February 23, 2010
The other day I went by a home on the Cobb/Paulding that had been devastated by last September’s flood. It is now late February. Nearly five months have gone by. All the belongings from the home are out in the yard, and once again… it is raining. I come to these homes representing a church, considering how we can help, and God whispers ‘It’s bigger than you’.
There are hundreds of families in Paulding, Cobb, and Douglas County, GA that are trying to live in homes that they can’t afford to put back together. Most of their valuables left in a dumpster sometime last fall. I believe the local church is the best vehicle of Hope that has ever been created. I also believe we have entered into a season where God has opened the eyes of church leaders so that they would see that the challenges faced by communities are bigger than any one church.
This little note is a reminder that we are continuing to ask churches to come together so that all of us can lead the way in helping to restore what was lost. West Ridge Church and our church partners at Engage Atlanta are all partnering together with Samaritan’s Purse to help rebuild homes in this community.
When there is this much work to do it can be paralyzing to the point that you never get involved. Let me make it simple, and give you some basic ways you can get involved using the skills, talents and resources that God has given you:
- Volunteer to work – Tuesday – Saturday is the work schedule that our friends at Samaritan’s Purse have established. If you would like to volunteer, and bring some friends along, call 770-222-2125, and ask for extension 372. You’ll probably get a voicemail, but we are checking it. It helps us to plan for volunteers in advance for these kinds of projects so give us a call. If you are out of state you can volunteer on the Samaritan’s Purse website.
- Volunteer to feed – Every week from now until the end of April we have volunteers here from all over the country. We are trying to save construction funds by using local groups to feed these incredible volunteers. If you would like to help with this, please send me a note by using the contact form on this blog. While I’m at it, if there’s anyone with connections to ticketed events around Atlanta we would like to hook up these volunteers. We have tons of college students giving up their Spring Break in March and April to be a part of this. I hope they get to experience a little fun in the ATL while they are here.
- Contract Labor - A lot of money can be spent on HVAC, plumbing and electrical just in labor. If you are a licensed professional and are willing to volunteer your skills, please let me know.
- Adopt a home – Engage Atlanta has been inviting churches to adopt a home. Several in our local area already have including Burnt Hickory Baptist, Cedarcrest Church, Bethany Christian, and others are considering it. If you would like more information about that, let me know.
Looking forward to sharing the stories of what can happen when a whole group of people find what they have in common and make a difference.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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February 6, 2010
Internet access was not as easy this time around in Burkina Faso. That meant less tweets. I take lots of notes on these trips, so if I could tweet as often as I do in the US here are some things I would have shared.
Meeting my Compassion Child was an amazing experience. I can’t imagine a better way to spend $38 a month. Next time I’m bringing the boy some shoes.
The Pastor at the LAC (Agabuse) has as big a heart for Student discipleship as anyone I’ve ever met.
Dang, it’s hot!
After doing 26 wells in the first two years we have request for 124 more with ‘more on the road’ as our friends on the ground say. We have request from over 300 km away. That’s what credibility will do for you.
“You have no idea how many people will be converted from the digging of one well.” (Pastor Tomas, Central Church, Ougagadougou)
More than 500 people have trusted Christ in the last year from the animist people group we have adopted called, ‘The Pugli’. We hope to build churches in more than three dozen villages among this group
The men that pastor these bush villages are no joke. We can learn a lot from them about leadership, dedication, and expanding the kingdom.
Can’t help but wonder how much impact my African American friends in the states would have on these people.
500,000 people died in Burkina from a famine that happened less than 5 years ago. Why doesn’t anyone know about that?
I can’t believe how hot it is!
Every woman in the US should come build relationships and encourage women here. It would be empowering for both parties.
Looking forward to putting Tony Morgan’s books in French and seeing how these principles transfer over
Answered prayer is the first step in creating ministry strategy
Our friends in the bush just spent a month salary feeding our team three meals. That’s humbling.
Great test of friendship and the people you work with is traveling like this. It’s a little strange to me, but I still like all these people.
A frozen Tampico is the nectar of the gods
The more people come over here, the more impact we will have in Burkina and in our own families and churches.
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January 29, 2010
One of the challenges for the people in Burkina Faso is education. Very few can afford it, and it’s just not available to everyone. According to National Geographic Burkina Faso has the lowest literacy rate in the world. Only 15% can read. In the school system the national average for passing from middle to high school is 27%.
So a huge minority number of the children attend school, and a minority pass the standardized test. Without education kids have no chance to break the cycle of poverty.
