An excerpt from...

A Lineman by Trade

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Communication is a key to creating a support network
By John Neihof, WGM Board Member
April-June 2015

I love investing in missionaries. Successful missionary ministry involves raising a network of champions. Communication is a key to creating that network.

A few years ago, Bill Ryan, WGM missionary to Honduras, was in my public speaking class at Kentucky Mountain Bible College. Bill had been a lineman (constructing and maintaining electric lines) by trade in his home state of Vermont. Bill and Beth sensed God’s call to missions, but Bill’s idea was that he would simply use his lineman and electrical skills to serve Escuela El Sembrador. God had bigger ideas.

The semester had reached the halfway point and it was time for persuasive speeches. I challenged Bill to develop his missionary appeal message as his persuasive speech for the class assignment. I emphasized that he focus on presenting the need for prayer and financial support and seek to raise both from his Bible college classmates. I sweetened the challenge by offering to become his first supporter from the class!

Bill has a natural warmth and sincerity in front of an audience. His speech was very good, and my wife and I kept our promise to become part of the Ryans’ support team.

A year or two later, I was on the road and met up with Bill and Beth at Mooers Camp in upstate New York. Mooers Camp is near the Ryans’ home area in Vermont, and they have a lot of supporters there. It was missionary day, and Bill and Beth were the speakers. Their presentation was fantastic. The camp president, Steve Drown, approached me with a request that I offer the commissioning prayer over Bill and Beth as they headed toward the place of their calling in Honduras. I sensed God’s blessing and anointing as I prayed over this precious couple.

Bill’s stint as an electrician at El Sembrador was successful, but short lived. He and Beth sensed God’s call to church planting in a pioneer work to an indigenous community in La Mosqitia. Bill never saw himself as a public speaker, teacher, or preacher, but that is exactly what he does as a frontier missionary. God put the key, public speaking, in Bill’s hand, and he is crafting and using the key to advance God’s Divine mandate.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV)

ACT: Practice your communication skills. WGM provides a variety of speaker outlines that you can use to share a ministry need with your church, small group, etc.

The Blessing Is in the Backpack

An excerpt from...

The Blessing Is in the Backpack

By Lisa Blount, Program Coordinator for Blessings in a Backpack, Stockton, California
January-March 2014

I started Blessings in a Backpack through my church because I felt God placed it on my heart to do something that not only had impact, but also met a practical need. As a school volunteer, I saw the great needs of many of our children. While I couldn’t meet every need, I could meet a specific one: feed the children.

First I had to set up a program and find an educational site to support, and then raise funds. My church had a relationship with The Center, Peniel Mission in Stockton, California, that became our educational site choice. Although it is not a school, they run an after-school academic program that allowed us to serve them as we would a school. It also helped that Bob and Lisa Margaron, WGM missionaries and directors at The Center, were my neighbors.

The children who attend The Center are from schools with 100 percent participation in Federal Free Meal programs and are in the poorest parts of our city. Kids in this program are fed during the week, but many do not have enough to eat over the weekends.

Blessings in a Backpack provides elementary school children with a backpack of food to take home for 38 weekends during the school year. Items include easy-to-prepare, ready-to-eat foods, such as beans, mac and cheese, oatmeal, and fruit. Better test scores, improved reading skills, positive behavior, improved health, and increased attendance have all been attributed to the success of this program.

My church held a month-long fundraising campaign to raise enough to support 50 kids for a three-year commitment, the minimum the program requests. Teachers have determined it takes about three years to see the gains in students in the program. We now have raised funds to support an additional 10 kids for three years. One hundred percent of the funds raised goes to buy food.

We handed out the first backpacks in January 2013. I do the shopping, my team packs the bags and delivers them to the Margarons, and they distribute the bags every Friday afternoon of the school year.

Anyone can start a group to serve their community!

