Monday in Texas and a Katrina Outreach Update

This morning I began the first of a series of lectures at Christ for the Nations Bible College. I've enclosed a photograph of the students in the auditorium as I spoke this morning. It was great talking to such an enthusiastic, dynamic group. These students are from all over the world—what an opportunity. As is our usual policy, we offered them a special pack of books at one-third of the normal retail (specially subsidized for Bible College ministry).

I give my second talk Tuesday morning—and on Tuesday evening my lecture is broadcast live on Satellite Television at www.daystar.com. It is also broadcast over the internet. If you look at the program listings for that day, you will see I am advertised beginning at 7:30 pm—but actually I don’t start speaking until 8:00 pm (Central Time).

AiG Staff Plans for Mississippi

Below is a copy of an email our Director of Outreach sent to the church in Mississippi we are helping and working through to provide the backpacks/supplies to the local public school students. I praise the Lord for the caring AiG staff who are wholeheartedly involved in this special relief effort:

Pastor Barnett,

God has once again proven me to be a man of little faith. When you and I spoke about the need to get the backpacks together for the local schools, I asked my team to begin the research on costs and availability. I was pleasantly surprised by the low cost of good quality backpacks that we found through a Christian owned website. Encouraged by this, I thought that perhaps we could get 1,000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies together to get to your area prior to the September 26th start date. God had other plans in mind though and through the obedience of His people, we are now working hard to plan the delivery of approximately 4,000 backpacks! Please let your contacts in the school district know so that they can plan accordingly.

We will be heading your way on Thursday the 22nd (arrival will likely be very late Thursday night or early Friday morning) with the school supplies and at least 500 personal toiletry packs (toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc.) in tow. There will be seven men in total and we will be prepared to help in any way possible. We will bring our own bedding, and anything else necessary to keep from draining local resources.

As a reminder, Ken has committed to a rescheduled conference there in Ocean Springs as soon as we can coordinate it. Currently however, (Subject to your input/approval) we are also prepared to offer an AiG seminar at the church. Dr. Tommy Mitchell will be joining our group as we pass through Nashville on our way south. Tommy will act as our team’s MD should we need him and can be available to assist (as appropriate) in his professional capacity while on site in Ocean Springs. Dr. Mitchell is also a great recent addition to the AiG speaking team. His testimony is wonderful and his speaking style allows him to connect with people on many levels. Again, if you would like, Tommy will be prepared to share one of his talks (specifically, the one that deals with death and suffering). We will be on site from Friday through Sunday evening, so let me know what you think. We will bring our gear for the video projection as needed.

I look forward to meeting you. Our team and our loyal AiG supporters continue to pray for all of those affected by this event. As you know, pride can be a dangerous thing, but I am indeed proud to be associated with a group of believers who simply desire to be the hands and feet of Jesus as they reach out to help others in need. Our prayer is that we may we be found obedient by our wonderful and gracious God. And that we may prove useful to you and others in the Ocean Springs area.

Blessings,
Tom Miller
Director of Outreach

Internal Staff Memo

I don’t often do this, but I wanted you to read one of our internal staff memos sent to AiG staff this morning from the secretary to our VP of Media and Marketing:

Since posting our Katrina Outreach on the website Friday, we have received (at a first glance) approximately $19,335 in donations—and that’s just for the backpacks!!!! People are really wanting to get involved and are seeing the opportunity that we have to be a witness and help those in need. Praise the Lord!

We are going to assemble the packs on Tuesday, Sept 20th and Wednesday, Sept 21st from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm in the planetarium. Please tell your family and friends that we need their help (ages 14 and older) and if they are interested, please email Renee and let her know how many will be coming to volunteer. Staff are welcome to help per taking a personal/vacation day. We have 6 volunteers that will be taking the packs and supplies down to Ocean Springs either late Wednesday night (21st) or early Thursday morning (22nd). They will be driving back on Monday, the 26th, and if you are interested in going , please email Tom Miller.

It also appears now that we have been given such a large quantity of items, we will be hiring a large truck to take it all down. People are so excited to help.

Enthusiastic Katrina Responses

As mentioned in my previous BLOG, as of Monday morning, supporters from around the world had given enough for around 2,000 kits (backpacks and supplies) for school children. Because I’m in Texas, I haven’t been able to get the latest update, but I will fill you in tomorrow.

As of Monday morning, donations had come in from:

USA, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, UK, Australia

It is so exciting to also see people sending comments with their donation. Here are some of them:

B & M, California: Last summer we survived 3 hurricanes that came through Central Florida. We can in many ways sympathize with Hurricane Katrina survivors! Thank you for giving us another way to reach out to them. We know that we can trust you to use our contribution wisely and to point others to our Creator—our only real hope! Blessings.

D & S, Illinois: Thank you for organizing the Katrina Back Pack Fund—God Bless you ALL!

T & F, Kansas: Thanks for the opportunity to help these kids!!!

R.W, Canada Please don’t send a donation verification by mail. I don’t need it. Save the postage. God Bless!

J.S, Washington: Thank you to AiG for providing this opportunity to do something valuable for our brothers and sisters in Christ. This catastrophe is so overwhelmingly huge, effecting so very many people. It has been difficult to know where to begin to genuinely help. We like the idea of supplying school packs for these children. The card inside each pack is such a great idea. We will pray that God brings many to a knowledge of Himself through this awful time and this generous outreach by His people. God bless you all at AiG.

B.S., Canada: May the Lord bless your efforts with a harvest of souls for His kingdom!

J.W., Michigan: Great idea! Thank you for your heart to help others for God, besides your MIND to share the truth.

K.I., Conneticut: I appreciate being able to donate through a trusted organization. I have heard about many scam artists collecting and many organizations that are not using the money for the purpose which it was donated. As always, AiG has stepped up to do the word of God.

K.D, California: May this small donation of $20 be a seed that will flourish in the future lives of the dear children. May God continue to bless AiG.

T.H, Ohio: Thanks for providing the opportunity to help those in need.

K.P. Finland: Maybe you should consider supporting PayPal as a payment option. Many people do not feel good about transmitting their credit card details over the Internet and would gladly donate the 1.5% (or something like that) more to avoid that. Well, at least I would. Keep up the good work.

T.R. Indiana Hi Ken. I just want to thank you for your willingness to help this group who truly need to be shown some Christian kindness. I have wanted to do something locally, but have not had the opportunity to do so. I am taking your newsletter to church tonight to see if anyone there feels led by the Holy Spirit to donate. We may be bringing you boxes of donated goods! I have been past the site where you Creation Museum is located, but have not see the final product. Maybe this will be my opportunity! God bless you as you continue to serve the Lord and Savior, and to provide physical relief to the ones who are suffering now in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

T.M, Illinois: We are donating these backpacks in honor of our four children. Isabella, Sofia, Michael, and Olivia. Please let the recipients know that we are praying for them and our children our praying for them. Can you tell is if these is anyway for us to include a small note of encouragement in the backpacks? Thank you and God bless!

T.K, Virginia: We are a big family of nine and can’t give more, but wanted to send in $10 for each one of our children whom we homeschool. Thank you for helping out! God bless you all!

V.E, Idaho: Our 6-year-old daughter Annie says, “Get the backpacks and the crayons and the pencils for the children.”

Well, that says something about people’s heart for God and loving our neighbor as we should! We praise the Lord for the response.

Thanks for stopping by—thanks for praying.

Ken