Dear Friends & Partners:

Those words of promise from the prophet Isaiah describe millions of people around the world. They live in hard and harsh places where water is scarce and food is hard to grow.  They literally live in a “sun-scorched land.” As a result, hunger, malnourishment and disease are a daily fact of life—and death. Many people, especially women and children, walk miles each day to carry water for drinking and cooking. There is not enough water for drinking and for their cattle, much less for gardening. So they live subsistently.

But God promise His people that they would be like a “well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”

One of the men that God has used to help fulfill that promise is Mr. Dick Chapin.  He is considered the “father of drip irrigation” since he was the first person to conceive the process of watering plants “one drop at a time”—just like God does through rain.  His company, Chapin Watermatics, became the pioneer and leader in the field of commercial drip irrigation products. And his Christian compassion for the needy—the “bottom billion” of the world—motivated him to start a ministry entitled Chapin Living Water, to make this practical technology available to the poor and hungry people of the world.

I first met Dick several decades ago in Haiti through another agricultural entrepreneur, Aart VanWingerden, founder of Double Harvest.  They were combining their expertise and experience in the area of farming to produce more food with greater water efficiency.  They were well aware of the 3 forms of irrigation used around the world: flood irrigation, sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation—with drip irrigation being by far the most efficient.  Rather than waste most of the water put on the fields, drip irrigation literally delivers it “one drop at a time” to each plant.  Far less water is lost to run-off and evaporation.  Almost every drop of precious water feeds the roots of the plant.

This method of watering plants is based around the principle: “The root determines the fruit.”  It is true spiritually and physically.  That’s why God’s Word says: “You will take root downward and bear fruit upward” (II Kings 19:30; Isa. 37:31).

But the big challenge for Aart VanWingerden and Dick Chapin was how to make this high technology available to the poor, hungry and marginalized people of the world.  How could they by-pass the expensive elements of drip irrigation used in the agro-industry in Developed Countries—which are pumps and wells—to provide and deliver the water to the fields?  As a result, the simple “Bucket Drip Irrigation Kit” was born.

By God’s providence, I was living and ministering in Haiti in the early 1980s when Dick and Aart were perfecting this technology.  Because of my own love for gardening, I quickly became convinced of the relevance of this technique for the poor of the world.  But how would we network it to them?  As usual, God had a plan.  And once again it involved my brother, Ed, who had first brought me to Burlington to work with him through the YMCA where the New Directions was born in 1968.  By this time, Ed had left the YMCA to work for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).  At the same time he was also helping a young man by the name of Franklin Graham with his new ministry—Samaritan’s Purse.  His wife, Becky, was also helping Franklin with the starting of World Medical Missions.

During this same time, the BGEA was sponsoring the “International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists”, also known as “Amsterdam ‘86.”  It brought together (in Amsterdam, The Netherlands) some 10,000 itinerant evangelists and church leaders from around the world—especially from Third World Countries.  Because of our friendship with Franklin, we were able to network Dick and Aart with this strategic global conference.  The booth we set up on the “Bucket Drip Irrigation” system drew incredible interest from these men and women from around the world—most of whom needed better gardens to feed themselves.  And as they say, “the rest is history.”  From that time until now, this system has gone into over 150 countries of the world.  We were invited by Franklin Graham to set up a booth at “Amsterdam 2000,” just as we did for the earlier two International Conferences.  Because of this exposure, thousands of “Bucket Drip Irrigation” kits were sent all over the world.  Here are several pictures from the 2000 Conference with Dick Chapin.

Through the years, it has been a great joy and privilege for me to be a networker of this “Bucket Drip Kit” to needy pastors and leaders.  Oftentimes I will combine a Pastors’ Conference with a drip irrigation seminar—teaching leaders how to be both successful and fruitful spiritual and physical farmers.  That’s why I have often been called the “Drip Preacher!”  You see, I usually drip sweat when I preach—and then I teach them how to use drip irrigation! So along with my Bible, I generally carry one or more drip irrigation kits with me when I travel and minister around the world.

Across the years, it has been my privilege to serve on the Board for both Double Harvest and Chapin Living Waters.  But most of all, it has been my joy to network this very practical technique to needy pastors and people in many underdeveloped countries.  To date I have personally carried and taught drip irrigation in the following countries: India, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, Ghana, Liberia, Mali and Ivory Coast.  Also in Haiti and the Bahamas.  Often times we connect a drip irrigation project with one of our Children’s Homes or Bible Colleges to help the people better feed themselves.

It was a great joy to recently be with Dick Chapin at the annual board meeting of Chapin Living Waters.  At the age of 93 he is still going strong for the Lord Jesus!  What an inspiration he is to me personally!  I trust he will be the same entrepreneurial and mission challenge to you through this brief report.  And please take a moment to visit his web site here to see some of the exciting reports of how God is using drip irrigation around the world to meet physical and spiritual needs in the name of Christ.  To view a few more pictures on this project check out my Picasa web album here.

In His Fruitful Love,

PS:  According to statistics, gardening is the “Number One Activity in America.”  So you can help spread this “gift of gardening” through a financial gift to sponsor one or more drip irrigation kits for $12 each.  Each kit includes all of the drip lines and connecting parts…everything but the bucket. Donate online here and select JL-Drip Irrigation as the program designation.