MORE: Blessings in a Backpack is a nonprofit organization currently feeding nearly 62,000 children in 437 schools in 42 U.S. states and three countries. For more information, go to www.blessingsinabackpack.org.

Works of Faith

By Shannon Hawk, Support Staff
July-September 2013

On November 7, 2012, World Gospel Mission support staff at headquarters in Marion, Indiana, had the opportunity and privilege to work out our faith alongside one of our partner churches in Nappanee, Indiana, and be part of a Feed My Starving Children MobilePack event. Nappanee Missionary Church devotes an entire week each November to expertly hosting this event. This time, over 8,000 people volunteered from their community, including both young and old and many who do not attend church. 

The work began with our group donning food service hairnets and filing into the sanctuary for a quick introduction and orientation. Feed My Starving Children staff gave us a brief but thorough training and split us into groups of different responsibilities. The day was split up into several two-hour shifts that consisted of approximately 400 volunteers broken down into 20 individual packing cells. In assembly-line fashion, our WGM cell packed meals through our first two-hour shift, ate lunch, powered through our second two-hour shift, said our goodbyes, and loaded up to head back home. We were tired, but we had a new excitement and enthusiasm from the work we had accomplished together.

What can 21 people do in a short amount of time with a specific purpose and a little organization? WGM’s cell packed 11,448 meals in those four hours, but even more impressive is that out of those two two-hour shifts with approximately 800 volunteers, 190,000 meals were packed. When the week-long Feed My Starving Children MobilePack event at Nappanee Missionary Church was finished, 2,107,296 meals were packed and loaded into trucks, ready to ship to Feed My Starving Children partners worldwide.

In November 2013, our goal is to take 60 new people from our local community to the MobilePack event at Nappanee Missionary Church so they can then go back to their circles of influence and recruit more people, and the following year we can exponentially grow the number of volunteers that we take with us.

Though numbers are impressive, success is not measured in numbers. Success is measured by the obedience and faithfulness of our hearts to our Lord and Savior and embodied in our “works” of faith.

For more information on Feed My Starving Children MobilePack events, visit www.fmsc.org/mobilepack/about. If you would like to join WGM in November 2013, contact Shannon Hawk atwgm@wgm.org.

And They Were Amazed

An excerpt from...

And They Were Amazed

By Beth Muehleisen, Uganda
July-September 2013

Have you ever planted a seed and watched eagerly, anticipating the day when little bits of green start thrusting up from the ground?

This is what we do through seed projects in Community Health Empowerment. A seed project is a small-scale ministry project carried out by a local church using local resources to bring great blessing to local community members with no strings attached, and it whets their appetite to see more of God’s love demonstrated in practical ways.

Scholastica and Fred made hand-washing stands and placed them at public latrines on Sigulu Island in Lake Victoria. Many of the diseases that people have in Africa are caused by contaminated food and water. We can reduce this problem greatly if people wash their hands after using the toilet.

The people in the community asked Scholastica and Fred, “Why are you doing this?” “What do you get out of it?”

They answered, “We don’t get anything. We’re doing it because of God’s love.” The people were amazed!

Every time a seed project is done by someone trained through CHE, the response in every community is the same—and they were amazed! Recently as I read through the book of Mark, I noticed that the people in the communities where Jesus visited had the same reaction to His ministry: “…and they were amazed!”

We have two requests for you. One, will you pray for those involved in the CHE ministry that God will use them to rebuild walls, repair broken gates, and be Light-bearers in their communities? The second request concerns you. How does God want to use you to do a seed project in your own community? God wants to use all of us to demonstrate His agape love no matter where we live, and when we do, everyone will be amazed.

How can your church address spiritual and physical needs in your community? WGM can help with training in this area. Consider a weekend Vision Conference for Wholistic Community Transformation. Contact us at wgm@wgm.org to schedule training.

Community Health Evangelism Progress in Honduras

An excerpt from...

