A Great Event

Today Empower Worldwide Outreach hosted its annual Road Rally. It is built much like CBS' Amazing Race.

17 Teams competed for bragging rights. Groups solved clues, sunk 25 foot putts, fished in a lake for hula hoops and visited a house where an axe murderer made his mark.

The whole point was to raise awareness about the tremendous need to financially support this organization and the ministry they are supporting in Kenya.

42% of Kenya's population is under 15 years old. The need to vastly improve education, along with HIV/AIDS prevention, and bringing the gospel into the dark places of Kenya is so so important.

There is a Kenyan national program/campaign that is supported by U.S. that advocates the use of condoms as the preventative standard for HIV/AIDS. Can I just say that on so many levels this is not working!? If teens are already in impoverished circumstances and can't afford secondary education or basic needs like food and clothing, what maes us think they can magically be able to affod condoms. So we hear stories of teens using used trash bags and other terribly unhealthy, unsafe methods to have sex.

The need for a stand for abstinence and fidelity goes beyond a religious agenda...It is spiritually, physically and emotionally vital, both in Kenya and the U.S.

The onus is on us.

Kenya help the Widow and the Orphan?

So, September 25 is a big day for Empower Worldwide Outreach, the organization that our young adults have partnered with the last two summers to go to Kenya. They have one primary fundraiser to help fund the day to day operations of the organization over in Kenya and this is it! It's Amazing Race, Ashland style. The game is based on the popular TV show. Teams of 4 will trek around Ashland (you don't need to be an Ashland native to succeed!), gather clues, accomplish tasks, figure out riddles and arrive safely at the end point trying to win the top prize! Even if you're lousy at all that, you still get a tee shirt and an amazing dinner at the end of the evening. It's from 3-8 p.m. and you can register your team at www.empowerworldwideoutreach.com.

I am on the board of the organization and I have been mandated from on high to bring 5 teams to compete in this, so I need your help!

Even if you can't make it, there's a second way you can help, which is by entering to win one of our raffle baskets!

I can appeal to the self indulgent stuff...that you'll enjoy yourself...eat amazing food...win prizes...but the reality is that if the funds aren't raised, it has a significant impact on whether grandmothers can take care of orphans in rural Kenya, give them food, pay for their school, get them out of the cycle of extreme poverty. I've seen it with my own eyes that it is really about life and death.

So help out. 3 reasons...1. the need is great in Kenya. 2. the fun you will have is substantial 3. I need to get 5 teams put together!

You won't find Opposition if you're going with the grain

This might be the most important lesson our Kenya Team learned this year. If you're not pursuing radical obedience to God, then why would the adversary try to impede your progress?

So many people avoid taking any type of steps of faith, and then nothing happens in their life. So they end up with a luke warm faith that has little or no impact on their lives and their relationship with God is much the same.

My sister-in-law says that you spell FAITH R.I.S.K. and I'm inclined to agree. It was a risk to go to another country for the sake of the gospel.

And we met resistance. From plane delays and a near 2 day postponement to our initial flight, to lost luggage, to police and military security checks along the roadside, to frustration, negativity and disagreement within the team, to serious illness...we had a wide variety of obstacles.

But 15 kids going up to their school teacher after our group wrapped up their HIV-AIDS teaching and telling him that they wanted to make a decision to follow Jesus...that's what happens when obedience perseveres. Over 400 people receiving medical care at a medical camp for the underresourced...that's what happens when obedience perseveres...Massages given to grandmothers as old as 100 years of age, whose bodies were beaten, broken and deformed from years of selflessness...that's what happens when obedience perseveres. Bringing grief counseling to a group of women who never took the time to weep and grieve over loved ones they had buried and watching God open up their tear ducts so that they could finally deal with the loss of spouses, children, grandchildren and friends...that's what happens when obedience perseveres.

So the question we have to answer is what RISK God is calling us to for His glory and for His kingdom? And will we choose obedience or mediocrity?

There's nothing sexy about Matthew 25

One of the things I am learning, specifically from my time in Kenya is that ministering to the "least of these" like Matthew 25 directs us, should not be done with stars in our eyes or rose colored glasses.

Sometimes I think we get this idea in the church that ministry to the outcast is this exotic experience. But the reality is that, it is more likely to be the most difficult/challenging thing we do. Because loving those who have for so long been told that they are unlovely, is messy. Sometimes those who have been rejected and broken and shamed and in need are embittered. Sometimes those who have been dealt a bad hand in life are filled with a selfish sense of entitlement.

