I've been following Seth Barnes's blog about what's happening in Haiti. It's devastating; here's what he just posted:
Last night on a Skype call from near the
Haitian border, we heard the tragic story of a mother with three
children. Her three year-old had her crushed leg amputated at the hip.
But even as she clings to life, her mother has to take her on the hard
ride back to Port-au-Prince to search for her two siblings who are
still lost and possibly dead in the rubble.
She represents the hundreds of thousands, still in a state of
shock, trying to cope with the trauma. They desperately and urgently
need our help. And we have to ask, how does the Church respond?
AIM is mobilizing the Church to respond to this disaster with integrity and boldness. Here's how we can join what the Lord is doing in the nation of Haiti:
Pray. We need to cover Haiti in prayer. Pray for the people, the AIM missionaries in the Dominican Republic close to the border, and the mission teams being sent out.
Give. A great way to make an impact in Haiti is to donate to the Haiti Relief Fund. You can give through AIM by clicking here. These donations are tax-deductible and will be stewarded well; I can vouch for that! This money is being directly sent to people on the ground who are using it to for supplies and food.
Go. AIM will soon be sending mission trips into Haiti. This week, though, a group of World Racers is headed into the midst of the chaotic situation as forerunners for coming teams. They're going to identify key ministry contacts and set up logistics for coming teams. For more about their trips and other opportunities to go, visit the Haiti blog.
Share. Tell the stories. Get the word out. Let's believe that the Lord WILL transform this land for His glory.
I talked to our country director, Miguel Shaul. He just returned from Port-au-Prince with this report:
Miguel passed by a school that was full of students at the time of the earthquake that completely collapsed, killing most of the students. He said the stench was unbearable.
They had turned the large cement slab in front of the school into a triage center for the living right next to that place of death because there was no more space to put them.
A pickup truck with four crushed but living people showed up. There was no room for them there. The man driving it said, "Where else can I take them?"
There was a woman crying beside the body of her sister who couldn't get treatment and had just died.
A mass of people is fleeing Port-au-Prince. It was hard to move. People are being tended for medical needs all along the way from the capital to the D.R. border. The capital is becoming like a war zone.
Last night, for example, according to unconfirmed reports, there were five D.R. police officers there to keep the peace who were murdered. The tension between the two nations is going to be exacerbated. It is possible that missionaries going in could be killed. We as a ministry will not be sending groups in until we have better assessed the security situation.
Miguel describes the situation as "on a knife's edge." But he adds that this can push the country to a place of dependence on God. The pastors are saying that people are turning to God in an unprecedented way.
If you'd like to get regular updates about Haiti, subscribe to the Haiti Updates Blog.
As most of you know, our oldest is at our G42 leadership school in Spain... (Suffering for Jesus on the Mediterranean Sea)! Here is here blog and what is already going on in her life...
My
biological father passed away when I was four years old. It was a
tragic loss making it hard to cope with everyday life. It was just my
mom, my sister, and me for five years.
When
tragedy, loss, or desperation strike a house hold, it is natural for
people to run to a comfort zone. People always are looking for a god to
rely on, whether it is Christ Almighty or an idol.
Growing up, missing
a father, I grew an attachment to food. At a young age I was gorging to
fill the void in my heart. This 'Food god' became a habit for years to
come. When my parents would confront me on this issue, I was quick to
deny it, or become offended. As I grew older i ran to food every time
something made me uncomfortable or sad.
Finally
I hit a wall, I did not want to be a slave to that god anymore. I was
unhappy, unhealthy, and even more depressed than I started out.
Sunday
night i cried out to heaven and hell "I DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS
ANYMORE'. It was then when i realized that this was more than an
addiction, it was a demonic stronghold. Admitting that to myself was
the first sign of redemption, I had been lying to myself for years
because i didn't want to be the girl who had the 'eating disorder'.
Coming
to G42 Leadership Academy was not an attempt to find myself, it is to
prepare myself and set the bar for my journey ahead. In this experience
I want to be completely real with myself and those around me. When this
revelation came to me Sunday night i had planned to tell my best
friend, Alaina,
and my mentor, Stephanie.
