Archive for August 2009
191 deaths in one week
This prayer alert in from BGR prayer coordinator Lori Funderburk:
Tabitha Ministries, a BGR partner in South Africa, is in need of prayer. This ministry is under great pressure because of the needs it is trying to meet. More and more people are relying on this ministry and the pressure of added numbers of people starving and abused is heavy. Nearly 5,000 children in child headed households are dependent on this ministry. Since January over 4,000 people have died in this community. In the last week alone, 191 people have died. This ministry deals with the sickest of the sick and the poorest of the poor. Will you lift them up in prayer today?
Making a difference for hungry people
A key ministry partner has posted this brief video to communicate the urgency of the hunger problem in Kenya and the critical role played by gifts to the Southern Baptist World Hnger Fund. Every dollar given to the WHF is used 100% for on-the-field ministry. World Hunger Sunday is Oct. 11.
—–
Hunger is a very real problem all through the drought stricken Rift Valley region of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Thanks to the generous gifts of Southern Baptists to the World Hunger Fund, Southern Baptists are able to plan hunger relief projects to help alleviate some of the suffering. God is blessing these efforts. Pray for good rains this next season. Pray for God to strengthen workers in these food distribution efforts. Pray for opportunities to share not only physical food but spiritual food as well.
Kenya hunger relief efforts top $1 million so far this year
World Hunger Sunday is just around the corner: Oct. 11. With the burgeoning hunger crisis in Kenya, the need for compassionate giving is great. Will you mobilize your church to help? Resources for observing World Hunger Sunday are available here.
NAKURU, Kenya – Starvation continues to stalk millions of Maasai people in Kenya’s Rift valley, and Southern Baptists are launching a new round of hunger relief to help the neediest survive.
Almost a third of the people in Kenya’s Kajiado and Narok districts are in dire need of food, and the new round of relief efforts will stave off disaster for about 180,000 people, according to the Southern Baptist missionary coordinating the project.
VBS project proves children can do missions too
When Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tenn., started planning for Vacation Bible School this year, Tim Munoz wanted to find some way their students could reach out to children in need. And when VBS week wound down with the Clarksville kids far short of their goal, Munoz was worried. Then the Lord did something totally unexpected.
Read more here.
Pray: Zimbabwe exercise books
This in from BGR prayer coordinator Lori Funderburk:
300,000 exercise books are needed for our 2010 school year BGR project in Zimbabwe. To make these exercise books we need paper. That paper has to be imported. We need the paper very soon in order to have the books printed and ready for distribution by January 2010.
The Ministry of Education in Zimbabwe is working to secure the documentation needed to receive exemption from customs duties and fees from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. Please pray that this documentation will be issued ASAP.
Freeing people from poverty
Over at Kingdom Communities, Jeff Palmer is blogging about how poverty results from broken relationships. He’s got a fascinating take on the types of poverty created by four different broken relationships.
If we truly want to see people freed from poverty, we’ve got to come to terms with the broken relationships underlying poverty – and focus on solutions that address those broken relationships, not just the superficial symptoms.
Catch what Jeff is saying at Kingdom Communities about The Four Failed Relationships of Poverty!
Sharing the expertise to multiply the impact
SINGAPORE – Southern Baptists have developed, through decades of experience all over the world, great expertise in community development and disaster relief. Now that expertise – and its potential impact – is being multiplied by a new Baptist Global Response training project.
The International Relief and Development Training Initiative, which is based out of BGR’s Singapore headquarters, offers training in the principles and techniques of community development and disaster relief. The workshops – which have been conducted five times since June – are intended to empower other groups to effectively connect people who care with people in need.
The initiative was developed in response to requests from both Christian churches and ministry groups and secular organizations, like Singapore’s Economic Development Board, said Jeff Palmer, executive director of Baptist Global Response.
