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Update on Chris and Connie Feilds

November 1, 2011 in Africa, Burkina Faso, Global Outreach, Partnership, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

A lot of my readers know that West Ridge Church took a step forward a couple of years ago and sent a family to do Ministry in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Here is a letter we sent out updating everyone as the Feild family fulfills their commitment. Here is the note.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your investment in the Kingdom of God in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and invite you to a further partnership.

Over the last two years we have been very excited to see how God has used Chris and Connie Feilds to reach Muslims for Christ working at Lycee Alliance Christienne. Chris and Connie have lived on this Christian High School campus and invested day in and day out in the lives of the students there. By starting an English Club on the school campus they have been given influence that they have leveraged to see dozens of students come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. They have also ministered to the village of people living in mud brick huts directly behind the school, as well as taken teams out in the bush to share the gospel with people who have never before heard the name of Jesus.

Chris and Connie made a sacrificial, two-year commitment to invest in the second poorest country in the world, with the highest illiteracy rate on the planet. After fulfilling their commitment they will be returning home in December of 2011.

From the time that Chris and Connie made their two year commitment to serve in Burkina it has been our desire to create a path for them to transition their family home without experiencing an abrupt cut off to the resources that need to sustain their family. Many missionaries experience this type of abrupt end to their support that creates challenges when they return to the US.

For this reason I would like to invite those of you who have been financially supporting their ministry to extend your support through March 2012. Currently, Chris and Connie receive financial support through the Christian and Missionary Alliance. We would now like to ask you to send that you begin to send that support directly to Engage Burkina effective immediately.

Engage Burkina is a partner with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and beginning to take a larger role in Burkina under a new memorandum of understanding with the C&MA. Our mission is to engage Burkina Faso with the love of Jesus Christ. Previously, we have partnered with C&MA to build the facility that Chris and Connie have called home. We have continued our ongoing work been by digging and drilling water wells, building churches, expanding school capacity, and Chris and Connie have been hosting and shepherding our teams.

Extending the monthly support the Feilds have been receiving will be a great blessing. However, it does not come close to touching some of the one time cost they have to return home. Would you also consider a one time gift to help offset the cost of plane tickets home, and further honor their sacrifice as they return back to the States?

If you have been a prayer partner to this point, and have not given financially, you know that your prayers have made an immeasurable difference. If you are not able to make a monthly commitment, would you please consider a one-time gift to appreciate, encourage, and transition this family back home so that they can prepare for whatever God has for them next?

Engage Burkina will be passing along your entire designated gift to Chris and Connie without that gift incurring any type of administrative cost. Your gift is fully tax-deductible under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

You may gift directly to them electronically by using the following url; http://tinyurl.com/chrisandconnie

You may also mail your gift to:

Chris and Connie Feilds

c/o Engage Burkina

3522 Hiram-Acworth Hwy

Dallas, GA 30157″

Taste and See

October 26, 2011 in Africa, Burkina Faso, Global Outreach, Partnership, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

One of my most fun privileges is to help direct our efforts in Burkina Faso through our non-profit, Engage Burkina. Every year I get to visit this West African country at least once, meet with leaders, and find out how we can best serve their efforts to spread the gospel.

Since 2008 we have had the opportunity to fund and initiate the digging or drilling of 74 wells. That has allowed us to provide water to somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000. This effort is happening from a growing network of individuals and churches from around the country.

Each year the two Burkinabe Pastors who oversee the digging of wells in the bush (where we are employing locals to do the work) send us back a detailed report of the cost for each well in each village, report to us what challenges they have encountered, and report the benefits of the wells.

Our most recent report had a comment on it that I thought was just good, clean fun. They reported that some villages are tasting things they have never tasted before. Presumably because they are growing things they have not been able to grow. Wow! I live in a country where I can have anything I want from just about anywhere, and they are experiencing new taste!

In Psalm 34:8 the writer says, ”Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed are those who take refuge in him.” These people are literally being able to taste and see that God cares about them and that he can be trusted.

