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Are you getting confused with
my mixing of the Willie N. Wylie Children’s Village ministry (aka Liberian Ministries) with Service To Servants? It’s a blurry line for me as I am
passionate about both and one (STS) carries out part of its mission by
serving the other (WNW). While I’m
in Monrovia
I’m staying with at the WNW house with Shadrach and Gertrude and being fed
and transported by Shadrach and Jeremiah.
Some of the time we’re working on Children’s Village stuff but most
on the Crown Financial Ministries event scheduled for November 10 &
11. So bear with me.
First, let me finish up some
late info from last night. After I
spent time typing everything up last night it was too late to go to an
internet café. So we inventoried all
the supplies purchased and entered it into a spreadsheet with descriptions
& quantities. This took until
after 11pm. I then ate the food
Gertrude had prepared, had a tootsie roll pop (thank you, Dear, for
remembering my sweet tooth) and went to sleep.
After2 days of no rain (just
overcast skies) the rainy season came back full force. It has been pouring solid since 8am. Jeremiah says it can rain for days,
non-stop just like this. The rainy
season is approximately 6.5 months of the year. We planned the Crown conference to fall
between the rainy season and the hotter part of the dry season so that more
people could travel to participate.
Due to the rain, Shadrach
decided not to attend Commission
Baptist Church
this morning. He wanted to work on
the pricing of the store items instead.
I was a little disappointed in that decision but didn’t say
anything.
One of the exciting parts of
STS (and other efforts like Pastor Wesley) is that pastor training is being
brought to Liberia. This is a desperate need. Pastor Wesley compared many of the
Liberian pastors with the Jews that Paul spoke of in Romans 10:2-3, “For I
bear them witness that they have a zeal for God but not according to
knowledge. For they being ignorant
of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” It may take an outside force to bring
this about. Maybe God has STS as
that force. If this is your passion
I would invite you to speak with Dr. Richard Morris, a member of our board,
at Richard.Morris@ServiceToServants.com.
I need to get the sermon
ready for Mark Carr’s church. I don’t
know Mark. He found us on the web
and emailed asking to “affiliate” with us.
The people of Liberia
are in desperate need of funds. So I
am always skeptical of motives when there’s not a trusted Liberian in the
contact process. In addition, the
Liberian churches contain the same amount of unscriptural and unethical
groups as we have in the U.S. Only here they are “less slick” about
it. So when Mark invited me to
preach “site unseen” I was tempted to pass on the opportunity (no offense
to Pastor Carr, I just don’t know him or his church). But what if God has a specific reason for
this? Perhaps the people of this
church need the very thing that God will show me? Did Jesus set an example of only going to
the “safe” groups when He ministered?
I don’t see that in scripture (although I would be more comfortable
if He had). If Pastor Carr can trust
me to preach the truth then I’ll trust him to provide the appropriate
situation.
For a few months now God has
been pressing me with understanding the primary role of purpose (His) for
my life. I’ve always said that 90%
of God’s will for a Christian is the same for each of us. That’s what David Bearchell’s
pastor calls the universal purpose for our lives. These are things like 1) worshiping God,
2) studying His word, 3) developing an intense personal relationship
through prayer, 4) sharing the way of salvation with others, 5) mentoring/discipling those you win, etc. Yet there is that unique purpose that God
designed us for as well. That is
revealed only through the development of the intense personal relationship
that I mentioned earlier. Such a
relationship requires complete trust.
This is the transference of absolute control from me to Him. Total ownership of my life is given
freely to God. What a completely
frightening idea for the “normal” Christian, especially someone like me
(not that I’ve ever been called normal).
An example of this extended trust might be that Gayla and I have
always been more than tithers. Giving has always brought great joy to
our lives. But I had never turned
over my ability to earn a living to Him.
The amount that we didn’t give to God’s work was not used for evil
but it wasn’t used in a deliberate plan to maximize Kingdom work
either. I have lived over 30 years
of my life understanding (I didn’t say fulfilling) God’s universal purpose
for my life. But most of those same
31 years passed with only brief glimpses into His unique purpose for
me. I believe that God will only
show my unique purpose upon my total surrender to Him. (Belvin Cox, a wise and knowledgeable
church friend, will not even use the word commitment. He says that you can weasel out of a commitment
but there’s no getting out of a full surrender.) it’s still a struggle for me. I find myself unconsciously planning a “prison
break” to bolt back to the former Christian life. Yet I’ve come to realize that nothing
outside of God’s unique purpose for my life can bring real joy. But there’s always that desire to keep
the door to my former life open a bit…just in case God really be trusted.
Anyway, the folks at Anointing Ministries Church
may have their fill of God’s purpose before I’m done. David Bearchell was praying early (he
always prays early) the morning before I agreed to speak for Pastor
Carr. When I emailed him to say that
I’d been invited, had accepted and felt lead to speak on purpose, he
immediately responded with the thought and scriptures that he had written
in his prayer journal earlier that morning.
Everything was about purpose.
The Bible directs us to seek wise counsel and I always find it with
David.
I’m thinking about the Sinoe store and the items that they have purchased to
use in making other good to sell (soap, bread, etc.). Is it possible to involve the orphans in
this to began teaching skills?
