29th August, 2008
HEROES ARE STILL BEING BORN
There
is a small town with a bit of a reputation only half an hour from
where we live which is in often spoken of in the same way that people
in the first century viewed Nazareth wondering if anything good could
ever come from it. This week though people and TV cameras packed
the streets to welcome home a local teenager, Rebecca, who had just returned from Beijing with not one but two Olympic gold medals
for swimming. I am not a sports fan unless very fast cars are involved,
but just to see this very genuine young lady and the crowds made even
my unsporting heart proud and gave me hope that heroes are still being
born. The Nazareth where we live may one day surprise all of us.
THE WORLD'S NOTICE BOARD
The DCI Trust has new funds available for School of Mission
leaders, students and graduates to help starts new projects of church
planting, unreached peoples, training centres and for blessing the
poor. See this page.
Free 33 page detailed and very high quality training manual on how to do Puppet Ministry by Fred Mercer of Nottinghamshire, UK. Leaves no question unanswered. Click to see and download the manual and click again for the colour cover. In English.
Salt Insurance from Kingdom Bank
is offering hard to find travel insurance for missions trips, voluntary
work overseas, even for war zones and up to age 70.
We
often encourage our leaders overseas with the gift of a book, one music
and one teaching CD. Could you ask a Christian record company
or bookshop to give us their surplus stocks ? Are there
unwanted CD's on your bookshelf ? Can they go to
Africa, India and other remote places where people can never afford
such lovely gifts. Write to Mrs. Sally Griffiths our Internet receptionist.
27th August, 2008
THROUGH FIRE AND WATER: INDIA / HAITI
By
6 a.m. this morning the BBC had confirmed some very worrying news which
began arriving here yesterday, that not only had a fiery and deadly
persecution started again in Orissa, India where our partner Daniel has many churches, but also that the people of Les Cayes in Haiti where our partner Johnny Auguste has his home and School of Mission
were rioting in the streets over food prices whilst Hurricane Gustav
lashed the streets and caused deaths among the poor and hungry. Daniel
told us that one woman in Orissa has died already and one orphanage and
ten churches have been burned to the ground after a VHP political
leader was assassinated on Saturday night.
NEW CHURCH WASTES NO TIME: ARGENTINA
We met Stella Maris
from Argentina when she introduced a Cuban pastor who wanted
to provide meals for his elderly people. Then, her own
church moved to a new district and Stella Maris asked for prayer
for the very first thing they did to bless the local people. This
was to put on a children's party with puppets, games, stories,
food, sweets and books to take home. It was a beautiful occasion and it
went well. Over 200 mainly poor and very happy children and their
mums came, and some decided to join the church right there and then.
25th August, 2008
HIGHEST EDUCATION IN THE WORLD: NEPAL
We have a new friend in Gaindakot, Nepal, up in the Himalayas, home of eight of the ten highest mountains in the world, including Mt. Everest. His name is Pastor Prem Thapa and he is part of New Wine Ministries.
His wife is Elisa and they have 3 children and 24 orphans. In record
time Pastor Prem is translating the free School of Mission in Nepali
and will be starting two training centres this September with 32
students in all. We will be helping in every way that we can and really
look forward to seeing new leaders, supporters and senders emerge for
mission and to care for the poor in Nepal and across Asia.
THE WORLD'S NOTICE BOARD
The principal of El Shadai Theology College - Maringá in Brazil, Dr. Raúl Jiménez Cortés,
60, writes to say that the College will help sponsor the studies of men
and women with a call to ministry. The courses are in Portuguese.
Our friend Pastor Daniel
says that the Lord is really moving in India with 15 Hindus being
baptized in water and becoming followers of Jesus only last week,
whilst in Trichur 20 people have asked for baptism and at Nadathra
3 people were baptized. Ten of his newly trained men began church
planting in August.
Over in Pakistan our partner in Lahore, Pastor Sarwar Masih
celebrated the nation's 61st Independence Day with 215 pastors,
evangelists, church leaders and believers including all the DCI
students except those from far away Quetta. He says there was an
awesome presence and anointing of the Holy Spirit.
22nd August, 2008
BREATHTAKING POVERTY AND INSECURITY: HAITI
Yesterday we finally managed to send funds to Haiti for a new Carpentry School and Shop attached to the School of Mission.