During class that morning, we were talking
about being full in the Holy Spirit and shutting down strongholds. We
began going around being honest and open about what we were dealing
with and how to be 'full' anyway. Sure enough my heart began pounding
like crazy and my face became hot. I did not want to share this with 20
people i had only met a week ago, I didn't even like to share it with
myself. I heard God say clearly to confess it with my mouth and declare
it gone.
So
I told everyone about this stronghold that had taken over my life, my
voice shaking and face turning red. I ended with, "but I'm done, so i
am saying right now to Heaven and Hell that this has no more control
over me and i am free." The moment i said that, I literally felt a
heaviness lifted off of me; Demon gone. It's amazing the authority you
have in the Lord, Amen.
The people i had confessed this to supported me
and loved on me. Of course, right after i felt vulnerable and naked,
regretting telling everyone. After the class, people came up to me
thanking me for sharing and being honest, which shut the enemy down
once again.
This
is not hard to share now because I AM DELIVERED IN THE NAME OF JESUS
and will never deal with that again. Thank you Jesus, Praise Jesus.
This Demon has lied to me, abused me, and manipulated me for 14 years,
and I am free.
I know that saying, "Merry Christmas" is not politically correct, but... for those of us that still believe , for those of us that still have faith in America, our dreams and traditions – for those of us that want to bring hope to our neighbors, our family and the poor of the earth – I say, Merry Christmas!!
As Lisa and I council young married couples and listen to their struggles – as we listen to our friends going thru financial troubles, some of them destitution – one of our spiritual kids mother just took her life this week - as we struggle with our own family's issues – (some pretty major ones this Christmas)!
We all get to stop these next two days and remember one thing... A man took all of our burdens, all of our sin, all our triumphs and all of our confusion and placed it on a cross.
If you believe or not; if you insist on saying Happy Holidays and not Merry Christmas – it doesn't change what this man did and what He will do for you – This man, Jesus, was born and died for you, period. He didn't die for you because He needed you to perform; He didn't die for you to be perfect or go to church – He died for you with one thing on His mind... just you.
You are loved and sought after by the greatest man whoever walked the earth – He is desperately in love with you and your family – and all you have to do in return is say "Yes" I believe. That is all He asks...
So, Merry Christmas, and even happy holidays from the BlackTribe!
This is from Tom Davis blog today - this is where we need to put our energy, period.
As you read this letter there are over 2 million children forced into prostitution and sex slavery.
This can be prevented and we can do something about it. These girls need our help and there isn't time to waste.
Right now, pimps and prostitution rings are targeting our precious, young girls. They wait for them to leave the protection of the orphanage, and then offer them a "job."
Many of the girls simply disappear: never heard from again by their friends. But sometimes you glimpse this horror.
Like the girl who was flung from the cab of a truck once her "client" was finished with her. She was paralyzed, never to walk again.
Or the young woman the police found in a ditch on the side of a busy road. Killed at the truck stop where she worked as a prostitute.
These were kids that could have been helped by our programs.
One of these stories is too many...2 million children is unfathomable. This is a direct result of evil having its way on the earth.
As Peter tells us, "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." I Peter 5:8
We can't let him continue to destroy lives. You can stop this, and help reclaim a child's future.
HopeChest stops sex trafficking before it starts. In Russia, we are taking girls into residential living centers and community centers to actively protect them from the commercial sex trade. We identify girls early, while still in the orphanage.
Our staff form meaningful relationships to role model what successful living looks like. And when that girl leaves the orphanage, she knows exactly where to go for help--to HopeChest. She is not alone.
Amongst our girls, there is no sex trafficking. In fact, our transitional living homes have a 90%+ rate of helping girls find true independent life. This is the reality of God's Kingdom in action.
Seth Barnes blogged this today; if you have not read Adam's Return by Richard Rohr - I strongly recommend you do; both women and men; my daughters know who they want to marry and my sons are learning about initiation.
Gary Black and his family have been on a fascinating journey these past three years. At some point, I hope that he'll be able to share it with you. He's learned some great lessons (helped along the way by Richard Rohr) along the way that have cost a lot. We all get to learn these, or get bloodied and bruised because we couldn't learn them.
