Rescue Iraq

Let the Nations Tremble!

Just in the past week, the news has declared of earthquakes, nuclear weapons, invasions, subversive paramilitary forces, bombings, attacks, retreats, protests, and killings all within a few hundred miles of us, in some cases just over the next mountain range.

But, more than three weeks back as I was waiting on the Lord, I felt Him speak to my spirit:

"My son there are difficulties yet ahead, but I will be with you, and give you peace. Look not to the right or to the left, focus your attention on Me. You have but 3 months remaining in this year -- world events will terrify you, but hold firm and remember I am your rock upon which you stand. Pursue Me, love me, find me through your faithful devotion to My word. Speak with Me, walk with Me, and you will live -- Fear not for I am with you. Do not give up hope!"

And now, as world events are quite terrifying for one living in this place God has called us to, I feel forced to recall His words and press in like never before.

Reading the Bible this morning I was reminded of who ought to tremble in this world. Psalm 99 boldly declares, "The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble."

When everything around us seems to be falling apart, when even the ground beneath our feet becomes untrustworthy, there is still no need to tremble. God is on His throne!

He has declared that He has given us of His Spirit, that same Spirit that has nothing to do with timidity, but everything to do with Power, Love, and a Sound Mind. This is the reality.

That we are seated with Christ in the Heavenlies and no weapon formed against us shall prosper.

Yes, we declare with the Psalmist, "Let the nations tremble" our souls are at peace!

Thanks for praying for us in these days especially as I believe the outward display of events (at least as the media report it) is only going to get worse.

But, know that no matter what the media declares or how dismal the outlook, God is still on His throne, actively involved in the affairs of men, and using every circumstance, no matter how terrible, for His glory.

There's a God side of the story that rarely gets read. I hope that through our work here, you come to see and have already seen that even in the "valley of the shadow of death" He still works miracles, He still brings salvation, and He still reigns on high!

It does not mean that hardships won't come, but that we never have need to tremble -- that's for the nations to do. Stand with us as we seek to bring peace, to share His light and His truth, and to stand up for the rights of the oppressed, in a land so raked with war and division -- the very intersection point of Turks, Kurds, and Iranians here in Northern Iraq.

Next Steps at the Refuge

Now, that we've had a week to get over jet lag and settle back into our abode, we've taken stock at what our next steps should be concerning the building.

Here are some pics I took on Monday that show the latest views of the building. Our biggest bottle neck to moving forward on construction is solving the drainage issue.
With about 4 months of continuous rain this year, Soran's streets have been flooded, pot holes have emerged that are deep enough to bottom out in, and the land has drank in rain sprouting up grass in places that I never thought grass would grow. Our little valley is steeped in green all around, making the land about as beautiful as I've ever seen it.

Which is all nice, because I thought we had missed the verdant green of spring this year, but not so nice because without windows on our community center, the ground floor has been flooded with rain with over 3 inches in some places, and a small 'pond' as developed as you can see in the pic above directly in front of our center.

Typically, the rainy season lasts till the end of April, beginning again in the late fall. If that cycle holds true, then it's just about time for the weather to get real hot and dry. This is the time to solve our drainage problems.

Fortunately, a couple churches have stepped forward to help with the building: Times Square Church of New York City and Antioch Community Church of Dallas. With their donations we hope to begin solving the drainage issues enabling us to move on with the construction process.

So, please be in prayer for us as we take these steps. We're trying our best to involve the local community, the local fellowship of believers, and the government in a community wide effort to establish The Refuge as the first vocational training center for widows in our region.

New Iraq Project Video

Hundreds and hundreds of hours have been put in to share our vision more effectively through this superb 14 minute video. You'll easily discover our heart for Northern Iraq and actually see the land where we work. Please take a moment to watch and learn all that World Orphans is doing here and say a prayer for God's Kingdom to be advanced in this land. 

Bringing Hope to Desolate Places (Iraq) from World Orphans on Vimeo.

The Prophet's Story

This short video describes a story that all of our hearts long to hear. Take a moment to reflect on what God has done for you -- making His Son the "great sacrifice" for all mankind.

 

 

Another call from the Governor

These four orphans are from Mosul. Presently, they are staying with their uncle here in Soran, but because he already has many other kids to care for, he has asked us for our help.

