Dear Family and Friends,

Last Friday afternoon I moved into my new apartment and have enjoyed being on my own again instead of the two months I was in the hospital or skilled nursing care center. I have home health care so still have had a nurse, therapists and a blood drawer come right to my apartment.

Last evening I joined in on a Thursday evening Bible study here in my apartment building. They were just starting a study of the book of Acts. This morning there is a “Wellness Clinic” in the community room with coffee, rolls, blood pressures taken and announcements. Perhaps a speaker. I’ll go down to that and then my Occupational Therapist is supposed to be here at 11am. Friends are coming to visit this afternoon.

On April 18th I had surgery to take off the external metal fixater that went from almost to my ankle to well above my knee. After the fixater was off a series of Xrays were taken of my knee. Last Monday, May 1st I saw one of my orthopedic surgeons. Xrays were again taken of my left knee. What a difference!!  My knee had begun to slip out of position again, particularly one bone had slipped backwards and outwards. This is because two of my knee ligaments had been torn when my knee went out of joint on March 5th. That day I was sent immediately to a brace store to get a new metal brace for my left leg. It allows my knee to bend but it is necessary to prevent my knee from going out of joint again. I wear it day and night.

I do not have much news from Gabon since I last wrote other than that the Nursing School continues and students are doing well. Please pray that many new candidates apply to the Bongolo Nursing School and that they take the entrance exam that will be held in August.

Thanks for your continued prayers, cards, calls and visits.

In Christ’s love,

Carolyn

Greetings from quiet peaceful Koutiala where life is not always easy but we are thankful to be here.  There are currently 10 of us back for the hospital. One challenge is that the power is cut in town for about 12 hours each day, which is a bit hard since this is the hot season and life in 90-100 degree weather without even a fan is not always pretty. Fortunately the power has not been cut as often at the hospital and even when it is we have a back-up generator.  Our nursing staff is stretched right now as we have 5 western nurses, two who will go on home assignment from May to July, then two more go from September to December, so please pray for them.

Politically things have settled down into a sort of power struggle with the existing political class and the group that staged the coup. Those groups have been assigned the job of restoring democracy to Mali through an interim government.  So far we have a new temporary president with a prime minister who worked with NASA in the past that are trying to put something together.  But the captain who lead the coup is still involved and there are maneuvers for power going on all the time.  There are negotiations going on with the rebels in the north and also some small signs of divisions and infighting among those rebels and the African regional bodies are also talking about military intervention.  So all in all we have kind of a status quo with a partially functioning government that is able to maintain only the most basic services. It could blow up at any time or go forward towards stability.  We are waiting and working while we can.

We have one huge prayer need to place before you all.  It concerns Dr. John, an OBGYN and fertility specialist who in his 50′s felt led to sell his practice and their dream home and go to France to learn French and then move to Mali and work at the hospital.  He was recently placed in charge of the Maternity side of the hospital and has been working on a program to let us train OBGYN’s with a USA degree.  His wife Carol has been starting our dental department.  They are key players at the hospital, but last month while on a short home assignment John found that he has brain cancer.  He had the tumor removed and the diagnosis is that apart from a touch of God on his body he may have only 1-2 years to live.  Would you please pray with us for a touch on his Body?  Thank you!

From March 22 until present we have seen a coup d’état that toppled a 20 year old democracy, the almost total inability of the Malian army to function in the wake of the coup and a rebel movement that has taken control of over half of the country of Mali, declaring it an independent country.  The rebels are an Islamic group with ties to Al Qaida and are imposing Islamic law in parts of the rebel territory and declaring their goal to see all of Mali under Islamic law.

There was widespread looting in the north including of many charitable organizations who were there fighting the famine, so this has put a huge number of people at risk of starvation.  Though things have been quiet in Koutiala (the city with our hospital), with the potential problems and lack of mobility, there have been two different evacuations of Christian & Missionary Alliance personnel from Koutiala (and other towns) that has left just six workers at the hospital as the only C&MA missionaries left in the country.

Craig Hanscome, the hospital administrator, emailed and provided a list of strange things he found himself doing in these last weeks.

Going the bank every day to draw out the $4,000 max that the mission could take from the bank.  (Before the banks finally closed)

Emptying three of our 55 gal storage barrels and filling them with Diesel for the hospital generators,(at 9:30 pm because we were afraid of fuel shortages.)

Buying 2000 liters (over 500 gallons) of Diesel over the 4 day time period. This will allow us to run the hospital on generator for over 10 days.

Establishing a web of contacts in northern towns so we would have early warning if the rebels were heading towards Koutiala.

Using back up UPS power to do internet in the middle of our daily 12 hour power cuts.

Recently, the news is looking better, the Junta has agreed to turn power over to the head of the Parliament.  The ex-President has stepped down and now they have to figure out how to hold elections in a country split in two.  So there is still tons of need for prayer.  The C&MA will be talking in the next week about when and if workers who have left the country can come back.

There is talk of sending in troops from the W African countries (which has its own set of complications) to either fight the rebels or protect the borders. The people on the street are very discouraged with their government, leaders, army, court system, etc.  The feeling is that no one cares for the country but that those in power are only interested in taking advantage of their position to gain money and power.

