Beam South Africa

David Grochowski & "Required" Things

2008-05-08T20:06:00.010-06:00

We will promote another California person this week. Dave Grochowski is the President & CEO of Gratitude Enterprises, Inc in Newport Beach, CA. Dave, who quit his job in corporate America to become a real estate investor, will help teach the small business skills while we are there. (Erika is inviting the guys of a nearby "carwash" and some of the ladies whom they have trained before and have their own sewing business now and some spaza shop owners. ) Dave wrote, "I want to help serve those that are less fortunate than me."

There is a passage I have been mulling over lately. Many of you might know it well and most of what I write will be 'preaching to the choir' since you are coming on this trip. (You can click the links embedded for extra credit.)

The passage is Micah 6:8. "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Let's look a little closer. I am actually going to take these three action points last to first, because the progression I think goes from humility to mercy to just acts.

To walk humbly with our God - In the New Testament, James, the brother of Jesus, writes that those of us who are rich should take pride in our low position because we will fade like a flower. I used the inclusive language of 'us' because we are so rich in comparison to most of the world. Humility says I have nothing except what has come from God above. If it all comes from Him and we can fade like a flower, what can we really take pride in? We should choose to humble ourselves before Him. It's not about us. God dwells with a man who is humble. God delights in a humble woman. Humility is the first step toward God. it says "I need Him and I can do nothing apart from Him".

For us, this July, I believe we should all choose to say, "Apart from the grace of God, I could be in the same situation as the people I serve." We need to choose to not be 'ugly-Americans' but humbly choose to serve, to humbly walk with our God.

To love mercy - Mercy looks on people with compassion the way Jesus did and moves with acts of compassion that Jesus did. It's a heart like Dave's that says, "I just want to serve those less fortunate than me". Mercy is always interpersonal. Mercy is forgiving 70 times 7. Mercy is like the Good Samaritan who when he saw the man in need put himself in harm's way to minister to him. It is the fruit of a wisdom that comes from heaven. Mercy does not show favoritism. As pride is the opposite of humility, judgment is the opposite of mercy. Mercy triumphs judgment. And when you show mercy to the least of these, you show it to Jesus. (Matt 25:31-40)

A love of mercy should be the heart that drives us. We should remember that God is merciful to us. We all need mercy and received mercy, so we all should love mercy and give mercy. As we show love this July, it should be out of a merciful heart.

To act Justly - Isaiah 42 tells us that Messiah Jesus would come to bring justice to the nations. Justice is crying out 'thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven'. Justice is seeing the oppression of people and taking what is wrong and trying to make it right. Most often Justice in scripture speaks to the most vulnerable... the widows, orphans and strangers... those who are rarely experience justice. James says that what God our Father accepts as pure and faultless religion is: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. The LORD himself goes one step further speaking about David: "He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" (Jer. 22:15-16) . Justice is at the very heart of someone who knows God and follows Him.

Justice sometimes is harder. Mercy can take a few minutes but Justice may take a long time. Perhaps we can do major 'righting of wrongs' in a week. But we can go with a heart that chooses to act justly. Maybe for us just looking after orphans and widows in their distress is the acts of justice we can do.

Ashlie & History Link

2008-05-02T15:47:00.003-06:00

In our first of Team Introduction Posts, we will highlight Ashlie Watts.

Here's what Ashlie says about herself: I'm originally from Kansas City, Missouri but has lived all over. Currently, I'm living back, (yes back :), in Los Angeles. My full-time job now is doing budget consulting for associations as well as timeshares and resorts so I travel quite frequently. I also dip into some other jobs such as teaching yoga and dance. I love being active and can be seen frequently dancing, hiking, running, cooking, at the beach, etc. I'm involved in my church, Mosaic, in Los Angeles and use dance as my ministry platform. A few words that describe me would be adventurous, altruistic, audacious, spicy, disciplined, tenacious, thrill seeker, wild/fun, random, silly. If you know what Strength Finders is mine are Woo, Communication, Discipline, Belief, & Input.

