Days of Hope

Does the countdown to Christmas fill you with anxiety and stress?

World Orphans wants the 33 days before Christmas to fill you with hope and faith.

During the next few weeks World Orphans will be introducing 33 of the children who's lives have been impacted by the faithful partners of World Orphans.

These 33 are just the beginning of a much larger story. The story of thousands of orphaned and abandoned children being taken in by the local church in areas like Haiti, Ethiopia, China, South Africa, Uganda, Thailand and more.

If you don't already receive the World Orphans emails, visit our website to subscribe so you can enjoy the stories and other news from the ministry.

We hope you will share the stories with your family. Some of them will include a printable ornament with the child's picture that you can hang on your Christmas tree to remind you to pray for that child.

We hope that as you meet these children you'll be encouraged and inspired. The first story will be shared on Monday....enjoy!

PS: A blog about my recent trip to Kenya coming soon :) - Kate

Party with a Purpose

It's hard to believe it's that time already. The air is getting cool, the leaves are changing, and the holidays are just around the corner.

Our thoughts will turn towards making plans, setting tables, buying gifts...

...and hopefully our thoughts won't turn away from those who struggle to find anything worth celebrating.

As North-Americans Christians the holidays can be a challenge. We want to honor our friends and family but don't want to get lost in the waste and overindulgence. We want to enjoy celebrating, but it can be hard to do that in light of the daily suffering of so many people all around the world.

What does it look like, as an American follower of Christ, to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas in a way that honors Christ and the Gospel and keeps in mind the struggle and devastation of orphaned and abandoned children and honors the tireless work of our brothers and sisters in Christ caring for those children and their communities?

I don't think there's a simple or easy answer, but here are some of the thoughts I have...

• Look to include those in your community who might be orphaned or abandoned in your holiday celebrations.
• Buy gifts that support people working to keep families together.
• Regularly remind yourself, your family and your friends about what reality is for so many around the world and talk together about what you can do.
• Really think through the money that is being spent...certainly give gifts that honor people, but don't buy gifts just for the sake of buying something.
• In lieu of a gift, make a donation to World Orphans or another ministry in someone's honor.
• And this holiday season World Orphans has a very specific way you can gather together and celebrate with the purpose of advocating for orphans with our Home for the Holidays Campaign

Our communications department did a great job putting this together - so in one click you can visit our website to read about the campaign, request invitations, download the party planning guide, and be on your way to planning a party that will support the work of World Orphans, raise awareness and encourage others to make their holiday season about being grateful and about considering others.

If you're interested in hosting a Home for the Holidays party and want to chat about it please let me know. If you're in the Maryville/Knoxville area I know a number of people who would love to speak about World Orphans at your party. If you're in the northern New Jersey area I would love to come speak at your party. And if you're somewhere else I can find you a World Orphans advocate or provide you with information so you will have all that you need.

Happy planning!

Time to play....

In our holistic approach at World Orphans we recognize the value of children getting to play and have the time to just be children and have fun. We also recognize that because of hunger, war, abuse, poverty, sickness and other struggles, that many children around the world do not experience the freedom of having a childhood that includes fun and games and time to play.

So as we seek to minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ and care for children in a holistic way that meets all of their needs, spiritual, physical, emotional and mental, we desire to include sports and games. I have found it to be the case everywhere in the world I have been, that a big step in connecting with a child is to play with them...which is why we value our HisKids Sports Program.

Both in the United States and around the world we have seen that sports and games are a powerful tool for both outreach and discipleship.

Outreach: World Orphans short-term teams, in partnership with the World Orphans partner they are visiting, will host a HisKids Sports Outreach event. That involves sports and games designed to illustrate and talk about God's character, our need for Him, and the glorious truth of the Gospel of Christ. In addition to sharing the Gospel, it's a great opportunity to have fun, work with the local church, bring positive attention to the local church, and love on children in the community.

Discipleship: Sports and games as an avenue for discipleship - teaching and training children to help them better understand the Gospel and what it looks like to apply the Gospel to daily life and relationships. In the US we have seen success using HisKids Sports in both schools and churches, and we are pleased to announce that in November we will be doing vision-casting and training regarding an on-going HisKids Sports discipleship programs for our World Orphans partners. That will mean that in addition to outreach events done while teams are visiting, that our partner churches around the world will have HisKids Sports as a tool to use both in the homes where orphans are cared for as well as in children's ministry at the church for an on-going ministry with children of the community.

