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Team 7 to our Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico crisis response is in the books, and it was another fantastic and productive-in-every-way team!

Led by Jeff Willis with his pastor, Bartley Sawatsky, of Mississauga Grace in Toronto, Canada, the multinational team of 10 was a joy and blessing to three homeowners who now have roofs that don’t leak!

This team was comprised of people from three churches: 4 from Toronto (Mississauga Grace), 3 from Macedonia, Ohio (Western Reserve Grace), and 3 from our Baptist church partner on the ground in Puerto Rico. They braved very hot temperatures, working with water bottles in hand from 7AM to 8PM almost every day.

Please pray for a barbeque happening at our partner church in Copey, Puerto Rico (near San Juan) this Sunday, July 22. This is a celebration time for these families as well as others that have been blessed by our teams and others that have partnered with this church.

PRAY that the sweet fragrance of the gospel, shared in deed and in word during this team’s ministry, will sprout and grow and that this Sunday’s celebration will be a fruitful time for God’s work in these dear homeowners lives.

If you had the opportunity to spend even five minutes with one of our widow groups in the Central African Republic, you would agree that the phrase, “dancing in the rain” perfectly describes them.

Life for widows in the C.A.R. is hard enough; but when war broke out in 2013, life has only gotten harder. Still, when these ladies are together, you sense that, not only are they staring down the odds, they are thriving, even having fun! When they are together, their burdens are halved and their joys doubled.

CHRISTMAS GIFT

Of all the projects Encompass Crisis Response takes on in the C.A.R., those done to benefit these ladies are among our favorites. We started off the year with a Christmas/New Year’s gift given to 25-30 widows, which included a new 6 meter piece of cloth for a new skirt or dress and a small gift of cash.

WIDOW GARDEN

With farming being the only marketable skill for most of these ladies, we also purchased a piece of land not far from where they live. A previous widow garden was a blessing for a time, but once the country fell into war and instability, which continues to this day, the ladies were afraid to travel out there let alone be out there by themselves.

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!

So remember these ladies in prayer. PRAY that God will double-bless their crops of peanuts, white beans, corn, manioc crops, etc. PRAY for their safety. And PRAY that these ladies will always have enough joy in their hearts to continue to dance in the rain.

Update: April 2018

The first quarter of 2018 is in the books and we are praising God for the many ways He is at work, even through pain and loss, drawing people closer to Himself and into His purposes.

Check out our latest update, which highlights recent and future Crisis Response ministries in Puerto Rico (Hurricane Maria) and among Syrian refugees in the middle-east.

Link to our January update
in case you missed it.

doo-zy definition – “Something outstanding or unique of its kind”

Yes. 2017 definitely fits the definition of doozy!

Check out the 2017 highlights in our photo-rich, end-of-year update: 2017-12-31_CR Update

As winter temperatures in Turkey plummet, life gets more challenging and miserable for refugee families caught between their war-torn homelands and their dreams of a better life.

540 refugees in Turkey are receiving warmth for Christmas!

Join Encompass Crisis Response in providing the gift of WARMTH for 540 refugees this Christmas through Operation Snow Flower.

Our partner in Turkey writes, “Our greatest desire is that we will take the love and hope of Christ to these families in both Word and deed – a message that is hard to hear when you are so cold and your children are suffering.”

Operation Snow Flower:

• $50/month to heat a home for a month (winter last four months)
• $16/pair of boots (total needed: 32 pair)
• $25/coat (total needed: 20)
• $20/set of children’s sweater and warm pants (total needed: 150)

Join us in giving to help these refugees at Encompass World partners:  https://www.encompassworldpartners.org/projects/refugee-relief

Find out more about Operation Snow Flower .

There’s just something about an earthquake that rattles a person to the core. So when it came to helping believers and local churches reach out to their communities after the 8.1 earthquake in Mexico City, we knew that trauma care had to be at the top of the list.

The team with church planters and other workers they trained on the ground.

