A few weeks ago, the newly established Messianic congregation in Buhera, Zimbabwe, born out of our Jewish Voice outreach, held their first service. When the leaders arrived at 8:30 in the morning, they found one man already there. He walked nearly four miles to get there … on crutches! He had come to our medical clinic and was miraculously born again. When he learned of the new congregation, he wasn’t going to let anything stop him from coming and growing in his new faith.
This is why we go. This is why we must go again ... and again. Through some friends of Jewish Voice, we have an exciting donation matching opportunity that can double the impact in helping hungry souls like this determined New Believer. I’ll explain it to you in a moment.
Last year was our most intensive Africa outreach, holding five medical clinics in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. Tens of thousands received urgently needed medical, dental, and optical care. More importantly, almost eleven thousand prayed to receive Jesus as their Messiah and Savior. There are now fifteen Messianic congregations in Zimbabwe…after just two years of ministry there! God is at work in a mighty way.
And yet while we give thanks to God for all that has been accomplished, we also recognize that the needs are still so great. We simply must do more to meet them ... and we are planning that expansion right now.
Medical outreaches have resulted in a wonderful harvest and have been a catalyst for great spiritual growth. And while we will certainly continue these important clinics, our ministry is expanding to become more holistic. Our vision is to continue seeing thousands come to faith, and also see them discipled and train leaders for ministry.
An experienced couple that worked with me on the mission field of the former Soviet Union has agreed to leave their home and their grandchildren to spend the next five years ministering to the precious people of Zimbabwe. This is an amazing resource that will be such a blessing to our ministry there and help us establish even more new congregations.
I am very pleased to share with you today that some very generous friends of Jewish Voice have stepped forward with a matching donation up to $250,000 to double the impact of your donation. That means your support will go twice as far to reach Africa and the world with the Good News!
In just a few weeks, we will hold our first outreach of 2014 in Woliso, Ethiopia. In addition to the medical clinic, we are planning to take 4,000 life-saving personal water filtration devices — LifeStraws™, but with your matching contribution, we could take twice as many! And we are working on expanding our capacity to perform additional surgeries so that we can address many more needs.
Taking full advantage of the opportunities presented to us will require an enormous financial investment, beyond the cost of a regular medical outreach. Consider just how far your matching gift will go to help us:
• Purchase more medical equipment and surgical tools so that volunteer doctors and dentists do not have to bring their own equipment with them
• Purchase much needed tents — mobile field hospitals — for places where there are no buildings suitable for the clinics
• Build a permanent mobile operating room for more complicated procedures that can travel from place to place
• We could easily distribute more than 15,000 LifeStraws™ this year alone if we have the resources to purchase them
The need is so great. There is no doubt that God has great things in store for this ministry. With your generous help and your faithful prayers, we firmly believe we will be able to help thousands more with life-giving medical care, and most importantly, see an even greater harvest for His Kingdom in the days ahead. Thank you in advance for your generous response; its impact will be doubled!
Please be much in prayer for our entire team of staff and volunteers as final preparations are made for our first medical clinic of the year. And don’t forget that your gift today will be multiplied to do twice as much in reaching the people of Africa and the world with the Gospel of Yeshua.
