World Renewal International

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Christ's Compassion Orphanage



















When Jesus walked this earth He said, ”Let the children come to me!” God’s word is clear God loves children. He had special instructions for us in the church. He said we the church should care for the children, especially the “orphans.”

God has blessed our church planting in Haiti. We have eight churches, five of which have schools. Another church plant is on the way. Brandywine’s Community Church' s Christmas offering is responsible for the provision of motorbikes for the eight pastors.
We also have a full-time staff person for the children of Haiti with Anslene Mercelus, the Haiti National children’s worker. We are so grateful for God's blessing and the help of many of you.







Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti’s children have often taken the brunt of its country’s problems. The needs of the children of Haiti are some of the most desperate in the world. Our Haiti churches are meeting the challenges the best they can but they need our help.

At the end of 2006 Pastor Luc felt they had to give care to 20 homeless orphans on the streets. World Renewal agreed to join them in meeting the biblical admonition in James 1 “to look after orphans...in their distress.” The result is Christ’s Compassion Orphanage in Gonaives, Haiti. A large house was rented. The house is very adequate but inside there is almost no furniture. This project was not a planned venture. It was an effort to take children off the streets. The children are being fed and cared for. The people in our Haiti congregations are loving the children and providing the orphanage personnel. .

But inside the house there is no stove, without a stove the food is cooked on charcoal fires. While there is a dining table and chairs, there are no other tables or cabinets in the orphanage. The house has no running water although it does have a hand pump well and we have plans to purchase an electric pump to supply the house with running water.

The 20 children all sleep on the floor. Most of the children sleep on cardboard boxes laid out on the floors. A recent garage sale at World Renewal Administrator Peggy Kingery’s and folks from the Free Methodist Church in Mt. Carmel, IL. contributed funds for 12 beds that are now being made for the children. When the children are placed in the new Christ’s Compassion Orphanage they are bathed and clothed. Most are barefoot and given shoes. This homeless boy is wearing only a shirt. He is waiting to get in to our orphanage. Our church people are feeding him the best they can, but they have little food as well. Before you leave this sight, please pray for these children, our workers and our staff. You can help us by supporting one of the children each month $30, or by helping to furnish the orphanage.

These children need our prayer and help. We will help Pastor Luc “look after orphans in their distress.” God has given us the opportunity to make a difference in these lives. We are joining our sister churches in Haiti to meet the needs of these children. We know God loves the children and we do too. We have put some smiles on some of their faces, like this boy pictured below at the orphanage. We believe everyone deserves a home and love. Again we invite you to stop and pray before you leave today. After all, we are the body of Christ.






Thanks for stopping by.
:: posted by Gary Wright, 8:15 PM | link | 0 comments |

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Master Chef-Introducing Her Friend Jesus


We welcome new missionary student intern Deborah Parker to the World Renewal Intl staff. She is our new missionary to the country of Iceland. She is studying to be a Master Chef . This allows her access to be involved with church planting. She will be leading the music ministry in this Baptist Church plant endeavor with Pastor Jeremy Gresham. Deborah says "the country of Iceland has only 300,000 people and close to 250,000 live in the capital city of Reykjavik and its suburbs. Iceland is considered a Christian nation, due to the official state church status of the Lutheran Church." However, Operation World states that there are only about 5,000 evangelical believers in the entire nation. Less than 10% are regular church attenders. It also states that the occult has moved into this spiritual vacuum and that about 40% of the population has had involvement with the occult.


Deborah says that "my decision to become a missionary is simply that of God telling me to go, an my response of obedience. When I was a child, I listened to many missionary stories, and assumed that when I grew up, that is what I would be. But as sometimes happens, when we grow up we lose our heavenly goals and focus on earthly things, until November of 2005, that is when the Lord renewed that desire and called me to Iceland."


Deborah is a member of Brandywine Community Church, Greenfield, Indiana. I encourage you to pray for this brave and courageous young lady. If you happen to find yourself in the area of Reykjavik, Iceland, stop by the Tveir Fiskar Restaurant and say, "Hi!" to Deborah Parker our new missionary. She says she is there to introduce folks to her friend "Jesus Christ."

Thanks for stopping by.
:: posted by Gary Wright, 11:27 AM | link | 0 comments |

Monday, June 25, 2007

"Look Around The Room For Answered Prayer"

Last Sunday was a day of answered prayer in the little country church. The Cruse Brothers Band for years played in the local taverns, nightclubs and restaurants. But there they were in the little country church.