So pray for Mali, pray that this will be a time when Jesus’ light shines very strongly. Pray for people to begin asking questions of their own beliefs as they see things done that are not in conformity with what they are taught. Pray for believers in the rebel north who are at the least being persecuted and at the worst threatened with death.

Dear Family and Friends,

Yesterday I moved over to the Immanuel Fontenelle Home, room 167. I am in the Skilled Nursing Center. It is ranked one of the best in town.  My room phone is 402-717-6201. I have had the occupational therapist here already this morning but the physical therapist has not yet been here to give me a walker or get me into a wheel chair. I’ve not been down to the dining area yet since I can’t get there without a wheelchair so my meals have been brought to me. I will meet the Physical Therapist after lunch.

I do not have internet in my room but when I can get to the lobby I will connect my little Netbook computer up to the internet so I’ll be able to send emails I’ve written. I’m glad that at least I’ll be able to use my own computer with the internet instead of using only the hallway group computer. I told the Recreational Therapist who walked through my room that without having wireless they really didn’t meet the recreational needs of some of their patients. She said that they are working on it. It just hasn’t happened yet. I’m just glad I’ll at least be able to connect, when I get a walker and wheelchair and can get around.

I slept very well last night. Was comfortable as long as I took the pain medicines. Right now I’m hurting and waiting for my pills to work so I can eat lunch in comfort. My last leg surgery was only Monday so it has not been all that long since surgery.

I don’t really see a schedule here so don’t know from day to day when I’ll have therapy. When I can get up to meals they are also kind of come and go I’m thinking, nothing that I have to be there at a certain time but yet I need to make sure I’m done eating for when I have therapies, Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy.

Visiting Hours are “Open Access” during Weekdays from 8am to 7pm and on the Weekends from 8am to 6pm.

Everyone seems nice here. I’m amazed at how many Africans work in the hospital and home situations. Some are nurses, some auxiliary helpers. They come from many countries in Africa so we have nice chats. I have two photo albums here with me and many people stop by and look at my photos.  Let’s just say that I never finished my Alliance speaking tour…(missed three churches in Kansas) but I’m still doing a lot of speaking!!!!

I appreciated a daily visit from a Pastor or full time person from my Omaha Christ Community Church so I’ve met some new people by their good visitation system. Thank you CCC. I even got to “Attend” church last Sunday through their online service. That won’t be possible here at this center because it requires wireless.

I can’t possibly thank everyone for all your support  but I can thank you for your prayers. I continue to need prayers as I strengthen my right leg and right arm that need to do the work for my other side. I will need surgery again in one month to take off the external fixater that is holding my left knee in place. Until those bars are taken off in a month, I will be doing NO rehabilitation on that knee/leg. It just needs to heel. After the fixater gets surgically removed sometime towards the third week in April, then I’ll start rehab on that leg.

I do not know how long I will be here at this skilled center. I might be here for the whole month before my next surgery or I might go “home”, wherever that is” and then go from there. All depends on many facteurs, including how well I can maneuver around from bed to walker to chair and back again. Absolutely no stepping down on my right leg though for a bout 3 months. At least that was the latest I heard.

Since i don’t know anything else to report at this time, I’ll sign off and get this sent later this afternoon when I’m able to branch my computer to the internet. Feel free to call and or visit.

Have a great day.

In Christ,
Carolyn

The following was written by Craig Hanscome, the administrator of the hospital for women and children in Mali.
We had the joy of having a team of 7 come from Omaha to minister to Mali using their professional skills as health workers.  These doctors and nurses joined with other visitors, our missionary and Malian medical staff and pastors to reach out into two villages where there is no church.  In one of the villages, there are no known believers and in the other village, there is just one man who came to the Lord only a few months ago.

We drove in a convoy of 6 heavily loaded vans and SUV’s out to the village of Soun (pronounced “Soon”) where the son of the chief of the village was the only believer.   We unpacked, put up tarps to provide some shade and then tried to organize the 500 + men women and children who came to see the Doctors or to have our dentist pull rotted teeth.  The consultations slowed by late afternoon.  During the day, one of the men asked the pastors how he could become a believer.  Praise!!

After a meal shared around the common bowl (five eating with their hands from a large metal pan) we set up the projection equipment in the chief’s courtyard and showed an evangelistic film.  At the end the chief’s son, who has taken the name of Emmanuel, stood with the pastor as people were invited to become believers.  Over 20 children and youth responded to the call. 

Afterwards we learned that before we came to the village Emmanuel had had a dream in which Jesus appeared to him and asked him to take care of his lambs.  He realized when the children came forward that this is what Jesus was asking him to do.  The next Sunday the man who had accepted Christ was in church which is in the next village but not all the kids were allowed to come.  So Emmanuel and Pastor George are having a weekly meeting with them in their own village to disciple them.

The team spent the next two days seeing the Bible School families and getting ready for the next outreach.   Saturday found us once again on the road at 7am.  At the village of Pogosso we found an even larger crowd waiting for health care.  This time we were a bit better organized but ended up working until about 5 pm to see close to 800 people.  One case of meningitis and two malnourished preemies were evacuated to the hospital and the pharmacy stayed busy giving out meds while the doctors examined a seemingly never ending line of people.

In the evening meeting in the town square there were three women and two children who came forward to give their lives to the Lord.  They are the first believers in this village.  Pray for them and for Pastor Job who will come from the next village over to disciple them.  As we were packing up a man came to Marilyn and told her that in the days ahead many others would come to put their faith in Jesus. May he be one of the first.   We arrived home that night at 1 am, worn out in body but rejoicing in spirit.

So here are a few important nuggets about Compass that everyone should know:

• Compass is an after-school program held in the Village One neighborhood of North Omaha since 1990. Young people from the ages of kindergarten through 5th grade show up after school from Monday through Thursday from about 4:00 to 6:00 PM. They get help with their homework, read, play games, have a snack, receive a Bible lesson, do some fun crafts, and then share prayer requests. All of this is part of the vision at Compass to invest in these young people both academically and spiritually.

• Compass needs volunteers to be effective. While there are several people on staff at Compass to plan and organize, the real heart of the ministry happens through volunteers. Compass would love to have enough volunteers each day to ensure each child has one-on-one assistance with their homework and reading. Some days that happens, but many days it doesn’t. Volunteers can come once a week, twice a week, twice a month, or whatever works for their schedule.

• Compass is funded by donors, not by Christ Community Church. While CCC provides oversight and direction to Compass, the entire ministry is funded by generous donations. Because we talk about Compass a lot at CCC many people think that Compass is simply funded by CCC but this is not the case.

• Finally, Compass brings life to children growing up in poverty. The truth is, Village One is a part of our city where poverty is the way of life. Few homes have fathers, single moms are overworked, and guns and gangs and crime are a way of life. Compass provides a safe place for young people to gather, to grow, to experience the life-giving truth of Jesus.

How can you get involved at Compass?

First, on Sunday, March 4th during the first day of our 2012 Global Summit, CCC will take a special offering for Compass.

Second, we need volunteers. Right now Compass has 29 children involved in the program on a weekly basis and the only thing keeping it from growing larger is the need for more committed volunteers. If you are interested in learning more about volunteering, contact Jenny Burg at (402) 558-8646 / jenny@compass.omhcoxmail.com. You can also read Jenny’s blog about Compass at http://compassomaha.wordpress.com.

Craig Walter, Missions Pastor

Last week I was blessed to gather together with about 45 other mission leaders and Pastors from all over the country that are part of the C&MA. We get together annually to share ideas, success, and failures. Its encouraging because we all share the same value – “Lost people matter to God and he wants them found.”

Yet what is really encouraging is that we are not a denomination that happens to do missions – we are a denomination that is first and foremost focused on missions. This was illustrated recently in a report by Christianity Today magazine that indicated that for every $1 given in a C&MA church, 11 cents goes to missions. That doesn’t seem like a lot until you realize that was more than double the denomination in second place.

In America most evangelical churches see it as great success if even 5% of their giving goes to missions, yet in 2010 at CCC our missions giving was over 30% and I suspect in 2011 the results were similar. That passion for giving to missions comes from being a part of a denomination that passionately cares about reaching people all over the world with the hope of Jesus Christ. That passion comes from the many years of leadership at CCC that have given energy and focus to missions. That passion comes from serving a God who desperately wants people all over the world to trust in his son Jesus.

We are blessed to be a part of what God started through A.B. Simpson about 125 years ago. May our denomination and our church never lose their passion for missions.

(1) We helped them improve their solar electrical system so they could go from 6 hours to 24 hours of electricity per day. This means that the students are no longer having to study at night under streetlights. This means their Christian radio station located at Bethel can now broadcast all day instead of just a few hours. This means that when a student goes to the Library to work on a computer the computers will work.

(2) We helped double the capacity of their water tower so they can support more students and double the size of their garden. Not only did CCC fund this but we also sent a short-term team to assist with adding the second tank to their water tower. The students are not only overjoyed, they are amazed because they did not think they could grow corn during the dry season. If you have ever been to Mali, you will understand how amazing this picture of corn is! Having gardens such as this are so important because the students bring their families to live with them when they are at Bethel and they bring all of their own food. If they run out of food they have to leave school early. Now they can stay the entire 6 months that school is in session.

(3) We helped replace the roofs on 4 of their main classrooms. The previous roofs were made of tin and had lots and lots of holes in them. The new roofs were sent from Europe and are supposed to last up to 50 years. The picture to the left gives you a glimpse of a new roof on one of the classrooms.

There is still much work to be done at Bethel to reach their goal of 100 students per year by the year 2015, but this has been a great start. In the 2010-2011 school year Bethel had 22 students but that number has increased to 37 for this school year, so we are well on our way.

Thanks to all of you who have given and prayed for the ministry at Bethel.

Craig Walter, Missions Pastor

Note: As part of the Double-Your-Impact vision CCC is investing in the training of Malian Pastors at Bethel Bible College in Mali. In 2010 Bethel had 22 students and CCC has partnered with them to help them reach the goal of sustaining 100 students per year by the year 2015.

