November 8th was a big night for missions at Church of the Heartland.  Not only was the KWAM banquet awesome, the adult Project A1:8 banqet ROCKED!  It was such a joy to take the time to celebrate what God  is doing in other nations.  We heard encouraging testimonies about some of the ministries that Project A1:8 supports, including pastor Radovan Bogdonavich in Serbia, missionary Linda Turner, a church building project in the Dominican Republic through pastor Randall Black, and specifically what God is doing in Uganda.  Grace International Ministries Uganda has a mobile Bible college that has trained 280 pastors who were leading congregations with no training at all.  We heard video testimonies from pastors who are deeply grateful for the training they received from the Bible college that Project A1:8 supports.

Besides the great food, the awesome praise and worship, and the encouraging conversation, a highlight of the night was hearing from Williams and Peruth Beshiisha – pastors of Word of Life Church in Uganda, friends of Church of the Heartland, and founders of Grace Children’s Home, which is home to thirteen precious African children who had nowhere else to go.  I’m continually amazed at the way God cares about people and does miracles in their lives!  We truly have a lot to celebrate.

Pastor Heath and the Beshiishas also shared the vision for a tilapia farm that would provide protein for the children in the children’s home and would eventually be a source of income for GIM Uganda.  Let’s keep believing God that He would provide for this project!

This year, we have reason to rejoice.  God is faithful.  We’ve been blessed in America, and I love Project A1:8 because it’s a chance to share what God has given us.  Thanks for being generous givers and partners in prayer.  Take some time today to thank God for what He’s doing in lives all over the world!

Last night’s second annual Project A1:8 missions banquet was a huge success.  Not only was the adult banquet incredible (more details to come), God did some awesome things in the kids’ banquet.  As the kids registered, they received their passports, got their passport pictures taken, received a boarding pass with their seat number, and were escorted by flight attendants to the plane.  The experience was so authentic that I watched many eyes get big as they learned that they were going to India, Africa, South America, China, or the Philippines for a few hours.  While on board “flights” to several nations, these young missionaries learned what they could do to help people in other nations.  They emerged with a prayer box containing an airplane as a reminder to pray for safe travel for missionaries, a small bottle of water as a reminder to pray for clean water, a bag of rice to remind them to pray for food, and a globe with a nation that God had called them to pray specifically for.  The kids also adopted a child from Grace Children’s Home to pray for.

The goal of the kids’ banquet was to help kids develop God’s heart for teh nations.  It was a  HUGE success, and the people who invested their time in the children have already seen evidence of what God did in their hearts.  Check out a few of these testinonies:

- One child wasn’t able to attend the banquet but helped put together prayer boxes.  His sister said he had all of the stuff out and she asked him what he was doing (she didn’t know about boxes).  He said, “I’m praying for the kids to have food and water.”
- One mom said that her son is taking his prayer box to school today for show & tell and that whenever he gets money he wants to send half of it to the African child his family sponsors.
- Another mom said that something has been stirred in her son.  All he wants to talk about is where God wants to send him and ways that he can sponsor a child.
- Still another parent said that her son loved the banquet and wants to go to Uganda.
- A junior high student who has started to rebel said that after last night he knows God wants his life to make a difference
- We heard and saw many of the kids at the banquet comparing their pictures and talking about the kids they are sponsoring in prayer

Last night was a great reminder that kids are not too young to make a difference in other nations.  These kids are excited about what they can do NOW.  It’s so exciting to hear about how God is calling kids and giving them opportunities to connect with His heart for people all over the world!

It’s time to start praying about Uganda 2010!  Below is all the important information about next summer’s trip to Uganda.  Right now is the perfect time to start seeking God about whether He wants you in Uganda in 2010.

Trip dates for Uganda depending on the size of group

Group 1 leaves June 7th

Group 2 leaves mid-June (second trip depends on number of people interested in trip)

Uganda 2010

Suggested timeline

November – pray about participating in Uganda 2010

December – Passport ordered  (must have by February)

January – $1,000 payment due

Shot appointments made

(must have yellow fever shot by March meeting)

February –   Find prayer partner to pray for you and the mission trip

March -  Yellow shot record card & passport given to leader to

send for visas

$700.00 2^nd payment

April – $300.00 3^rd payment, Malaria pills ordered

May – Final payment due at last meeting

All required shots completed

Bus tickets ordered

June -  Packing, final details

Approximate cost of trip: $2800

Potential mandatory training dates:

January 16

February 20

March 13

April 17

May 15

Only six more days!

I’m really excited about Church of the Heartland’s second annual Project A1:8 missions banquet – coming up November 8th at 6:00 pm at our Winamac campus.  The more details I hear, the more excited I get about next Sunday!  RSVP cards are available at your campus and must be turned in this Sunday if you want to attend the banquet.  This is an event that you definitely don’t want to miss!

For the first time, KWAM and nursery will be doing their own missions banquets!  I’ve heard details about the kids ministry, and it’s going to be AMAZING.  We’re believing that through this very special event God will call even these young ones to do ministry in other nations.  The goal of the KWAM and nursery banquets is to help kids develop a heart for what God is doing around the world.  It’s never too early to get connected to God’s heart for his people!

The goal of Project A1:8 is to equip people to minister, as it says in the book of Acts, in Jerusalem (locally), Judea (regionally), Samaria (nationally), and the ends of the earth.  This banquet is one more way for you to get involved.  Next Sunday night, let’s get together to celebrate what God has done through Project A1:8 this year, team up to meet some needs in Uganda, and get motivated to walk out God’s love and compassion!

We just received the October newsletter from Pastors Williams and Peruth Beshiisha in Uganda.

