GO Updates

GO Update from Joe Knittig

GO Family,

God knows what He s doing.

There s a reason beyond theology as to why we partner with local churches in the field. God is simply brilliant. The Local Church is a dynamic network, unlike any other on the planet. The combination of orphan care and the local church brings forth what C.S. Lewis called “the Deeper Magic,” that is and was before time began. We see that every day here.

We shared it with you at The Big Event. So many of you streamed forward at The Midland with prayer cards in hand: your prayer requests for your lives. We distributed those requests through a network of local churches, caring for orphans, in Africa, Asia, and, yes, Haiti. Orphaned children and their church families pray for you and your needs even today without you or them having to go anywhere. Dynamic.

The earthquake hit Haiti. Our network of local church partners and their children all over the world are praying for their brothers and sisters in Haiti. They feel a special kinship through GO to little ones in Haiti. Dynamic.

But even as they ache, hope, and pray for Haiti even as Haiti dominates our GO Project headlines the work elsewhere hasn t missed a beat. That s the power of the Local Church. Organizational experts would say there s a terrific blend of centralization and decentralization that allows this. We know the reason is not a concept, but a Person: Jesus knows what He s doing. Dynamic.

As buildings fell in Haiti, orphan homes and hope for children rose in Malawi and Uganda, as did prayers for children hurting a world away. Hope will rise again in Haiti to new heights, we believe. Holding it all together is a divine, dynamic, incomprehensible flow that never stops at yesterday s bad news, nor yields to geography or human limitations.

We have much continued work and dialogue with you concerning Haiti. In the coming days, you ll hear the next chapter of our Action Plan there. On March 12, we ll hold a Summit concerning Haiti in Kansas City. For now, let s take a minute to celebrate our dynamic God. Let s look at the work that continues on elsewhere in the world, and some exciting new faces here to work with you.

Thanks for venturing with us into this exciting journey for children.

Gratefully yours,

Joe Knittig

From the Field…

Malawi Update

Notwithstanding Rainy Season, Peter, Emma, and the Salima church keep plowing forward!

From groundbreaking to walls, we expect it will be entirely finished at the end of this month. The church will be large enough for 1,000 plus, and the school large enough to give 750 plus kids an education.

The first children’s homes are nearly done. Like the church and school, the first homes should be done at the end of this month. Each will house 10 children and a momma.

Pothawira is springing to life! A raw piece of land nothing on it but scrub is teeming with activity and excitement. And now we re about to go to children.

As you know, we launched this orphan care work with a very special child: Alpha Alanane Maseko. Click here for a bit more on that story and its significance.

We thought you d like to see that Alpha s VERY surprised at her mom and dad s amazing work at Pothawira. Stunned even!

We have a team going in March to visit and encourage our partners in Malawi. We ll have a lot more pictures and video to give to you in a month.

Uganda Update

As with Malawi, so many of you have invested with your hearts and pocketbooks in our budding work in Uganda. We’re pleased to report that work is cruising right along.

By way of background, we have two current villages in Uganda. We ve also forged a great partnership with the Church of Uganda (COU). We have the first two villages with COU under way. One is in SW Uganda, in Kabale. The other is in Northern Uganda, in Lira. Each will be home to 100 children.

Our partnership with COU commenced with a business. A construction business. Building orphan homes. What else?

We purchased brick presses from Kenya manual presses. These machines churn interlocking bricks without having to cut down trees to burn and fire the bricks. This is a strong and ecologically sound way to build. In addition, by using manual presses, the construction of orphan homes is creating many jobs. The transport of the machines and training of staff took a little longer than expected. We anticipated having the first homes in each location complete and children off to school in January. Now, it appears that it will be late March to early April when we hit this milestone. This brief delay allowing us to do the construction right and create new jobs is well worth it.

When the bricks are complete, the building of the homes goes rather quickly. The bricks lock together like a Lego set and require little mortar.

We were looking at sending a team to Uganda in April. With all that s happening in Haiti, and the slight delay in construction, that trip will likely get pushed back a bit.

We re really looking forward to sharing the stories of the first children the Lord brings to us in Kabale and Lira. I know so many of you are waiting with excitement to meet them.

We re as confident as ever in our future with the children of Uganda. The Lord has brought us just the right partnerships to do great things in His Name for orphans we ve not yet met.

New Faces, New Adventures…

God continues to move on The GO Project. As the needs to care for God’s kids increase, He faithfully brings partners and people to answer His call.

Our GO Project staff added three new faces this quarter. Adrien Lewis, as our Community Director, will develop and deepen our partner relationships.

Trace Thurlby, as our President, will help anchor operations.

Additionally as Mike Farag, moves on to take the next steps with Fervor Marketing Concepts, his own Marketing Company, Sonya Wedel has come on board to serve as our new Marketing Manager. We look forward to continuing to work with Mike and Fervor on key GO Projects in the future. We greatly appreciate all of what Mike s efforts has done for us and for God’s kids. Thank you, Mike! You are, and always will be, an important part of our GO Project family.

Haiti Summit-March 12-Save The Date!

Last week, you received a Save the Date notice. On March 12, 6:30 p.m., at Westside Family Church, we will hold a GO Project Haiti Summit. We d love to see you there; to encourage you; to celebrate what we ve been able to do together; to envision what s next.

Please help us spread the word! See you there!