1. Life is hard
Being a Christian is not supposed to be easy all the time. We are going to suffer, get hurt, fall down. All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain. Embracing pain and learning from it will make you conscious, awake, and alert. God comes in and wounds our wounds and then starts to heal them...and we should embrace it, not turn and run the other direction when things are hard.
2. You're not that important
Either we are made by another or self-made, but all of us are transformed by people that are already transformed, and we can't do something until we see other people do it. Though our souls need meaning as much as our bodies need food, we can't give meaning.
3. It's not about you
Life is not about you but you are about life. You are about a universal and eternal pattern, and you don't have to figure it all out. We should be satisfied with being a part and only a part of the bigger picture.
4. You are not in control
You just get to BE, even if you can't wrap head around it. Everybody tells you to take control of your life and it sounds so godly and spiritual, but our bodies, souls, and especially our failures teach us that we are not in control. All God wants is the "yes" in our spirit - allow ourselves to be used despite the evidence against us. When we realize we're not in control we begin to care about other stuff, and become part of the huge mystery that helps change the world.
5. You are going to die
The most courageous thing you'll ever do is accept that you're just yourself, but we must die to self-image and small egos in order to become our real selves.
If these themes seem to hit you where it counts and you'd like to dive deeper in exploring them, I recommend reading Max Lucado's It's Not About Me.
I am so excited to share with you what God is doing in my life. i just graduated this past May and i felt God calling me to take time to learn his word and live in community with other followers. My passion for God and missions truly began when my family moved to Africa in 2006. I feel in love with with the people and reached a spiritual maturity level that i had never encountered before. At the time, the Leadership Academy in Spain was talked about, but not up and running yet. However, i was so excited for what might happen there. When i knew i was moving back to the states i had planned to graduate high school then take a year to experience God and find myself.
Around May the school year had been winding down and i had decided to just stay in Colorado and work for a year. It was comfortable, but i didn't really know what to do with my life or where it was going. After a lunch date with my Dad i had decided Spain. In that conversation my dad had challenged me to dig deeper and gain a stronger knowledge of God and life. I went home that night and prayed about moving yet again to a foreign land. This meant giving up a lot, but after a few days God told me to go.
Which brings me to now. it is so exciting to here about all the amazing, life changing things going on in Spain that i soon get to be a part of. I feel like this year is going to be a growing year for me. It's going to be a six-month long internship, costing all together about $8,000. I'd like to ask for your help as I step out in obedience. By praying for me as I prepare and go to Spain, you will have a direct impact on my ministry. Prayer is so important in life and this project is no exception.
In addition, will you consider supporting me financially? i would like if people began to support me monthly starting in January. I need to buy my ticket ASAP, so, if you would like to help with that, we can do that now!! The term starts the beginning of January. Please know that all financial support is sincerely appreciated. Please send contributions G42 or AIM and a statement of your giving will be mailed to you at the end of the year. I am also willing, for those of you locally, to work for support. Dog-sitting, housecleaning, car washing, etc. Just let me know if you'd like to take up that offer.
I look forward to what God will do in my life through this experience. Your support and prayers mean a great deal to me. Thank you for sharing in this opportunity with me to influence the lives of many people, not just in Spain, but my life and the lives of the rest of the group.
Thank You for your Time,
Alexis
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." -James 1:27
Thank You for Donating
Go Here to donate and help me to get more discipleship, more life and more of the Lord!
Click on 'Intern Support' and give all your billing info. Once they have all your information they will ask you to review. Make sure you type in 'Alexis Black' under Intern's name. Contact me if you any trouble billing.
-or-
If you would rather pay by check, make checks payable to G42 and mail to:
G42, Inc. P.O. Box 17419 Fountain Hills, AZ 85269
You can pay once, or give monthly, both are equally appreciated. I will be in touch!
-Alexis
I cannot confrim or deny what is happening in KC; but, I recieved this email from Mike Bickle tonight... if you are near IHOP of just want to go jump in the river here you go!
A short overview of what is happening at IHOP for a few leaders in light of inquiries and phone calls about what the Holy Spirit is doing at IHOP
On November 4, on the last day of IHOP's monthly Global Bridegroom Fast, a move of the Holy Spirit began to stir during IHOPU's student chapel as students testified of receiving deliverance from self-hatred, shame, and depression. Students began to experience supernatural joy at the revelation of God's love for them. A powerful spirit of joy rested on many the next day at the IHOPU student-led 6am prayer meeting and the Spirit continued to move throughout the week in our classes and during the faculty meetings.
