I am primarily an evangelist and teacher who travels around the world in apostolic ministry as God leads and enables me. In addition to preaching and teaching the Bible, I mentor our key partners to be more strategic and impactful for the Gospel in their countries and cultures, just as they continue to mentor me. I am relationally focused rather than program or project focused in ministry relationships and partnerships.
This sign on Juba, Sudan expresses the new freedom the people here have achieved that the people in Egypt are now rioting for. Pray that the Islamic Jihadist are not able to exploit the Egyptian crisis and bring the largest Arab Country under the sway of Radical Islam.
Dear friends & Partners...loving greetings from Juba, the Capital of the new 'South Sudan.'. The recent Referendum vote was over 98% in the South for succession from the North. There is a great sense of jubilation and celebration here in Juba. The atmosphere is calm and peaceful in comparison to my earlier trips here during the War Years. There used to be well armed SPLA soldiers everywhere and strategically placed anti-aircraft guns pointing northward and skyward to try and shoot down the frequent bombers from the North.
But now there is a new sense of hope for the future. There is still a strong UN presence here along with scores of NGO's trying to make a difference. It is especially interesting to see the thousands of workers here from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Eritrea -- who compose the majority of the work force. They can earn three or four times the salaries here than they can in there home countries -- so they continue to flock into Sudan to 'cash in' on the opportunities that are now abounding here.
Since the Southern Sudanese have known nothing but almost 3 decades of war, the work force is highly undeveloped -- and sadly, unmotivated. So the change from a 'war mentality' to a 'work mentality' will not be easy or quick. Nor will it be easy to change from a welfare and dependency mentality to one of self-support and self-sufficiency. That's one of the reasons I am here in partnership with 'double Harvest' that I have been involved with for decades In places like Haiti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe -- and now Sudan. God has given us 250 acres on the historic Nile River where another large farm will be developed. So I have much more to report to you about this when I get back home.
But tomorrow I go back to Kenya and up to be with my brother and partner, Stakwell Yurenimo. More from there...
In His Healing Love,
Just before we flew from Juba to Torit to visit an orphanage. It was between 107 - 110 degrease today!
Greetings from the banks of the ancient Nile River -- often mentioned in the Bible. Thanks for praying for me...JL
Meet our Sudanese partner, Augustine, who will head the new 'Genesis Farm' on the Nile outside Juba.
Here is a typical 'Tukul' that the rural Sudanese live in. Never complain about your house! JL
"Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?" (Isa. 66:8)
Dear Ministry Friends & Partners,
What the prophet Isaiah asked about the miraculous rebirth of the nation of Israel can also be said about modern Sudan. After nearly 40 years of civil war, a New Sudan is being "...born in a day." What was the largest single country on the African continent and largest in the Arab world, is now being divided into two separate nations (see map). The last such separation was in 1993 when Eritrea separated from Ethiopia after bloody civil war. Through the years I have traveled and ministered extensively in both of those countries also.
BRIEF HISTORY LESSON
For nearly 4 decades, Sudan has been involved in a long and bloody civil war because of the systematic genocide being perpetuated by the Islamic regime in Khartoum against the South. Northern Sudan is largely populated and dominated by Arabic-speaking Muslims -- led by the Islamic radical, Omar al-Bashir. The South is largely Christian or animist and was led by Dr. John Garang until his death in a helicopter plane crash -- most probably a covert assassination. The current leader of Southern Sudan is General Salva Kiir(pictured on magazine cover).
Over 5 years ago a Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) was put in place. The Bush Administration was largely responsible for mandating the CPA which was signed in Naivasha, Kenya, on January 9, 2005. Among other things, it put into place a 6 year transition period in which things like borders, power sharing and revenue sharing would be decided. At the end of that period, the nation would vote on remaining together or separating (see ballot). That week-long referendum voting took place between January 9 - 15 -- with the final results to be announced on either February 6th or 14th.
Over 4 million were registered to vote and it looks like voter turn-out has been extremely high. It is a foregone conclusions that the vote in the South has been almost 100% to succeed from the North and become a new country -- whose name is yet to be determined (There is strong support for "Cush" because of its presence and prominence in the Bible).
