Prayer Calendar: August 3-9, 2014

Your missions prayer point inspired by The Call magazine for August 3-9 is:

PRAISE God for the way He has blessed Tenwek Hospital and the many outreaches based there.

The Outreaches of Tenwek Hospital

With the motto “We Treat, Jesus Heals,” Tenwek introduces thousands of Kenyans to the Great Physicians every year through preaching, teaching, and healing ministries. Tenwek Hospital has grown from a single-nurse dispensary to a large teaching hospital complex.

Read more on Tenwek at www.wgm.org/outreaches

Serving in Stockton

And excerpt from...
Serving in Stockton

Missionary celebrates 20 years since turning his life around
By David Adams, Volunteer
July-September 2014


Bob Margaron began drinking with his mother at the age of 5. This experience would begin a tumultuous life that would be riddled with crime, sex, and drugs.

Bob eventually found little pleasure in the lifestyle. One day he overdosed on methamphetamine, intending to end his life. His heart was racing; he knew he was about to die. But in the silence of his California trailer, he heard a voice calling out.
“I knew that voice was God,” Bob said. He responded, “God, I’m gonna die or live for You.”

His recovery process began when God opened the door for Bob to leave southern California and check in at the Oakland Peniel Drug Treatment Center. Twenty years later he celebrates the new life God granted him while ministering at The Center in Stockton, California. He and his wife, Lisa, help children avoid the dark road Bob took that almost led to his death.

“God transformed my life in an amazing way,” Bob said of his time at the Oakland center. He experienced a transformation that was both physical (as his body recovered) and spiritual.

When he graduated from the rehabilitation program, Bob began working for the Oakland mission, through which he met Lisa. Although Bob had no plans for a relationship, God made it clear to both Bob and Lisa that they were meant for one another.
The two were married on October 28, 1995, and Bob began working on his education so that he could join WGM as a career missionary. He also needed to clear his past record, as he had discovered outstanding warrants in California. God provided a lawyer, and Bob continued his education as his lawyer helped clear his record.

Bob was accepted as a career missionary with WGM in 1996. He explained to the board how God had sanctified him, and he was “accepted with open arms.”
As he left the meeting, he received an urgent message to call his attorney. All but one charge against him had been dropped, his lawyer said, and the one remaining had been reduced to an infraction. Bob could finally close the book on his troubled past. In December 1998, Bob became an ordained minister.

For almost two decades, Bob and Lisa have ministered to over 75 students each day at The Center, where Bob serves as the field director for WGM. Bob also works as a Police School Resource Chaplain, serving in three schools and reaching out to over 1,900 students, staff, and administration. God had taken an “angry biker dope fiend” and made him an instrument of His service.

“Because of my willingness to be obedient to God and trust Him—because I had serious trust issues back in the day—He intervened for me,” Bob said. “I got the opportunity to serve Him in Stockton.”

PRAY: Transforming Bob’s heart was a work only God could do. How is God calling you to serve? If you have not yet submitted in obedience, now is the time to pray and ask God to inspire your heart with the ministry He has for you.

MORE: For ways to serve through WGM, visit www.wgm.org/serve.

Prayer Calendar July 27-August 2

Your missions prayer point inspired by The Call magazine for July 27-August 2 is:

Pray for God's protection and grace to be with the children who come to The Center.

This mission's prayer point inspired by:
Serving in Stockton

God had taken an “angry biker dope fiend” and made him an instrument of His service. Bob could finally close the book on his troubled past.  In December 1998, Bob became an ordained minister.

Read about the biker turned minister at http://www.wgm.org/serving

Connie Hendershot: A Contagious Champion for Missions

An excerpt from...

Connie Hendershot: A Contagious Champion for Missions

By Kristi Schweitzer, Volunteer
July-September 2014


What comes to mind when you think of getting involved in missions? Attending conferences, writing checks, or joining prayer teams? For the late Connie Hendershot, missions was more than an activity; it was her lifestyle. As a mother, grandmother, teacher, and farmer’s wife, Connie led what many people would consider an ordinary life, but she impacted many in an extraordinary way.