The result is that sometimes ministry in this context is difficult. Sometimes it is unsuccessful. Sometimes its frustrating.

But the bottom line is that its neccessary. It's what we're called to do. It's not always fun...It's not always easy...It's not always successful...But it is always necessary. Because whatever we do to the least of those among us, we do unto Christ himself.

Home Sweet Home

Well, we are home. If you've been following my blog for the last two weeks, you've been extremely bored. While we were in Kenya, I was unable to use my blog because the 'Net Nanny' thought my site was too provocative to allow. Go figure.

It was a great two weeks with our Kenyan brothers and sisters. I will blog some different thoughts on where God is taking my heart over the next few days.

Here's a first thing though. Some of you may have heard that I got sick on the trip. This is very much true...but I am strong now! I had some type of food poisoning that really knocked me down. I had a fever of 105 and discovered a term I'd only been warned about previously, namely 'explosive diarrhea'.

God has restored me though and I appreciate your prayers. I am proud of the team and am looking forward to some time to just rest and process, which I hope I am able to do.

travel update

we are safe and sound...just not in London...or Kenya...or any planes at this point.

We are at Doubletree hotel in NYC. We caught a flight to JFK that arrived at 10:45 this evening. We then were able to arrange for a flight out of JFK tomorrow evening at 5:40 p.m. to London and then a connector to Nairobi a few hours later.

I could go into some crazy details about the day...the frustration...but here's the reality...God is at work...even en route. And lets be honest...if we are called and anointed by God to further his movement...then our adversary will certainly concentrate his resistance where ever he can.

God is using the team in ministry even as we head to Kenya. Pray for our new friend Jessica who lost her luggage. She is stranded until tomorrow evening as well and she seems really genuine.

We have meal vouchers and the hotel stay is courtesy of American Airlines. Pray for the team to not lose heart or grow weary of doing good. Hopefully my next post will be from Kenya.

FYI...we are looking at possibly extending our trip and returning on the 15th. More will come on this after tomorrow.

Wandering in the Wilderness...stinks...getting to the Promised Land in God's supernatural timing...doesn't stink.

All my bags are packed...

We may not be going to save the world from a giant asteroid...but we are going to share the hope of Christ. Here's 10 ways you can pray

1. Pray for team unity. We will only go as far and as deep as God takes us together. Pray that we would mesh supernaturally and that even in heated moments, we would work things out.

2. Pray for safe travels. I think we are clear of the volcano and clear of any cancellations due to British Airways strike.

3. Pray that we would be in mission en route to Kenya and not just in Kenya. There may be some flight attendant or passenger who God places in our path. Help us be attentive to how best to walk across the room.

4. Pray for Billy to capture God's vision and think about how best to capture it on video and still shot so that he can give voice to those who for too long have been voiceless.

5. Pray for the soccer initiative. Pray specifically that Devan and Logan would do more than just bring joy to kids because of a game. Pray that they could point the way to God and the ways to break the cycle of poverty.

6. Pray for the AIDS abstinence and awareness programs that Alicia and Carrie will be leading. Pray that the message would be grounded in Christ's message of hope and his plan and design for sex.

7. Pray for Skip and the grief counseling he will facilitate with the grandmothers who are caring for AIDS orphans. Many of these women have 0 income, they have buried multiple generations of family and are not sure where there next meal will come from. Pray for wisdom for Skip as he leads them toward emotional, psychological and spiritual healing.

8. Pray for Ben, Kathy, and Carrie as they meet and work with the leadership of EWO in Kenya. Give them discernment of where to dream, how to focus, and who to empower.

9. Pray for Brooke, Donna, and Simon who will take important roles medically as we initiate a medical camp on Saturday.

10. Pray for Shaina, Ben, Alicia, and Skip, who all may have roles in preaching/singing/testifying to God's glory on Sunday mornings in multiple churches.

God of Volcanoes, Airlines and Blue Skies

Well, God provided supernaturally for our team to be able to go on this Kenya mission trip. The financial ridiculousness of random people giving random amounts to meet our needs has proven yet again that when we take risks that are God led, there will be provision that is God fed.

With that said...everything is paid for...flights paid for...room and board paid for...the only thing left to do is get on the plane this Monday and fly for 20 hours.

And God is reminding me that we are dependant on his provision in more ways than financial resources. Now we need Him to be the God of volcanos and prevent any further eruptions that might cause our trip to Nairobi (via London) to be delayed.

We need Him to be the God of British Airways...who just last week went on strike causing 30% of the daily flights out of London-Heathrow to be cancelled...because the strike is to go to June 9 which has the potential to impact our travel. (So far our flight is slated to go.

