Home, Sweet Church, February 2009

Pastor Jose' (not his real name) and family standing on the porch of their new home...and church

As we all face the realities of an economic recession, it should remind us that the downturn we fear is still hundreds of times more desirable than what the majority of the world's people experience all their lives and have no hope of escaping. We are still so blessed, even if we only have food on our tables and a roof over our heads. Our Bibles tell us, "If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content" (1 Tim. 6:8).

Speaking of roofs over heads, this month's feature story is about a Cuban pastor and his family who just moved into a house purchased for them by Heaven's Family—for $400. They're thanking God for such a wonderful blessing, knowing that so many others in Cuba have so much less. Their new house will also serve as a gathering place for the thirty-five members of their church.

I hope you enjoy reading about others among our spiritual family around the world who are rejoicing because of your compassion. I've also written a special article this month titled, The Truth About This Little Ministry that you don't want to overlook. And thanks for continuing to care for "the least of these" in Jesus' family. While those in darkness fearfully cling to their diminishing wealth, the family of God keeps on loving. — David

Home, Sweet Church
The Cuban House Church Fund at Work

A real estate bargain: A house we purchased in Cuba for $400 that is now being used as a church as well as a residence for the pastor and his family. Inset: The pastor with his wife and daughter.

Like Clark Kent, you would never suspect him. He's 67 years old, has gray hair and wears glasses. He works as a sales rep, but only as a means to support his secret other life. He loves to sneak around communist Cuba on spiritual assignments. I can't reveal his name. But last month, he completed an amazing assignment, personally traveling across central and eastern Cuba and distributing 3,000 of our Spanish books to pastors. Even more amazing is the fact that those pastors represented at least twenty-four different denominations, including Baptist, Assemblies of God, Nazarene, Episcopalian, Orthodox, Apostolic Faith, Church of God, Methodist, Open Bible, and Church of Christ. The books were printed clandestinely.

Episcopalian priest and his wife, with copies of the Spanish TDMM

Under the harassment of an anti-God government, and suffering the inevitable poverty of communist economics, the church in Cuba has been steadily growing for decades. Literature to help equip leaders is in high demand. Some Cuban Christian leaders requested four-hundred copies of The Disciple-Making Minister to distribute to their house church leaders, but we could only supply them with twenty copies. We hope to answer their prayers with another successful printing.

Using gifts to our Cuban House Churches Fund, our Clark Kent also purchased a house that is now being used for a young church of thirty-five members in central Cuba (see photo above). It cost only $400, and it will also serve as the pastor's residence. By making it illegal to construct new church buildings since he assumed power in 1959, Fidel Castro unwittingly helped launch a house church movement that has swept across Cuba.

If you were to visit Cuba, just 100 miles from Key West, Florida, you would be shocked at the level of poverty you would find. In rural areas, people live in tiny shacks or tilting clapboard houses with rough concrete floors and no ceilings. Urban areas are generally crumbling and in disrepair. When Hurricanes Gustav and Ike roared through parts of Cuba in August and September of last year, there was little resistance.

Cuba's government has done next to nothing in the aftermath, and people are still living in makeshift huts constructed of hurricane debris. Clark delivered, on behalf of Heaven's Family, food for a number of Christian families who are suffering great needs, and funds to repair damaged homes using gifts to our Disaster Relief Fund. Clark told me about a mother living in one makeshift shack, who, upon receiving money from him, prayed, "Father, thank you that even when the government does nothing to help us, You send people from other nations to come and supply our needs." We pray that we could be the answer to the prayers of many more of our Cuban brothers and sisters in Christ.

In some places, Gustav and Ike just took roofs. In other places, they took everything.

The Bigger Picture: 100% of all gifts to the Cuban House Churches Fund are used to purchase houses that will serve as new churches in Cuba. Hundreds of dedicated Cuban church planters need such houses. We have excellent connections in place to help them. 100% of all gifts to the Disaster Relief Fund are sent overseas to help Christians affected by cyclones, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and so on. Since 2005 we've assisted believers affected by natural disasters in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, China, Myanmar and Cuba. Cuban Christians still desperately need our help. And 100% of all gifts to the Books for Pastors Fund are used to translate, print and distribute copies of our 500-page equipping manual, The Disciple-Making Minister, now in twenty languages, to pastors around the world. We need to print thousands of additional copies in Cuba to meet the demand.