Connie was born on January 31, 1953, in Marion, Ohio, and married Robert Hendershot in 1971. She majored in education at Ohio State University and became a teacher. But God had more for her to do. He formed a strong desire within her to serve in missions.
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She was a part of the missions committee at Circleville Crossroads Church for over 20 years, serving as the missions president for many of those years. She went on 16 work teams, visiting six of the world’s seven continents. She made trips to Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Bolivia, Alaska, St. Croix, Paraguay, Uganda, and the Dominican Republic. She was chosen as the Missions Minded Woman of the Year in 2010 by her church’s Mission Minded Men, a group that encourages men and women to be involved in missions at home and abroad.

Connie enjoyed visiting the mission field and interacting with missionaries. It motivated her to work hard at home, doing everything in her power to help. She organized missionary services, led missions conferences, and helped raise financial support. She even worked a second job as a pharmacist to save up money to go on the trips.

When on the field, she was very hands on. If a project needed to be done, she’d get her hands dirty and do it. “She was not one to just stand and watch,” said David Lattimer, general missionary superintendent of Churches of Christ in Christian Union.

Connie went above and beyond financial support. One of her special projects was preparing homes for missionaries to stay in while in the United States. She recruited women in her church, and they would clean, stock the cupboards and refrigerator with food, and prepare fresh linens. She even bought school supplies for the children. Her involvement and enthusiasm for missions “was contagious,” said Lattimer. “She was talking about it all the time.”

Connie passed away unexpectedly on January 11, 2014, due to thyroid cancer. Her powerful legacy continues to be an inspiration to others.

PRAY: Have you felt God’s call to missions in an area of your life? Ask Him to show you your part.

ACT: Join a missions group at your church or get involved in one of WGM’s Men With Vision chapters. Learn more about MWV chapters at www.wgm.org/mwv.

Prayer Calendar July 20-26

Your missions prayer point inspired by The Call magazine for July 20-26 is:

PRAY that God will call more men and women to use what they have to further the cause of missions.

INSPIRATION:

Connie Hendershot: A Contagious Champion for Missions

For the late Connie Hendershot, missions was more than an activity; it was her lifestyle. Connie led what many people would consider and ordinary life, but she impacted many in an extraordinary way.

Read more on Connie’s life at http://www.wgm.org/connie

Tenwek Hospice

And excerpt from...

Tenwek Hospice

Expressing love and compassion to those in need
By Stephen Manchester, Kenya
July-September 2014


As Samwel entered the patient room in a Nairobi hospital, the oncologist greeted him in the usual courteous way he had come to expect from the past several months of chemotherapy. However, the doctor’s manner became abruptly serious as he explained to Samwel, “It is now very clear that your cancer has spread to your lungs. We have no further treatment plan for you.” Those words crushed Samwel as a wave of panic and despair came over him. He felt no encouragement when the doctor said he was referring him to a hospice program. Samwel had never heard the word hospice before. He couldn’t believe his oncologist was giving up on him! “Can you send me to another specialist? Is there another medicine that I can take?” When a shaking head was his only answer, Samwel was overwhelmed with despair.

In 2002, Tenwek Hospice was started because the doctors at Tenwek Hospital sensed the hopelessness that patients like Samwel were feeling. Tenwek administration appointed Ruth Tomasawa as their first hospice nurse. With a second nurse, a chaplain, and a driver for their small vehicle, she established a program like few others in Africa. Tenwek Hospice is a rural, home-based program where the staff goes to the patients, wherever they are. These visits often involve walking long distances and getting lost, stuck in the mud, or caught in the rain. There are no charges for services since patients rarely value the program before they begin to experience the love and compassion that is expressed through Tenwek Hospice.

