http://jlwilliams.org/site/index/ en admin@ncangler.net Copyright 2010 2010-08-30T12:23:09+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/from_africa_with_love http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/from_africa_with_love#When:12:23:09Z Dear Partners and Friends, I bring you greetings from Ghana, in West Africa, in a town just north of Kumasi called Mfensi. It was my privilege to teach at the Messiah Center all last week and the Lord’s presence was there! About 100 men participated in the National Conference for Ministers and Church Leaders. What a wonderful time of worship, teaching and fellowship. The event was organized by my Ghanaian partner, Evangelist Yaw Asante. It has been my privilege to work with him for several decades and I admire his heart for pastors as well as for the lost of Ghana, especially the Muslim north. Yaw is always urging men who have a heart for the Lord to become bi-vocational pastors and go north. During the conference, Yaw spoke on the hardships, long-suffering, patience and persistence necessary for success and fruitfulness. I shared the principles from my book, Biblical Pictures of the Church. Another brother who spoke that week was Pastor Ransford Obeng, pastor of CCC, one of the largest churches in Ghana, located in Kumasi. He spoke on the practical aspects of pastoring. It is an honor to speak alongside these amazingly dedicated men—they always challenge and encourage me. Another man that I admire for his specific dedication to reaching Muslims is Pastor Ahmad Agyei. He has sacrificially given his life to live in hostile territory, befriending Muslims for the sake of the Gospel. He has written several books on understanding Islam and Muslim evangelism for those who want to bring Muslims to Christ. In my spare time (!), I helped brother Albert who runs the farm at Msfensi. He is getting ready for the dry season and organizing the supplies it will take to put the drip irrigation in place now that the rains are ceasing. I also assisted in getting the soccer field ready for sports evangelism camps. There are so many possibilities for touching lives when you can use different approaches. In this picture, you can see me with brother Stephen who came up to me at the conference with an amazing story. When he arrived at last year’s conference, he was despondent, in debt and severely depressed. He owed so much money that he had lost all hope of surviving or being able to care for his family. But after hearing my messages on “The Biblical Perspective of Work” and brother Yaw’s on being a bi-vocational pastor, he went back home and started gardening. God blessed him with such fruitfulness that he got out of debt and began to prosper. This year he came to the conference with money to give to other pastors. He even gave gifts to all of the conference leaders and organizers. How good of God to bless Stephen and for him, in turn, to bless others. His generosity encouraged everyone present, as you can imagine. Through our partnership with New Directions and Impact of Hope, we bought bicycles for 5 rural evangelists. They are working in remote villages among idol worshipers and Muslims. You would have thought we had given each of them a Mercedes! We take so much for granted that we can’t imagine getting excited over a bicycle for our main transportation. But if you had spent most of your time walking from village to village, and you were offered the chance to ride (in less than half the time and with much less wear and tear), you would have done the same thing: praised the Lord and received His gift with great joy! As our time together ended, we felt a unity that often comes when you have time to pray, learn, weep and worship together. We almost didn’t want it to end. Thank you for all of your prayer-covering for Ghana. Please continue now as I fly all night to Kenya. I hope to report to you again soon from among the Samburu. With Much Love in Christ, Dr. JL Williams Founder: New Directions International (Retired) Board Member: Impact of Hope International Professor-at-Large: Carolina Evangelical Divinity School P.O. Box 4066 Glen Raven, NC 27216 The Field Report, 2010-08-30T12:23:09+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_-_ranjan_fernando_-_sri_lanka http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_-_ranjan_fernando_-_sri_lanka#When:03:51:57Z Ranjan Fernando has been a personal friend and partner for many years since God sovereignly connected our lives and ministries.  As a native of Sri Lanka, the small tear-shaped island off the East coast of India, Ranjan has been our primary partner there for nearly two decades in this largely Buddhist country.  I hope you will be blessed, encouraged and challenged by his latest newsletter. -  JL July 2010 UCF Newsletter The Field Report, 2010-07-27T03:51:57+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_from_eci_-_july_2010 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_from_eci_-_july_2010#When:14:54:00Z I wanted to share this newsletter update with you from our partners at ECI (Evangelical Church of India).  I hope it is an encouragement and a blessing.  - JL July Church Planter Newsletter from ECI   Partner Updates, 2010-07-25T14:54:00+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_from_dr._william_p._wilson http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_from_dr._william_p._wilson#When:13:31:06Z Attached is the Institute of Christian Growth’s July 2010 E-Newsletter in PDF format.  Enjoy! Institute for Christian Growth enews July 2010 Partner Updates, 2010-07-13T13:31:06+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/fourth_of_july_greetings http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/fourth_of_july_greetings#When:12:57:50Z “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.  The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born.  Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.” (Ex. 22:21; Lev. 19:33; Ps. 146:9) Dear Friend & Partner, Patt and I send you our warmest “July 4th” greetings!  This is the first Fourth I have been in the country for a number of years.  Usually I am in Africa leading a “Kingdom Adventure Safari.”  But I had to postpone it this year due to our remodeling and relocation from NDI to our new “Home Office.”  Thankfully the work is almost completed and we can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.  Now that the construction dumpster and pod have been moved, our back yard no longer looks like “Sanford & Sons.”  So we might even be able to have a normal Fourth of July cookout in our backyard this weekend like millions of other Americans! THE ALIEN INVASION Every July 4th, there are thousands of new Americans celebrating the wonderful freedoms we have in this great country.  Some of the immigrants are here legally.  Others illegally.  Untold thousands have come to America at great personal sacrifice.  Many of them have been repatriated here as a result of warfare, political turmoil, genocide, ethnic cleansing or natural disaster in their home countries.  But regardless of how they got here, the vast majority become good productive citizens. They roll up their sleeves and go to work—seizing opportunities and doing jobs that many other Americans pass up or are no longer willing to do.  As a result, they soon succeed and prosper—especially in comparison to how they previously lived in their countries of origin.  So millions of people the world over will do almost anything to come to America.  We are still the “land of opportunity” like no other country on the face of the earth. And in spite of the current economic recession we are in, we still enjoy the highest standard of living of any other people on the globe. Our level of prosperity—even in bad economic times—is still the envy of the world.  So the “aliens” keep coming…and coming…and coming.  There is a continuous “alien invasion” of America! We are a great nation because we open our arms to them, reminding ourselves that, except for a few native American tribal groups, we all came here as aliens. The welcome we give to immigrants from other countries is one of the reasons I am very proud and thankful to be an American!  I know from my travels over much of the world that there is still no other country with our level of freedom, opportunity and prosperity.  And I know it is all because of our Judeo-Christian foundation as a nation—which is rapidly eroding and imploding around us! One of the reasons God blessed ancient Israel was so that she could be a blessing to the nations around her as well as to the aliens living among them.  When God originally called Abraham, He said to him: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:2-3; 18:18).  It was God’s observable blessing upon Israel that caused people from all over the ancient world to travel there.  We can see this “alien invasion” of Israel on the Day of Pentecost.  Doctor Luke in Acts tells us that there were “...staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5).  And as a result of their visit to Israel and Jerusalem, thousands of them were blessed with the infilling of the Holy Spirit and became members of the very first church. But while the Jews were commanded by God to accept and love the aliens living among them, they still generally remained racially and ethnically separated from the foreigners living in their land—just like many Americans do today with the immigrants living among us.  And the Jews largely maintain that same racial and religious segregation today in Israel. THE AMERICAN SMELTING POT But America was different from ancient or contemporary Israel.  We became the great “smelting pot” in which various racial, ethnic and religious groups became ”...one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” as we proudly recite in our Pledge of Allegiance.  And it is that “liberty and justice for all,”  that continues to draw people to our shores from every corner of the earth.  Those immortal words (as best as Patt remembers them) inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty are still unique and unparalleled in the annals of national history… “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teaming shores.  Send me, the homeless, tempest tossed to me.  I lift my lamp beside the golden shore.” So America is still the first “nation of choice” for the down-trodden, abused and marginalized people of the world.  