Perhaps they could even teach them to man the store, etc. We have complete responsibility for these
children which is more than just feeding, clothing and housing them.
Shadrach came in, as he does
at least once during each visit, with a list of fairly critical financial
needs for the Village. I tend to
dread these meetings because to tell me a need is to place it on me as a
burden whether it’s my personal responsibility or not (likely a trait from
my mother who cares for everyone).
This time I knew that I had provided everything financially possible
and there was nothing left to offer right now. So, while still concerned, I had a little
less dread and approached it with a more objective mindset (less guilt at
least). After he walked me through
them I asked him to put them into a Word document, in order of priority, so
that we could share them with others.
Here’s what the list contains:
- Fuel for big truck to Sinoe (3 drums of fuel) $ 545
We will need this amount for
fuel to transport the truck from Monrovia to
Sinoe to haul the planks from Greenville high-way to the village for
the roofing of the School. Due to
impassable roads it is necessary to take a route double the normal
distance. Unless we can get the
lumber for the school roof picked up soon we will have to delay the planned
Sept. 10th school start.
- Salaries
A.
Balance of last month not paid $ 614
Received the $886-$1,500)**
Note: $200 of this is for Gertrude and I for our monthly salary
B.
Month of July 17th to August 17, due $1,300
- Food
(15 bags. of Rice) $ 345
This is the cost to feed the
children per month. This is usually paid from the water sales revenue but,
due to the rainy season, cold water sales are very low.
- Ministry School Children Uniforms (85
Children @10 a piece) $ 720
The Ministry
is feeding and taking care of 35 Children that are living on the Mission, but the other 50 children are living with
some family members until we can have a place for them to stay on the Mission, yet it is our
responsibility to do everything for their schooling, that is buying
materials, books, and etc. This is
usually paid from the water sales revenue but, due to the rainy season,
cold water sales are very low.
Total $3,524
So if you’ve read this know that I have officially,
if not scripturally, transferred responsibility to you. Only God can tell you what to do with it. If you would like to assist with these
items please contact Carl Hadley at 850-547-1938 or by email at CarlHadley@earthlink.net.
I did explain to Shadrach
that our supporters are expecting us to become self supporting and that the
refrigerated container and Sinoe store have to
move us torward that goal. The ice sales are supposed to be less
effected by the rainy season than cold water sales are. I think we could develop corporate
clients that would stabilize the weather savings.
There’s a difference in how
things are perceived based upon your position. For Shadrach, the needs are real and
pressing. There is never enough
money to take care of the necessities much less the extras. I’m sure that, at times, he can’t
understand why we aren’t taking care of the basic financial needs of this
ministry (not complaints from him, just my surmising) that he knows God has
called him to.
On our side we can’t see the
results of the efforts as well, there’s always a question of how
effectively all the money sent over (and there has been a lot sent over) is
being used and we can’t grasp the idea that things are so different in Liberia
than at home. There’s always an
uneasiness inside us due to a healthy skepticism that says ‘is God’s
resources being best used in this ministry”. I am working with Shadrach to improve the
reporting aspect of the Children’s Village ministry. I also work hard to help him understand
the “as instructed” part of the money that is sent over. Although he is “on the ground” in Liberia and
knows the specific priorities, trust comes from following the rules even
when they don’t always seem to make sense.
On our side, we need to be quicker to grant greater discretion when
proof of responsibility is shown. As
we both “move toward each other” I believe the optimum solution will be
achieved. Once in a while I have to
remind myself that the money part of this ministry is not the mission. The mission is to “reach the nation of Liberia for
Christ”. The Children’s Village
achieves this through the children.
STS does it through, primarily, the adults. Two ministries with a single mission.
Today’s the high school
graduation of one of Gertrude’s sisters and a big party has been
planned. Since the Children’s
Village school doesn’t, yet, go through 12th grade, they
sponsored the completion of her education here in Monrovia.
I’ll try to play photographer and post some pictures. The music is playing on the first floor
loud enough that I’m having trouble concentrating here on the second
story. So my picture taking may be
fast and furious.
The incorporation estimate
came back from Ben Amos early this morning by phone. This is necessary to obtain duty free
status in order to avoid being taxed on the charitable items that we send
over.
Incorporation
of Service To Servants in Liberia $
150
Miscellaneous
expenses for above (transportation, etc.) $ 50
Accreditation
as an International Not-For-profit (government fee) $ 350
Miscellaneous
expenses for above (transportation, etc.) $ 50
Duty Free
Application (requires annual renewal) $ 150
Miscellaneous
expenses for above (transportation, etc.) $ 50
Total
estimated costs $ 650
Ben is to come by later
tonight to talk about the actual cost of getting the container out of the
port and set up at the ice making site in Gardnersville. I’ll report those after his visit.
We visited with Owen Garnett,
a contractor who did some of the school work at the Children’s Village,
about pouring the pads to set the container on. His quote for the 4 – 3x3 pads that the
corners will rest on is $364 including the $50 we added for unexpected
stuff (there’s always unexpected stuff).
It’s after 4pm here, the
music is blaring and I want to get to an internet café before closing today
if possible.
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