The Good Samaritan parable by Jesus offers a powerful lesson about love in action, and reminds us of the way YOUR FAME partners treat people daily in the name of Jesus and share good news with them! But as with all scripture, there is more to be found, including a valuable lesson about how we think of giving.

“Jesus replied, “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. A Samaritan, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, he took two full days’ worth of wages and gave them to the innkeeper. He said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return, I will pay you back for any additional costs.’ What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?” — Luke 10:30-37 (CEV)

Jesus wanted to make the point that the neighbors we are to love are not just the ones who are easy to love, but also those we may dislike.

There is more to discover here. Reflecting on the customs and culture of Jesus’ era, the story presents some very real examples of how the ancient world functioned.

We find three distinct philosophies about money.

The first philosophy was that of the robber: What is yours is mine, and I’m going to get it. Today we may call that looking out for number one, with number one being the person who believes they have a right to take someone else’s treasure for their own.

The second philosophy was that of the priest and the Levite: What is mine is mine, and I’m going to keep it. These individuals keep a tight reign on their purse strings and have little compassion for others in need. While they have no interest in taking from others, they are not about to take the time to see if someone else is truly in need. After all, it could be a con. They distrust panhandlers and simply move to the other side of the road, never making eye contact.

The third philosophy was that of the Samaritan. What is mine is yours, and I’m willing to share it. Here we have an example of someone who truly understands generosity. He did not plan on meeting the victim, but when he did, he responded generously.

The Samaritan recognizes God as owner of all — we are stewards, caretakers, and trustees of the resources. Generosity is done with a joyful heart and desire to honor God and help others.

When the lawyer realized the truth about their neighbors, Jesus commanded him to “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37) His challenge remains for us to fulfill.

Mrs. Johnson had an estate plan in place. She planned a substantial portion of her estate for her ministry interests. The remainder was to be divided equally among her three children.

Mrs. Johnson read in a magazine about the importance of having someone in place to manage her property should she become incompetent. The article suggested one solution, to place a child’s name on property titles.

One of her children was a missionary in a foreign country. Another was a very busy doctor who lived some distance from her. She also had a daughter who lived on an adjoining farm, so she placed her name on the property as a joint owner.

At Mrs. Johnson’s death, all jointly owned property was distributed to her daughter with nothing going to her ministries or other children.

The hard lesson of Mrs. Johnson’s decision is that Joint ownership must always be coordinated with other estate documents or there is a possibility that your estate will not be distributed as you desire.

Mrs. Johnson could have addressed the issue of property management with a trust. Property can be managed by a chosen person (or people) should incompetence occur. The same person can make appropriate distributions at death.

If a Mrs. Johnson-like problem concerns you, we would love to offer you a no-cost, no-obligation copy of our eBook, Your Estate Planning Guide. It contains a helpful inventory that is a first step in reviewing existing plans or creating new ones. If you have any questions after that contact Jeff Coon jcoon@fameworld.org and he will answer your questions or direct you to our partners who can!

Thank you for your partnership that makes it possible for over 5,000 people each day to be treated like the Samaritan and the Innkeeper treated the injured man. As your partner, let us know if we can serve you in this vital area of your stewardship.

Dear FAME Prayer Partner,

Thank you so much for your partnership with FAME through prayer. Your prayers are making an impact all around the world!

This month please join us in prayer for a medical mission team that will be going to Kenya in partnership with CMF. Please pray for the participants and the people they will be serving.

Pray also this month for many shipments we have going out to mission partners around the world. Pray that the supplies and equipment that are sent will be a light to those around the world who need help and hope and who have little or no access to healthcare. And pray also that they may feel the love of Christ in the care that they receive as those supplies are used.

Lastly, pray for many volunteer groups that will be serving at FAME this month in the FAME warehouse. We are so appreciative of all the faithful volunteers who come and serve.  We truly could not do all we do around the world without the help of so many.

With this being the month of July and a time on July 4 for celebration, I wanted to also share an article from Bibles for America (BFA) that gives some good insight on the 4^th of July that we will be celebrating this month in the US and why it’s important. The author writes, While it’s important to be with family and friends on this day, it’s also good to reflect on why we’re celebrating. Our early forebears left England for the unfamiliar shores of America mainly because they were unhappy under the tyranny of religious persecution. Since those dawning years of our country, many others have migrated for the same reason. They gave up everything for the right to freely worship God here.

Among the many freedoms our country guarantees, what we as believers particularly hold dear is the right to worship God and to read His Word, the Bible, freely. In many countries on this earth, this freedom still does not exist.