That’s why we are the only country that has to build fences to keep people out—rather than put up fences to keep people in! It has been incredible for me to be personally involved in the lives of many “aliens, foreigners and immigrants” who have come to America from other troubled countries.  Whether from Haiti, Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Burma, China—it has been a great joy and privilege to seek to “love them as yourself,” as the Bible exhorts us.  Let me give you one incredible example… BHUTANESE-NEPALI REFUGEES Back in 1998, God sovereignly connected me with some key Bhutanese refugees living in 7 internment camps in East Nepal.  They were part of 125,000 Bhutanese of Nepali decent that were expelled from their country by the king because of their political demonstrations for more freedom and human rights.  It seems that even in this beautiful Himalayan Buddhist Kingdom known as Shangri-La, freedom was severely limited.  The king was considered to be divine and ruled with absolute power and authority.  He was not yet ready for the winds of democracy, freedom and equal rights to blow across his land.  So in one fell swoop, 125,000 considered dissidents were expelled from Bhutan.  Since they were originally of Nepali descent, they fled across the borders to East Nepal where they were concentrated into 7 major refugee camps. Year after year they languished in these make-shift camps built of bamboo, thatch and plastic. Bhutan stridently refused to allow them to return.  Their lands, homes and farms were given to other Bhutanese. Nepal did not want them. India would not allow them in to further swell their teaming hundreds of millions of people. So for 19 long years they lived in these Refugee Camps. But God providentially led us to those camps through our strategic partnership with Pastor Hanok Tamang. It was through his vision that we first traveled from Kathmandu to East Nepal to secretly entered the camps which were under the UNHCR, or United Nations High Commission for Refugees. One of the first people God sovereignly networked us with was a converted Buddhist witchdoctor who was pastoring a small underground church in one of the camps. It was also on that pioneer trip that we met a key young leader named Santosh Ramdan.  He had been dramatically converted while in prison in Bhutan as a political dissident.  Now he had a passion to do something positive and practical to help his people.  As we clandestinely visited the various camps, Santosh shared with me his vision to start some Weaving Centers in the various camps to teach the women a trade and give them something positive to do to occupy their time.  So through the support of our partners in America, we helped him construct 7 different Weaving Centers from bamboo—which was all the UNHCR would allow.  As these women and men learned to weave and sew, the Gospel was also sown in their lives.  In time, each of these centers also morphed into “underground churches.”  For the next decade, the Gospel spread throughout these camps and scores of churches were planted.  I was privileged to visit there many times to preach, teach and hold seminars in those camps. We know from Santosh and the other pastors that more than 25,000 people became Christians in those 7 camps. Now after 19 years of living in this no-man’s land bordering Bhutan, India and Nepal, the UNHCR decided to begin repatriating them to America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  As always, America accepted the largest group of these Bhutanese Refugees.  There are now over 6,000 who have been resettled in Atlanta, toward a goal of 16,000 who will come to the “Hot-lanta .”  And wonder of wonders, Santosh is one of them!  And just as he did in the Refugee Camps, he immediately began ministry among the Bhutanese and Nepali immigrants.  He has recently started a new church there that is growing weekly. And all of the other pastors that we used to support in the Refugee Camps who have come to America or Canada have also started churches that are vibrant and growing!  There are already large groups of Bhutanese refugees in states like Georgia, Florida, New York, Texas and Ohio. There is still the same need for employment for many of these Bhutanese Refugees—especially the women. The men are often able to get jobs of some kind.  The children are quickly integrated into America by the school system. But the women have the least amount of education and speak little or no English.  So they languish in their apartments with little or nothing to do but to watch TV programs they do not understand!  But then, given the content of most TV shows, maybe that’s not such a bad thing. THE AMERICAN TAPESTRY Since our beginning as a nation, America has always been a multi-ethnic tapestry of people from around the world.  Originally the majority came from Europe and Africa.  But across the years, our American ethnic diversity has become one of the most cosmopolitan and complex in the world.  And every year the ethnic and religious cultural strands become more multi-colored in our national tapestry.  But as the Master Weaver, God continues to sovereignly weave a unique national quilt called “America.”  