PARTNER LETTER JANUARY 2009 - Another Great Year of Faith & Serving, Thanks to You!
REFLECTIONS ON 2008 - Woohoo! What a ride! There is no way we can start a report for this new year without a big joyful yelp to our amazing God and a giant THANK YOU to you and all the other faithful men and women who have partnered with us in this adventure! It's been another great year of action here in the USA and in Africa and beyond. We have been blessed by God through your prayers and financial support that has allowed for expansion on many fronts! We partnered with more than 30 churches and had 12 trips with more than 150 participants going to serve in Africa. (Photo: John & Lori with Group Village Headman Cheif Mazengara in Nkhoma) 
Some of the highlights for 2008 include:
- Many new trip leaders were recruited, trained and sent in 2008. A foundation of new leaders for the future!
- Started working with several new churches to help them be more outwardly focused and engaged.
- Distributed more than 500 Bibles to singing, dancing, cheering Chiefs in the Nkhoma/Chilenje villages of Malawi.
- Delivered a new minibus to our partner, the Chief's Ministry in Malawi (Photo: Cheif's MInistry leader Amos Chibisa celebrating!)
- A 2nd new minibus delivered for use by all of the Y-Malawi partners and the visiting teams
- Our "Run to Battle" Trip to Malawi with men from US churches working with men and chiefs in Nkhoma/Chilenje. (Also climbed Kilimanjaro with some of the men, fulfilling a childhood dream!)
- Leadership training with the Pastors, Ministry Leaders, and Chiefs of Nkhoma/Chilenje with Dr. Roland and Patricia Niednagel.
- Began construction on new training center and ministry base for Fishers Trainers Senders, our evangelism and discipleship ministry partner in Malawi.
- Visited and personally expereinced the great progress made with our South Africa ministry partners Monte Christo Ministries and Cargo of Dreams in the poor communities around Paarl, South Africa.
- New growth of the FaithQuest team adding Carlos Sales, Stan Smith, and Cathey Anderson.
PARTNER LETTER - JULY 2008
It has been a while since we posted a newsletter on the website so we thought it was high time we shared with you more of the good news that has been happening with FaithQuest Missions and our Y-Malawi project! We have been home for about 2 months and have been playing catch up after being in Malawi and South Africa for about 4 weeks. In South Africa we were able to catch up with the great work being done by our partners Monte Christo Ministries and Cargo of Dreams. (Please see http://www.montechristoministires.com/ and http://www.cargoofdreams.org/ and connect with them!) Before that we had the wonderful opportunity to take people from 3 different churches ranging from Los Angeles to San Diego to Malawi and each church was touched by our Lord with what they experienced. They have all jumped aboard the Y-Malawi movement and are launching child sponsorship drives as well as booking future trips to Malawi to serve amongst the communities there. God is moving...praise Him! (Photo: I can never really tell if the Nkhoma children are giggling with me or at me!)
Leadership Training With Pastors and Cheif's
We also had the tremendous opportunity to help Pastor Roland Niednagel and his wife Patricia do leadership training with pastors and tribal chiefs from within our Y-Malawi villages of Nkhoma. The enthusiasm and receptivity of these humble men and women was amazing! They had such a desire to know Christ more and to know His word and to lead their people. Through this last trip we came to understand that there was a huge need for bibles for these leaders. They do not have the money to purchase a bible for themselves even if one was for sale somewhere, but God showed up to overcome this in an amazing way! (Photo: The Niednagel's bringing joy to their sponsored child)
God comes through!
Through the people that came with us to Malawi in April and through others hearing of the need for bibles, $14,000 came in to Y-Malawi specifically for Chichewa bibles which will provide over 2000 bibles! God is great! The bible bucks and the gift of another $15,000 for a first vehicle for the Chief's Ministry along with other contributions for our Malawi partners has made the last weeks very exciting! What a blessing for these precious people and what a privilege that you all have had a huge part in sharing by your prayers and support of FaithQuest and our work in mobilizing USA churches for kingdom work in Malawi. Thank you all so much! We are truly blessed by Him and you! This blessing is literally enabling us to work with dozens of churches representing a vast army of believers whom God is using to change Malawi and change lives and churches here as we all join Him in His Great Commission and Great Commandment work. (Photo:This is a pre-school in Nkhoma...we loved the desks and guy in the ski suit!)
