Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Uganda November 5, 2012


November 5, 2012

Monday morning we met at the Diocese office of the Anglican Church in Kisoro. The meeting was hosted by Bishop Cranmar Mugisha. Bishop Cranmar had organized a three-day training for the children's workers one of his many churches. We asked that he also gather a group of local church leaders for us to meet. The leadership of the Anglican Church was present as well as representatives from the Assemblies of God, United Pentecostal Church, Cornerstone Church and the Union of Baptist Churches. All were introduced and then Joe Cox, EGM's Vice-President of International Ministries presented the work of our ministry. I was able to share along with Joe about the vision. When Joe finished, he asked for feedback. The first to respond simply asked when the Anglican's would be able to share what they received with other churches. One Pastor said he had already heard through word of mouth about how the EGM teaching had started to affect their ministry to children. The discussion took on a life of its own guided not by the EGM team, but by God. 


The conclusion was that on November 21st, seven members of the group will meet to revisit the training topics and then schedule a conference in Kisoro for those who could not participate in our original conference. This will be led by Ugandans who participated in the EGM seminars and are using the Model Children's Worker principles in their church. After that, EGM will be asked to return and do follow-up work with children's workers in the region. They believe that making a significant investment in children's ministry by launching an EGM ministry in Uganda could lead to a revival like the one that took place in the 1960's in East Africa which began in the Kisoro region and spread throughout East Africa. Joe and I felt like EGM-Uganda was springing alive before our eyes. Please join us in prayer asking the LORD for his particular blessing on the ministry meeting on November 21st. Ask the LORD to give us wisdom in joining Him in this exciting new ministry. 


Daniel Watts


*Please share these posts with your friends and family.

To donate to EGM visit us at egmworld.org/donate

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Uganda November 4, 2012

*During the next week look on our Facebook for blog posts about Daniel and Joe's most recent trip to Uganda, including stories and photos. Please share these posts with your friends and family.

November 4, 2012

Sunday morning we attended an English service at the Anglican Cathedral where roughly 600 people attended. Joe, who was preaching, prayed for the children before they went off to Sunday school. He spoke on Matthew 17 and I was reminded of the new life that Jesus gave the demon possessed boy. His present life was desperate but the life that followed was a new life through Jesus Christ. Joe reminded us of the advocates for children; those who would lead them to Christ. He spoke with passion about the need children have for salvation through Christ Jesus. It was a powerful service!

We left and drove to another church to participate in a second confirmation service at Muganza Village Church. The simple sanctuary was crammed with about 600 people. It was quite amazing and for me, a huge blessing to take part in. There were literally hundreds of children present and the service was filled with joy, pomp and circumstance, deep meaning, dancing and singing and beautiful people. I spoke on the Parable of the Two Sons and welcomed the confirmed children into the family of God where we have a loving Father filled with compassion, eager to search us out and forgive us our shortcomings. I reminded them that they too will be tempted to squander what God has given them by experimenting with wild living but can always return to the Father who is ready to forgive.

Finally, I reminded them that we cannot be like the older brother who was angry that God forgave and celebrated the return of the Son. God has called us to invite others into the family and there are no blacks, no whites, no rich and poor, no educated or uneducated, no American or Ugandan. We are all one in Christ and welcomed into the family of God through saving faith in Christ Jesus our LORD and Savior. I got rolling at the end with the help of a fantastic translator (Hebert) and had some African response along with the cadence of my preaching. For a moment I felt like Martin Luther King on the Mall. We enjoyed dinner together afterwards at a kind of feast. Potatoes boiled, whole potatoes fried, rice, a type of banana paste, beans and then the 'special treats': chicken, beef and turnip greens. It was awesome.


Sunday night we attended a farewell banquet at the diocese Guesthouse where the training occurred. Joe and I were given precious gifts and testimonies were shared regarding the effect of the conference. The leadership of the Anglican Church diocese was present and the Bishop shared personally how the three days of training had lifted his vision for children's ministry-super awesome! Joe shared heartfelt greetings and thanks from our entire EGM team, particularly the churches and individuals supporting the ministry. His words were received with genuine joy and clearly touched the hearts of everyone.

The LORD led me to share about my visit to Ust Barguzin, Siberia years ago and the fruit festival with the Siberian family. In Uganda, we received bananas for dessert each day so when I told the Ugandans that those Siberians had wept over eating a banana, they were clearly touched. When I reminded them of the need to be thankful for what we have and not take things for granted, such as bananas, I could sense the LORD's leading.

