Earlier this year I worked to make contact with someone inside AERDO agencies.  I wanted to find out how the organizations are doing, especially in light of the recent economic conditions.  I went through the same process in early 2009 and learned that about 60% of members were down in donations, 30% had stayed about the same, and 10% were up considerably despite the economic crash.  I had the sense that many agencies who weren’t faring well financially were glumly planning budget cuts and layoffs.

When I began the process this year, I was eager to learn how things might have shifted now that we have all had time to absorb the “new reality”.  What I found heartened me.  Not because everyone is doing better financially, but because of the approach that we seem to be taking.

The most common phrase I heard would come at the beginning of their assessment: “By the grace of God”.  Groups that were down financially would say “by the grace of God we are making it through” and some seemed to border on surprise that things weren’t worse.  Groups who were up financially would say “By the grace of God we are exceeding even our best expectations”.

Obviously, AERDO agencies vary greatly in size, scope and financial position.  But I’m encouraged that even in these difficult times (or perhaps because of difficult times) we are relying on the grace of God.

The AERDO Board will be meeting later this week (May 20th) in Chicago. We are setting aside time to pray for AERDO Members. If there is a specific way that we can pray for you or your organization, please let me know.

The following is a book review by John Pearson of Pearson and Associates:

Few leaders and managers navigate a normal week without being reminded that globalization is here and here to stay. You dial an 800 number and connect with a customer service rep from India. The youth pastor at your church is taking your daughter or grandson on a mission trip across a border. CNN reminds you that what happens in Haiti or Chile will affect your colleagues and acquaintances in the media or in relief and development organizations. Perhaps you worship in a multi-ethnic church or you serve on a missions committee.

“In spite of profound yet hidden differences,” writes James Plueddemann, “many pastors naively lead short-term teams and attempt to create cross-cultural partnerships. I have noticed a growing number of voices suggesting that anyone can do crosscultural partnerships. Missiologists call this ‘the amateurization of missions,’ while the amateurs call it ‘the democratization of missions.’”

Yikes! Read this book and you may be tempted to cancel your next crosscultural trip. And for good reason. According to Plueddemann, you (and your culture) might be more goal-oriented, but your friend or co-worker from another culture might be more relationship-oriented. Will that be a problem? Usually, yes.

The author, with a considerable global track record of missionary, mission organization CEO, seminary professor, researcher and author, believes that an understanding of biblical leadership (versus biblical ideas tweaked via our cultural bias) is needed to complete the cycle of evangelism and church planting. We need both a theology and a theory of leadership that enables leaders with differing cultural backgrounds to do Kingdom work together.

His real life crosscultural examples (stories from the multi-ethnic trenches) illuminate his well-researched insights. (He cites the 1,500-page tool, The Bass Handbook of Leadership, published in 2008, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers.) Some cultures elevate individualism. Others salute collectivism. Still others have a low tolerance for ambiguity, while some nations have a high tolerance for ambiguity. So what happens when a get-your-ducks-in-a-row short-term missionary check-list-maker meets up with a we’ll-figure-it-out-sooner-or-later national leader? Unintended conflict.

What if your church desires to “partner” with a church in another country? Watch out, warns Plueddemann. “The idea of ‘equal partners’ is foreign to most of the world. Partnership in much of the world assumes a junior or senior member.”

“Crosscultural leadership is a school from which you never graduate,” says Joshua Bogunjoko, one of many contributors to the informative two-page vignettes, “Reflections on Multicultural Leadership.” The author’s diagrams are excellent. The three circles of 1) biblical principles of leadership, 2) my cultural values of leadership, and 3) leadership values of other cultures intertwine only in a small area. Yikes again.

“Too many Christian books on leadership are written from a monocultural perspective interspersed with Bible verses and marketed as universal principles of leadership.” Not! Plueddemann adds, “The biblical text is inspired from God and is without error, but my interpretation is not.”

Though he took an American Management Association course, it “raised subtle doubts in my mind about the universal benefits of Western management models.” One of the author’s friends suggested he title this book, “My 1001 Greatest Leadership Mistakes.” This is a vulnerable and transparent book, but wise. Yet if he ever writes the “1001” book, I’d buy it.