We are going to continue to take water to the people of Burkina Faso. This time of year we are waiting for the water table to lessen so that we can be sure the wells are dug deep enough when we begin the process again in January. Of course, that makes this a great time to gather new commitments for the next season of activity. If you want to learn more about the work in Burkina or sponsor a well you can donate online by going to engageburkina.com/store

 

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

 

Giving Away Teddy

September 27, 2011 in Global Outreach, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

In the month of October every campus at West Ridge Church is proud to be partnering with Gleaning For the World to provide Teddy Bears to children in need around the globe. Gleaning provides humanitarian aid and disaster relief to communities when they need need it most. They provided more than 1 million dollars of goods to help Engage Atlanta provide flood relief to NW Atlanta during the floods of 2009, and continue to partner with us to serve families at Hope For Christmas (‘Hope’ on facebook).

Gleaning provides food, water, and shoes to children in need. They have also learned the incredible encouragement that a stuffed animal can bring to a child in the third world. Unlike my own kids, a stuffed animal to a child in need will be one of the only toys a these children have.

Please bring a gently used or new Teddy Bear to the Kidquest or Kidquest Jr area at your West Ridge campus any Sunday in October. This is a great teaching moment for us as parents to teach our kids to give up something they have for someone in need.

Below is a video that Gleaning put together to help describe just a little bit of this program.

Paul

Holy Undershirts!

April 1, 2011 in Africa, Community Makeover, Global Outreach, Partnership, Personal thoughts with 0 Comments

Recently I got to sit down with some non-profits that are doing some incredible work all over the world. Of course, when I hear of someone doing something in West Africa, my ears perk up, the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, and I get all fuzzy inside. That’s how I felt when I heard about Sababu.

Sababu Conscious Clothing is dedicated to helping the people of Mali in West Africa by providing a sustainable employment opportunity. Each shirt that they make has a number on it that identifies who made the shirt that you purchase.  So you buy a shirt, get your number, go to their website and find out exactly who you just helped have a job. It’s a beautiful idea.

We have a great Engage Atlanta Community Makeover shirt being designed by Sababu. I would encourage others to use them for their events as well. Call them for pricing. They are really competitive when they are working with quantities for youth groups, special events, and things like that.

Right now they have a special promotion going called The Undershirt Club where you can get three new undershirts every three months. It’s a great deal. You can cancel anytime. Just click on the graphic on the right to fund out more.

It’s time to refresh those hole-ridden shirts you have on now anyway.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

 

It’s In Your Pocket

March 30, 2011 in Africa, Burkina Faso, Global Outreach, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

I love the story of the Pastor who stood up in front of his congregation and said, “I have great news! We have all the money we need to pay off our building! The bad news is that it is in your pocket!”

I happen to believe that the ability to meet some significant needs around the globe is in the pocket of every one of us. Most of you can part with $10 or $20 and not even miss it because you don’t budget anyway. The ones that do budget can actually move things around and free up significant amounts.

I have one example of this from the students at West Ridge Church. A couple of years back High School Pastor James Griffin and Middle School Pastor challenged their students to raise enough money for a drilled well. A majority of these students do not have jobs, but parents were giving them an allowance or some extra money to go out and grab a bite to eat. On their own, students started giving up the extra trip to Taco Bell (Parents can be cheap) and started giving that money.

In just a few weeks the students had raised $5,000 not with car washes, or selling Krispy Kremes, but just with the money that was in their pocket.

The well from those students was put in a village called, Fing (feeng) just outside the church there. This village holds the main market among a people group called The Pugli. This makes this village a main destination for people from miles around. Before our students raised the majority needed for this well, this village had no significant water source. These are a people group that have never heard the name of Jesus. Now the church has a physical platform to tell people about ‘The Living Water’ that comes only from knowing Christ.