I have a huge heart for the Aids cause especially with Aids kids in South Africa. So I currently contribute, volunteer, or support things that help this cause now anyway that I can. I have actually been praying to go to this specific area of South Africa doing what we're doing for 5 years, and finally the Lord said "Yes!" My life goal is to radically impact someones life positively to cause a spark to positively change the world. I hope in my short time there that I can plant some seeds and help foster them in the future to see the world changed one person at a time.

Another cool fact is that Ashlie played Volleyball and taught it to inner-city youth in college. So she brings that expertise to our Kid's Sports time.

As we prepare one thing it might be good to do is brush up on our history of South Africa. History gives us good insight in the understanding the people we will be ministering to. There are a lot of good movies you can watch or good books to read out there. I am currently reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography. One of my favorite memories is watching Cry Freedom in a crowded theatre in Kisumu Kenya 20 years ago. I was very aware of my whiteness.

You can read a short history on-line.

Update on team and tentative schedule

2008-04-24T10:24:00.003-06:00

This is our team (as of 4/24)...
1. Andy McCullough (Team leader)
2. Cayla Hatter (Assistant Team Leader)
3. Jessica Bigler
4. Sue Ann Bigler
5. Jeff Clay
6. Brent Cody
7. Stacey Garner
8. Dave Grochowski
9. Ashley Hatter
10. Cole Hatter
11. Marta Hatter
12. Brock Johnson
13. Andrea Miller
14. Chad Rathbun
15. Katie Rathbun
16. Jessica Rolf
17. Ashlie Watts
18. Andrew Hayes

Tentative Schedule
SAT 7/19 - Fly to London
SUN 7/20 - Fly to Johannesburg
MON 7/21 - Arrive, Rent cars, go to Pretoria,settle in
TUE 7/22 - Mornings teach adults at BEAM; Afternoons Kid's Sports Camp
WED 7/23 - same
THU 7/24 - same
FRI 7/25 - same
SAT 7/26 - Visit to Kids AIDS Hospital / Lion Park
SUN 7/27 - Church
MON 7/28 - Back to Beam
TUE 7/29 - Beam
WED 7/30 - Fly to LON
THU 7/31 - Arrive in US

2008-04-24T10:11:00.000-06:00

"Name storming"

Start by developing an initial list of potential sponsors.

As with brainstorming, in name storming there is one cardinal rule ANYTHING GOES. No name is disqualified. Just mentally erase any clouds of doubt from your mind and let there be "blue sky". Don't decide for an individual whether or not he or she is interested. If you limit yourself to those you feel will or can give, you may be prematurely disqualifying those God wants to become sponsors. Later you will need to prioritize whom to contact first, but for now, don't disqualify anyone! God’s ways are not always our ways! (Isaiah 55:8) Many times God reminds us that He is in control by providing in the most unexpected ways.

Develop a list of at least 50 potential partners. As you name storm, associate various professions, businesses, and places with any friends and acquaintances they bring to mind. To aid you, we have provided some thought provokers.

Take plenty of time an hour or more to mull over these categories. Push yourself...see how many names you can put on your list.

After taking an hour or so for free wheeling "name storming," label each contact either "T" for top priority, "M" for medium priority, or "L" for low priority. These designations refer to your evaluation of how likely they are to give. Now you are ready to go!

THOUGHT PROVOKERS

Family members Former co-workers Friends of parents

Sorority sisters Fraternity Brothers H.S. / College Friends

Church Elders Church Friends Prayer Group

People Led to Christ Sunday school Classes Bible Study Groups

Students Missions Committee Christian Business Groups

Pastors Neighbors (present / past) Coach / Teammates

Former Teachers College Professors Accountants

Parents' employees Dentist / Orthodontist Doctor

Retired people Community Clubs Community leaders

Barber Church newspaper ads Guy at Starbucks

Civic leaders Family attorney Christmas card list

Insurance salesmen Realtors Missionary societies

Parents' employer Civic clubs Life Groups @ church

Letter / Telephone Strategy

Step 1: Write

Now that you have” name stormed” to develop a list of potential sponsors, you need to write your letter to your potential supporters. Try to start mailing your letters within one-week. You’ll be glad you did!