If accepted by the people of Sudan and enforced by the International Community, this vote will bring to a close one of the longest-running and most bloody civil wars on the African continent. As a result of the systematic attempt to Islamacize the largely Christian South and impose Shari Law, over 2 million Sudanese have been killed and another 4 million reduced to refugees living in surrounding African countries -- especially Kenya, as well as the Sudanese Diaspora in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
Because of his systematic religious and racial genocide, Omar al-Bashir is also under a standing arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for his on-going atrocities in Darfur. While most of the international community has chosen to turn their heads and ignore the horrific inhumanities being carried out there, more than 300,000 have been killed and another 3 million have become refugees -- over 40,000 in December alone!
BLACK GOLD
While the heart of this conflict has been driven by the radical and fanatical Islamic Jihadist commitment of Bashir, the other driving factor is black gold -- or oil. And it is the oil-rich border region of Abyei that continues to be the political "hot spot." It is supposedly under the control of the indigenous Dinka tribe, which is one of the largest and most powerful ethnic groups in Southern Sudan. But the Khartoum Regime has been bombing and killing them constantly to drive them off of their oil rich ancestral tribal lands. So keep your eyes and prayers focused on this troubled border region of Sudan -- which could ignite a new civil war that would quickly spread throughout the country.
BACK TO SUDAN
By the time you receive this email, I will be headed back to Africa -- a continent of people that I love. I will first be in Nairobi, Kenya, with my former associate, Larry Warren. He founded and led African Leadership for a decade that has now trained over 50,000 pastors and leaders through the Bible Training Center for Pastors (BTCP). We pioneered that ministry together for 10 years through NDI. Larry has recently begun a new ministry entitled Leadership International, and has asked me to serve on his Board of Advisors. So we will have several days together in Nairobi with some key national partners before I leave for Sudan the last weekend of this month.
In Sudan I will meet up with Len VanWingerden and Bert Lemkes of Double Harvest. We have made many trips to Sudan together in the last decade or more. This time we will be in Juba, the Capital of the New Sudan. Double Harvest has just finally been able to secure 200 acres of good farm land on the Nile to begin a large farming project. If the peace prevails, it will soon become a fruitful place that will provide jobs and produce fresh vegetables for the Capital City. Right now most of the fresh vegetables are trucked into Sudan from Uganda. So we hope to see another wonderful and productive farm developed outside Juba like the Genesis Farm near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
RETURN TO KENYA
After our time in Juba, Sudan, I will return to Kenya and fly up to be with my Samburu Son, Stakwell Yurenimo. We will be together for a week ministering among both the Samburu Tribe and Turkana Tribe. In addition to delivering fresh clean water from our wells at the Sports Camp, we will be initiating a new outreach to both tribal groups with small solar-powered digital players. Both have portions of the Old and New Testaments recorded on them in their Samburu and Turkana language. So we are very excited about this new outreach to these distant and unreached tribal groups. I will send pictures and a report of this from the field.
Finally, I boldly ask you to continue to support me prayerfully and financially on this latest missionary journey. You can send a gift to our PO Box, or give directly on line.
Through His passion and compassion,
JL
PS: Please take a few moments to look at the brief slide show I have prepared of some of my past trips to Sudan. Also, click on the brief interview with Stakwell that I made on my December trip when we were delivering physical and spiritual water to a remote Turkana village. And check my regular brief reports on Facebook that I will be sending out.
Clink on the banner below to see a report of my "top priority" partners and projects for this year and how you can help. I will be presenting to the Board and working on these this next year.
Dr. J.L. Williams JL, Patt, & Friends
Founder: New Directions International
Board Member: Impact of Hope International
Professor-at-Large: Carolina Evangelical Divinity School
I just had to go back to Haiti for the first anniversary of the killer earthquake. Even though I have been back several times since the 7.0 quake that shook Haiti on January 12, 2010, I had to return again to see how my brothers and sisters there were doing. Most of all, I wanted to do what I could to bring consolation and comfort as they remembered the unforgettable! And I wanted to "weep with those who weep," as the Bible exhorts. I also wanted to see how they would commemorate this earth-shaking event that forever changed the physical landscape of Port-au-Prince (PaP) and surrounding areas -- as well as the emotional landscape of their hearts and memories.