Being faced with the needs of Burkina it is very clear that myself or my church cannot meet all the needs of this country. So we’ve set up way where all of us can contribute just a little to play a part in meeting a larger need. Go here to visit our store at Engage Burkina where you can give in any amount, or join together with others and put in a well in a village. We can provide a name and pictures of the well in the months to come. You can always know that you have changed hundreds of lives, with just what is in your pocket.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

We Don’t Have Water

March 16, 2011 in Africa, Burkina Faso, Global Outreach with 0 Comments

When it comes to finding a place to give during this Lent Season, you’ve got to know I’m going to give you a couple of ideas from Burkina Faso. The people in this West African country are truly the poorest of the poor. I was there a little over a month ago, and spent some time with some Pastor friends that oversee the wells that we have dug there. At one point in our conversation one of the Pastors got a bit choked up about the needs in his own village. This man has been overseeing the digging of more than 40 wells for us, and then got out some words that I wasn’t expecting:

We don’t have water.

Have you ever been without water? If a water main breaks near you home and your neighborhood goes without for a few hours it is really inconvenient isn’t it. You can’t wash your hands, wash clothes or dishes, take a bath, make coffee, mix up Kool-Aid for the kids, hose them off from playing outside, or flush the toilet. Ever gone a day, or two days? At this point, you are in a hotel aren’t you?  If you’ve ever had that happen for just a bit then you have had a glimpse of what the people in Burkina Faso deal with.

There are thousands of villages without water in this country. There are even neighborhoods in more significant towns and cities where it is not in adequate supply.

Whether you are participating in Lent or not, you can engage in giving to this need, and you don’t have to be able to afford a whole well. We have set up a store on a website called, Engage Burkina. There you can give in any amount, or sponsor a whole well. Your small group, office, Boy Scout troop, baseball team, or church can pick an amount and raise it over time so that less and less will be heard saying, ‘We don’t have water.’

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

 

Invisible Gospel

March 14, 2011 in Engage Atlanta, Global Outreach, Partnership, Personal thoughts, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

I’ve just spent some time with Compassion Int’l in Ecuador. Our church connects with Compassion in Burkina Faso. Compassion has been in Ecuador for over thirty years. They have more programs that just the Child Sponsorship program that most people are familiar with. They also have some tremendous things going on in the area of Leadership Development among college students, and Child Survival programs among pregnant mothers and infants.

One of the things that really resonates with me is that two of these three programs are run completely through the Local Church, and the people of Ecuador don’t really anything about Compassion. This is true in other countries Compassion works in as well. A child sponsored by someone in the States comes to a church for the program they get to participate in. A mother getting assistance in caring for her infant or toddler is getting that help from a volunteer at the church that has been trained by Compassion. Medicine, food, tutoring, all of those things happen through the local church. For the most part Compassion is Invisible. There are no signs on the churches. The group I was with noticed that they didn’t have a sign outside their main office.

Another really critical piece is that being a Christ-follower is not a prerequisite for being a part of a Compassion program. These programs are set up to spread the gospel, not to wall in it.

This is a great word for faith-based non-profits. I direct a couple and try to adopt these same ideas whenever possible. Take for instance, the Community Makeover. When a church goes and works at a school or does a repair on a home as part of this weekend, I don’t want the volunteers to say we are here from Engage Atlanta. I want the volunteers to say we are here from (Insert Local Church Name), and build relationships that might bring that person back to their church. The local church is God’s choice to reach out and make disciples. The non-profit can provide tools, and perhaps the vehicle, but it has to point people back to the local church.

Compassion is bringing 10′s of thousands of people into church buildings all over the world, and they are invisible. They are not concerned about credit or accolades, and God is providing for them to make some amazing things happen.

You can go here to find out more about how your church can be involved in the Community Makeover, or click this graphic to find out more about sponsoring a child.