Steve Lindley grew up in a Christian home and attended that little country Rush Creek Friends church. Steve's mother would take me aside when I was a young evangelist in the area and say, "We need to pray for Steve." We would take a moment and pray.



Steve would come to services I preached. He would come with his pretty girl friend, Donna. Donna is now his wife. Steve walked away from the country church. Steve became the drummer for the Cruse Brothers Band. After years of the things that went with this lifestyle, Steve Lindley then walked away from the band and returned to Christ and the little country church.



Mike Cruse became so involved with drugs and alcohol he lost everything. He left the band. But others, like his family, left him because of the drugs and all that went with it. He found himself in jail, then under house arrest at his parents home. He had no where is to go. He was a middle-aged man living with his parents, no where else to go.



I remember the day Doug Newnum brought a new guy with him to sing in Renewal on a ministry trip to Deep Creek United Methodist Church in Virginia. As we stood on the stage I turned to my left, our new tenor was Steve Lindley. Many years had gone by but I remembered the prayers with his mom. I thought, "God is so faithful to prayers moms pray."



Everyone once and a while, Doug and Steve would talk about the Cruse Brothers and what gifted musicians they were. They longed to see these men that they had gone to high school with come to Christ and they could see a vision for them and their talents. We would talk and pray for the brothers they loved. They even asked me, "Could we bring Mike on a weekend of ministry? We think that is all it would take for him to come to Christ." It never happened. Mike's life was spinning out of control as I earlier described.



Then, kneeling by his bed in the early morning hours, still under house arrest, wearing the sheriff's ankle bracelet, Mike asked God to save him. Fire swept through Mike's body and heart. He was clean inside and out, washed by the blood of Jesus! He started a new life. God has slowly helped him restore relationships with family. Mike has a great heart for Christ. His passion seems next to none. Doug and Steve invited him to a weekend of ministry with us in Renewal. He has been with us ever since. He and wife Chris along with Doug and Steve and their families all attend the little country church. When they are not out as Renewal with me, they are one dynamic little country church worship team. Mike's brother Steve Cruse started attending the little country church several weeks ago. Last Sunday he joined them on the platform with his electric guitar. His solos on the guitar during "Grace Like Rain" and "Where Could I Go But To The Lord," were the sounds of both skill and the sweetness of Jesus. You see, I was there too. We all rejoiced at what Jesus was and is doing in our lives. The Cruse brothers parents were there along with their wives. God is good.



Doug and I were rejoicing after the service about God's faithfulness. Doug had been faithful to the Lord and His church all these years. But they, the four of them, had all gone to school together. He had always like them and respected their talents in music. Doug said with tears in his eyes, "Yeah, when my kids were little, I would tuck them into bed and pray with them. We would pray for the Cruse brothers." Doug's kids are mostly grown now but were in the service that day. They saw what we were all seeing. At one point in the service I had said, "If you want to see answered prayer, just look around the room." What a God!
[Outside the little country church last Sunday, Steve Lindley, Steve and Mike Cruse, Doug Newnum]
Thanks for Stopping by.
:: posted by Gary Wright, 4:34 PM | link | 1 comments |

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

If I Was The Enemy, I Would Be Worried When This Generation Of Christians Wake Up In The Morning!


The director of the camp, Pastor Carl Davis [below], Cornerstone Fellowship Missionary Church, Wichita, Ks. said to the campers at the 2007 Timber Lake Missionary Church Camp, near Ottawa, K.S., “God is here, in the Bible there were occasions when people felt the need to take off their shoes and bow before God, you may want to do this.” [Now this Pastor Carl Davis was the prayingest thing I have been around, always praying.] He walked back and handed me the wireless microphone and said, “I do not know what you should do next.” I walked to the stage and looked a scene I had never viewed before. The entire auditorium of teenagers were laying flat on their faces before God! The Namelessfaces band [seen above http://www.namelessfacesmusic.com/ ]had done a wonderful job of leading worship. These boys are good. They had carefully followed the leading of the Spirit of Christ. I wanted to do the same. After a long quiet time of seeking the Lord, I asked the teens to return to their seats. I challenged them to be “Committed Beyond Choice” believers, the pre-meditated choice being ‘Yes’ to whatever God would ask them to do with their lives. I told them that I thought some would have to die for their faith and this was serious. It was good that I vacated the space in front of the altar as I would have been run over in their dash to commitment.



