Almost There!

I'm excited to let you know that to date almost $70,000 has been donated to the Zimbabwe Drilling Rig Fund! A special "thank you" to all who contributed to this cause!

$165,000 was the total for the entire Drilling Rig Project. However, reaching $89,000 would enable us to purchase the drilling rig, ship it to Zimbabwe and purchase a vehicle to tow the rig. Anything that is raised over and above $89,000 will go toward the cost of drilling individual wells. New Covenant plans to donate $34,000 through our Advent Conspiracy Offering that would drill 10 wells!

If you have not yet done so, you can still give to this project online or by check. Help us reach our goal! All gifts go directly to MCDF. MCDF is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization and is a New Covenant Kingdom Partner. And best of all, 100% of your gift goes to the Drilling Rig Project. There are no administrative or overhead fees!
To Give Online

• Go to www.mcdforphans.org and click on the Donate link.
• On the Donate page click on the “Donate” button at the center of the page. If you don’t have a Pay Pal account, click the “Continue” link under the credit card logos.
• Fill out the credit card information.
• When you get to the payment confirmation page you will be asked for “Any Special Instructions?” Enter “Kim Pagel Rig Fund”.

To Give by Check

• Checks should be made payable to MCD Orphans.
• Write “Kim Pagel Rig Fund” in the memo line.
• Mail checks to Dennis Matangira, 670 Beaver Hollow CT SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52403

Because of your generosity, 7500 school children will have clean drinking water this coming year. Because of you, the good news and the good works of the gospel will be shared in a powerful way in the country of Zimbabwe. You are helping make the invisible kingdom visible!

This is a Win, Win, Win proposition:

• 7500 children in Zimbabwe Win. Most of these children are orphans. If we don’t help them, no one will! Schools will receive clean drinking water, families will be able to grow self-sustaining gardens, villages will be transformed, women and children will spend less time gathering water, churches will be planted and the gospel will be preached!

• Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation Wins. God has given this Christian ministry incredible favor with the village leaders and the government. This drilling rig will help MCDF drill more wells, plant more churches and to share Christ more effectively. Your gift enables MCDF to share the Good News and the good works of the Gospel with their own people.

• You Win! Giving to this important project will help you put your faith in action and store up treasure in heaven. James 1:19 says – “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Thank you for caring! There are many things in the world that we have to accept and cannot change. This is not one of those things. Bringing clean water to 7500 children in Zimbabwe is something that we can do.
This is something that we must do! Together, this is a God-sized vision that we can accomplish for His glory. Thank you for helping!

Send Me!

I really enjoy Ed Stetzer, pastor, missiologist, and President of LifeWay Research. I recommend that you follow his blog and twitter feed.

Today Ed further develops his series on Developing Missional Churches for the Great Commission titled, Part Five: God Sends. This is a great read. If you time time read the entire series.

Here are a few quotes:

However, in repeating the truth that "God is a sender," we have failed to say, "Here I am. Send me" (Isaiah 6:8). It is a disconnect between believing that God calls and sends, and being willing to be sent.

Perhaps we have stopped contemplating that it is the personal Creator of the universe who has a glorious pursuit for His creation this is calling and sending us. Perhaps we simply have missed that we were created to advance the name of God throughout the whole earth, and God redeemed us to fulfill that purpose through us. Perhaps we have forgotten that Jesus told His disciples to wait until the Spirit comes before they start the mission, and the Spirit came and the disciples went.

We have the same Spirit in us today, and we have the same mission. Perhaps we have overlooked that when Jesus commissioned His disciples there were some there who were full of faith and some who doubted (Matt. 28:17). Because we believe that God only sends those with risk-taking faith, we conclude that God cannot send us.

Perhaps we have not heard that when He sends us, He sends us with His peace (John 20:21) and the assurance that He has overcome the world (Matthew 28:18, John 16:33).

Let me add a few thoughts. In fact, let me personalize this discussion a bit.

Perhaps I'm too comfortable? Perhaps my time spent with Christ is so infrequent that I no longer even recognize His voice. Perhaps my heart is hardened to the extent that I no longer even care about lost people and what's on the heart of God. Perhaps I'm too preoccupied with my selfish concerns.

Perhaps, I need to come to Jesus with the heart of a child, to look into His eyes, to hear His voice. Perhaps I need to decide if I want to really live as a disciple of Jesus or just go through the motions of playing church.

Ed writes:

Ultimately, churches and individuals make the choice to hear the sending voice of God and obey it. Obedience begins with embracing that God has a glorious purpose for His mission and He initiates the mission by sending His Son and His people. The truth is either we are sent or we have missed our orders.

I don't want to miss anything God has for me or our church. I want to live my remaining years on mission, helping bring the good works of the kingdom and the good news of the gospel to those for whom my Savior died. I want to obediently trust God with the heart of a child, ready to answer the call with the words. "Send me!"

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
Revelation 22:17