Sichuan's Second Shaking
The Bibles for Believers Fund at Work in China

A new believer named Chen Siao Ying receives a Bible in Sichuan Province

Revival Christian Church in Hong Kong, pastored by our dear friend Dennis Balcombe, has sent fourteen teams so far into China's Sichuan Province since May's earthquake that killed 69,000 people, injured another 375,000, and left as many as eleven million people homeless. Those teams have ministered to the survivors in Jesus' name, bringing food, medical supplies, tents, and most importantly, the gospel. Heaven's Family has helped with gifts from our Disaster Relief Fund.

The areas most affected by the earthquake were, according to Dennis, historically some of the most gospel-resistant in China. In the worst hit regions—namely Wenchuan and Beichuan—not a single church existed. In northern Mianyang Township, which is strongly Buddhist, over 10,000 people perished in the devastation. Yet, in the southern half of that same township, where Christians and churches abound, there was little damage.

Since the earthquake, there have been some encouraging signs of increasing spiritual openness. Dennis reports that one church in Mianzhu Township, where his teams have been serving, has grown from 70 to over 1,000 members since May. The old church building is still standing but is damaged, and so those 1,000 Christians have been gathering in twenty-six meeting places. There was a need for 930 new Bibles!

Some new Chinese believers (and some of their cute children) with Bibles provided by HF

Using funds from our Bibles for Believers Fund, we've been able to provide Bibles for many new believers in earthquake-affected areas of Sichuan Province. One of those who received a Bible is Chen Siao Ying, pictured above. She is now living at a government tent shelter for earthquake victims, having lost her home, but thankfully, none of her loved ones. She is a brand new believer, having come to the Lord through the witness of a team member from Revival Christian Church.

The Bigger Picture: Since May, Heaven's Family has provided 4,900 Bibles for new believers in Sichuan Province. In December, we financed the smuggling of thousands of Bibles into China's Yunnan Province. Gifts to the Bibles for Believers Fund made these projects possible. Thanks so much.

The Man of the House
Orphan's Tear at Work in Myanmar

by CJ McDaniel

Joshua and his new family at Anna's Orphanage

Our dilapidated taxi is winding its way through a bustling market outside of Yangon, Myanmar. As we descend down the last bumpy dirt road towards our destination, our host, Anna, begins to tell us about Joshua, a seven-year-old orphan recently placed in her care.

Joshua's mother died several years ago, leaving him and his younger sister with a blind and alcoholic father who was unable to work. Joshua's father found himself in a desperate situation, and tragically, was more concerned for himself than he was for his two children. So he sold Joshua's three-year-old sister, Ruth, to some neighbors for sixteen dollars. It is unclear why those neighbors purchased her, but it was perhaps out of compassion for her, to save her from her uncaring, alcoholic father.

Joshua and Ruth's father bought food with the proceeds of her sale, but he didn't share it with Joshua, so Joshua would walk into the forest every day, gather bamboo shoots, and boil them until they were soft enough to eat. This filled his stomach, but after weeks of eating bamboo he developed a rash all over his body as well as stomach pains that caused him to double over in pain. When Joshua's father tried to sell him as he had sold Ruth, no one wanted such a sickly child.

Joshua's father apparently felt guilty for selling his three-year-old daughter, and with many threats, he forced her buyers to give her back. Eventually, he handed both Joshua and Ruth over to their aunt.

Joshua and Ruth's new home was not much better than their former home. Their aunt spent most of her income on alcohol as well, leaving the children with little food to eat. She eventually decided that she could not provide for them and chased them out to live on the streets.

When our friend Anna learned about Joshua and Ruth, she took them in, adding them to the five other orphans she'd already welcomed into her little rented house that she shares with her mother and teenage daughter. Anna's first priority was to take Joshua to the doctor. After taking the prescribed medication along with a change of diet, Joshua no longer suffered stomach pains or rashes. But he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Heaven's Family is paying for his treatment through the Orphan's Tear Special Gifts Fund.

By the time we've heard Joshua and Ruth's story, we're almost to Anna's rented house. We're anxious to meet them. Our taxi stops, and we walk up the dirt path leading to Anna's orphanage. Waiting at the door are eight beaming faces of seven girls and one boy named Joshua. They greet us with handshakes, and then recite the 23rd Psalm for us in their native language of Burmese.

Anna informs us that all the children have believed in Jesus and are now eager to learn more about Him. Along with devotions in the mornings, the children have asked her if they can learn to recite more of the Psalms at night.