P.S. It’s tough to do justice to this extraordinary book in just a few paragraphs, because it’s a rare mix of humility, insight, memorable illustrations and crystal clear charts and graphs, like the grid on page 88 comparing High-Context Cultures with Low-Context Cultures in six areas: time, communication style, authority, leadership style, conflict resolution style and time. Another yikes.

To order this book from Amazon, click on this title: Leading Across Cultures: Effective Ministry and Mission in the Global Church, by James E. Plueddemann.

I’ll be adding any entries I get on this post, below.

If you’d like to post what your agency is doing, all I need is:
1. WHAT YOU ARE DOING OR HAVE TO OFFER
2. WHAT YOU ARE NEEDING
3. CONTACT INFO
4. WEB URL FOR MORE INFO

Please email these to chad.hayward[at]aerdo.net.

Stop back at this post to see any updates. Also, please feel free to send helpful links that you want shared with the AERDO membership.

=============

General
Clare Scott, Coordinator for Christian Commitments in Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs for World Vision International, is interested in gathering spiritual support/wellbeing resources for people affected by major disasters, such as the Haiti earthquake, and those responding to their needs, both on the ground and through prayer. How does your organisation provide spiritual support to those who have been affected by or who are responding to such disasters? Does your organisation have/use resources (your own or developed by others) that you would be willing to share with other organizations, for:
- your own staff and volunteers
- those directly affected by disasters
- church partners both on the ground and those who raise support for your programmes,
- individual donors and prayer supporters
An example of what one World Vision office is doing can be found at http://worldvision.typepad.co.uk/prayer/ where you can find a 40-day prayer diary providing reflection and prayer material on a daily basis, together with resources for churches (prayer sheets, posters, powerpoints, etc).

Biblica
Biblica is preparing to print 2 key disaster booklets in Creole: When Your Whole World Changes, and The Survivors. WWWC is a 30-day devotional booklet which helps provide answers to questions folks face following disasters. The Survivors teaches kids who have experienced disasters about the God of safety, comfort and strength. These booklets are less than $0.50 each – please contact Sues Hyde if you desire to order some! (sues.hyde@biblica.com or phone: (719) 867-2609) .

Biblica is also providing French New Testaments for distribution with our partners. We have a free download on our website of our 20-day devotional for disaster workers at www.biblica.com/outreach/relief-worker.

We are working with a variety of AERDO members as distribution partners

Blessings International
As of Friday 22 January, Blessings International has shipped or is in the process of shipping long-dated pharmaceuticals, surgical and medical supplies to 50 different organizations that either have full-time clinics or hospitals in Haiti or have established relationships with an appropriate organization that hosts medical teams. One of the first shipments contained sufficient ibuprofen and acetaminophen to treat 32,000 patients at least initially with 25 tablets each and sufficient antibiotics to treat 4000 + patients. We estimate that the average wholesale value of these shipments as of the 22nd is $1,000,000 or greater. BI is receiving 5 or more requests for pharmaceuticals daily from our purchased stock. We are very pressed to ship them out as quickly as possible. So far our staff has been able to keep up working overtime and Saturdays.

At this time, Blessings International supplies of antibiotics, other than 500 mg amoxicillin and cephalexin caps, have been holding up well as have our analgesics, vitamins, and some sutures. BI has a good supply of long-dated low cost generic Rocephin® 1 gm vials, ciprofloxacin 500 mg tabs, and azithromycin 250 mg tabs. However, BI currently has no donated stock from which it could freely contribute.

Our needs: spinal needles, inhalational anesthetics, regional anesthetics, ultrasound machines, laryngoscopes and narcotics for a hospital performing amputations. Cash donations are needed d to subsidize shipments to Haiti.
Contact Molly at mlieux@blessing.org; www.blessing.org .