All this is why we are so excited about the soccer field that just opened at our Project in Iraq. We anticipate the opportunity to play being a door for relationships that ultimately will lead to sharing the Gospel and discipleship.

Bringing Hope to Desolate Places (Iraq) from World Orphans on Vimeo.

Click HERE to make a gift towards the completion of our project in Iraq
Click HERE to read the blog of the World Orphans family living in Iraq

Our work in China

World Orphans offers only true family-care model for orphaned & abandoned children in China

China has one of the largest orphan populations in the world. Many of these children are abandoned due to physical disabilities, because of China’s one-child policy, or simply because they are girls. Although the Christian church is not able to have a physical presence, our network partner is reaching out to these precious ones with the help of local house churches.

Watch our new video to see how World Orphans is helping provide biblical family care for 76 children at the Bejing Training Center – children who are not eligible for Chinese government assistance under their strict guidelines. Without the center, these children would be left to indifferent family members or forced to survive on their own.

The Training Center is located in a former school that has been renovated to form 10 apartment-style homes, a central eating area and the training areas. The children are divided into families of eight who live with carefully selected Christian house parents devoted to providing the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental care they need.

Each of these 10 apartment home is in need of immediate monthly financial partnership of $810.

There are 3 ways you can help:

• Give a one time gift to this project
• Pledge $44 a month to this project. (You can set up easy recurring monthly payments online.)
• Raise up a group of partners and sponsor one of these 10 apartments for $810/month.

And you can watch our video here: http://vimeo.com/14649748

Fight Child Trafficking - You can do this NOW!

Please take a minute and do something tangible to fight against child-trafficking.

The International Justice Mission has put together very simple instructions we can follow to support a bill that would help eradicate child trafficking.

Here are the simple steps. To visit the IJM page click HERE.

1. Find out who your Senators are and how to contact them (Find your state in the upper right corner and look for the “Contact” section on your Senators’ websites.)
2. Check to see if either of your Senators has already committed to co-sponsor the CPCA.

3. Make the call – use these sample scripts as a guide:
   For Senators who are not already co-sponsors of the CPCA:
   “Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m calling from [City, State]. [Optional: Can I speak to the legislative aide who handles human trafficking issues?] I’m calling to ask Senator [NAME] to co-sponsor S. 3184, the Child Protection Compact Act. This bill would help to eradicate child trafficking, an issue I really care about. At a minimum, I’m hoping the Senator will commit to voting to pass the bill when it reaches the Senate floor. Would you please pass my message on to the Senator? Thank you!”

   For Senators who are already co-sponsors of the CPCA:
   “Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m calling from [City, State]. I’m calling to thank Senator [NAME] for his/her co-sponsorship of the Child Protection Compact Act. This bill would help to eradicate child trafficking, an issue I really care about. I appreciate the Senator’s leadership on the issue, and I’m hoping the Senator will vote to pass the bill when it reaches the Senate floor. Would you please pass my message on to the Senator? Thank you!”

I just did this and it literally took less then 5 minutes - PLEASE take the time...

Help a Photographer support World Orphans and other ministries...

Actual post from Julie Gumm - click HERE to see actual post

I (Julie Gumm) have a friend who has entered a photo contest sponsored by Sigma and is hoping to win some great camera gear from them. Josh is passionate about using his skills as a photographer and videographer to help non-profit ministries like World Orphans and so I would love to see him win this contest. So much so that I’m offering a cool giveaway if you will help me spread the word.

He’s entered in 3 different categories and you can vote for each photo.

It’s a 2 step process.

1) Go here and click the button under one of the photos.

2) You have to enter your e-mail address and then click VOTE

3) Check your email for a confirmation message and click the link. You ONLY have to do this on the 1st photo.

4) Now you can vote for the other two photos.

You won’t get spammed, they are just validating you’re a real person.

THE GIVEAWAY

To encourage some voting I will be giving away one of the beautiful necklaces that Mark brought home from Ethiopia (read more about the ministry they came from).

You will get one entry for each of the following things that you do.

1) Vote for all 3 photos

2) Post a link to this blog post (here’s the URL: http://juliegumm.com/wordpress/?p=2099) on Facebook so your friends will vote.

3) Tweet about the contest and link this post

4) Blog about Josh’s entries and encourage people to VOTE.

Leave me a comment for each of the above actions you take.