This July 4th, as we watch fireworks and wave flags in celebration, may we also pause to reflect on our nation’s heritage. As the festivities end and the last trails of smoke glide across the summer night sky, take a moment to solemnly thank God for all that our freedom allows.

May God bless all the inhabitants of America with His salvation and the full knowledge of the truth in His Word.

Click here for the July Prayer Calendar

Flooding, Landslides, and destruction. Those describe the situation in El Salvador where your FAME partner has been a great example of partnership! The last report I saw said that 19 people have died including some children. Many of the injuries come the same way as some of the lost lives. A family of 5 near San Salvador lost their lives when the mudslide destroyed their home. But disease is always accelerated in the midst of these disruptions to sanitation and safety. The landslides are so severe that thousands have been displaced, and many day laborers have been unable to work for weeks!

100 Emergency Shelters have been established across the country but 3 are near a FAME partner clinic.

Your FAME partner reports, “We made plans on who we were helping in the shelters but the government continues to direct people to us to see how we can help with basic necessities. It’s flu season here! And we still have over 100 people in each shelter. Our PA, Jessie, nurse Sarah, and Intern Emma, have been helping this week in correlation with the Ministry of health to evaluate and assess all those in the shelters as well as those in the surrounding communities. Please pray for our medical team as we come off the adrenaline rush but still need to be putting in 100%. It’s not time to rest yet.”

Did you see the partnership? The government trusts them and is sending people to them for help, which means your FAME partner also provides hope!

FAME has received a number of emergency requests recently; for medical supplies in the Himalayan foothills, refugees in North Africa, and the Emergency Fund is a little low to meet these requests.

Each of them has a similar theme – a Crisis situation, in when there is a healthy
Partnership, a door of Opportunity for the gospel opens!

Crisis + Partnership = Opportunity

Thank you for your partnership, that makes these “add up!”

Partnership!  And God!  The only way to reach a vision so big.

6,103

Big Audacious Goals are often spoken to set a vision, and one of your FAME partners had his 100th Birthday Celebration and his team met a critical Big Audacious Goal for a whole county in Kenya.

If you’ve ever volunteered at FAME you have probably seen or ridden the hand-cranked, three-wheeled, sturdily built wheelchairs for leg-handicapped persons, which FAME has sent hundreds around the globe.

Mel West, who started building those colorful carts in 1994 in his garage, believes one day there will be a country where everyone in the country has mobility. A place where no one crawls on the ground or has to be carried from place to place or is unable to leave their house for the lack of a mobility device. God gave Mel a vision that that country is Kenya.

The ministry he and his wife of 79 years founded let us know they would be celebrating Mel’s 100th birthday on May 9, 2024. “While we can not obtain a mobility device for every person in need in Kenya before Mel’s birthday, with help we can give mobility to everyone in need in one county” – Transzoia County.

Transzoia County is located in the Western part of Kenya and borders Uganda to the North West. It has five sub-counties namely, Enbess, Cheraganyi, Saboti, Kiminini, and Kwanza.

According to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, the population of Tranzoia County is 990,341 people. The first step in ensuring all persons have mobility was to determine the persons who need of an adaptive devise and what devise they needed. An assessment was conducted throughout the County by Community Health Volunteers and the disability heads of the Transzoia County Disability Network Team. They identified 6,103 disabled people in Transzoia County who need a mobility device to have mobility.

The FAME team sent a large number of devices many months ago, but in April received a message that they had only reached “4,230 pieces of adaptive equipment!

Soon after that message, our team received a 25-pallet donation from Franciscan Health Alliance. There were five pallets included in that donation of BRAND NEW, IN THE ORIGINAL BOX cases of crutches! They were loaded, along with additional walkers and wheelchairs, and sent on their way by a monthly volunteer team from Greenwood Christian Church.

On May 7th, the eve of Mel’s 100th birthday, our team received the message that 6,118 pieces of mobility equipment had been received! One county in Kenya of nearly a million people will have the provision of mobility equipment for every person who needs it!

What a vision! Because of you, partnership is providing help and hope to the world’s most vulnerable.

Thank you for partnering with FAME!

Thanks be to God for His repeated miraculous provision to meet the needs of the world!

 

 

 

 

Isn’t it fun to be part of something so amazing that happens over and over again? What’s one of your Big Audacious Goals?

Partnership, and God – nothing is impossible.

Blessings!

Bill Warren
Executive Director

Our staff is asked this often. “Are you able to do anything right now in Haiti?”

And often the follow-up question is, “How can I help?”

The first answer is “Yes!”

You have many FAME partners who are quietly serving in Haiti, even in the midst of turmoil.  I am not going to name any of them for their own safety, but yesterday I learned something new!