And tragically, like other countries struggling with ethnic diversity, we are pulling apart as a nation along our ethnic seams! However, God is also doing another kind of weaving here—just like He did inthe Bhutanese Refugee Camps in East Nepal. By His sovereign grace, I was donated a wonderful set of expensive hand weaving looms and lots of yarn by a friend who did weaving as both a hobby and business. When she decided to retire, she graciously donated all of those looms and weaving supplies to me.  I have been storing them for over 3 years trying to find where the Lord wanted me to deploy them. At first I thought of shipping them in a container to one of our self-help projects in Africa. But we could never get it worked out.  So we continued to pray and seek the Lord’s perfect time and place to deploy these items.  And then Santosh arrived in Atlanta from Nepal!  So he came up recently and we loaded all of the weaving supplies on a rented U-Haul truck that he took back to Atlanta.  A wonderful African American sister allowed him to store these things in her basement while we look for a permanent place to set up this weaving operation for these Bhutanese Refugees.  If you live in the greater Atlanta area and know of a place that might be available, please let us know ASAP.  We need your prayers and partnership in this physical and spiritual tapestry God is weaving in Atlanta! So God continues to build His Kingdom in the most unexpected and unlikely places—like Refugee Camps in East Nepal and among the “aliens” living among us here in America.  He is now continuing in Atlanta what He started in Bhutan and Nepal decades ago.  We do serve an incredible God who is sovereignly orchestrating all things for His Kingdom and glory!  And America continues to play a key role in receiving and embracing these “aliens, foreigners and immigrants” from around the world.  God has literally brought the world to America.  And we are not only to extend to them the freedom, justice, equality and opportunities we enjoy—we are to “love them as we love ourselves.”  We are to minister to them in the Spirit and Name of the Lord Jesus!  Only then will they enjoy the greatest liberty of all—which is the spiritual freedom from sin and self through the transformation of the Lord Jesus.  And if we do not seek to convert them, they will convert us—which they are doing in great numbers. Finally, I need your financial help in partnering with beloved partners like Santosh.  I encourage you to send in a special “God Bless America Gift” to help us meet both the spiritual and physical needs of these dear people through the love and compassion of Jesus Christ!  You can give online or through the mail. In my next email I will be sharing some other strategic Kingdom-advancing partnerships and projects I know you will want to invest in spiritually and financially… May God continue to bless America so we can bless the needy of the world and the aliens among us in His Name, Devotion/Bible Study, 2010-07-03T12:57:50+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_from_chapin_living_waters http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_from_chapin_living_waters#When:12:45:49Z I wanted to share this newsletter update with you from our partners at CLW (Chapin Living Waters).  We use their bucket drip irrigation kits with other partners around the world.  - JL Chapin Living Waters Newsletter - June 2010 Partner Updates, 2010-06-26T12:45:49+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_from_eci_-_june_2010 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/partner_update_from_eci_-_june_2010#When:12:42:44Z I wanted to share this newsletter update with you from our partners at ECI (Evangelical Church of India).  I hope it is an encouragement and a blessing.  - JL June Church Planter Newsletter from ECI Partner Updates, 2010-06-26T12:42:44+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/fatherless_day http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/fatherless_day#When:12:21:23Z Four of our grandchildren that we have not been permitted to see in over 2 years. “...rejoice before Him…a Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows…God sets the lonely in families.”  (Ps. 68:5-6) Dear Friend & Partner, As you know, this Sunday is Father’s Day in America.  For many fathers, it will be a wonderful day of affirmation, appreciation and affection from wives, children and grandchildren.  But for millions of broken and estranged families, it will be a day of sadness and sorrow rather than one of joy and celebration.  That’s because there is an epidemic of fatherlessness in our world today.  So Father’s Day will only remind them of the relational vacuum in their lives due to an absentee father.SATAN HATES FATHERHOOD This attack on the family through assault on fatherhood is no accident. It is the specific diabolical design of the arch enemy of the family—Satan.  You see, he especially hates the unique Christian revelation of God as Father—perhaps more than any other truth revealed in the Bible. The Fatherhood of God is the primary revelation and incarnation that Jesus came to the earth to reveal and demonstrate.  That’s why He said: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:11).  