Saturday in the Park Recap

We'd prayed and planned. We'd dreamed and imagined what God would do. But when the actual day dawned it seemed as if we might not see anything realized from our efforts. The weather overnight was horrible. At 6AM I visited the festival site amid driving rain and lightning. However by 7:30 we were setting up the booth and getting ready to meet the people who would come.

Our idea was to take the items that would support the work of other ministries into our neighborhood - Valparaiso. We believe strongly in the causes we support and want to do more than our church along can do. Clean water for people who don't have it is a life or death issue. Orphans who are HIV positive will die without care, and there are families that will adopt them and get them that care, but adoption is expensive. Human trafficking must be stopped. Families in Africa want to get out of poverty but jobs that can do that are scarce.

We can't change everything. But we can DO SOMETHING!

And we did.

The day was a huge rush. We met a lot of people and even though the day was shortened by weather at both ends, we sold a lot of product for the organizations that can use it to make a difference.

There were things we can do better if we do it again. But the passion we brought to work with us that day can only be equaled - it won't be exceeded.

I'm very proud of what our New Hope volunteers did Saturday. Guys, YOU ROCK!

What In the World Are You Doing?

 

Tomorrow we will be another vendor at the 34th Saturday in the Park festival here in Valparaiso. But we will be there for a higher purpose - to help people DO SOMETHING about problems around the world that take people's lives. So over our booth will be emblazoned - "BUY AN ITEM - SAVE A LIFE"


Here below are the organizations whose items we will be selling and a little bit about each. Click on the link to learn more.

From HIV To Home, , , 

We seek to pave a road home for the world’s HIV+ orphans through partnerships with in-country, community-based programs that care for HIV+ orphans and by connecting HIV+ orphans with adoptive families.

Africa Bags

Africa Bags is a non-profit organization doing charitable work over in Malawi, Africa.  We sell reusable cloth shopping bags that are hand-crafted in five small villages in northern Malawi. Africa Bags has entered into ultra poor villages in northern Malawi with foot-powered treadle sewing machines, cloth, and all the materials/resources necessary for the Malawians to produce reusable cloth shopping bags.  These bags are sold back in the United States and 100% of all profits are returned to the villages.

Love 146

LOVE 146 VISION: The abolition of child sex slavery and exploitation. Nothing less.

LOVE 146 MISSION: Abolition and Restoration! We combat child sex slavery & exploitation with the unexpected and restore survivors with excellence.

The Water Project

Nearly 1 billion people still don't have access to clean drinking water. Find out what you can do to change that.
The Problem:
For too many...dirty, diseased water leads to a cycle of sickness, lack of education, poverty and lost hope. It is needless suffering.
The Solution:
You can get involved and help fund new fresh-water wells, put up water tanks and provide clean, safe water for thousands.

We Are Overlooked

"Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old. (charitywater.org)"

That's what we are doing this weekend. Selling products and saving lives. Some of the items will have been made by the kids and adults at New Hope - Child2Child. Most will come from the organizations above.

But every single penny that comes in through their sales will pass through us and go directly to help others - to save lives. 100%

Yeah, we are a smaller church located thousands of miles away from some of the places that the help needs to go. But listen - 6,000 people will die tomorrow due to preventable illnesses tied back to a lack of clean water.

Are you okay with that?

Read the stories behind Love146 -how they got their name. Read about how poverty - not no new iPad poverty, but crushing poverty that takes lives affects places like Malawi. Read how orphans born with HIV die in the thousands when they could be adopted and saved.

Are you okay with that?

Friends, we are doing this because Jesus' love compels us. We want to be able to explain just what following Him means. We want to share who we were outside the Kingdom and who Jesus recreated us into. And we want to save the lives of others so that they might hear the story of Jesus and His love.


Come and see.

Sunday Recap April 18 2010

Great day at New Hope! It took us a little while to get rolling in 2010 but we've hit our stride for sure. With the Kidmo kid's ministry really reaching out into the neighborhood and  touching some excited kids with God's Word.and the excitement building for Saturday in the Park I was really pointed toward the insight provided by Mark Batterson in his book "Primal." So we worked on putting the worship set together to help us get started.

Couple of things I did yesterday that I have never done before - read the focus Scripture before the opening prayer. I felt so strongly that God was going to use His Word to change us that I wanted to get the text out there immediately.

Second thing was I called on someone from the congregation to read Scripture during the sermon. And our Bible Drill star Ian Anderson did an awesome job. I love his "I'm paraphrasing this but..." - To me, it felt like family worship yesterday, where we are all engaged and sitting at Jesus' feet. Having Ian do that just seemed like we were all being involved in God's work during the sermon.

Music we used yesterday - Arise, Blessed Be Your Name, Be Thou My Vision, Still, and I Surrender All

Then last night we had our preview for Saturday in the Park. Pam Roberts and her crew put the booth we are going to use up and it looked great. All the items we'll be selling to support other ministries were on display and available for purchase. We sold over $600 worth right there!

What does that mean?

• Families in Malawi have a more secure future and a real hope that they can make a better life for their children. 
• Three people are going to have clean water for five years who wouldn't have had it.
• From HIV 2 Home will be able to provide part of the funds for an adoption or use the funds to keep children cared for and loved until they are adopted. 
• Love 146 would be well on the way to saving another child from being trafficked into slavery.

God DID SOMETHING GREAT yesterday and I can't wait to see what He's going to do this week in and through the people of New Hope.

WOOT! T-Shirts are in!!!

The T Shirts from weareoverlooked.com are in. Each T-shirt will provide a person with clean water for 5 years. Since 6,000 people day every day due to a lack of clean water - each of these shirts - which come with a free water bottle and sell for $20 - will change the life of a person forever. On the front in Swahili "Water Is Life." On the back, a child at a well, and representative African images along with info about the critical need for clean water. We'll have them at Saturday in the Park!