Friday, August 31, 2012

Friday Little Bits: Hope for Haiti Update

Hope for Haiti is a campaign to raise $35,000 for the first building for the House of Abraham orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti.  The lease on HoA's current property expires in mid-November of this year.  They own a walled property ready for their first permanent home in a multi-phased project that will ultimately allow them to expand their ministry to orphaned children and raise up young men and women of integrity to be the future leaders of Haiti.

Progress

Construction of the Security Wall







 

Construction Update from Dusty Cooper of IsleGo Missions:

The work on the foundation at the new property starts (today) or Saturday. The river was so swollen from Isaac that they couldn't get across with materials until (Wednesday).

Financial Update:

We are now over 21% of the way to our goal of fully funding HoA's first building, which would house the 13 children and house parents from HoA's current location.

4theVoiceless Update:
We have been given the opportunity for several of our people to join a team from another church on a trip to Jacmel to be a part of building HoA's first building.  I am grateful for this opportunity.  Though I don't think of myself as much of a construction guy, I can't wait to be a part of this team.

How can you get involved now?

#1 - Pray every day that the Lord would provide for His kids in Jacmel, Haiti, at the House of Abraham.
#2 - Send a check to 4theVoiceless, c/o Colonial Hills Church, 5932 Highway 51, Horn Lake, MS  38637.  Please denote "4theVoiceless - Hope for Haiti" in the memo line.
#3 - Join seven other partners across the country in selling our special "Hope for Haiti" paracord bracelets.  We'll send you everything you need (info cards, order forms, and samples in each size) to get you started.  At $10/each, we need to sell a lot of bracelets!  The more we have selling them, the sooner the House of Abraham project will be fully funded.  Email me at alainsworth@chbc.net to get a bracelet sales kit or for more information.

#4 - Plan your own fundraiser for HoA.  Every dollar counts!

Thanks for reading.  Now get involved!
Al


Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Orphan Care Made Easy: A Pictorial Guide

Now, we all know that the title to this post is misleading at best.  Orphan care can be very demanding.  Caring for foster children pulled from tragic situations can reveal more baggage than we feel we are equipped to handle.  Adopting children from other cultures takes much time, many tears, and exhausting patience.  But getting involved in caring for kids doesn’t have to be so complicated.

This past weekend a small team of men and boys from 4theVoiceless visited the Baptist Children’s Village home in Star, Mississippi.  Our team was comprised of three adults, two teenagers, and four boys ages 10 and under.The following is a pictorial guide to getting involved with connecting with kids in crisis.  (No photos were taken of the children at the home for privacy and legal reasons.  Just imagine other kids, mostly below the age of six, sprinkled throughout these photos.)

How to get involved:


Go to them.
 
Ride bikes with them.

Pull their wagon.

Set up a slip 'n slide.

Slide down said slip 'n slide with them.

Avoid crashes on aforementioned slip 'n slide.

Cook them lunch.
Our team did a great job engaging the kids at the children's home.  One of my two favorite highlights was seeing our teenage young men find the little boy least likely to engage with everyone else and staying with him all day and getting him involved.  My other favorite is seeing the four house parents -- who are constantly cooking, cleaning, parenting, etc. -- sitting on the front porch in their rocking chairs doing absolutely nothing but enjoying watching the kids play.

Five of our team were on their first mission trip of any kind. They did very well, and I would take them back in a heartbeat. For at least a day, our focus was entirely on others.  We should all move toward more of that.

Thanks for reading.  Now you find a way to move in kindness toward children whose homes are not God's original design for the family.  Chances are pretty good that you will be blessed more than they will be.

4theVoiceless,
Al

Friday, August 24, 2012

Friday Little Bits: Turbo Week


I have learned that in the early stages of a ministry like 4theVoiceless, much time is spent dreaming and planning.  Actual movement toward those dreams can be slow.  Not this week.  Someone must have hit the turbo button this week.  Here’s a quick update:

1.  As you have probably seen on our Facebook page, some big contributions gave a jump start to our Hope for Haiti campaign.  Between gifts to 4theVoiceless and IsleGo, over $7,000 was given toward the approximately $35,000 needed for the new House of Abraham.  Bracelet packets were sent out to six different ministry partners across the country.  We don’t know how, but we fully expect God to come through on behalf of these future leaders of Haiti.  It doesn’t stop us from being overwhelmed with joy as He does it, though!

