Archive for the ‘God at Work’ Category
Chicks 4 Orphans!
October 26th, 2012 | Comments Off | Posted in » God at Work, My Life / Family
With Orphan Sunday coming up, Nancy and I thought it would be very cool to involve our kids in an orphan care project. We’ve spent some time thinking about and researching options, and with the help of our youngest daughter, Allison (she’s five!), we’ve got a plan.
It’s called “Chicks 4 Orphans”!
All credit goes to Allison. When she heard, “Chicks 4 Orphans”, she got VERY excited. After we told her more about what “Chicks 4 Orphans” does, she promptly exclaimed, “I want to do that!”
We sure wish we could claim credit for the idea of “Chicks 4 Orphans”… we LOVE the concept. Fact is, it’s not our idea. Chicks 4 Orphans is a sustainable poultry farming business of Every Orphan’s Hope. Through Chicks 4 Orphans, the good folks at Every Orphan’s Hope buy day-old chicks, raise them for six weeks, and sell them in communities devastated by HIV/AIDS. All proceeds help to provide care for orphans and widows in Zambia.
It’s a great concept… one we fully support.
So here’s the deal… our kids (Allison especially) are essentially giving you the opportunity to “sponsor” chicks for $4.00 / each to support Chicks 4 Orphans. If you see Jeffrey, Jenna, or Allison at church, school, in the community, wherever… we want you to support them. Sign up with them to “sponsor” a chick. Give them $4.00 for every chick you want to “sponsor”. Help make a difference in the lives of orphans in Zambia.
If you’re not local to the St. Joseph area, we don’t want that to stop you. Feel free to send money our way for the chicks you’d like to sponsor. Checks can be made out to “Nancy Stickley”, and sent to us at our Just 1 mailing address:
Just 1 Ministries
P.O. Box 8585
St. Joseph, MO 64508
Once we receive the donations, we’ll gather everything given and forward it to Every Orphan’s Hope.
If you feel better giving to them directly, that’s certainly fine too. Checks should be made out to “Every Orphan’s Hope”, and may be mailed to the following address:
Every Orphan’s Hope
3245 West Main Street
Suite 235/332
Frisco, TX 75034
Thanks so much for helping our kids to make a difference. They truly can’t do it without you!
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Reposted from “Chicks 4 Orphans”, over at our ministry site, Just 1 Ministries.
Together for Adoption 2012!
July 7th, 2012 | Comments Off | Posted in » God at Work, My Life / Family
One of the big things Nancy and I have been looking forward to since we began Just 1 Ministries has been the upcoming Together for Adoption conference. We were VERY excited to find out more about this year’s schedule, and even more pleased to know that we’ve got a chance to attend for free!
Yes, that’s right… the good folks at Together for Adoption are holding a contest.
The basics? Contestants put together a video commercial explaining why they’d like to attend this year. The commercial is uploaded to Vimeo or YouTube, and voting commences. Most votes wins, obviously.
The exciting news? If we win one of the top three spots, we may have a chance to have a booth to share about our ministry! This is a national conference that annually attracts over 1,000 people, so it’s a big deal for us! So many opportunities there to learn about orphan care and adoption, so we can do things even better here at Just 1. Perhaps equally important is the opportunity to network and get to know other like-minded Christians involved in orphan care.
We fully expect to be refreshed after our time.
So… what we need from you is simple: help us get there! We don’t want your money… just your time in voting. Take a look at our video below, then jump on over to the contest page, and vote for “The Stickleys (Just 1 Ministries)”.
Your help is VERY much appreciated!
God bless!
(Again, the link is: http://www.togetherforadoption.org/?page_id=13873! Don’t forget to vote!)
411 Shoeboxes
November 20th, 2011 | Comments Off | Posted in » God at Work, In the News...
On Friday morning, I attended the Operation Christmas Child wrap-up chapel at St. Joseph Christian School. While there, I was blessed to witness the kids, parents, and staff bring a huge mound of shoeboxes filled with gifts.
411 shoeboxes, to be exact.
Turns out, that’s the most of any organization in St. Joseph, according to our local newspaper.
So St. Joseph Christian has something they can be proud of. They’ve got LOTS of other things (if you ask me), but that’s not the point I want to make.
It’s the response, as evidenced by the first comment to the news article referenced above. It’s a comment I see almost every time there’s news about an organization making a difference in the lives of people overseas.
“Don’t forget about all of the kids here in the United States that need help too!”
Sure, it’s an innocent statement. It’s well-intentioned. And there’s truth… there ARE kids here with needs.
But not to the level of those overseas.
Have you seen the needs of a third-world child? Have you looked into their eyes, seeing their hurt first-hand? Have you seen their distended bellies, their scabies-infested skin, or lice-filled hair? Have you seen where they live? The food they eat (when they’re fortunate enough to have it)? The polluted streams they drink from?
Do you know any of their stories? Perhaps how one of their siblings has died due to malnutrition or lack of medical care? Or perhaps how their parents often see them as liabilities rather than blessings because of the poverty in which they live? Or perhaps how they’re forced into hard labor (or worse) just to survive?
And perhaps worst of all… have you seen how little hope their futures hold?
I have. And I can’t ignore it.
You see, simply by virtue of being born in the wealthiest country in the world, we have every advantage… every possibility… every chance we truly need at a future. Even the poor amongst us can have hope for a better tomorrow.
Not so in other parts of the world.