Sponsor a Child in Jesus Name with Compassion

Help a Child

 

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

 

Losing A 2 Year Old

February 8, 2011 in Africa, Burkina Faso, Global Outreach with 0 Comments

I just got back from a week in Burkina Faso in West Africa. God has opened up the door for West Ridge Church to engage there many other churches have been burdened for this country as well. More on that later this week.
Burkina is consistently accounted for in the top 5 poorest countries in the world. It has one of the highest illiteracy rates (if not the highest), and things like malaria, AIDS, deaths from malnutrition and water-born illnesses are part of every day, up close and personal, life.
There were a lot of good take aways on this trip. We have helped facilitate 55 wells in the last 2 years with the help of donors and church friends around the country. They take time in West Africa. Many are done, many are being used before they are done, the rest are being completely wrapped up this month and next. Then we will keep doing more.
Hundreds have put their faith in Jesus in villages full of people who had previously never heard ‘The name above all names’, and are worshipping in facilities that teams have helped build.
Muslim students and families are coming to faith in Christ at a school that we invest in. We have lots of plans and vision for expanding our goals in education. Lots of great things, but one moment I’ll never forget.
After an 8 hour meeting with African Pastors primarily discussing how to bring water to more people, one that I consider a good friend shared some heart breaking news. His name is Joseph. It is the Christian name he decided to take after becoming a Christ-follower. He is on the right in this picture. He shared with us that his 2 year old daughter had died of malaria in November. Her sickness began while he was away overseeing some of the wells that we are working on together. He recounted holding his daughter as she was dying. I wished he had told me at the beginning of the meeting. Every thought in my head stopped spinning, and were given a perspective that it is hard to put words to. I’ll never forget that moment of looking into the eyes of this friend who has lost his child. In two years we have brought water to around 40,000 people (conservatively) in this country, and there is still more to do than I’ll ever understand.

I have no illusions that the things that we are working on are going to totally solve the issues in this very poor country. However, the things that we are working on are impacting lives, and for some of them time is running out.
This is a country that needs our engagement. Those of us blessed with access to knowledge and resources back in the West need to ask God how we might use what He has put in our hands to bless a country that many would feel like is an insignificant, outsider in a Global community. The way I read the gospels says that those are the people we are supposed to go after with the kindness and love of God.

I want to challenge my friends at West Ridge to get involved. Come with us to see this country, and see how you might be used. We have some trips published here. If you are a leader at another church anywhere in the world, and want to find out more, you can use the contact form on this page, and we’ll start talking about it.

In the next few days and weeks, I will be rolling out some ways people everywhere can get involved without being there. I’m excited to see how things come together. Stay tuned.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

More About Cuba

February 7, 2011 in Cuba, Global Outreach, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

Want to find out more about visiting an amazing country and serving alongside some incredible people? Join me this Wednesday night at 6:30 for an information gathering on Cuba. Go to this link to join us for more info!

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

My Water Buddies

January 13, 2011 in Burkina Faso, Global Outreach, Partnership, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

I just finished combing over a 14 page report from the Bush Pastor who is responsible for the oversight of the wells that were dug in Burkina Faso in 2010. Several churches and individuals have given towards providing water in this country since 2008. We have had the privilege of partnering with people who have been ministering in this country for a long time, and are just hoping to add support and influence to what is already happening there.

I’ll be traveling to Burkina in the next few weeks to make our plans for 2011. The Pastor who wrote the report is named Joseph (on the left side of the picture). We work with him and his brother Michel (on the right). I have worked with other indigenous leaders and seen reports from indigenous leaders in other countries, but nothing with this level of detail. Every well from every village is detailed with things I would never have thought of.

Joseph also provided some commentary as to what the benefits are in a village when a well is provided.

I decided not to attempt to make this a long flowing blog post, but just left things in his words describing the benefits of a well (translated from French):

  • Conversations that lead people to Christ
  • Reconciled homes
  • Stopped women from having to travel so far
  • (I’ve summarized this one) Many women have had to go for water at night causing husbands to accuse them of adultery and to abuse them
  • Prevented the death of children.
  • Prevented many more children from becoming orphans
  • Prevented a great deal of sickness

This is how he signs off his report. Keep in mind he lives in a mud brick hut:
“A family rejected, completely abandoned, despised, chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ, the victory belongs to the Eternal God for those elected.”

In the weeks to come I plan on challenging others to help bring water to the people of this country from this site, and another we’ve been working on. I’ll tell you why water is so strategic, and how it is spreading the gospel of Jesus to people who have never heard it. Whether or not you believe in Jesus personally, you can probably agree that everyone deserves access to water.

Water Is Life,

Paul

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