2.  I had a chance to speak to a 6th grade English class this week about Hope for Haiti.  They had read a book about a kid getting a vision to build a deepwater well in Uganda and others coming alongside him to do it.  I had the opportunity to tell them about something like that going on real time, about Fenel Bruna’s vision to build leaders of integrity in Haiti, and about our efforts to help him to do it for the glory of God.  Imagine the teacher’s excitement when I came back for the afternoon class and reported a $7,000 increase in Hope for Haiti over the previous three hours!  The number one question that the students had:  How can I get involved?

3.  Recipes have begun to come in for the 4theVoiceless cookbook.  Sales of that cookbook will go toward our adoption fund, the major financial commitment of an orphan care ministry.  The cookbook will also raise awareness for the need for adoption through moving stories of adoption. We still need many, many more recipes, so click here to give us your best.

4.  A group of nine of us leave this afternoon for a weekend trip to the Baptist Children’s Village home in Star, Mississippi.  It is an all-guys (3 adults, 2 teenagers, 4 little guys) trip that’s sure to be entertaining; we look forward to having a great time serving the kids and those who care for them.  Please take a moment as you are reading this to pray for us.

Progress.  When you can feel God’s kingdom moving forward, it has been a good week. 

Thanks for reading.
Al

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Guest Blog: Hope Amidst Corruption


 Dusty Cooper is the director of IsleGo Missions, along with his wife, Corrine.  The mission of IsleGo is to connect the church across all borders.  Our church has partnered with IsleGo for many years now in Jamaica, Cuba, Brazil, and Haiti, among others.  He introduced us to the ministry of Fenel and Mimi Bruna at the House of Abraham in Jacmel, Haiti. 

 

 JANUARY 12, 2010      

On this date, Haiti, a country already devastated by poverty, violence, crime, and corruption on every level, was further decimated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, one of the worst in history. By even the most conservative calculations over a quarter million people died in just over 30 seconds. Millions of dollars in foreign aid poured into this island nation in just a matter of days as mass graves began to fill with the dead.
Today, over 2 years later, Haiti looks pretty much the same as it did before the quake. All the food, clothing, construction materials, and supplies have not visibly changed the nation or the hopelessness of its people. While some of the rubble from the quake has been removed, no great strides forward have been made in spite of all the good intentions. 

We began to ask ourselves in late 2010 what was lacking? If millions, maybe billions, of dollars couldn’t seem to set Haiti on an even keel, what would? When asking these questions to Haitian leaders in religion, business, and education, the same answer was repeated over and over again: Haiti needs leadership that has at its very core integrity, character, and compassion. It seems that most of the aid went into the pockets of corrupt government officials, criminals, and greedy business leaders. It became clear to all of us that this was the same problem that has kept Haiti poor for most of its history.

From those conversations came others with Fenel Bruna, awesome friend and brother in Christ in Jacmel, Haiti. God had already birthed in his heart a way to make a difference for the future of Haiti in this regard. From the heart of God to the heart of Fenel rose the beginning of the House of Abraham, a group home for children that would be brought up in the nurture and admonition of Jehovah God to become those needed leaders with integrity, character, and compassion. 

In early 2011 the first House of Abraham was opened in Jacmel, Haiti, in a rented house that had ample room for the children and staff as well as classroom space and security. The staff was assembled, themselves amazing people of God with a heart for God and their nation. The first children were identified and interviewed, some of them orphans and some from single parent homes. The funds were raised to make sure everything needed was there for the staff to achieve the desired results. Materials for education in the principles of the Bible and godly living were purchased. Regular schools were contacted to find the right match for the basic education of the children. House of Abraham opened with a bang and today has 14 children that are being molded into leaders who give glory to God in both what they say and how they live. 

In the summer of 2011, we purchased 6 acres of land just outside Jacmel  and began working there to relocate by mid-November of 2012, the end of our lease on the house where we started. We need at least $35,000 to make this first house a reality and be able to move by the end or our lease. While millions of dollars seemed to have gone for naught, $35,000 will make a huge difference in the lives of the children at the House of Abraham and very well could be the beginning of a new Haiti. 

All of us can do something to get this house built in the next 3 months…what is your part? Pray for the House of Abraham, Fenel & Mimi Bruna, and the kids (Widly, Clyphode, Luciana, Roberson, Erlande, Richardson, David, Lucien, Anadine, Tchikovsky, Christella, Saintamene, and Vitama). It’s all about HIM!