There is hardly a family in Haiti that did not suffer human loss through the more than 300,000 who were killed.Everyone lost someone -- whether a father, mother, son, daughter, grandchild, uncle, aunt or grandparent. When the ground violently shook at 4:53 PM on that fateful day last January, houses, buildings and walls pancaked and imploded. The death and destruction was indiscriminate. Young, old, rich, poor were all killed or maimed. And over 1 million were left homeless. Most of them commemorated the first anniversary in that same condition. But thanks to Christian ministries, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the international community, the majority of the homeless are now in temporary tent dwellings that densely fill every possible space in and around PaP. It is estimated that over 200,000 new homes are needed to move these homeless from temporary shelters to permanent houses. But to date, only a few thousand have been completed -- few if any by the Haitian government.
Rubble and garbage still abound everywhere you look. Reputedly only about 5% of the debris from the destroyed homes, buildings and walls has been removed. The roads are worse than ever with pot holes you could lose a vehicle in! It used to take 30 minutes to cross from one side of PaP to the other. Now it can take 1-3 hours, and only then at a dusty snail's pace, because every two-lane road has turned into five or six lanes intertwined like tangled spaghetti! Surprisingly, there is little or no "road rage" -- except by foreigners! The Haitians seem to accept this as another unfortunate fact of life -- which is not likely to change any time soon. Because of the long line of corrupt and inept government officials, they have never known anything else when it comes to functioning infrastructure, passable roads, regular garbage collection and proper sewage disposal. So, the streets become glutted with all of the unseemly and smelly debris of life!
The lack of sanitation has resulted in the death of over 3,000 people from cholera in the past few months. Once again, it has been the on-going work of mission hospitals and the timely intervention of foreign medical teams that has kept the death toll from being triple or quadruple that number.
POLITICAL CORRUPTION
The Haitian government is still politically polarized and crippled by indecision. Sadly, the Presidential elections of November 28th were marred by corruption. President Preval's candidate, Jude Celestine, prematurely claimed victory. Now he has been disqualified because of obvious voting fraud. That leaves former first lady, Mirlande Manigat, in a run-off with the popular singer, Michael "Sweet Micky" Martelly -- who is not noted for spiritual music, to say the least! If that run-off vote is allowed, Martelly will probably win because of his great popularity with the young people of Haiti -- who are now the numerical majority of the country. All Haiti needs in this post-earthquake crisis era is a musical rapper in the Haiti White House! Such a person will not generate a lot of confidence within the international community because of his total lack of political experience. So the beat goes on. It is so important that everyone pray for a swift and fair political resolution -- which will take a miracle!
INTERNATIONAL INERTIA
While several billion dollars have been raised or pledged by the international community for the rebuilding of Haiti, very little of it has been deployed. That's because there is little or no confidence in the current Preval government to wisely manage those funds. Institutionalized corruption is a way of life in Haiti -- at every level of government. So, until the new President is duly elected and installed, it is almost impossible for significant funding to be sent. Once again, it is the body of Christ and the private sector that are doing the job at the grass-roots level. That's why former President Clinton wisely advised people to deploy any funds to Haiti through ministries and organizations who were at work in Haiti before the earthquake. That way you know that there is a history, a track-record with already existing on-the-ground relationships to make a difference and that they have not just come since the earthquake to "cash-in" on the international funding.
SPIRITUAL CELEBRATION
While I went to Haiti expecting somber commemorations of the earthquake, I experienced the opposite. While there was certainly a lot of grief expressed, tears shed and poignant testimonies shared, there was still an underlying spirit of praise and celebration. Once again I was awed and humbled by the spiritual resiliency of the Haitian Christians. This past Wednesday, January 12th, was declared a public Day of Remembrance. All government offices, businesses and schools were closed. But the churches were full! Where churches had been badly damaged or destroyed by the earthquake, the Christians met under tents, tarpaulins or in the open air. Many met from morning till dark. I participated in two services (see pictures) and the last one was long after dark in a "Tent City" outside of PaP.