Part of our strategy for Burkina Faso is to help break the cycle by investing in the number one school in the country called, Lycee Alliance Christienne or ‘LAC’ for short. LAC is run by a church here in Ouaga and is the number one school in the country. Their students pass the standardized test at an average rate of 87%. One year they had a class hit 97%.
There is a chaplain on staff named Agabuse who cares passionately about the students here. Most of the students at this school arrive Muslim, and over 20% trust Christ each school year. Cabinet members and other gov’t leaders send their children here. Many have trusted Christ, and some are already in positions of influence throughout the country. It is a truly a way to break the cycle of poverty, and to put Christ-followers in the work place.
LAC has an attendance of 400. Our hope is that God would somehow give us the favor and the cash to expand it to over 1,000. The compounded potential of our impact if we are able to accomplish this goal would reap benefits for generations to come.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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January 28, 2010
I had a great opportunity today to meet the child that my family sponsors through Compassion International. (Here’s a pict) It was an amazing experience. I am so thankful for the opportunity to partner and serve a child here in this country. There are a lot of great organizations out there, but for my money Compassion is the best. Here are a few reasons why:
1. $38 a month. Seriously, people. There just aren’t a lot of excuses in America for not sponsoring a kid. Unfortunately, many people in the U.S. have dropped kids in the last year because of the American economy. I hope they cut their cable off first.
2. They connect to the local church. As far as the children know the church is taking care of them. The Compassion Director on site works as part o the church staff. It is a beautiful relationship.
3. They check on the families. The Compassion staff really care about these kids and their families. You can see it on their faces. If a child or family needs something like an extra malaria treatment or they don’t have enough food, the Compassion staff does everything they can with the budget they have from sponsorship dollars.
4. You can visit the kids. Of course we get letters and pictures in the mail from our sponsored child, but actually seeing and connecting relationally with a child is an incredible opportunity. If you are sponsoring a child in Burkina, like over 250 folks are from West Ridge and a couple of our church plants, are you need to come meet these kids. You are making a tremendous difference.
If you are not sponsoring a child yet, I have a handful of cards in my pocket with kids who need sponsors or you can visit Compassion’s website.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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January 27, 2010
Over the last couple of years we have decided to really commit to seeing this country transformed by the gospel. So if you are going to put a family on the ground, you should build them a place to stay. Over the last two years we have partnered with the Christian and Missionary Alliance to build two buildings, one is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, family home for Chris and Connie, and the other is a 6 bedroom, 3 bath, team center in the adjacent building.
West Ridge teams have helped build these homes, which may as well be palaces by West African standards. Stucco exterior, tiled floors, appliances, furnishings, screened windows, ceiling fans, and hot water for showers and coffee. I highly recommend you bring the Starbucks Via with you.
We built these homes on the property of the number one ranked high school in the country called, Lycee Alliance Christienne, or LAC for short. ~More on the LAC later
We’ve built these places to stay as a base in order to facilitate teams to can come and build relationships with Pastors and communities and make a difference in Burkina. So when are you coming?
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January 26, 2010
A couple of years ago I came to West Africa for the first time. Pastor Brian Bloye and the elders at West Ridge Church had said that it is time for our church to play a role in God’s work on this continent. Through a family connection of a missionary on the field we ended up in a country called Burkina Faso in a part of the world called, ‘The Sahel’ (Sub-Saharan Africa).
Over the course of several trips and lots of prayer and discussion we have come up with a strategy to help play a role in spreading the gospel to unreached people groups in this country. It’s bigger than one church or any one organization. I’ll talk through more our strategy in some upcoming post.
As all of our plans came together one very important component came to the foreground; we needed personnel on the ground to host teams and look after the strategy as it developed.
After a couple years of prayer and a lot of bold moves by West Ridge Leadership I am sitting here in Ouagadougou with Chris and Connie Feilds and their 5 kids. These kids are so excited to be in Africa they can’t stand it. The four year old keeps asking, ‘Where is the pool?’ Thankfully, the US Rec Center has one. Chris and Connie look like you’d expect after bringing 5 kids, all their luggage and a dog with them across 20 hours of travel.
There is more to this little plan of ours. I’m actually going to sleep in another part of the plan later tonight. More than anything each of you have a role to play that I will be explaining as well.
Follow our trip this week by visiting Brian’s website and Tony Morgan’s Site.
For now it is time for a little rest.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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January 14, 2010
Our hearts ache for the news that has come out of Haiti over the last couple of days. As Christ-followers in the US, we need to remember that God is a Global God, and cares very much for every part of the world. It is not a cursed land. It is a land and a people loved by God, and every Christ-follower should take the chance to reach out in love right now.
Here are some things you can do:
1. Pray. However God leads you to pray. Pray for the families. Pray that survivors might still be found. Pray that God will be found by those who previously have not sought him.
2. Give. As Americans we have more money and resources available than any other part of the world. Even a small gift of $10, $25 or $50 can go a long way at a time like this. Some have already sent trained personnel to the ground like Samaritan’s Purse. They will continue to need funds for more people and resources to flow in the months to come.
Another great organization is Gleaning for the World. This organization sent us 9 truckloads of goods when floods came to Atlanta. You can give by visiting their web page by clicking this link, gftw.org. Funds given to Gleaning will help pay the shipping cost of items they are able to gather.
3. Gather. Speaking of gather, many times we don’t stop to gather simple items that would help because we have no idea what to do with the stuff if we got it. If your workplace, school or scout troop would like to gather supplies to send over you can send them to Gleaning for the World (located in Central VA). You will need to be able to ship them to ‘Gleaning’, and there are instructions on their website here. Here is a the list of items (in a word doc that will download) that they have said would be most helpful.
May the people of Haiti receive an outpouring of love from the people who follow Christ.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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January 7, 2010
We would like to invite churches from around the Metro area to partner with Engage Atlanta and Samaritan’s Purse to join us in reconstructing homes impacted by last September’s floods. The need is immense. We have hundreds of families that we have already been in contact with who literally had their entire homes ‘gutted’. Many more are enduring this cold snap without sheetrock, insulation, or adequate flooring. The Federal Gov’t has provided some financial aid to these families, but it has been limited. The government is not in great position to provide the long term care and encouragement that these families need. I believe the right entity to be doing that is the local church.
This is a tremendous opportunity for churches of every shape, size, and color to come together in unity and lead the way.
Engage Atlanta is hosting a lunch for Pastors and Church Leaders on January 14th at 12:00 pm at Pappasito’s located at 2788 Windy Hill Road in Marietta, near the junction of I-285 and I-75.
We are also going to take some time to discuss our “Community Makeover” happening July 25-27, 2010, and how it can be used by each church to engage their own communities and continue to be a valuable tool in flood relief.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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December 24, 2009
**One of my favorite poems. Merry Christmas Everyone**
He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty
He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never traveled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself
He was only thirty three
His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth
When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend
Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind’s progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life
By Dr. James Allen Francis
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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December 22, 2009
The last two weekends have been incredible to me. Two weeks ago we reached out to what some have called, ‘The Largest Unreached People Group In America”. I have seen estimates that say this group make up anywhere from 10-20% of the American population. These studies are all over the map. With my friends Shelley and Lewanda we have started reaching out to this demographic, ‘Families with Special Needs’. We have started respite events where parents can drop off their child with special needs and allow us to minister to them for a few hours.
I am no expert on this subject, but it appears to me that few things are more isolating than having a special needs child. Many of these families don’t feel like they belong anywhere. At our event a couple of weeks ago, many of these children sat on Santa’s knee for the first time. I’m not talking about 4 and 5 year olds, but 11 and 12 and 13 year olds. Going out in public can be a real challenge for these families. Going to church is almost impossible, because churches are not ready for them. We are trying to be.
And then there was our Hope For Christmas Party. We invited people from less fortunate communities around NW Atlanta. We provided food and Christmas presents to hundreds of families. There’s really no way to put this event into words. Christmas was provided to somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,500-4,000 kids, and more than 700 volunteers helped out.
This event requires a lot of organization and a lot of great volunteer leaders. For all of those volunteer’s, their mission was to look people in the eye and be a friend. The people that we serve are pilgrims on the journey just like us. We do not want people to feel like they are just a part of some matrix somewhere (the government does that for us). We want to communicate to them personally; ‘I want to be a friend to you’, ‘With me you are welcome’, and that God’s love is accepting and redeeming.
There are a lot of people in our society who feel isolated. They feel isolated by their own choices, or by circumstances that they had nothing to do with. For some reason the last place those people feel like they can come is the church. Those reasons have nothing to do with the building, the dress code, the style of worship, or whether or not the coffee is free. It has everything to do with the people inside.
The church should be the first place the isolated and the outcast come to. Christ-followers should be looking for these fellow travelers all day, every day. We should also be looking for them at our worship gatherings, and personally telling them of a loving God who desires to bring guidance and hope to their life. It’s not just the Pastor’s job.
Once there was a baby in a manger who invited the outcast to be the first to see him. As a man, those with physical afflictions were never overlooked by him. The guilt ridden prostitute, the crooked tax-collector, life-weary leper, and the young and wealthy all received the same invitation. In Him there is life and hope and 2nd chances available to everyone.
In Him ‘Everyone Belongs’,
Paul
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