Praise Report!
- Great work for the Kingdom of God by the teams at Monte Christo Ministries and Cargo of Dreams in South Africa
- 9 teams from the U.S. serving in Malawi this year
- For the new churches joining us in Y-Malawi?
- Child Sponsorship drives are going wonderfully. Almost 4,200 children sponsored in Nkhoma so far!
- The launching of the new Chilenje Project Area and World Vision ADP next to Nkhoma, expanding the reach to an additional 45,000 Malawians
- Funding for 2000 Chichewa bibles for pastors, tribal chiefs, Above and left...Malawi faces
- and families in the Nkhoma and Chilenje villages
- Funding for a long desired first ever vehicle for the Chief's Ministry
- John & Lori's health and strong marriage of 30 years celebrated in April with great friends
Prayer Requests
- That our faith and trust in Him and His promises would grow even more
- For faith & provision for our USA church partners and their leaders that are standing firm on their commitment to be outwardly focused even during challenging times
- Financial provision for FaithQuest team member Pastor Carlos Sales and his family of 6
- Financial provision for John & Lori/FaithQuest. (Giving to Malawi projects is up, PTL, but giving to John and Lori's support has dropped. We are praying for replacement of vital $2000 per mo.)
- God's best blessings for all of our partners and supporters
- Finalizing plans and team for John's Run To Battle Men's Ministry Malawi trip in September
- Health and blessings for Baby Stagner due this month... Amber and Shane's 3rd and grandchild 5 for proud Grammy and Papa
- Wedding of son Jordan to the beautiful Alex 8/8/08. John per-forming the ceremony (Yikes! What were they thinking to let me do that?)
- God's right job for Jordan, near enough to Alex's new job at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.
(Photo: I found this crazy but beautiful woman leading a group of Americans through Malawian corn fields in search for their sponsored children!)
Onward!!!
We thank Him that we are more certain than ever of His calling on our lives. We are excited to charge forward!
With much love and appreciation for Him and you, from your fellow servants, John & Lori
Photo: We are so thankful to have your love and support that allows us to serve these little ones in Nkhoma Malawi and lands beyond! We are with our 2 sponsored children Wynot and Mala and their families in this photo.
PARTNER LETTER - JANUARY 2008
It's been a challenging but great year and we are incredibly humbled and thankful that God continues to move with such power and blessing in our lives and ministry. We are certain that it was Him working through you in our lives that has made this possible. You have inspired and strengthened us through your prayers, encouragement, participation in events and overseas trips, financial support, and simply by sharing your lives with us. For some of you this has been a difficult year, with health, family, or financial issues, or spiritual battles, and sometimes all of the above. We are thankful for how you have persevered in your faith, for it serves as a great reminder of the hope we all have in Christ. We hope to be a blessing and an encouragement to you all too, and report the amazing things our awesome God is doing in the world to bring His love, hope, and unity. Above left: Johno and Wynot - Visiting our sponsored children in Malawi was a highpoint!
...a personal report on John & Lori...
We'll tell you first that we are doing great. We really do feel like God has used you to bless us so that we can be a blessing to others. Personally, God's provision of a close walk with Him, an incredible marriage, our health, wonderful community in our small group, and two new healthy grandchildren has us really soaring. Our adult daughters Autumn and Amber and their families live close and Jordan is starting his senior year of ministry studies at Azusa Pacific University this month. We are very busy, but we are very well with our souls.
...2006 in the quickest of reviews...
We also have experienced significant ministry growth in all areas this year:
Through FaithQuest and Y-Malawi we led or sponsered 10 team trips to Africa in 2006 involving over 150 people from 23 different churches.
Many new churches and Christian schools joined Y-Malawi this year, swelling the number to 19.
The second 50,000-person Area Development Project (ADP) in Malawi is being launched and we ar e rapidly closing in on 2,000 children sponsored in 2006 through Y-Malawi with our partner World Vision.
