Mary Kaech Joins Phoenix Team

The DNA is pleased to welcome Mary Kaech to the Phoenix secretariat as our new administrative assistant and office manager. She replaces Stephanie Shumate who, after five years of service, has taken a position with Redemption Church as office manager for the Arcadia campus.

Mary graduated with her BA degree in journalism from the University of Arizona in 2005 with minors in Spanish and photography. After graduating, she worked for at Food for the Hungry for more than five years in a variety of capacities including public relations, the artist’s program, volunteer management, US government grants support, and child sponsorship.

Mary travelled extensively with Food for the Hungry and is actively involved in several Phoenix-area ministries focused on work with refugees. She is a freelance photographer, and is co-editor of North Tucson Living Magazine.

Welcome, Mary!

New DNA Resource … “Reflections on Social Justice”

An exchange between DNA President Scott Allen and John Stonestreet, National Director of Strategic Partnerships at The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview/Breakpoint and Executive Director at Summit Ministries, prompted the DNA team to compile a series of blogs on Social Justice.

Many young Christians care about social justice. They believe God calls us to feed the poor, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and seek justice in the public square. But the Bible also provides a framework, or a worldview, in which we must do this work of service. We share this paper with hopes that it will help Christians think critically and Biblically about this important topic.

Go here to access the paper.

Now Available: Spanish-language Version of Nurturing the Nations!

May marked the release of the Spanish edition of Darrow Miller’s book, Nurturing the Nations.

Entitled, The Oppression of the Woman, Poverty and Development, this Spanish-language version is the result of the efforts of many at YWAM, including Viviana Velie and Rosaura Mesones, among others.

This is not a book about women; it is a book that deals with the intersection of three seemingly very different subjects: women, poverty, and worldview.  The book addresses one of the greatest causes of worldwide poverty: the lie that men are superior to women.

Nurturing the Nations is written for anyone interested in studying the role of women in society, and particularly for those concerned about poverty, such as social workers, missionaries, and relief and development workers.

Author Darrow Miller says: Please join me in thanking the Lord for the completion of this project and then asking for His intervention in distributing The Oppression of the Woman throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Let’s pray that God will use this book to bring transformation in the Spanish-speaking world.

You may order this book by writing Viviana Velie.

To read a sample of the book, and find a list of distributors in Latin America, go here .

Have You Heard the Cry for Freedom?

The Disciple Nations Alliance is promoting a series of video messages about biblical principles which is circulating in the Arabic world via Facebook and YouTube.  It’s called Cry Freedom.

You can view them here (including versions with English subtitles) and also connect with others on the topic on Facebook.

Please view these videos and share them with anyone in your social network who has connections in the Middle East.

New Resource Launched: Mustard Seeds Shared

After many years of serving leading the Bangladesh Food for the Hungry team, John and Kate Marsden recently launched a new global ministry called Mustard Seeds Shared. FHUK is making Marsdens available to those outside and inside Food for the Hungry who want to learn how to effectively serve from a biblical worldview to bring practical influence to bear on their local culture and environment.

As Marsdens recently wrote,

In our time in leadership with FH in Bangladesh and Asia we have seen the place of biblical truth in overcoming poverty. It is biblical values, put into practice in people’s daily lives, that transform families and communities. Our calling now is to help others to make these same connections between biblical truths and living practice so that they can be more effective servants in God’s Kingdom.

 Our vision remains to respond to God’s call to end physical and spiritual hunger. As Mustard Seeds Shared we will work with other like-minded organisations, churches and units of FH by mentoring and coaching, running training courses, providing consultancy services and sharing curricula (together with “how-to-use” training). The scope of our work will include: biblical truth and values training, staff development and discipling, programme design for savings and learning groups and community organisation development, participatory learning skill, leadership development, and governance of local organisations.

 We are grateful for the richness of relationships we have with FH people in Bangladesh and beyond. We remain committed to these relationships and hope that our paths will cross in the future.

Contact John and Kate at marsdens@mustardseedsshared.org.

DNA Goes to Cuba

Cuba was 85% (nominal) Roman Catholic before Fidel Castro transformed the island into the Communist gem of the western hemisphere. Today, according to a 2009 story in Christianity Today, the evangelical church is growing. One church leader says, “We are working inside Cuba now, and someday we will join everyone else in the missionary activity of the world.”