Community Health Evangelism Progress in Honduras

By Larry Overholt, Honduras
July-September 2013

Our goal as missionaries is to serve God as ambassadors in helping restore broken relationships, which are often manifested in various forms of spiritual, physical, social, and emotional needs.

When we arrived in the city of Choluteca, Honduras, in 2000, we encountered a sense of depression in the region. Hurricane Mitch had devastated the area two years earlier. Many young people were still not attending school. Adults were still underemployed. People suffered from increased illnesses such as asthma. Houses were still in ruins. Substance addictions were widespread.

We praise God that a vibrant church is beginning to take hold. Much of our ministry investment has been based on the Community Health Evangelism model. CHE “seamlessly integrates evangelism and discipleship with disease prevention and community-based development. The work is wholistic, seeking to meet the whole need of individuals and communities through complete obedience to everything that Jesus commanded” (Global CHE Network).

Progress is not always as fast as we would like. In July 2012, five years after starting the CHE ministry, the Shalom Church finally held its first evangelistic service in the local soccer field. The service was a great success with 12 new converts. It was also the last sermon that Reinaldo, one of our Shalom pastors, preached before dying and going to be with the Lord. Reinaldo’s legacy in “7 de Mayo” was the beginning of a new discipleship group that developed with those who were converted. One of the most recent converts is Elvira, a midwife whom Angie had been teaching. We anticipate having a WGM work team help rebuild her house later this year.

Recently one of the women from the newly formed discipleship group had been in the hospital and was sent home with no prospects of recovery. Her family was called to her bedside to say goodbye. Some of our CHE team members were called in to pray for her. Since then, she has not only recovered, but she now plans to get married to her long-term partner and wants to be baptized so that she can better serve in the church.

We now have six CHE leaders from the Shalom Church working in the village throughout the week.

We are looking for ways to get involved with the men in the village. One of the greatest opportunities to reach the men is through agricultural projects. The Ohio State University is sending a team of engineering students to install a pilot aquaponics project in the community. Aquaponics combines the cultivation of plants (hydroponics) with the growing of fish (aquaculture). We hope that this will be the beginning of additional projects that will develop into small businesses as well as help develop social capital in the community. At the same time, we are excited to have the opportunity to share transforming community development ideas with university students from a secular university in the United States. We are grateful to be a part of the planting and watering process while God gives the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:7)

An aquaponics kit enables a family to raise fish and vegetables in a small backyard plot. That means substantially improved nutrition, extra income, and meaningful family time as parents and children work together. Christ performed miracles with fish on more than one occasion—and you can work a miracle with fish right now! Time to form your own CHE team! Gather your friends, neighbors, and family and share this article with them. Set a goal to raise $180, the cost of an aquaponics kit. Check donation should be made payable to World Gospel Mission with account #25492-CALL written in the memo line. Send your donation to: World Gospel Mission, P.O. Box 948 Marion, Indiana 46952-0948. All donors will receive a receipt from WGM with thank you for their support.

A Visit for Silas

An excerpt from...

A Visit for Silas
Using a long weekend to share God’s loveBy Linda Spriegel, Kenya
April-June 2013

“Mom, this weekend when I come home, I would like us to get Silas from the Africa Gospel Church Baby Center and bring him to see his mom.” My daughter Julia was calling from boarding school, planning for the long mid-term weekend coming up. With all three of our teenagers at Rift Valley Academy, my husband, John, and I look forward to these precious times when they visit and the anticipated family games, hikes, talks, and relaxing. But add a 21-month-old to the mix? And there were several hurdles to jump to get the needed permissions and make the arrangements. Yet we knew this was not the first or last time we as a family would be stretched by Julia’s compassionate heart, so we agreed to pray with her and began working on the details.