According to the newsletter, “the vision of Grace Children’s Home was founded in 2008, when Peruth Beshiisha was stage three with cervical cancer and declared cancer free with the help of friends, who neglected her not of her colour and condition she was in.  That birthed a dream to help the children who had no hope and kept flocking in her trash cans to look for leftovers as food to feed on because they had no homes to stay in because their parents died as a result of AIDS and civil wars.  This was one of the ways she could give back to God and those who stood with her.”

How God has tranformed these children!  In the months since the creation of Grace Children’s Home, this is what your giving and the Beshiishas’ faith have helped accomplish:

• the name of the home changed from Grace Orphanage to Grace Children’s Home, as these children are no longer fatherless but part of a family
• a birthday celebration for all of the children, which gives them the feel of a real home full of love and care
• the orphanage as been built and finished – with plaster inside and out, paint, and fixed ceilings
• the children spent their break from school playing with the toys and balls that the missionaries brought
• all children are performing well in school and are now able to read and speak English
• the children are being fed every day, although the country has been experiencing a food shortage

The Beshiishas and their children are believing God for their needs:

• beds for the children’s home (since their mattresses are on the floor)
• furniture for the living room
• sponsors for children who still need support

Remember that you can make a difference in a child’s life by sponsoring him or her with $30 per month for school fees or $50 per month, which will proovide the feeling of home and three meals a day, as well as medication.  A contribution of $80 per month will take care of all the child’s needs.

A word from director Peruth Beshiisha:

“I greet you in the name of Jesus and I am very grateful of your love and releasing the power of God that’s in you to manifest down in Africa as to make a difference in our young generation.

Thank you so much for your financial support, love, and prayer.  The book of Nehemiah speaks of Nehemiah having a dream and it was through teamwork that the dream came true.  Nothing could have been accomplished without your help.

The work is not yet done.  We ought to encourage ourselves to stretch more and accomplish what the Lord wants us to do in these last days.  And we always pray for you that all you have rendered to extend God’s kingdom in the young generation, God will multiply.”

Bless you,

Peruth Beshiisha, Director

I am sooooo excited to share about the KWAM missions banquet! It is during our annual A1:8 Missions Banquet November 8. First, I want to admit that originally I wanted to attend the adult banquet. I didn’t want to “babysit” the kids. I’m going to give you the short version of what happened to change my heart. God told me if I really cared about missions and wanted to change the world, that I should help change the kids. Change a child change the world. As soon as my heart changed God gave me a lot of ideas for a kid’s mission banquet. I can now say that I am ridiculously excited about this opportunity to impact lives.

Here is what we are planning so far:
- kids will receive a passport & boarding pass when they arrive (we will have chairs arranged & labeled like an airplane)
- they will have their own taste of the nations table where they can sample foods from different countries
- we will have a booth with clothes from different countries that they can try on & have their picture taken
- we will watch a dvd of an 11 year old girl who went on a worldwide mission trip (she will share about missions from a child’s point of view)
- several mission games (ex: obstacle course representing different obstacles a missionary goes through to share the gospel)
- take home idea: inflatable globes (kids will use a sharpie & circle a country that they want to pray for or want to go to)
- take home idea: a lunch sack filled with a water bottle, play money, toy airplane, etc. to represent things they can be praying for, airplane=safe travel; water=clean water for other countries

Our goal is to help kids develop a heart for what God is doing around the world. I really believe that this is going to be a powerful night! I believe there will be kids who will be called to pray for/go to different countries. We want kids to realize what they can do NOW (they don’t have to wait until they’re teens or adults). Right now they can pray, give (donate their birthday or Christmas), care and educate others of what is going on in other countries. God can use them NOW!

If you want to be part of changing the world (I really believe that this night could impact thousands of people) please let me know. I am looking for a group of people who want to impact the world!

Chris Miller

There are lots of exciting things happening all over the world through Project A1:8!  Just wanted to take some time to tell you about some exciting new developments.

Project A1:8 Missions Banquet

The Project A 1:8 banquet was such a success last year that it has become an annual event!  This year’s banquet is Sunday, November 8th, at 6:00 p.m. at the Winamac campus. RSVP cards for the banquet will be available at your campus soon.  This is an AWESOME event that you won’t want to miss, and the events planned for the kids and nursery are going to be at least as awesome as the adult banquet.  Everyone is welcome!  Join us in supporting missions around the world, and let God touch your heart for other nations!

Give Online!

You can now give online to Project A1:8 by visiting http://www.churchoftheheartland.com and clicking on the “Give Online” link under the Project A1:8 tab.  Just one more way to support this project!

Linda Turner’s Ministry

….. has changed lives on every continent (except Antarctica – but maybe someday!).  She is a precious ministry gift, and Church of the Heartland was blessed with her presence last week!  Pray for Linda and her upcoming trips, and check out the video below to see some highlights of her recent ministry.

I read this in Francis Chan’s book Forgotten God and it reminded me of our mission at Project A1:8: “We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things.  It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and acts in and through us in ways that on our own we are not capable of.  This is our purpose for living.”

This woman has realized her purpose for living and is pursuing it every day.  Are YOU?

Linda Turner, an amazing ministry gift who has been to 112 nations (115 by the end of the year), has been ministering at Heartland churches this weekend – and she has been a HUGE blessing.  Tonight is your last chance to see her!!  Trust me, this service is not something you want to miss.  Tonight Linda is ministering at the Logansport campus at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

If you can’t be there, watch her live at livestream.com/churchoftheheartland.

Whether you’re in Logansport or watching from him, don’t miss Linda Turner’s ministry tonight!

When you visit Uganda, you see some unforgettable things.  For example, only in Uganda could you see something like this…..

This, as Pastor Williams said, is taking boda-bodas to the next level!