Driving up to the Governor’s office, I envisioned 4 little children, but when we walked in the door there was this family that we were to meet ages 19 to 12.
Meet Farsad, Ahmad, Helat, and Ferat, the Governor asked me specifically to help them find new accommodations for them.

Of course, at this point in our project the orphan homes have yet to be built. We are still working on finishing the community center, needing another $160,000.

Still, we can do something. We are here, and the Governor has asked us personally to intervene. Fortunately, World Orphans has developed an innovative home-based care program in Ethiopia that pushes local believers out into the community to care for orphans just like these.

We will begin meeting these orphans in the home of their uncle and find ways that we can help keep this family-unit stay together. We will encourage them in many different ways, wrap around them the gentle arms of our Father, and cheer them on to continue to keep the bonds of love alive and well.

We will offer them more than accommodations, we will offer them ourselves, our friendship, and our love born from the suffering of our perfect Savior, Jesus Christ.

From our experience these past 2 years, this is not an uncommon problem in Iraqi-Kurdistan nor throughout the Middle East.

As you might know, adoption is taboo in Islamic nations. The honor based culture simply does not allow for an “outsider” to take care of a member of one’s family, extended family, or tribe. One must take them in to one’s home regardless of how many children one may already have.

In a way, it’s an amazing display of love and faithfulness, but many times, the strains can be too great even for the most willing of hearts.

Because Islam does not allow for an “out” – a way for an already over burdened family to seek out someone else to care for one of their young relatives outside of their respective families or tribe – the situation can easily slip into a lose – lose affair, adding to the already inflated numbers of childhood labor, domestic slavery, and blatant abuse of children throughout the Middle East.

We at World Orphans believe that the Church of Jesus Christ is the physical representation of His Kingdom rule in our world today. His hand, His feet, His eyes and ears and heart ready to meet the needs of the least of these in whatever culture he or she may be found.

Where friend, or family, or tribe, or government, or social services may fail His love never fails. It seeks out the very least of these amongst us and wills us as His followers to reach out and rescue these forgotten ones.

It is why I am here today, and I pray God gives us the strength and wisdom, the love and compassion, that is His alone, to carry out His Almighty work of redeeming the lost, the lonely, the forgotten – in a word, the orphan. Pray with us, join with us! The needs are much to great for us to do it alone.

New 'Project Profile Flyer' for Iraq Project

Download our Iraq Project Profile Flyer to get an overview of our work in Northern Iraq and how you can be involved in partnering with us to rescue orphans and widows in this land.

Click here to Download Iraq Project Flyer

Video Journal 001

After 4 months in country accessing the situation, it looks like we’re ready to begin construction on our first project in Iraq.

However, we have some significant roadblocks that we are counting on your prayers for. Watch this 2 minute video journal and pray for us as we prepare to approach the Iraqi Government with our proposal in the coming days.

Matching Model with Market

The past 90 days since we arrived, we've been in a continual process evaluating our tried and true model of orphan care against the rigors of desert life in the Middle East frought with new challenges and new opportunities.

At this point, we've just been experiencing the challenges.

Two families that the local indigenous church earmarked for caring for orphans fell through as we realized they just weren't ready to take on the responsibility or the timing just wasn't right.

As we looked up the aisles of the church, it became apparent that family number 3 was not within the four walls, not that we could see at least.

So, we've been trying to do what we can meeting with orphan families, praying for the right couple to step up and take the responsibility to care for these lovely kids.

These boys lost their father fighting against Saddam in the Iraqi civil war in the mid-90s. Not too long after, their mother passed away. Now, raised by their grandmother, we've been helping them with some of their needs and encouraging them in their schooling.

Please pray for families like these that we seem to be meeting more and more frequently these past couple months. Our name has gotten out and great needs are presenting themselves.

Pray also, that more believing families will have the courage and the maturity to reach out to these orphans in need.

Matching model with market -- our work here efectively rises or falls upon the conclusions we come to as we begin our first projects in the Middle East. Please pray for patience and wisdom for us to find God's perfect fit for the Iraqi desert.

"They have entered in Peace & Security"

In 24hrs, we take off for a land that many would describe as war-torn, the last place on earth anyone would want to be. But not only are we going, we plan on living there for 3 years or more.