We had met Jennifer and her son Silas 10 months earlier when Jennifer brought him to Tenwek Hospital. Silas, at 11 months, was a classic picture of malnutrition. At this hospital visit, Jennifer told Dr. Chuck Bemm that she needed to give up her baby and that someone else needed to take care of him or he would die. Knowing Julia’s love for children and her hours of experience volunteering at the nursery, the Bemms asked her to care for Silas while they handled the necessary paperwork. Then Julia and our other daughter, Rebecca, escorted him the three hours to the Baby Center and handed him over to the staff’s loving care.

In the months that followed, Julia visited Silas a couple times, and we were able to show his pictures to his mom, who expressed a desire to see him. When Julia heard that Jennifer was in her last stages of HIV, she wanted to give Jennifer a tangible evidence of God’s care by bringing healthy Silas to see her.

It was a beautiful morning when we drove to Jennifer’s village with Silas to reunite him with his family. His mother and his four siblings who were there were overjoyed to see chubby Silas. As Jennifer shared her gratefulness, she referred to the story of Moses, identifying with his mother who had given up her son and one day he had been mightily used by God. She has the same vision for Silas. When her other children asked if they would get to see Silas again, she said, “He is in God’s hands. We don’t know if he will help our family or someone else’s, but he will be used by God in his future.”

Silas is back at the Baby Center, waiting to be adopted. Sadly, Jennifer passed away in December 2012. Even though she was very sick before she died, her favorite thing to talk about was Jesus, and she knew He had good plans for all her children.

You can offer continued care to Silas and other little ones at the AGC Baby Center through the Great Co-Mission Catalog. By recruiting your friends and family to personally connect with this need, you have the opportunity to change these little lives forever. Learn more about the AGC Baby Center project needs at www.wgm.org/catalog.

Paper Beads for Missions

An excerpt from Paper Beads for Missions

By Kayla Spencer, Volunteers In Action Participant
January-March 2013

I had the opportunity to visit Kenya as a Volunteers In Action participant in the summer of 2009. During my six weeks there, I worked with World Gospel Mission missionary Robyn Moore and the ministry the Least of These, as we cared for vulnerable children in Nairobi.

On one visit with Robyn to a children’s home, I met a tiny little boy named Samuel. He looked to be about 1 year old. As Robyn administered health checkups for the children, I had the opportunity to hold Samuel. He was wearing a thick sweater that covered his frail body. When I held him under his arms, I thought they might break off. He had looked decently healthy in appearance until that moment, but I realized then that this precious little boy was malnourished. That was my first experience with this kind of suffering.

As I held that precious child, God broke my heart. It was not one of those experiences like at a conference or camp where you have a “Jesus high” that lasts a couple weeks and then fades away. This is one of those experiences that completely changed my life.

After arriving home, God gave me an incredible idea as I looked down at the paper bead necklace I was wearing. It was a beautiful necklace with beads made of recycled magazine paper. I had purchased it from a street vendor in Kenya. I could use my money to buy paper bead necklaces that I could give as gifts for donations. I’ve now been selling necklaces for a few years. With each necklace, I ask for a $10 donation. The necklaces cost me $3, which leaves $7 per necklace to give to the ministry.

It has been incredible to see how God used my time in Kenya to have even greater impact on the ministry after I returned home. I love knowing that the money I am raising is helping such a good cause—helping little children like Samuel.

ACT: Partnering with a ministry is as easy as selling paper beads like Kayla has discovered. If God is calling you to raise funds for a missions need bigger than your “$100,” then The Great Co-Mission Catalog may be a good resource for you. Find your project at www.wgm.org/catalog.

The Spiritual Equivalent to Blue-Chip Stock

The Spiritual Equivalent to Blue-Chip Stock

By Jason Beavers, Team Participant
January-March 2013

In the business world, an investor desires to feel confident that he is choosing a winning corporation with which to entrust his partnership. He will ask if he can trust this company’s managers. Do they run their corporation efficiently and credibly? Perhaps most importantly, will this investment yield a profitable return? These questions are relevant to the spiritual world as well. Christians who invest their prayers, time, and money in Christian missions want to feel confident that they will receive affirmative answers to these same questions as they relate to the propagation of the gospel. From my personal experience in Papua New Guinea, Christian Union Bible College is the spiritual equivalent to blue-chip stock.

