The inspiring true story of the global church in action.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

What do you think of that title?

Is it possible or is it heresy? Is it just a matter of interpretation or a matter of priorities? What do we mean when we use the word poor? And are we even talking about the same thing?

If you’re still with us and you’re wondering what this is about, the answer is 58:.

58: aspires to become the largest, most unified effort ever by the global Church to help the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty (income of less than $1.25 a day).

It’s a revolutionary, worldwide response to the call of Isaiah 58.

58: is an initiative founded on the Bible’s call to care for the poor and the shared conviction that the global Church has the capacity to relegate extreme poverty to the history books.

And we are halfway there.

Generosity and new engagement by the Church will propel us to the finish line.

So, what are the 11 reasons that 58: will be successful and extreme poverty will disappear by 2035?

There are actually two perspectives on this. The reasons:

1. Economic progress is already rapidly reducing extreme poverty rates.
2. Global health advances have cut child mortality rates in half.
3. School enrollment and literacy rates are climbing rapidly.
4. Transparency in government and rule of law are gaining ground globally.
5. International travel is allowing millions of North Americans to have direct experiences with the poor – changing the relationship.
6. There is a groundswell of new intentions, new expectations and new optimism that is fueling action.
7. Business is rapidly increasing corporate philanthropy and billionaires are making incredible pledges.
8. 58: has formed to galvanize effective, unified action.
9. Christians are praying, fasting, giving and working for it.
10. With God all things are possible.
11. God wants it.

And the poverty-fighting organizations committed to making this happen:

1. Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
2. Compassion International
3. ECHO
4. Food for the Hungry
5. HOPE International
6. International Justice Mission
7. Living Water International
8. Micah Challenge
9. Plant With Purpose
10. World Relief
11. THE CHURCH!

Do you believe us? Are you with us?

No? You’re not sure?

Then please watch The Poor Will Not Always Be With Us.

If your answer is yes, then please join us, and choose your fast.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Ask any group of college students what their summer-break plans are, and here’s what you might hear: Road trip. Eat a lot. See the world. Work on a tan. Hang out with friends.

Jason Hardrath and Travis and Alissa Hilley plan to do all that and more. They will road trip for a grand total of 45 days.

They will eat a lot – nearly 5,000 calories by each sunset. They will see the world – or at least 12 states, stretching from Ocean Shores, Wash., to Liberty Island, N.Y. They will work on their tans; spending 70 to 90 miles a day on a bike should take care of that.

They will hang out with friends, camp under the stars in tents and keep in touch with buddies through email and blogs.

And by the end of their 3,000-mile bike ride, the Hilleys and Hardrath will have changed a small corner of Guatemala, providing lifesaving safe water systems for impoverished children and their families.

Going the Distance

As college students at Corban University in Salem, Ore., Jason and Travis often hop on their road bikes to take a break from studying.

Along with Alissa, Travis’ wife of nearly 10 months, the trio has long loved biking long distances.

Jason, a track and field athlete at Corban, competed in his first off-road triathlon in 2008, while Travis and Alissa biked together from Portland to Seattle while dating.

So it seemed natural to say yes to Jason’s wild idea of biking across the U.S. to raise money to fight poverty.

The impulse came to Jason during a game of Ultimate Frisbee. Why not raise funds for a great cause while burning a serious amount of calories?

Bike America Mission was born, with Jason as its president.

Alissa shares,

“We want to be in God’s plan, to see new places, challenge ourselves, meet new people and encourage them to do something about poverty.”

The recipient of the money raised on their bike ride was an easy choice. Within weeks of their wedding, Alissa and Travis, a junior majoring in biblical studies, began sponsoring Antoineta, a 5-year-old girl in Guatemala, through Compassion.

They quickly fell in love with the whole sponsorship experience, and so when Antoineta moved away from her child development center, they chose another little girl, this time a 6-year-old named Ester.

Together with Jason, they decided to raise funds for Ester’s development center. The first $2,000 raised along the route will bless the center as a gift. Anything beyond that will be used to fund safe water systems through Compassion’s Water of Life  program. Water of Life systems are portable, efficient and long-lasting.

Jason, who will graduate with his physical education degree just a few weeks before their departure, tells me that,

“Water is absolutely necessary [to Travis, Alissa and me] as we cycle 70 to 90 miles each day in the hot summer sun — as well as to families who have no accessible source of potable water.”

Water for All

The safe water systems make a small-but-invaluable dent in a worldwide problem: access to clean water. More than 4,900 children die each day from waterborne illnesses and poor sanitation – that’s one child every 18 seconds.

Children in impoverished areas suffer mightily because of this lack, sometimes carrying up to 1,000 parasitic worms in their bodies at one time.