You can probably see more success by handwriting a personal letter presenting your needs and then making a personal phone call to ask potential partners to join your team.

For time, you can easily use a computer. But try to personalize each one, even briefly, with a paragraph (and don’t forget to change the greeting!) The main body of your letter can be copied substantially "as is", but you already know that . . .

Be sure to include these in all of your letters:

Specific date.

Remember they are a person, not a Dear Friend..

Connect with the person. What do/did you have in common? Help her say, "I know who you are!"

Bring your reader up to date with what you're doing.

Educate your reader. What IS a missions project, what’s the purpose, why you have decided to participate, and what do you hope to accomplish?

Explain your need. The purpose of your letter is to give your reader an opportunity to help. Make sure you explain exactly what you need.

Involve your reader by asking him for specific action, based on the needs you have shared. This can include challenging him to cover part or all of the cost of the summer project. State your deadline for your money needs. Specific action includes not only your request, but also your commitment to follow up by telephone if they do not respond by mail.

Acknowledge your relationship again with an emphasis on thanks, appreciation, gratitude, partnership and commitment. This ties your opening acknowledgement to your request.

Include your telephone #, address (school and home, with dates you’ll be at home); e-mail address might be a plus too.

Close the letter and sign it (you can type your name so it is easier to read, but always personally sign it).

At the end of this section is a sample letter.

Pray

“God is faithful who has called you and He also will bring it to pass.”

- (I Thessalonians 5:24)

“Don’t be anxious for anything, but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” - (Philippians 4:6, 7)

Prayer, focus, and a little time and you are done with the letter—ready to see how God works it all out!

Not Such a Good Idea. . .

Never apologize for writing or calling a person whom you wish to involve in helping you meet a need.

You are providing them with an opportunity to be involved in a spiritual ministry through resources God has blessed them with. Remember, the giver needs to give far more than any person or cause needs to receive a gift. "Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account" (Philippians 4:17).

Preparing to Mail your Letters -

Get those stamps and envelopes. (Remember, if you want, you can use cash gifts, when your supporters specifically tell you they do not need a receipt, to cover these expenses.)

Enclose a self addressed return envelope for a quick and easy response. However this is not necessary. Step 2, a call is more effective than a stamp.

Step 2: Call

If it is getting close to a deadline and you still haven’t heard from someone (probably more than one person, actually!), don’t panic. This is when you may need to give the person a call. Many really do want to be a part of your support team, but most people suffer from "Information Overload." Unless it's from a good friend or your parents, how much of your mail do you really read? Mail is easy to ignore or forget. If you haven’t heard back from them, they may have overlooked your letter unintentionally or just forgotten to follow through. It happens all the time!

Time Frame: You have a lot of money to raise in a short period of time. A follow up phone call will help you find the people God already has “called” to be on your support team.

Courtesy to your sponsors: Many people will want to help you but won't unless you call to answer any questions and to get their decision. Your phone call takes the burden of response off them and puts it on you. We know this is probably a “crunch” time for you, but anything you can do in this arena will be worth it in the long run.

It’s getting harder and harder to reach people by phone so sometimes an email or a text message still works. It might depend on the age of the person who you are trying to get back with.

The Phone call:

“Hey Mr. Wilson, this is Kari. I am wondering if you received my letter. “(Wait for an answer. If they can’t remember of they remember getting it but can’t remember what you wrote, explain the gist of your letter over the phone.) If ‘yes’ and/or after explaining it again… ask, "Have you had a chance to pray about a decision?” . (Wait again)

If someone decides to become a partner--arrange a time to stop by and pick up his or her check. If they live out of town, ask them to mail it in the self addressed envelope that you enclosed with your letter.