Then, on November 11, at a 9am class of first year students, the Spirit continued to move with physical healings and deliverance with a spirit of joy. That class on November 11 continued for more than 15 hours. The word spread quickly and over 2,000 people spontaneously gathered to the auditorium from all over the Kansas City area as deliverance and physical healings increased. The meeting continued well past midnight. The leadership of IHOPU recognized that the Spirit was moving and therefore, they canceled all classes for the next few days so that we could gather to receive all that the Spirit wanted to do.
We recognize the Holy Spirit is awakening our students and many others. In each of these meetings, many people are being set free from addictions, shame, depression, demonic activity, and every sort of emotional pain. We are also witnessing an increase of physical healings, as God is touching and restoring bodies inside the building as well as those watching via webstream. Moreover, we greatly rejoice as we are seeing lost souls being added to the Kingdom of God during these meetings. We are also receiving many testimonies and reports that this move of the Spirit is spreading to other churches and prayer rooms that are joining with us each night via the webstream.
What started during our IHOPU student chapel on November 4 continues until today. Visitors are pouring in from many places with some driving over 1,200 miles overnight to participate in these meetings. Consequently, we have moved the Prayer Room to our FSM sanctuary from 6pm to midnight each night from November 12 to 22. We will continue to extend these nightly meetings beyond this as the Holy Spirit leads us. We earnestly pray that the spiritual awakening will continue as our nation is in a desperate need for another great awakening in this hour.
Throughout history, college and university campuses in our nation have been an epicenter and a catalyst for spiritual awakening. From the 1700s onward, our nation has witnessed multiple moves of the Holy Spirit that have touched and awakened students on college campuses, including Princeton University, Yale University, Asbury College, Wheaton College, and more than a dozen other college campuses. These spiritual awakenings often progressed beyond the campuses and resulted in a great number of souls being added to the Kingdom of God. History also attests to a strong correlation between spiritual awakening and missionary movements. We pray that this spiritual awakening that is touching IHOPU and the rest of our IHOP Missions Base will break out all over our nation in different cities.
I received messages late last night; we all need to be thankful today and give our prayers and money... life is hard and it is all relative, but... our lives are not like this.
Seth Barnes Blogged it well:
Nsoko, Swaziland is the most pain-filled place on earth I know. In a country where 45% of adults have the HIV virus, the people of Nsoko have an infection rate that, astonishingly, is twice that - 90%. Visit their homes and you can't help but encounter the pain. Skeletal women with hollow eyes wasting away in corners. Frightened children left to cope by themselves. And our people, Pastor Gift and Philile are right in the middle of it. Every day they're comforting someone, burying someone, taking someone to the hospital. They touch and consecrate the remorseless pain of their neighbors.
Last night I received a message from Pastor Gift that a windstorm had blown through and crumpled the roof of our community center and had demolished many homes (report here). It leaves you shaking your head and asking, "How much more can a person take?"
All of us experience pain. Pain as a one-off at worst results in post-traumatic shock syndrome. It's the repeated pain - the pain upon pain that is senseless or abusive - that dulls the senses and sends us scuttling for safe places. We have no words for it. At a minimum it seems unfair. With Job we shake an angry fist at the God who set this whole thing up. We ask "why?" and our voice echoes unanswered off the walls.
I know a family that this year said goodbye to their father, a victim of cancer. Left behind are a mother and daughter also battling with cancer, while the other two daughters cope with devastating pain of their own. Pain upon pain. It's more than anyone should bear. What do we say in the face of such monstrous realities?
Some of you know what I mean. You've had your fill and the cup of your pain is running over. It's a thundering migraine that won't go away, a thumb in your eye when you're already beat down and gasping for breath. You've lost your job and suffer the humiliation of getting turned down for the hundredth time. Many of us know couples who, having lost their child then find that the pain of the loss causes them to lose their marriage.