With 2,500 children sponsored in each ADP, more than $1,000,000 in annual funding for each ADP community is established, which will provide for drilling bore holes (wells) to replace consumption of water from contaminated pond/mud holes, provide widespread agricultural programs to establish family food security, provide health and hygiene training, medicines and healthcare workers, HIV/AIDS workers and caregiver supplies, training and supplies for mid-wives to increase mother and infant survival, and much more, all in the name of Christ.
Through you, God also provided significant funding for a micro-enterprise development and lending program in these communities managed by our expert partner Opportunity International.
Our focus area in Malawi is in one of the very poorest regions in the world, and contains almost 100,000 of God's men, women and children within the first two ADP's. Although the current life expectancy in Malawi is only 37, life is about to be filled with much more hope for those that God has used you to touch in all the ways they need it most! Something to celebrate!
We exhibited and spoke at 3 major conferences for pastors and leaders this year with World Vision, and God continues to open new doors as a result. World Vision's tireless support of Y-Malawi, combined with understanding more of their experience and expertise as the largest Christian relief organization in the world has been an amazing eye-opener to me as to what can be done if we can come together in unity as churches under the banner of Christ.
...investment, evangelism, new churches, faith in action!
More than $100,000 was sent by our partner churches through Y-Malawi to our Malawi-based evangelism and discipleship partners. Tens of thousands of people were exposed to the Gospel of Christ through these ministries and literally thousands came to know him! Leaders were discipled and trained and new churches were planted.
God's people putting their faith into action in partnership with their local churches and FaithQuest/Y-Malawi has lead to many thousands of the extreme poor getting intensely practical, meaningful, and sustainable relief through the finances and ministry that happen as a result of these partnerships. We thank God and we thank you for your part in making this happen!
looking ahead...
As we look into 2007, you can guess that we are praying for both a repeat of 2006 while also believing big for even further growth of the ministry and kingdom and expansion that happened this year. We thank God for great things He has done, yet it is impossible to ignore all that is still before us for Him. We hope to build bridges between more of the tens of thousands of evangelical US churches and the hundreds of millions of people in Africa and other continents that are in the Extreme Poor and/or Unreached categories. We ask you to join us in praying that the faith, hope, and love that is His Kingdom and His church in action can be expanded. We humbly request your continued prayer and financial support both here before year-end and on into 2007, so that we can continue and also expand into new opportunities as God provides.
Thankful...
Words cannot express how thankful we are for you and your partnership with us. We are pierced by your love and devotion for Him as expressed by your love and support of this ministry and us personally. Our heartfelt prayer during this Christmas season is that you and yours are blessed as we together remember the reason Jesus was born 2000 years ago and seek to share that reason with others. God has used you, dear friends, and all of this will echo through eternity! With much love from your fellow servants, John and Lori
"Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy because you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again." Philippians 1:3-6
Our Mission
The heart and purpose of FaithQuest Missions is to mobilize the church to "faith-in-action" kingdom purposes. We seek to build bridges of love and connection between churches within the United States and front-line missionaries and their organizations to the extreme poor in areas of greatest need in the world.
PARTNER LETTER - JULY 2006
Dear Partners, Friends, & Family:
John and I have just come back from Malawi, Africa and what an amazing trip we had! I will try and share with you what we saw and the vision that we hope to cast for many years to come, from my perspective as a first-timer to Malawi. My thoughts are below, section by section, as follows!. (Pictured: John and I last week at Lake Malawi)
A diverse but fantastic team...
