Malnutrition a reality in Philippines

Did you know that 30,000 children die every day due to malnutrition and preventable diseases? That's hard to believe, because it isn't constantly in our faces here in the U.S. like it is in Third World nations. As Christians, how can we sit idly by and not do anything? That's not what Jesus would have us do.

Every day at Love In Action we come face-to-face with poverty in the U.S. by reaching out to the homeless and the poor in our hometown of Dothan, Ala. Since obeying God and going overseas to the Philippines, we have experienced firsthand the struggles of living in a Third World nation.

The statistic of 30,000 children dying daily of malnutrition and preventable diseases is so much more than  stats. They are real children with mothers, fathers, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. Last week we received a heartbreaking report from the Philippines as the baby of one of our pastors died.

The baby was born in November with a deformity. It was their second child who was born with a severe medical problem and the second one to die. The reason both times for the deformities and deaths were due to the mother being malnourished.

We know these indigenous pastors and missionaries. We love them, and it crushes us to hear and see this happen. One way Love In Action helps in the Philippines is support our Filipino pastors and missionaries with $100 a month. That small amount of money will feed a family of five for a month, and it works. Unfortunately, we were not able to support our pastor friend whose child died.

Currently Love In Action supports seven indigenous Philippine pastors and missionaries. After sharing this story about the child dying due to malnutrition of the mother, that pastor now has a sponsor, so our total is up to eight. Praise God, but we still have a long ways to go.

Sponsorship works. One of our pastors was having a lot of health problems when we first met him. He's in his 20s and is so dedicated to God's call on his life, as they all are. However, his health issues were slowing him down, and the issues were due to malnutrition. We have been supporting him for the past 10 months, and he is no longer malnourished. In fact, he and his wife just had a healthy baby. His church, which is just outside of Manila, is doing a great work for God, especially among the children.

When the pastors and their families are healthy, God works through them to reach so many people throughout their villages and towns.

Can you sponsor one of our pastors for just a $100 a month? Can your small group or church? If you can't give $100 a month, can you give $50 or $25? We can combine support to take care of these precious people. Through them, we are reaching people who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As the pastors and missionaries and their families are taken care of, we have plans of doing other initiatives like providing fresh water and raising animals and growing crops to help feed the hungry in their areas.

More than 3 billion people in the world live on less than $2 a day, so they don't have resources to do what needs to be done. Here in America, we do. As the Body of Christ, we need to come together and help our brothers and sisters who struggle daily in Third World nations.

We praise God we are able to do a great work here in Dothan, and we are doing a good work in the Philippines and Ecuador, but we need to do more. Please help us by praying for our brothers and sisters in these countries and by giving financially. Together, we are taking care of the poorest of the poor and reaching unreached people groups with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can give by sending checks to: Love In Action, P.O. Box 85, Dothan, AL 36302.
You can also give online through PayPal by clicking here and then clicking on the "Make a Donation" button.
Please note that your gift is for LIA Philippines.

Thank you and God bless you for praying and giving.

I saw Jesus today

Saturday was one of those extra special days. Love In Action teamed with The Harbor Church for a Christmas outreach. We delivered bags of groceries to about 70 needy families who live in the neighborhood around the Love In Action Ministry Center.

Jesus says in Matthew 25:35, "For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink." And in Matthew 25:40, Jesus sums it up by saying, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me."

Today, I saw Jesus in a woman who smiled and hugged me after receiving a bag of groceries. She said, "I didn't know what we were going to do for food."

I saw Jesus in an elderly widow who thanked us for the groceries and for coming to check on her. I saw the example of the "widow's mite" (Mark 12:41-44) when the same elderly widow told me she wanted to donate to the ministry, pulled out her change purchase and gave me a $20 bill. I cried. That might as well have been $200 for her. She's a precious woman whose wonderful husband died earlier this year. She said, "The Lord has been so good to me this year, and I've been saving up to donate this to you. Thanks for everything y'all do for me."