He further asserted: “I and the Father are one…the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father” (Jn. 10:30, 36).  So Jesus and the Father are one in nature and purpose.  He came for no lesser reason than to incarnate the Father’s heart of love and compassion for His children. Since Jesus came to reveal the Father, Satan has done everything through his perverting power to destroy or distort the concept of father.  It matters not to the devil whether he does it through death, desertion, divorce, disease, distortion, deception, depravity, disaster, displacement, dissipation or distraction.  The end result is always the same—fatherlessness.  As the arch enemy of the family, Satan continues to “steal, kill and destroy” family relationships (Jn. 10:10)—beginning with the fathers!  He well knows that every distortion of human fatherhood skews our perspective of God as our Heavenly Father. So the devil always has us men in his crosshairs!  He is always eager to “take us out.”  To do so, he uses any and every tool of sin, rebellion, immaturity or carnality to cunningly assault and destroy us fathers.  When the strongman of the marriage and family is bound, the wife and children are all spiritually and emotionally vulnerable and Satan can “rob his house” (Matt. 12:29).  Today in America and around the world, Satan is “robbing us blind” as men and fathers!  All around us there is a carnage of hurting, fatherless children—many of which are grown up and married. Cut loose from a healthy and holy relationship with their earthly fathers, the children live lives of spiritual, emotional and relational insecurity and inferiority.  There is a life-long existential hole in their soul from a broken father relationship.  They wear a relational tag over their hearts that screams out fatherless!  This relational vacuum hurts and haunts their lives and relationships consciously or unconsciously day and night. Some of the fatherless try to compensate through anger or aggression.  Others try to do so through over-extension, over-achievement, over-spending and over-consuming. It manifests itself in their sense of “not belonging”—even in church.  They feel like unwanted orphans in the universe.  They manifest a sense of rootless and restlessness because they have an acute sense of fatherlessness. UNIVERSAL FATHERLESSNESS All over the world I have seen this sense of fatherlessness in the empty faces and hollow, longing eyes of abandoned orphans, street children or refugees.  Whether they are the victims of warfare, genocide, natural disaster or displacement, they have a father vacuum that they are desperately hoping that someone will fill!  I saw it in the children who suddenly lost their fathers in the tsunami waves that washed over Asia.  I saw it in the children who were kidnapped from their families in the Congo and Sudan and forced to be “child soldiers” by maniac leaders.  I saw it most recently in the lives of children who suddenly lost their fathers in the Haiti earthquake.  I have seen it all of my life in American teenagers who grew up with an absentee father through divorce, desertion, dissipation or death. The net result in all was a life-long sense of fatherlessness.  And this Father’s Day will see millions more join the rootless ranks of the fatherlessness.  For many, their fathers did not return from the war in Afghanistan or Iraq.  For others, their fathers were capriciously killed through murder or an automobile accident.  Others lost their fathers slowly as diseases like cancer consumed their vitality and reduced them to impotent shells of manhood.  Some lost their fathers through the quick suicide of a bullet or the slow suicide of alcohol.  Some lost their fathers emotionally and relationally through diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia.  Others had their fathers taken from them through a prison sentence that will last for years or for a life time.  With their father’s incarceration, they were also locked up in a prison of hopelessness because of a terminal sense of fatherlessness.  And without the intervention of the healing love and grace of God, they will live out their lives with a gaping vacuum that wants to suck in anything and everything around them that will anesthetize the loneliness of fatherlessness. MY OWN SENSE OF BROKEN FATHERHOOD I want you to know that I have not written the preceding words from a sense of safe aloofness and impersonal detachment as a “preacher.”  I have written them as an involved friend, partner and counselor to countless numbers of fatherless people I have been describing.  More than that, I have written out of my own broken heart as a father and grandfather.  Let me explain… The picture at the top of this newsletter is of 4 of my grandchildren whom I have not been permitted to see in over 2 long, lonely years!  When that picture was given to me on Father’s Day a few years ago, it brought me such great joy as a grandfather.  It hung above my desk where I am writing this article—along with pictures of my other 7 wonderful grandchildren whom I have a wonderful and rewarding relationship with.  Now I have had to take that picture down from the wall because it brings me such pain and heartache.  