Horatio Spafford's life gives us perhaps the best answer to this question of pain upon pain. He lost his son to an early death, his business in the Chicago fire, and all four of his daughters drowned when a ship went down. Later, passing by that spot, he wrote the famous hymn "It is Well With My Soul." But that's not the end of the story. Later, he and his wife moved to Jerusalem and founded a ministry to the poor. The ministry later became the subject of a Nobel Prize-winning book.
I remember one of the last times I was in Nsoko sitting in the dirt with a Swazi woman who had lost her whole family. We visited the graves of her family members and sang "It is Well With My Soul" with her. And in sharing her grief, we honored it, for a moment transforming it to something holy - a sacrifice to a God who, despite appearances to the contrary, still cared, shining hope into a place sandblasted by pain.
What else can we who follow Jesus do except that - join our brothers and sisters in their distress and honor the pain that has no explanation and the God who won't give one? It is the response of Jesus' disciples to his death and it is the sacred pathway God still gives us to journey. In Nsoko this morning, that is what Pastor Gift and his staff will be doing. Half a world away, we can join him through our prayers and through our giving. Some of us may even hum Horatio's Spafford's hymn as a way of consecrating this awful fight to bring light into the darkness.
As most of you know the Lord made it very clear to Lisa, the kids and me the reason He moved us to Africa for a season was so that He would give us a remnant or prophets in hiding, in Swaziland. For 14 months we cultivated relationships, fought the government, washed, clothed and fed thousands of orphans.... and... we built strategic relationships with the royal family. Then, seemingly out of know where, God gave us pastor Gift and his family, gogo Elizabeth and a bunch of white South African farmers; the remnant was found! And they were found in a desolate, forgotten place called Nsoko.
(I believe there is a "Remnant" in every nation; a group of people/prophets that have not bowed their knee to the norm, to the religious, to compromise; these are the people that God is hiding until an appointed time to shape and change a nation) Jer 23:3 and 1Kings 19:18
This report may not seem like much too many of you, but, it is life, tears and makes all the suffering, fighting and confusion at times all worth it! (We still need staff; so, please read and ask)
Nsoko Center Executive Report
November 11, 2009
Having returned from the AIM/CHC vision trip a couple weeks ago it is appropriate for me to submit an update on the ministries, the staff, and the ongoing management of the Nsoko Center.
Nsoko Ministry Overview
Pastor Gift is excelling at leading the ministry efforts in Nsoko. He is responsive to leadership here in Gainesville. He communicates well. He does a great job directing the visiting AIM teams to productive contribution to the overall ministry there. He is working on a leadership development training for some emerging leaders there.
·Clinic – the clinic is open and functioning. 50 children were chosen from among the surrounding care points to receive the free medical treatment. The clinic is selling vouchers at the Nsoko Spar for the community to come be seen. Vouchers cost R100. This may need to be addressed as I didn't think we were providing a for profit clinic – we are covering the electricity costs for the clinic and since there are aircons in the building this will be a considerable added cost to our monthly budget for the center.
·Church – When I attended church there were around 20 Swazi's attending. It is meeting in the community building (which we are using as a dorm see below) since the roof structure does not provide shelter in bad weather.
·Community Building – We've converted the community building in to a dorm for the visiting teams. Since the RLMT in June there have been teams staying there almost constantly from RLMT, STM, WR and soon Novas. This has been helpful in several areas – it has benefits of keeping the team in the ministry setting 24/7 which has upsides and downsides. The other helpful part if the teams are paying a pppn fee to stay in the housing and we are using these funds to cover maintenance of the center as well as make improvements.
·Womens Meeting – Philile is leading the women's ministry every Tuesday afternoon. This seems to be going well as several women attend. Philile is very busy with school.
·HIV/AIDS Support Group – I did not witness this meeting this time but there were around 50 people in the meeting in July when I was there. Since the group is growing but also people within the group are dying there is a need for trained counselors. I suggest this be part of the leadership development piece we do in Nsoko.
·Soccer Team – I wish you could have been there the Sunday I was there. Here is a report I have the donor for the soccer uniforms: I wish I had a video of one of the most moving scenes yet in Africa for me. We were having church (Morgan you can picture this) and the soccer team pulled up in the back of two pick-ups (picture like 30 people in the back of two Toyota trucks) singing and chanting in the rain. They had just won a match with a goal in the last 5 seconds and were returning to the Nsoko center in victory! They danced and sang outside the community building/center for some time – church just ended and we joined the celebration. Wow – it was awesome and Gift was in tears.