Over the months that our hospice team has visited Samwel, he has come to know hope once again. He no longer worries that he has been abandoned by medical personnel or by God. The nurses who come to his home to care for Samwel and his family in his final days are the hands and heart of God to him and have shown him the hope of eternity. He recently shared his testimony in our local church and now is a frequent speaker in the area, telling how he found hope where others would expect despair.

The goal of palliative care (or hospice care) is not to put days into the life, but to put life into the days remaining. Samwel will admit that he doesn’t know what the future holds, but he is living an abundant life despite his diagnosis.

For 12 years, Tenwek Hospice has shown Jesus’ love and compassion at a time in people’s lives when it is most needed. Patients don’t have to hear that there is nothing more that can be done for them. Nothing could be further from the truth!

GIVE: You can express love and compassion to patients like Samwel in hospice care through prayer as well as a financial gift. Help offset the expenses of Tenwek’s hospice ministries at www.wgm.org/hospice-care-tenwek.

The Matter of Creativity

An excerpt from...

The Matter of Creativity

By Hubert Harriman, President
July-September 2014


This drawing is the creative work of my little 4-year-old granddaughter Eliana. Shown from left to right in this family portrait are her mom, her little sister, her dad, herself, and, of course, Grandma and Grandpa. (Please note that I have hair. She can see the unseen!)

I share this with you because I want to speak to the matter of creativity. It’s a fascinating thing about us as human beings. We are creative beings. But it didn’t originate with us. It’s actually the very first thing we read about God: “In the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1). We have God-given creativity in us. Like my little granddaughter, it may not be perfected, but it’s in us—wanting to be discovered, developed, and declared.

I’m convinced that if God made us creative—like Himself—He wants to quicken that creativity in us, especially in relation to kingdom work. This is what Sarah and I have enjoyed the most in travels to WGM’s various fields—to see the divine creativity of our workers in relation to their divine cause. 

One of WGM’s values is “Creativity – We believe that innovation and initiative are necessary for building God’s kingdom.” Couple this with divine inspiration, and amazing things happen.
I like Eliana’s picture because it speaks of hope (winter is past; the sun is shining and the grass is growing). It speaks of joy (we’re all smiling). It speaks of love (we’re reaching out to each other). It speaks of community (we have each other). You and I both know that we work in a dark, hopeless world. But we’re not alone in this work. Together, may God use us to create His purpose in many, many lives, bringing the joy of divine color into this world again.


PRAY: Pray with WGM as to what God wants to do with the cause He has put on your heart. Where would He take this cause, beyond anything we ever imagined, if we did creative thinking with Him?

Prayer Calendar: July 13-19, 2014

Your missions prayer point inspired by The Call magazine for July 13-19 is: 

PRAY that the Tenwek Hospice team will lovingly communicate to their patients the eternal hope that can be found in Jesus Christ.

Learn more about various ministries at Tenwek here: www.wgm.org/kenya 

A Purpose for my Life

An excerpt from...

A Purpose for my Life

By Jorge Pinto, Board of Directors
July-September 2014

My older brother, Oscar, and I were born in El Salvador. Our father abandoned us, so our mother, Maria Herminia Pinto, had to make a living as a maid in order to support us. Around 1960 we returned to her native land of Honduras where she married Santos Tomas Sanchez. Sadly, both passed away. In 1964, my uncle Saul Gomez took us to El Sembrador, a school for poor children in Catacamas, Olancho. My brother and I were under the care of don Donaldo and doña Twana Hawk. I remained in El Sembrador school for many years. There I learned about work, study, and, above all, the Word of God.

Today I am happily married to my lovely wife, Marta Isabel. God has given us three children: Helga Ruth, Helga Esther, and Jorge. We have five grandchildren. I am a pastor and serve as president of the Evangelical Holiness Church of Honduras. I am also blessed to be president and founder of the Manuelito Project, an organization that rescues and educates the street children of my country. I am the president of La Agencia Misionera de Santidad Latino Americana, AMSLA (the Latin American Holiness Missionary Agency), which I am honored to represent on the Board of Directors of World Gospel Mission in Marion, Indiana.