The depth of unrelieved poverty and the widespread insecurity on this
Caribbean island is breathtaking. Not one ATM could be found working to
withdraw the funds which we sent by Visa. Western Union finally came to
the rescue and only charged us a token amount to send the money but we
had to tell our man not to go alone, or on foot, to collect the funds,
and to return another way, looking over his shoulder all the time. Our
partner in Haiti is very dedicated to training new leaders and opening
new churches that care for the poor.
TALKING TOGETHER
"Stay close to the Lord where He works and it works out."
"It
is true that we have enjoyed many years of continuous expansion but
what most people haven't seen is the sacrifice that makes the growth
possible or the suffering that can come from moving forward into new
territory. I tell myself that these are the birth pains of
bringing one baby after another of new missions and new projects into
this world."
"As much as we all like instant answers or at the
latest by next day it does seem that healing is often a process rather
than an event."
"When Luke wrote that 'he wanted us to know' he
used the same word that the scriptures use for the marriage
relationship. Mary for example said she had not 'known a man.'
Lord, how I need to know You more, see more of Your beauty as a Man, be
drawn to You more and draw on You more."
20th August, 2008
TEN NEW SCHOOLS OF MISSION: CAMEROON
Our partner in Yaounde - Cameroon, Dr. Andre Talla says that this September he will open five new Schools of Mission
in Garoua, Douala, Yaoundé, Bertoua and in Ebolowa with a total of
125 new students. This will be followed in October by five more Schools
in five more states. This is very exciting news from West Africa.
PRAYER, PILLS AND PATIENCE: MID-EAST
One
of our partners in the Middle East who we cannot name is quite poorly
and finding it unusually hard to recover. We want to say to you that we
will not stop praying and getting people to pray for you, until the
rough paths become smooth again and your life is once again a highway
for the Lord. Some things only ever find an answer in prayer. Never
underestimate the depth of spiritual opposition to you personally
because not only are you a believer in a land of intense opposition to
the gospel but your giving is also allowing others to believe for the
first time in distant parts of the world that no-one else cares
about.
18th August, 2008
THAI HILLTRIBE SCHOOL ASKS FOR CONTACTS IN LAOS
From his home and work in the Hilltribe Bible School near Chiang Mai, Thailand, Gareth Lavell
writes trying to help refugees from the Burma cyclone. He is also
working with a local youth prison service, a church and he teaches
English and the Bible in a Korean church and school as well. He is
asking for help for a poor but well organised hilltribe orphanage.
Gareth tells us that one refugee from Burma has just decided to
trust Jesus as did 110 young prisoners two weeks ago. His Bible School
students want to go to Laos for 2 to 4 weeks next year and would like
people in Laos to get in touch please.
THE WORLD'S NOTICE BOARD
From October M and Madame Villa from
La Maison de Jerusalem are in France, starting from Toulouse and would like to meet churches and house fellowships.
In the unreached area of Cayma, Arequipa - Peru, Javier Antonio is working with young people seven days a week and has a plan to take the gospel to every home in the village.
Journalist Andreas Klamm tells us that the John Baptist Mission website in Togo has the latest news about the 5,000 people left homeless by severe floods.
Fernando in Cartagena-Spain says that an astonishing 50,000 people a year turn to living in the streets of Spain. His Good Samaritan website shows us how to do something.
15th August 2008
ANDES COLD TO AMAZON HEAT: PERU
Our partner Rolando Canazas
is just back in Huancayo - Peru after a long trip with a team of young
people to meet unreached peoples in the Peruvian Andes where poor
villagers can lose their lives overnight in the low temperatures. They
held a first thanksgiving and worship service in Ninyana - Junin where
military and civilian authorities and the local believers all got
together to enjoy a day's festivities and to pray for the region.
Rolando's trip is to Iquitos to open DCI School of Missions
in the Amazon area. Right now he is hosting our niece from Spain,
Deborah and her friend Sarah, who have come to Peru to meet him and to
visit projects for abused women and children on behalf of a
Spanish mission.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: SOUTH INDIA
Our good friend and partner of many years Pastor Daniel of Mercy Homes
would like to invite you his International Pastors Conference in
Trichur, Kerala next February 16 to 19th. The nearest airport is
Cochin and Daniel will provide all your local transport, food and
accommodation. It's just $50 if you are coming from a developing world
country. This will be a big event, many will decide to follow
Jesus and leaders will be blessed. We would love to go.
