Your Story « The Hole In Our Gospel

Share your own story about how you have chosen to reach outside your comfort zone to serve the poor — and how it has changed your life.

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MARCH 04, 2010

Almost 9 years ago God gave me a small school in Haiti of about 65 children. In 2004 our city flooded and killed 1/3 of the population, leaving us with 22 orphans. Today, our school is 115, we supply them with good Christain teachers and textbooks, one meal per day. Our church is overflowing and overcrowed (what a wonderful problem to have). Eight days after the earthquake I went to Haiti, thinking I was going to check on everyone and everything, make any changes necessary and return home. However, the Lord had a different plan for me. He gave me a huge plan. To build an orphanage to house 300-400 kids now orphaned due to quake, a bigger second church and new school. Everything on a huge scale. I came home overwhelmed and discouraged. Over the last few years we have been able to scrape by and maintain what we have. Four years ago, I bought 18 acres of land that is sitting unused, which is where God has directed me to build. However, I was happy maintaining, not having to fundraise anymore and just being "comfortable". When I came home 3 weeks ago disappointed, broken and burdened. My pastor said you need to read this book. I was sure that I would NOT read the book. I love to read and because I read so much people recommend books to me all the time. It is rare that I read a book someone recommends to me. Well, you know how God is, He just wouldn't let go of it. So, I read the book. It has encouraged me so much and relit my flame.It allowed God to change my burden of a plan He had given me into a gift waiting for fulfillment. This coming monday, we are taking orphaned children from the Univ. of Miami/ Medishare's MASH-like hospital in Port Au Prince. These kids have been injured in the quake, left orphaned and are now ready to be discharged from the hospital. I know nothing else. I am walking and acting in faith. I have no idea where the funds are going to come from, the man power and supplies to build or anything. I am sure that God said to do it. So, we will trust Him and walk in obedience. I can't wait for the gift that God has given me to be fulfilled. I have starteda blog so that people can witness the miracles and progress the Lord is making. I hope that I can encourage someone else.
ANESSA SNAPP

We have to make a lot of sacrifice for others

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Greetings from kathmandu! I have read The Hole in our Gospel several times and I am so impressed by the life of Richard stearn and his sacrifices and his committments. I myself have donated all my life's savings to help a poor family right here in Nepal. I had a parcel of land in prime area now worth $300 thousand which i donated to help the poor. Thats my committment. Now they have a house,money to educate their children, buy medicines. I could have used the money to buy a house anda luxury car . But I gave to people who can now improve their life. I have also donated my one kidney to transplant to someone in 2003 who woudl have otherwise died I donated him for free someone I never knew. people should come forward and do more than just a handout of few dollars. Everyone love their family and neighbor but it is very important to give to someone you don't know that is the real challenge and thats the real test of your faith. Dr Udaya Sharma
DR UDAYA SHARMA

An Unexpected Encounter

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

I received this book as a gift from my wife. She brought it home to me after attending and hearing Rich speak at the Women of Faith conference in Anaheim last year. We have been sponsoring our first child through World Vision for almost ten years now and her other gift to our family from the conference was a second child to sponsor. My initial thought was that we couldn't possibly afford to take on another child. And she said whatever it takes, we'll make it work. And I remembered thinking the same thing when we started our first sponsorship and yet we have made it work for a long time. We struggle as it is to feed our own kids and yet she was so confident that we could pull this off. Then she said, "Just read the book and you'll understand." So I read the Introduction and Prologue one night before going to bed. Let's just say that was not such a great idea as I didn't sleep well that night. It cut me to my core and it would be several weeks before I would pick it back up. I took it with me on a business trip and it consumed my entire five hour flight, most of my free time during the trip and the five hours flying home. Then we left for a family vacation as soon as I got home. I took the book with me as I was almost done. And I had been praying fervently at that point for, as Rich so perfectly puts it, God to break my heart with the things that break His heart. Little did I know God was going to answer that prayer a lot sooner than expected. As we were driving home from the miraculous Sequoias on Thanksgiving day, we pulled off and stopped for lunch in Bakersfield. The first place we went to turned out to be only serving turkey so we went elsewhere. After having lunch in a restaurant, we headed out to the car. My wife went to the restroom and I took our two sons to load up. Upon exiting, I noticed a man sitting on the concrete wall near the parking lot, head in his hands. Instantly, my "dad" protective mode kicked in, as I hustled the boys past, but glanced at the man, clean, but obviously hurting. He didn't say anything, though I could tell he wanted to. I got the boys in the car and closed the door, and there he was standing on the sidewalk. He simply said he was very sorry to ask, but he wondered if I could spare a bit of money so that he could buy his wife and daughter some food to eat. He said he was out of work, they were living in a Motel 6 and his little girl had not had anything to eat for several days. He never mentioned himself just a desire to care for his family. The only cash I had was our emergency 100 dollar bill. I sympathized with him, but politely declined. It was at that moment that I suddenly felt very sick and broken. I heard God in my heart saying to me, I thought you wanted this, here is your chance, I'm breaking your heart and I want you to do something about it. The man politely went back to sitting on the corner of the wall and put his head back in his hands. My wife came out and I asked if the man was still there and she said yes. I got out of the car, took out our emergency cash and walked up to the man. I got on my knee next to him, gave him the money and told him to go feed his family. I told him this was God at work and I hoped he had a blessed Thanksgiving. He finally opened his eyes and when he saw the bill his eyes filled with tears. He quickly got up, thanked me and thanked me and started walking. I went back to the car, with a lump in my throat and began to drive away, but when I got to the driveway I noticed he had stopped to wait for us to pass by. He waved, thanked me again, turned and walked on. My wife then said, "What did you do?" I told her the whole story with a cracked voice and tears streaming and explained the impact that your book was having on me. And her question was right on, I DID something with what God had entrusted to me. I don't pretend to know why God allows such suffering to occur in this world, but this book has helped me understand that even I can be part of the solution, there is hope, and all we need is to be open and willing to DO His will, not our own. To listen and obey and let Him take care of the details.
Thank you Richard for taking the time to share your story as I believe it relates to all of us and as your subtitle says, all of us DOING something might just change the world.
BRIAN HUGHES

