It is a great privilege to work alongside ministries such as Joni and Friends. They had a team in the Dominican Republic this week with their Wheels for the World program, which is an outreach to the community, offering wheelchairs to those in need. Some of the recipients of the wheelchairs were from one of our partnering churches. Joni and Friends not only offers wheelchairs for the people’s physical needs, but everyone who receives a chair and their family receives the gospel message for the spiritual needs as well.

During the distribution, as I looked around the room, I saw a true picture of what a church is, and it made me think of Luke 14.

Luke 14:12-14
“Then He turned to his host. ‘When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,’ he said, ‘Don’t invite your friends, brothers, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back and that will be your reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.’”

Luke 14:21
“The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and ally’s of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’”

I know the Bible says our reward awaits us in heaven, but ministering to those who have disabilities sure feels like a reward, because I receive much more than I give.

I see people:

-walking by faith,
-trusting God,
-loving unconditionally,
-living with the peace of God that surpasses all understanding,

all the while dealing with great hardship, and disabilities for themselves, a child or parent.

And when you say hello or ask how they are, the response is

“Glory to God!” or “God is Good!”

2 Corinthians 4:18
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.”

Gloria a Dios!!
Mary Anne O’Malley
Empowering Action

Meet my friend Fany.  EA in-country partners come in a variety of capacities and locations, and Fany is without a doubt a treasured EA ministry collaborator.  I’ve had the unique pleasure to know her for over 7 years, not only as the group coordinator at a Dominican hotel that often hosts our visiting service teams, but also as a sister in Christ, with a passion for the Lord and a heart for her country.  She is a true professional with a servant’s heart, and reminds me very much of JC Ryle’s description of those who are “ever adding grace to grace, faith to faith, and strength to strength.”

“Every time you meet them their hearts seems larger, and their spiritual stature taller and stronger. Every year they appear more, and feel more in their religion. They not only have good works to prove the reality of their faith, but they are zealous of them. They are not only do well, but they are unwearied in well doing.”

This made my visit to Fany last week all the more enjoyable and encouraging.  Often, when meeting with EA supporters or partners, I bring along, as an encouragement, a book that I’ve found beneficial in my own personal walk with the Lord.  (Now truthfully I rarely hear any feedback, and occasionally I’ve joked about assembling a stealth repossession team to enable some regifting.) But Fany’s visit gave me hope!  I had planned to zip quickly into her office, grab a lost item and be on my way. However, when I arrived she was ecstatic over having just completed a bible study lesson plan, based on a book I had recently passed along to her.  She was beaming, about to make copies for her class, saying she couldn’t wait till Sunday!  It brought a smile to my face, to see her truly consumed with joy, over the prospect of teaching others what she herself had learned. Isn’t that who Christ followers are called to be?

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:20, “My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.”

And 19th century theologian Albert Barnes said of this passage,

“The desire to know more of the commands of God acted continually on him, exhausting his strength, and overcoming him. He so longed for God that, in our language, ‘it wore upon him’ – as any ungratified desire does. It was not the possession of the knowledge of God that exhausted him; it was the intenseness of his desire that he might know more of God.”

That was the basis of Fany’s excitement: she knew more of God and was anxious for others to do likewise. This is the desire of EA, combating physical and spiritual poverty, or in the word’s of Jesus Himself: “this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

In August 2016 Empowering Action partnered with Bay Shore Community Church and Homes of Hope (HOH) for installation of an initial shipping container conversion home. Below guest blogger, Patrick Staggs, President of HOH, shares his reflections on his recent trip, which was the culmination of a year, in which Patrick and friend Lance Manlove had been inspired to attempt something great for the Lord, and followed through in founding HOH. In doing so, they rejected what John Piper below identifies as the call to casual, comfortable, cultural Christianity, and instead are experiencing the thrill of Christ-honoring, Kingdom-building entrepreneurship.

“We can rest content in casual, convenient, cozy, comfortable Christian lives as we cling to the safety and security this world offers. We can coast through a cultural landscape marked by materialism, characterized by consumerism, and engulfed in individualism. We can assent to the spirit of this age and choose to spend our lives seeking worldly pleasures, acquiring worldly possessions, and pursuing worldly ambitions—all under the banner of cultural Christianity. Or we can decide that Jesus is worth more than this. We can recognize that he has created us, saved us, and called us for a much greater purpose than anything this world could ever offer us.” – John Piper, Risk is Right

Our recent week in the Dominican Republic was definitely a physical and emotional workout, while simultaneously serving as a spiritual battery charger.  We created a plan for the container, and I expected the unexpected, as far as technical conversion, and knew we would get through the issues, and we did.

