Recently, I heard a mom say, “Who are you and what have you done with my son?” 

This humorous response of surprise toward someone’s change in attitude or behavior has never been asked of FAME!  Because for over 50 years FAME has not changed in purpose, activity, or goals!  Who you are and what have you done with….? Is not a question! 

Angelica* was 30 weeks pregnant and everything was going smoothly; the baby was moving as expected and the heartbeat was strong.  Your FAME partner clinic had been keeping on top of her vitamins, diet, and appointments – she was in good hands.  At her week 32 appointment, your faithful FAME doctor was concerned.  So, they loaded her into a hired pick-up truck and she went to a Hospital nearly 2 hours away.  Angelica had the baby early by C-Section and great news, she and the baby are perfectly healthy! 

But because of you, in the next 12-18 months there will not just be clinics in that area; a Hospital is under construction!!  A full birthing center, neo-natal area, and surgery suite, all accessible in their area– no more pick-up truck rides for pregnant moms!

Who are you and what have you done with …? 

FAME and you have been partnering together to:

• Give grants for Sustainable Projects like this Hospital
• Shipping Medical Equipment and Supplies
• Sending Short-Term Teams (like the ones in Colombia and Honduras right now!) 

Who FAME is…is who you help us continue to be!

What FAME has done…is what you’ve made possible! 

Thank you for your partnership with FAME to bring Medical Evangelism to the world! 

How can you share the gospel with 229.1 people in one hour?
Partner with FAME! 

How can they hear unless someone tells them? 
How can they go unless someone sends them? 

When you partner with FAME you are sending and some of you are going!  Each week around 5,500 people are treated in the name of Jesus and hear the gospel through partners of FAME!  That means that 229.1 people hear the gospel every hour a year! (Of course this is an average and some days/weeks have more than others – but the year long impact is accurate and YOU are making it possible!)

THIS WEEK we have teams headed to Honduras and Colombia – the gospel will be shared as they treat each patient in the love of Jesus.  But that is not the only type of impact!  Over the last decade new buildings, new ambulances, equipment, supplies, and teams have been in over 50 countries, and with over 100 global partners!  Over 2 Million people will hear the gospel and be treated in 2022- that means YOU HAVE SHARED THE GOSPEL WITH 229.1 PEOPLE PER HOUR!

As an Indy-based ministry, we hear a lot about the Indy 500 race in May, where drivers go nearly 229.1 Miles per Hour.  Impressive!  But so is your global impact at 229.1 people per hour!

AFTER: 

An Optical Tech at a FAME partner Eye Clinic in Honduras noticed a man on a  sidewalk was rubbing his eyes repeatedly, so he approached him and invited him to the “His Eyes” Clinic.  The man said he could not afford a doctor, but he was encouraged to come anyway.  He did, and upon examination, it was found that he had a small metal fragment IN his eye!  It was removed, and the man was immediately relieved and on the way to recovery.  Oh yes, he heard the gospel and experienced the love of the staff of your FAME partner clinic in Honduras.

BEFORE: 

Many years ago, an Ophthalmoscope, the handheld device used to examine the interior of the eye, was sent to this partner from the FAME warehouse.  It wasn’t exciting and didn’t seem urgent to send the Ophthalmoscope BEFORE, but AFTER, it gave sight to a man in great need! 

We don’t hear the stories of patients who need care BEFORE they need it, we hear of them AFTER care has been given and the gospel has been shared.  

FAME is receiving a surge in medical equipment and supplies…which ALWAYS precedes a surge in needs/requests from around the world!  There are Shipping crates and container loads being staged for the next couple of months, (Poland/Ukraine, Liberia, Djibouti, Sierra Leone, DR Congo, Ethiopia) and dozens upon dozens of smaller shipments are leaving every day!  But to keep meeting these requests FAME needs to be able to quickly respond to these needs. 

FAME has set a goal to raise $100,000 this Spring to meet a growing global need.  Many of you have already responded! 