Finally, when I shared about my conviction in taking Jesus Christ for granted there was a real sense of conviction followed by rejoicing in the LORD and all that He had done over the last four days. We concluded the time with Bishop Cranmer in prayer after which we sang in Urufumbira, "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder." This was one of my grandmother's favorite hymns and I knew that she and my grandfather were smiling in heaven at the precious worship of God's family in Kisoro, Uganda.

Daniel Watts



To donate to EGM visit us at egmworld.org/donate

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Uganda November 1, 2012

*During the next two weeks look on our Facebook for our blog posts about Daniel and Joe's most recent trip to Uganda, including stories and photos. Please share these posts with your friends and family.
November 1, 2012

Praise the LORD for another day to serve in Kisoro, Uganda. Yesterday was a great day for EGM. My colleague Joe Cox did most if the teaching. He did a great job teaching the TRUTH seminar and God surely touched the hearts of the teachers. The TRUTH seminar included an experiential activity where teachers wrote the needs of a child within their ministry on an orange post-it-note. Then, they prayed and asked the LORD for insight into how His Word might meet the need of that child. Next, they were asked to write the text and main idea on a pink heart post-it-note where they stuck it onto the wall adjacent to the orange sticker. It is hard to describe in words the precious way that God touched the children's workers. After they returned to their seats, Joe asked if anyone wanted to share. A precious teacher stood up and shared her experience:

"I have one hundred and twenty children in my class. They are all very naughty. Sometimes I have had to beat them with a stick. The boys act very naughty and even crawl out the windows. I even started to hate the children and did not want to teach them anymore." Then she began to weep declaring her desire to repent of her lack of love for the boys and girls and expressed her renewed commitment to ministering the love of Christ to children.

The post-it-note activity touched their hearts so deeply showing them that God loves these children and He wants them to love these children as well.

Daniel Watts



To donate to EGM visit us at egmworld.org/donate


Thursday, December 06, 2012

Mexico Update


This year proved to be very significant for EGM’s work in Mexico. Under Eric Solorio’s leadership, the training team doubled in size working with more churches and Children’s Workers than in the past several years combined!

Many children in Baja have benefited from this work. They had the opportunity to learn about God’s Word in a way they could understand and were challenged to live it out in their lives. Leea is one of these children. She is 2 1/2 years old and attends Vino Nuevo church in Ensenada. After learning about the importance of prayer, she was challenged to write down the name of one person that she wanted to pray for each day. To help her remember to pray, she posted her prayer log on her refrigerator. That week, every day before lunch, Leea led her family in prayer for those on her list including her uncle who was sad and Juanito, a little boy whose father had left him. Leea not only wanted to pray for these people before her meals, but also at bedtime. Her parents describe their prayer time with Leea as a “glorious moment”. Even though she was only challenged to pray for one week, she has continued. She has added additional names to her list and continues to interceded in prayer for them. At church last month, her teacher asked the children if anyone wanted to pray and even though Leea is only 1 1/2 years old, she went up front and led her class in prayer. God has used EGM to grow Leea’s heart to converse with Him and for this we are very thankful!!

Krysten Norkaitis

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Trip to Uganda with Daniel Watts

*During the next three weeks look for our blog posts about Daniel and Joe's most recent trip to Uganda, including stories and photos. Please share these posts with your friends and family.

October 31, 2012

Sitting on the balcony in Kigali, Rwanda-nicely dressed with my smartphone and iPad in-hand, I noticed a street sweeper who was simply clothed cleaning the street with a real broom; he waved to me and smiled. Has the technology and material toys made me happier or given me more joy?

We drove from Kigali, Rwanda to Kisoro, Uganda. Leaving Kigali, I was struck anew about how little a foreign missionary knows when they enter into a culture. To really have an impact within the culture, it takes enormous effort and time. Language fluency is crucial! Without language, you cannot really enter inside the culture and come to understand the plethora of issues that are crucial for ministry effectiveness.

Driving through the Rwanda countryside, many questions come to mind:
§  Who owns all the small plots of land being farmed?
§  What are the family dynamics especially in regards to men and children?
§  The women are carrying amazing loads balanced on their heads and also appear to be working in the fields; what are the roles of men and women?
§  Children are everywhere and I can see that Joe is nervous in the front seat with all the little precious children just on the shoulder of the road. Why are very small children out on their own?