As we play games with the children, we can't keep our eyes off of Joshua and Ruth, knowing their story. They now have a chance to be children again. Joshua is a model big brother. He always stays by Ruth's side making sure she's OK. And he has six older sisters watching over him, as well as our friend Anna, whom he affectionately calls "mom."

Joshua, who lives at Anna's Orphanage in Myanmar, and his little sister Ruth (inset)

The Bigger Picture: All eight children at Anna's Orphanage are now waiting for sponsors, along with hundreds of other children, at Orphans Tear. 100% of your $20 monthly sponsorship gift is sent to the orphanage where your child lives.

A Life Spared
The Persecuted Christians Fund at Work in India

Pastor Prabhudass of Andhra Pradesh, India

In December, pastor Prabhudass was walking home from a wedding ceremony he had performed on behalf of two of his church members. He found himself surrounded by an anti-Christian Hindu mob who told him, "We don't want your Jesus in our village." They attacked and brutally beat him, leaving him for dead in a ditch along the road.

Thankfully, some people walking along the road heard the sound of his groaning and called the police. He was rushed to the hospital and his life was saved. But he suffered serious head concussions and both of his hands were broken. At the time of this writing he is waiting for further tests regarding internal injuries.

This was the second time pastor Prabhudass had been attacked by a mob. Many Hindu people hate him because he is a powerful preacher who has planted thirty house churches in twenty villages of his region of Andhra Pradesh. He has personally baptized over one-thousand new believers, most of whom were former Hindus.

Like most pastors in India, Prabhudass has no medical insurance, and his current bill had run up to about $2,000, a huge sum to him. Heaven's Family (that's you!) was honored to follow the example of the Good Samaritan and pay his bill. Thank you for making it possible.

The Bigger Picture: It has been estimated that 200 million Christians in the world live with the reality of severe persecution, such as threat of imprisonment or violence for following Jesus, while another 400 million believers face non-trivial deprivations of liberty. 100% of what is received towards the Persecuted Christians Fund is used to assist members of our spiritual family who are suffering because of persecution for their faith, like pastor Prabhudass.

The Truth About This Little Ministry
by David Servant

Me, Charity, and CJ in our sunporch office. (Notice that the floor heater is closest to Charity.)

The members of the small staff of Heaven's Family are sometimes secretly pleased when we learn that people think, because of the quality of our publications, websites and videos, that we are a big organization. At the same time, we're a little concerned that folks might have a wrong impression of our ministry, as we don't want to mislead anyone. We do hope, however, that the quality of our communications reflects the quality of our service to "the least of these" among Jesus' family around the world. We are committed to excellence in everything we do, because we're serving a God who deserves our very best!

In response to some frequently-asked questions, below are some facts about the ministry of Heaven's Family to help you know us a little better, and perhaps erase some misconceptions.

The calling of Heaven's Family is to love God and His people around the world, particularly "the least of these" of whom Jesus spoke in His foretelling of the judgment of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. We've worked, or are currently working, in about forty nations. Most of those nations are very poor, where the average person is living on less than two dollars a day. In some of those nations we've done very little, such as distribute some books to pastors, whereas in other nations we're doing significantly more.

Our calling is fulfilled through three divisions, which are Shepherd Serve, Orphan's Tear and I Was Hungry. Through Shepherd Serve we equip pastors around the world by means of leadership conferences and free book distribution. I Was Hungry consists of about 20 restricted funds that all help meet very pressing needs of poor believers, such as widows, victims of natural disasters, lepers, refugees and so on. Orphan's Tear serves 1,400 orphans living in 41 Christian orphans in nine nations.

Heaven's Family has been in existence for six years and employs five full-time staff people. I often work in my bedroom "office" or with Charity and CJ, downstairs in the sunporch. Stephen works out of his bedroom and likes to brag that he has a four-inch daily commute—from his bed to his little desk. Chuck King works out of his house when he's not traveling overseas. We don't own or rent office space.

SK Studios and its CEO. (Note the four-inch commute.)

The reason our monthly magazine looks so good is because it is difficult to ask very talented graphic designers to produce shoddy stuff! Charity and CJ use their skills in photography and graphic design to put together both our e-newsletter and monthly printed magazine. Heaven's Family could never afford them if we paid them what they could earn elsewhere, but they are following a calling. Our 12-page monthly magazine costs us only 30 cents each to print, and they are bulk mailed. Our goal is to do a quality job each month informing you of how your contributions are being used around the world. We hope to give you a small foretaste of what it will feel like when Jesus says to you, "Well done, good and faithful servant..."