Compassion’s Water of Life system uses filtration technology based on that of kidney dialysis machines. Weighing less than two pounds, the portable filters remove 99.99 percent of all bacteria from water, making it safe for drinking. At a cost of just $55, the system comes pre-assembled and can be set up for use in a child’s home in under five minutes. Education and sanitation training are also provided to each family as  part of the Water of Life program.

A system will provide a family with more than 1 million gallons of safe drinking water.

Geoff Peters, a Compassion product development manager, knows the value of these filters.

“As we looked to identify and serve the needs of our program beneficiaries, it became clear that while access to water was a problem in some areas, access to safe water was a problem almost everywhere.

“Water of Life, our safe water system, enables each child and his or her family to quickly and easily remove illness-causing bacteria from water regardless of its source – making the water safe to drink. The parents we have talked with give thanks for their health and that of their children and speak of renewed hope for the future.”

Coast-to-Coast Crusading

Jason, Travis and Alissa will have a support team back home as they travel from church to church and town to town. They have already raised more than $1,000 of their $25,000 goal.

Each member of the team will have plenty of time to think about the children and families they are helping during the estimated 2,677,765  turns their wheels will make between the Pacific and the Atlantic.

Travis Hilley knows their coast-to-coast trek won’t be a walk (or ride) in the park. He will be without any income for a good portion of the summer – a crucial earning time for most college students.

Yet he believes his financial uncertainty pales in comparison to what millions of children face around the world every day.

“I’m finding that God sometimes calls people to do seemingly unwise things and trust Him with the results.

“Getting out of a boat in a storm, freely giving money away and leaving a comfortable fishing environment for a vagabond lifestyle seemed like unwise decisions. Yet in each case, the people who make the ‘unwise’ decisions turn out to be on the narrow, joyful path that others miss out on. I don’t want to be one of the 11 disciples still in the boat. That is why I am biking across America this summer.”

For updates on Jason, Travis and Alissa’s trek across the country, go to their website at www.bikeamericamission.org.

Photos courtesy of Sheldon Traver of Corban University

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

The Bible says a lot about the power of prayer and fasting. In the book of Joel the Lord calls His people to turn to Him with their entire heart so He can respond with kindness and not harm.

“Now, therefore,” says the LORD,

“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm. Joel 2:12-13 (NKJV)

God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and the same kindness He wants to extend to His people in the verses above is the same kindness He wants to extend to us today.

The innocence, trust, and impressionability of children in the 4/14 Window make them open to Christ but also make them extremely vulnerable to the evils in our world that seek to forever ruin their lives and potential.

The 4/14 Window Global Initiative has called us to fast and pray today to promote the need for children worldwide to have an opportunity to experience the life-transforming hope of Christ.

Will you join us and the other supporters of the 4/14 Window Global Initiative by putting the power of fasting and prayer to work for children in our churches, cities, nations, and world?

Together, we can be a great, unified voice coming before God’s throne, praying for a new generation of Christ-followers who will transform the world.

There are three items we are highlighting about this day of fasting and prayer.

1. The theme of this fast is based on the biblical story of Esther, an orphaned girl, likely in her early teens, who called for a three-day fast to precede her intercession with the king that saved her people from annihilation. We are asking people to specifically ponder verse 4:14.
2. Join “The Esther Fast” today, fasting specifically for the protection of children in the 4/14 Window, asking God for their deliverance from the destructive influences of Satan.
3. Spend the day in prayer for the raising up of a new generation of Christ’s disciples from the 4/14 Window in your church, city, nation and world. If you are working today or have other obligations, we hope you will use your free times to pray.

Thank you for participating in this important event. Please come back and let us know how God touches your heart and mind today.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

UPDATE: Apr. 6, 2011 – Local news video spotlighting One Day Without Shoes at our Global Ministry Center.

Apr. 5, 2011 – Many children in developing countries grow up barefoot. Whether at play, doing chores or going to school, these children are at risk.

• A leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted diseases, which can penetrate the skin through bare feet. Wearing shoes can help prevent these diseases and the long-term physical and cognitive harm they cause.
• Wearing shoes also prevents feet from getting cuts and sores. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected.
• Many times children can’t attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don’t have shoes, they don’t go to school. If they don’t receive an education, they don’t have the opportunity to realize their potential.

– via www.toms.com

I’d like to encourage you to join us tomorrow in TOMS’ annual event – One Day Without Shoes – to raise awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child’s life.

Join us by taking off your shoes for the day or wearing a pair of TOMS instead. You can choose to participate for the whole day, or just for part of the day. However you choose to participate, you’ll be helping to raise awareness about children in the developing world who grow up barefoot.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

This is Emilda Soriano. She’s 18 years old and attends Salem Student Center in Iloilo City, Philippines.

The student center she attends serves a community in which many of our families scavenge here.