It’s amazing all this all-Spanish-speaking team of Mexicans, Chileans, Argentines and US-Americans was able to accomplish in just 10 days! Already by the end of day one, this team of mostly “strangers” was already knit together not just as a team but as family.

Team leader Pastor Martin Guerena (Northwest Chapel, Dublin, Ohio) writes,
“I just want to say that the team was so amazing, God ordained, and united that we became like family during the days we have been together– praying, crying, laughing, singing and serving together– and that was a story unto itself.  Each person had an important role to play without which we could not have done what we did.”

The team developed materials including a simple tract specifically for Mex. City earthquake victims.

While there were many highlights as they helped close to 50 believers not only process their own trauma but also in providing trauma care to others, one incredible highlight we’ll mention here also comes from Pastor Martin. He writes,

“A Catholic parish in the center of one town where we served allowed us to minister to 33 of their parishioners. Most were women and children with a few older men because the younger men were working. The amazing thing is that we were not only able to give them some practical ways to deal with their stress and emotions, but we were also able to share the Gospel with them. We also were able to witness to and spend time with the community organizers (one of whom has been reading her Bible and was receptive to the Gospel).

Relief supplies were distributed to earthquake victims in the poorest and hardest hit areas of the city.

“Many professed faith in Christ, but only God knows how many of the 33 accepted Christ as Savior that day.    The team has since been praying that God would start a church in [that town] and that the two community organizers we worked with – would be a part of that new church plant.”

Please PRAY with us that new churches will indeed be planted even as those trained by this team minister to physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

Our first of 20+ Harvey Response teams. Members from Cleveland and Akron

First it was Hurricane Harvey. Then we added Hurricane Irma. And before it’s over, we may also add Hurricane Maria to the disasters that are bringing together a powerful coalition of like-minded churches to help people rebuild their lives in the wake of these powerful storms.

The initial goal of sending 10-15 teams by mid-December 2017 to the Houston Hurricane Harvey zone turned out to be far too modest. At the time of this writing, 25 teams are scheduled for Houston plus another 3 or 4 planned for Florida.

PRAY
Please pray that God will use us to strengthen and give hope to people who have lost so much, AND strengthen relational bridges between our local church partners and their communities. Pray that a spirit of unity will continue to steady the coalition and that all resources needed will be met.

GO
If you are healthy, there’s a place in Houston or Florida for you – or even better, for a team from your local church.  Write Barb Wooler for more information.

GIVE
Your contribution to Encompass Crisis Response for Hurricane Harvey/Irma will ensure that the vision of blessing and helping many people in the wake of these powerful storms will be realized. Give online at www.encompassworldpartners.org/hurricane .

Hurricane Harvey last week. Hurricane Irma this week with Hurricane Jose promising more “excitement” next week. And just this morning comes word of a 8.1 earthquake in Mexico.

“What in the world is going on!” many have wondered and some have said with a glance over their shoulder in search of the first Horseman of the Apocalypse.

Whether these events are the long-awaited “birth pangs” that herald in the times of the end or just an exceptionally rough time in the history of our planet, God alone knows. But there is something we can know about these disasters: God is at work on the fields of disaster and is inviting the Church to join Him there.  We just need to view crisis through His optic, as this 3-minute video reveals, Crisis: What Do You See?

As C.S. Lewis said, pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world, to draw people closer to Himself and into His purposes. Yes, in all the things we don’t know, there is one thing of which we can be sure: God is powerfully at work these days in Houston, the Caribbean, Florida, and Mexico.

THE CHURCH IN HOUSTON POINTS THE WAY
These are times when the church can shine especially brightly, just as the Church in Houston is doing since Hurricane Harvey dumped 50+ inches of rain in their city. No one is serving in this crisis more lovingly or sacrificially than the church! They are housing people in their buildings, sending teams to drag out moldy carpet, gutting houses, sitting with heartbroken home-owners whose every possession is molding in a damp mess on the curb.

This is the time for the Church to shine!

How can you and your church shine?