So forgive me if I get worked up about it. There’s just something inherently “unfair” about all of this.
Children everywhere deserve the right to hope.
If 411 shoeboxes can ensure that 411 more children have that right, that’s something all of us should stand up and applaud.
Announcing Just 1 Ministries…
November 9th, 2011 | Comments Off | Posted in » God at Work, My Life / Family
In case you haven’t heard already, Nancy and I launched Just 1 Ministries last Sunday. Details can be found over at our website, but the basics are this:
– We feel led to adopt a child, and are taking steps to do so. This is our “Just 1″ story.
– We want to share our “Just 1″ story with you, and encourage you to discover yours by providing ministry opportunities to orphans.
Be sure to check it out when you get a chance, and please prayerfully consider partnering with us in some manner.
As of this moment, our biggest need is that we have 15 orphans at an orphanage in Guatemala we are partnering with that need sponsors to help ensure their long-term needs can be met. We’re also needing prayer for many things (listed here), and would greatly appreciate knowing that you are lifting these many concerns up to God!
God bless!
Dominican Republic: Refugees
August 3rd, 2010 | 1 Comment | Posted in » God at Work, My Life / Family, Pictures
As I reflect back on the mission trip to the Dominican Republic, there are certain mental images I can’t get out of my mind. Certainly, there are ones I’d LIKE to rid myself of… but the memories of the refugee area, difficult as they are to process? These memories are certainly not amongst those I’d like to forget. No way.
You see, I’ve written about the poverty I witnessed in the Dominican. In no place was this more dramatic than in the refugee area. It’s difficult to process, but critical to remember. These memories and mental images are simply too powerful… too impactful in shaking up my world and in molding my heart.
So, the refugee area…
I’m not exactly sure I understand the ins and outs of this place. I’m not exactly certain what the people in this area were taking refuge from. I’m not exactly certain how or why these people ended up here. But I do know one thing… I can’t help but wonder what kind of place these people lived in before if THIS is a place of refuge for them.
Seriously.
How can shacks with leaking tin roofs, drafty cobbled-together walls and dirt floors, housing families of five or six in 80 square foot areas… how can this be a place of refuge?
How can a place with mud streets flowing with polluted water be a place of refuge?
How can a place with starving, parasite infested, scabies-covered children be a place of refuge?
How can any people allow this kind of place to continue to exist?
How can God allow this place to continue to exist?
What can I do to make a difference in places like this?
What can we, as Americans, do to make a difference in places like this?
How can we, who have so much, live with ourselves knowing we have so much while people living in areas like this have so little?
What response should I have to witnessing this?
There is so much I just don’t understand… so many questions for which I have no good answers.
But I do have images burned in my mind… images that impact me deeply.
How do they affect you?
Dominican Republic 2010 Video…
August 1st, 2010 | 1 Comment | Posted in » God at Work, My Life / Family, Pictures
This afternoon, I took time to create a brief video from photos taken by our missions team, in an attempt to convey the life-changing experience we had while we were in the Dominican Republic. Hopefully the video impacts you at a heart level, much as going impacted me.
Back in the States: Culture Shock
July 26th, 2010 | 1 Comment | Posted in » God at Work, My Life / Family
So… I’ve been back in the United States following our mission trip to the Dominican Republic for four days now, and have been experiencing something wholly unexpected rather frequently since our return: culture shock.
Yes, culture shock. In my native culture. Following a trip to a culture that can probably best be described as “other” in comparison.
Who’d have thought?
It seems to stem from the fact that we are such a privileged people here in the United States… we have our every desire right at our fingertips. For food, there’s a supermarket. If you need clothing, there’s a mall. If you need a car, credit’s not that hard to find… for just 60 easy payments or so, you can have that brand new [insert model here]. Shelter? We rarely give it a second thought. Clean water? Not a moment’s.
It’s so odd. When we arrived home early Friday morning, we pulled in the drive and I just sat there, staring at the comparative mansion I’m privileged to own. A far cry from the dirt floored, tin-walled shacks I saw in the Dominican, I felt shame to have so much for myself, Nancy, and my three kids.
As I drive down the highway, I can’t help but be amazed at what I see. Bright shiny new vehicles, left and right… all cruising down the road in an orderly fashion (well, for the most part). If we see a motorcycle, it’s usually a big Harley or a Honda Goldwing… with at most two riders. I can’t help but envision the highways in the Dominican, full of 150cc Honda knock-offs, weaving every which way with as many as six people riding (yes, six!). I can’t help but recall the bumping and lurching of the bus we rode in the Dominican (to think, we complain of potholes).
When I entered Wal-Mart to pick up a couple items we needed, I couldn’t help but envision the Dominican market, with all its small vendors, each peddling their own unique wares. And I remember the smell of the meat market, the “fresh” fish, and the live chickens waiting for slaughter. I’m amazed at how we have everything available at our fingertips.
And when I flew from Dallas to Kansas City at night, I was utterly amazed at the millions of points of light shining up at me from the ground. We light our highways, even entirely vacant parking lots. There, light is a privilege, available only if you’re lucky enough to be the recipient of a few hours of electricity in the middle of a rolling blackout.
As I witness all these things, and continue to be reminded of the gap between us “haves” and the Dominican “have-nots”, I struggle mightily with one main question:
Why?
Why are we so blessed to have so much, while the Dominicans have so little?
Why was I blessed to be born in the United States?
I have a feeling I’ll be struggling with these for a LONG time.