At the services I attended, there were moving "earthquake testimonies" by people who were miraculously spared death. Others shared the heart-breaking stories of lost loved ones. But the overall emphasis was not on death -- but on life! There was not a spirit of defeat -- but a spirit of victory! There was an atmosphere of determination rather than one of depression. Once again, my own life was challenged by their great faith!
In the "Tent Church" I attended, there was a powerful sense of thanksgiving that God had saved them through the quake and kept them through this whole year -- in spite of destroyed homes, lost possessions, little food and water and no jobs. I saw once again the contrast between the "riches of poverty" and the "poverty of riches." Or to quote James: "God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the Kingdom He promised those who love Him" (James 2:5).
Thanks for praying for me while I was there. Please take the time to view a few pictures -- especially the brief video of one of the services in the "Tent Church." Your heart will be touched and challenged because of what God is doing in and through His saints in Haiti -- who still have SO MUCH to teach us about faith, hope and love!
Humbled by Haiti,
J.L.
*After I wrote this article, I read the earth-shaking political news that "Baby Doc" has returned to Haiti! This is another "political earthquake" that will only bring more confusion and divison to Haiti!
"The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind." (Isa. 65:17)
Dear Friends & Partners,
When you receive this email, I will be in flight to Haiti. I am going there for the First Anniversary of the killer quake last January 12, 2010. It will literally be an "earth-shaking remembrance" for everyone living in Haiti -- especially those in Port-au-Prince! God promised that one day when He "...creates a new heaven and a new earth," that "...former things will not be remembered." But that recreation and restoration has not yet come for the world -- especially Haiti!
Right now no one can forget the more than 250,000 who were killed. Nor can the thousands of others forget who were left maimed for life in body and soul through injuries, head traumas and amputated limbs that will be reminders forever of what they experienced in that horrific quake that shook and changed their world forever! And certainly the more than 1 million who are still homeless cannot forget because they are still "living" in sprawling tent cities all over and around Port-au-Prince! Everywhere you drive and everywhere you look, the evidence of the quake lingers through the devastated infrastructure, piles of rotting garbage, destroyed roads and mountains of yet-to-be-removed rubble from the imploded buildings and homes.
Nor can the Haitians forget because of the more than 2,000 who have died from cholera in the last few months as a result of the lack of sanitation left from the quake. And to add insult to injury, the recent fraudulent Presidential elections were just one more sad remembrance that nothing much has changed politically in Haiti! Once the U.S. military pulled out and the Preval do-nothing-government took back control -- along with the "United Nothing" (UN), it was back to the same old corruption, bureaucracy, ineptness, indecision and gridlock! Even though several billion dollars have been promised by donor nations, not nearly enough has been done because of political gridlock and lack of infrastructure.
Just as in the past, the majority of the on-going medical intervention, rebuilding and reconstruction is being done by Christian mission groups and international NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations). Many of them were there before the quake, stayed during the quake and have continued tirelessly since the quake. And most of all, our strategic national partners have been on the job 24/7 doing all they could to make a spiritual, physical and emotional difference from the moment the earth stopped shaking!
But the GOOD NEWS is that the church in Haiti has continued to experience revival! Tens of thousands of people have accepted Christ. Churches that had imploded physically have exploded spiritually! Since the earthquake, spiritual tremors and after-shocks have continued to ripple across Haiti. In the months after the quake, it was my privilege to participate in some of the LARGEST and most exciting gatherings I have ever experienced any where in the world -- one gathering was estimated at 1 million people! So I want you to know that the church is alive and well all over Haiti!
Therefore, to help you remember the "good, bad and ugly" of the earthquake, I am sending you the following pictures. PLEASE take a few moments to look through a few pictures of our involvement from then until now. I will also be sending you a brief report from Haiti and a more extensive one with interviews from several of our key national partners when I return. Until then, pray for my daily and hourly schedule as I visit and encourage our partners and projects.
I am primarily an evangelist and teacher who travels around the world in apostolic ministry as God leads and enables me. In addition to preaching and teaching the Bible, I mentor our key partners to be more strategic and impactful for the Gospel in their countries and cultures, just as they continue to mentor me. I am relationally focused rather than program or project focused in ministry relationships and partnerships. 