Friday, August 17, 2012

Friday Little Bits: Rediscovering Noah

I preached on Noah from the Old Testament this past Wednesday night.  You remember Noah – the ark guy.  My message was part of a series we are doing called Chosen, a series about leaders of the Bible who were reluctant or unqualified or even downright unwilling.  In breaking down Genesis 6-8 from a leadership standpoint, the Scriptures had this to teach me about Noah’s leadership style:

Noah led by simple obedience to God’s unusual instructions.

God told Noah in Genesis 6:14-21 to build an ark and how to build it.  Genesis 6:22 (ESV) says, “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”  In Genesis 7:1-4, God gave Noah instructions on which animals to bring on board the boat and how many of each.  Genesis 7:5 says, “And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.”  God told Noah when to exit the ark, and – though after a year on a boat with a lot of animals and his closest family, this probably wasn’t much of a stretch of his faith – Noah left the ark.

I found it interesting that the very next verse after Noah’s family left the ark, Genesis 8:20, begins like this:  “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord…”  In our culture of entitlement, we might look for recognition for our obedience, some outward indication that we did the right thing.  Noah, however, worshiped. 

I think it was no accident that I was preparing for this message when the need for a new, permanent home for the House of Abraham in Jacmel, Haiti, came to my attention.  Understand that as pastors, we see no shortage of needs.  We don’t sit around trying to find them.  We’re inundated with them to the point that it’s overwhelming when we look at our resources vs. the needs that are out there.  Sometimes, though, we come across one where the Holy Spirit clearly says, “That one.  Meet that one.”  Sometimes it's a simple need, easy to meet.  Sometimes, it stretches our faith.

We can’t just write a check for a new home for House of Abraham, even if we wanted to.  Like many other churches, we are behind on budget; unlike most of them, we are stepping out by faith to launch a second campus.  (That, too, is a step of obedience.)  We can make bracelets, though.  We can sell them for $10 each and encourage others to come alongside us in this effort (Check out the 4theVoiceless Facebook page to see the areas across the country that are already on board.), as they are already beginning to do. 

To look at raising $35,000 that way is daunting, to say the least; we need to sell 25 just to recoup the cost of materials so far.  We don’t have a machine that produces these bracelets; they are each hand-made by people who have jobs and responsibilities.  And real skin.  My son looked at me last night about 11 bracelets in, skin dangling from one of his fingers, and said, “I’m done.”


Noah didn’t build the entire ark at once.  He worked on it one obedient day at a time for many years.  And though we don't have many years to make this happen, we will work our Hope for Haiti campaign the same way, one obedient step at a time. 

Join with us in praying every day that God would provide $35,000 for these orphans that we know He loves.  Join with us in doing something – making bracelets, buying bracelets, selling bracelets, opening doors for us.  I would ask you to do one more thing: When this project is over and the new home is complete, let’s covenant together to worship.  The Father to the fatherless is worthy.  It is His resources given to His children walking in simple obedience to His unusual instruction that will build this home.

Thanks for reading,
Al

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

She's Got the Look

There’s a look that people have when God grips their hearts for the orphan.  A look that mirrors the passion in the depths of their souls.  A look that seems to zero in on that passion in my own heart.  A look that knows no turning back.  A look that reflects the Father’s heart for the fatherless.

4theVoiceless exists today because I saw that look in my friend Tobie.  I’ll never forget that.

I saw the look in my friend Stephanie when God called her to leave her baby girl (in very capable hands – but this is her FIRST child) to go love on the orphans in Haiti.  When I say baby girl, I don’t mean it in the pet name sort of way.  Charlie turned FIVE MONTHS OLD while the team Stephanie was a part of was in Haiti.

Now, let me tell you about Stephanie.  When she first came to our small group about two-and-a-half years ago, I thought she was going to break and run when we went around in a circle introducing ourselves.  (I’m pretty sure her husband Jacob still has nail marks in his arm from that night.)  So, yeah, she’s shy.  But lurking not too far beneath the surface is a steely determination that belies the shy exterior.  When she makes up her mind to do something, you can consider it done…and done well.  She’ll get that look.

That look usually comes from God’s Spirit being so heavy on Stephanie that she can’t help but say yes to His call.  When she says yes, it’s with no turning back.  I saw it when she decided to come back to small group.  I saw it when she first began to get serious about studying her Bible.  I saw it when she started to serve outside of her own context in our own area.  I saw it when she decided to go to Haiti.  I saw it when she trusted God to quickly provide the money for her trip.  And I certainly saw it when she returned.