I saw Jesus in a man with one leg who you can always find sitting in a wheelchair on his front porch. I saw Jesus in one of our volunteers who lovingly prayed for him.

I saw Jesus in foster children as we gave them brand new toys for Christmas, and in their foster dad as we handed him a big ham.

I saw Jesus in two homeless men as we visited them in their camp. One of them had been in trouble with the law for something he is very ashamed of. We hadn't seen him in a couple of years because he was in prison. He smiled when he saw us and said, "I didn't know if I'd be welcome after what I did." We told him, "we all have made mistakes. We love you."

I saw Jesus in my wife as she smiled and hugged both of those homeless men. And, when we were reunited with a woman we hadn't seen in a few years. The last time we saw her we had delivered food to her as she was living in an old garage. We never knew what happened to her. Today, we discovered she was living in her own apartment. It was so good to see her. She thanked God for where she is at now.

I saw Jesus in so many people we were honored to serve today and in all of our volunteers. Every time we "serve the least of these" those serving always feel more blessed than those receiving. It's just like the Apostle Paul said in Acts 20:35, "In every way I’ve shown you that by laboring like this, it is necessary to help the weak and to keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, for He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Obeying Jesus by making disciples

You have often read my blogs and heard me talk about the importance of making disciples who make disciples. That's because Jesus commissioned all of His believers to do so. It's not a suggestion. Jesus clearly says "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:19)

We have great times of discipleship training every Wednesday nights at the Love In Action Ministry Center, and last night (Nov. 9) around 20 people watched the Multiply Gathering simulcast with David Platt and Francis Chan. The Multiply Movement is all about making disciples who make disciples. Check it out at http://multiplymovement.com

It is great seeing the homeless, poor and those who are not in great need all together on Wednesday nights and this past Friday, opening up the Word of God together and discussing it. We all share and help one another learn the Word of God. We share experiences and how God has helped us in different situations.

The discipleship training and events like Multiply are great, and they are needed. However, if we stopped at that we would be missing the point. Jesus taught His disciples, but He also lived life with them. He showed them how He prayed and how He loved and showed great compassion for others, especially the needy.

That's why a number of our volunteers choose to live life with those we minister to and each other. How will they know how to pray or read the Bible if we don't show them. How will they know how to show compassion and love others like Jesus if they don't see it in our lives?

Making disciples who make disciples is about much more than a weekly class. It's a lifestyle. I like what David Platt said, "To be a disciple is to make disciples." If we aren't making disciples, then we're not truly disciples of Jesus and we are living in direct disobedience to God's Word.

It is an amazing transformation when we see people who are hurting for many different reasons decide to surrender their lives to Christ. Not because they prayed a prayer, but because they experienced the love of Jesus at Love In Action. They hear the Word of God and see it in action through our volunteers. The hurting decide to give Jesus a try and He totally turns their lives around.

Those who had no hope, now find hope in Jesus. Those who had given up on life now have life through Jesus. Those who thought they were worthless find they are of great worth to almighty God. After they come to those realizations, we can't leave them on their own. We have to disciple them.

As Platt and Chan pointed out in Multiply, a great thing about discipleship making is God uses it to make us better disciples. So, if you want to be a better disciple of Jesus and live in obedience to His Word, then start making disciples who make disciples.

Also, please keep praying for us as we reach out to those who are homeless, poor and hurting. Please pray for those we minister to. God is doing an incredible work in their lives. Disciples are being made in downtown Dothan, and it's exciting to see God radically change people's lives.

Sharing Jesus through education

Children sing Jesus Loves Me at the Obadiah Learning & Development Academy.

A project for Love In Action this summer was building a school for our friends at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Punta, Philippines. They had the labor and know-how, but no resources. We put the word out and the good people in Dothan, Ala., and other places in the U.S. responded. Now, there is a new school building for the Obadiah Learning and Development Academy. Praise God!

This school provides quality education for indigent children who otherwise would not receive an education. The Philippines is not like the U.S. Education is not provided for everyone. There, if families don't have the money to send their children to school, then there is no formal education for those children.