Looking back, I understand that God has had a purpose for my life and that he has used people in my spiritual formation and calling to whom I am indebted. I am nothing more than an instrument in God’s hands. To Him be the glory.

As part of God’s creative design, He used the ministry of Escuela El Sembrador to shape the life of Jorge Pinto.

GIVE: Become a significant part in the future of more students like Jorge through the El Sembrador Sponsorship Program. A gift of $125 per month, or $1,500 per year, will provide a child with education and room and board for one year. Donations can be made to World Gospel Mission and sent to:

El Sembrador Sponsorship Program
World Gospel Mission
P.O. Box 948
Marion, IN 46952

Prayer Calendar: July 6-12, 2014

Your missions prayer point inspired by The Call this week is:

PRAISE God for the testimony of Jorge Pinto and other men who were educated at Escuela El Sembrador, and now serve the Lord in Honduras.

To read more about Jorge Pinto's testimony click here.

Pumpkins and Puppies

An excerpt from...

Pumpkins and Puppies

By Jon Steury, Regional Director of AfricaJuly-September 2014

My friend and colleague Adhanom Hidug serves with World Gospel Mission in South Sudan. He is from a small country in northeast Africa, but he has been living in Kenya for some time. Adhanom and his wife, Helen, were appointed as WGM’s first international missionaries last year.

In keeping with WGM’s central ministry focus—wholistic transformation—Adhanom’s ministry is wholistic, incorporating Community Health Evangelism, storytelling as a means of communicating the Bible, and relationship building to transform lives in the village where he lives in Aduel, South Sudan.

Missionaries who enter a new culture quickly realize that creativity is an important tool to discover the best way to share Jesus with the people where God has called them. As I read Adhanom’s recent ministry report, I was intrigued by how he had creatively shared Jesus in his village, using a pumpkin and his puppy! Here’s Adhanom:

Pumpkin: Many people here grow pumpkins for their leaves, but not as food. They give different reasons why they don’t want to eat them. Some say, “People will say that we are like hyenas if they know that we eat pumpkin.” Others would say that it is not tasty, or it doesn’t have many benefits, or they just don’t like it. Due to this, there are many pumpkins in the village farms just spoiling. I can get nice pumpkins at a very cheap price or even free of charge. One day I bought a small pumpkin, and as I was walking with it from the market, everybody’s eyes were on me because they believed I was going to eat a pumpkin. People began to speak to me because of the pumpkin. When I realized this, I decided to walk with it all around the market area and in some neighborhoods. Everyone wanted to know what I was going to do with the pumpkin. That opened an opportunity to talk to people. As a result, I was able to talk to more than 50 people about the nutritional values that God put in a pumpkin and how God gives us good gifts. I never thought that a pumpkin would bring me such a golden opportunity to get a “ready-to-talk-and-listen” audience.

Puppy: Yomdit is my puppy! She is named in the Dinka language according to her color. People in the village who don’t even know my name, know her name—even those who haven’t seen her. The pumpkin gave me a one-day opportunity, but Yomdit has given me several opportunities to talk to people easily. People want to know why I care much for a dog, and that gives me a good opportunity to talk to them, starting from the direction of the discussion they raise and taking them to the direction I want. Yomdit has started to learn a few things, and people are surprised to see her following my orders. Now because of her, people don’t even wait until I say, “Kudual,” which means “Hello” in Dinka. This is another way of getting an opportunity to talk to people that I never thought of.

Pray for Adhanom as he shares Jesus with people, using pumpkins, puppies, and other creative ways!

ACT: What ordinary things in front of you could easily open the door to share Jesus with others in your neighborhood? Got a puppy that needs a walk or maybe some cookies that could be shared?