Because the agriculture is so diverse, I noticed the following crops: Rice, bananas, cabbage, potatoes, beans, avocados and pineapples. The fields were filled with grazing goats, sheep and cows. I also observed what appeared to be a large pig farm where the pigs were enclosed in a roofed structure, something like you would see in Europe.

Along the way to the border, I observed more than 15 church buildings. They were all very small and simple with holes for windows; some of which had no doors. One thing struck me while driving to Kisoro. The appearance of the buildings; specifically the nice buildings and schools are funded and built by US Aid, UN and UNICEF, etc. More to follow on that!

It has been raining since we arrived (at 3:30pm) and it appears it will continue throughout the night and the power will most likely be out may all night as well. A children's worker just arrived who had walked 15 kilometers through the rain to be here. Simply Amazing!

Daniel Watts


To donate to EGM visit us at http://www.egmworld.org/donate

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

EGM Romania - 2012 National Conference



Every fall offers us a wonderful gift. It is the time when Children’s Workers from churches all over Romania join together with a strong desire to grow in the area of their giftedness. Some of them are with us for the first time where they discover the Bible model for teaching children. Relationship, Truth, Discussion, Experience and Response are the elements that provide us with the opportunity of teaching in way that is transformational. Others return to our conference by their desire to improve and grow combined with their positive past experience. All of the subjects offer a practical and biblical approach! The National Conference of EGM-Romania took place this year in Brasov (October 12-14th 2012). The feedback provided by over 100 participants was so encouraging giving us the confirmation that the ministry is on the right path in honoring God and helping churches reach children with His love:

“Before attending your conference, I used to be a preaching type teacher. My whole conception about ministry is changed now. Today was the first time I had a discussion with my children and didn't deliver a sermon. It is so wonderful to listen and see how they personally grasp the concepts! It was a conference where I could see and feel God’s strong hand! Thank you for allowing Him to use you!” 
(Emanuela, Sunday school teacher)

I appreciated and was pleasantly surprised to discover your clear, evangelical – biblical approach of children’s ministry. For such a long time, we had the impression that you can tell anything, in any way to the little ones, and that all that mattered was that they would feel good. EGM helped me understand the cunningness of the evil one. They offered me a healthy teaching that is relevant so that the children will have a real opportunity to know God. It is so wonderful to be able to deliver spiritual, eternal and profound truths in simple words and in a way children will really understand! We've seen that God gave you this wisdom.”           (Mihai, Sunday school teacher)
Marian Zaharia – EGM Representative

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Here I Am, Send Me!


When I was invited by our Hungarian director to join a retreat that was held in September for the trainers and volunteers of ReMa (EGM Hungary), I instantly responded by saying: “These wonderful servants of God deserve to be served and properly celebrated”, I said to myself, “So I’ll go there to serve them!”

We drove 2000 Km to Gyula, with a stop in Budapest, to attend the ministry’s board meeting. I didn’t know what to expect. I was asked to share a Bible message and to speak about everyone’s recent efforts to see a fully national Hungarian ministry funded and led by people from this country.

Then, our time of fellowship followed. I was truly impressed by each one of these people. They love God, their churches, they love children and they loved us too! We felt so welcomed and well received! We worshiped like never before. We witnessed the joy and the passion on their faces while they presented last year’s accomplishments. And we realized that behind every report, picture and tear, there was much invested and much sacrifice. Everyone was so excited about the future during the brainstorming session!
At the end, I was humbled by God. “We came here to serve”, I thought to myself, “and not to be served. We came here to encourage and not to be encouraged. We came here to bless and not to be blessed. But this is exactly what happened to us”. 

We were honored to see God working through this wonderful team and we realized, once again, that there is hope for the millions of children from Hungary.

It was almost as if we heard the voice of the Lord saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8). And our response was:
"Here I am. Send me!"         

-Marian Zaharia   







To Donate to EGM-Hungary visit http://www.egmworld.org/donate
To Learn More about EGM-Hungary visit http://www.egmworld.org/where-we-work/5/hungary

Thursday, October 18, 2012

EGM-Peru Reaches the Andes Mountains


In 2009, when EGM-Peru was just beginning to take root, one message was clear: These Peruvian leaders were not in this for their own benefit, but for the whole country.  They told us about the millions of people who lived outside the capital city in areas where it was difficult at times to receive a shipment of fruit in the market, let alone adequate training and materials for children’s ministry. 