However, I did not expect the enormous amount of community support for the recipient’s family and the project itself. In fact, I had feared that there might be some resentment toward the family. However, after seeing the genuine love and support from all their friends, family and neighbors, I could see immediately the joy that people had for them.

The trip also made me so thankful to God for bringing friends into my life that have influence over me.  This is something that has and will continue to offer tremendous impact on my growth, as I continue my walk with Christ. I believe we need people in our lives that we can relate to and lean on, in order to grow together to be the Christ followers that God calls us to be. I am thankful that this trip helped strengthened existing relationships, as well as begin new ones.

The other realization for me was how critical the role of EA is in planning, executing and sustaining ventures such as Homes of Hope, as well as mission trips like Ship Hope. The benefit that is easiest to identify is the logistical support.  Accommodations, meals, cultural advice, transportation etc. all done so well and stress-free. Then, by using the local church network to identify the target family, and the Abundant Life Program, to ensure the Christ-centered growth is sustained, the project can have a successful, chain-breaking impact in eliminating poverty for future generations. The work being done through the EA organization is beyond incredible, and I am thankful to have been able to experience its reach firsthand, and am looking forward to the next opportunity for us to partner on God’s work again soon.

Patrick Staggs
President, Homes of Hope
Member, Bay Shore Community Church, Rehoboth Campus

Hebrews 10:24 challenges followers of Christ to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” It’s amazing how personal obedience can have a ripple effect of community impact. Case in point: My friend Lance Manlove of Bay Shore Community Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Lance had never been on a mission trip, until last year when, in obedience, he joined a team from his church in serving with Empowering Action in the Dominican Republic.  During that brief trip Lance learned personally what theologian H.A. Ironsides had stated long ago,

“We are naturally so self-centered that we are inclined to believe that the greatest happiness is found in receiving rather than giving. We all enjoy receiving gifts.  We delight in receiving praise, love and adulation. We sometimes imagine that if everything that our hearts crave could be poured out upon us, we would be supremely happy. But this is a total mistake. The happiest people in the world are those that give most unselfishly.”

But the impact did not stop there, as a ripple effect of obedience occurred, in regards to the number of people impacted through what the Lord did in Lance’s heart on that short trip, serving alongside the local church to impact their communities for Christ:

• Personally – as Lance allowed himself to be dropped down on his first mission trip answering, “Here I am. Send me” (Isaiah 6:8). The result is that he not only used his gifts, talents and abilities in those moments in-country, but he was also impacted by the huge need for quality shelter, and left desiring to formulate a solution to help others.  God implanted an idea that would eventually lead to a non-profit organization, established to assist impoverished island nations in breaking the chain of poverty through Christ’s love, by converting shipping containers into sustainable homes.
• Family – as his 3 small children have, not only supported their father’s new nonprofit, but also become actively involved in raising money for impoverished families in the Dominican Republic, by selling lemonade, with the help of their parents, at their church and to hikers and bikers on a neighborhood trail.
• Friends – as, after his mission trip, Lance went back to his friends and, along with Patrick Staggs, together they founded the nonprofit Homes of Hope, which collaborates with EA in providing housing through participating churches of the Abundant Life Program in the Dominican Republic.
• Co-workers – as Lance’s employer, Schell Brothers Home Construction, assisted with the prototype build, with many sub contractors donating materials and labor, and sponsored a 5K race this spring, benefitting Homes of Hope.
• Church – as Lance’s church supported the first container project, with the entire church, young and old, involved with the building, planning, and sponsorship.
• Community – as not only do random individuals stop and offer to help during workdays, but Lance has also been contacted by businesses, civic associations, schools and other churches regarding participation, nationally and abroad. A homeless shelter has even expressed interest in collaborating on a project to develop a container solution to local poverty issues.

As you can see, God can use the obedience of a few to impact many. We can see that same concept at work in scripture with the ripple effect of obedience of Jesus’ earliest disciples, resulting in the existence of the church today:

• The initial obedience to the call of “Follow me”…(Matt. 4:18-22)
• Continued obedience in the midst of persecution and struggle, stating, “We cannot help but speak about the things we have seen and heard…” (Acts 4:20)
• Strategic empowerment and capacity building through adherence to the call to “…entrust these things to faithful men who will be able to teach others also…” (2 Tim. 2:2)

Pastor John MacArthur calls for this ripple effect of obedience to continue, commenting on 2 Timothy 2:2,

“From Paul to Timothy to faithful men to others encompasses four generations of godly leaders. That process of spiritual reproduction which began in the early church is to continue until the Lord returns.”

So please pray for and financially support Home of Hope’s initial container home installation with EA, occurring July 31 to August 5th, in the town of Caballona in the Dominican Republic.

And let me encourage you to function in whatever role in the ripple effect of obedience God has given you, and, above all, heed the call of 18th century theologian John Wesley to,

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”