Child development specialists say that Emilda has the mental capacity of a 3-year-old. But this, and her environment, haven’t prevented her from qualifying to represent the Philippines in track and field at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

Regrettably, qualifying and going to Athens are two different things.

Emilda is currently training … hoping that something can be done so she can join the other 7,500 athletes who will be competing in the games.

She’s not able to make plans because activities like this can’t be funded by our Child Sponsorship Program. However, Compassion Philippines has submitted a proposal requesting additional assistance for Emilda.

This is where you come in. Let’s raise the money to send Emilda to Greece. The amount is just shy of $20,000.

Make a donation to allow Emilda to compete in the International Special Olympics. (UPDATE: Mar. 8, 2011 – 100 percent of the money has been raised.)

Assuming we can raise the money for Emilda, I plan to have at least one follow-up blog post about Emilda before the games begin and one after she’s raced. Depending on what the Philippines Country Office can support, there could be more, including video. That’s what I’m pushing for.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

A couple of weeks ago, Canadian telecommunications provider WIND Mobile launched a first-of-its-kind competition called “Best Conversation Ever,” asking Canadians the question:

If you could talk to anyone in the world, who would it be?

Five people will actually win the conversation of their dreams, and to make it happen, WIND Mobile will donate more than a half million dollars to Canadian charities.

One of the ways they’re doing this is through their Charity Challenge.

What’s the prize?

Based on your votes, the most popular charity will receive $50,000 and the five runners-up will receive $10,000 each.

As you can imagine, with $50,000 (or even $10,000), we could make a tremendous impact in the lives of the children we serve. With around 30 days left in the challenge, we need your help to win!

Please head over to BestConversationEver.ca, sign in and vote today and the next day and the next day.

How do you vote?

Create an account at BestConversationEver.ca and then vote for your Compassion Canada. All voters are allowed one vote per day per charity.

Why do you need to create an account?

People who vote are eligible to win weekly prizes, so if you are selected, “Best Conversation Ever” needs to know who you are in order to issue your prize.

Competition entries must be in by 11:59:59 p.m. ET on Wed., March 7, 2011, and are open to anyone over the age of 13 who is a resident of Canada.

What will we do with the money?

Once the votes are tallied and the winners are announced, we’re going to hold a vote on Compassion Canada’s Facebook page and you get to decide how we’re going to use the winnings.

The list will be based on our most urgent needs at that time.

Thanks everyone!

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Author Rick Bloomer and his family firmly believe in our mission. They have sponsored children for several years and consider themselves blessed to also be able to sponsor a student in our Leadership Development Program.

Over the past couple of years, my wife and I have partaken in the discipline of fasting. We have really focused on strengthening our relationship with the Lord, and with His grace and guidance we have experienced success with many challenges.

In September 2008, our daughter, who was born with spina bifida, had her only ventricular shunt revision to date (thank God). At that time and after hearing God’s calling to do so, my wife decided to do her first fast, with a dedication toward our daughter’s health. It was a 21-Day Daniel Fast, which essentially consists of consuming all natural plant-based foods only (fruits, vegetables, nuts).

About a week after our daughter’s shunt revision, we took her out of the bathtub one night and noticed that her shunt tract looked majorly infected. It was bulging out an inch from her neck.

We knew from all of our reading and study what an infected shunt looked like. We also knew that infections were somewhat common following surgery and that if she did ever have a shunt infection, it may require a hospital stay of 10+ days before it was resolved.

We quickly called the neurosurgeon and she told us to get to the hospital right away. It was about 7 p.m. We put our daughter down to sleep in our bedroom while we packed and got ready to go.

My wife, packing the suitcase on the living room floor, looked up at me and asked, “How will I ever comply with this fast while in the hospital?”

We knew after spending 14 days in the hospital after our daughter’s birth that the food certainly was not “Daniel Fast compliant.”

Couple that with the stress that is often present when dealing with such a situation and you can understand the potential difficulty here. But after thinking about it for a minute, she made it perfectly clear that because she made the commitment to the Lord, she would stick to it. My wife proceeded to pack her plain rice cakes, natural peanut butter, and fruit.

About an hour passed and we were ready to leave. My wife went in to wake our daughter and yelled for me to come into the room. When I arrived and looked at our daughter, I could see clearly that her shunt tract was perfectly normal. No bulging. No discoloration. No swelling. Perfectly and beautifully normal.

We called the neurosurgeon and she suggested to simply observe her and then to see how things looked in the morning. Well, in the morning, she looked great, and praise be to God — she has not had one major health problem since that night.

In fact, she started walking on her own this summer … a real miracle for a 2-year-old with spina bifida!

Some people might think that the issue with the shunt was mere coincidence. But we know better. That was the awesome and mighty hand of God blessing our daughter abundantly!

