National Workers: More Than A Job
May 21st, 2012

Traveling through India, church planter P. Sudhakar finds his ministry both challenging and rewarding.

“It is a great blessing to us to plant churches in the remote villages and to preach the word of God to save many perishing souls. There are few evangelists are willing to go to these places.

During the summer we hold evangelistic open-air meetings in villages with no church plant. We proclaim the gospel and distribute thousands of gospel tracks and New Testaments. This ministry is a blessing to many people.

In my village where I live, there is a Sunday Worship service where we preach God’s Word and take part in the Lord’s Supper Table. We conduct Thanksgiving prayer meetings in the villages.  Our team makes regular home visits. We pray for the distressed, sick, troubled, needy and orphans. We counsel them with God’s Word. All are invited to the Sunday Service.”

Please pray for P. Sudhakar and that this India church planting ministry would bear much fruit.

Posted by Stephanie Pickard in India; National Worker   |  0 Comment(s)  |  Leave a Comment

General Ministries: Greek Friday
May 18th, 2012

Please read below an update from Fotis on the situation in Greece.  We thank you for your continued support and prayers!

The spring has not come to Greece yet this year...it is a raining, moody, gray and crying day which is harmonizing with the situation in Greece.

As you may have heard there is essentially an appointed government in Greece at this time according to our constitution as the recent elections failed to provide an elected one. The acting prime minister is the head of judges in Greece who will serve, along with his cabinet, until elections take place again on June 17th.

The entire country is almost crying....

A drastic dilemma for Greece is either to meet the austerity measures put up by the EU or to withdraw from the European Union altogether. The simpler version of this very important question is: Euro or Drachma (the old currency of Greece).
It is very difficult for Greek people to decide clearly as they are facing so many daily challenges. The exit of Greece out of European Union means the most catastrophic scenario not only for the Greek but for the international economy as well.

About 500 people are losing their jobs everyday so more than 14,000 new unemployed people entering this dreadful stage of life every month staying practically helpless and hopeless. The highest unemployment rate is among young people 18 to 28 years old which 50% is!!
In the midst of this financial and social turmoil Greek churches are reaching out to their neighbors in need. That creates a huge platform of ministry opportunity; this is why I believe that the Lord has prepared AMG to be here for times such as these.

We would like you to continue praying for our country, coworkers and ourselves during these challenging times.

• Thank the Lord for the first part of the National Missions Conference which took place at CVC last Saturday. We had 12 wonderful hours of sharing the vision of the Great Commission with hundreds of people.
• Please be praying for the second half of the conference which will be taking place in the Biblical city of Thessaloniki tomorrow Saturday May the 19th.
• Pray for the new educational program we will be starting this week with a team from Colorado Christian University followed up by a team from Southern Baptist Seminary from Louisville KY. Especially pray for our coworker Costas Tsevas who is leading this program as he is facing several health issues again.
• Pray for our bookstores and our coworkers serving them as they stand in the midst of the market place bringing the message of hope.
• Pray for Bill Baldwin, one of the founders of Greek Bible College, who suffered a severe stroke yesterday. The Baldwin’s have been serving in Greece for more than 45 years now.
• Thank the Lord for the completion of one more school semester, and the wonderful class of 13 young people that the Lord entrusted me to serve during this time.
• Pray for the preparation of many short term mission teams we expect to host and expect to send out from Greece this summer.
• Pray for St. Luke’s hospital and the 450 workers there serving approximately 2,200 people every month. We depend on the Lord on every day.
• Pray for sensitivity and wisdom as we receive so many requests for help from all over Greece. Our strength is limited but God’s love and power are unlimited...

We are learning to depend literally on the Lord for each day and this is the greatest lesson the crisis is teaching us all...to depend only on Him...

Till next time,
Fotis Romeos

"Rejoice in the Lord always.." Phil 4:4

Posted by Karen Farney in Greece   |  0 Comment(s)  |  Leave a Comment

Child Sponsorship: Shaping Lives in Guatemala
May 18th, 2012

With a love for sports and children, Jose Luis has worked at Camp Canaan in Guatemala since 1984. He helped build the camp and develop a year-round program.

Jose Luis explains how Camp Canaan is important to the overall ministry in Guatemala. He serves with his wife Orfa Meza as Camp Director.  

“This ministry gives us the opportunity to be close to the children and teenagers who attend camp. We are able to advise them, guide them and love them just the way they are. We give them our friendship, confidence and teach them spiritual and moral values.

Camp Canaan Director- Jose Luis

Most of all we talk about God Almighty who makes our dreams come true, who loves us and has a purpose for our lives. God wants us to be part of His kingdom and gives us a family so we can make a reality the verse “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6). We set a personal devotional, leadership, develop of abilities in the children who attend the camp in order that they will be able to support the local churches.

We see all the children and teenagers as our own children because we have seen how they have grown during all these years. It is not a job for me to be in the camp, it is a big ministry that God put in our lives. My family and I have made a commitment with the Lord to serve Him until the very last moment of our lives.