Food insecurity is listed as one of the current tragedies in Haiti, and children are at great risk. Through a series of events here in Indiana, FAME has received multiple pallets of Infant Formula! This is not a normal “medical” or “health” solution, but malnutrition leads to some of the most serious health problems in children. The amazing thing is that one of your FAME partners in Haiti has a quiet, trusted way to ship and deliver the medical equipment AND the Infant Formula which is such a critical need! (BTW a pallet of Infant Formula contains 1000 containers of Formula)

The answer to the second question, “How can I help?” is two part.

1. Pray. Pray for Haiti, and pray for YOUR FAME partners in Haiti, there are 16.

Pray for shipments to arrive at their destination, Pray for Haitians to find Jesus through medical evangelism!

2. Partner. Keep Partnering with FAME. It can be volunteering in Indy, going on a Short-Term Trip, collecting and sending medical equipment and supplies to FAME, or financially partnering with FAME.

When you give to the “Yes!” Fund, you don’t need to designate to Haiti, to help Haiti – the daily work at FAME has supported 63 Mission Partners this year- Haiti included. Partnering with us changes the world!

Infant Formula. One more way God provides to meet the needs of the world’s most vulnerable. If you think this story is amazing…wait until you read next week’s!

Dear FAME Prayer Partner,

Thank you for your continued support of the ministry of FAME through prayer. Whether your prayers be for our numerous mission partners around the world, FAME international scholarship students, our numerous and faithful volunteers, participants and team leaders on our medical mission trips, our devoted Board Members, or our passionate staff, your prayers ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

This month we ask for prayers for a short-term mission team going to the Dominican Republic. This team will be serving alongside the mission, G.O. Ministries, providing medical care through medical outreaches.  Medical teams help provide physical and spiritual care to some of the most underserved communities in the Dominican Republic. The FAME Medical team will spend three days helping lead mobile medical clinics alongside “GO’s” local medical staff. This team will intentionally serve in GO Church Planting communities so that it can be an effective outreach tool for local pastors. Mobile clinics consist of four stations: Triage, provider assessment, pharmacy, and prayer. Team members work in all four areas.

Other days will be spent exploring other Focused Areas of Ministry, doing service projects and children’s ministry, and serving alongside “GO’s” Dominican and Haitian local leaders. Please pray for each of the team members going on this trip to serve and those they will be serving and treating in the name of Jesus.

Other items of prayer this month include:
• Wonderful volunteer groups
• Church visits being made by FAME Executive Director, Bill Warren.
• FAME staff members.
• The preparation for the Annual Inventory Audit scheduled for July 1.

Thank you so much for your continued partnership with FAME through prayer.

Click here for the June Prayer Calendar

In a bustling village in El Salvador, Maria faced challenges daily that many of us could hardly imagine. As a caring mother, she worked tirelessly to help her husband provide for their child, doing everything in her power to ensure they had a chance at a better future. Life in El Salvador was a delicate balance, with Maria often walking the tightrope between hope and despair.

One morning, Maria noticed her youngest son, Diego, struggling to breathe. His little chest heaved with every breath, and a deep, painful cough racked his tiny body. Panic set in as Maria realized that Diego’s condition was worsening by the minute. The nearest medical clinic was miles away, and without a car, the journey seemed impossible. But the day before, she had seen people from the church and Americans in scrubs distributing food in her village. They had invited her to a free medical camp the next day and she had asked permission to take one of the food distribution boxes they had used. Maria took the box, gently placed Diego inside, and began her cross-village ride. As she began pedaling towards the medical camp, she whispered reassurances to her son, praying they would make it in time.

Maria rushed up, calling for help. The medical team, recognizing Diego’s condition, quickly took him in. Only a few minutes later, the Physician’s Assistant approached Maria with a reassuring smile. Diego was going to be okay. The respiratory infection had been caught just in time.

Relief washed over Maria as she held her son close, gratitude filling her heart. She knew that without the box from the food distribution center and the medical camp of local providers, FAME staff, and a University P.A. program discovery trip, the outcome could have been very different. Maria’s story is repeated daily around the world, especially those facing overwhelming odds.

This is where FAME comes in. Organizations like ours partner with others (the food distribution supplies were from our dear friends at I.D.E.S.) to bring healthcare and the gospel closer to the millions who would have no resources without these partnerships. The partner there in El Salvador is building an Urgent Care Center out of shipping containers, so that access to the gospel and healthcare are available to thousands in their region.

Many clinics are underway right now, to provide essential resources to families like Maria’s, but we need your help. Your donations can make a world of difference, ensuring that no mother has to make a desperate journey further than necessary. Together, we can provide more than just food and supplies; we can offer more than treatment. We offer the cure.

