Our birthdays have always been quiet events. For every birthday that has come along each year, we have simply chosen to celebrate as a family. But this year was Loyal’s sweet sixteen, and her friend Olivia thought we should have a big celebration. Well, that made sense to us, and so we planned. I suppose it was a typical party – good food, teens, games and laughter, with brownies and ice cream to top it off. However, this birthday still held a unique touch. Instead of presents, Loyal asked each of her guests to bring a gift for PPF’s 100 Wells Campaign.

For about seven years, I have been following Persecution Project Foundation, receiving colorful, sometimes shocking, and informative newsletters about the persecuted of Sudan and what many were doing to stand by them. I have always read these bits of news to my children and would pray, occasionally sending whatever gift I could spare. I would even encourage my children to give if they had a little cash, and they were always very willing.

Loyal grew up hearing about Africa, knowing the difficult dynamics there, sharing with them, and even watching movies like Amazing Grace. She has always been moved by the plight of the many beautiful Africans she has heard, seen, or read about. One day I was watching a video about a church being built in an African village. There were many images of people carrying bricks to the building site and multiple lovely and bright smiling African faces. I turned and looked over my shoulder to see tears falling from Loyal’s eyes.

These experiences decorate her memories and were foundational to her genuine and sincere interest to dedicate her birthday to the persecuted in Sudan. I had already initiated fundraising efforts with our youth group at Vashon Island Community Church, and Loyal saw her birthday as an opportunity to raise money for our group’s goal to raise $15,000 for one well. Two hundred and fifty dollars were brought in and a private donor from our church had matched it with a $250 gift. She was very happy with the results.

Truly, Loyal wasn’t sure at first if she wanted her story shared, but as we talked about inspiring others to act, she decided it was a good idea. This year she will continue to work with all of us as we mobilize our church and community to share water with Sudan’s countless oppressed people. She has already helped with so much, including personally making 160 candles to sell for our goal of building one well.

I marvel at the profound and gentle kindness of a child in comparison to the wicked rulers we sometimes find on earth. When Jesus said that out of the mouths of babes, God has ordained praise and wisdom, He sure knew what He was talking about – as He always does! Loyal is definitely one example of ordinary youth doing extraordinary things to make a difference for Christ in our world.

Fairlawn Baptist Church’s children’s ministry, “Prayground” got active in raising financial support for the 100 Wells Campaign this summer. The children’s ministry is made up of about 40 children ranging from 1st to 5th grade.

“Prayground” chooses a monthly mission project to support. In August, 2011, they chose to support PPF’s Safe Water Projects. Their donation will help us bring more clean water to the Darfur refugees in Jaac.

Although my family has supported PPF for several years, it wasn’t until last year that I began to read about the 100 Wells Campaign. I live in one of the rainiest states in the U.S., so no one worries about not having enough water to drink. I’ve never wondered where my next meal will come from or lacked clothing or a roof over my head.

When I learned that people in Sudan were not only suffering from extreme persecution, but that they also lacked basic necessities, my heart felt torn. I had always known people around the world suffered like this, but it wasn’t until I started learning more about the 100 Wells Campaign, that it became real to me.

I desperately wanted to fix this problem, but what could one girl do? I was challenged by Persecution Project’s slogan: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” So I bought a 100 Wells bracelet to remind me of the cause I was supporting.

Over the next few months, I bought more bracelets and t-shirts. I began to wonder if I could introduce the campaign to my church. Within a few months, I stood before the members of my church. My knees were shaking, and my voice was barely audible, but people responded. Some gave what they could. Some were interested in learning more about the project. Some spread the word about the 100 Wells Campaign on their Facebook pages. People were becoming more aware of the crisis in Sudan.

God continued to open doors for me to talk about the wells. I spoke at a second church. I hosted a booth at a church conference. I told my friends at youth group and Bible study. I was even interviewed on a local television station.

Despite my prayers and attempts to touch people’s hearts and to affect someone’s life in Sudan, I believe it has been my heart that has been moved the most. While living in comfort and safety, it is easy to forget about those who are in need. It is easy to continue on in ignorance. But when you begin to think of the people of Darfur as your family members, or when you begin to envision your loved ones suffering under similar circumstances, you must do something to help. The 100 Wells Campaign forced me to step outside of my personal bubble.

My speaking engagements have proven one thing to me beyond a shadow of a doubt. When you start where you are and do what you can, God is faithful to open doors. And in the process, I have found myself truly blessed.

This young girl gets a mouthful of fresh, clean water from a new well.

By using your community in America to support their community in Darfur, thousands of lives are saved. But, most importantly, many souls are saved as well. God has presented PPF with a perfect opportunity to teach the Gospel message in word and deed to many people who have never heard about Jesus Christ. We give them something their bodies need: clean water. And then we introduce them to the Water of Life that nourishes their souls.

More than 100 years ago, the boll weevil destroyed much of the area’s cotton crop and forced farmers to diversify by planting other plants – including peanuts, which became a new cash crop. In gratitude for the unexpected blessing of this little bug, citizens of Enterprise built a monument in the center of town as a reminder that good things can come from unexpected places.