If not, can you consider helping with 1% ($1000) of this goal?  A gift of any amount will remove an obstacle for someone to be able to hear and respond to the gospel.  I can’t tell you BEFORE what your gift will do. It may be an exam table, IV pole, therapy equipment, wound care supplies, surgical lights, surgical tools, birthing room supplies, or first-aid kits.  But AFTER, rest assured that we will learn that one of the world’s most vulnerable was treated in the name of Jesus and heard the gospel, and you will hear about many of them here! 

Evacuation of Elderly, Delivery of Medicine, Food Distribution all are occurring because of you and your generosity! 

Shipments of medical equipment and supplies are in route, and assistance is being given from shipments that were made before the escalation of war because of you and your partnership. This crisis in Europe is not new!     

I have a Russian word for “Thank you” to tell you about too – but before I do, can I tell you about how many people want to thank YOU?  

This week FAME is launching support for new sustainable projects in Colombia, Myanmar, Mexico, Ghana, Kenya, Honduras, Pakistan, and South Sudan.  Each of these will touch the lives of thousands!  We’ve learned that over 5,000 people HEAR THE GOSPEL and receive medical care with this message EVERY DAY! That is a lot of people who would love to say thank you! 

I really only know one Russian word- let me tell you about it. 

Many of the Ukrainians being displaced speak Russian as well as Ukrainian.  So many of them would say “Thank you” using the word “spasibo” (спасибо) instead of “dyakuyu” and this word’s literal meaning is “Let God save you”!

Amazing – that is EXACTLY the message of Medical Evangelism’s hope and help – “Let God save you!”  So when I say Thank you to you for your partnership – the message we are sending to thousands every day is Russian for Thank you – “Let God save you!” 

One of your FAME Scholarship recipients, a graduate and New Licensed Medical Doctor in Kenya reports feeling helpless due to a lack of resources, unpleasant working environment, and generally unsafe healthcare provision.  

Currently, I work in my home county, with the local government at the Kajiado county  Referral Hospital, which ideally is meant to be a level 5 hospital, but the service provision situation is wanting.  The situation here gives me a feeling of dissatisfaction and it is not a good setup to effectively show the love of Jesus.

Working at the county hospital, we are helpless due to a lack of resources, an unpleasant working environment, and generally unsafe healthcare provision.  

One week ago we lost a 23-year-old female, married, who hails from Kumpa (I know her husband), she presented at a local private clinic at Ilbissil with bleeding and Lower abdominal pain, and without any proper investigation, a procedure was performed and the uterus was perforated by mistake. This was not noticed and she was discharged home. A few days later her condition deteriorated and she came to the Kajiado referral hospital, where an ultrasound was noted to have an ectopic pregnancy, and also diagnosed with peritonitis (severe infection in the abdominal cavity), she went into septic shock and passed on 2 days after admission, the operation was delayed because the theatre was not clean and casual laborers have not been paid. This is saddening and heartbreaking.

This does not need to happen!  That is why YOU through FAME are partnering with this Doctor (who grew up in a cow dung hut in Kajiado) to develop a Self-Sustaining Healthcare System in this desperate Kenyan County.  Phase One is underway and so far FAME has committed $50,000 of the $150,000 Phase-One cost for the property to be purchased, fenced and a well drilled, preparing for the first Clinic of many in this region. Here is what this scholarship recipient said,

“It is always my dream that one day I’ll be able to offer safe quality healthcare to this desperate population, for the glory of God, as a way of thanksgiving to all of you who invested and trusted me. 

I have a dream to develop a privatized self-sustainable healthcare system in Kajiado offering both primary and secondary healthcare services to maximize revenue generation, and that in the future the system will be able to operate with minimal or no support from donors.” 

FAME is committed to a multi-year plan to impact millions of the Maasi people in this underserved region!  When you partner with FAME – you bring help and hope to the people of Kenya and nearly 60 other Nations around the world!  Thank you for your partnership! 

It was nearing 9:00 p.m. after a very long day the first weekend of April…

…and your FAME partner doctors were caring for the last of hundreds of patients seen that day. The importance of your partnership became very clear, once again.