I strongly believe that this blessing was due to my wife’s obedience and faithfulness to the Lord during this difficult time. She accepted His challenge to complete the fast and He blessed our family because of it.

I can relay many similar stories of God’s blessings over our lives during other periods of fasting over the past two years. This is why I am so enthused about sharing the wonderful discipline of fasting with others.

In fact, a few months ago, God placed an idea in me to engage as many people as possible in a program of fasting.

Why? Because our family has experienced firsthand the absolute power of fasting and prayer and I want others to have the fulfilling experience that we have been blessed with.

But God also gave me an idea associated with the fast that involves “fasters” requesting sponsorship for their devotion and effort during the fast, in much the same way as they would if running a race or walking a 5K. This made perfect sense to me. Give up some of my food, my comfort, and my way of life in order to provide food for others in an attempt to enhance their way of life.

We decided to call the program Fasting-for-Food, and we have been working hard to develop the program over the past few months.

Because so many individuals who fast choose to follow the Daniel Fast, we have partnered with Susan Gregory (The Daniel Fast blogger), author of the best-selling book “The Daniel Fast: Feed Your Soul, Strengthen Your Spirit and Renew Your Body.”

Susan is a wonderful woman of God and oversees a New Year fast for thousands of individuals worldwide. She will be instrumental in promoting this program.

In addition, as my wife and I have been involved with Compassion over the past few years, we thought to ask Compassion to serve as the main partner, receiving funds from this initiative.

Specifically, funds raised will be directed to Compassion’s Global Food Crisis Program, to be used to provide food and other basic needs for some of the poorest people in this world.

In the true spirit of Christmas, please remember that the wise men came and gave gifts to Him and not to each other. Our own personal fasts might be the best gifts that we could ever provide to God — the giving of ourselves through a focused time of prayer and devotion to Him.

I hope that you will consider a fast this New Year. I also hope that you can help spread the word about this program so more people can learn of the benefits of Christian fasting.

It is our intent to engage as many people as possible in a fast this New Year — with the main objective of enhancing their own personal relationships with Christ.

When individual relationships are enhanced, group relationships are enhanced and good things really begin to happen.

You can learn more about this program by visiting www.fastingforfood.com.

I pray that the Lord will place on your heart the desire to dedicate yourself to Him this New Year through a focused period of fasting and prayer.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Today is a solemn day of reflection – World AIDS Day, a time set aside to bring global attention to the devastation of this silent killer.

At Compassion, World AIDS Day is also a day of gratitude for caring friends like you who have so generously given to ease the suffering, in Jesus’ name, of the AIDS-affected children and families we serve together.

It is my privilege to provide you with a downloadable report that details the effects of your compassion on the lives of children impacted by AIDS.

Thank you for taking to heart the Bible’s command in 1 John 3:18 to “not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

You are bringing the light of Christ’s love into the lives of those who truly need it the most. May God richly bless you!

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Today is World AIDS Day. As I prepared to write this post, I read through tons of articles, documents, and books about HIV and AIDS. And I was struck by:

• the amount of information that is readily at my fingertips.
• the number of lies and misconceptions that are floating around about the subject.

Image courtesy of worldaidsday.org

Today, I’d like for you to take a step out of your cultural perspective and into a life in sub-Saharan Africa, into the lie of poverty. Imagine you are a young mother in Tanzania. Your father has just died – and you know why.

AIDS has claimed his life, but your family is too ashamed to tell your neighbors this. Instead, you tell the neighbors that he died from malaria.

On top of that, you’re scared because you and your 2-year-old son lived in the family hut with him. Hundreds of thoughts cross your mind: “Do I have AIDS? I’ve eaten food after my father and I know I’ve hugged him many times. Will I die? I don’t think there is a treatment for AIDS.”

Instead of going to a clinic to get tested, you live in fear of what might be. After all, getting tested is seen to be shameful among those in your community.

What troubles me the most about this “story” is that it’s not fake. There are potentially millions of young mothers going through this situation right now.

They believe the lies that poverty tells about HIV and AIDS.

• HIV testing is unreliable.
• HIV can be spread by sharing food or hugging an affected individual.
• HIV is transmitted by mosquitoes.
• An HIV-positive mother cannot have children.
• HIV only affects drug users.
• If an individual is receiving treatment for HIV or AIDS, he or she can’t spread the virus.

We can easily educate ourselves with books, the Internet, visits to the doctor, etc. However, these resources aren’t as readily available to those in the developing world surviving on less than $1.25 a day. The truth about HIV is that it’s a preventable and treatable disease.

So today, I have a very short to-do list for you: Do something to spread awareness about the truth of HIV and AIDS.

It’s a pretty simple task. Here are a few places that’ll help you get started:

• AIDS.gov
• ONE.org
• WorldAIDSCampaign.org
• WorldAIDSDay.org

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates