Blessing

If you've been to the Faith Alive hospital in Jos, Nigeria, chances are high that you've met and are now friends with Blessing. Her name reflects her spirit--and her strikingly beautiful appearance.

After learning how to sew at Faith Alive’s skills-acquisition school nearly nine years ago, Blessing opened her own shop. She now teaches some of the hospital’s patients how to sew so that they, too, can start their own businesses. Elisha, a tailor, recently joined her business and together they design clothing and accessories for men and women.

If you happen to be on Zik Avenue in Jos, stop by for a custom design consultation!

Way to go, Blessing and Elisha, and way to go, Faith Alive, for providing holistic services to thousands of people like Blessing.

Brothers

What is a brother? I think it’s more than somebody who both puts you in a headlock for power of the remote control and yet fiercely protects you from bullies.

Merriam-Webster defines a brother as: 1) a male who has the same parents as another or one parent in common with another; 2) one related to another by common ties or interests; 3) a fellow member—used as a title for ministers in some evangelical denominations; and 4) one of a type similar to another.

Given the various definitions, I think that my 22-year-old son Austin and six-year-old little Chris qualify as brothers. Many of you remember little Chris, the delightful Nigerian boy many of you helped send to India for lifesaving heart surgery two years ago. Praise God, he's doing great both physically and academically. Austin and little Chris met and instantly bonded earlier this month when Austin and I visited Jos, Nigeria. 

Enjoy the snap of Austin and little Chris. No headlocks or bullies. Just laughter, games, and paper airlines.

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Home from Africa: Packing in Place of Guilt

Praise God for an awesome (and safe) trip to and from Jos, Nigeria. Over the next few months, I plan to post dozens of Faith Alive hospital updates and tidbits ranging from a 15 lb. newborn to brothel transformation ideas to a donated cow slaughtered on the rec center's basketball court. For now, however, I just want to rest after the 38-hour door to door (or bed to bed) travel. 

I'll share with everyone some wise words adapted from my friend Don Simmons about what to bring home from a mission trip experience. 

PACKING IN PLACE OF GUILT

Don says, "When I returned from living in Papua New Guinea for a while, along with my clothes and cool souvenirs of my trip, I also packed a lot of guilt—guilt about the way I had previously thought, guilt about the way I had looked at the world before, guilt about having SO much, and guilt about “those people” having so little. The guilt was a motivator—for a very short time—but once the guilt wore off, I wanted to go to the beach and live my privileged American Christian life. So, as you’re packing, what are you going to place IN PLACE of guilt?

Here are some suggestions:

RESOLVE. The deep gut strength/feeling to DO something about poverty in the world and where you live.

ARTICULATION. We can often miscommunicate our message because we "feel" it more than we can express it.

REALISTIC STRATEGY. You will need to be thinking of a realistic strategy to educate, engage, and equip others on what you have learned.

HOPE. You know it now: God loves and cares for people in developing countries just as much (and possibly more because they are poor) as he loves and cares for people in developed countries. If you focus on the helplessness and not the HOPE, you'll miss the point. If you focus on the poverty and not the richness of God's promises, you won't be able to do much about poverty. As a Missouri poet puts it, "Gaze at god, glance at everything else."

DESIRE. Pack some desire to go to other lands, other cultures, other neighborhoods. Let your trip be an "appetizer" for the buffet of God's world and his people. Pack that desire to take others with you and open their eyes as well.

Don continues by saying, "The amazing thing about travel that I love is that it is the one activity that allows us to get a good look at how BIG God is, and how BIG our family is. Pack away all those new friendships—teachers, principals, students, doctors, nurses, etc. Tuck away those treasures and pull them out often: pray for them, think of them, and remember what you learned from them. Isn’t it amazing that you went to be the giver and yet you returned very much the student?"

(Don’s website is http://www.creativepotentialconsulting.org.)

  

Faith Alive Book Update

Many of you are asking if the book is available to give as Christmas gifts this year. The bad news is that it isn’t; the good news is that it will be available for all gift-giving occasions in 2013 (birthdays, anniversaries, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Christmas, etc.).

If you know me well, you know that I have high standards for projects I’m involved with. This book is no exception. The publisher is still working to get the blue color on the cover to print the same color that I see on my computer screen and to make a few grammatical corrections. Fortunately the book has a 2013 copyright date.

If you want to give a gift this Christmas about Faith Alive, please consider buying another great book (Women, HIV, and the Church: In Search of Refuge edited by Dr. Arthur Ammann). It’s a beautiful book with one chapter, taken from the Faith Alive book, about our favorite HIV-positive pastor (renamed Pastor Rebecca in Dr. Art’s book).  

Congratulations, Graduates

Congratulations to the newest graduates of Faith Alive’s skills-acquisition school. Sewing, knitting, and computer students received hard-earned certificates. They celebrated by dancing with Dr. Chris Isichei and enjoying minerals (sodas). Bosas all around!

Christmas Shopping Benefits Faith Alive Hospital

Give a gift that does double—and even triple—duty. That’s right. Gorgeous Nigerian necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and ornaments will be for sale tomorrow (December 1) from 9 am – 5 pm at the Northern Colorado Writers’ Holiday Market (2107 Thunderstone Court, Fort Collins, Colorado).  NCW gets 20%, Faith Alive Foundation-Nigeria gets 80%, and the person you’re shopping for gets the gifts. Plus, you’ll enjoy hot drinks if you shop in the morning, or wine, cheese, and chocolate if you shop from 4-5 p.m.

Not available tomorrow? Shop Sunday, December 16 at Gifts for a Cause (First Presbyterian Church, 531 S. College Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado). Faith Alive Foundation-Nigeria receives 100% of the profits from items at the Faith Alive booth. I can’t match NCW’s food and drink offerings, but can guarantee smiles and great fellowship.

If you’re in northern Colorado, I hope to see you at one of the two fun shopping events!

Women, HIV, and the Church

I can’t wait to read this new book: “Women, HIV, and the Church: In Search of Refuge.” A lot of people contributed chapters, including Rev. Dr. Mark Labberton of Fuller Theological Seminary, Dr. Arthur Ammann of Global Strategies for HIV Prevention, and….me. What an honor.

Rev. Rick Warren’s wife, Kay, wrote a glowing endorsement of this book. She’s a major advocate for getting churches involved in the fight against AIDS. Her website says, “HIV&AIDS is still the greatest humanitarian crisis of all time. In the middle of this tragedy, Christians have the opportunity to make the love of our Savior real to anyone infected or affected by HIV&AIDS."

The book is available at numerous websites, but I only found the “Look Inside” bonus on Amazon. Click on the book title above to take a peek (and order a few copies for yourselves and your church leadership).

Dr. Art and I are talking about doing a book tour together sometime next year to promote both of our books. Stay tuned…