I tell you if I were the enemy, Satan, I would be worried when this generation of Christians wake up each morning. They seem willing to do whatever it will take to share Christ to a violent world. It is a privilege to minister to them. Every leader I talk to abut this generation sees it. They are different than the previous generations. As youth evangelist Caleb Bislow says, "They seem to be looking for something to give their lives for." They are living in a time when suicide bombers have affected all of our lives. They seem to understand in a real way what it means to give you life to Christ. I feel honored to be with them and to try and teach and preach to them.

“In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe Waiting for the emerging of a Spirit-led, SPIRIT EMPOWEREDpeople.All of creation watches expectantly for the springingup of a disciplined, freely gathered,martyr people who know in this lifethe life and power of the kingdom of God.It has happened before.It can happen again…….”~Richard Foster~

Thanks for stopping by.


Gary's New Life Verse
Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. PS. 71:18

Caleb Bislow[left] made this same "Committed Beyond Choice" decision when I spoke at Bethel College in 1995. He is the one I handed a five dollar bill to and said that his life should be like the $5, give it to God and let God spend it anyway, anywhere at anytime He chooses. Caleb was raised at this camp and has often been a speaker at Timber Lake Camp. He says that Camp Director Carl Davis is one of the men who helps him make decisions for his own ministry. In his own ministry he says he is trying to recruit, train and deploy what he calls "unusual soldiers" who will leave everything behind and risk everything follow Christ wherever He leads. Unusual Soldiers-Warriors of Christ who sense a call to take the love of Christ to dark, dangerous, and unreached regions. Check him out at web.mac.com/unusualsoldiers
:: posted by Gary Wright, 3:47 PM | link | 0 comments |

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

It Happened One Winter Night




[Pictured-Brian and wife, Twila]
On January 12 of 1991 my mother passed away. I was not with her. My dad was with her. My brother Mark and his wife Kathy were with her, but I was not with her. I have always felt guilty that I was not there. Where was I? I was preaching in Colorado. I have always felt sad that I was not there for her, my dad and brother and his wife.
Recently, I was to speak at Barclay College, Haviland, Kansas. Before the chapel started a gentleman came up to me and began to talk to me. I could tell he knew me, but it was another awkward moment when I did not know who he was. I finally said, “We have met before?” With a twinkle in his eye and a laugh he said, “Oh Yes! You have gotten me in a lot of trouble!” Shocked and not knowing what to say I said, “Where did I do this?” “Paonia, Colorado,” he said. “How did I get you in trouble?” I asked. “You introduced me to Jesus,” he said smiling and with warmness in his voice. I asked to meet him later and he told me his story. I then asked him to write it down.

Brian’s Story: It Happened One Winter Night

On reflection, it seems like it was a really long trip. Not the distance from the pew to the altar, but the life trip that got me to that seat in the pew in the first place. No efficient Euclidian straight line between two points, this; in God’s geometry, my points were connected by an intergalactic parabola.

Where even to begin? A little background: as a pre-war model, I date to the second administration of FDR. Mother’s family were (and are) of the New England Congregational tradition while my father’s people were (and are) Roman Catholic – although my father left that church as a young man. My parents were both – and I was raised – Unitarian. The church we attended had a Sunday school for kids through age thirteen, and I opted out at the end of the program. Home, school, and social life was stoic postwar paranoid America of the time: duty, honor, country, commies and H-bombs in the anxiety closet, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the U.S.A.,” suck it up and press on, and I didn’t buy into a bit of it.

My journey continued. I dropped out of high school in my senior year to pursue motor racing, and spent a couple of years on the fringes of the Big Time. I found my way back to school, did my senior year over in just three months, and on to university. About 80% of the way through, tragedy struck, my life fell entirely to pieces, and out I flunked: freefall. Many years of substance abuse, ill-advised choices, and unsuitable relationships ensued. Through all of this, I know that I was craving – wanting – seeking – something.

“Something” took the form of an opportunity to fight back, and radical politics was both message and medium. “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” “Viva Che!” “The revolution will not be televised!” “Stop the war in Vietnam – bring the soldiers home!” In addition to the sex, drugs, and rock & roll (which, as it turned out, was mostly what “The Struggle” was about) I was introduced to the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism of Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese monk of the 1200s. This resonated well with me, and I became a student and practitioner; and to my search for a revolution was added a search for enlightenment.