Bright Hope
Bright Hope, a Christian non-profit mission organization bringing hope to those living on less than a $1 a day has been serving the Haiti area for over 15 years. With over 90 churches in our partner network, we are strategically positioned to carry out our Haiti Disaster Relief plan through the indigenous churches. Services we are currently providing are:

· Port-au-Prince Food Relief Program
· 2 Camps for Internally Displaced People – both in Port-au-Prince area
· Supplemental Feeding Program in Port-au-Prince and Pignon
· Counseling Center for Internally Displaced People
· Medical Supplies – 30,000 people in Port-Au-Prince and Pignon
· Support of Pastors and Ministry Leaders
· Micro-Loan Program
· Orphan and Vulnerable Children Care and Education

Bright Hope is an ECFA member and is a four star charity in the top 7% of charities as rated by Charity Navigator. We are located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.  For more information please visit our website at BrightHope.org or call 224-520-6100

CitiHope International
CitiHope’s overall response has grown to include a significant food security dimension and considerable on-the-ground coordination support. Our Vice President and regional team are in the field at Le Bon Samaritan Hospital, a 23-bed facility where physicians are caring for over 800 patients daily. A ‘dispalced patients’ camp of sorts now exists outside the hospital, where CitiHope has built x-ray tables, delivered autoclav sterilizers, telecommunications, water purification systems, and long-range walkie-talkies, begun construction on an open-air kitchen, and are in the process of obtaining a permantent warehouse facility to be operational by Wednesday the 26th. Additionally, we have continued our shipments of thousands of dollars’ worth of trauma care, emergency, and basic patient care supplies since January 12th.
Our team has become known in Jilmani as the ‘go to’ people when needs arise. CitiHope has realized the strategic location of Barahona Airport, and we now have two trucks driving back and forth to Jilmani, carrying other organizations’ essentials along with our own aid.

In our relief work, CitiHope purposes to obtain the maximum strategic resources, at the minimum cost, in the shortest period of time, to give health and hope to the greatest number of people possible. Thanks to partnerships with World Children’s Fund, Medical Missions International, Stop Hunger Now, Harvest Field Ministries, Pilatus air carries, and more, we are happy to report that ‘Hope for Haiti’ is meeting and exceeding that goal.

MAJOR NEED: AIRCRAFT with carrying capacity exceeding 2,000 pounds. If you can provide any assistance, please call Catherine Woodiwiss (630-441-8415) or Letty Johnson (845-676-4400).

Compassion International
Immediately following the earthquake, our first efforts were to stabilize our Haitian staff, all of whom have now been accounted for. We are working to establish a secure work site. We are sending several shipments of supplies that will be used to provide medical and immediate relief to our staff, church partners and Compassion’s beneficiaries. This includes items like water, food, medical supplies, temporary shelter, and blankets.  We are also sending teams of medical professionals to help address the overwhelming medical needs. Through the help of LDP students and staff from Haiti and Compassion International, we are setting up a response strategy and beginning to assess each of our roughly 50 affected projects. We will work directly through our church partners to provide emergency relief, medical assistance and trauma counseling to the children and their families.

What we need most are prayers and financial donations. (https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/disasterrelief.htm)
Becky Giovagnoni, bgiovagnoni@us.ci.org, 719-272-5345
www.compassion.com, blog.compassion.com

Convoy of Hope
Convoy of Hope is establishing an emergency command center just outside the city of Port-au-Prince where food, water and supplies will be distributed to victims of the earthquake that rocked Haiti on Tuesday.

“Our Haiti country director is on the ground and we are working closely with our partners to check on the children we feed and also to assist victims with immediate needs,” says Hal Donaldson, founder and president of Convoy of Hope. “We have a warehouse in Haiti and have food and supplies immediately available to those in need. In the next few days several more containers filled with relief supplies will be prepared and shipped immediately to Haiti.”

For several years Convoy of Hope has worked in Haiti and currently feeds 7,000 children there each day.

NEEDING
Prayers, Donations and Product

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
CRWRC is the relief and development arm of the Christian Reformed Church North America (CRCNA). CRWRC is responsive to the many needs of Haitian communities through its own partnerships as well as other networks. CRWRC’s response to the Haiti earthquakes of January 12 and following has at least three distinct stages; relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation.