4theVoiceless as a ministry is in its infancy.  We’ve never faced a financial need like the one that the House of Abraham faces right now in Jacmel, Haiti.  The needs we have met have been measured by twenties and fifties, not tens of thousands.  We knew from the beginning that the needs would be overwhelming and that we couldn't meet even a fraction of them.  But this one -- we feel like God has called on us to lead the way for a new, permanent home for the House of Abraham.

Hope for Haiti seeks to raise $35,000 to provide a permanent home for the House of Abraham’s orphans and house parents through the sales of $10 paracord bracelets.  Physically, it seems impossible; that's about 4,000 bracelets after you figure in expenses.  But when a group of people gathered at my house last week to learn how to make the bracelets, I looked around the table and was met by “the look.”  Stephanie and Jacob were there.  So was another family who went on the Haiti trip.  So were a few more who don’t see this cause as impossible.  Already, groups from Oklahoma to Texas to Mississippi to North Carolina have gotten on board to help.  Jesus Himself said that with God, all things are possible (Matt. 19:26).  We believe that.

When it comes to pursuing God’s commands to care for the fatherless, we could all use that determination that comes from tying the need that we see to God’s heart for the orphan and His limitless supply of resources.  The look of childlike faith.  Stephanie – she’s got the look.  Do you?

$35,000 for a home for orphans in Haiti?  Not impossible.  Let’s do this.

Thanks for reading,
Al

Friday, August 10, 2012

Hope for Haiti: You Move, God Moves





   4,000 Bracelets = 1 Home for 13 Orphans

This is about much more than simply buying a paracord bracelet (or two or ten).  I do hope that as a reader of this blog, you will engage with your purchase of  some "Hope for Haiti" collection bracelets.  I do hope that you will share the story of the urgent need to get this home built as quickly as humanly possible.  But this is bigger than that.

This is about moving forward with what we KNOW from Scripture about God's heart toward orphans and what we KNOW about his unlimited resources.  The only thing standing between us and God's desire for this orphan home is faith.  This is about God's people moving toward something bigger than us, trusting in the Father to the fatherless to accomplish His will for His glory.

If you were not in attendance last November 20 when Pastor Shannon O'Dell from Brand New Church preached at CHC at the end of our Sun Stand Still series, I want to let you in on a phrase that has become part of our lexicon:  "You move, God moves."  Shannon spoke of the potential of God's people that often goes unrealized because we fail to move.  He is waiting for us to move in faith toward Him so that He can show Himself strong on our behalf to the rest of the world that does not know Him.


I met with a group of people last night to train them to make "Hope for Haiti" paracord bracelets.  Many of them had spent a week at the House of Abraham earlier this year on a mission trip through IsleGo Missions.  Their hearts burn for the need of "our babies."

The bracelets are in the colors of Haiti's flag.  We will be selling them for $10 each at the CHC Connections Bookstore on Sunday -- limited supply this week but more to come as our supplies arrive early next week.  We moved.  We will be selling them at carnivals and farmer's markets and flea markets, wherever we get a chance.  We're moving.


But that's not enough.  We need you, as an orphan care champion, to pray that God would do what we already know He desires to do.  Then, what else can you do?  Can you make bracelets?  Awesome, we're going to need a lot of them.  Can you sell bracelets?  Great, we need a much larger reach than our church.  You move, God moves.

Thanks for reading.  Now move.

Al








Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Dinner on the Ground

I love being from Star, Mississippi, though I will probably never live there again (not saying never, just probably never).  It's a small, unincorporated dot on the map, right next to Highway 49 less than 20 miles south of Jackson.  I've been asked many times over the years if Star is one of those one-traffic-light towns.  (To which I would replay, "No, but we're hoping..."  And there is now a traffic light!)

Star was a happening little town back in the railroad days, but now it's claim to fame is as the home of country music singer Faith Hill.  ("Well, it's a long way from Star, Mississippi..."  Yeah, that's the place.)  

When my nine-year-old son Drew and I were there a couple of weekends ago, he got to experience small town church:
  • members coming out on Saturday for church work day
  • a visit to the parsonage (had to explain what a parsonage is)
  • the church service itself with its open sharing of announcements & prayer requests (which would be chaos in our church!)
  • maybe best of all -- dinner on the ground.  Dinner on the ground was quite the misnomer on this day, since lunch was served and eaten inside in the fellowship hall.  However, with temperatures soaring to 100 degrees that day (with the usual central Mississippi humidity), we weren't going to split hairs.
Star is a place where things don’t change much, the new Dollar General (aka the Star Wal-Mart) and the now-annual Christmas parade in December and the Rabbit Run 5K in April notwithstanding.   I've come to value that in many ways.  Don’t get me wrong – I like change and variety in life.  But it’s nice to have my roots in a slow-to-change place that I can call my hometown.  I’ve come to realize something, though.  I don’t think it’s the town that has served as my foundation as much as my family who lived there.