“All of the resources are here in Lima,” they said.  “We are going to change that.”

EGM-Peru is not a branch of a U.S. mission, rather a mission of their own to their country.  In each board meeting, we have discussed when, how and where to pass on EGM’s message to more rural places – places where children’s workers literally sit with only a bible and a pencil, praying for guidance in ministering to the boys and girls of their church.

In August, two EGM-Peru leaders (with my family as joyful witnesses) traveled the twenty-hour ride to Abancay, Peru.  There, 41 children’s workers received the complete 16-hour EGM training on the Model Children’s Worker.  They came from 8 different denominations and traveled as far as 4 hours by bus to attend.  Among those were 5 people who want to volunteer at EGM-Peru, as EGM representatives in the region so that the churches will deepen their understanding and implementation of what they have learned.  One woman eagerly volunteered to begin translating the training materials into her native language of Quechua so villages even more remote could benefit from EGM’s work in the Abancay region.

We celebrate with EGM-Peru as we can already see that the Model Children’s Worker principles are transforming the Children’s Ministry in Abancay and children as a result are being transformed in Christ!




-Heather Chapman

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

First Impressions


Alex Bruda made a great first impression on me, serving as my interpreter as I shared at an EGM-Romania children’s worker conference. Almost immediately after meeting him, I confided in a coworker, “He should be serving with Every Generation Ministries!” I’d had just a few conversations with him but already could see that his heart and vision were the same as ours: To see children transformed!  Subsequent meetings confirmed my initial reaction and I began to see all the gifts and abilities that could be of use in the ministry of EGM.  It wasn't long before we were talking seriously about EGM staff needs. 

Alex lives with his wife and two young boys in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest. They are the kind of super busy people who are known to be always ready for a new ministry challenge. With their vast ministry background, they are ready to help wherever, whether it is kid’s camp, a training seminar, a language lesson or some legal advice! They are very active in their own local church but also are eager to help other churches in their quest to do true biblical children’s ministry.

Today, Alex serves as EGM’s Central Europe Resource Team Director. In that role, he supports the EGM partnerships in the Central Region and God has used him greatly! When we added to the team in Central Europe, it made room for a new challenge of coordinating the field research work EGM is doing in the Middle East where we are exploring the possibilities of establishing a regional EGM ministry center. In addition to presenting children’s worker seminars in Jordan, Israel and Egypt, God has used Alex to establish an Arabic language children’s ministry resource website at www.egmarabic.org where isolated children’s workers can get the help and support they need.

I’m very glad that my first impressions have become lasting ones!

-Joe Cox

Thursday, September 27, 2012


 

We led a camp in Świętajno for young adults who are learning to teach children as assistants (ACE-assistants). This year, the camp had 26 young adults in attendance, many of which were involved in past camps. The camp theme was 'On the way to maturity'. Our target was leading youth to maturity in: 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Serving special needs children in Belarus


When it comes to caring for children, especially children with special needs, the love of God knows no bounds. Veteran special educator Nancy Wilson and her daughter-in-law, Shasta,

Monday, August 20, 2012

Update on the Romania Website


As we look at the changes in the world these days, we have enough reasons to worry. We have many challenges to adapt to with technology, and especially to raise children in this digital world. The impact is even more severe in Romania as we feel churches and families were not prepared for this.
Our goal as a Ministry is to transform Children in Christ through His Church. Instead of focusing on the obstacles, we have to find a way to reach our goal. We prayed to be wise and see the open doors God has for us in this digital age. We remember that roman roads and the Latin language were the leverages used by the Church of the first century to share Christ’s message “to the ends of the world”.
Learning from this example, we started seeing that Internet, computers, Smartphones and IPad’s can be used as tools to help our Ministry expand. Technology can help us see transformation produced by Christ in children’s lives from Romania and from the Romanian communities spread throughout Western Europe. We started to connect the dots, we already had a Curriculum program based on biblical teaching, we had many people asking for materials, we had a poor distribution in Romania but we had a real explosion of the internet and unbelievable growth of the tablets and Smartphone market. We saw the DOOR – an Internet curriculum website, where every church and every Romanian can have access to all the quality curriculum materials produced by Romanian Teachers.
We stopped looking at the way technology was changing as a threat and considered it as an amazing opportunity. We can now see teachers on the street or in the buses traveling reading the bible lesson on their Smartphone, or we see them equipped as they watch the video training on the display of their laptop or their tab.
In the first two weeks of its launch, more than 250 teachers have subscribed to this platform. We expect next year, over 2,000 teachers to use this tremendous resource.

