If you haven't seen it yet, check out the latest Springfield's Own magazine featuring Rick and Paula Miller on the cover. If you don't live close enough to buy one (SJ-R office and Barnes and Noble), you can read the story online HERE.
This was not the point of my mission trip to Sierra Leone, but because of my connections to the State Journal-Register I pitched the story. I prayed, held my breath, and the editor replied asking for a cover story, sidebar and lots of photos. Praise God! What an amazing work he did with one small, short trip. I continue to stand in marvel at it!
Please pray that this story reaches many, that it would create additional supporters and investors for this ministry, that it would result in salvation for even one more lost sheep.
Showing posts with label Children's Redemption Orphanage Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Children's Redemption Orphanage Home. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
The orphan13 project
Our God is so good and works in so many amazing ways. For instance, Frank Williams met Rick Miller completely by chance. Two men doing God's work, following his call on their lives. For Frank's orphanage to remain open, he needed help. He needed partners. Rick vowed to help. And then chance worked in their favor again. Chance Newingham, a pastor at Athens Christian Church and member of the In His Hands Orphans Outreach board was there, in Sierra Leone, on a mission trip. When Rick became aware of Chance's heart for orphans, he took him to Children's Redemption Orphanage Home.
Chance was compelled to do more, so he began to organize a sponsorship program back in Illinois. But it wasn't enough, and he couldn't stop thinking about what more he could do. Until...something very simple took hold. He started collecting aluminum, recycling it and donating the money toward rice -- a staple food for the orphans.
He did very little to promote it, but God's hand has been at work in the effort. To date, 71,624 cans have been cashed in for $1,480. That's the equivalent of 4,284 pounds of rice.
Here's an aluminum-rice visual from Chance's new web site: http://www.orphan13.org/.
Check out the web site, and also the CROH section on lifegateinafrica.org. See the faces, read the stories and pray about how you can help be a part of the effort to improve life for these beautiful children who lost their parents and were oftentimes found living in extreme poverty on the streets. Every can recycled makes a difference, and it's pretty effortless!
Chance was compelled to do more, so he began to organize a sponsorship program back in Illinois. But it wasn't enough, and he couldn't stop thinking about what more he could do. Until...something very simple took hold. He started collecting aluminum, recycling it and donating the money toward rice -- a staple food for the orphans.
He did very little to promote it, but God's hand has been at work in the effort. To date, 71,624 cans have been cashed in for $1,480. That's the equivalent of 4,284 pounds of rice.
Here's an aluminum-rice visual from Chance's new web site: http://www.orphan13.org/.
Check out the web site, and also the CROH section on lifegateinafrica.org. See the faces, read the stories and pray about how you can help be a part of the effort to improve life for these beautiful children who lost their parents and were oftentimes found living in extreme poverty on the streets. Every can recycled makes a difference, and it's pretty effortless!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The Bible Telling School
The Bible Telling School in and around Brigette village is not new. In fact, this method of evangelizing isn't even new.
What is new is the completion of the structure where the school can now grow and flourish. The Bible Telling School method as brought to Sierra Leone by Rick and Paula Miller officially began in 2011. They train the three teachers in the method, and those three teachers take the stories and train people who are reaching more than 25 villages -- in the tribal languages. The classrooms for the accompanying trade school are nearly completed. In the trade classes, people will learn a trade so they can support themselves. These trade classes are specifically for the people going through the Bible Telling School, so they can support themselves.
"It is our hope that we will have folks come from surrounding villages, be trained in this comprehensive program and go back to their villages and be missionaries there -- carriers of the God story, while able to sustain themselves through their trade," said Rick Miller.
The vision for the campus is that the two classrooms will expand to include more classrooms, plus workshops and a dormitory for those who cannot afford the money or time required to travel to Brigette for school.
Research shows that people receive a superior education if it includes listening and learning to tell stories. Bible telling is the rebirth of an ancient craft in Africa, which is one of many reasons it's already been so successful in Sierra Leone. Additionally, not everyone can afford a Bible. And Bibles aren't even printed in most of the tribal languages. Much of the population is illiterate. Because so many are Muslim, there's also a fear of being seen going inside the Christian Church. Taking Bible stories out into homes in the communities is working to reach those people, and the Gospel is spreading in West Africa!
Do you have a heart for this project? Click HERE for information on how you can help!
Here are some photos of the school under construction.
What is new is the completion of the structure where the school can now grow and flourish. The Bible Telling School method as brought to Sierra Leone by Rick and Paula Miller officially began in 2011. They train the three teachers in the method, and those three teachers take the stories and train people who are reaching more than 25 villages -- in the tribal languages. The classrooms for the accompanying trade school are nearly completed. In the trade classes, people will learn a trade so they can support themselves. These trade classes are specifically for the people going through the Bible Telling School, so they can support themselves.
"It is our hope that we will have folks come from surrounding villages, be trained in this comprehensive program and go back to their villages and be missionaries there -- carriers of the God story, while able to sustain themselves through their trade," said Rick Miller.