Something very special of this ministry is to hear the children and teenagers call us daddy and mommy. This encourages us to serve the Lord even more.”

Jose Luis

Camp Canaan Director

Posted by Stephanie Pickard in Guatemala, Camp Canaan   |  0 Comment(s)  |  Leave a Comment

Child Sponsorship: Grown Up and Following Christ
May 17th, 2012

Jim & Drew Everett’s time in Uganda is now coming to a close.  Please pray for them as they travel back and process their months ministering to the beautiful people of Uganda. 

We just received a quick update from Drew after they traveled with some of the older AMG Sponsored children on a mission trip to a secular university in Uganda. 

“Have you ever wondered what happens to those children who were sponsored in the AMG Uganda program, when they became older?  Spending 12 hours on a bus (and that’s only one way) and three days with these first alumni who are now in university  is enough to make anyone proud, smile with joy, and need a good set of earplugs.  Their caring Christian love towards each other never wavered even after late nights and early morning wake-ups at 4:00.  Each one worked hard at being part of a team and yet giving the glory to the others and the Lord.  The infectious laughter nearly blew the windows out of the bus, but didn’t quite reach the crescendo of their singing which was accompanied by the rhythmical drumming of their empty water bottles.  And they freely shared the roasted corn bought road-side, fried grasshoppers, and roasted matoki (type of bananas).  Shouts of “There’s some more!” accompanied the many zebras we saw, Uganda cobs (a smallish deer with long antlers), and a big crocodile…and we weren’t even in a game park. 

Dr. Reuben, our national director decided that it was time for these first graduates from our program to be taken on a mission’s trip to test their wings.  They were to give a three-day conference at a secular college on “Do not defile yourselves” taken from Daniel 1:8.  To see the spiritual maturity of these young people as they held workshops, preached, lead worship, and just hung out with around 300 other college kids was amazing!  The depth of their Bible knowledge is a true testimony to the excellent training they received from AMG when they were kids.  Jimmy and I wished that we were as articulate and poised as they gave the heart rending stories of their lives and why they were orphans and yet through AMG were given a hope for the future.  One of our favorite boys, Willbano lost both parents, had to build his own house and was imprisoned by his uncles (at the age of 14) who wanted to steal his family land.

Many of the young adults Jimmy and I were together with we have known since they were in primary school and have watched with wonder as they have grown into beautiful, bright, Christians.  I only wish I knew all their US sponsors so I could tell them personally how their giving has made a change in these lives that is beyond measure.”

We praise the Lord that we have been able to be part of these young adults coming to know Christ and growing in Him with the help of our sponsors and our co-workers in Uganda.  Please continue to pray for the Children’s Ministry in Uganda and all over the world, that those children in our sponsorship program will come to know Christ and follow hard after Him.  

Posted by Karen Farney in Child Sponsorships, Uganda   |  0 Comment(s)  |  Leave a Comment

Mission Trips: What Three Teams Have in Common
May 15th, 2012

If I mentioned, Easton Baptist Church in Massachusetts and Riverside Christian Church & Fellowship Bible Church in New Hampshire, could you tell me what they all have in common?  Yes, they are all churches, they all have 3 word names, they are all located in the North East, and hold church services weekly; but what connects these three churches at a much deeper level? 

Easton Bible Church - February 2011

In February 2011, Easton Baptist Church, located just south of Boston, sent a group from their congregation to a small school in Guatemala – Las Vistas.  It is a school of 210 students ages 5 – 18 that was started by AMG International over 10 years ago.  The facility needed painting, so this crew began working on a “makeover” for the facility.  

Riverside Christian Church - February 2012

Fast forward to February of 2012, and a team from Riverside Christian Church in Manchester, New Hampshire, joined the work and helped continue the development by building a retaining wall to help protect the children and make the facility look more like a school.  In April of 2011 and 2012, two different teams from Fellowship Bible Church in Derry, New Hampshire continued the work that had been started and helped with the painting of the classrooms and the new wall built just a few months earlier.

Fellowship Bible Church - April 2012

If you were to go to Las Vistas, located in Guatemala City, today, you would find a beautifully painted (yellow and blue) facility with a very nice looking retaining wall that is decorated by plants and rocks.  The effort of total strangers who live miles apart has been united together in one facility for the glory of God.

Las Vistas - April 2012

None of these teams could have completed the project alone!  All of them needed the others to complete the task assigned.  And thanks to the prayers and support of so many others, the task has been completed, and the children of Las Vistas get to experience the fruits of the labor of these teams.  Three very different groups from different churches at different times came to a single place that God might be glorified in their effort.  He has been, and will continue to be glorified as the ministry there continues on.  Thank you all for your sacrifice and for your service.  The children and workers at Las Vistas thank you as well.

Written by: Ken Ivins - Mission Adventure Team Leader

Posted by Karen Farney in Guatemala, Mission Adventures   |  0 Comment(s)  |  Leave a Comment