Do you know how many times the early church follower’s celebrated Christ’s birthday after he was gone? The answer – none. Celebrating birthday’s was a pagan tradition and not one followed by Jews or Christians.

Ok, I’m not trying to be a bummer just a few days before Christmas, but I do want to encourage you to ponder the question, “What is important to God during this Christmas season?” Put it this way, if Jesus were here talking with you right now, what would he say is the most important thing to focus on during his birthday? The answer might surprise you.

In Isaiah chapter 58 God chastises his people for shallow and self-serving activity. He says that on the outside they look like they are doing all the right things, and so they ask God:

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ (NIV)

In response, God really lets them have it. He basically tells them that if you really want to follow after my heart, if you really want to do stuff that will get me excited, then…

This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. (The Message)

I’ve noticed several news stories this last week about how people are taking Christ out of Christmas. In Lincoln a school took down a sign that said “Remember the reason for the season” because it might offend people. And sometimes we get uptight when we leave a store and they say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”

Based on Isaiah 58, I can’t help but think that if Jesus were here in the flesh he would encourage us to stop being concerned this Christmas season with the lack of respect his birthday gets in our culture. Instead, he would probably want to know why our hearts are not breaking for the poor and needy, the homeless, broken families, single moms, orphans, and widows.

I just find it interesting that we are encouraged over and over in the Bible to care for the least of these but we are never encouraged to celebrate Christmas.

I’ve been very encouraged by the outpouring of time, energy, and resources by the people of CCC over the last year for the least of these in our city and around the world. May God do even greater things through us in 2012.

Craig Walter, Missions Pastor

CCC partnered with the leadership of Bethel and determined there are two key factors to make this happen:

(1) We must provide student grants to assist with tuition, which will allow the school to recruit the best and brightest leaders in Malian churches.

(2) We must upgrade the Bethel school facilities, providing more electricity and water, and improving classrooms and living quarters.

Starting in the summer of 2010 CCC has done just that, providing funds for new solar panels to increase their electricity from 6 hours per day to 24 hours per day. We provided funds to put new roofs on 4 classrooms that were in desperate need. We sent a team and funds to add a second water tank to their water tower, doubling their water capacity. And we are providing up to $300 per student in grants per year so the students can focus on school and not have to worry about how to feed their families.

In November of 2011 Bethel started their 2011-2012 school year which lasts for 6 months. I am thrilled to say that they have increased their number of students from 22 last year to 37 this year.

Daniel Diallo, the schools Director, believes next year they will reach 50 students but that will be their maximum until they improve their student housing, enhance their library, and find more instructors. CCC will be involved with these on-going needs as well in the years to come, yet we are blessed to see the progress that God has allowed us to be a part of.

Craig Walter, Missions Pastor

The first book is called “When Helping Hurts – how to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor.” There is probably no book more popular in missions circles these days, both internationally and locally. This books does an excellent job of providing a Biblical understanding of our responsibility to minister to those in need. Additionally, like the title implies, it also does a nice job of providing insight into things we might do as Americans that actually hurt the poor and hurt us. Each chapter actually starts with questions for you to ponder and then those same questions are asked again at the end of the chapter. This gave me a chance to realize my own perspectives on issues before reading the insights from the authors. I didn’t agree with everything in this book, but overall a very good read that will help you to think about issues more deeply. Rating: B+

The second book I want to recommend is called “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” by Ruby Payne. Ms Payne is a former educator who worked in schools where the students lived in poverty and in this book she basically shares what she has learned about poverty. The most insightful aspect of this is that there are essentially three classes in America – poverty, middle-class, and upper-class. Each class has its own culture and its own rules, so a middle-class guy like me cannot simply apply my middle-class solutions to solving issues for those in poverty. This book is a very easy read and a must read for anyone working consistently with those in poverty. Rating: A

The final book is perhaps the longest and in many ways the most challenging of the three. This book, called “The Education of a WASP” (WASP means White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), is written by a woman who moved to Omaha in 1955 with her husband and she had no concept of what racism was and that there would be racism in Omaha. This book chronicles her experiences as she and her husband move to Rockbrook (not far from CCC) and are first confronted with racism when they try to find a home in Rockbrook for their African-American friends. This actually leads to her husbands eventual demotion and transfer to Philadelphia where they experience issues of race at an even greater scale. The book does not preach and is essentially almost like her blog on events from her life in the 1960′s. This book has personally challenged me like few other books and I am still processing all that I have read. Rating: A

Craig Walter, Missions Pastor

Since this blog is on the Internet, I of course can’t say too much about our recent travels. Ten of us from CCC left on November 5th for a far-away land to meet our brothers and sisters in Christ. During this week we met some of the most amazing followers of Jesus, men and women who lay it all on the line every day to follow their faith in a place that sees them as dangerous. They are hungry for Gods word and they are hungry to know how to lead their small churches better.

We invited 60 Pastors and leaders to attend but we though maybe a few more would come so we expected 70. A whopping 105 showed up and crammed into two rooms all week as they studied the book of Ephesians together.