It only reminds me of the broken and estranged relationship I have with my oldest daughter, Trish, and her husband, Joe.  It reminds me of the hugs of 4 grandchildren who used to jump into my arms as their “Pop.” While it is unnecessary to go into the painful details of the cause of the estrangement between my daughter and me, the bottom line is that Trish is cut off from us, her 3 siblings, 7 nieces and nephews, many uncles and aunts on both sides of the family plus all previous friendships and partnerships that are in any way related to us as her parents.  I could never have dreamed or imagined that this kind of brokenness and estrangement could invaded our family!  After all, we raised our 4 children “by the Book” through God’s love and grace.  And Patt and I have been life-long teachers and counselors in the areas of marriage and family relationships.  How and why could this have happened to us?!  We have sought to love and serve God all of our adult lives.  Surely God would give us some “spiritual insurance” against such Satanic assault!  But no, like every other family, we are not immune to the disease of broken family relationships.  So for two long years, the brokenness has continued—even worsened. As a result of this alienation and estrangement, Patt and I—along with our other 3 children and their families—have not been allowed any contact with them.  No visits are allowed.  No “grandparent rights” are permitted.  No phone calls, emails or letters are accepted.  In years past they were weekly and almost daily—initiated by Trish and our grandchildren as much as by us.  For the past 3 years there have been no “family vacations” together as in years past—when we usually took our annual “family picture” for Christmas cards.  All Christmas presents, birthday presents, anniversary cards to parents or children are refused and returned—from us, her brothers and sister or from cousins.  Now there have been 2 long and lonely years of losses in family events that can never be repeated, rerun or restored.  And at every special family event we are ALWAYS aware of the 6 empty places at the table. Besides the tragedy of our own personal pain, as parents and grandparents, is the very poor witness of this whole family breakdown before a watching world—whether Christian or non-Christian.  You see, all of us involved profess to be “dedicated Christians.”  And both my son-in-law and I are “Christian leaders” who head our own ministries that have a strong “family focus.”  Oh the painful irony of that spiritual contradiction!  Oh the subtle danger of spiritual pride and Biblical justification of indefensible positions motivated by rebellion and insecurity!  Satan’s greatest desire is always to defeat us with our own weapons as we increasingly put a spiritual and Biblical veneer over our selfishness and disobedience!  Truly, all of our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked, as Jeremiah warned (Jer. 17:9).  I know my own heart is!  As C.S. Lewis said: “I have my own heart, I need no other, to convince me of the total depravity of man.” Why am I sharing this pain with you?  Because so many of you are experiencing the same thing in some broken or estranged relationship with one of your own children, grandchildren or step children.  There is not a family alive that has not—or will not, face some degree of this family alienation and relational carnage due to sin, rebellion, carnality and immaturity.  And it is always motivated by a willful rebellion that refuses all steps or overtures that would lead to forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration.  So I share my pain as a father in the hope and prayer that my transparency will help other parents and fathers who are struggling with similar problems of alienation and estrangement. Believe me, I understand in my gut exactly what you are going through!  It matters not that I am a preacher and teacher.  As Christian leaders, Patt and I live and play by the exact same set of parental and relational rules that you do.  We do not have any special favors from God because we are “full time Christian workers.”  Quite the opposite.  The higher your Christian profile, the easier target you and your family are for the evil one.  That’s why he especially likes to take down Christian leaders, marriages and families! LESSONS WE ARE LEARNING AS PARENTS & GRANDPARENTS Like most life-impacting lessons, this one is being learned through much pain, heartache and soul-searching.  With the Psalmist we have “wet our pillow with tears” many nights (Ps. 6:6; 42:3).  It has added many grey hairs to our heads and negatively affected our health as we have grieved day and night over this brokenness with our firstborn daughter.  With David we have cried out again and again: “How long, how long, O Lord?!” (Ps. 6:3; 13:1-2).  But God is teaching us important lessons that we pray are maturing us personally.  And our parental pain is giving us greater ministry to other parents and grandparents facing similar family struggles.  Let me outline a few painful lessons I am learning and re-learning through this.  Each is drenched with my own blood, sweat and tears as a parent and grandparent.  