My parents moved into the house where they now live when they brought me home from the hospital over 46 years ago, a little less than a year into their marriage.  Two sisters, a brother, several additions to the house, quite a few “outbuildings” (none of them outHOUSES for you smart alecks not privileged to be from Mississippi) later, it’s still home.  My family reflects my childhood family in many ways.  Growing up, we always had pets; I’ve always had pets.  My childhood family attended each other’s activities; my family tries to do that, as well.  My mom always read to us when we were little, giving us what has been for all of us a lifelong pursuit of learning; my wife and I read to our children when they were little (and still read to Drew).  We learned Bible stories in our childhood home and have taught our children the Word of God.

But do you know what I remember most and believe was more formative to all of us Ainsworth children than we ever could have imagined at the time?  Every day, my dad’s truck would pull into the driveway, and four kids would meet him when he opened the door asking, “Daddy, will you ___________ with me?”  For my brother and me, we filled in the blank with playing whatever sport was in season.  For my sisters, it was often, “Daddy, will you jump on the trampoline with me?”  (I would be remiss if I didn’t say that that meant equal time with each sister, time that was closely monitored.)  He would typically respond with, “Let me have a cup of coffee with your mama first.”  At the time that meant, “Wait.”  We didn’t realize at the time that it really meant that he was prioritizing his relationship with Mom ahead of his relationship with us, as it should have been.

If you’re waiting for the hook that ties Star, Mississippi, and the family I grew up in to orphan care, here it is: Psalm 68:6a -- “God sets the lonely in families…”  Many of the principles I live by didn’t come from conferences I’ve attended or sermons I’ve listened to or books I’ve read; they came from living in a family.  I appreciate that more than I ever have in my life, but I also have an increased awareness that it’s not enough to simply acknowledge the blessing of my family and not enough to simply perpetuate that investment into my family.  I must do what I can for those who weren’t born into the blessing of a loving family to experience the love and grace of a heavenly Father, who has a special place in His heart for the fatherless.  God's Word commands it.

I long for the fatherless to know what it means to have Bible reading time as a family, to go to church as a family, to do fun activities together as a family, to cheer for one another and console one another.  And every child should – at least once in his or her life – experience dinner on the ground.

What values did you learn from your family that children without families could benefit from?  Those children need those values, too.  How will you get involved?

Thanks for reading.
Al

Friday, August 3, 2012

Friday Little Bits: And Now for Something Free

Happy Friday, everyone.  Here are a few 4theVoiceless ministry updates this week -- find a place to get involved with God-mandated orphan care.
  • Thanks again to the folks at Star Wesleyanna UMC for your warm reception last weekend.  Thank you for all the bracelets that you purchased, which will allow us to increase our ministry’s reach to the fatherless.  More on my hometown and the values I learned there that have contributed to my passion for caring for the fatherless in this Tuesday’s post, “Dinner on the Ground.” 
  • If you are a member or attender at Colonial Hills Church, we invite you to attend one of the 4theVoiceless training sessions during the August 12 iServe volunteer training.  We are offering an overview of the 4theVoiceless orphan care ministry during two of the sessions and an adoption Q&A during the other session.  Sign up here.
  • The mission team for the trip to one of our state's Baptist Children's Village homes for the week of August 24-26 is full.  Five men, two teenagers, and three children make up our team.  God has shown us favor with the costs of this trip already.  One of our desires as a ministry is to provide low-cost mission opportunities in our own state in addition to the more costly international opportunities that we have.  Another of our desires is for orphan care to be for the whole church, no matter what age; we're very grateful to have half our team made up of students from 2nd grade to 10th grade. They won't just be along for the ride!
  • We are ready for recipe submissions for our 4theVoiceless cookbook to benefit our adoption fund!  Every recipe submitted is a step toward a child being adopted into a forever family.  We need 400 recipes, most of them by August 31!  You do not have to be a CHC church member to contribute your favorite one(s). 
    • And now for something free. . . to sweeten the deal and get those recipes flowing in, I have chosen 12 random numbers from 1-400 to receive a free custom-made paracord bracelet.  You get to choose up to three colors or choose our “They Are Precious” bracelet (a $10 value).  (Example:  If one of the numbers is 33 and you submit the 33rd recipe, you get a free bracelet.  That simple.) 


Thanks for reading.
Al