“I would rather our churches stay small and secret, because this gives us life. If we had a large building and could worship in the open, I’m concerned we would become soft.” This is what one Pastor told me when I asked him if he ever desired to have his own church building.

“My greatest struggle is materialism. I want to have nicer things but I know this will pull me away from being the kind of Pastor God wants me to be.” This said by another Pastor when I asked him what his greatest struggle is as a Christian. He is a Pastor who lives in poverty and has just enough to survive as he tries to minister to his flock.

“Unity! This is the biggest problem facing our churches. We are divided over many issues so please pray for us.” I guess this is why Paul talks so much about the need for unity in the New Testament, as he knew this would be a plague on followers of Jesus everywhere.

One of the biggest things that stood out to me was they are so much like us, and we are so much like them. They love their families, they struggle with wordliness, they need the Holy Spirit to guide them, and of course, they love Jesus.

We will have many more opportunities in 2012 to teach Pastors and leaders in this far-away land, so if you are able to teach the Word and are interested in this opportunity, please shoot me an email at craigw@cccomaha.org. We will be having an information meeting for those interested on Sunday, December 4th that I would love to tell you more about.

But what are your expectations? Not your hopes and dreams, but your expectations. Expectations are not the same as hope or possibilities – they are instead what we believe to be probable and inevitable.

For example – when I got up this morning, I expected there would be hot water when I got in the shower, that there would be food in the kitchen for breakfast, and that my car would start when I came to work. I was not hoping for those things, I was expecting them. When we hope for things if they don’t happen we are not that surprised and we don’t usually get frustrated or angry. But trust me, if I had no hot water in the show this morning I would have been ticked!

That’s the way expectations work. We expect something to happen, and when it doesn’t it bothers us, we get frustrated, we might even get angry.

We recently embarked on a new ministry in the Village One neighborhood of North Omaha. We are partnering with an African-American church called Bridge Church, and our goal is to attract people into the arms of Jesus through Bridge Church. So we are showing up in Village One and blessing the community by having block parties, mowing lawns, throwing Halloween parties, feeding them at Thanksgiving, and hopefully blessing maybe a 1,000 children at Christmas with a gift.

We are hoping that God will use all of this to attract people to Bridge. But what are your expectations?

Are you expecting God will show up, that he will in fact attract people to come to Bridge Church, that they will find Jesus when they do? Are you expecting that God will use CCC and Bridge to transform this small section of North Omaha? Or are you just hoping?

I have to confess that until now I have been hoping but not expecting. But when we have high expectations it causes us to innovate, to persevere, to work hard until those expectations are met.

We should expect God to transform this neighborhood. And if its not working, or if we become overwhelmed by how big the task is, we must not let ourselves grow complacent, shrug our shoulders, and say, “Well, it was a long shot anyway.” Instead, we should get angry at injustice, angry at how many people still need Jesus, and work hard through the power of the Holy Spirit. From here forward, I am no longer hoping for results – I am expecting God to do great things.

Here is a recent note I received from Graham regarding one of the items in the catalog you funded for their team to purchase – a much needed upgrade to critical software that their team uses.

Engineering team holding up new software

We recently purchased 3 new AutoCAD licenses with funds that were given through the CCC Global Summit catalog. As engineers and architects, this software is critical for us to be able to do our work. These additional licenses will help us to be more productive and certainly more efficient as we move forward in serving our clients in South Asia. Please pass on our sincere thanks to the people of Christ Community Church for their generosity and for contributing toward our mission to Design a World of Hope.

This Halloween, we want to bless the children in North Omaha by giving them a safe place to have fun while exposing them to something that is quite the opposite of Halloween – the good news about Jesus Christ.

CCC will host a huge Halloween party inside Bridge Church for the children and families in Village One – called Harvest Hoedown. Most of the families in Village One heard of Bridge Church for the first time on September 25th when we invaded the neighborhood with good works and acts of love. Now they will have opportunity to step inside of Bridge Church for the first time.

We need 25 volunteers who can work at the Harvest Hoedown itself, and we need another 50 volunteers who will be willing to canvas the neighborhood door-to-door the day before Halloween, on Sunday, October 30th. This group will go to each house, hand out a bag of candy and some information about the Harvest Hoedown, and extend a personal invitiation if they have children.

Interested in volunteering? Send an email immediately to Eric Carpenter at ericc@cccomaha.org or give him a call at (402) 936-1538.

Craig Walter, Missions Pastor

Starting on Sunday, October 23rd, we will be holding a 6-week elective during the 9:00 AM hour that will focus on the implications of poverty in a place like North Omaha. We will use two different books as guides –“When Helping Hurts” by Corbett & Fikkert and “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” by Ruby Payne. These are two fantastic books that will give you both a practical and spiritual look at the reality, rules, and impact of poverty and how we as followers of Jesus should respond.