Generally, folks first response when we share with them 'what we're doing this weekend' is shock and disbelief. But when we tell them why, a sense of astonishment comes over their faces, and many have just plain said, "Wow!"

It's one thing to do your tour of duty in the sands of Iraq, it's quite another to take your family along with you -- 3 little boys to boot.

Fortunately, our work isn't in the midst of the fighting requiring the normal fare of weapons of war, we're fighting a different battle, a battle that would be pretty much impossible had America not set foot on that land over 5 years ago.

The Lord has given us the privilege of reaching out hands of love to the innocent poor and abandoned orphans of Iraq -- the casualties of many a physical as well as spiritual war continuing every day throughout the world.

I wanted to share one of the ways that God helped encourage us in the path we have set out on.

We were sharing our brochure with my sister's husband's family just a few weeks ago.

On the face of the brochure is the photo of the main mosque in the city we will be moving to. Little did we know that on the brocade of the entrance to the mosque was a 'message' from God and represented to us His heart for our family as we enter Iraq.

Not knowing Arabic yet, we weren't able to read the inscription, but with my brother-in-law's family's help they uncovered the words that greet the Muslim faithful each day.

As you can see in this copy of our brochure underneath the archway is a series of Arabic letters. Their message, only revealed to us in the past couple of weeks, stunned us.

It states, "They have entered in Peace and Security."

It is confirmations like this one that have helped boost our faith and been like God's gentle leading hand in our course to move to Iraq.

Overview

I wanted to catch some folks up on what we'll be doing in Iraq, and how World Orphans got there.

World Orphans is an organization that has helped in the building of over 500 orphan homes around the globe since it's inception almost 15 years ago. Our vision is as follows:

'Rescuing millions of ORPHANED AND ABANDONED CHILDREN, the strengthening of thousands of INDIGENOUS CHURCHES, and the impacting of hundreds of COMMUNITIES with the Gospel of Jesus Christ...through the COST-EFFECTIVE funding of INTEGRATED, FAMILY-STYLE, CHURCH-BASED CHILDREN’S HOMES in the LEAST-REACHED AREAS of the world'

In Iraq we hope to invest up to a $1 million in as many as 9 separate orphan homes for Iraqi children.

Last summer the President and Vice President of World Orphans met with key governmental leaders in Iraq and shared a proposal of building orphan homes that the local indigenous Church would participate in providing the care for the children. We made it clear that only a partnership in and through the Christian churches would make our proposal to build orphan homes in Iraq valid.

They initially could not accept this, but with some further negotiations they agreed to these stipulations. Read more by clicking here or go to www.worldorphans.org

They had one condition and that was that World Orphans would set up an NGO within the country that was supervised by a representative from World Orphans -- which later became me.

Our goal in Iraq is not just to build orphan homes facilitated through the local churches, but also in those cases where the local fellowships do not yet have a permanent place of worship, we'd like to build 'multi-purpose' facilities (upon government approval) that provide care for orphans as well as a place of community gathering and worship.

We always specify "orphan homes" in our development rather than "orphanages" because our some of our largest homes will house just 15 children. Generally, we like to keep the number below 10 in order to provide a lower adult to child ratio and as best as possible recreate the natural environment of a real home with a real family.

In talking with the editor in chief of Kurdish Media just the other day, he reasoned that there must be over 100,000 double orphans (having lost both parents) in Iraq today. Our initial research in the country as shown us that some of these orphans actually have parents living today, but because the children are the result of adultery [making them 'bastard' children] they are a disgrace to the family and thus kicked out of the home.

Iraqi orphanages do not accept children under the age of 5. So, we have a situation where potentially hundreds perhaps even thousands of babies are being raised in hospitals across the country until they reach the legal age limit to be accepted into the institutional orphanages... orphanages that have been the subject of several news broadcasts here in the States in recent years. See The Other Iraq.

We will be moving to Erbil in the summer of '08 (with my wife and 3 little boys) to supervise the building of these orphan homes and in the process, strenghten the witness of Jesus Christ through the local churches there.

World Orphans hopes to break through the barriers to the Gospel by doing as God's Word states, "to care for the orphan and the widow, " through the partnership of the local church and in this way fulfill the Law of Christ; attesting to the goodness of our God and the truth of our message.