Building Up

As I reread my last post, I began to wonder if I spent too much time railing and not enough time building up. To balance, I thought I would talk about a couple of the people/groups that my family supports and has supported. There is much good going on out there, and more opportunities to get involved and support the work of God than there are excuses not to do so. And so, on with the list:

• Eastern European Missions
  Since before a hole was poked in the Iron Curtain, EEM has been bringing Bibles in native tongues to Eastern Europe and Russia. Now, with open access, they are doing amazing things. By invitation, they are providing Bibles, literature, and curriculum help to public schools in several Russian provinces. In the Ukraine and other countries, they are working with the governments to do the same. As so many people realize they have no base for morals and actions, they are looking to the God who was evicted by communism and EEM is there to show God. Simply put, God is doing some amazing things through these people.


• Northwest Assistance Ministries
  NAM is a benevolence ministry that reaches out to the north-Houston/south-Montgomery county region. Do you need food – they have it. Clothes – they have that, too. School supplies for the kids – they are here to help. They work individually with people and are partnered with many local congregations and associations. If there is a place like this in your area, help them out with cash or time. They take cars, too! They also take Matthew 25 seriously.


• Billy Strachan, Peterhead, Scotland
  Billy is an evangelist at one of the churches in Peterhead, Scotland. He works mainly with the youth in the church and in the community. He, too, has been invited and teaches Bible weekly at several area schools. He talks about how these children become excited about God and their parents, who had become disillusioned with religion long ago, are puzzled and curious at what has captivated their children. It is amazing how “Post-Christian” Europe is becoming so much more receptive of the Gospel than is the United States.


• Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center
  Needles aren’t that scary. Really! Think about it: you go in, spend about half an hour getting a basic wellness check (bp, pulse, cholesterol) and getting stuck one time by a needle, then you get juice and cookies and in return you help out three people (with red blood cells, platelets, and plasma). And, if you are one of the rare people who is CMV negative (a common viral pathogen harmless to most adults) your donation will go to a newborn child or immunocompromised individual. What better way to show love than to give of your own life?


• March of Dimes
  Until you have seen a preemie baby, or a child afflicted with a birth defect, and seen the mixed agony and joy on their parents faces as they wait to see what their child's life will be, you may not understand the impact this organization has. I held a friends baby boy, just hours before they learned his heart was incompletely formed and he would soon die. I held my newborn niece, minutes after her birth, as she gasped for air her lungs could not supply her body. I have watched friends see their twin boys born 3-months premature, spending much of the first year of their lives in the hospital and hooked up to monitors, beam with joy as the boys play free and healthy. These people do good work.

There could be more on the list, little things we have stepped up to here and there, but these are groups we could all become involved with. Any comments? Come on, I know your reading. Europe (Germany and Holland) – I see you over there checking the blog out. You, too, Canada! How about it California, Tennessee?

Tags: Eastern Europe, Missions, Blood, Blood Bank, March of Dimes, Service, Nonprofit, Ministry