We will also be blessed by a number of fantastic guest leaders during this class. Here is the anticipated topic schedule and leaders:

October 23rd – Foundational concepts for helping without hurting / led by Craig Walter (CCC Missions Pastor)
October 30th – A Practical look at poverty / led by John Parsons (Founder of the Omaha Street School)
November 6th – Hidden rules and characteristics of poverty / led by John Parsons (Founder of the Omaha Street School)
November 13th – The role of the church in poverty / led by Josh Dotzler (Pastor at Bridge Church)
November 20th – Not all poverty is created equal / led by Craig Walter (CCC Missions Pastor)
November 27th – Q&A Panel discussion / led by John Parsons (Omaha Street School), Jenny Burg (Compass Ministries), and Ron Dotzler (Bridge Church)

As you can see, this will be an amazing class and I promise you will learn a lot!

The books are not required for the class but will be available for purchase.

To sign up, click here: Sign up for When Helping Hurts class

I look forward to seeing you there!

Recently I have had a few people ask me a very important question – “What are we really doing in Village One and how will we know if we have been successful?” So let me take a stab at answering those questions right here.

First, I don’t really know what we’re doing in Village One. What I mean is that God has not revealed to us yet exactly where our ministry in this part of North Omaha will go, but I do believe he has called us to be there for this season of ministry and he has called us to be committed. I do know that our goal is to attract people into the arms of Jesus through Bridge Church. This means when people see us being salt and light in Village One, Bridge Church will be their landing place where they can find Jesus and grow as a disciple.

Now let me tackle the second question – “How will we know if we are successful?” Let me use a Bible story to illustrate the answer. There is a great story in 2 Kings chapter 3 where the armies of Israel and Judah went out to pursue some bad guys but after running around the desert for 7 days they ran out of water. So the prophet Elisha directed them to dig a series of ditches between themselves and the enemy and he said there would be no rain and no wind, yet in the morning those ditches would be filled with water. Sure enough, during the night these ditches were miraculously filled with water.

This is what we are called to do in Village One. God is not asking us to bring about the results, he is just asking us to dig, by faith, ditches so he can fill them with water. He is asking us to Step Into Village One and be a light for Jesus, but he will do the real miracle of drawing people to himself.

The digging starts this Sunday! Pray for for good weather.

Craig Walter, Missions Pastor

Most of the short-term teams we will send to Mali for the foreseeable future will be evangelism focused. Not that the team itself will be evangelizing, but instead they will come along side Malian Pastors to do an outreach that only we can do so the Malian Pastor has a captive audience. These kind of teams bring credibility to his message of hope and love found in Jesus.

We have two such trips coming up early 2012. Both teams will be a great experience but they are filling up fast. Below is more information on this trips.

Sharing the gospel through Cattle Vaccinations / January 14-22

This team of 6 people will vaccinate up to 8,000 cattle, goats, and sheep in small villages in Mali. This team will partner with a Malian Pastor who will use this opportunity to build relationships with the Malian farmers and invite them to a gospel outreach each evening. A background in farming or working with animals is not required, yet certainly valuable. The work is moderately strenuous so team members must be capable of this level of work. Here is a video from last years team: http://vimeo.com/18889102.

There are still two spots open on this team. If you are interested in signing up, please send me an email at craigw@cccomaha.org.

Sharing the gospel through Medical Outreach / February 25 – March 5

This team of up to 8 people will go to Mali to assist the hospital in Koutiala with performing a medical outreach in several different villages. In partnership with local Malian Pastors, this team will provide medical relief during the day, giving the local Pastor the opportunity to have a gospel outreach late in the evening. We are looking for Doctors to provide basic levels of general medical care, as well as Nurses or others with a medical background. This team will partner with doctors and nurses from the hospital each day. Here is a blog and pictures from last years team: http://malimedicalmission.blogspot.com/

There are still 4 spots open on this team. If you are interested in signing up, please send me an email at craigw@cccomaha.org.

Just this last May we sent them a sea container that held medical supplies, a tractor, and an abundant supply of toilet paper, cereal and paper towels.

The Malians were truly blessed from the generosity of CCC. The bountiful supply of toilet paper that was sent has overstocked the hospital along with missionaries receiving their own personal stash. Also, each employee will receive four rolls of toilet paper, a roll of paper towels, and candy that was sent in the container.

Continue to pray for the country of Mali and the work that God is doing across the world!!

As today was the first day of school for Teachers at Omaha Public Schools, we decided to bless the teachers and workers at Franklin Elementary School with a small gift bag to show our appreciation for their hard work. Franklin is located in Village One and is just 2 blocks to the West of Compass.

Led by Eric Carpenter, a group of people from CCC put together gift bags for 49 school teachers, administrators, and other staff and delivered them in person early this Monday morning.

Say a quick prayer today for Franklin – for their teachers and their students – that this would be their best year yet and that God would bless their school and community in amazing ways.