Lyd leads a house church session

In the meantime, Partners in Christ International (PICI) is spreading the DNA message on the island. Lyd Pensado is a Mexican national on staff with PICI. She recently traveled to Cuba where she and and the PICI director for Mexico taught workshops which include DNA material. As she said, “We used a lot the DNA material; it’s great!!”

Lyd mentioned that one special moment came when Maria (not her real name) shared her testimony. Maria had just come to faith in Christ in the early 1990s when Cuba entered a time of severe economic difficulty triggered by the loss of the annual Soviet aid package of $4-6 billion. Maria saw everything “transformed …  even the human being was transformed … I saw things that I was not really ready to see.”

When Lyd heard this testimony “that was the moment that I realized the impact of the Gospel, the power of teaching a Christian worldview, and how this has the potential to transform a nation.”

Lyd is excited about a new commitment to prayer and to “encouraging our brothers and sisters to extend the Kingdom of God in Cuba.” She went on to say,

A local street band performs

“This also motivates us to continue work here in Mexico because we believe that this generation and the next will be those who represent God in their society and are the driving force for the transformation of the nations, creating movements that touch hearts and cross borders to unite us with those who also want to extend the Kingdom and reach those who don’t know Christ. Please include in your prayers the Church in Cuba as you pray for us.”

Footprints at Vastfontein: Hope for Africa Vision Conference

We are grateful to Samaritan Strategy Africa for their permission to reprint the following report.

Hein van Wyck facilitates

Hein van Wyk facilitated Biblical Worldview and Transformational Development training at the Vastfontein School for Church Planting April 11-13, 2012. Participants came from various places in South Africa, including Parys, Hammanskraal, and Kwamhlanga.

Vastfontein is located 40km north of Pretoria and is surrounded by Hammanskraal and Soshanguve.

Vastfontein Community Transformation started in 1998 with a vision of releasing the potential in people to reach a bigger dream and a bigger future. The initiative has grown from a modest Christian school into a well-grown initiative that includes child care centres, the Batho Pele Christian School, a clinic, the School of Church Planting and diverse cross-cultural events focusing on transformation, education and AIDS awareness (www.vastfonteintransformation.co.za).

Africa has been mightily blessed. Her natural resources make her the wealthiest continent on earth. She possesses a rich heritage as the womb of the Judeo-Christian faith and her people, made in the image of God, hold enormous potential as developers of the Continent.

Despite the potential and blessings, rich natural endowments and unimaginable abundance, Africa is ravaged by poverty, disease, corruption, and conflict. This is the heartbreaking paradox that haunts the psyche of many Africans. For years international aid and development agencies have tried to deal with these problems—with limited success. A predominantly animistic worldview holds sway over the minds of many Africans—a worldview that sees man as a victim of nature, of other people, or of fate. This mindset shifts responsibility for Africa’s social ills to the spirit realm, leaving individuals little hope or motivation for working towards a better future.

Johannes Aucamp facilitates

During the training the concept of worldview was discussed at length. The training included an overview of God’s transforming story and the critical importance of a biblical understanding of man, history, and creation for the development of communities and nations. In addition to seeing how worldview works, the training explores how the Church has abandoned the biblical worldview and the consequences of that for our understanding of the nature of the Church and the Great Commission.

Through Biblical worldview spectacles, the training looked at the fundamental building blocks of culture. Satan lies not only to individuals, but also to nations. He replaces Kingdom building blocks of culture with his counterfeit building blocks, resulting in the impoverishment and enslavement of nations. During the conference participants had the opportunity to start dealing with lies believed in their own culture.

The Role of the Church in Society was discussed at great length; a role that includes the penetration of cultures through Biblical Truth, saturating communities by demonstrating God’s love in practical, sustainable ways and lastly to occupy all the domains of society through service.

Until next time; Soli Deo Gloria!

New Samaritan Strategy Africa Team in Tanzania

Dennis Tongoi, leader of Samaritan Strategy Africa, and his associate, Karobia Njogu, recently traveled to Morogoro, Tanzania on behalf of Samaritan Strategy Africa. The purpose of the trip was to launch a Tanzania team and introduce a Kiswahili training guide.