Obviously, each of these principles are the worthy subject of chapters of writing, reflecting and teaching. But at this point I will only outline them for your prayerful consideration… Principle of Sovereignty:  It has brought us comfort to remind ourselves as parents that none of this caught God off guard.  He knew this was in store for us before He ever gave us Trish as a baby.  So He is fully in control in all of the areas of life that we have little or no control over—which is most everything!  Only that assurance gives us a measure of livable peace as parents. Principle of Truth:  Ultimately, we know that God’s truth will prevail and triumph—whether or not we live to see it as parents and grandparents.  As my mother used to remind us in situations like this: “The last chapter has not been written on this yet—and God will write it according to His perfect will.”  We all either ultimately submit to the truth, or we are broken by it.  God’s relational laws cannot be broken. We only break ourselves against them. Principle of Honor:  One of the foundational principles of the Bible is that children are to “honor their fathers and mothers” throughout their lives.  It is the first law with the promise that honoring parents results in a long and happy life on the earth.  Conversely, dishonoring one’s parents is tantamount with dishonoring God—which has severe spiritual consequences in this life and the life beyond. Principle of Relationships:  As I shared in the first part of this article, nothing is more important to God than relationships.  The eternal relationship of love and unity is one of the revealed mysteries of the Trinity that is not taught in any other world religion.  God is a relational God who calls us into a relationship with Himself through the Lord Jesus.  So the only thing we will take out of this life are our relationships based in Him.  All else will be left behind.  So in this short life, the greatest route to happiness and holiness is to love God and love others—beginning with our family members. Principle of Parenting:  Just because you teach and live the right spiritual and Biblical principles does not mean that every child will always choose to walk in it.  Since they have free wills of their own, they always have the freedom to choose a different path.  There are no guarantees in parenting that assure a 100% success—at least in the short-run.  But God always guards His principles sown in the lives of children—whether we live to see them fully embrace them or not. Principle of Firstborn:  Because God claims the firstborn of every womb, Satan counter-claims that same child and makes him or her a special life-long target of spiritual, physical and emotional attack.  So parents and grandparents, pray much with and over your firstborn child and grandchild!  It will be yours and their greatest defense against the evil one. Principle of Transparency:  While we have been careful not to “shout this from the housetops” because of our desire for reconciliation, in private we have sought to be vulnerable and transparent with people selectively and sensitively.  Through the years, we have found that our truthfulness and transparency opens the way for others to come out of the darkness and defeat of silence and hiding.  Our vulnerability becomes a bridge that others can walk on toward spiritual and emotional healing. Principle of Reconciliation:  Because God is a God of love and reconciliation, we are always to be motivated by the same desire.  In every situation where there is alienation, we are called to be agents of reconciliation—which is always costly.  There is no such thing as “cheap grace” or “painless reconciliation.”  The cross proves that. Principle of Thinking: We either take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ, as the Bible teaches—or those alien thoughts take us captive.  And when it comes to both our thinking and acting, we all have an infinite capacity for rationalization and self-justification.  As Proverbs teaches, a man’s ways are always right in his or her own eyes. Principle of Consequences:  Every choice in life comes with a price tag.  There are no inconsequential decisions.  There is no neutrality when it comes to the results of our choices.  The law of sowing and reaping is inviolate.  We always “reap what we sow” in every area of life—positively or negatively.  There are always irretrievable losses when it comes to sin and disobedience.  Once things are done, they cannot be un-done.  We live with the consequences to one degree or another for the rest of our lives. Principle of Faithfulness:  God is a faithful God who will never leave or forsake us as parents and grandparents.  As our Abba, Father, He understands the pain of estrangement with rebellious children or grandchildren.  After all, everyone of us as members of Adam’s fallen race is born with an innate streak of rebellion that manifests itself overtly or covertly throughout all of our lives. Principle of Joy:  Finally, God can and does give His supernatural sense of joy in the midst of our family storms.  While we may not experience much positive feelings and “happiness” as we struggle with these broken and estranged relationships -- we can have that joy of the Holy Spirit.  