Dear Friends,

Thanks to God’s love and yours, April was a fruitful month. This ministry update highlights all three divisions of Heaven’s Family: Shepherd Serve, Orphan’s Tear, and I Was Hungry. As you read the reports below, please feel good about what you are helping to accomplish around the world. — David

Shepherd Serve
Strengthening the Church by Serving Her Shepherds

I count myself so blessed to have spent three days teaching 184 hungry pastors from Kenya and Uganda in early April. We met in a very primitive Community Center building in the rural village of Sabotti, not too far from the border of Uganda. If the same Community Center existed in North America, it would be used only for animals or storing equipment, and certainly not for people. But no one paid attention to our barn-like meeting place but me, because most of the pastors who attended live in small houses constructed with walls of mud. Most of them never owned a pair of shoes until they were 15 or 16 years old. Most of them live on less than two dollars a day. They sat on crude wooden benches that had no backs, dressed in their very best clothes. They were so precious, and I felt unworthy to be in their presence.

As you might suspect, they were very humble, and so they were also very receptive to God’s Word. Each day they listened intently, and they responded enthusiastically to the truth they heard with amens, applause, shouts and even some standing ovations. When it was time to hand out the books that we’d brought for them, rather than just passing them out row by row or having each take a book from a pile, the conference organizer called out their individual names, and they came forward one by one to be presented with their copy. You would have thought they were all receiving a Nobel prize. Printing of 1,000 copies of The Disciple-Making Minister is in progress in Nairobi, so all of those pastors (and others) will receive an after-conference gift soon.

Heaven’s Family provided meals each day, and the transportation and lodging of those who traveled long distances. Thanks for making three days of heaven-on-earth possible. Praise God!

Orphan’s Tear
Sharing Christ’s Love with His Little Followers

While I was in Kenya, we adopted another Christian orphanage where about 25 beautiful little children are being raised in Christ. Most of them lost their parents to AIDS. A few of them are pictured below, but you can see all their cute faces by visiting our recently-enhanced website Orphan’s Tear. We now have search parameters to help new sponsors find a child by country and gender. For just $20 each month, you can provide food, clothing, school fees and Christian nurture for a little follower of Christ in Kenya, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar or Tanzania.

Four of twenty-five waiting for sponsorship at OrphansTear.org. Can you find the troll doll among these photos?

I Was Hungry
Loving Jesus by Providing for His Family

As heavenly-minded investors have continued to purchase shares in the Heaven’s Family Mutual Fund, our fund manager has been searching the world for values that other investors have overlooked. Two months ago, a wonderful opportunity surfaced in Pakistan’s priceless Christian widows. Some of them have been abandoned by their Muslim families since their conversions, and most of them work very menial jobs, such as cleaning homes. But their incomes can barely sustain them.

The Fund is already heavily invested in supporting about forty widows each month in two states of India, and so our fund manager thought it would be prudent to diversify by supporting twenty more in Pakistan. A few of them are pictured below. If you are investing in the Heaven’s Family Mutual Fund you can rejoice that you are helping them while you lay up treasure in heaven! You can learn more about the Heaven’s Family Mutual Fund online. You canlisten to a song straight from God’s heart that includes a verse about His special concern for widow,. That song, “I Care, I Died” was downloaded 472 times from our website in April. (High-speed internet connection recommended.)

Widow’s Mite: These widows mite thank you in heaven if you invest in the Heaven’s Family Mutual Fund!

As always, thanks for being part of Heaven’s Family. And to God be the glory!

David