It started with a group of 29 people and let me tell you, what an AWESOME group! We had people ranging from 17 years old to 58 years old. We had people from diverse backgrounds ranging from Catholic, to Chinese Evangelical, non-denominational to Presbyterian, and representatives from Christian Schools and from Christian Universities. It was AWESOME!!! Everyone and I mean everyone got along great! Not one complaint, not even from the women having to go to the restroom in.....well let me just say it isn't anything like the restrooms we have here! We were thrilled if we had nice cement to stand on around in what is commonly called an "African long drop toilet". Ha!!!! Anyway let me get on with our trip.......(Pictured above: A portion of the June team of 29 pictured here beside Lake Malawi! All joyful servants of God, representing churches, Christian Schools & Universities for Y-Malawi
Day 1 & 2 in Malawi - Nkhotkota Outreach
We arrived in Malawi and the smiling face of Louise Laubscher our wonderful front-line missionary partner in Y-Malawi was there to greet us and help us with our luggage. From there we headed toward Lake Malawi to a cluster of villages near an area called Nkhotakota for an outreach including two showings of The Jesus Film. The giant lake was beautiful and quite a contrast from the villages we would soon begin working in. I wasn't prepared for the true poverty and nothingness that I would see. They did have mud huts with dried grass roofs, but they slept on dirt, no furniture of any kind, little food, nothing but rags to wear. Yet amongst this the kindness of the people, their warm smiles, the Extreme poverty reigned along the lake shore, but the children greeted and loved us! genuinness of their touch, and their willingness to sit with us and visit was amazing. John always said Malawi is called "The warm heart of Africa" for the warmth of the Chichewa people there and now I see why.
Our group loved the time we spent with the people in the villages and working alongside the ministry workers and following up on the film showings. John had taken a group of church leaders last year to the same area that had left a lasting impact of Christ on them and they were truly like sponges wanting more! We shared our faith and the Malawians were so receptive and so pleased that we had come back to see them. My heart grieved over the fact that amongst the new Christian villagers, their growth and discipleship in Christ had not grown as quickly as I would have liked. Of course that is the U.S. thinking BUT.....my heart was overjoyed when as we left Nkhotakota one of Louise's team members from FTS (Fishers, Trainers, Senders, Louise's outreach ministry) was starting new a discipleship program as well as launching 16 new churches as a result of the outreaches successes there with us this year and last year. Fantastic!!!!
Visiting an established ADP with our Partner World Vison...
Our next stop would be to see Kafulu ADP (Area Development Project) with our Y-Malawi? partner World Vision. This holistic community transformation ADP is a project that has been going for about 8 years. The ADP model is at the core of the Malawi side if the Y-Malawi partnership and the goal is to empower impoverished communities for social, physical, and spiritual transformation and self-sustainability. This has many facets, but we saw how World Vision workers come in and help the people who have access to only dirty, disease-infested drinking and cooking water that spreads diarrhea and deadly parasites gain access to clean water. We saw practical training in action for how to farm the land for a year-round food supply as well as profit for their families and villages.
We saw a commitment to educate the people through building schools and hospitals. They provide practical teaching about HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases that ravage the families living in this land. Through the love and practical help, trust is built and a credible witness is established where people who have now experienced Christ love can hear about and receive Christ and be taught how to have a personal relationship with Him. Pictured above: Kafulu ADP children greeted us by the hundreds...unforgetable!
A Community Transformed
The Kafulu ADP villages are all operational farming villages, but it was hard to miss how much they had been imporoved! They had a new irrigation watering system in which they pumped water into a huge vegetable garden. There is no electricity so of course the watering system was pumped by manpower on a device that looked a lot like a primitive elliptical machine! (See photo at right, with Carrie Radliff from Saddleback Valley Christian Schools and Rock Harbor Church helping out!) They needed to be on that pump for about an hour each day to water their crops. Yikes!!! They had mango and papaya tree farms, silos filled a new kind of high-yield corn, wonderful livestock like hybrid super-goats that had been introduced to, grow bigger, produce more milk and meat, resist disease, and have more babies. It was great! The people seemed happy, encouraged, and empowered. All this is done in a way that allows the people to have dignity, pride, and a sense of ownership by learning to do it with their own hands and minds, not just by receiving money or others coming in and doing it for them. It was all done in the name of Christ by Christians with a heart to show His love and see these families and communities know Him. Needless to say Kafulu was amazing! The things that have been accomplished in 8 years have been truly transformational for the people there!