Matt Chancey presents at a PPF fundraiser.

But Enterprise is also the home town of PPF Director, Matt Chancey, and recently, many of his family and friends turned out at a reception to support PPF’s 100 Wells Campaign. At the event, Matt introduced his neighbors to the work of PPF and told them how they could engage in “active compassion for the persecuted.”

“It’s really easy to live in a bubble,” said Chancey, who has been with PPF since its incorporation in 2000. “Christians are so blessed in America that we forget that much of the Church is still being persecuted.”

Assisting Matt at the reception was Justice Tom Parker from the Alabama Supreme Court. Justice Parker drove down from his office in Montgomery to serve as Master of Ceremonies. “The most important job I have is not being a judge, but being a servant of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” said Parker. “More Christians have been killed for their Faith in the last 100 years than in the last 1,900 years. And we have a responsibility to intervene and assist our brothers and sisters who are suffering.”

Matt commented how easy it is to organize a small event like the one in Enterprise and encouraged the participants to become ambassadors for the persecuted by hosting their own events, whether it is in their homes, churches, or places of business.

“All of us have something to give persecuted Christians. Whether it’s our time, prayers, or financial assistance, we can all do something. That’s why our motto at PPF is ‘Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.’”

Carol Hudgins contacted our office and told us her idea to raise money for PPF to drill another well. She recruited church members, family and friends to seek sponsors and to participate in the walk. On March 14, 41 walkers gathered for the event.

Carol Hudgins (middle row center in front of the tree) with the rest of her team of walkers.

With one couple from her church providing a matching gift, Carol and the rest of the participants raised $7,833, enough to provide clean water for 253 refugees for the rest of their lives! Carol says, “It is not the size [of the group] but the HEART, and with the Persecution Project Foundation motto ‘Do what you can, where you are, with what you have,’ anything is possible when we all work together with the Lord’s help.”

Thank you, Carol, for your inspiring example of faith in action!

“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also  is Christ. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” – 1 Corinthians 12:12, 17

By its very name, a divine appointment is when an individual or a group of individuals meet one another not by chance, but by an orchestration of events governed by our heavenly Father.

We’ve all experienced divine appointments at some juncture in our lives. When we met our spouses, when we found the perfect job, and even when we found a ministry partner who complemented our talents and abilities.

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12 that God is ultimately in charge of how the Body of Christ functions. We read in verse 6 that “there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.”

In March, our Lord enabled two of our ministry partners to work together to bring water to Jaac. A divine appointment to demonstrate that we are indeed many members, yet one body.

Mariel and Ken are preparing for a May wedding.

I was contacted early in the month by Mariel, a bride-to-be from Michigan. She and her fiance, Ken, acknowledged that they both had been very blessed by God and felt that they already had everything they needed. Instead of accepting personal wedding gifts, the couple invited their guests to donate to the drilling of a well in Jaac through Persecution Project Foundation.

Her only concern was that they might not raise enough to cover the cost of an entire well.

I mentioned to Mariel that PPF had just received a first-time gift, designated for wells, from New Hope Community Church in Ohio. I explained how the gifts received from her wedding could be combined with New Hope’s donation. Lord-willing, we would then have enough to drill another well.

New Hope Community Church worship service.

Mariel excitedly agreed and quickly added New Hope’s name to her wedding registry. I sent the wedding website link to the pastors of New Hope to encourage them that their gift was being leveraged. The pastors were so excited that one of them posted a blog to the members of the congregation and included the link to Mariel’s wedding website.

I then sent Mariel a link to the pastor’s blog. She wrote back, “This is so cool. I feel tearful and goose bumps all at the same time. Thank you for partnering us with New Hope. I’m eager to see what our awesome God is going to do!”

Many members, one Body, and an awesome God orchestrating it all for His glory.

Dear Friends,

Each year for Christmas, I give my family’s “gifts” to a ministry that would be of interest to each one. There are 26 of us, and when we get together, I tell them where their gift went, and give them some literature about that project and ministry.

This year, the gifts for the married men (6 plus my husband who lives in heaven) were sent to PPF for the well project. I said I knew how they would feel if they couldn’t even provide safe water for their families, then each one (all 24 who were there) received a bottle of water with a tag attached.

The tag read, “‘And whosoever shall give a drink unto one of these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42) Together, in the name of Jesus, we have provided water for life to a family of 7 for $210. What an investment!”

I choose gifts that match interests. For example, a nurse provided medical supplies for a clinic, and a granddaughter who is allergic to mosquito bites, provided bed nets for a family in Africa. A three-year-old boy sent 2 soccer balls to a school in South America. Then each one is encouraged to pray that their gift will be a blessing and used to the Glory of God.

The family loves it, and the other gifts under the tree are from the dollar store, or little freebies or silly things I have collected during the year. Each year I pray that the Lord will help me choose wisely, and that everyone will be pleased. Praise God, we have a wonderful time, and no one ever feels slighted.

