Dear Friends and Partners of FAME,

Thank you for your continued partnership with FAME through prayer. We are humbled by your faithfulness to the ministry and to those we serve as you pray alongside us each month.

As this letter was started earlier in the week, a major hurricane was closing in on southwest Florida. This hit home for members of the FAME staff as some have adult children that live in Florida and would be experiencing the effects of the massive approaching storm. What a comfort it was for them to have so many friends and family members reach out to let them know that they were praying for their children. They knew that God was looking over them. We can now report that they are safe and sound. They were facing a literal storm, but we all face storms in our lives that test our faith.  Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV) says “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”  What a great reminder to build “our house” on a strong foundation -to have faith and trust in Jesus, to apply God’s word to our lives, and to pray according to His Word.

This month, please keep in prayer the FAME Board of Directors as they meet the middle of the month for a semi-annual board of directors meeting. Pray that God gives them wisdom and discernment as they discuss, plan, and make decisions on behalf of the ministry in the coming year.

We also ask that you pray for the two short-term teams we have going to Colombia to serve with the mission La Costa Colombia. The first team (October 23-30) will be teaching Community Health Evangelism to students so that those that attend can use what they have learned to better their communities. Community Health Evangelism (CHE) is a plan for individual and community development through physical and spiritual teaching. The 2nd team (Oct. 30-Nov.6) will be hosting multiple medical outreaches in local cities and towns in and around Barranquilla. Pray that the love of Jesus will be shown through the medical care that they provide.

Pray also for many church visits Executive Director, Bill Warren will be making, upcoming shipments of medical supplies and equipment, and for some wonderful volunteer groups that will be serving here at FAME to aid us in bringing help and hope to those around the world through medical evangelism.

And lastly, please pray for those in southwest Florida who were affected by the hurricane.  It will be a long road to recovery for many. Pray also for the churches and Christian aid organizations that will be working there with the clean-up. Pray for strength and endurance as they become the hands and feet of Jesus, helping those in need.

Blessings in the coming month.

Click here for the October Prayer Calendar

 “This is one of our drivers, Claude, walking to get around multiple unrest-related barricades, CARRYING an oxygen tank to be refilled.”  One of your FAME hospital partners in Haiti hadn’t had deliveries of critically needed oxygen because of the roads being barricaded due to the current upheaval in that country.

So this is their driver walking, BUT when he arrived at source after source for oxygen refills they were ALL OUT of oxygen!

The only source of oxygen desperately needed for patients YOU provided.  The Oxygen Concentrator pictured here was the only option.  Here is a paraphrase of the note attached.

Last night a patient was in need of oxygen.  Fortunately, we have an oxygen concentrator to take care of that patient.  Thank you FAME! 

Your partnership with FAME provides solutions and hope to partners around the world!  Right now there are two things you can do!

1.  Pray!  With the unrest, there is sporadic electricity.  With the unrest, there is limited fuel; with limited fuel, the generator can’t be powered.  Without the generator producing electricity even the oxygen concentrator can’t work – along with all the other hospital equipment.  Pray for power, from the God of all power.
2.  Your faithful support or first-time gift to FAME sends critically needed medical equipment and supplies to partners just like these every day!

 

Partner after partner, in country after country, reaching out to person after person BECAUSE OF YOU!

Thank you for bringing solutions to the world’s most vulnerable!

Growing in the hardest places.

Seeing this flower made me think of many of your FAME global partners…

K and J thought it was going to be another day like any other day.  Awaken with their children, have tea and a simple breakfast, tend to the animals, the garden, and then go to the village to sell some produce and handmade items in the market.   But they awakened to yelling and the smell of smoke.  Quickly they gathered their family and ran into the jungle and from behind the thick greenery they watched as their home and belongings were all destroyed by fire.  Not a forest fire accidentally sparked, but the work of their very own government forces.
 
L & A kept looking over their shoulder as they approached what they believed was the border.  Just across they could see welcoming faces and encouraging waves to keep walking.  They could hardly believe their eyes as they saw kind people with water, blankets, food, and clothing waiting for them – strangers they had never met, receiving them with open arms.  They were safe. 

S hoped the roadblocks in the streets were not active this early in the morning.  He kept quietly moving forward carrying his young sister hoping to get her to the pastor and his wife.  Miraculously the piles of rubbish and smoldering tires were there, but no protesters.  They made it to the church, and the loving wife of the pastor took one look at his sister and rushed her to the FAME partner Clinic.

Growing in the hardest places.
 
All three of these stories have three things in common:

1)     They live in some of the world’s hardest places 
2)     A vibrant church is growing
3)     A FAME partner has been the key evangelistic element to plant and grow the church
 
The love of Jesus, through God’s people, grows churches in hard places.  Whether it is Pakistan, war-torn countries like Ukraine and Myanmar, or struggling countries like South Sudan and Haiti.  YOU are helping the gospel TAKE ROOT in hard places.
 
If you’d like to learn more about our current projects in the world’s hardest places click HERE!

Thank you for your partnership!! 

Blessings,  

Bill Warren
Executive Director

 

Thank you so much for coming alongside the ministry of FAME in prayer. We are honored in knowing that people all around the world are praying for FAME Mission Partners, board members, staff, volunteers, trip participants, scholarship recipients, as well as church and partner visits.

This month we would like to highlight many of the faithful volunteers that come to FAME to volunteer on a monthly or weekly basis. FAME could not do all it does around the world without the help of so many wonderful volunteers that give of their time and talents.

In a devotion I read from Worthy Ministries, I like how the author talks about volunteerism.  They write, A wise man once said, “There’s nothing more powerful than the heart of a volunteer”. Webster describes a volunteer this way — one who renders a service or receives a conveyance or transfer of property without giving valuable consideration.

It’s so easy to get into the mindset that serving God is a chore, it’s our job, our duty — we give valuable consideration to our giving. The fact of the matter is that God loves a cheerful giver. He loves a volunteer. When I think of that verse, the first thing that comes to my mind is monetary giving, but God wants us to cheerfully volunteer every good thing He has so mercifully allowed us to have –- things we often take for granted — our time, our energy, our abilities, our talents, our homes, our cars, our families –- all that we have – all that He has cheerfully given to us! Let’s bless the Lord and those around us!

If volunteering has been something you have been thinking about and if you would like to find out more about volunteer opportunities with FAME for either yourself, your church or small group, you can contact Barry Reed, Director of Mission Resources at barryr@fameworld.org or at 317.358.2480.

Other items to pray for this month include Mission Partner visits that Executive Director, Bill Warren will be making, church visits, medical supply shipment preparations and conferences.

Thank you once again for your partnership with FAME through prayer.

Click here for the September Prayer Calendar