The potential for continued success is unbounded. PNG nationals are hungry for the gospel, and the Lord is supplying their needs through the college. CUBC is one of the most effective ways to produce a Spirit-led, self-sustaining church in PNG. Local Christian leaders leave this three-year program equipped to minister in their neighborhoods and villages. They are multiplying the numbers counted among the saints every year. This effective ministry, combined with the Papua New Guineans’ thirst for the gospel, makes the field a potential for tremendous continued success.

Spiritually speaking, the yield on return is high in PNG. CUBC needs additional funds. The Lord will provide; He always does. Is God calling you to invest in or partner with Christian Union Bible College in PNG? Please prayerfully consider how best you can be involved:

Pray: Pray that Jesus will be lifted up and glorified in all of the ongoing training at the Bible college. Pray that God will enable the missionaries to explain the teachings of the Bible in a way that is relevant to the culture.
Go: Has God called you to serve Papua New Guineans with your church or a work team, or as a volunteer, using the talents He has given you to teach the Bible?Give: Christian Union Bible College needs your help! Will you help send a pastor to Bible college? A financial investment of $900 can send someone to the college for one year. Any gift will assist in transforming a congregation with a pastor who has been trained in the knowledge of the Bible and of God.
Pass It On: After hearing about this powerful ministry and their need for partners, can you think of someone you know who would like to learn about Christian Union Bible College in PNG? Pass on this article so others can learn how God might use them to minister to a lost world.

On the Prayer Journey

An excerpt from On the Prayer Journey

By David Engbrecht, WGM Board Member

October-December 2012

I love partnerships! I love partnerships that have lots of letters; letters like WGM, AGC, NMC, and LFF. While World Gospel Mission, Africa Gospel Church, and Nappanee Missionary Church have a strong partnership history with the AGC Baby Center in Ngata, Kenya, something new and fresh is happening. It’s uncharted territory! It’s Mombasa, Kenya.

When Dr. Robert Langat was installed as the new bishop of Africa Gospel Church, he shared a stirring visionary message calling the church to expand its borders. He called the church to press forward into Mombasa, a dark, difficult coastal city of nearly a million people with a large Muslim population. His passionate call resonated in my heart, and I, along with others at Nappanee Missionary Church, began to pray for Mombasa. We answered the Macedonian call and committed to partnering in the area.

While all of this was happening, God laid Mombasa on the hearts of Dennis and Gladys Mutai who were pastoring with AGC. After visiting with the bishop, the Mutais accepted the challenge and moved to Mombasa. As a result, a new church plant has emerged there.

First things first! The starting point of any effective partnership is prayer. A day of prayer was declared that included a prayer walk in Mombasa.

On that day, prayer partners were literally praying around the world. In Indiana, a host of people, many who had connected via Facebook and the Internet, were crying out to God for Mombasa. By phone, we connected with Little Flock Fellowship in northeast India where many of their leaders had gathered in prayer for Mombasa. Escuela El Sembrador in Honduras had a special prayer time for Mombasa. Pray Mombasa has become far more than a day in Africa. It has become a movement of partners committing to claim new territory.

The morning after Pray Mombasa, the team gathered to debrief and process, and it was apparent that this was far more than a Pray Mombasa event, but the birth of a partnership whose mission it is to impact the entire east coast of Kenya.

ACT: Form your own partnership. Scripture makes it clear that when two or more partner together in His name, great power is there because He is with us. We are called to fellowship in ministry just as WGM, Nappanee Missionary Church, and Africa Gospel Church have. Organize a community-wide, faith-based outreach project that includes more than your local church. Here are some ideas to keep the Pray Mombasa idea going: volunteer in a homeless shelter or hospice; provide meals, babysitting, and transportation for military families in your area; or build or sponsor a youth center in your community.