The revolution hasn’t happened yet, but enlightenment did (The old caveat of “Be careful what you seek [pray for]” is not exclusive to Christianity!). Stated simplistically, I experienced satori as a recognition that an enlightened person is one who knows God. How, in fact, does one come to know, and I mean really know, God? The scripture of only one of the world’s religions has that answer, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me,’” Jn14.6 nrsv. An approachable, knowable God! Found nowhere else! The answer!

This development is the line drawn under the existential sum of all that had passed before. Life began changing in positive ways. Deprived of a family for years, I began a healthy relationship with a single mom with four children, a true 1 Peter 3.3-4 lady. I began attending church with her in the little western Colorado town where we lived, and became better acquainted with the teachings of Jesus. And most, if not all, was good – at home and at Paonia Friends Church


Then, a weekend series of renewal services was scheduled. “Gary Wright is coming,” they said. Never heard of him – who’s he? “An evangelist from Ohio. You have to come hear him, he’ll change your life.” Okay, we can come, we could use a little renewal now and then, eh? But life change, well, I just don’t think so, man.

And Gary did indeed come to Paonia for the weekend services, but word was quietly passed that as his mother was quite seriously ill he might need to head back home on short notice. This was not apparent in Gary’s ministry to us, either in his preaching or in his obvious concern for the Paonia people. But then, prior to the last service there, we learned that Gary’s mother had passed away; and Gary would be leaving for home—after he was done ministering to us!

The message that night was based on the story of Zacchaeus, the vertically-challenged, despised (and probably corrupt) tax collector of Luke 19.1-10. Now I can identify with Zacchaeus (on several levels) and his response to Jesus’ invitation to “come on down.” But the Holy Spirit had a more powerful witness for me to understand: when I saw the peace and strength Gary had in Jesus in the face of this personal sorrow, I absolutely knew I had to tap into the source of that security. I mean, here he was, ministering to us when he had every right to have been on his way home hours ago!

So there I was on a winter night, in Paonia Friends Church, witnessing a bereaved man minister to us with the love and power of Christ. And when the invitation came at the end, the Spirit had me out of that pew and down to the altar, welcoming Christ fully into my life as Lord and Master. It was cold, there was snow on the ground, but I do not believe I made any footprints on my way out that night. My life literally has not been the same since. The “before” trip was over; the “after” trip was beginning. And I know all heaven rejoiced, having welcomed a dear sister home and a long-lost sheep into the fold – within hours of each other.

My story doesn’t end there, of course. Gary came back to Paonia and ministered to us the following summer, with another attendant life change, but that is a story for another time. I always regretted not thanking him for his ministry and powerful witness to us that winter, yet God graciously allowed our paths to cross recently, and we re-connected. I finally was able to share my story. Thank you, my brother, and bless you!
[Used by Permission]

I said to Brian, “I need to tell you something. Before I came to Colorado that weekend I called my mother who was at my parents home (a ten hour drive from my home) under hospice care for her terminal cancer. Surprisingly, she answered the phone! Her voice seemed full of energy and not at all what I expected from the reports I had heard. She asked, ‘Where are you preaching this weekend?’ “Panoia, Colorado, but I am not going. I am coming to see you.” My mother was quiet and shy, but not on this occasion. “Oh No!” she said, “I am fine. You go to Colorado and do what I raised you to do. I raised you to preach the Gospel, now you go do what I raised you to do!” So I did. But on my second day there she died. That night was Brian’s night. I then preached the next morning as it was Sunday and flew home.”

Later, Brian told me he does not think he would have come to Christ without that weekend. My dear friend Peggy Kingery said, “God turned in heaven to your mother and patted her on the head and said, ‘Barbara, you did good!” Yes, momma was right and now the guilt and pain are gone. [Pictured is Barbara Milner Wright with my dad, myself and my brothers Richard and Mark] Having this new information blessed me so on Mother's Day this year. Why? My mother looked at herself through colored glasses that saw her husband, sons and daughter-in-laws as doing good things. Seldom did it seem that she saw herself this way. So she stayed as far in the background as life would permit. It is so wonderful to know that one of her last acts on earth was so unselfish and so righteous. I love you momma. You really were good.

Note: Brian Hanneken serves as the Associate Academic Dean of Barclay College, Haviland, Kansas. He works with non-traditional students and extended studies. He graduated from Western Evangelical Seminary in 1995 with a Masters Degree in Biblical Studies-New Testament. He has since served in Christian education and the pastorate.
Thanks for stopping by.
:: posted by Gary Wright, 8:34 PM | link | 0 comments |