Shawn Carson Joins Phoenix Team

The DNA international secretariat welcomes Shawn Carson as Discipleship/Training Program Manager. Shawn comes from Food for the Hungry where he served since 2005.

After spending 20 years working with mission organizations and local churches to disciple/mentor young people in basic Christianity and missions, Shawn is joining DNA to help create a Training/Discipleship program.

“It is our desire to create a step by step process for people wanting to be exposed to and grow in Biblical Worldview/Wholistic Ministry,” Shawn writes. “I feel very honored to be a part of the DNA and am thrilled to see how God will help us create a program to get the teaching of DNA into the hands of many people around the world.”

Shawn and his wife, Amy, fostered three siblings from Afghanistan, Mansoor, Palwasha and Haroon, adopted Mahir (ethnically Somalian) and have one biological son, Matias. Now that the foster kids are out of the house, Amy fills her days homeschooling Mahir (5) and Matias (3).

Three Stories of the Power of a Mustard Seed

My name is Rev.  Meshack Okumu. I live in Nairobi, Kenya. I work for Carlile College, Centre for Urban Mission.

We are doing DNA training in eight informal settlements. Last year we wanted to reach 200 pastors and church leaders with the DNA material and we were able to actually train more than 200! The following stories are examples of what God has done through the DNA trainings in our region.

Kawangware

A few years ago we had a training in one of the slums called Kawangware. In this slum there was a pastor from the Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya. After going through the training he went back to his village and talked about the concepts with the members of his congregation and to people in the community.

One of the issues they were dealing with was poverty. Many poor, needy people were coming to church and living in the community. So he decided to begin an economic empowerment program for his community.

Working with the community, they formed a savings group and started saving 50 shillings (less than a dollar) every week. After about six months they began making loans to the members of the group. Each borrower would return the money with interest.

This program started about four years ago. Today they have in excess of 300,000 shillings which they have generated without any outside help. The people thought they had nothing to give and now they have much! The finances of the church has increased because of this.

Kasarani

We had a training in another slum called Mwiki Kasarani. About 35 pastors came. Most of the pastors are also working other jobs. One pastor was also a teacher in an informal school, so his immediate audience was the children in his school.

The people coming from this community are so poor that sometimes the children would come to school without breakfast and sometimes would go without lunch. So this pastor and his members decided they would start making porridge for the children in this school. They said they would begin by making porridge for just 10 children. The success of this porridge business was so good that the local government official (he is called the Chief) heard about it. The Chief then called the pastor/teacher and told him to come to his office for some relief food. They got about six bags of maize and six bags of beans. The pastor realized that you don’t have to have everything but when you begin being faithful with the very little that you have, God will multiply it.

The pastor was excited that the Chief was able to hear and give them some food. They are continuing with the services of giving the children some light meal.

Kibera

Another slum where we work is called Kibera. It is reportedly the second largest slum in Africa.

Beatrice studies in a recent training session

I had a training in Soweto, one local village in this slum. A lady there, named Beatrice, is a leader in their  church. Beatrice went through the training and began thinking about how to implement this training in her community. But before she could share these ideas with her church she felt she needed to begin doing something in her own surroundings.

Beatrice went to visit a neighbor and to her surprise found that the neighbor’s children were sleeping on a carton on the floor without a mattress. She was moved because in her home she had a mat and felt she needed to share. She went home and took a knife and cut in two the mat her children slept on. Through this she was able to share and lots of relationship developed, neighbors who had not been talking to each were now in relationship.

Beatrice’s simple gift bore fruit

A pastor in the same training thought about the discipline of love. He had never visited a sick neighbor. This time he went back to his neighborhood and visited this neighbor. He found the neighbor was very sick and needed attention. But he didn’t have money to take the neighbor to the hospital. So he went to another neighbor and asked if he could borrow 50 shillings (less than one dollar) for transport to the hospital. But that neighbor gave him 1000 shillings which was enough to take a taxi instead of using public transport.