Connections

An excerpt from Connections
By Hubert Harriman, President
April-June 2012

I was 13 years old and on an emergency flight to Los Angeles, California, with my dad. It had all started because I was playing with an old syringe. My friend quickly pulled the needle out as soon as he had accidentally stuck me in my left knee bone, but a raging infection set in that soon had us flying out of the jungle village and into Santa Cruz, Bolivia. While I was in much pain and my knee was bent into a locked position, my father felt impressed to take me to Cochabamba, eight hours away over Andean Mountain roads. The doctor in Cochabamba not only saved me from deadly spinal meningitis, but he also saw what other doctors had failed to see in the X-rays and performed surgery on my leg on my 13th birthday. However, after another X-ray, it was evident that I wouldn’t survive without the amputation of my left leg. That’s what the flight to Los Angeles was all about—to save my leg.

Arriving at 4 p.m., I was in surgery at 6 p.m. I wish I had space to tell you the rest of the story, but needless to say, that doctor saved my leg. I had connections!

Not so with Natalia. I was back in Bolivia recently and learned of this 17-year-old girl who had suffered a shotgun accident to her left leg. The infection, similar to mine years ago, was too extensive and they had to amputate her left leg just above the knee.

I could hardly contain my emotions. I thought to myself, she didn’t have the connections I had. Since then, Sarah and I have purposed to make some connections for this young lady, and people have stepped up to the plate. But I continue to look for anyone who will be that connection Natalia needs to get her through school and give her a chance in life.

That’s what missions is all about—making the right connections for needy people. Natalia came to know the Lord through this ordeal. This is the greatest thing about missions—The Divine Connection! I urge you to help the deeply needy of this world make the right connections!

ACT: Connect someone to the cause of missions. Ask them to sign up for a free subscription to The Call.

Seeing a Better World

An excerpt from Seeing a Better World
The power of a team
By Paul Yarger, Hillsdale Area Men With Vision
April/May/June 2011

Seeing a better world is the way the Hillsdale Daily News described our recent home improvement project. We completely re-roofed the home of a disabled neighbor lady in our village of Ossea, Michigan—the home of Hillsdale Area Men With Vision.

For about seven years, our local chapter of nearly 20 men, mostly retired, has been giving time and expertise to help the elderly and needy of our community by volunteering one or two days a week from April through November. We have been sharing our witness for Christ by helping many who can’t help themselves. Our Hillsdale County Community Foundation has helped us with funding for some of the materials, and donations from others have made this all possible.

By getting our hands dirty, we earn the right to pray and share with many recipients. It brings outreach ministry down to the local level. This is our Jerusalem, so to speak. God be praised!

Yes, our MWV group is making it a better world, both for today and, the Lord willing, for many more tomorrows.

ACT: Want to know more about the Men With Vision team (chapter) in your area and how to get involved? Contact Bill Bucher at mwv@wgm.org or 765.671.7217.

It Takes a Team!

An excerpt from It Takes a Team
By John Muehleisen, Africa
April/May/June 2011

By this time, Ruthven’s heart had softened toward spiritual things. He and other families in the community agreed to offer their homes as security against the church loan. Soon, a church was started.

Ressie and her family prayed for Ruthven for over 30 years. In 1979 he was hospitalized with heart problems and black lung disease. Thinking he was near death, Ruthven asked a pastor to come pray with him. He was saved and he lived a few more years as a transformed man.

Ruthven and Ressie’s youngest child, a son named C.R., accepted Christ as his Savior and felt called to preach. He attended Asbury University (Kentucky) before going on to Asbury Seminary. He was a student at Asbury during the 1970 revival. As a result of this revival, many student teams went out to minister in churches on weekends. C.R. was a member of a team that went to a church in St. Clairsville, Ohio, for revival services, and at the end of the Thursday night service, a 13-year-old boy walked down the aisle. C.R. prayed with him as he gave his life to Jesus. That young man’s name is John Muehleisen.