Nkhoma - A new beginning
Our next stop was an area called Nkhoma. This is the area of the brand new ADP that has been started in partnership with the USA Y-Malawi churches. This area in stark contrast to Kafulu! Their water is not something we would ever want to drink from. Basically a hole in the ground where wild animals can drink and urinate and well let's just say it's not very sanitary. There is little agriculture to speak of. No livestock animals, just lots of dirt. Thatched huts for schools, zero medical services, deforested, real poverty. BUT, that is starting to change! Photo: Nkhoma villagers gathering pond water for drinking
A request for a new school
Last year when John took some churches to Nkhoma, the chief and leaders really pressed them for a school built for the children. Someone from the government had promised them a school 7 years earlier if his people made the mountains of mud bricks needed to build it, but the government never came through for the chief and his people once the bricks were done.
Photo: Grass Nkhoma school house packed with kids!
Y-Malawi dollars in action!
Now the USA Y-Malawi partner churches partnering with our local World Vision team have stepped in helped the people of Nkhoma to build their new school and we were privileged to be able to see it! WOW! Amazing that the bricks made 7 years ago are at last being turned into a school block! God is so good! The people of the village were incredibly thankful and showered us with gifts of chickens, pumpkins, and peanuts and sang for us in appreciation for us helping them.
Photo: The new brick Nkhoma school under construction, funded through our Y-Malawi partner churches in partnership with World Vision!
Visiting our Sponsored Children
Our next stop was to see the World Vision children that we had individually sponsored. Whoa, what an amazing thing to actually see first-hand the child or children we personally had chosen to sponsor! It was great; there were more 700 people there to welcome us with singing, waves of joy, and warm smiling faces. Our children were put into a circle with their names and our names on a piece of paper so we could be introduced to them. We met our children and their moms and/or dads as well as some of the other children came too and we went and sat under a tree with a translator to visit with them and give our small gifts to them. The kids John and I had sponsored were quite shy and a little fearful but the moms were smiling ear to ear and gracious as ever! I guess that is how I would be if my child was chosen to be able to go to school and have a better life. The good news is, yes that particular child was sponsored but really everyone in the villages of Nkhoma will reap the benefits through these child sponsorships! The money you and I send to these kids through World Vision on a monthly basis is way more than the average annual income these people make so it is a real blessing to understand that an entire regional ADP village area of 30-50,000 people is transformed by just 2500 of the children being sponsored! AWESOME huh?
Photo: John and I with our sponsored child, 3 year old Mala and her mother with the gifts of yams and peanuts they brought for us!
Closing thoughts...
It was also awesome to have all the new individuals, churches, and schools represented on this trip indicate their commitment to the Y-Malawi partnership, which now brings the total number of churches and Christian schools committed to the partnership to 18! God is moving and we are holding on for the ride! We are totally blessed to be in the middle of all this!
Oh my there is so much I could say, but I feel I must leave you with some questions to ponder and wonder about. Maybe you are supposed to go with us to Malawi and see God's amazing works and blessing of the people from the warm heart of Africa?
I pray you have been blessed by my story from Malawi, because through all of your prayers and concerns and financial support I have had my socks blessed off!!!!! Thank you massively from the bottom of our hearts for your constant partnership with John and I, FaithQuest Missions, and the Y-Malawi church partnership project he leads!Serving the Most High Joyfully,
Lori (and Johno too) Gash
Transformational Development Credo
Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from them
Work with them
Plan with them
Start with what they know
Build on what they have
Teach by showing
Learn by doing
Not a showcase,
but a pattern
Not odds and ends,
but a system
Not relief, but release
Of the best leaders
When their task is accomplished
and their work is done,
the people will remark
"We have done it by ourselves!"
James Yen
Hope you are with us next time!
God’s always-stunning art! Sunset our last day on the Shire River, Malawi.
Mike & Misty Portland
Mike & Misty Portland of Calvary Chapel Tustin (http://www.calvarychapeltustin.org/) have listened to their Senior Pastor Barry Stagner and others from the church share about their experiences in South Africa, and they joined Barry and wife Teri on this trip, sensing God's call on their lives. None of us know exactly what God is doing, but it seems Mike and Misty now are certain they feel called to move to South Africa where Mike can use the gifts of teaching and discipleship to advance the kingdom of God in Paarl. This may mean that with the help of Pastor Barry and the CCT family that planting a new church there, or serving with the MCM team with their gifts. Please join us in praying for Mike and Misty, CCT, and MCM! Men of Vision team member called to serve Africa
In 2004, God used Kenny Luck from Saddleback Church and Every Man Ministries (http://www.everymanministries.com/) in an interesting way. Kenny was planning on going with us on one of our Men of Vision trips to South Africa and said something about this when he was speaking at an event in South Carolina. Marius van Der Colff approached him afterwards and expressed that he felt God was calling him to join this Men of Vision trip if that was possible.
