitors from the US.  FH Sucre doesn’t receive a bunch of international teams but we seem to have groups come every 2 or 3 months on average.  This past week we had the privilege of hosting 4 special visitors to Sucre for 3 days. 

Through the Food for the Hungry artist program professional singer/song writer Kerrie Roberts came to Sucre to visit and share her vocal talents and wisdom.  Kerrie shared at several venues her passion for music and desire to honor God with the talents and gifts she has been given.   FH also scheduled multiple opportunities for Kerrie and her team to see and experience the ministry of FH and learn about our desire to transform realities and raise up a new generation of leaders focused on honoring God in every area of society. 

Kerrie and her team came with a huge heart to serve and it was a privilege to see the youth of Bolivia excited to develop their talents and use them for the glory of God.  We hosted a question and answer session one evening, where Kerrie shared her testimony and the youth asked questions about worship leading etc.  Seeing the youth’s desire to grow in their abilities to lead worship, and mature in there understanding of God centered worship was an encouragement to us.  I believe Kerrie was able to give great advice that will shape a generation of worship leaders in Sucre. 

I (John) as her translator enjoyed getting to meet Kerrie and her team, and was blessed by our conversations and ministry activities.  As always it was wonderful to make some new friends and spend some time learning and growing from their experiences.   I think Kerrie will be touring with Big Daddy Weave this spring or summer.  If she is near your location you should check it out.  She is a very talented artist who loves the Lord!

Kerrie sharing with kids about music and singing

Home visit

The team.  (Ben - photographer, Jenni - Kerrie's manager, Crystal - FH employee,
Kerrie, John and Jennie)

Ella and John with Kerrie

Minnesota...and finally snow!

We spent the last week of our furlough in Minneapolis with my brother and his family.  We had a wonderful time with them, and enjoyed all the fun things they had planned for us to do.  Probably the most special part of our visit was getting to know our new nephew/cousin Colton Ray.  He is the cutest laid-back baby you could imagine with the most kissable cheeks!  Dan and Kate were wonderful hosts and absolutely spoiled us with fun trips to the Mall of America, Eagles Nest, fun lunches out, a date night for John and I, and bowling!  We also had time to just relax and hang-out too which was great.  Thanks for everything Dan and Kate!

There was snow!  Ella finally got to use her new snow gear!

Uncle Dan got to use his snow gear too!

Ella's first snow angel.  

Colton and Lydia did great as we went from place to place.

The big slide at Eagle Nest, an indoor kids park.

Ella and Uncle Dan at the Mall of America  Aquarium

We rode rides at the Mall of America for most of the day.

Ella's first time bowling.  

Hangin' Out

Another Plane Ride...Another Destination. South Dakota!

December 9th found us at the airport again.  The girls are getting used to airports by now and enjoy roaming around and watching the planes.  We left balmy Phoenix and flew into Omaha, Nebraska and then made the trek up to Yankton, South Dakota by car.  

We had been preparing Ella for the cold weather in South Dakota, and had promised sledding, snow angels, snowmen building, and snowball fights.  But instead, we found NO SNOW and weather that was sometimes in the 50's!  Can't believe that after three Christmas living away where there is no snow, we return to the South Dakota tundra for a snowless Christmas.  Nevertheless, just being with family was enough to get us in the Christmas spirit and we had a wonderful time.  We had the opportunity to see many of my (Jennie's) extended family and the girls got a lot of Grandpa and Grandma time.  John was also given the opportunity to do his Mission's Seminar at Calvary Baptist, one of our supporting churches. 

Below are some picture highlights of our 3 weeks in South Dakota.  

Lot's of playtime with Grandpa and Grandma

Staying warm!  (We did have a few cold days...)

The piano...one of the best toys at Grandma's house!

Christmas celebration at the Barr's house in Sioux Falls.  The girls had a great time with Great Aunt Amy and her kids.

The Bows!  A highlight for Lydia.

Golfing on Christmas Day in South Dakota!

Ella fell in love with Jeff, the neighborhood cat.

Meeting our new cousin Colton for the first time!

Playing at the Children's Museum in Brookings.  (Highly recommended!  Great place!)

Learning to play the Wii.  Ella was a pro by the end of our trip.

Being with family...it doesn't get much better.