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Dear Pastors,

I’ve just returned from Guyana where I had the privilege of linking African Americans from Memphis to the church in Guyana. We will build on this relationship by taking a team from Memphis later this year to renovate a daycare center run by a Georgetown church. Simultaneously, trained individuals from Memphis will work with a number of Guyanese pastors to begin a community development program in adjacent rural communities.

I have the incredible privilege of going where churches have invited me to assist them in their mission outreach. Can you think of a better job? For a number of reasons only God could have put together, there are a group of African American churches in Memphis that have asked me to help them get into the “missional game” by starting in Guyana.

I sat in a hot, humid room last Thursday morning and listened as a couple from Memphis with whom I have been working made a presentation to local pastors on how they might begin a community development program in their communities. This couple had just attended a vision seminar by Medical Ambassadors International in which the program was presented to them. They had to pause in their presentation occasionally because the tropical rain was beating so hard on the roof of the church that we could not hear, but as the meeting continued the excitement grew, and like Eric Liddle in Chariots of Fire, I felt the pleasure of God as I watched this brother and sister from Memphis connect with Guyanese pastors coming from African and East Indian backgrounds. Up to this point, both groups have held little possibility in their minds that they could ever be used in global missions.

This is one of the places where I am giving my time these days. I ask for your prayers and support. If your church has a burden to assist in the mobilization of African American churches for missions, please contact me—I would love to involve you in this opportunity.  - Dave

CRISIS IN SRI LANKA CONTINUES
Fighting continues between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels on the island nation of Sri Lanka, despite announcements this week (Sept 14) from both sides that they are ready to resume talks through Norwegian mediators after a gap of five months. The LTTE pulled out of peace talks in April and a new bout of fighting erupted in late July, killing hundreds of troops, rebels, and civilians in the worst violence since 2002. The government and rebels accuse each other of trying to restart a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.

This recent bout of fighting has closed down the Jaffna-Colombo road for the past two months. This road--the A9--is the only land route between the mainland the Jaffna peninsula suitable for the transportation of essential items. As a result of the closure, residents in Jaffna are experiencing a severe shortage of essential items such as flour, sugar, lentils, and cooking oil, as well as petrol, diesel, and kerosene.

The Alliance Development Trust (ADT), an arm of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), continues its relief efforts in the Jaffna peninsula, and thus far has been able to support over 1400 families with essential food supplies. You can read about their work here.

Pray for ADT as they seek to meet the needs of the people though the local Pastors' Fellowship. Pray for a resolution to the conflict and an end to the violence. Pray for the families in Jaffna especially, and for the over 200,000 people who have been displaced since late July. (Sources: Reuters, Alliance Development Trust)

REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
On September 15, the U.S. State Department released its 8th Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 requires an annual review of the status of religious freedom worldwide. The report to Congress documents governments’ actions that could be a barrier to religious freedom, including repressing religious expression, persecuting people for their beliefs or tolerating violence against religious minorities. The report also lists governments that respect, protect and promote religious freedom.

In addition, the act requires designating countries that have “engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom” as a “country of particular concern (CPC).” In November 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam as CPCs. The 2006 report reviews actions taken by the U.S. government to advance religious freedom in these countries. (Source: usinfo.state.gov)

The full text of the report may be viewed online or downloaded as a PDF from http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/

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30-DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE MUSLIM WORLD
The thirty days of Ramadan begin September 24th. As the world's 1.2 billion Muslims engage in this annual month of fasting, Christians are encouraged to spend those same 30 days in concerted prayer for the Muslim world.

A great resource is www.30daysfire.net. For each day of Ramadan, the site suggests prayer for Muslims in a particular geographical area or people group, providing background information, prayer points, and links to videos, maps, and more information.

If you'd like to learn more about Islam and Muslims in the U.S. and around the world, take some time to explore the site, where you'll find information on topics such as culture, theology, history, a glossary, and stories from former Muslims who have chosen Jesus.

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Things Unseen: Living in Light of Forever by Mark Buchanan
2002 Multnomah Publishers (Reviewed by Suzanne Johnson)

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,
set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Colossians 3:1-2

In Things Unseen, Canadian pastor Mark Buchanan (Your God is Too Safe, The Holy Wild, The Rest of God) seeks to encourage weary and restless Christians by inspiring them with heaven. Following the example of Jesus, John, the apostle Paul, and the writer of Hebrews, Buchanan challenges believers to fixate on heaven, that they might be of some earthly good.

The book’s back cover explains simply, “This book is about heaven, and yet not. It is about our longing for heaven, our instinct for it. It is about eternity in our hearts. It is about the yearning inside us that is both an acknowledgement of and a protest against death, and at the same time a cry for something else, for that which is beyond the grave, stronger and larger than it—more enduring. It is about our yearning for things unseen. It is about you and me longing for heaven…and about living here on earth now in light of that longing.”

Buchanan writes from a pastor’s tender heart and is well-versed in the craft of storytelling. The prose is refreshingly engaging and easy to read, though some readers might grow weary of his adjective-laden, multi-clause descriptions of just about everything. Matters of verbosity aside, this book will cause you to become more aware of the singular ache and homesickness that is eternity in your heart and will stir up your hunger for heaven. 

The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs, 2005 Penguin Press
The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly, 2006 Penguin Press
(Reviewed by David Korb)

Lately, I’ve been chewing on the ideas and opinion presented in two hefty volumes. The first book, The End of Poverty, talks in very positive terms about a top-down approach to solving the problem of poverty in our world. It describes how the world can achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary school enrollment; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environment sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development. The discussion specifically addressing the MDGs covers only a small portion of the book, but this UN program is an example of what Sachs sees as an answer to these issues, or as the book’s subtitle suggests, “Economic Possibilities for Our Time.”

Conversely, from the very first page, The White Man’s Burden talks about two great tragedies: first, that extreme poverty afflicts billions of people, with millions of children dying from preventable diseases; second, that the West has “spent $2.3 trillion on foreign aid over the last five decades and still has not managed to get twelve-cent medicines to children to prevent half of all malaria deaths.” The book’s subtitle: “Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good.”

I believe that those of us who engage in and partner with ministries that deal with issues such as those listed above must come to terms with what both of these authors are saying. Our positions may not be as polar as these authors represent, but nonetheless I believe we must always be carefully thinking through our approaches to these incredibly important issues.

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