Mars is the ugly one on the right!
Marius and I connected over the phone and we got him squared away to join us, which was immediately followed by Kenny's calling and needing to withdraw from that particular trip. Thinking "Mars" would then bow out also, I talked to him and he quickly informed me that while Kenny is an awesome leader, he was going because he felt God wanted him to go and he had no way out of it! Well God had much, much, more than a 2 week trip planned for Mars, for now he has left North Carolina for South Africa to work with MCM and God is using him in wonderful ways!
Containers for Creches - A Cargo of Hope!
On this trip we saw first hand how God is now using Mars in the Paarl Valley in many marvelous ways! Big problems abound in South Africa, but that means big opportunities for South African children, youth, men and women to experience the transformational power of the love of God delivered by His servants! (That would be you and me!)
Crèches are often in shacks like this one we are preparing to weatherproof
One of the needs that touched Mars deeply when he was with us in 2004 was with the tiny children and deplorable conditions in the crèches, the shack-based day-care centers in the shanty towns. While you can't miss the huge unemployment, poverty, poor-education and many other ills in these areas, some of the social studies point back to the many shortfalls in the formative years from ages 0 to 5 as one root of the cultures bigger ills. Things we take for granted for our littlest ones that help to stimulate and develop their brains and other functions during the "Early Child Development" years are the exception when you live in a shack. Part of meaningful and lasting change in these areas will be to give these little ones the health, educational tools, and love so that they can develop to the potential God created in them!
God has used Mars to come up with an exciting model for change that we feel compelled to embrace and advance with our church and school partners here, and Mike Sloan from this trip feels equipped and called to help! The snapshot version of this plan is: Three 40 foot shipping containers dropped at a church or school here in the USA where a small amount of effort and money by a lot of people will turn them into hope and change for a children and a community in South Africa. The outside would be painted and the inside remodeled to fit a plan that will include classrooms with windows, doors, a tiny kitchen where nutritious meals can be prepared, and bathrooms little ones can stay clean; then filled with all the pre-school tools, toys, books, posters, child-size craft tables and chairs, etc. Then onto a truck to Long Beach and a ship to Cape Town, then a truck again to the site. The community will tear down the shack-crèche made of sticks and scrap wood to make way for the new one from their brothers and sisters in Christ from the USA! If you want to get in on the fun, give us a call and soon we may see an African crèche being transformed and filled in your church parking lot! (And a sea of people from this side having the opportunity to be involved!)
The Cowie's, the Sloan's, and Christ In Culture through Art!
Reg Cowie from Daybreak Community Church in Carlsbad joined one of our short-term Men of Vision teams for South Africa and also now finds himself and his wife Nancy living in Paarl working with Monte Christo Ministries. Reg is excited to help mobilize men for kingdom work in South Africa and is also working in the prisons there and Nancy has a heart to see the arts used to bring hope and worship into the Paarl Valley. As a staff member of Daybreak Church, Nancy attended a Visual Arts course at a large regional church conference. God used teacher Christene Sloan from Coast Hills Church in Nancy's life to inspire her in big ways through this course.
Christene Sloan in South Africa with her new African art buddies!
Nancy has been praying as to how God would have her use what He had put on her heart now that she is living and serving Him in South Africa. And who greeted Nancy from our FaithQuest team this time in South Africa? Christene Sloan of course!
Through the similar callings God has put on the lives of Nancy Cowie and Christene Sloan, and through connections with the people, churches, and organizations they both have, discussions for a new center in Africa to bring Christ into the culture there using the arts emerged, amongst other things! This God-connection and what appears to be coming out of it is really exciting and has terrific potential on many levels on both sides of the waters!