IMPORTANT: You need to make a comment on JULIE'S BLOG POST for EACH thing that you do. I will use a random number generator to pick the winning comment so if you do all 4 you need to make 4 separate comments to increase your chances of winning. Just a quick “voted”, “facebooked”, “tweeted”, “blogged” will do.

I’m going to run the contest for a week and draw names at the end of the day on Thursday, September 8th.

The winner will receive this gorgeous silver and coffee bean necklace…

Encouragment in Haiti

It was truly an honor to partner with Dr. Phyllis Kilbourn and her team from CCTI (Crisis Care Training International) to provide training for our partners in Haiti at the end of July. Based on her education, training and many years of experience, Dr. Kilbourn provided not only training and guidance to our partners in Haiti, but created materials specifically geared towards helping the children of Haiti process the trauma they have been through.

As Dr. Kilbourn talked about the many aspects of trauma and tools for helping children process their experiences, I was blown away by how hungry our partners in Haiti are for more information and specific answers to their questions. Over just two short days a lot of information was shared that I believe will be helpful to our partners: pastors and teams of volunteers that visit orphaned and vulnerable children in their communities. During that time it was evident over and over again that the volunteers are passionate about and committed to not just the physical care, but the emotional and spiritual care of those in their community who are hurting.

But the overwhelming reality…everyone is hurting. At the training we gathered with pastors and volunteers who want to learn how to better care for children, but there was not one in the room who isn’t in the midst of grieving pain and loss themselves. One in particular who stands out…a pastor who lost his wife and children, yet he still desires to care for those around him who are hurting as well. Praise the Lord that there are many churches full of believers who are placing their hope and trust in Christ and watching Him give them energy and strength to care for others in the midst of their pain. But the need for support and encouragement is great. Yes, the finances are a piece – funds are needed so the OVC (orphaned and vulnerable children) program can operate. But just as crucial is the relationship – for a church in Haiti to know that a church in the US is committed to them. Not only committed to helping with the funds, but committed to praying, to encouraging, committed to caring that our brothers and sisters in Haiti are trusting on a daily basis that the Lord will sustain them and guide them as they rebuild their lives.

This Night...

This night as I sink tired, yet comfortably, into bed I am overwhelmed by all those whose place of rest is so uncomfortable.

This night some sleep too hot, so hot it takes your breath away. Yet others sleep too cold. Some too dry, their bodies parched for clean refreshing water. Others too wet, the rain soaks their roof and walls and beds...takes away their comfort and threatens their safety. But their exhaustion drives them to sleep...but I imagine it's a fitful sleep. Sound sleep interrupted by questions of safety and wondering...wondering what tomorrow will bring and what will fill the empty bellies of the children.

So this night, overwhelmed with gratefulness for my safe and comfortable bed, I am reminded of my need for mercy. Why I have the safety and the comfort I do not know.

I am also overwhelmed with gratefulness that my acceptance by Creator God is based not on my work or my righteousness, but on the perfect righteousness of Christ. His perfect, saving, redeeming sacrifice.

So while I rest in being a child of the most high God through faith in Jesus Christ and nothing more, I am reminded of His words, "to whom much is given, much more will be required."

So this night I find myself sinking into my safe, comfortable bed begging that HE will allow me to be spent on behalf of those who are hurting - that they may know His redemption, not only in their hearts but in their lives.

Lord Jesus, have mercy.

Growing ministry in Haiti

Just last week, World Orphans secured a location for our new guesthouse in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. With the introduction of the Haiti Orphan & Vulnerable Child Program (OVC) we saw a need for an inviting and restful place for the visiting church ministry teams to stay.

World Orphans desires that this guesthouse be a place of rest, connection, support, encouragement, nurture, and preparation for service.

Through the generous support of one of our churches we have a beautiful home leased to serve as our Haiti Guesthouse but we need to raise $8,000 to secure a generator, create a secure environment, buy appliances for the kitchen, get furnishings, and the various other items needed.

We have a team arriving at the guesthouse on June 11th ready to put in the work to make this place a temporary home for our first mission team that will arrive on the 18th.

You can not only give a gift online, but on our new World Orphans web site you can create your own fund-raising campaign that lets you make a customized fund-raising page, set a monetary goal and then just share the link with all your friends and family and ask them to help you meet your goal.

Partnership Question

My recent trip to South Africa was wonderful. It's always encouraging to spend time with our church partners and see how God is using them to care for their communities. And I learned a lot that will help me do my job better, both for our Mobilization department and our Biblical Family Care department.