The Obadiah Academy provides scholarships, when they have the money to do so, to children who otherwise would not be able to attend school. Education is a great way to fight poverty. Therefore, giving a poor child a quality education will help break the cycle of poverty.

But, as with everything LIA does and our friends in the Philippines do, everything we do is to lead people to Jesus Christ. That's exactly what our friends in Punta do with the Obadiah Academy. When parents accept scholarships to the Academy, they have to attend church services each Sunday and allow members of the church to come to their homes every week for Bible study. Entire families come to Christ during the school year. It's an awesome ministry.

We would like to thank all of those who have caught the vision of LIA Philippines and who have joined us to help reach the lost and unreached people groups in the Philippines. Because of your prayers and financial donations, people who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ are hearing it for the first time and surrendering their lives to Jesus. Because of your prayers and support, these precious children are now receiving an education, and entire families are submitting to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Our friend in Punta, Bro. Joel, who along with his sweet wife, who run the Obadiah Academy, sends their thanks.

"Please extend our best prayers, love and regards to Sister Martha, Mama Tuck and the whole family of Love In Action who have been there for the school outreach from the start, in praying and sacrifices," Bro. Joel wrote."On behalf of Obadiah Learning and Development Academy, Pastor we thank God so much for you. You just don't know how truly we humble ourselves to God in your behalf, always giving glory to His Name."

Joel asks that we continue to pray for them.

"Please continue to pray for us and the teachers, too, that God will continue to shower His wisdom and power and strength for these kids," Joel wrote.

It is exciting what God is doing. May we continue to work with our brothers and sisters in the Philippines to reach the unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and continue to make disciples who make disciples.
Click here for a photo slide show of the Obadiah Learning and Development Academy.

The new Obadiah Learning and Development Academy.

Making disciples around the world

We take Jesus' Great Commission seriously at Love In Action. We believe in reaching the lost and hurting with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion in our hometown of Dothan, Ala., and in other parts of the world. That's what Jesus says to do in Matthew 28:19-20. He says to "make disciples of all nations."

In Acts 1: 8, the last thing Jesus told His disciples before ascending to Heaven was, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We consider Dothan our "Jerusalem," the Southeast U.S. as our "Judea" and the rest of the U.S. as our "Samaria." The "ends of the earth" is places like the Philippines, Myanmar and Ecuador.

 Wednesdays are a big discipleship night for us as we hold Bible study. I recently taught a nine-part series on the "Full Armor of God" to make sure everyone understands we are in a spiritual battle and God equips us to not only fight, but win the battle against Satan.

Currently, we are in the midst of teaching Discipleship Phase 1, a study written by my and Martha's pastor, Ralph Sigler of Harvest Church. Shaun Cast is helping me teach this 10-week class.

Wednesday nights at Love In Action are great as 20-30 people gather each week to learn and discuss God's Word.

For the past 1.5 years, we have been supporting indigenous pastors and missionaries in the Philippines, and part of that support is shipping King James Version Bibles to them and Discipleship Phase 1-5 books to them. We have shipped thousands of Bibles and Discipleship books, and we need to continue to do so as more than 4.6 million people there have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The newest door God has opened for us is in Myanmar. We just shipped Bibles and Discipleship guides to our new friends at Grace Theological College in Yangon. They do not have resources readily available, so the students were very excited to receive the Bibles and Discipleship books. The goal is to use the Bibles and Discipleship books for the students and also to use them to do outreaches to reach the lost and provide discipleship for new believers. There are more than 40 million people in Myanmar who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Praise God! We are excited about all of these opportunities. Please continue to pray for us and the work God leads us to do in Dothan and in other parts of the world. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in the Philippines and Myanmar as together we reach people previously unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in both countries.

Please continue to support Love In Action with finances. Your donations help us reach the lost and hurting with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Together, we are accomplishing the Great Commission and doing what Jesus says in Acts. 1:8.