Note: Your partner's check must be payable to Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley in order for him to receive a tax-deductible receipt. If made out to you, you can still accept the check, but the donor will not receive a receipt.

After getting a person's decision, always ask them to refer you to other people who might like to invest. Have a pen ready! Sometimes they really do know people who would be even more enthusiastic than they are, so don’t forget to follow through!

Step 3: Thank

Send a thank you note the same day you get a response if you have even a few minutes to write. It's too easy to procrastinate, misplace information or forget. Be sure to keep a record of this so you'll know who has and who has not been thanked.

A verbal thank-you is important, but your letter is an even more important part of showing your appreciation and developing a friendship with your partner.

Also remember to send a thank you to those individuals who gave you contacts. There is no need to mention the amount given by them. Just say they were positive, encouraging, and helpful.

Completion: Checks and Cash Processing

The money you have received for your missions project should be mailed to Andy or directly to Cornerstone Church. If you mail them to the church, make sure they know they are for you and the trip. There are some important specifics you need to know. If you want the money ready for your summer AND you want happy support team partners, don’t skip this section. The process is considerably less painful than ever but still needs your careful attention!

Make sure all checks are made payable to Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley. Let your supporters know this before they write their check (even though some will still forget. It’s inevitable!) For those of you on staff or interning with CCC, you can have checks made out to Campus Crusade for Christ and submit an internal account transfer.

If the sponsor prefers to make his check payable to you and does not want a receipt, that works. See step 3 below. Just be sure they understand that they will not receive a receipt!

If you have cash gifts, replace with a single check of your own payable to Cornerstone Church. Please note on the check memo line that this is to replace cash gifts. You can save some of the cash to pay for expenses related to the project such as stamps, printing, envelopes, shots and travel per diem.

Send all of your checks in the envelope by July 1st deadline to Andy

Andy McCullough

c/o CCC

5485 Conestoga Court Ste 230

Boulder, CO 80301

If a CCC staff member would like to sponsor you from his personal staff account we can do an account transfer. Email Andy their name and acct # and the amount...

Double-check everything before mailing. Make a photocopy of all your checks for your records in case there is a problem at some point in the process.

IMPORTANT: All checks from partners must be sent to our regional office by you. July 1^st enables me to call and see if how everyone is doing on their support and make sure we have a plan for next two weeks.

Sample letter on following page…

May 1, 2008

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Turk,

Hello from Boulder! I hope you are doing well. Lisa and I really had a great time at dinner last Sunday with you and the Brantley’s.

I wanted to bring you up to date on my plans for this summer. As you probably know, I graduate soon with a degree in nursing. I’m in the tough courses right now, so I’m working hard with the hope that graduation is just around the corner.

Recently I received my acceptance to participate on a summer missions project with my church in Boulder. I’ll be going South Africa for the last two weeks of July along with 16 others from my church and around the country.

Our Missions Project will proclaim the compassionate words and deeds of the gospel through serving AIDS orphans. South Africa is now the epicenter of the AIDs Crises and has 1 millions AIDs orphans. Our team will be working in a township outside of the capital, Pretoria. We will serve alongside a local mission, Beam Africa, which runs a Development Center in this township. Every day Bream feeds and helps meets the needs of over 100 kids. Most of these kids are orphans who live on their own in tin shacks in this township.

For the week we are there we will serve Beam in several ways. In the mornings we will teach some of the adults in the neighborhood life skills. Then after school ends for the day, we will run a Kids Program using Sports to share the gospel. We will also serve alongside Beam as they feed these kids. We also hope to visit kids who are HIV positive at a local hospital. We also will spend one day interacting with future leaders on a local university campus.

I’m so excited about this opportunity! Ever since a good friend of mine went on a summer missions trip in 2006 and came back with so many amazing stories of how God used him on the summer project, I’ve had a growing desire to tell others the Good News about Jesus and serve others in His name around the world. I’m hoping that through this summer experience God will make it more clear to me what He wants me to be doing when I graduate next year.