It wouldn't hurt to have blue skies, as Bill, one of our team members has chosen Kenya as his first ever time in a plane...(Go big or go home right?).

So, join me in praying for this trip...first for travelling mercy, then for God to use us mightily. I don't want to come back from this trip with any reservations. I want us to be fully obedient to God's promptings even if that involves risk or discomfort. You can read the current article and follow our status at www.empowerworldwideoutreach.com

1:22,900

That is the current projected ratio of Doctor to patients in the Thika District of Kenya (where Shaina and I were for two weeks in June).

Add to this that 33% of the population in Thika is believed to have HIV, severe drought has hit the land and we must conclude that a Crisis is on our hands.

How will the Church respond?

Give me some of that Pure Time Religion

143 million. That's the number the U.N. has given as a recent estimate to how many orphans there are in the world.

1 million of these are currently marketed in sex trafficking.

Between 7 and 8 million are currently in some form of slavery.

Many have AIDS.

Many have dreams, hopes, ambitions.

Many have already given up on their dreams, hopes, ambitions.

"Religion that is pure and faultless before God our Father is this: to look after the orphan and the widow in their distress."

If you don't know where or how to help, Kenya is as good of a place as any. Go here

Kenya Reflection 3

Here's part of a video I've been playing around with from our time in Kenya. Enjoy!

Kenya reflection 2

The staff of Empower Worldwide Outreach is sensational. They are literally often the first and last line of defense against teen sex, the spread of HIV and unwanted pregnancy/STDs.

I am proud of Sarah, Grace, Leah and Ben for their work in the Kingdom of God. I am grateful to them for 1) what they do as a staff to impact and influence kids, 2) how they have encouraged and blessed me, and 3) and most importantly, how they have blessed my wife and helped her regain her fervor for the Lord.

When you pray for Kenya, pray for these four courageous, tireless staff workers.

Kenya Reflection 1

This is the story of a bunch of kids, a whole generation of kids, kids with dreams, ambitions, hopes, and passions. Kids like every other kid, desiring love, affection, to be inspired, encouraged, delighted in. But these kids have no mother. They have no father. They have no money. They have no education.

Who will be the voice of the orphan? Who will tell their story?

The culture shock is real right now. Shaina observed within 5 minutes of returning to Wadsworth that people treat their lawn, they mow their lawn, some even water their lawns...and kids are starving, unloved and uneducated all around the world. We sit in houses with too many rooms for us to use, while a makeshift family of a grandmother and multiple orphans pile in a one room shack made of mud and sticks, sleeping next to chickens. Something is not quite right.

Its time for change.

home sweet home?

We made it home. 20+ hours of flying...3 continents...layovers, security checks, customs...all done. Made it home. Yet arriving home has never been so unsatisfying. As my wife pointed out, while a good portion of the world is starving...underfed, under educated, and under everyone's radar, Americans are mowing their grass...not just mowing, but planting grass seed...micrale gro...while people are dying, our soil looks lush.

The culture shock of going from extreme poverty to extreme luxury is not lost on me.

What does it look like for the church to be the solution rather than part of the problem?

We made it!

Jambo!
Well, so far so good! We hit Detroit on time, Amsterdam late and then Nairobi we had a 20 minute holding pattern cuz of a storm, but we landed safely after 20+ hours of flight time.

Came up short on luggage by 2 pieces (they came the 2nd day!). Spent today with the Empower Worldwide Staff and then to two different schools in Murera. The first was a primary school and when we pulled up, a hundred plus kids came running out of the building screaming and cheering. After the rockstar treatment we shared with them the importance of making good choices and the consequences of not.

We then went to an all girls high school that was an absolute great experience. We met with about 100 teenage girls who have made pledges to abstain from sex until marriage. It was an honor to talk with them and encourage them to hold fast.

Tomorrow is day one of the chicken coop project for the grandmothers. Pray for this. Our goal is to complete two of the 6 tomorrow. The exciting thing is that they have a huge goal of 500 grandmothers empowered by this microenterprise ministry. We are at 31 now and will be at 37 by the end of the trip. The 6 we will build are for grandmothers who currently sleep in their homes with the chickens.

Pray for the team to stay strong tomorrow.

The BTL where we are staying is amazing compared to some of the poverty around us. We are extremely safe...though there is a hooting bird of some sort outside my window that is not quite so safe...because if he wakes me up at 5 in the morning again, I may find him and kill him. The roads here are hilarious...one minute smooth sailing down a highway, the next offroading on pothole dirtroads.