Samaritan Strategy Tanzania now has a leadership team and 20 trainers to independently facilitate Vision conferences in Kiswahili. Each has been to at least three vision conferences and have implemented seed projects in their communities. They each had very inspiring stories of obedience to Christ in loving their neighbour.

Dennis reports that one of those stories is that of Stephen Mbithi, a Kenyan missionary based in Arusha.

Stephen was at the very first vision conference held in Moshi in 2007. He has been to every vision conference since and has completed the TOT.

In his community the deaf and dumb are avoided and scorned as cursed. Following a vision conference he chose to start a church for the deaf and dumb. He now has a congregation of 50. Last month one of them lost a child and because the local community scorns them, nobody was willing to participate in the burial. Stephen and his church chose to take full responsibility of the burial – securing a coffin, feeding the family and neighbours during the mourning period, and burying the child. Members of the community were amazed at this demonstration of God’s love for the deaf. As a result six community members have begun to attend church on Sundays in Stephen’s Church.

Dennis says the need now is to visit the various seed projects and document the stories for the encouragement of others.

Samaritan Strategy Tanzania Team

What Was Behind Door 4

Rev. Meshak Okumu is Project Manager for Samaritan Strategy Africa and serves on the faculty of Carlile College in Nairobi. After declining three invitations (in 2000, 2001, and 2002) to attend Vision Conferences, he finally took a group of pastors to a 2003 training session … only to find out it was a DNA Vision Conference!

As Meshack says, “I think it was a good mistake for me to get to this whole idea of the DNA program!”

That Vision Conference, facilitated by Dennis Tongoi, was just the beginning. In this video, Meshak relates his journey from dualism into wholism.

Vision Conference Cleans Up in Hyderabad

We are happy to share the following excerpt from the personal newsletter of DNA co-founder, Dr. Bob Moffitt. Bob wrote after a combined Vision Conference and Training of Trainers held in May in Hyderabad, India. This Vision Conference was national in scope, with participants from 12 states. Some live in places of significant persecution of Christians.

The VC was organized by Gadde Rattaiah of Global Peacemakers Fellowship. Other national leaders included Raaj Mondol (SALT) and Rev. Sudhaker Mondithoka (Centenary Baptist Church).

Rattaiah is a younger leader in India with whom I have been “walking” for several years. He has a passion to spread the Harvest/DNA message throughout India. Rattaiah used his new organization, Global Peacemakers, to gather 35 pastors and leaders from across the country for the six-day event. I was one of four speakers. These folks showed an unusual level of interest and capacity to serve as advocates in their own denominations and/or institutions. Their eagerness to learn did not flag through the long, hot days; the temperature reached 113°F.

After the VC we had a four-day TOT. This training is designed to teach participants how to use and teach three Harvest tools: Disciplines of Love, Seed Projects, and BASICS – an early discipleship program with eleven lessons. Each day, student-participants are accountable for serving others in some new way. They learn a basic pedagogical approach to leading others in discipleship and then practice what they learn on each other, and finally, they design and carry out a project which demonstrates the love of Christ to people not likely to be exposed to the Gospel in either word or action.

For their Seed Project they distributed food packets, and gave haircuts and shaves to destitute men and women on the train station platform. The cooking started at 4 a.m. Our group arrived at the station platform about 7 a.m. By 10 a.m they had cut the hair of (and shaved) a dozen men and given food packets to about 50 people.

Most of the participants are pastors. They told me they had never done anything like this. It is easy to understand why. The destitute people they ministered to were very dirty. One man had long hair, a beard, and filthy clothes. At his invitation they cut his hair and shaved him. But he smelled so bad that when they took him to the public shower the attendant wouldn’t let him enter without paying double the fee. One of the participants went in with him and when the man took off his clothes the smell was so bad that our participant vomited. The team bought him pants and a shirt from a nearby stall for $2. The transformation was amazing. While ministering Christ’s love the team was able to talk to him, witness to him, and pray for him. The team all told me that they now have courage to return and minister in a similar way in their home areas.

Bob reports that participants formed a new all-India association. To decide on a name, they all wrote their suggestions and one of the children of the participants randomly chose the final selection–Vision India Network.