freedom from the bondage of water greed

FEBRUARY 09, 2010

I serve on a board for an orphanage in Arusha Tanzania Africa. It is a small orphanage with 26 babies who have been abandoned or their parents have died from aides. I have visited this orphanage and saw first hand the poverty on need in Tanzania. It was very overwhelming at first. I couldn't figure out how God could help us care for more as our annuel fund raising didn't amount to anymore than just meeting the needs of the 26 children. But with faith the people in Africa and in America, and all over the world started to pour into this vision of expanding this orphanage by building another building that could house 45 more children. We care for them, provide medical treatment and education,as well as spiritual training. At the beginning of this year the man who owned the well that supplied the water for our orphanage and another HIV orphanage down the road decided to with hold our water source unless we met his demands of $3000. We had currently been paying him just for our water $60 per month and the other orphanage $80 plus all of his electrical bills each year $2000. Plus he was selling water to other members in the community. He decided he wanted this huge amount of money to expand his business and to make more money. We paid the first demands of his rasome but had to go with out water several days on and off. This put a lot of stress on the care givers as water is much needed to care for 26 babies each day. I had sent out the sos to everyone I knew regarding this need. During the month of November I heard Mr. Stern speak at a women of faith conference. I really liked what he share and decided to get his book Hole in the Gospel. It changed my life. I sold off some of my assets which was just enough to pay for a well to be dug at our orphanage. I can't wait for the book to become availabel in paper back so I can purchase it for every member on our board. Mr. Stearns couldn't have said it better. I realized that first it had to start at home in my own back yard. That my heart needed to be broken as Gods was for the lost, the poor, the orphans and widows. It wasn't that I wasn't giving, it was I wasn't doing it Gods way. It all belongs to Him. I can't begin to tell you how good I feel and happy that these babies have fresh free access to clean water. It's a God thing and so is Mr. Stearns book. Thank you for showing me a better way. God bless all you are doing in World Vision. sincerely Tara Clark
TARA CLARK

Lesson Learned in Haiti

FEBRUARY 03, 2010

We've sponsored children through World Vision since 1996. We are also active in a small, parachurch group in Central Massachusetts, Mission E-4. A group of 36 of us were at the epicenter in Carfour, Haiti. We were first responders to 100's of critically injured people. As we were evaucated relief workers were coming in, including from World Vision. We are eager to return to Haiti and can't begin to do enough for our poorest brothers and sisters in Christ.
DALE PROULX

The Jesus Path

FEBRUARY 02, 2010

The Jesus Path is a West African saying which means to follow Jesus completely, turn off the old path and walk on the Jesus Path. My family began on this path a few years ago when we felt God leading us to adopt from Africa. We were hesitant, but decided to follow Him and obey even if it looked impossible to us. We began the process of adopting a brother and sister from Ghana, West Africa. Their mother had died and there was no one to care for them, truly these were the 'least of these' that Jesus had spoken of. Along the way we felt that familiar leading once again. This time God was leading us to adopt a third child at the same time as the brother and sister. This was almost too much for us. We already had 5 biological children, we were adopting 2 more and now we felt God was leading us to add another child. How could we possibly accomplish this? We decided to walk by faith, trust God and just see what He had planned. 2 weeks later God showed us our third child. She was at the same orphanage as the brother and sister and had a severe heart defect. We knew right away this was our child, we also knew that she would die if she stayed in Ghana. 6 months, and many trials later, we traveled to Ghana to complete our adoption. The brother and sister were fairly healthy but both had Giardiasis from drinking dirty water. This caused severe diarrhea and vomiting. Our third child was very sick with all the symptoms of heart failure. We knew we must act quickly. With God's help we pushed through the many obstacles to get home to the US as quickly as possible. We know that God kept our little girl alive. Many nights we put her to bed with chest pain and prayed over her that she God would preserve her life, and He did. 8 Days after we arrived home to the US she became critical and was admitted to Children's hospital for cardiac surgery. The doctors were amazed that she was alive and prepared us for the outcome that they believed would be bad. We believed that the amazing God that we love who had kept her alive this far was not going to let us down now. Much to the doctors surprise, our daughter came out of surgery doing great and went home 4 days later. She has recovered miraculously and is loving life. As an added bonus, she also loves Jesus! She was from a very dark region and told us when we met her that she did not like Jesus. We were able to share the love of Jesus with her and told her that it was because of Jesus we had come to get her and she made the decision on her own to love Him and call Him her Lord. The brother and sister knew and loved Jesus and had been praying for a family. They had nothing else to rely on and God showed Himself faithful to them.
I read The Hole in Our Gospel while in Ghana and was moved to tears many times. Our family is proof that God can and will use you to do amazing things for Him to forever change His Kingdom and the world if you are willing to step out in faith and turn onto the Jesus Path. Never settle for mediocrity, do great things for God and He will meet you where you need Him.

LANAE PEARSON