Just thought you might be interested in knowing you had a part in our Christmas celebration.

Sincerely in Christ,

D. H. (Helenville, WI)

Dear PPF,

It’s amazing the way God works things out in His own way and time. We are able to look back on the sequence of events and see that His hand and His perfect timing were involved even while we could not see it. Christmas this year was a wonderful example of this for my husband and me.

First of all, in October, my brother deployed to Afghanistan with the Air Force and has been telling my family stories of all the need there is among the Afghan people. The faces and stories of those who have less than I do has been at the forefront of my mind for the first time in my extremely comfortable American life. When you realize that “the poor” really do have names, faces, families, feelings, and souls, it’s amazing how much more they start to matter to you.

God has, for the past few years, placed a burden on our hearts (my husband’s and mine) to somehow teach our children to celebrate Christmas differently than everyone else does. The problem was that I thought this meant we just needed to spend less and that simply spending less would teach our kids that Jesus is the “reason for the season”.

This year, God led a Sunday School teacher at our church to choose the “Advent Conspiracy” curriculum (www.adventconspiracy.org) to be a short term adult class as a filler for the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My husband and I missed the first two classes due to our family’s vacation, and our Advent Conspiracy book lay next to our bed unopened and unread.

When we got home from our vacation, while I was sorting through our huge stack of mail, I opened a letter from the Persecution Project Foundation, explaining the 100 Wells Campaign and offering the t-shirts and bracelets for donations to the campaign. I immediately thought, “That’s a great idea; I should order one of each for myself.” I put the letter in a pile to deal with later, and went on with life.

The following Sunday, we attended our first Advent Conspiracy Sunday School class entitled “Give More”, and I came home in tears. It was about giving more valuable things to those who mean so much to us; giving things like time, homemade or handmade gifts, or contributions to a cause that would mean something to that special person, instead of spending to excess on things those special people don’t really need. The emphasis of the segment was on getting away from the consumerism that permeates all of American society, especially at Christmas. I realized this was the answer I had been looking for. I told my husband, who never looks at the mail, about the letter we had received from Persecution Project, and asked him what he thought about the shirts and about the idea of doing Christmas differently this year. He asked me to give him the day to think about it. He watched video clips on the Persecution Project’s website, and at the end of the day, he told me he believed we should order a shirt for everyone in his family. Imagine my surprise when, the next day, I read the whole Advent Conspiracy book, and learned that the cause on the authors’ hearts and that they advocate giving our “excess” money to a named NGO that digs fresh water wells for areas in the world without access to it! I couldn’t believe it. We picked a cause and an organization we believe in because we know it and trust it (Persecution Project Foundation), but what we picked is accomplishing the same purpose that the Advent Conspiracy authors have on their heart: to provide both physical and spiritual quenching of thirst.

The shirts arrived in time for Christmas (thank you!), and we prepared a short presentation to explain to the family why we were doing something so different and “weird” this year for Christmas. We aren’t sure anyone else will follow along and do Christmas differently with us next year, but we are taking the Advent Conspiracy message (which we believe is a very Biblical message) to heart and from now on we are going to “Spend less. Give More. Worship fully.” with our celebration of Christmas.

God saved the best part for our family, however, and the story does not end with the shirts presented to my husband’s family. Before we left our home for the family Christmas gathering on Christmas Day, my husband was explaining to our four year old what we were doing with the shirts. He explained that the money for the shirts was going to help the children in Sudan to have water to not only quench their physical thirst, but also to open the door for them to be told about Jesus who can quench their spiritual thirst and give them living water. My husband played some of the Persecution Project video clips about the 100 Wells Campaign, and explained to our four year old that providing water will let these kids know that Jesus loves them, came to die and rise again to save them from their sins and that anyone who loves Jesus with their whole heart can go to Heaven to be with him forever.

At this moment, without any prompting, our little boy looked at my husband and said, “Daddy I love Jesus with all my heart.” It brought us both to our knees in tears of joy and thanksgiving. It’s the first time he has verbalized his love for, and faith in, Jesus.

We originally thought that God was bringing this all together to use us to make an impact on our extended family, while we were doing something small to help bring water to Sudan. What we now see is that God brought this all together at the right time to allow the 100 Wells Campaign to have a profound impact on US. It brought understanding of the love of Jesus to our oldest child, and changed our Christmas morning into one of the most precious and worshipful experiences we have ever had. It was the best Christmas ever, and we can only imagine what God has in store for us as we “do Christmas differently” next year and from now on.

Thank you for being part of God’s plan for us. We are so glad God has blessed us to be able to contribute a small portion to the bigger work you are doing in His name.

I have included a picture of my husband’s family that they gave me permission to share. We were missing three members due to a last minute case of the flu, and Great-Grandma (who is 92 and received a 100 Wells Campaign bracelet) was not in the picture because she cannot stand for long. My husband and I are seated on the floor in front, and the three boys are ours. Caleb, our oldest, loves Jesus with all his heart!

Sincerely,
B.W. (Zanesville, OH)