13th August 2008
SHEEP THAT MILK THE SHEPHERD: UGANDA
When our partner in Uganda George Purkweri
fell very sick we tried to find out why that was but we were definitely
not prepared for the answer. George explained about long distance
travel on bad roads to get to train leaders and monitor their projects
and then having to eat bad food because that is all the people. He had
been sleeping in hovels with swarming mosquitoes and then when his wife
Jane came down with gangrene, the very same disease that killed her
mother, the shock caused a total breakdown. Happily God has now
healed both Jane and George. George said that finding helpers is
difficult because the educated people are reluctant to serve with such
poor congregations, then he came out with this classic phrase: that his
churches are truly so poor that instead of the shepherd milking the
sheep, it is the sheep that milk the shepherd.
THE WORLD'S NOTICE BOARD
Street children who riskfalling into child labour in Bolivia are being rescued Ministerio Nino Feliz. Jorge Baquero in Santa Cruz de la Sierra will tell you more.
Young
people from the Baptist Church in Gody Cruz - Argentina have paid their
own way to India to take medical treatment to villages with a YWAM
mission. Others went to Honduras to meet and pray for the President. We
are grateful to Ruben Besada, 50, of
Movil Mision Latinos for this great news.
Sarwar Masih
of Lahore - Pakistan has printed 500 books by our honorary senior
pastor E.C.Maddison, 85, and distributed them in five cities among
pastors, evangelists and believers who are all very grateful for the
gift. Read the book free by clicking here.
11th August 2008
FIRST GRADUATION IN LILONGWE: MALAWI
Our partner Moses Aringo from Malawi
tell us that the Lilongwe School of Mission has its first graduation on
August 16th with a visit from Paul Lee from Nairobi, the founder of our partner
EAPTC network in Africa which has 36 Schools of Mission in four
nations. The Lilongwe School has a Bank for the Poor and a new
carpentry workshop being built to make money for the work.
8th August 2008
EMINENT SPECIALIST GAVE ONE CHANCE IN A MILLION
Today
our daughter Lizzie leaves behind her teenage years and celebrates
being 20 years old. It was only yesterday that she was so excited to be
a teenager, and only the day before it seems, that I was rushing Pilar
into the City Hospital to give birth to what Dr. Liu the eminent
Chinese specialist called a miracle baby. You see, there was only one
chance in a million according to Dr Liu that Pilar could ever conceive.
This was in the early days of test-tube conceptions and all the other
brilliant things they do to get life started, but we had said a polite
no thank you. Now this perplexed Dr Liu because he knew how much Pilar
wanted a baby so we gently explained our trust in a miracle working God
and we gave him a New Testament. It took a while longer and an
ocean of tears each month but the day finally came when our doctor
hurriedly sent Pilar back to Dr. Liu, who was genuinely delighted to
confirm that our prayer was answered. Pilar's spent 27 hours in labour
and in this time Dr.Liu told all his nursing staff about the miracle
baby. One Irish midwife asked what he meant by this and when she heard
the story she decided to return to the faith of her childhood and came
to church with us later on. So today we celebrate the day with thanks
to God, a family meal and a new Ipod for the young lady for who is now
the Project Development secretary for DCI Trust.
STARTING BUSINESS FOR MISSION: NIGERIA
Our partner Daniel in Nigeria asked if we would help him to start Business for Mission
to provide local income to support his church planting team. We
said yes because Daniel has proven his honesty in previous projects
with us. Business for Mission is not for everyone so Daniel needs
to look for three things. First that his team of pioneers are men and
women of faith; secondly that they embrace the self-support vision and
they really know what they are doing with the business they want
to start; and finally that they are men and women who have been tested
and proven to be honest, willing to work in team and be accountable. We
are very excited to see what happens next.
THE WORLD'S NOTICE BOARD
Camille from God's Harvesters in Lubumbashi, DR Congo says to e-mail them and they will pray for you and your work wherever you are in the world.
Click here to download free a very unique audiovisual presentation in Spanish for AIDS prevention from El Dorado International, with our thanks to Ricardo Carlin for telling us about it.
Marcos Dantas who is 26, from Sao Paulo - Brazil would like people in mission anywhere in the world to e-mail him and he will write back.
Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got, so make the most of it. Art Buchwald.