Whose redemption depends on your obedience today?

What neighbor, family member, or stranger is waiting on you to persevere in prayer and to give of yourself, your time, your money?

ACT: God used Team Ressie to make an impact in her community. What can you and your sphere of influence do to leave a missions impact where you live? The World Go! Manual is a great study to get you started. Call Tara Mast at 765.671.7244 to purchase a copy, or download it for free at www.wgm.org/
worldgo.

Picking Your Team

An excerpt from Picking Your Team
By Kelly Hallahan, Uganda
April/May/June 2011


Every church needs a good team. Here are the key players and how you can maximize their potential:

1. Pastor
•Pray for him or her that God will increase his or her passion for missions.
•Sponsor his or her trip to visit missionaries your church supports.
•Pray for him or her to take the Perspectives course or a missions class at a local Christian college.

2. Missions Committee
•Global Outreach Weekend—WGM would be glad to help your church explore its missions plan for the greatest impact.
•Connect with other missions committees. Host a missions prayer breakfast and invite missions committee members from other churches. Perhaps have a missionary or someone who has been on a short-term trip share. Encourage one another in missions.

3. Missionaries
•Missionaries want to be involved in your life and in your missions journey.
•Invite a missionary to dinner while they are on homeland ministry assignment.
•Send personal and church prayer requests to your missionaries.

I'll Always Remember

An excerpt from I’ll Always Remember
By Hubert Harriman, President
January–March 2011

I don’t think I’ll ever forget June and July of 2010 either. Let me tell you why.

World Gospel Mission turned 100 years old!
Some of you attended WGM’s 100th anniversary celebration, June 24-27, which was a huge event in every way.

My son-in-law Nate Lowe broke his neck.
We thank the Lord that this pool accident resulted in only a three-month neck brace, but this incident created a turn of events resulting in me traveling to Honduras on a work team with my daughter, Anne.

Dr. Joseph Rono, bishop of Africa Gospel Church in Kenya for 18 years, passed away from complications with diabetes on July 22.
After several days with the Africa Gospel Church and with the time they gave me to say some words at each service, a wonderful bonding took place between us. They were so appreciative of my coming. I was so moved by their kindness.

ACT: You can make June, July, and August months you’ll never forget in 2011. Here are a few suggestions to get you planning.

June: Get in the Word. Take this month to study Scripture where Jesus’ loving acts are recorded. Journal your thoughts on love as you study the Scriptures. Then pray that God will show you how to share love to those in your community.

July: Organize a community-wide outreach project. Grab your neighbors and volunteer at a local hospice facility, offer babysitting to military families in the area, or serve meals at a homeless shelter. Whatever you do, do it together, serving the needs of your community.

August: Pray for your leaders. Write, e-mail, or call people who have leadership or authority in your community. Ask them to share prayer requests with you. Ask them how they would like you to pray for them. Pray earnestly the whole month. Contact them at the beginning of September and ask them how things are going in the areas you prayed for.

Ukraine: Unemployment

In 2009, Ukraine’s unemployment rate was at 10.5 percent. With approximately 50 percent of the population under the age of 25, that’s a lot of youth with spare time on their hands. Alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic abuse, and lack of jobs have demoralized young people, giving them little hope for the future.

WGM Ukraine has a vision to provide a safe environment for troubled youth to interact with each other and with Christian counselors, and also to create a base for other community-oriented ministries through the Home of Hope Ministry Center.

ACT: Share the Home of Hope ministry needs with others. Download a free speaker outline at www.wgm.org/ukraine.

Each day, the WGM website will highlight a specific compassionate ministry during the concert of prayer. Come back often to learn more and to share your prayer for the field.

Kazakhstan: Alcoholism

Among many problems in today's Kazakh society, the problem of alcoholism is one of the top-ranking issues. Alcoholism damages and separates families. The Apple Tree House serves as a safe haven for underprivileged and abused children who are often living out the effects of alcoholism in their homes. As the children experience a few hours in a loving, healthy environment, may they establish the next generation of alcohol-free families.

