Relief in Joplin

This is brief. I’m leaving for Haiti tomorrow and will be there for 9 days, but I want to make a few comments about helping in Joplin, MO.

The natural instinct is to want to help. Now. Since December 2004 I’ve been in a few disaster zones and we have tried to have a direct impact on the relief efforts in those places (Louisiana, Iowa, Jamaica, Haiti, and more). One thing is certain: the news cameras will leave the zones long before the relief efforts are completed. The large NGOs (i.e the Red Cross) benefit from name recognition and the human impulse to do something NOW and money flows into their coffers. Most of them do good work, certainly, but most of them do not spend all the money that comes their way. The latest report that I heard from Haiti is that 17% of the relief funds that have been raised have been spent so far. We’re two years in.

This is one reason why experts in NGO and disaster relief encouraged people not to give right away when the tsunami hit Japan. They strongly encouraged everyone to pause, take a breath, and wait for the right time to do something.

My point is for fellow Christians who want to make an impact. As stewards of God’s money, make it do something. We Christians don’t mind going to give relief to a disaster zone when it’s no longer sexy. We don’t mind going to places the cameras have long abandoned. We don’t mind remembering what everyone else has forgotten. The disaster in Joplin has just begun.

When Katrina his the Gulf Coast, I jumped in a van with a dear friend and we rushed down to the scene. We were literally in the heart of things in some places before FEMA and the Red Cross. Both FEMA and the Red Cross treated us with respect because they were just as confused as everyone else. In a matter of five years our world has become much more adept at responding to crises. It is a telling piece of evidence that there are, in fact, more natural disasters occurring than there were only five years ago. At least the tempo has picked up.

Now the first responders are very efficient, the big NGOs are loaded with cash and equipment, and government is much more involved and controlling. Most of this is good news. But human nature is what it is and people move on and forget, yet every place that has had a newsworthy disaster is to this day still trying to recover. That’s why I’m returning to Haiti for the 4th time since the earthquake in 2010 that killed almost a quarter of a million people. It’s because thousands are still in tent cities.

Smaller ministries like ours cannot possibly respond to every crisis. We go with our gut (or is it the Spirit of God?), but we choose when we can respond and then we throw ourselves into it. We have embraced the reality that we don’t need to be heroic and get in on all the clutter of immediate damage (although, providentially, I was with a team of surgeons that were doing battlefield surgery to save lives when I first went to Haiti). We now understand that relief can be brought later, only a few weeks later sometimes. It’s not as flashy, not as emotionally compelling, perhaps. But it is very meaningful. It has all the unattractive appeal of a cup of water. But a cup of water given to one of Jesus’ disciples is remembered by Him (Mat. 10:42).

So, blog readers, join us in bringing relief to Joplin. Several weeks from now. It will be very meaningful. I know because I’ve seen a lot of disasters zones a long time after the big story. I’ll see one again tomorrow.

I’d be grateful if you supported our efforts or joined one  of our teams. We will be giving more information in about 2 weeks. If you want to financially support relief in Joplin and you trust us to make it count, send your donations to

Global Grace Ministries

Morning Star Church

3426 Colony Bay Drive

Rockford, IL 61109

Praying for Japan

Our church has always had a keen interest in the hand of God through natural disasters. From the great Tsunami of 2004 in Indonesia, Katrina, Jamaica, Haiti, and others we have always asked what we can do and sought to point men to God. By the power of God and through His abundant grace we have been able to do a number of helpful things. But every time we have felt how small and insignificant we are in the face of such power. Sometimes the only thing we can do is humbly pray.

John Piper offers a prayer worth praying. Let me suggest an activity for you this Saturday.

1. Gather your family
2. Watch the linked video in Piper’s blog
3. Comment on how those are real homes and real cars of real families like yours and how you would feel if you were in that place or if your grandma lived in such an area and was not returning your calls.
4. Read Piper’s Prayer as your family prayer and encourage your children to say, “Amen” at the conclusion.

Here’s the prayer.

Only a few more days to benefit Haiti by buying coffee

Reminding you of what I said here (which hopefully did not offend anyone with its tongue-in-cheek humor). Buy some coffee NOW! 50% of the profit will go toward our Global Grace efforts in Haiti.

Coffee for Haiti

* I wrote this for our church family, but maybe lots of you out there like coffee and will find this a neat way to help our cause.

This is a really cool opportunity. This small company in South Carolina is going to give 50% of their profit in the month of February to our Haitian-focused efforts through Global Grace. Now, many of you are quite satisfied with counterfeit coffee (i.e. Folgers et. al.) and that is your right! We live in a free country. There is no spiritual superiority to those who have a more sophisticated understanding of coffee. In fact, those of us who have a more sophisticated palate often succumb to pride, condescension, and down-right snobbiness. It is also easy to become sectarian and cliquish when you know you’re so much better than everyone else. Thankfully, our church is very ecumenical and diverse in the area of hot beverage, but the propensity of coffee connoisseurs to abuse coffee by over-indulgence should not deter any of us from enjoying fine coffee. Nor should we overreact to their hoity-toity superiority complex by belligerently persisting in our Hills-Bros.-been-on-the-shelf-six-years, cheap-coffee-maker, tepid brown-water-sludge-people-pass-off-as-coffee-on-the-ignorant-masses just to prove our humility.

Many people insist that coffee is coffee and that while they appreciate fresh roasted coffee they prefer to save the money by drinking a brown fluid made from dusty grounds that have been in a plastic container for years. This makes about as much sense as opting to eat dog food because it’s so much cheaper than real food. I’m not saying that this is my personal opinion. Please understand. That kind of snootiness is unbecoming of a pastor. I’m merely trying to express the thoughts of people who are in the know. Or at least how I imagine they would be thinking.

Well, this is a good month to treat one’s self to better coffee. And even if you don’t drink coffee you could purchase some for a coffee-loving friend. Believe it or not, there are some countries in the world that have a tradition of buying coffee for their pastor during what they call, “Buy Coffee for the Pastor Month.” Coincidentally, it happens to be in February. Now, clearly I do not think we have to adapt the traditions of other cultures. My point is merely to suggest that there many reasons one could buy coffee besides for one’s own pleasure.

Another reason is that half the profit will go to a worthy cause.

How do we work for justice and not undermine evangelism?

You might want to follow this series of posts at the TGC blog answering the question “How do we work for justice and not undermine evangelism?” I love Carson’s response, particularly the first paragraph:

By doing evangelism. I know numerous groups that claim to be engaging in “holistic” ministry because they are helping the poor in Chicago or because they are digging wells in the Sahel, even though few if any of the workers have taken the time to explain to anyone who Jesus is and what he has done to reconcile us to God. Their ministry isn’t holistic; it’s halfistic, or quarteristic.

I must add my commentary: “Duh!”

Meet Chloe Jane.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a very tender spot in my heart for adoption, adopted children, and adoptive parents. Everything I know about the couple that is attempting to rescue a fourth child by adoption is that they are responsible and trusting in Providence but it seems like they are short of cash and the deadline has arrived. It’s appropriate, I think, for friends and concerned people to spread the word. That’s what this is about. Read all about it here: meet Chloe Jane.

Global Grace: Days Packed Full

The Global Grace “travelogue and news center” has three new entries reporting on the projects of the latest Global Grace work team. The Scotts’ report and photos there can give you an idea how funds and physical resources are helping to meet both practical and spiritual needs in the hurricane-affected area.