Peace! Please keep praying.

Personally, if you could pray for our power outlet in our room. It has successfully fried a small portable box fan's motor and an electric razor. I will need to use it soon in order to keep the computer running.

Ben

Kenya Feel It?

I am not sure exactly of the blogging capabilities in Kenya. We will be leaving tomorrow afternoon out of Cleveland, saying hello to Detroit, stopping over in Amsterdam and then arriving in Nairobi on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. (their time). We will then have perhaps the most adventurous part of the trip with a 2-3 hour van ride to the compound.

Whether I am able to blog or not from the Mustard Patch, we will blog daily as a team from here.

Pray for us, that God would stir in our midst and we would encounter an UPRISING of his Spirit!

Pray for me specifically to have wisdom in leading, empowering, and sensing the Spirit working in and through our group!

Love ya guys!

Ben

Kenya Feel It?

I've been falling behind on blogging. Sometimes life makes that happen. I am now into my version of finals week. There are actually two weeks left, but we leave for Kenya on Monday! Consequently, all my work for two weeks has to be done and submitted this week...including 2 finals, 4 quizzes, a gargantuan notebook on 1-2 Thessalonians translated from the Greek and a 7-10 page paper. The madness starts tonight in my night class with a final.

On to more important things...our Kenya Team Retreat was Sunday into Monday and it was great! There have been moments in this process where I've wanted to throw in the towel (or beat someone with the towel) but this team is gellin' like Magellan right now. It is neat to see the different qualities/attributes of the team members rising out of the things we've been doing.

Empower Worldwide Outreach's website is up and running and it looks fantastic. You need to check it out and then once we leave on June 1 for Kenya, you can follow our blog updates on that website to know how best to pray for us.

I covet your prayers. This is one of those weeks where I just need to stay afloat. Between school, church work and getting packed to go, I need to just find time to rest in the Lord and allow him to fill my cup so that I can discern how best to lead this team!

Kenya Feel it? Oh yeah we can! Kenya Do It? Oh yeah we can! (Cheesy cheer we had to do everytime we completed a low ropes initiative at the team building retreat!)

Kenya

Going into this weekend we were a few thousand dollars short for our Kenya Mission Trip.

We had one fundraiser left...a softball tournament...for this weekend...Projecting to make the rest of our funding.

Then half the teams cancelled. So we cancelled the event.

Then it rained anyways, which made the cancellation not feel as bad.

Then we mulched our friends (Scott and Angie...avid members of my blog readership...and Akron Zips Fans...makes 'em weird, I know) yard for a donation to the trip. Then we found out that a Sunday School Class at Church wants to donate to the trip. Then, my mom comes along and offers a deal to cover the rest of the expenses for the trip in exchange for some yardwork and painting.

We went into the weekend expecting to fundraise the rest of the trip through softball...We came out of the weekend meeting our goals. Kenya here we come! Gonna make our full flight payments tomorrow!

Attention all Ballers

IT'S TIME TO COME OUT OF HIBERNATION! GRAB SOME FRIENDS AND PUT TOGETHER A SOFTBALL TEAM FOR THE 2009 WADSWORTH ALL CITY SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT! THE DATES ARE MAY 1-2 AND THE WINNERS TAKE HOME THE TROPHY AND TEE SHIRTS!

ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TO OUR KENYA MISSION TRIP. WE ARE SHOOTING FOR 20 TEAMS! COST IS $200 PER TEAM (20 PER PERSON).

SIGN YOUR TEAM UP BY RESPONDING TO THIS BLOG POST, EMAILING ME (BTHOMPS4@ASHLAND.EDU) OR CALLING ME 330.464.5795.

GET YOUR TEAM TOGETHER BY APRIL 15!

God is faithful

There is no way that people should be fundraising in the midst of recession. There is no way that mission trips to Kenya, New York and Iowa should reach their funding goals in the midst of economic crisis. There is no way that a people who has lost portions of savings, investments and 401k plans should be open handed enough to support these kinds of 'unneccessary endeavors'.

That's why God is the Provider and Not us! Saturday was our Church's Mission Auction and in one night, $13,000 was raised for these three trips which brings our Kenya Team even closer to boarding the planes in June.

It was neat to see the Church come together in so many solid ways. From servants who spent countless hours putting together booklets, sending out letters to businesses, shopping and preparing food, serving at the mission auction, and cleaning up afterwards, to those who gave generously during the auction to acquire some stuff, but also to support a worthy cause.

God laughs at our panic in recession. God provides in the midst of scare provision.

It was a good weekend and this is a good church.