ACT: The Apple Tree House ministry shares several needs in The Great Co-Mission Catalog. Find out ways to partner with this ministry at www.wgm.org/catalog or request a copy at wgm@wgm.org.

Click the comments link to tell us how you are using the concert of prayer in a small group, a Sunday School class, or another creative way.

Giving the Gift of Connectivity

CHURCH CHALLENGE

Bauer Community Fellowship
Giving the Gift of Connectivity
By Sarah Westfall, Administrative Assistant/Copywriter
November/December 2008 Call to Prayer

Technology has become an essential tool for today’s church in the United States. If you tried, I almost guarantee you would struggle to find churches that do not have a website, never use PowerPoint or a projector, or do not at least have microphones or sound equipment. While many churches use these technologies during Sunday services or as a jump-start to their Christmas cantatas, Bauer Community Fellowship in Hudsonville, Michigan, decided to take it one step further.

About a year ago, BCF began to tackle how they might become better partners with the missionaries they support. Sure, the church sent money every year and had missionaries speak when they were in the States. But BCF wondered whether they were really connecting with their missionaries. As members of the Body of Christ, should their partnership in missions go deeper? The answer was yes—but how?

BCF’s lead visual tech, Bob Young, along with the missions committee decided to equip their missionaries with a webcam, a small camera used to transmit video over the Internet. A webcam allows people to hold a live video chat, connecting people in a way that far surpasses e-mail or a phone conversation because you not only hear the person’s voice but you also see his face and emotions.

Using webcams, BCF now spends five to ten minutes one Sunday morning a month having a live discussion with one of its missionary families to learn more about the family’s life and ministry. The webcam video feed is projected on a screen so the congregation can see and hear the missionaries; additionally, the missionaries are able to see the congregation on their end through a second webcam placed in the church sanctuary. This sanctuary webcam allows the missionaries to see what is happening in the church during the interview, and they can also remain connected after the interview and be a part of the worship service.

Bauer Community Fellowship has been able to give the gift of connectivity to its missionaries as well as its congregation. How can our churches better utilize technology we already have to connect with our missionaries? What can we provide in addition to financial and prayer support that will fuel a deeper commitment not only to the missionary but also to the cause of missions?

In a way that makes sense for your church, consider the following suggestions for using technology to enhance your missionary interface and to give the gift of connectivity:

• Dedicate a page on your church’s website to your missionaries. Include missionary pictures, links to their websites or blogs, contact information, and updates or prayer needs.

• Stream your worship services on the Web and invite your missionaries to participate. In addition to using webcams to interview missionaries, your church can use this same technology at a very minimal cost to have your worship services streamed live from your church’s website.

• Record a two- to three-minute phone call interview with a missionary and play this missionary update over your sound system during your Sunday morning service. Consider projecting a picture of the missionary while the audio is playing to connect a face with a name and personal story. Ready to take the next step? Post the recorded interview to your website as a downloadable MP3 file.

• Give your missionaries digital cameras and ask them to share their recent photos with your congregation from time to time. Be sure to also send the missionaries photos of church events and members of your congregation.

• Make missionaries your Facebook friends! If your missionaries and members of your congregation are on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/) or another online community, encourage your congregation to add the missionaries as friends so they can stay in touch by posting photos, leaving comments, and sending messages.

• Use PowerPoint or another visual medium to project missionaries’ pictures, prayer requests, current projects, or contact information before, at the beginning of, or after your weekly service. Getting the word out can be challenging, and a consistent, visual reminder is key to keeping people connected.

• Send missionary care packages that include CDs or DVDs of a particular sermon or sermon series. If any of your missionaries is a pastor on the field, this gift may be particularly helpful in encouraging spiritual growth and in fostering continued connection to the church.