6th August, 2008
FLOODS HIT CEMENT AND RUIN BUSINESS
In Liberia, three of our Banking for the Poor
clients had just started a cement business and their first stocks were
piled up ready for sale. Then a huge storm brought 3 days of
water up to waist height so you can imagine what happened to the bags
of cement. We have suspended their loan payments for at least a year
and replaced the bank's lost capital so others on the waiting list will
not miss out. We hope they will be able to salvage something and
start again.
NOT OLD ENOUGH TO BE A POPE !
My
friend came to have a talk about going overseas and if he could do that
with us. I am very excited to start the conversation and the prayer,
not least because my heart feels for this very gifted musician, worship
leader who is well trained in the Bible and a graduate with honours in
the "School of Life." Sadly he finds very few opportunities these days,
the reason being that he has 55 years of wisdom and maturity. I am
sure that churches should not send men and women like this to the back
benches. To be honest I am quietly hoping that his church's loss
will be our gain or even better another country's gain.
4th August, 2008
TICKETS THAT BRINGS TEARS TO YOUR EYES
People
are e-mailing to ask if we know anywhere that can still find cheap
air fares now that many long-distance flights have gone up by $500 or
more. Fares in Europe have also risen by 25% with more increases on the
way but try looking in Opodo, then compare prices on E-Dreams and Expedia,
then try the airlines own websites as some carriers are losing
passengers fast and offer the public those very low fares that
only agents could access in the past.
THE WORLD'S NOTICE BOARD
Click here
to see some wonderful photos of how the word of God is being taken to
the indigenous people groups on the banks of the Amazon. We can thank Miguel Zabala Quijada, 57, of Caracas-Venezuela for showing us this work.
Santo Caraballo,
35, tells us that he moved from the Dominican Republic to Belize to
teach the word of God to new believers and to leaders in a Bible School
there. Here's his website.
Young People for Christ, Pamplona - Spain have an International Congress, August 14-17 with worship, word and workshops on praise and the Holy Spirit.
If you think you are too small to be effective you have never been in the dark with a mosquito. (Anon)
1st August, 2008
HOPE STILL EMERGING FROM HORROR: RWANDA
From Kigali in the very heart of Africa Pastor Mwabmari Damien
wanted to remind us of what happened in Rwanda a few years ago, as if
anyone can ever forget the horrors we saw. He asked if he might to use
the free School of Mission
lessons because he believes that God's word will change many hearts
that are waiting for Christ to come with healing. We are very happy to
help.
OVERHEARD IN A QUIET PLACE
I
am learning again today that faith walks hand in hand with works. Faith
also walks with patience and best of all faith walks hand in hand with
love.
I'm impressed with Abraham, the way he knew to send his
servant off to get a bride from among his own people. There's no record
of God telling him to do this, yet somehow he knew God well enough to
know this was what He wanted. Dear Lord, we also want to know You, and
take your heart's desire as our heart's desire.
30th July, 2008
ONE DAY THE BEGGAR DIED: EDITORIAL
One
of our partners in a poor country was very upset a couple of weeks ago.
He is a good man and on this occasion he had spent a lot of his wages
from his job to put on a free DCI teaching seminar for leaders and
pastors but curiously instead of gratitude he had men lining up to
ask him to pay them a few dollars a month and for this he could put his
name or ours over their churches. Some would not even take no for an
answer and he didn't know what to say. Sadly the same problem comes the
way of these pages quite often, and if you click on this page you can read some of things we say in reply, for right or for wrong.
HOW LONG, HOW LONG ?
These haunting poetic lyrics caught our heart last Sunday. They are from Psalm 13, a song by our friend, worship leader Nigel Briggs. You can hear two samples of the music here and here.
When there's sorrow in my heart Where do I go? When I wrestle with my thoughts How long do I have to wait? When the darkness comes around me And there's nowhere left to hide Hear my cry
How long, how long . . For your mercy and your kingdom to come? How long, how long to wait?
When the laughter and the joy Is stripped away And the silence in my heart Is like a heavy weight When I'm running through the darkness And my eyes can't see your light Hear my cry, hear my cry
How long, how long . . For your mercy and your kingdom to come? How long, how long to wait? I still rejoice in your salvation And trust in your unfailing love
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE SOME OF OUR PHOTOS?
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for Banking for the Poor projects
Click here
for projects to help orphans and the poor
Click here
to see some of the people in the DCI family
Les
and Pilar
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