Gift tells me two of the guys on the team have offers to play at the next level in South Africa. God is bringing meaning to the lives of the men on this team – they are undefeated and tied for first place in their league.
·Foster Home – I am working on a blog to explain this ministry. Basically there are 4 young boys and a 14 year old pregnant girl with no place to live. Gift has put them up with a nearby gogo. We are providing food for the homestead and working on donors to keep it going and add school fees and medical care.
·Building Projects – All funds for this have come from team funds.
1.We are almost finished adding showers to the back of the community building for team use.
2.We will be adding another water tower and tank and upgrading the system there to save the wear and tear on the well pump.
3.The septic system for the community building was not installed correctly. We will have to do it over. Sewage back-up is a problem.
4.We hope to soon build walls under the metal roof structure to make it the new community center/church. We will also build two rooms behind it one being an office and another a storage room.
5.This coming summer there is a returning RLMT member with his construction company father and brothers who want to fund and build another house or two like Gifts. I am working on a good floor plan that will allow maximum flexibility for use there. These will be temporary staff house and intern housing making it easier for people to some serve for several months at a time. It will also be an income generator for the center as people will pay rent.
Staff Update
As I said Gift is doing a great job. But he needs help. Visiting people like Traci Vansumeren have been a huge help. We have a Novas team of 8 coming the end of November. I will be using them like staff there under Gift's direction.
·Facilities Manager – We are in need of a person who can keep things fixed and manage upcoming projects.
·Administrator – We need someone to manage the finances, reconciling funds and keeping the ministry on budget.
·TIP (Talent Improvement Program) – This is Gift's idea for a leadership development program. As we get funding we will be adding Swazi staff similar to the D-Team in Manzini but they will be part of a 2 year leadership development program where they serve as staff as well as get intentional leadership development training.
Give to Nsoko here; this nation will be, is being changed day-by-day... thank you everybody.
Miguel passed by a school that was full of students at the time of the earthquake that completely collapsed, killing most of the students. He said the stench was unbearable.
Last night, for example, according to unconfirmed reports, there were five D.R. police officers there to keep the peace who were murdered. The tension between the two nations is going to be exacerbated. It is possible that missionaries going in could be killed. We as a ministry will not be sending groups in until we have better assessed the security situation. 
I know that saying, "Merry Christmas" is not politically correct, but... for those of us that still believe , for those of us that still have faith in America, our dreams and traditions – for those of us that want to bring hope to our neighbors, our family and the poor of the earth – I say, Merry Christmas!! 
If you believe or not; if you insist on saying Happy Holidays and not Merry Christmas – it doesn't change what this man did and what He will do for you – This man, Jesus, was born and died for you, period. He didn't die for you because He needed you to perform; He didn't die for you to be perfect or go to church – He died for you with one thing on His mind... just you.
Gary Black and his family have been on a fascinating journey these past three years. At some point, I hope that he'll be able to share it with you. He's learned some great lessons (helped along the way by Richard Rohr) along the way that have cost a lot. We all get to learn these, or get bloodied and bruised because we couldn't learn them. 
I cannot confrim or deny what is happening in KC; but, I recieved this email from Mike Bickle tonight... if you are near IHOP of just want to go jump in the river here you go!
Nsoko, 
What else can we who follow Jesus do except that - join our brothers and sisters in their distress and honor the pain that has no explanation and the God who won't give one? It is the response of Jesus' disciples to his death and it is the sacred pathway God still gives us to journey. In Nsoko this morning, that is what Pastor Gift and his staff will be doing. Half a world away, we can join him through our prayers and through 
As most of you know the Lord made it very clear to Lisa, the kids and me the reason He moved us to Africa for a season was so that He would give us a remnant or prophets in hiding, in Swaziland. For 14 months we cultivated relationships, fought the government, washed, clothed and fed thousands of orphans.... and... we built strategic relationships with the royal family. Then, seemingly out of know where, God gave us pastor Gift and his family, gogo Elizabeth and a bunch of white South African farmers; the remnant was found! And they were found in a desolate, forgotten place called Nsoko.