Dear NDI/KE Partner,

Loving greetings from Ethiopia—the home of one of the oldest churches on the African Continent.  As you know from both the Old and New Testaments, the church here dates their origin back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and the Ethiopian Eunuch.  I date my personal involvement here back to 1987.  Let me explain…

I first came here after the 1986 ICIE, or “International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists” sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).  At that time, Samaritan’s Purse (SP) was a relatively young organization, with Franklin Graham at the helm.  Because my brother, Ed, had worked for the BGEA and also SP, he invited me to be apart of the ICIE in Amsterdam.  It was an incredible time to fellowship and network with some 10,000 national “barefoot evangelists”—as Dr. Billy Graham called them, from all over the world.

A couple of years earlier when I was ministering in Haiti, I had met a unique agricultural missionary by the name of Aart VanWingerden.  Aart had founded an organization called “Double Harvest” with the goal of assisting people in developing countries with agriculture and to give a holistic presence of the gospel in the process.  Aart partnered with Mr. Dick Chapin (the “father of drip irrigation” in the world) to develop the “Bucket Drip Kit” for the background kitchen garden.  When I saw the potential of this system, I talked to Franklin Graham about letting us introduce it at the ICIE in Amsterdam.  He too was excited about the concept because of its relevance for poor people—especially poor pastors from Developing Countries.  As they say, “the rest is history!”

As a result of that exposure at the ICIE in Amsterdam, Franklin asked Aart to take this drip irrigation and associated greenhouse technology to Ethiopia—which was in the throws of a famine that killed hundreds of thousands of people.  It was a joy to go with Aart on that pioneer trip back in 1987—over two decades ago.  I have continued to travel here yearly since then.

Through these past 30 years, I have had the joy of preaching and teaching at many Conferences here.  We have also been able to fund the building of many rural churches through the partnership of people like you.

Nearly 10 years ago, the “Genesis Farm” (GF) was started.  It would prove to be Aart’s last vision before the Lord took him home to heaven.  After Aart’s home-going, his sixteen (16) sons and daughters have continued the project at GF.  It is now he best farm in Ethiopia—and probably the best on the African continent.  It now employs hundreds of people and produces an average of 60 tons of fresh vegetables every week!  We have come here this time to start another new project in the town of Awassa in Southern Ethiopia.

Please take a few moments to look through a few pictures from the past several days.  I think they will thrill you as you see what God is doing in this Christian holistic project.  The photos include shots taken on the Genesis Farm where you’ll see vegetables, milk and dairy products and the market on the grounds where locals come to buy the products.  You will also see a couple of images of Hydroform blocks that were used to build the chapel and many other buildings here.  We are using a Hydroform machine to assist with building projects in several countries.  There are also shots of the chapel service we shared with Genesis workers on our first day here.  And finally there are a couple of images from our meeting and scouting trip related to a new project developing in Awassa, Ethiopia.  We will also try to upload a video clip we recorded on Lake Awassa while we were surveying the area, if we can get a fast enough internet connection here.

I cannot thank you enough for your prayer and financial support that make opportunities like these available for us to partner as Kingdom Entrepreneurs with others, investing in the Kingdom of God.  Your support is needed now more than ever as the Lord is opening doors.  Randy Durham and I have been in Ethiopia for the past several days and now we leave for Sudan this weekend and we covet your prayers.  Things there are still very tense and unsettled.  So we will probably not be able to update our blog or send another email until I get to Kenya by mid-week.  Until then…

From the Cutting Edge,

PS:  I trust that you looked at my last report from Ghana.  If so, PLEASE let me know that you are receiving and reading these blog entries and emails by sending me a brief email response to let me know!