In the response to the earthquakes, CRWRC is using a multi-pronged approach–one with a community focus and the other with a partner capacity focus. CRWRC has identified a community in Leogane and is working with that particular community to help it rebuild. CRWRC staff in Haiti been heavily involved in the initial emergency relief effort. As they identify the needs for the reconstruction stage, CRWRC will address the needs of local partners and communities to build the capacity of those partners and communities to improve relief and development standards.

CRWRC’s Haiti Earthquake Response priorities are to:
- Ensure effective emergency relief efforts, including rebuilding of the Leogane community and focusing primarily on providing food, water, and temporary shelter. Reconstruction includes more permanent housing and restoring of livelihoods.
- Rebuild capacity of long-term partner communities and partner groups so that they are better able to address future calamities, including repair and reconstruction of facilities essential to continue ministry.
- Leverage our resources to increase our own capacity through government and peer funding partnerships while at the same time maintaining our focus on strengthening local capacity rather than too quickly designating funds for damaged properties.

In sum, CRWRC will work in recovery and rehabilitation in Leogane as well as work with long-term partners to restore their capacities through our existing networks, including critical reconstruction efforts with partners.CRWRC is targeting both relief response, and reestablishing and strengthening the ministry of our partners in Haiti while working diligently to leverage and maximize resources flowing into Haiti.

Cross International
Cross International immediately responded to the crisis in Haiti by distributing more than one million meals from shipping containers already on site in Haiti. Later, Cross airlifted 50,000 lbs of food, water, Gatorade, hospital supplies, baby diapers and tarps to Port-au-Prince in two C737 cargo planes. Staff on the ground in Port-au-Prince during the earthquake, and staff who arrived soon thereafter, coordinated relief efforts with our Haitian partners and collaborated with other international agencies such as Save the Children and World Concern, sharing expertise and donated goods. A distribution network was established to provide food to partners in need on a weekly basis. Recipients include a number of orphanages as well as a few small, under-served IDP camps, including one in Leogane, the epicenter of the quake.

Cross is committed to the long-term relief of our partners in Haiti. We will help them rebuild and reconstruct their ministries,” said Cross President Jim Cavnar. “After the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, Cross was still helping build houses two and three years after the disaster. That is the kind of aid we want to provide for Haiti.

Contact Info: sjeune@crossinternational.org, 954-657-9000 ext. 135 or http://www.crossinternational.org/

CURE International
CURE has sent a 5-member surgical team from our Hospital in the DR. They have set up near the collapsed pediatric hospital in PaP. The team brought with them food aid, meds and equipment to set up a field Operating theatre for triage and trauma surgery. CURE is waiting to hear back from the team for longer term needs. Once we get further info from our team, we will determine the capacity for sending other medical professionals in to PaP.

We will be needing/sending more medical supplies and welcome partners for coordinating sourcing and other logistics.
Info: Contact Gerry Luongo 717 724-4012

Engineering Ministries International
EMI has trained engineers available to conduct structural damage assessments and set up clean water systems. We’re mobilizing a small assessment team now, but trying to figure out how to get into Haiti. If you have room on your flight for 2 or 3 people, we would love to join with you in partnership. Contact Scott Powell, 719-482-8530, spowell@emiusa.org, and see our website at www.emiworld.org.

Feed the Children
Feed The Children continues to provide medical attention to hundreds of people at our base of operations at Souers Salesiennes/St. Jean Bosco IDP camp in Carrefour.  You can look at CNN’s Interactive Map at http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/01/world/google.map.haiti/index.html to get an idea of where the camp is located.

We have purchased two more vehicles for our staff on the ground in Haiti to speed the delivery of much needed supplies. Midland Radio Corporation of Kansas City has donated portable radios for our vehicles and a base radio for camp. This will allow our staff to communicate quickly and effectively.  20 pallets of supplies – flashlights, tents and sleeping bags – have arrived in Haiti via Leader Jet and the Limited Foundation. These are being distributed by our partner, Convoy of Hope.