It is a fruit of His indwelling presence that goes beyond our external circumstances. Those then are a few lessons Patt and I have been learning and relearning in the last several years—which have been some of the most difficult in our 45 years of marriage!  I once thought it would “get easier as you get older.”  Not so!  It’s just the opposite.  It seems that God saves the biggest battles and biggest giants until our final seasons of life. That’s when Abraham and Sarah faced theirs.  That’s when Joshua and Caleb faced those ominous “giants in the Promised Land.”  If they could successfully do so in their 8th decades of life, by God’s grace, I will do so in my 6th and 7th decades—and beyond if He gives me more years! Thanks for letting me openly “share my heart” and “spill my guts” with you as friends and partners.  I know this has been a long email—and one that you did not expect for Father’s Day.  But is the most intimate and transparent one I have ever written!  Patt and I strongly desire your prayers for us and for Trish and Joe and their 4 children—Victoria, Jack, Elizabeth and Rebekah.  Pray with us that God would soon give us lasting reconciliation and reunion as an extended family. Finally, in the days of the New Directions musical ministry, we used to sing a wonderful song by Andrea Crouch, “Through It All.”  Many of you will remember the chorus: “Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God.  Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to depend upon God’s Word.” So God is still good—all the time!  Even on Father’s Day when there are absent places at the Sunday dinner table—whether yours or mine and Patt’s.  His unconditional love never fails.  His mercies are still new every morning.  “Great is His faithfulness!” (Lam. 3:23).  Under His Fatherhood, PS:  Please pass this email along to any of your friends who might also be struggling with a broken family relationship.  Perhaps our Father’s Day story can bring some comfort and hope to them. Devotion/Bible Study, 2010-06-18T12:21:23+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/spiritual_gardening http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/spiritual_gardening#When:22:15:05Z 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. Partner Updates, 2010-05-28T22:15:05+00:00 http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/my_new_headquarters http://www.jlwilliams.org/site/my_new_headquarters#When:15:32:24Z This small house behind my home has been my work shop and storage area for the 38 years we have lived here. Now we are gutting and remodeling it for my new office. Nothing fancy, only functional. Dear Impact of Hope International Friends & Partners: I am sending you these pictures below to update you on a “new direction” in my life. I am relocating my office from the NDI Headquarters to my home, which has been my consistent base of ministry and mentoring with young people and national partners across the years. My home office will be my new base of operation and office for Impact of Hope International (IOH), where I will continue to serve as the President of International Missions. Since I am helping do a lot of the building work, I will not be able to answer many emails or phone calls until mid-June.  Thanks for understanding.  Please take some time to look at my pictures below or visit my Picasa web album here. In His Healing Love, Dr. JL Williams Founder, New Directions International (Retired) President of International Missions Impact of Hope International The first load of lumber is delivered to start the remodeling on the inside. The first walls are studded in place. A new sub-floor is put in to cover the old broken and unlevel concrete beneath. ND alumni, John Fraser, does the remodeling. He is a licensed contractor who has been on many mission work trips with me across the years. In the midst of this building project, Professor Mohamed-Ibrahim Yattara, and his wife Fatouma, came to stay with us for 5 days of speaking. Since he worked his way through Bible College painting, I put him to work helping me paint the new walls! To save money, I did all of the painting with the help of Mohamed. We had great fellowship painting together—and some of the paint actually got on the walls and ceiling! New doors are prepared to be installed. John’s assistant, Rodney, was a great blessing in this project—which I could not have done without them. When it came time to move out of the NDI Headquarters which has been sold, my good friend, Ted Randall, sent over his movers. He is from Providence Church in Raleigh and a veteran of many mission teams. Since the building will not be completed for a couple more weeks, we are having to store everything on my driveway. Here are the strong men who did all of the moving for me—what a blessing and back-saver! Praise God for brothers like Ted and his men who do their “moving and shaking” for the Lord! They have helped me load a number of containers for shipping to Africa. Here is all of Patt and my office furniture waiting for the new office to be completed. Now pray that it does not rain! What I cannot fit into my new small office I will ship to a Bible College in Zimbabwe we are helping build. The Field Report, 2010-05-21T15:32:24+00:00