But this is my big take away. I watched the western church we were with ask wonderful questions and think about the longevity of their relationship with our partner in South Africa. I watched them think through how they could serve the church in South Africa, and how they could learn from the church in South Africa. At one point during a meeting with church leadership someone said it would be great to have a time of training where the western church trained the South African church using their strengths, and the South African church trained the western church in their strengths. I love it. That's exactly why we work to create partnerships.

As I processed our trip and thought through how I would explain our time there, I realized a lot of our time was spent seeing the life of the church and it's members and what their ministries entail.

Then I asked myself this question: If this church from South Africa came to visit my church in New Jersey, how would we spend our time? What would I show them to say, "this is who we are - this is what we are about"?

So that is my question for myself and for you - if a believer from another part of the world came to visit you - how would you spend your time? What would you show them to say, "this is me - this is my church. This is my ministry - this is the ministry of my church"?

This is what I saw in South Africa - what would South Africa see if they visited us?

Families in the church doing foster care


Orphans being cared for in a family-style home on church property.


Land purchased by the church to build another church and a school to serve an unreached community.


A church-run school


Small business, micro-enterprise encouraged and helped-along by the church



A woman who makes jewelry to help support her family - she patiently showed me how she makes the jewelry

A woman the church works with who cares for orphans and the elderly and runs an affordable day-care for struggling families working to feed their children


Land given to the church by a member of a community who is hopeful the church will bring not only the Gospel, but also jobs and education to her struggling, rural community


A bakery on church property - selling affordable bread to those in the community and giving bread to those in surrounding communities as a way to meet a physical need and share the love of Christ



Wagon of Mercy distributing bread



And the of course it's always nice to see the beauty of God's creation wherever you visit...

Local Care

The unfamiliar sound of cars brought her out of her hut when we were still far off. She stood outside as we drove past. With a hand motion out the window of the car, the pastors wife assured her we would stop on our way back. I imagine she spent the next few hours waiting and preparing for our visit. When we made our way back to her and entered her hut it was obvious she was excited for our visit. We spent a few minutes visiting. We thanked her for the orphans she has taken in to her home and presented her with some bags of food as a token of our gratitude. She tried to hide her disappointment as the pastor's wife asked her to share the food with others since we didn't have enough to go around...promising that more would come soon. We prayed for her, asking God to bless and protect her - to provide for her and her children. And then we said goodbye. She quietly sat down on her bed - our long awaited, special visit was over already. My heart broke as I watched her gently sit down with a wave goodbye. Most days she works hard and struggles to get by with few special moments. Our short visit and small gift didn't feel like enough. And it wasn't. The only reason our visit was good and helpful is because it was in the context of the local church. There will be more food and more visits even though our team left. The pastors wife regularly visits the rural mountain community, spending time with the women and connecting their jewelry business to a larger community. The local church in that South African town is committed to being involved in that rural mountain community. They have hopes for a church and a school, business opportunities that will make life better for everyone. Our visit was part of a much larger context of local care.





I am very grateful for the time I had in South Africa. I am encouraged by what God is doing through the church. I am humbled and challenged by how much my brothers and sisters are doing with very little resources. And I am again reminded why I am excited about World Orphans. Apart from partnering with local churches, Western influence (yes, even biblical, Christ-focused influence) is too isolated. But a World Orphans partnership that connects a church in the west with a church in the developing world for a long-term relationship isn't isolated, it's in context. We as westerns get to see and be a part of what God is doing around the world...but to people that we meet it's not just a random moment and then we are gone. Meeting people as we travel is a moment when we get to point to the local church that is not going anywhere. Praying, distributing food, giving gifts to children, thanking people caring for orphans, sharing the Gospel...it's all in the context of the life and ministry of the local church - day-in and day-out.

So I am grateful for the 10 days trips. I am grateful to be a part of mobilizing the western church - allowing people to see what life is like outside America and how alive and passionate followers of Christ are all over the world. And I am challenged. The reason a 10 day trip makes sense is because it's in the context of the day-in and day-out ministry of the local church.

What about the day-in and day-out here in America? While there may not be entire communities living without electricity and running water and the streets aren't filled with AIDS orphans...who are the lonely, hurting, tired, hungry people in your day-in and day-out that you can consistently reflect the love of Christ to?

World Orphans in the News

Check out our Press Release on Yahoo!