As expressed above, I am certain that through God's work in an ever expanding group of peoples lives, these trips reverberates through eternity. We won't know the scope and extent of the impact until we are with Him, yet He has graciously provided a few glimpses along the way as to what He may be doing, including how He is using Mike and Misty, Barry and Teri, Marius, Reg and Nancy, Christene and Mike Sloan, and others on the trip right now! We pray you will be encouraged in Him and His work in the world through these servants of His!
Moms on a Mission!
Emmy Blakely and our daughter Amber Stagner once again rallied many others to send more than 700 pounds of relief and love with us this trip. This included specifically needed and requested items for the Bowy House for HIV/AIDS Children as well as 120 new backpacks filled with all new children's clothes, a toy, a children's Bible, sweets, a note of love, and more. They and their growing team of "Moms on a Mission" are equipping us and blessing mom's and children across the waters. Some of the backpacks being enthusiastically received by volunteers in South Africa! Many will go to fire victims who have lost everything including their shack.
Connect with Emmy and Amber through the Moms on a Mission link on the FaithQuest Missions Home Page!
Mrs. Johno on a Mission too!
It was great to have my wife Lori with us. She is da' bomb and I love her! Lori has been quietly supporting me and this ministry in so many ways, including a great many behind the scenes accounting and administrative matters. It was wonderful for me to see her and the children of Africa loving on one another!
A New Way to Bring Hope and Christ
Christene and Mike Sloan's leadership with a number of engaging art projects was a very new element that God used before, during, and after this trip! Before we left, 28 panels were separately painted by children from several churches here that when assembled and presented in Africa formed a beautiful mosaic and image of Christ stretching His hands across a world map with children bearing gifts in the foreground.
The piece is now permanently mounted and hanging in a Monte Christo supported community center in South Africa! Many other children from Awana's at Coast Hills Church painted many loving banners that now hang in shack crèches there. We did several projects with children there with great effect! Most had never had paint or a chance to create art like this before, but they really got into it! Some of their paintings were for them to take home, others were part of another 28 panel mosaic that we have brought back to assemble and reveal soon at local churches, surrounded by a border of the African children doing the work. We hope that it will help us to raise awareness and support to bring Christ and hope into Africa and mobilize the church for action!
Love and Hugs
Love and hugs changes things...in the receiver and the giver! We were blessed to both give and receive a crazy amount of love, hugs, smiles, and joyful laughter with many children and youth of all ages in the black townships and shanty areas Mbekweni and Colored/mixed race community of Paarl East.
Chad Marlow from Crossline Community Church and his new buddy.Coming up!
10 churches from Y-Malawi Nkhoma Partnership gatthering for quarterly ministry strategy meetings April 21 and 22 at San Clemente Presbyterian Church
I have the privilege to speak at a National Pastors Summit at World Vision HQ in Seattle the first week of May about Y-Malawi and Lori will be with me for several days.
Mars will be here from Africa in California in May to advance the containers for crèches project with our church partners.
Several team's from the Y-Malawi church partnership are heading to Malawi within the next few months, including a team of young adults and another that is woman's team. It looks like we will have more than 90 people going to serve in Malawi the next 3 months!
The next Africa trip I am leading is June 21...Y-Malawi Vision Trip with teams from new churches looking at joining the growing group of churches engaging for transformation in both Malawi and within their churches for The Great Commission.
Personal Note - Thank you!
On a personal note, we are doing well also. (OK, we're having a blast here too!) Lori and I will celebrate 28 years this week in our marriage; kids and grandkids are a blessing with two more in the oven, one due any day for Jake and Autumn, then Amber and Shane's later this year. Jordan is a junior at APU and loving it more than ever. He really likes his theology and Greek classes, and lady friend Alex! We are praying that our financial support team will grow, but God is awesome and trustworthy and we do not fear but long just to advance His work.
We thank God for His use of you in our lives and this ministry and thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts! We feel massively blessed to be in the middle of all this and are powerfully encouraged to press forward with confidence that He and you are with us!
Two of His, John & Lori
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