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Safe, Clean Drinking Water at Risk for 12 of the World’s Major Cities

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Several billion people around the world live without sufficient access to clean water. Over one billion people lack water supplies. Another 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year. Read Gospel for Asia (GFA)’s Special Report on The Global Clean Water Crisis . A 2014 survey of the world’s 500 largest cities estimates that one in four is in “ water stress .” Twelve major cities are in danger of running out of clean drinking water, if not soon, within the somewhat near future . Cape Town. The water crisis in the Cape Town has commanded headlines around the globe when the African National Congress declared a national state of emergency as the city had expected to run out of drinking water by April. The deadline was moved to July but, during the third week of March, the government announced that the immediate crisis had been averted. Sao Paulo is Brazil’s financial center. The city of 20 million faced its own Day Zero in 2015. The city turned off its water suppl...
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Application of Learning Goes Way Beyond the Classroom at GFA’s School of Discipleship

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One day after a Sunday morning worship service a couple months ago, I was sitting on the couch in my living room watching a movie when I heard a knock at my front door. I hopped up, half expecting to greet one of our friendly neighbor kids from across the street. Who I found instead upon opening the door was a couple of our School of Discipleship students. “Hey guys, what’s up?” I asked. “Hi,” one of them said, shifting from one foot to the other. “We’ve been walking around the neighborhood this afternoon asking people some questions and wondered if you had a couple of minutes.” “Sure, I have a little time,” I smiled, seeing where this conversation was headed. “What’s on your mind?” “We’re wondering if you know who Jesus is?” Not missing a beat, I played along. “Yeah, they talk about Him in church all the time…” And so began our conversation about Jesus Christ and why we need Him to be our Savior. You see, among the many other spiritual disciplines that young adults learn about and le...
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Jesus Well Provides Safe Drinking Water and Changed Attitudes

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At Gospel for Asia, we’ve been praying for the water crisis that’s been happening in South Africa . Sometimes I think about it a little more as I take a shower, drink a glass of clean water, or see the rain pouring down. Millions upon millions around the world are wondering where their next drink of water will come from. Can you imagine waking up this morning at the crack of dawn to wait in line for the water truck to arrive ? Maybe you have to dunk your bucket into a dirty old well, because it is your only source of water supply. Your children are getting sick often and you know the brown substance you’re drinking is not ideal. But you have no other choice. Balab and the other Christians in his village had a problem of their own. They were banned from the public water source—a source that was already polluted and full of bad bacteria. If they needed to get water, they had to wake up early before the sun rose to avoid being beaten or abused. It was an ongoing struggle. No More Morning...
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I Knew They Were Just Human Beings, But They Still Felt Superhuman

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Eight years ago, I experienced just a taste of the mission field. I walked through grimy slum alleyways to reach a cheerful Bridge of Hope center ; I walked along dusty village paths to a place known as “the miracle church” because of the mighty acts of God witnessed there; I pumped the handle of a Jesus Well that was the answer to many prayers; I worshiped alongside believers whose language I didn’t know, but whose God I did know. Each of those experiences is precious, but the one that stands out most vividly, even years later, is an interaction I had with a missionary whose name I do not know. I call him the brother from the window. While in Asia, I visited a place that was familiar to me—not because I had been there before, but because I had prayed for that exact place just months earlier. We had received a report that a group of Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported missionaries had been attacked and beaten. It was due to some huge misunderstanding with the community, but it resulted in...
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GFA School of Discipleship: More of Christ, Less of Me

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Gospel for Asia (GFA) News, Wills Point, Texas — Every institution, organization or program claim they exist because of differences that make them distinctive. The rationale is reasonable. The significance is not the difference. It is the distinctives. There are two Scripture verses that eloquently describe what makes GFA School of Discipleship (SD) distinctive and, therefore, different. John 3:30– “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Matthew 22:37-39– “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” Though not officially parts of a motto or tagline, these texts are existential explanations for the School of Discipleship. They also represent the day-to-day value in the year-long discipleship program designed to train young Christian people who are hungry for God and who desire to serve Him. More of Christ. Less o...
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Good Friday: Remembering Jesus’ Last Words

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Good Friday holds profound significance to me. It’s my second favorite holiday, just after Easter. In my home church there is a lot of symbolism at the Good Friday service. As the service goes on, the sanctuary becomes darker and the candles on the altar are extinguished one by one. By the end of the service, it is completely dark inside the sanctuary. Then, all of the sudden, you hear a noise like a stone being pushed, symbolizing Jesus’ body being put in the tomb. Often times, during the service, we go through Jesus’ seven last words or statements . This is also something that many of the churches led by GFA-supported pastors do for one of their Holy Week services. I’d like to share with you the words Christ spoke as He died on the cross, and what I’ve gleaned from them. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” —Luke 23:34 This was Christ’s first statement, and through this, He showed forgiveness for His enemies and the whole human race, whose sins put Him on the cross...
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The Good That Good Men & Women Do Lives on Long After They Are Gone

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An Invitation to Billy Graham’s Funeral , by Karen Burton Mains A few days after Billy Graham died, David, my husband, received a phone call from the Billy Graham Association. A very young voice on the end of the line informed us we were being invited to attend Billy’s funeral in Charlotte, North Carolina. We were surprised, to say the least; it has been a couple decades since we were involved in national media ministry. In the intervening years, we’ve ministered locally and quietly. As one friend commented to us, “It used to be that everyone knew who you are; now no one knows who you are.” That is true, and in some ways, a relief. So it was with some slight satisfaction to discover that our names were included on the guest list of 2,000 for this event that would mark the passing not only of a good man but one whom God had used in ways beyond human imagining. Indeed, due to the holy anointing upon Billy Graham, literally hundreds of thousands had found faith in Christ. We accepted tick...
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