PRAY

• PRAY that God will restore the spent energy of many believers in Houston – and now also in Florida.
• PRAY that believers will share not just the strength of their muscles but also their hope, a commodity in short supply for people who feel they have lost everything.
• PRAY that churches in our Fellowship will rise together, and serve as only the Church can – meeting physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

GO
Join a team or send a team from your church. We have three locations right now receiving team members:

• Bayou City Fellowship (Houston) – contact Scott from Akron Grace, email: Neoi@roadrunner.com
• The Brook Church (Houston) – contact Kevin from Ashland Grace, email: kdsmith404@yahoo.com
• Florida – still developing at this writing, but contact Barb from Encompass at bwooler@encompassworld.org

GIVE

• Sending teams, tools, equipment, building supplies, cost money. We would welcome your partnership in tax-deductible contribution through Encompass at encompassworldpartners.org/hurricane

It’ll be a long way back for Houstonians; but the Church there is really stepping up.

Even before the rains of Harvey have receded from the streets of Houston, Hurricane Irma is churning through the Caribbean and due to land in Florida by Sunday, September 10th.

While we are in full-prep mode for Irma, Harvey still has our full attention.

HARVEY RESPONSE (See photos below.)
We have a strong coalition of churches that are committing to serve the same vision. We are serving alongside two local church partners on the ground in Houston.

Bayou City Fellowship (Cyress, TX)
The Akron Grace Church has a strong relationship with the outreach pastor at Bayou City Fellowship. Scott Farwell, representing the Akron churches and Barb Wooler, representing the FGBC Harvey Coalition, have both visited this church, which has been doing an incredible job gutting hundreds of homes in their community.

The Brook Church (Tomball, TX)
Pastor Dan Allen of the Ashland Church pointed us in the direction of an excellent partner, his cousin who is on staff at The Brook Church. They have been reaching out and serving in their community, gutting out homes and blessing people in great need.

HOWEVER, this local Houston “muscle” is exhausted and in need of reinforcements. That’s where we come in. 

Here’s some ways we can help:

• Pray – that through this tragic loss God will draw many to Himself
• Go – consider joining one of our teams to Houston. We need skilled workers (carpenters, DIY kinds of people, people willing to be trained in trauma mitigation) as well as general muscle
• Give – Gifts to Encompass will help with financing teams where needed, as well as purchasing supplies. $25,000 is an initial estimate of our need, but the more we collect the more we can distribute in goods and services in Jesus’ name. Give here.

As we pray for those in the path of Hurricane Irma, please be watching for updates concerning a response in the very near future.

A coalition of local churches in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Church (FGBC) is coming together to serve alongside a local church in Houston. While details are still coming together, the view from 30,000 feet looks something like this:

• a growing coalition comprised so far of around 15 GBCs
• our goal is to send sustained help (teams) to serve over a period of approximately 3 months.
• the hope is to deploy around 15 teams from mid-September to mid-December

PRAISE GOD

• for the quality partner we have found in Houston. This missions pastor is a former member of a well-known GBC, and is like-minded with us in philosophy. They also have the capacity to handle the teams we send their way.
• for our FGBC churches who are always so ready to step up to help!
• a local FGBC church that is putting together a tool trailer that will be ready to roll by the time the first team deploys in mid-September! It will serve most of the teams we deploy!

PRAY:

• for funding – for initial relief supplies, materials, support for teams as needed, etc.
  – Give online at this link
  – By check:  
  • Made out to: Encompass World Partners
  • Mailed to: Encompass World Partners, PO Box 3298 Monument, CO 80132-3290
  • Write on note line: Hurricane Harvey/7847
• for the Lord to use our efforts to strengthen the “serve” of our church partner(s) in Houston, which by extension will strengthen the message of the gospel they share with their community.
• for what part the Lord may be asking you to play in this “coalition of the willing” – to pray, to give, to go, or all three?

Interested in knowing how you or your church can be a part of this coalition? Email Barb Wooler at bwooler@encompassworld.org .

Next update will be mid-next week from on the ground in Houston.