Well it's still weekly...

Important news just in...

Better than the weekly update from me why don't I share a little bit from the update I just received from Steve Bock - and friend and staff member at WBC who recently hosted a group of Cross Current Students in India.

Steve shared about the staff training times they attended. The pastors he connected with there conveyed the disappointment many young leaders faced when they could not attend our training programs. Now I've been to these programs and it's not like the programs you may imagine. There's no parties and movie nights, go-kart racing or special events designed to maintain the interest of the youth. While these things are necessary to engage our culture it is not the case in a place like India. Instead these are intensive training sessions, prayer times (which by the way they had to limit to not begin before 4 or 5 in the morning because many of the youth were getting up too early to pray) and worship. I wish every young person who wanted to come to these programs could. Instead we only accept 4 from each church. That put in on the pastors to tell tearful youth they could not attend these sessions. It gives me some new drive to tell people that it only costs $10 to remedy this problem!!!

One of the neat things is the Steve B went with Terri and me to India for the first camps in 2003 and hasn't returned since. At one of the training programs they asked how many of the attendees of the program had been campers at that original camp and Steve shared how dozens of hands went up. It's neat to see the students become the teachers!!!

Here's a MONSTROUSLY ENCOURAGING UPDATE FACT. Currently they are tallying the number of campers that attended in May. Between 65,000-70,000 campers will be counted. How do we not know you might ask? What kind of ministry are we running that we don't know the simple stats like camper numbers. The answer is simple. In one case we sponsored 50 campers at one church however, after several visits to our office in Trichy the church had collected enough material for 250 campers! Talk about 5 loaves and 2 fish! While it is true it cost approximately $5 to send a child to camp in India the churches we sponsor always seem to find ways to extend the influence and reach more and more children. I hope that can finally put to rest the criticism we constantly are confronted with that contributing to projects like this creates a dependency on North American dollars. Those who make these accusations obviously have not met our partners in India. These churches are not asking for handout - they want tools to reach more people. And this money sent does not make life easier for them. Instead they work harder and longer, stretch further and bear more fruit.

I like this... Steve B shared a little about my friend Thomas. Thomas is one of the 15 full time staff in India. He is a wonderfully gifted song writer (you should see and hear him - the kids just love him). One of his songs is the story of the David and Goliath. Steve B started to draw the connections between David and Thomas and suddenly I could see why Thomas connected so deeply with this song (and sang it all the time). Like David Thomas is the youngest in his family. While growing up he felt he was too weak to do anything (did I mention he grew up in an orphanage because his parents - who were pastors - could not afford to feed him). However, God used David to do incredible things. And that's what Thomas has done - he has personally influenced thousands of children.

I could go on and on but there's work to be done. Please pray for us as we try to spread the word and raise the necessary funds to see this move ahead. I wonder if the window of opportunity is nearing a close. Already we are hearing rumbling of coming persecution. Now is the time!!! Gotta go!

An Encouraging Chat

I had the opportunity to talk with Alex in Belize today and it was so encouraging to hear how the Lord is continuing to open doors for the ministry out there.

One thing that I'm sure will be of interest to some of you is the potential for a camp program in the community of Shipyard. For those of you who are not familiar with Shipyard it is a old colony Mennonite community in Belize. While our initial thought was to work in the Spanish communities in Belize the Lord seems to have opened some doors for us in this difficult to reach community. I'll keep you posted with details as they come.

Oh, before I forget... PRAISE THE LORD our own charitable status is finally through. The paper is in our hands and we are officially permitted to carry on the work we are doing apart from the Winkler Bible Camp. This will certainly save both the camp and us a lot of work and it means full steam ahead. Gone are the long explanations of how we're part of Winkler Bible Camp but not really part of WBC. I know a number of people where a little confused when they wrote a cheque to India Bible Camps then receive a thank you from Children's Camps International and then their receipt from Winkler Bible Camp. It doesn't mean a lot to the camps and the work we're doing but rather it means things will get a little easier for us in the office and a little less confusion when we're presenting.

If you wouldn't mind praying for me a little I've got a big task that I've been kind of dreading that I need to make some head way on. I'm working at connecting Sunday Schools with the opportunity to sponsor campers. It means a lot of phone calls and feeling a little like a telemarketer. Why is it that a guy like me who you can hardly get to shut up finds it so hard to talk on the phone??? It's a mystery to me!

Have a great day!

Did I Miss A Monday?

I almost had it. The routine was in my hands and then it happened. The busy day struck! Sorry to all those who had become accustomed to my 3 weeks of consistency.

It's always a bit of a relief to have your plane ticket in your hand and some details come together. My flight is booked and I will be off to Belize on June 25 and will return on July 9. I spoke to Alex (our leader in Belize) on Monday night on the phone and it seems things are really coming together but I do want to pass on some of the prayer requests that arose from our conversation.

A big praise item is that Alex found a place to stay! Now I would have been a little on the anxious side but Alex always demonstrates such faith in God's provision. And God truly blessed him with a well located, inexpensive place to live for the next 3 months. What a blessing. It's nice that he has that taken care of and can spend some time finding a permanent place without the pressure of making a quick decision. I'm going to make sure that I have a lunch or evening thing where you can come and meet Alex because this guy is truly a character to meet. The following requests are some things that he would deny needing and is willing to sacrifice for the sake of his ministry but some of them would help him be more fruitful.

Alex needs a mode of transportation. The most economical would be a motorcycle and the most practical (for Belizean roads and some of the other purposes for ministry) would be a small truck. If anyone is looking for a one time giving idea that would really make a big difference in a person like Alex's ministry this is a good one.

Granted items like these are pretty big ticket items. A motorcycle purchased in Belize is about $1000 CDN. A truck, well... it would be cheaper to get one here and drive it down. So if you know someone who's got one laying around and wants to send it to Belize I've got someone willing to drive and someone willing to fix it up if necessary.

Please continue to pray for Alex as he continues to pursue the many details of beginning a new ministry in Belize.

Happy Birthday!

So, for those of you who have stuck it out with me I'm trying to be more disciplined with keeping you up to date with what we are up to on a weekly basis (and I'm doing my best to log a new post every Monday). It's getting there and I'm pleased to say that I've been on track for the last few weeks (they say it takes 6 weeks to start a new habit - so does each entry count as a week or just a day in a week).

On 04/05/06 our son Jace entered the world and so this week we celebrated the big first birthday! The caterpillar cake that Terri carefully crafted remained relatively intact but there was a lot of green icing around.

It was a good time of celebrating the blessing of our son and reconnecting with family who had returned from afar for the occasion.

Keeping us hopping and on our toes in the office are keeping connected with exciting things going on with the camps in India and for me preparations for camps in Belize. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as regular curve balls come our way but it's amazing how God hits home runs off curve balls and that is certainly what we've been seeing.

For example I have to share with you about my friend and co-labourer in Belize Alex Perez. For whatever reason he was not allowed on his flight to return home from Canada (they said he was too late but apparently he came to check in with 1.5-2 hours to spare). So he missed his flight, then got another flight into Mexico. Then he got sent back to Canada for "unexplained visa trouble." Then he got routed through El Salvador where he was delayed for some time. Where some people may see the opportunity to lay low and relax a little Alex had the "craving to share the ministry with a church there." Along the way it seems he meets every prodigal out there restoring their connection to the church. There's quite a story behind all that but the bottom line is this Alex guy is "gung-ho for Jesus!"