As great as these sounds, I can’t do this alone. I need your help. In order for me to participate on the summer missions project in South Africa this summer I need to raise $3500 to cover the cost of my portion of the summer project budget.

In order to meet this need, I’m asking people to prayerfully consider becoming a partner with me in this outreach in Africa in two ways: one is by praying for me regularly, and two, by supporting me financially.

Mr. George and Mrs. Margaret, would you prayerfully consider being a partner with me in ministry this summer by praying and giving financially? I'm trusting that God will raise up partners who will support me $50, $100, $200, or more by my support deadline of July1st. I know that not everyone can give those amounts so really any amount is appreciated. God is the one who must speak to people’s hearts to be involved in my ministry this summer. I’m anxious to see how He raises this money.

If you would let me know your decision soon regarding this, I’d greatly appreciate it. You may use the enclosed response card and just mail it back to me here at school. That will really help me in my planning. Because my support deadline is quickly approaching, I will give you a call to see what you are thinking if I don’t hear from you by June 25^th.

Again, thanks so much for all your encouragement over these last couple of years.

Serving Christ with You,

Flights and Dates

2008-03-07T13:28:00.007-07:00

This is our flight and dates as of 3/18...

United / Virgin Air through London - JUL 19-31

It would be a flight through London to South Africa .
30 seats are being held until May 30th
After May 30, for every ticket canceled we lose $400 per ticket canceled.

If you need to come home earlier, we can arrange a ticket change for you.

Join Us!

2008-02-21T09:45:00.001-07:00

Imagine spending time in the most important and influential country in all of Africa. A country where wealth and wide-spread poverty are next-door neighbors. A country that is experiencing one of the most severe AIDS epidemics in the world. A country still healing from the very turbulent and racist past of Apartheid. A country rich in diversity with 11 official languages and cultures. Africa’s greatest hope is the gospel of redemption brought through Jesus alone. Africa’s hope is South Africa. Consider being a part of exploring a beautiful landscape and pursuing what it means to believe God for redemption in South Africa.

Beam Africa

2008-02-21T09:42:00.001-07:00

Just a short drive from most cities in South Africa, you will find poor slum areas, or townships. In Nellmapius, one of these townships just outside the capital city of Pretoria, children go to bed hungry at night. There is over 50% unemployment and many are dying of AIDS. Many of these orphaned children live in tin shacks on their own.

Beam Africa runs a Christian development center in the heart of Nellmapius. Their desire is to minister to the least of these; to bring the hope to the poor, widows and orphans. Each day they feed and clothe 100 children. They also teach skills to adults to help them gain a livelihood. Overall they know only Christ can redeem these people and this country.

This summer we will take a trip to partner with Beam Africa. Our desire is to come alongside them as they minister in Nellmapius.

2008-02-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Details

2008-02-21T09:28:00.006-07:00

Dates: July 19-31. We will travel on the 19th and 20th spend the week of the 21st serving Beam. One day that week we will serve with another mission team on the university campuses.

What we will do at Beam:
~ Host a Kids Party where we will share the gospel
~ Work with a local church running a mobile medical clinic
~ Teach simple dental and hygiene skills to the kids
~ Teach skills to unemployed adults like computer programs
~ Serve the needs at the Development Center like cleaning, painting and repairs

Cost: $3350 for singles and $6330 for couples. We will look for ways to raise funds to support our group.

Who can go: Anyone willing to serve. We are looking for 10-15 people to join us. But can take as many as 30. It doesn’t matter if you have the specific skills listed above or not. We will organize the trip around what you bring. Click Here to apply.

Deadline for applying: A $100 deposit made payable to ‘Cornerstone Church’ is due by March 23rd. This is for the group plane tickets. You can mail this to: CCC c/o Andy McCullough * 5485 Conestoga Court * Ste 230 * Boulder CO 80301