Franklin Elementary School

The CCC Team

On completion of our short term missions trip to the Hogar de Vida orphanage in Guatemala, I believe that all of our team members would agree that we had a life changing experience. We spent nine days at the orphanage providing vacation bible school lessons, playing with the 30 children and young adults that live there and assisting with some work projects at the home. Dr. Lannie and Carol Weak were able to provide dental services for the children by completing over 160 fillings and 14 extractions along with other dental care and preventative treatments. We were also able to provide a ministry to some surrounding villages at two schools and a church plant by completing a hair washing and styling ministry and a skit that demonstrated the power of Christ’s love for us.

playing with the children

We were amazed at the loving, trusting spirits of the children at the home and how they interacted and worked together as an extended family. On a daily basis we witnessed older children helping and playing with younger children without being asked to and an older thirty something Down’s syndrome adult assisting a physically challenged young adult like she was her own personal responsibility. It is obvious that the orphanage is more of a home than a “facility”. Several of the team members admitted that we were expecting to feel badly for the children in the home, but as we became more aware of the poverty and the brokenness in the surrounding villages, we came to know how much the Lord is working in the home by providing food, love, nurturing, and most importantly; opportunities to know the Lord and to go to school.

dental care for all the children

The Lord was faithful during this entire time by helping us to grow together as a team, by keeping us safe during some pretty treacherous road trips in/out of the villages, by blessing us with safe and hassle free plane travel and by really helping all of us to grow personally in our relationship with Him. We had many opportunities to see the Lord working through us to bless the children and the staff that are working there.

We also had the amazing opportunity to work alongside Norman and Vickie Sutton who are such a blessing to the home and the children. They are a wonderful example of regular people who the Lord is using to do a tremendous work because of their faith and their obedience to Him. I know that because of our experience during this short term missions trip, many of us have deepened our relationship with the Lord and will be looking for our next step in a closer walk with Him.

Pastor Tim Perry teaching

As part of the CCC Double-Your-Impact vision we have created a 3-way partnership to train Christian leadership principles to Christian leaders in China. Below is the latest report on this years progress.

Through the partnership with CCC, Global Partners in Hope (GPiH), and Crown College, two classes were conducted during the month of June in Beijing, China. Class one was a repeat of the first class from April on Transformational Leadership. Sixty-one students attended the class taught by Dr. Donald Young and Pastor Tim Perry. A second class was taught by David Carl, a U.S. businessman and ministry leader living in Beijing. The second class, entitled Team Building, was attended by 45 students, some of which had also taken the first class.

Both classes saw a mixture of business owners and church leaders, and some of the leaders even brought with them company employees. Ninety percent of those attending are Christians working in local churches in Beijing. The course, Transformational Leadership, really equips local leaders to teach these principles in both the work place and to their local churches. The students represent leadership from 15-20 Beijing churches with an average church size of 70 people attending these churches. Today, based upon the figure we have, we can estimate conservative figures of people impacted through these two courses is around 1,000 people in local churches.

Here are some statistics about these courses so far:

Attendance: Students enrolled in the program to date are: Transformational Leadership 110, Team Building 45.

Demographics: Fifty percent male, fifty percent female, age group 25-40. All these students are living and working in Beijing. Ninety percent of the students have finished their undergraduate degree, primarily in business.

Outcome: Students have already begun implementing the material into their work plan and local church. One student has taken his learning back to his home church and has begun teaching transformational leadership to other local leaders, and having them walk through a personal growth plan. The personal growth plan is a new concept for many of the Chinese and is challenging for them. Many of the students continue to meet together as a cohort to discuss the topic of transformational leadership and team building.

Learnings: The program is on target to teach seven more classes by the end of the year. Two more classes are being finalized and will be tested, Strategic Leadership and Multiplying Leaders.

Crown will be sending their curriculum specialist to Beijing in September to review and evaluate the course work being taught. We are continuing to refine the class work and measure learning outcomes from the curriculum. We are looking at changing the format from a weeklong evening class format to an intense three-day format.

Overall, we are further along in the program than we imagined we would be at this point, and the student interest continues to grow with each class.

Crack down on house churches in China

David, Erin, Zeke & Marit

If you are at church this Sunday in either of our sanctuary services, you’ll get a chance to meet David and Erin Frerichs. The Frerichs are a young couple who are serving and ministering in Romania.

Here is how they describe their ministry in their own words:

We have been called to share the gospel with and to disciple the English-speaking international community in Iasi, Romania. Iasi has approximately the same population as Omaha. It is a college town, with over 100,000 college & university students. Many of these universities offer degree programs in English, so the city contains a large population of foreign students and professors. We open our home for meals, for one-on-one discipleship and for group Bible studies, prayerfully and expectantly sharing God’s Word with Christians and non-Christians alike. David is an elder in Eclesia International, an international English speaking church.

Please welcome the Frerichs in person this Sunday if you get a chance.

Hola Iglesia (hello church)

It is officially half way through day four of our missions trip and boy is God working some magic! Thursday night we all went to church in San Andres, which is the village that the orphanage is located in. Normally the service is an hour of worship music and an hour of sermon. This Thursday however, ended up being a full service of worship. Our group got up with the locals and danced the whole time with them. At the end, Norman went up front with the pastor and spoke a little about our group and why we are here in Guatemala. The pastor said he can see the love of God shine through all of us, and for that he thanks us. It was something that none of us will ever be able to fully explain.