We have distributed tents, kitchen kits, and milk to residents of the camp at Souers Salesiennes/St. John Bosco.  Feed The Children has completed installation of a security fence around the camp and more tents are being constructed for the residents. We have now committed more than $9.6 million dollars in food and supplies to the earthquake relief effort.

Food for the Hungry
Food for the Hungry is working with its partners on the ground, Samaritan’s Purse and Baptist Haiti Mission, to provide life-saving assistance and supplies, such as:
Water filtration systemsWater purification tablets
Kitchen kits and cooking supplies
Flash lights, blankets and medical supplies
Hygiene kits
Temporary shelter traps and plastic

Food for the Hungry has been responding to disasters around the world since 1971. The organization started its work in Haiti in 2008 with programs that include HIV/AIDS care and prevention, hygiene and nutrition training, and health education.

Forward Edge International
Forward Edge International focuses on Phase II long-term recovery and disaster response work–we arrive after the first responders have gone and the search and rescue efforts are complete. We are currently talking to Haitian partners and firming up the logistical infrastructure needed to coordinate incoming volunteers in the coming months. We will be helping with the rebuilding effort and anticipate being involved in Haiti for years to come.

A FEI team of key personnel will be flying to Haiti early February to assess the situation and meet with our partners.

Current Needs:
–Additional Haitian partnerships to assist with housing, transportation and project identification for incoming volunteer teems
–Funds are urgently needed by FEI to help with the long-term recovery efforts. Give at our Web Site, www.forwardedge.org
–Volunteers interested in serving with FEI in Haiti in the coming months and years should email matt@forwardedge.org their name, contact information, and availability.

For more information contact 360.574.3343, fei@forwardedge.org, or www.forwardedge.org.

MAP International
With it’s extensive network of medical partnerships and over 40 years of service to healthcare providers in Haiti, MAP International is quickly assembling its emergency relief response for many of the Haitian men, women and children devastated by the powerful 7.3 earthquake.

MAP has contacted medical teams in Haiti who are already treating many of those injured. Hospitals and clinics are also providing lists of needs for emergency cargo shipments that will leave the MAP Distribution Center on the Atlantic coast to treat those needing critical care.

Medical Teams International
Medical Teams International has sent more than 55 volunteer surgeons, physicians, nurses and other medical professionals to work in the areas of Leogane, Carrefour and Port-au-Prince in Haiti. To date, our volunteer teams have treated more than 10,000 people and conducted more than 50 mobile medical clinics. We have airlifted and shipped in medicines and supplies valued at $3.5 million, enough to help an estimated 60,000 people.

In the coming months, Medical Teams International will work to:
Prevent and treat disease in the temporary shelter camps.
Ensure that people receiving medical care from our teams also have access to clean water, sanitation, shelter and proper nutrition.|
Train mothers to keep their children healthy in the camps.
Rebuild and resupply clinics and hospitals damaged by the earthquake.
Support local efforts to manufacture and distribute prosthetics for amputees.

We are still accepting donations for our recovery campaign for Haiti in the months and years ahead. Contributions are accepted online at www.medicalteams.org or through 800.959.HEAL (4325).

Nazarene Compassionate Ministries
The Church of the Nazarene is exploring all avenues to assist in relief including plans to provide medical attention, food, and shelter as well as other material support. Nazarene Compassionate Ministries in the Caribbean is working with several groups who specialize in medicine and disaster response to provide immediate relief.