CJ is also a very talented web designer, and he is responsible for the quality of what you see at HeavensFamily.org and our related websites. We've recently begun using some very sophisticated software designed for ministries that are considerably larger than ours. That new software is going to save us lots of administrative time and money, but the features it makes available at our websites also likely make Heaven's Family appear larger than it is. Our new software will make it possible for us to keep up with the growth we've experienced over the past six years and enable us to be more fruitful in the future.

If you've ever watched one of our videos, you may have noticed the little "SK Studios" logo at the end. You may think that SK Studios is an expensive New York production company to which we pay large sums to produce our videos. But SK Studios stands for "Stephen Kirkwood Studios," and Stephen is the producer, camera man, sound engineer, video editor and music composer. He also heads the human resources department at SK Studios. So far he's only had to hire himself. Stephen is another employee whose talents could earn him much more elsewhere, but he is also following a calling.

Chuck King has the title of International Director. Like myself, Chuck travels overseas for ministry about six or seven times a year. A pastor with three decades of experience, Chuck often conducts pastors' conferences, and he oversees two of the restricted funds of I Was Hungry, namely the Safe Water Fund and Food Fund. Chuck has pioneered our Biosand Filter projects in Africa. Like everyone else at Heaven's Family, Chuck works very hard for little pay. I respect him very much for his devotion and commitment to Christ.

Chuck King in his living room office

One of our core principles is that we will never exploit the poor for our own gain. For that reason, we've created many specific funds that are restricted so that 100% of what is given is sent overseas to meet the pressing needs for which they were given. We trust God to pay all our administrative costs from the general fund of Heaven's Family. He has faithfully done that through folks like you for six years, so that a good portion of the general fund can be used, not for administration, but for our overseas projects. Moreover, because we never want to exploit the poor for our own benefit, we are not known for the high salaries that we pay our employees. Our highest-paid employee made about $30,000 last year, including all benefits.

There were about 1,000 people and churches who supported the various ministries of Heaven's Family in 2008, and they gave a total of about 1.4 million dollars. If you would care to examine our most recent 990 Form (2007), an annual I.R.S. filing required of all U.S. non-profit organizations other than churches, please visit HeavensFamily.org/990. Our 2008 990 form will be posted at our website in a few months, as soon as our underpaid accountant has completed it!

How do we work in so many countries? Chuck King and I have been ministering overseas for decades in scores of nations, and we have relationships with numerous time-tested Christian leaders. All of our overseas projects are the result of partnerships with them. We have no paid staff outside the United States. We work with leaders who have proven their trustworthiness, and we continually hold them to high standards of accountability. We've learned many lessons over the years (which is a kind of way of saying that we've made mistakes), and we continue to learn.

My bedroom office: A quiet place

All of us aspire to serve faithfully anyone who wants to be prepared for the judgment of the sheep and the goats. We're serving a small ministry now, but believe we are poised to handle any growth that the Lord grants us. Thank you for being part of Heaven's Family!

Are You Regular?
If not, we have the cure...

The new features at our website are helping us serve you better as you serve Jesus' family around the world. If you haven't visited lately, please browse on over to Heaven's Family. Once you create an account, you can view your giving history, see photos of your sponsored children, change your mailing address, and set your communications preferences. New features also make it easier than ever to give securely on line.

Some of the greatest heros of Heaven's Family are all those who regularly send support. Needs from our family around the world never stop coming our way, and we appreciate having resources ready to meet those needs, rather than having to send out "crisis appeals." Please consider setting up regular contributions to any specific fund, including the general fund, of Heaven's Family. You can do that at our website, either by means of monthly automatic credit card contributions or monthly automatic bank withdrawals. It is all safe and secure. And while you are at our website, check out the Heaven's Family Mutual Fund, another way you can become regular!

Other Stuff at Heavensfamily.org:

As you navigate around Heaven's Family, you'll find archives of the past five years of David Servant's e-teachings, the text of all of his books, as well as free Christian music and teaching videos. Heaven's Family received well over two-million hits last year from people in over 140 nations.

Parting Shot
First a red balloon, then a pink monkey...

Our Clark Kent in Cuba also knows how to get the affection of cute little Cuban girls!