Tag: missions

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Helping Haiti Through Compassion

I copied this from Shaun Groves’ Website (Thank you for taking time to get involved):

This message was originally sent out to the generous network of Compassion Bloggers. To join that Compassion blogging network and be the first to act in future times of need, visit http://compassionbloggers.com/get-involved

PLEASE DO NOT SKIM. URGENT REQUEST.

ASSIGNMENT:

Use your on-line voice to generate prayers and donations to rebuild the lives of Haitian children and their families affected by recent earthquake.

SYNOPSIS:

The catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12 has resulted in unfathomable chaos and devastation for hundreds of thousands of children and families.

Compassion sponsors and donors serve more than 65,000 children in Haiti. At least a third of them live in the areas that were hardest hit.

I am asking you to please send a generous gift today to help precious children and their families, and to encourage others to give to Compassion International through your blog, Facebook and Myspace pages, Twitter account and e-mail. Please utilize every on-line tool you have access to. The people of Haiti desperately need our help and hope.

Compassion International is working rapidly to assess the situation and determine the full extent of damage:

Shaun Groves
Blogger Manager
CompassionBloggers.com
Compassion.com
1-888-435-3336

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Helping Haiti (UPDATED)

foodforpoorhaiti
As I was driving into the office this morning, I turned on Bill Bennett’s morning show (Morning in America) to try and get an idea about what was taking place in Haiti, either through his program or through the news. As many of you have already heard, Haiti was devastated by a 7.0 magnitude Earthquake, which is being described as a ‘total disaster‘ where hospitals and other buildings have completely collapsed and the death toll is expected to be high. If you are looking to donate towards relief efforts in Haiti, Bill recommended the Organization “Food for the Poor” – This organization is already doing a lot to help the people of Haiti, they’ve currently got missionaries in the area and they have an office and feeding center in the region as well. They’ve released a press release/report from their people in the field describing the situation, HERE. CLICK HERE to go to their site or CLICK HERE to go directly to their donation page.

Other Organizations I Recommend Supporting for Haiti Relief:

Choose an organization, get involved, and make a difference in the Haitian’s lives.

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Drink Coffee. Do Good

Every two months, we at New Passion Church focus on a new missions organization that we can promote to our people so they know the opportunities that exist outside of the walls of the church where they can help create revolutionary change, either through their local influence or their global influence. In December & January, we’ve decided to focus on “Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee.“

A lot of people drink coffee…minus me. So, we figured this is not only a practical way for people to do good by doing something they already do. It is also an opportunity to include others in their efforts with the Christmas and Winter season upon us. When people drink coffee from “Land of a Thousand Hills” they help genocide survivors from Rwanda and their families earn a fair wage for their labor in the coffee fields, they provide ministry opportunities for the villages, and they get a fresh, premium cup of coffee.

We’ve got several neat things in store for our missions focus with “Land of a Thousand Hills,” so if you are in or around Grovetown in December and January….find your way to New Passion and join us!

Learn more about Drinking Coffee and Doing Good. Order Coffee and Merchandise from Land of a Thousand Hills.

Here’s one more video, it talks about the people of Rwanda working side by side now thanks to the coffee cooperatives. Check it out!


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Revolutionary Change

106Sunday we complete week 5 of our Rediscover Church series at New Passion. This week we discussed how we value creating Revolutionary Change through our Local and Global Influence.

We focused on 3 main questions after looking at 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

#1 What am I Becoming? – Paul said he became all things to all people. We looked at the story of Dorothy from Entertaining Angels and how she chose to live poor in order to reach the poor, the homeless, the prostitutes, and the drug addicts. Her effort to create Revolutionary Change required that she bring herself on the level of the people she reached out to versus elevating herself above them.

#2 What is my Motive? Paul said he made every effort to reach out to those who were different than him and to become like them for one reason…to lead them to a loving relationship with Christ. His goal was not to become famous or to build his own following, his motive was to lead people to Christ.

#3 What am I Changing? Paul and Dorothy alike saw people embrace their vision of Revolutionary Change and they too took action. Change can only happen if we decide to start influencing the change.

I was reminded of the trip I took with a former church after Katrina hit Biloxi, Mississippi. It started with a simple idea of taking water down to the victims, within a few hours we were on the road with water and a few groceries in hand to do what we could, our desire to be involved led into 4 total trips, three to Biloxi and one to Texas. I’ve posted video of our first trip and our second trip. The video from trip #1 is 18 minutes long. We used it as a part of the following Sunday’s message to show the need in the area, the second trip is the relief trip we took our church on. We were literally larger than the Red Cross relief effort in the same area. The point is this, what may start as a small idea or a small effort, God can use for Revolutionary Change in the life of those you are  investing in and influencing for Christ.

Katrina Relief Trip #1 from Nick Carnes on Vimeo.

Katrina Relief Trip #2 from Nick Carnes on Vimeo.

Join the Conversation…How are you participating in creating Revolutionary Change? What are your dreams to see Revolutionary Change happen in our world?

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Remembering The Root of the Problem

I started a new personal study called Risk by Kenny Luck. It is a part of the God’s Man Series. I hope to blog my thoughts from the various chapters as I go through the book and the study guide. As I was reading chapter one Kenny says this on page 12 & 13 and it got me thinking…

I had a missionary friend from Kenya write me recently about the AIDS and orphan epidemic in his country. His assessment on the ground gave me a glimpse of the global impact men have and a template for the solution in many cultures: “Here in Kenya,” he said, “we don’t have an AIDS problem; we have a man problem.” He went on to describe how migrant labor forces men to seek work in cities far from home: they sleep with prostitutes, then come back home and infect their villages with the virus. He begged me to come and join him to bring men’s ministry rather than medicine. Africa needs men who make things better, not men who make messes–Africa needs leaders.

He finished by saying, “If men start making different moral choices, the country will change.” How many other communities around the world could say the same thing?

If you are a believer, then you probably agree with me that the root of all life’s problems began with sin. However, if you are like me, it is often easier to look to earthly solutions and earthly strategies to overcome these issues caused by sin, rather than first looking to Christ. I thought this was a great reminder for me personally, as well as, to anyone else interested that if we hope to change our communities, our country, and eventually the world; we have remember that the root of the problem is sin and therefore the solution is the Gospel. I believe too often we want to solve the result of sin rather than to deal with the messier problem, the actual sin.

Personally, I would have requested medicine and men’s ministry help, but I believe the point was made correctly. Unless we focus on the spiritual problem first we will never be able to fix the physical problems. My belief is that what we as people do on the outside is a direct response of our heart’s condition on the inside. We will respond to God in the manner by which we recognize him in our lives. It doesn’t matter what issues (Government, Disease, Education, Etc.) are on the table, I don’t believe we can solve them unless we solve the man/woman issue.

Join the Conversation…What’s your thoughts?