This update just has to be a big old
THANK YOU!
to the 121 American households, the seven American businesses and the 14 American church communities that have been a part of this effort at least one time over the last four years and four months. We received a donation towards our current year HARVEST offering this week that put us just over
$1,000,000
in total donations over that time. That is a milestone we have seen coming for a few months, and one that seems worth celebrating.
Over that same period, less than $25,000 (2.5%) of that amount has stayed in the US, whether for banking fees, a little bit of marketing expense and some taxes and costs associated with a non-cash gift received in 2022 that has now been fully turned into cash as of less than a month ago.
The rest of those donations have either already been used in Zambia or will be sent over in the next few months for the 2025 HARVEST purchase, or our next clean water project, or as part of our monthly feeding program.
Some highlights of the efforts the last four+ years:
- Rog and I have both been to Zambia TWICE to physically be with our brothers and sisters there and get a glimpse of the work being done. We’ve been able to travel together once, and separately once each, bringing along others that have come back touched by what they saw.
- We have provided more than 60,000 bags of maize, sometimes in a ground meal form having already been milled, and other times in shelled form, given out along with some funds to help the family get it milled.
- We have been involved in 20 clean water projects as follows:
- 1 in Solwezi in the far north part of the country;
- 2 each in Petauke, Mambwe and Livingstone;
- 3 each in Lusaka and Chongwe; and
- 7 in Chipata, near the Malawi border; one of which was in the town at our largest church, and the other 6 in rural areas surrounding the town.
- We have provided funding for churches to build or help with rent for 19 households that were struggling with housing, typically because of some physical malady or because a mom was left with several kids and was struggling to care for herself and them.
Although we see ourselves primarily as an organization desirous of sharing from our SURPLUS into the DEFICIT of our Zambian brothers and sisters with no requirement for development of any sort, we have been involved in some development efforts as well. Initially we provided seed and fertilizer to a few farm families, but recently we partnered with Zambia Iowa Ag in the effort that saw brother Tracy in Zambia for FOUR MONTHS of their recent planting and growing season. We don’t know where that partnership may go, but we intend to stay close to whatever they are up to moving forward and see how the ministries might partner again.
All in all, we have never really had a “budget” or a “target” for any of our projects or our monthly activities. We have simply tried not to get ahead of ourselves and follow the leading of the Spirit as best as we can – recognizing how challenging that can be.
Once again as we approach a new month, our intentions in April are to provide some food for over 2,200 households, fund our 21st clean water project, and continue to raise funds BOTH for monthly support and for our HARVEST purchase project – a project for which we have in hand today around $96,000!
If you would like to be a bigger part of the effort, we would certainly welcome your participation in any area mentioned in this blog. The non-Zambian reader may see this as a ministry directed SOLELY at our Zambian brothers and sisters, but we do not see it that way. We believe the ministry is just as much directed at challenging our western brothers and sisters to consider whether they have SURPLUS themselves, and whether a claim of following Jesus might suggest SHARING as something His teachings would encourage.
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Let me just close with one verse (one of many, I might add) to back up what I just suggested:
Matthew 25:40 And in reply the King will say to them, ‘Amen, I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
We believe these Zambians we call our “brothers and sisters” are also JESUS’ “brothers and sisters.” That is a deep thought. Even deeper, in some spiritually mysterious way, when we care for THEM, it is as if we are caring for HIM. And THAT does something to OUR souls.
I’m not sure I explained that very well, and it is challenging for me to put it into words. For me personally, I believe I have RECEIVED as much from this effort as the Zambians have RECEIVED. Even though I haven’t received a single penny or a single thing to eat. If that is confusing or exciting or just something that you think might be interesting to explore, Rog and I LOVE exploring that topic, so please ask us!
So once more let me say THANK YOU to those that have partnered with us to this point. THANK YOU to those that are considering partnering with us going forward. And THANK YOU to the Zambian brothers and sisters that have shared so much into my life over the last four years.