Friday morning we went into an aldea, which is a school and we did our hair ministry. I think we washed, cut and styled 20 kids hair. It was such a personal and simple thing for us to do but the appreciation from everyone was incredible. That afternoon we had our first day of VBS and we remained flexible. I think the kids really enjoyed it. Today is Saturday and we went into another village about thirty minutes away, to where a new church plant and did another morning of hair ministry, we also did a skit to the song Everything by Lifehouse. It was not only moving for the village but also for the team.

This afternoon we are doing another class of VBS. Our team is healthy and being as productive as possible. The mountains and scenery here is absolutely stunning and the food is pretty wonderful as well. Thank you for your continued prayer, we hope to make kingdom impact here at Hogar de Vida.

Love and God Bless-

Guatemala Team 2011

Come hear from our recent team who worked to train and encouarge Christian leaders. Then you will hear from Pastor Tim Perry as he talks about his first-hand experience teaching Pastors and leaders in Beijing through our partnership with Global Partners in Hope and Crown College.

Lunch will be served for $5, and as always, college age students can eat for free.

The AAA Center for Pregnancy Counseling is “a Christ-centered agency dedicated to erasing the need for abortion through effectively serving pregnant and at-risk women by turning their fear into confidence to the honor of Jesus Christ.” Every woman who visits the center is presented with the gospel and given a Bible if interested in learning more about Jesus. Furthermore, the center provides many free services including STD testing, pregnancy testing, fetal ultrasound and parenting classes. To learn more about the center, visit their website athttp://www.aaacpc.com/.

All proceeds from the sale on Saturday, July 23 (8AM -3PM) will go directly to the AAA Center for Pregnancy Counseling. Donated items can be dropped off at 1636 N. 107th St, Omaha, NE 68114, on the following dates:

Friday, July 1 from 5:30-8:00p

Wednesday, July 6 from 5:30-8:00p

Monday, July 11 from 5:30-8:00p

Wednesday, July 13 from 5:30-8:00p

Saturday, July 16 from 9:00a-12:00p

Please advertise this sale to your friends, family, neighbors & coworkers. We hope to encourage & bless the AAA center with this sale!

If you need assistance transporting your donations, contact Andrea Carlson at andiecarlson@gmail.com.

This team will consist of up to 14 people and will divide into three smaller teams to participate in the following ministries:

Orphanage – The first part of the team will consist of up to 4 people who will minister to approximately 30 to 35 orphan children at our partner orphanage. Your time will include playing with the children and running a VBS-style ministry each day. The children’s ages range from 2 to 14 years old.

Vocational School – The second part of the team will consist of up to 4 people who will minister to approximately 80 college age students that are studying at a 2-year vocational school. The students are the best and the brightest from all over China, and are training to be future leaders in China. You will have opportunity to teach things like conversational English, music, and more.

Leader Training- Finally, the last part of this team which will consist of up to 4 people will be teaching leadership principles from “the Book”. Instructors are selected with great care based on ability to teach.

If you are interested in being a part of this team, please take the following two steps:

1. Email me at craigw@cccomaha.org or call me at (402) 938-1575 to let me know of your interest so I can add your name to the list.

2. Fill out an application and send it back to me at CCC with your $250 deposit. Once I receive your application I will immediately set up an in-person interview.

Applications can be found at:

CCC Short-Term Application in Word format

CCC Short-Term Application in PDF format

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly via email or phone, or CLICK HERE to download a flyer with more information about this trip.

Restored Hope Apartments

One of the ministries in Omaha that I have really come to care about is called Restored Hope. Restored Hope is a Christ-centered transitional living program that transforms women to be emotionally, spiritually, and financially responsible citizens. Many of these women are single mothers who are just out of correctional facilities or are homeless and have come to Restored Hope to work towards a new start at life. Restored Hope relies heavily upon private donations and also has ongoing volunteer opportunities.

Rachel LeClair and Erin Blaszak learned about Restored Hope at Christ Community Church and decided to get involved. They initially got involved by joining the Maintenance Team in April. The Maintenance Team is comprised primarily of Christ Community Church members and meets at Restored Hope the second Saturday of each month to take care of ongoing maintenance and repair issues. Since that time, Rachel and Erin have continued participating in maintenance projects to help renovate apartments for new tenants.

Projects have included cleaning and decorating apartments and restoring furniture. Additionally, Rachel and Erin, along with Brian Bayliss, Crystal Thiele, and Andy Blaszak (Erin’s husband) – other Christ Community Church members, have gotten involved with the children who live at Restored Hope. While their mothers are in class, Rachel, Erin and Crystal put together activities for the children and spend time with them one evening each week. They hope to earn the trust of these children and serve as positive role models in their lives. Brian and Andy spend one-on-one time with an older boy who lives at Restored Hope and needs positive male role models in his life. This boy has had an abusive past, which has led to anger issues.

There are many ways others can get involved, such as monetary donations, apartment furnishing donations, maintenance work, mentorship, etc. For a complete list of activities or to learn more about Restored Hope’s needs, contact Dorie Peterson, Restored Hope Program Director, at 402-714-7185 or dorie.peterson@restoredhopeomaha.org.