As we learn in the training about the discipline of love, you don’t have to have everything to serve God. You just begin with what you have. He was so happy that God was able to use him, not necessarily removing money from his pocket but the Lord provided through other people.

A Church Moves Out of Isolation

Rev. Dr. Clifton Charles is Senior Pastor of the Worldwide Church of God (known in the U.S. as Grace Communion International) congregations in Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago. He also teaches economics at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados.

Clifton and his wife, Pearl, planned and hosted DNA vision conferences in Trinidad in 2009 and in Tobago in 2011 which were facilitated by Bob Moffitt and Darrow Miller.

In this brief video about the impact of DNA principles, Clifton Charles relates how a Caribbean church that was once isolated became recognized for its impact on the community.

An Unlikely Journey Toward Transformation

Steve Chia is a Consultant Civil Engineer in Jos, Nigeria, where he also works for Youth Leadership Development Forum (YLDF) and chairs the Biblical National Transformation Committee.

After serving in leadership in his local church for many years, Steve grew concerned about a trend in lives of the Christians around him.

“When I was growing up, Christians were pretty predictable … If they said something you could depend on them. … Not any more.”

During his search for answers, Steve found two DNA books: Against All Hope: Hope for Africa and Discipling Nations. He read both and started passing out copies to friends.

Although Steve was invited to several Vision Conferences, he was unable to attend any. He first met DNA co-founders Darrow Miller and Bob Moffitt last March when he had the opportunity to attend a global forum in Pretoria.

In this video Steve shares his story about how the message of DNA changed his world, and what he is doing to spread that message in Nigeria.

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A Call to Pray

Dr. Eisuke Kanda is executive director of Friends with the Voiceless International (FVI), the national DNA organization in Japan.

In this brief video, Dr. Kanda shares how Friends With the Voiceless was launched through a radical commitment to a neglected activity.

Mercy Ships Incorporates DNA Training

An innovative ministry of wholistic service has embraced DNA training for its Africa volunteers. For the first time, Mercy Ships sent a volunteer crew to a four-week Worldview and Development training led by Chris Ampadu, West Africa representative for Samaritan Strategy Africa.

“We are very excited about this program and we count ourselves as privileged to have this opportunity to serve Mercy Ships,” Chris said.

“Starting this year they want to send all their new African crew members through this Worldview and Development course before they are admitted into long-term work on the ship. A big opportunity, and we give God all the GLORY.”

Twelve crew members from Liberia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Sierra Leone lived for one month at the Samaritan House Fse-Amasaman campus in Accra.

The four weeks included over 50 presentations including all 43 topics of the BASICS 1 course. Chris was joined by his Ghana team – Patience Mensah, Nora Naana, Joseph Antwi, and Victor Owiredu as presenters. The trainees celebrated their graduation February 4.

“Two guests from the Human Development Deptartment of Mercy Ships joined us to graduate these first crew members from the new Africa Gateway,” Chris said. Gateway is Mercy Ship’s term for their training program.

DNA founders Bob Moffitt and Darrow Miller have been associated with Mercy Ships for years. More recently, Chris has served multiple times as the main speaker for the ship’s pastors conferences in Liberia, Benin, Togo, and Sierra Leone.

“It is just wonderful, the first opportunity to have people stay with me for such a long time and to do a detailed study of these lessons,” Chris reported.

“I have already planned for three conferences in Togo with Mercy Ships this year: March 4-8, 13-16 and April 1-6.”

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Men Can Fetch the Water?

Johannes Aucamp works as a facilitator with Hope for Africa and TOPIA (Training of Pastors in Africa). He first attended a Vision Conference in 2010 facilitated by Hein Van Wyk in South Africa.

In this video Johannes tells the humble beginning of transformation that happened when a group of African men resisted cultural norms by taking their turn to fetch and heat the water for the morning baths.