-Marian Zaharia
EGM US Representative - Hungary

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Visiting the children with physical challenges


The orphanage for the children is located on Chicherina Street, which is in downtown Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. Our team of children’s workers were invited to this orphanage by Stephen Bokach, the regional superintendent of Baptist churches. When we went to the orphanage we brought presents and aid from their Switzerland friends. This time the principal of the orphanage allowed us to hold a special program for the children. We used a puppet show to tell the kids two stories - one from the Bible and another about real life. After this, our team distributed the presents. The children opened up for the conversations and fellowship so much that (by the permission of their pedagogues) we were allowed to spend an extra hour with them. Some children invited us to their rooms, where we learned that there are other children at the orphanage that cannot leave their beds and we gladly visited them on every story of the 3-story building, we gave them presents. Also, for the adults, we had a different type of gift - large format calendars with Bible verses printed on them. 
We spent several hours in the orphanage and the people who were impacted the most ended up being the older children from our Sunday school who were with us. After this trip they sincerely thanked God that they have a mother and a father, that they have a healthy body, and they know God who cares about them. 

Mikhail Lozovoi, 
Director for EGM-UA, 
Director of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine FBC Sunday school

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What is the connection?

Last week Cami and I coordinated a camp for our church with 65 children and 15 leaders with the theme of “Rome”. Sixteen of the children (25%) came from Orthodox families, and for many of them, this was their first contact with an Evangelical Church. Cami and I were responsible for regiment I (6 to 8 years old). On Wednesday, the lesson came from Romans 5:1-11 “only Jesus and His Love can give meaning to my life”. The children each received coins they could use to bid on auction items. There were really popular items children could recognize the logo and there were “cheaper” candies wrapped in white paper. In the end the winning bidders received their prizes. Big disappointment – the popular items, were just empty containers and what was supposed to be in them, was actually wrapped in the white paper. We talked about our feelings and went to visit Paul. We found Paul in prison talking to Brutus about the love of Jesus and about salvation. In our small groups, Mihnea (8 years old) had a question that he could not wait to ask even before we started reading from the Bible. He asked me: “Alex, I really do not see the connection between the game we played today and what Paul told us. I know there is always a strong connection – please let me know what the connection is.” I realized then, how important it is for children to be taught consistently. Before you know it they demand to be taught the right way – the Biblical way. I asked Mihnea to have a bit more patience and to wait until we read from the Bible. We started reading Romans 5:1-11. “This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us”. All of the children realized that only Jesus and His love is our hope that never disappoints anyone.  The children then wrote a request for God to book a place for them in heaven. I was surprised how many children understood that only Jesus and his loving sacrifice is our reason to be with GOD eternally.


The undersigned Mihnea, “please book a place in heaven for me because I believe in Lord Jesus”
The undersigned Bianca from Bucharest, “please approve a place in heaven for me because I don’t want to be disappointed”
Request: “Lord please accept me in Heaven because you are full of Love and the best, plus I do good things.” Signed Loana

Children can understand the Bible, all of it, including Bible passages like Romans that are considered, by some, to be for adults only. We just have to find the way to connect the Truth with their life experience. Continue to pray for all children and their families and that the seed planted in their hearts will grow and bear fruits.

Alex Bruda

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Romanian website launches this month

 
Every week there are children’s workers in local churches trying to come up with some way to impact the lives of boys and girls for Christ in their communities and their church. During the week they are carpenters, bank tellers and taxi drivers. On the weekend they are challenged with connecting the Word of God with the real lives of children that God has entrusted into their care. Every Generation Ministries is working to provide those children’s workers with great training and quality Bible teaching tools that they can use to to touch the lives of children.