The vision for the campus is that the two classrooms will expand to include more classrooms, plus workshops and a dormitory for those who cannot afford the money or time required to travel to Brigette for school.
Research shows that people receive a superior education if it includes listening and learning to tell stories. Bible telling is the rebirth of an ancient craft in Africa, which is one of many reasons it's already been so successful in Sierra Leone. Additionally, not everyone can afford a Bible. And Bibles aren't even printed in most of the tribal languages. Much of the population is illiterate. Because so many are Muslim, there's also a fear of being seen going inside the Christian Church. Taking Bible stories out into homes in the communities is working to reach those people, and the Gospel is spreading in West Africa!
Do you have a heart for this project? Click HERE for information on how you can help!
Here are some photos of the school under construction.
Bricks are made from the red earth around the village and sealed into place with cement mortar.
This is how the bricks are transported up the school to the classroom site.
Rick Miller and Frank J. Williams, director of Lifegate's Children's Redemption Orphanage Home, check out the progress at the Bible Telling School.
The view is breath-taking from the site of the Bible Telling School. It is constructed into the hill overlooking Brigitte Village.
Please pray for the school, the teachers, the students, the expansion of the campus and vision.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Lifegate is offering HOPE with its three ministries
Welcome to Stories of Salvation -- the new blog for Lifegate International. Here we'll be sharing the stories of how God's love and grace are shaping the people and villages of Sierra Leone, the headquarters for Lifegate International.
First, we want to explain a bit about Lifegate's vision to transform villages through education, training and an everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ.
Seven years ago, Rick and Paula Miller entered the missions field in west Africa. It was in those first months that Rick's vision began to take shape. He desired to transform a village through Christ.
So he began the research. Surveying dozens of villages, he settled on one -- then called Compound Village. There was no Christian presence in this village then. And Pastor Justus Koroma set out to evangelize on their ministry's behalf, facing much opposition and persecution in those initial days.
Rick discovered early on that this transformation would need to be grounded in HOPE. It would require educating, training and empowering the people. Not in just the words of God but also in the kinds of skills that would sustain their families.
Today -- a year after the Millers got their ministry back to Sierra Leone -- that hope is taking shape. The Bible Telling School is no longer just a vision but a building that will soon combine training in Bible stories with trade skills for programs that will send evangelists out into other villages to live out stories of HOPE and salvation, while being able to work in a trade that will give them an income.
Additionally fueled by the dedication of a German woman named Brigitte, who donated money to Compound Village for its first healthcare center, this community is already undergoing a transformation. She has now also given money for a new primary school and a high school (first time for one here!) to be constructed in the village, which was renamed Brigitte Village. The village chief handed over the responsibility for running the schools to Lifegate, which will partner with the government and bring a Christian-based element to the school. Also, Lifegate is partnering with Children's Redemption Orphanage Home to build an orphanage in Brigitte Village -- relocating 17 children from Waterloo and giving them a chance at the same opportunities as others who live in the area.
So you can see the people here will soon be able to get an education and training in such a way that they can provide a living wage for their families and know Jesus Christ. It's the story of HOPE, and these are their Stories of Salvation.
First, we want to explain a bit about Lifegate's vision to transform villages through education, training and an everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ.
Seven years ago, Rick and Paula Miller entered the missions field in west Africa. It was in those first months that Rick's vision began to take shape. He desired to transform a village through Christ.
So he began the research. Surveying dozens of villages, he settled on one -- then called Compound Village. There was no Christian presence in this village then. And Pastor Justus Koroma set out to evangelize on their ministry's behalf, facing much opposition and persecution in those initial days.
Rick discovered early on that this transformation would need to be grounded in HOPE. It would require educating, training and empowering the people. Not in just the words of God but also in the kinds of skills that would sustain their families.
Today -- a year after the Millers got their ministry back to Sierra Leone -- that hope is taking shape. The Bible Telling School is no longer just a vision but a building that will soon combine training in Bible stories with trade skills for programs that will send evangelists out into other villages to live out stories of HOPE and salvation, while being able to work in a trade that will give them an income.
Additionally fueled by the dedication of a German woman named Brigitte, who donated money to Compound Village for its first healthcare center, this community is already undergoing a transformation. She has now also given money for a new primary school and a high school (first time for one here!) to be constructed in the village, which was renamed Brigitte Village. The village chief handed over the responsibility for running the schools to Lifegate, which will partner with the government and bring a Christian-based element to the school. Also, Lifegate is partnering with Children's Redemption Orphanage Home to build an orphanage in Brigitte Village -- relocating 17 children from Waterloo and giving them a chance at the same opportunities as others who live in the area.
So you can see the people here will soon be able to get an education and training in such a way that they can provide a living wage for their families and know Jesus Christ. It's the story of HOPE, and these are their Stories of Salvation.
Rick Miller with a group of boys from Brigitte Village.
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