Earlier this month one of your FAME short-term teams was serving alongside your FAME partner doctors in a remote, mountainous region of Mexico. They were hosting a Campana de Salud Familiar Gratuita (Free Family Health Campaign) in a series of villages that has no church, actually, no known Christians live there. These events treat people with the care of Jesus, but intentionally every participant hears a presentation of the gospel!

People are treated on a first-come-first-served basis (last-come, last served) and the day had been full and it was nearing 9:00 p.m. while the Doctors were patiently treating the last family of the day. It was a mom and dad with 2 young children. Your wonderful FAME team was getting tired and was ready to start their hour and a half drive back down out of the mountains to their late dinner and their soft beds.

The team was forever impacted though when they realized the family that was leaving the doctors were walking home. Your FAME team members asked the translators and partner Doctors about the family. They were the last to arrive and the last to leave because the family had walked 3 hours to come. That meant they were walking 3 hours yet that night with their 2 little children back to their home. They were taking Medicines and The Message back with them. You have heard us say, Access to Healthcare, Brings Access to the Gospel many times if you’ve been connected with FAME very long- it is SO REAL a need and your FAME team in Mexico just witnessed it a couple of weeks ago. They wanted to give them a ride, help them get to their homes and so much more- but our FAME partner doctors assured the team the family was safe and going to be okay- this is their way of life.

But your FAME doctors will follow up with them AND follow up with the community. The plan is that once 5 people become Christians in the village that a church will send a van to pick up those 5 people. Once that core group grows, the day will come that a church will be planted!

For 50 years FAME has been doing what Jesus said 2000 years ago, “He sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Luke 9:2

This Good Friday, remember Jesus opens doors so people see Jesus is Alive!
If you want to send the hope of the gospel – partner with FAME!
If you want to plant seeds to start churches – partner with FAME!
If you want to help treat people with the love of Jesus – partner with FAME!

I’m part of FAME, our staff is committed to FAME, hundreds of people like you, and churches like yours partner with FAME because the Message of the Gospel is shared the Medical Care!

Happy Easter!

Bill Warren
Executive Director

 

 

Do You Remember This Crisis and Solution From 2020?

 

 

 

 

 

 

A FAME partner in Ivory Coast had to shut down their mid-wife-based clinic, other than prenatal care because the Ambulance in their region was broken down and the government wouldn’t replace it.

Many of you partnered with FAME for this Ivory Coast Proper, Timely, Transportation emphasis for my “Run for Global Health”.

This week I received an email that the Ambulance HAS ARRIVED!    Here is their report:

I wanted to let you know that the ambulance has arrived at the PIM clinic in Abengourou and we are ready to begin delivering babies in our maternity. We will be the second place in town that does deliveries. In a city of over 150,000 people, you can imagine what a need that will meet!  We are excited to minister to families in our community even more as we meet their need to have a safe place to bring their children into this world. 

We can’t thank you enough for this generous gift that will allow us to serve our community in even greater ways, in the name of Jesus. 

That Thank you note is TO YOU!  You are FAME!  You make life-changing provisions possible for families around the World!

This team, we have bragged about them before, has a high success rate in bringing HIV-free babies into the world, and even greater than that, a high success rate in bringing the mothers to Jesus!

Thank you for your partnership that brings access to healthcare, bringing access to the gospel!

Take More Naps! 

That’s what the email recommended to have an amazing 2022!  Well, that was number 16, before that there were excellent ideas:

• Talk to yourself in a more encouraging way. There’s no one else like you alive on the globe today.
• Write a “not to do list”.  –That caught my eye… 

But the one that stood out was

• Determine how you will impact other people in the world.  Be a world-changer! 

You have ALREADY figured that out!  At least to some degree, because as you partner with FAME you impact thousands of the world’s most neglected, ignored, and hopeless people by bringing help and hope through medical evangelism. 

Here’s how big your impact will be in 2022!!!

If tomorrow morning you received an email from EVERY PERSON YOU HELPED IN 2021 through FAME, and you decided to read each name and country for 5 seconds before you deleted the email.  It would take you 1380 hours, that’s 65 Days to read/delete the first Million emails!!! 