If you are reading this blog you know the power of the internet as a content delivery tool. This phenomenon is not limited to the United States but a fact of life in many of the countries where EGM is serving. EGM is harnessing the power of the internet to expand the reach of our ministry. We are working with our national ministry teams to launch websites to provide streaming training videos and Bible teaching materials for children’s workers. Just a few weeks ago, our Romania ministry launched a new website where children’s workers can subscribe and receive Bible teaching materials and also streaming training videos. The teaching materials were developed by our Romanian staff and are biblically sound, developmentally appropriate, super creative and most importantly help children’s workers in local churches connect the Bible to the real life of children in their Romanian context. We already have over 300 subscribing churches and are excited to see what happens in the fall.  We have been very fascinated by Romanian churches in Austria, Italy, Spain, Greece, Moldova and …….the US who have subscribed to the website! Check out the website at http://resurseegm.ro/ . The website is in Romanian but you will find a translator button in the upper right for you to explore a bit in English. Every Generation Ministries has plans for launching Spanish and Arabic websites in the next few weeks. Find out more about our internet initiative and other EGM news at www.egmworld.org or like us on Facebook.

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

This Summer...from Daniel Watts, President Every Generation Ministries


This summer in Eastern Europe thousands of non-Christian children will attend summer camps and Vacation Bible School programs.  We need your help to make that possible!
My son, Caleb, is graduating from High School tomorrow and like all parents we have been reminiscing about his life. His first summer camp experience was the summer of 1993 in Poland; he was a just a few months old. Over 150 children from cities in northern Poland attended including a group of boys and girls from an orphanage in Koszalin. About two days into the camp, those children discovered that Marla and I had adopted a child; that news led to a heart wrenching experience.

Children began to appear at the door of our room in the main camp building. They would step inside and after exchanging a few awkward pleasantries would bluntly ask if we would be willing to consider adopting them into our family. They wanted a family, to experience unconditional love and have a place where they belonged. On one occasion, when I opened the door, there were 3-4 precious little children lined up waiting their turn to pose ″the adoption question.″
This summer, there are thousands of children who need to experience the unconditional love and forgiveness that God has for them and know that they belong in God’s family. Unlike that camp, Jesus is standing at the door of their hearts knocking to come in and transform their lives.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Ensenada, Mexico update...from Krysten Norkaitis

No One Is Too Poor To Give...

This is one of the topics that Daniel Watts, Jan Kraushaar and Krysten Norkaitis are teaching to a group of church leaders in Ensenada, Mexico. These materials were created with the intention to help national leaders raise funds for their EGM ministry work. We had originally planned to teach these materials exclusively to the EGM leaders but several local pastors and leaders were invited….bringing our total to 25 participants!! The leaders are soaking in the Biblical truths that we are sharing and several of them have shared great ideas of how they plan to put them into practice.
We watched an amazing video today about a movement that was started in a poor village in India in 1910. It is called Handful of Rice. If you haven’t seen it, I want to encourage you to watch it. It is amazing and will give you a glimpse into the topics we are teaching. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z__tqQXiKD8

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The real transformation that God offers...


I am sitting at the desk of our EGM-Romania Director praying for our field research team in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The ministry in Romania is thriving and is celebrating nearly ten years of fruitful ministry. We are taking our first steps toward launching a new ministry in the DRC. In both places, we are working to see children transformed in Christ. Praying for the children of East Africa and serving alongside our team in Romania, I am reminded of the vast world of children and their varied needs. In Romania, there is an emerging middle class and along with the economic advances comes the hollow promise of true happiness through material wealth. In the DRC, our team is confronting the material plight and spiritual darkness that is so evident. In all of that, I am reminded of the real need shared by all children.

My colleague, Joe Cox stated it eloquently when commenting on the DRC "Their physical needs (though alarmingly acute) are not their greatest need." The Congolese have been broken by war, disease, poverty, corruption and violence. Enormous efforts from outsiders have been dedicated to meet the need for food, education and housing but most have not had any real long-term effect. Hopelessness has destroyed a spirit of initiative, even among Christians, and as a result, there abides a great spiritual need as the children are hungry to know the love of Christ and the life giving truth of God’s Word.

This is the greatest need; to introduce children to Jesus Christ and help them experience the forgiveness and new life that He has for them. Children here in Romania, in East Africa and at home in Southern California can experience the love, joy and hope that comes only through Jesus Christ. This is the real transformation that God offers and desires for boys and girls across the globe. I am praying that boys and girls can have all of their needs met in Christ Jesus! Thanks for joining in that prayer.