Please consider donating today. Your generosity can transform lives and give families the support they need to overcome life’s toughest challenges. Thank you for being a part of this vital mission.

Blessings!

Bill Warren
Executive Director

In a small, picturesque village nestled in the heart of Central America, life moved at a pace set by nature and tradition. The village had its share of challenges, particularly when it came to accessing medical equipment. For Mayor Rafael, this struggle became deeply personal when his beloved mother, Doña Maria, began to lose her mobility. (Both of their names have been changed for their privacy, Doña means Mrs.)

Doña Maria was a cherished figure in the village. Known for her wisdom and kindness, she had been the backbone of her family and community. As her mobility declined, Rafael grew increasingly concerned about her quality of life. In this village, even basic medical supplies were difficult to obtain, let alone a specialized item like a wheelchair.

Rafael reached out to various organizations and individuals, hoping to find help. He was met with numerous obstacles, but his determination provided a very old used wheelchair. Doña Maria used that wheelchair for many, many years, even after tragically losing one of her legs.

Until this month.

One of your FAME global partners is establishing an urgent care facility in that village area, so they just received a full shipping container of medical equipment and supplies. One of the opportunities was to provide Doña Maria with this new wheelchair.

But the story didn’t end there. The wheelchair opened the door for the gospel, now she has also clearly heard the good news from these partners. Doña Maria can now share her testimony of how God has provided for others!

On Memorial Day, we all have people who are with us (like the Mayor) and those who have influenced our lives but who are no longer with us, and for whom we are grateful! Memorial Day is a special time to remember those who have gone before us!

Below are some gifts that have been given to FAME in Memory and in Honor of folks recently.

These gifts not only honor each individual’s life and legacy but will also help in making an eternal impact on the lives of people around the world for years to come. People around the world echo Doña Maria’s thoughts below as they are grateful for YOU!

Doña Maria, with a voice filled with emotion, said, “This wheelchair is more than just a means to move; it is a symbol of love and hope. I am forever grateful to everyone who made this possible. You have not just given me mobility, but new life.”

Thank you for your Partnership!

This little girl is such a great example of a simple solution that is NOT ACCESSIBLE to millions of children.

Her mom had been concerned for a number of days that she had not been eating, not been sleeping, crying, and had a high fever. She heard of your FAME partner in El Salvador who has a clinic in development, but was having a small exploratory medical camp with a Christian college team and FAME staff. The attending Physician’s Assistant in the photos was able to not only diagnose the ear infection, but prescribe an antibiotic.

Any parent knows the situation created when a child has an ear infection, and we know that left untreated, permanent changes to the ear and nearby bones are possible. Additionally, hearing loss can even occur if no treatment is available or provided.

Simple solution IF identified and treated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Same as our need for a Savior… a simple solution IF identified, the gospel is shared, heard, and responded to!

That is why FAME says, not just treatment, but the cure!

Thank you for your partnership in church planting and church growth through medical evangelism!

Elizabeth lived in a remote region of Kenya and had lost 2 children at birth because of the lack of care and availability of Maternity services in her region. When she was married in 2020 she never dreamt that she would have such struggles. More about her in a moment…

One of your long-term FAME global partners in that region recently opened a new Maternal Newborn and Child Health Facility. The facility has now been operational for two months.

It has had a profound impact already in this short time. The FAME partner there wrote, “Even I did not realize the extent to which women in the Maasai Mara were suffering in silence; so many babies were dying unrecorded. We have now had 5 ladies through the facility who had experienced multiple pregnancies or newborn loss (as many as 5 babies) due to inadequate support during childbirth and had no living children. All five of these women have now gone home with a healthy baby in their arms – this is thanks to your support!”

Over the first two months, the facility has conducted 88 deliveries, including 24 cesarean sections. And your FAME partnership will be funding a remodel of the facility’s previous location which was inadequate for such wonderful work.

“Elizabeth smiles when telling the story of her being wheeled into the theatre at 9 am on Friday morning so that she could meet her son. She was awake throughout and was talking to the medical team. Within a few minutes, her baby was delivered. She saw the baby boy as soon as he was born with a strong cry. Elizabeth named her son Goodluck Seria as he was born on Good Friday and explained that it was such a good day for her. Six days later she was discharged after a steady stream of happy family members and friends came to share in her joy.”

This long-term partner (Clinics, lab, Equipment) is an example of how meeting the needs of the most vulnerable can open the door and hearts for the gospel. When you partner with FAME you send help and hope, which doesn’t provide just treatment…but the cure.

Thank you for your partnership!