That’s when you’d need to take more naps!  

YOU ARE A WORLD-CHANGER!  YOU DO IMPACT OTHER PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. 

You can mark that off your list to figure out for 2022- now you just need to figure out how to

• Drink more water
• Exercise first thing every morning 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTNERSHIP AND GENEROSITY IN 2021!  This next year of 2022 has more needs coming our way from around the world- all opportunities for you to do what you are already doing!  Being a world-changer! 

Thank you, and God Bless you and your family in 2022!
 
Bill Warren
Executive Director

The time has come again for the beginning of a new year. One of hope and promise. I recently ran across a quote from Charles Spurgeon that I felt was an appropriate goal for this coming year. As we make our New Year’s resolutions, may our utmost resolution be that we bless the Lord no matter our circumstances.

“I am sure that I may claim that the beginning of another year is a good time to begin blessing the Lord. For the mercies of another year, the forgiveness of another year, the provision, the instruction, the guidance, the supplies of another year, for the mercies of the year on which we enter with a good heart of hope, for all our fears which have been averted, for all our hopes which have been fulfilled, for all that we have learned, for all that we have experienced, let us carry out this happy resolution that, from this time forth, we will bless the Lord!” – Charles Spurgeon

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for the ministry of FAME and our partners around the world. We find it a blessing to know that you are partnering with us each month and day in prayer. This month, please partner with us in praying for the following that are on each day of the January calendar:

• FAME Board members as they continue to lead the ministry
• FAME Sustainable Healthcare projects that were approved at the last FAME Board meeting and are underway or will be so soon. Please pray for the funding needed for each of these projects, that the construction process will go smoothly, and that through these projects, the love of Jesus will be shown through medical evangelism.
• Our mission partners in Myanmar, India, and Haiti that continue to be under extreme pressure due to government control or civil unrest
• Church visits that Executive Director, Bill Warren will be making
• Volunteer groups that will be serving in the FAME warehouse, including a student volunteer group from Western Illinois University.
• Mark Yeaton, who will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro during the middle of the month to help raise funds for a clinic in Kenya. Rich Nye of a local news station in Indianapolis, IN did a story about Mark and his climb that you can watch here. www.wthr.com/article/news/local/columbus-teacher-to-climb-kilimanjaro-to-raise-money-for-medical-clinic-in-kenya

Blessings in the coming year.

Click Here for the January 2022 Prayer Calendar.

My Amish Friends, most of whom won’t get this email 🙂 , celebrate Epiphany.  For a number of years our family lived with many Amish farms next to and near our land and home. 

They were a joy to know, and one of the fun celebrations for their community is the Celebration of Epiphany – 12 days after Christmas – celebrating the arrival of the Wisemen to see Jesus.  

It is a celebration of the first Gentiles to worship Jesus – a message of hope that He came to ALL PEOPLE,  as the angels said about the GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY!

Wow!  The Wisemen came from the East.  Now YOU can partner with FAME and send help and hope to the North, South, East, and West to ALL PEOPLE!  

The word “epiphany” though is used in English to mean “A sudden and striking realization!”

Many years ago, when I was pastoring a church in Indiana; I had an “epiphany!”  I had a sudden and striking realization that our church’s partnership with FAME didn’t impact one country, one continent or one people – FAME impacts ALL PEOPLE  with the GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY!

In 2021 YOU sent HELP AND HOPE to 73 Global Partners in 43 Countries – that’s a continuation of the Gifts the Wisemen gave, that’s a continuation of the Gift God gave to the Wisemen! 

Maybe you can have an “epiphany – a sudden and striking realization” that some of the best use of your gift-giving can be through FAME – to send help and hope in a way that for ever $1 you give to FAME 2 people will HEAR THE GOOD NEWS! 

Thank you for your partnership- and could you end 2021 with an “Epiphany Gift” to bring help and hope to the world’s most vulnerable?    

Blessings,

Jeff Coon
Director of Development