You can support our work in Haiti by clicking "Buzz up" at the bottom of the article, posting a link on your facebook page or blog and emailing to your friends

Other ways to support the long-term relief effort in Haiti:

• Sign up for church, organization, or individual involvement at http://www.haitiorphanrelief.org
• Put a HORT badge on your Website and/or Blog (found at top of post)
• Blog about Haiti and HORT as the most effective, scalable response (churches here, partnered with churches there . . . for the reunification, rescue and care of Haiti's orphans)
• Join the HORT Facebook Page at: http://www.facebook.com/haitiorphanreliefteam?ref=mf
• Invite all your friends to the HORT Facebook Page
• Put the HORT Facebook Page link on your personal profiles, pages, and groups
• Comment on Facebook updates at the HORT Page
• Visit the blog and/or Facebook Page of Paul Myhill, president of World Orphans for regular updates...and leave a comment! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-Myhill/165526949753 and/or http://www.facebook.com/paul.myhill?ref=profile
• Subscribe to Paul's blog at http://www.abandoned-orphaned.com for more info and daily updates
• Twitter to www.twitter.com/haitiorphan
• PRAY!

Thanks!!

Caring from a world away

How do you begin to think about or respond to the crisis the Haitian people face as a result of the recent earthquakes?

How do you begin to think about the vast amount of suffering that exists around the entire world, for that matter?

The situation in Haiti is devastating and it's urgent. But reality is that most of the world faces challenges and suffering beyond what we as westerns can comprehend.

How do you respond from a world away?

As a follower of Christ I find myself thinking about it in these terms. Everyone who follows Christ is part of God's family. How does family respond when someone is hurting...they work together to care for one another. And wait, as followers of Christ we are called to love and care for everyone - what does that look like?

World Orphans exists so that believers around the world can be in relationship. So we can begin to know one another and function like the family that we are. We may not all be in the same place, but we can work together to care for one another.

Here are some steps we can take to respond to Haiti specifically...or anywhere:

1. Some people are able and will give money to provide resources and equip those doing the hands-on work:
Click here to give to Haiti specifically or World Orphans in general

2. Some people are able, have the opportunity, and will actually go:
Click here to learn more about and support those going to train and equip churches in Haiti

Click here if you are interested in traveling with World Orphans

3. Want to have real, lasting give-and-take relationships where you are giving and serving as well as being challenged and growing yourself?
Click here to contact World Orphans about getting your church involved in a Church-to-Church partnership

Trash can dignity...

It was the end of 2002. I was home for the holidays visiting my parents and I went into the city (the only city you refer to as "the city" in northern New Jersey...New York) with a friend.

We had a fun day just wandering around, taking in the sights, oohing and aahing over the Christmas decorations.

We were in Penn Station waiting for the train to take us back to my parents house. We were just standing there chatting and both happened to see this...

An older man, probably homeless, was going through a trash can. He was holding a cup or can that had liquid in it. A group of teenage boys walked by and one of them hit the cup so that it splashed on the man and got him wet. The boys continued on their way laughing. The man looked up and saw my friend and I watching him -he calmly said, "that wasn't very nice." We shook our heads saying, "you're right, that was not nice of them." And that was it.

On a somewhat regular basis I cry myself to sleep thinking about that man....and write this through tears as I think about him. I am sad that he didn't have a table to sit at and sad that I don't know what happened to him. And I am deeply grieved that my compassion for him stopped at a kind look. How I wish I could do it over...walk up and put my hand on his shoulder and tell him I'm sorry that those boys were so rude and thoughtless...maybe have a meal and get to know him a bit - take the opportunity to affirm his dignity and reflect to him the Gospel love of Christ. (And maybe give those rude boys a piece of my mind for being jerks - but I digress...)

I am so excited about World Orphans model of caring for orphans around the world by connecting churches here with churches there, supporting and equipping the local church around the world. I firmly believe in the model and am honored that I get to work hard to see that it played out.

But the face of that sweet man that I can see so clearly in my mind implores me that it can't stop there. Praise God that our hearts break for orphans around the world, and praise Him that we can be involved in what He's doing to care for them. And I pray that our hearts will also break for the broken and the hurting that we see as we're out and about - as we go to the store, coming home from work, taking the kids to the park...

Lord give us eyes to see and give us boldness to respond to what your Spirit wells up in our hearts...may the Gospel be reflected in our lives.