The 4-14 Window

This blog is more of a journal entry...

Seems as though a focus shift is taking place in missions, towards children. This past weekend we were blessed to have the Ugandan Orphan's Choir (Childcare Worldwide) at our services and they were a great blessing to us.  Our services were very well attended and were full of worship and tremendous responsiveness.  This ministry has a focused mission that is making a great difference in the lives of kids around the world.

For some time now I have been involved in ministry that focuses on children.  Why?  Because they are "open" and responsive, they have faith, they are in danger of exploitation, and through them their parents and families can be reached. 

I have started hearing a new term: the "4-14 window".  This refers to the evangelistic opportunity that exists to reach kids between the ages of 4 and 14, all around the world.  It doesn't matter what the culture is, kids in this age group freely receive the Good News. 

Children of Hope Project.  As the project leader of this ministry in the Philippines, I am thrilled to be notified that we just received a $50,000 grant to help fund the project for the next year.  We are educating and discipling over 1500 children in the slums of Manila.  Through this outreach, churches are rapidly growing.  I praise God for this gift from the Foursquare Foundation. 

I have been praying for the other two missions organizations that I am especially close to: Think Small (doing children's evangelism all over South East Asia), and African Hospitality Institute (a vocational school in Uganda). 

In spite of these deep interests, my next mission trip is likely to be to Haiti (in September).  The needs there are so oppressive and urgent, that I believe a response is needed.  We are in the formative steps of organizing a team from our church to partner with Foursquare church in the capital there.  Our foci would be construction and evangelism. 

I enjoyed being with our Young Adults group last night!  We talked about listening to God (the part of prayer we often overlook) and had a great time getting to know them. 

Celebrate Recovery is tonight and I'll be sharing my testimony.  I look foward to that.

Ed Silvoso of Harvest Evangelism was in town on Saturday.  I was able to meet many of the local pastors and we expressed our united desire to see this county covered in prayer.  Our goal is to pray for every home, school and business.  I believe this is a key to the future of the Church in this area.

The greatest blessing of recent days is the arrival of Heidi.  She is here to stay.  Our house in Seattle is on the market and we had a very good open house yesterday.  Our cat has also now joined us in Eureka and she seems to have done well with the recent journey.