We are in need of:
1) Warehouse space
2) Food
3) Tents
4) Structural engineer

Please contact ncm@nazarene.org with inquiries. www.ncm.org/haitiearthquake

Operation Blessing Intl.
Operation Blessing International’s Haiti Relief Efforts
MEDICAL:
· OBI has been partnering with IsraAID to treat injured quake victims in Haiti’s General Hospital; set up a field clinic in a Port-au-Prince soccer stadium that is now home to 2,500 displaced families; and also working with Israeli government’s state-of-the-art field hospital in the National Stadium.
· OBI’s El Salvador medical team, with the support of the Dominican Republic’s Civil Defense, is helping to treat quake victims in a hospital in Jimani along the Haiti-Dominican Republic border. Teams also have worked in a tent city (Petionville Club) in Haiti where 20,000 refugees were without medical care.
· OBI teams unloaded an entire C130 cargo plane full of food, medicine and supplies and transported them from the airport to Haiti’s largest hospital and other critical locations.
· OBI secured eight truckloads of medicines. The entire shipment will be donated to the Port-au-Prince General Hospital and distributed by Haiti Department of Health to other hospitals in hardest hit areas.
· Supported a project with Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, sending surgeons to their hospital facility in Northwest Haiti to treat quake victims that had been evacuated from Port-au-Prince.

FOOD:
· OBI has started feeding children living in and around the National Soccer Stadium – serving hot meals to over 2,000 children.
· Conducted feeding programs in a Port-au-Prince orphanage and in Tabare.

WATER:
· Installed a water purification system in Haiti’s General Hospital – the largest hospital in the country – providing more than 3,000 patients and staff with 10,000 gallons of safe drinking water a day.
· Installed a second system in Haiti’s National Stadium that is providing clean drinking water to an estimated 3,000 people a day.
· (10) Additional water purification systems en route for installation.

TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS:
· OBI loaded more than 291 tons of critical relief supplies including water purification systems, diesel fuel, baby food, bottled water, and more, onto the U.S .Navy’s Sacagawea. The ship departed from Norfolk, Va., and arrived to Haiti several days later. The supplies were transferred to the USS Bataan and then airlifted to OBI’s base camp at Port-au-Prince airport.
· Assisted search-and-rescue team from Spain by providing them with transportation to and from the quake zone.

Plant with Purpose
Plant With Purpose (formerly Floresta USA) works in 67 communities in Haiti, the majority of which are located just southwest of Port au Prince in an area called Grande Colline. In response to the earthquake, our 42 Haitian staff members were able to provide immediate food aid relief to over 4,400 people, as well as coordinate road-clearing efforts, which has allowed vehicles carrying food and supplies to travel into remote villages. In the weeks following the quake, we distributed nearly 250,000 pounds of rice and 15,612 litres of cooking oil throughout 45 communities, enabling families who would have otherwise starved to feed their loved ones.

We have since shifted our efforts from food relief to employment of local farmers through a short-term employment and seed distribution program. We plan to employ 2,500 local Haitians to plant tree seedlings and construct soil erosion barriers to combat soil erosion and restore small farm plots to productivity while giving desperate farmers immediate income. Thus far, 30 teams and 600 workers have constructed more than 35 miles of soil conservation barriers and will begin planting tree seedlings when the rainy season begins.

Additionally, we are giving tools and bean seeds to farmers to plant this season, which will enable them to meet their household staple needs and also generate income by selling the extra at local markets. We have distributed 27,300 pounds of bean seed to over 1,000 families to nourish their families now and to plant to increase their crop yields in the coming harvest. It is our goal to provide 2,700 farmers with quality seeds and tools in order to improve families’ crop yields, increase family food security, and contribute to community stability.

We invite you to partner with Plant With Purpose to provide rural Haitians short-term recovery options with long-term benefits.

Contact Info: doug@plantwithpurpose.org, 800-633-5319 or http://www.plantwithpurpose.org/

Trans World Radio
TWR has mobilized to help aid the people of Haiti. Christian programming was put on the air from the nearby island of Bonaire, helping local stations that were affected. We want to help supply them with fuel for generators as well, so that radio can continue to be one of the few forms of comfort and information available to the isolated Haitian people.

TWR also partnered with Compassion International last week and aired a message of hope from Compassion President Dr. Wess Stafford to those affected by the earthquake. The 18-minute message was broadcast from Bonaire. It was rebroadcast each night for the rest of the week. Additionally, the message was distributed to other radio stations in Haiti for rebroadcast purposes.

A special program is also being created by TWR to minister to victims and caregivers, based on the book “When Your Whole World Changes.” Later, this book will be distributed as part of on-the-ground ministry to those affected by the earthquake. The initial cost for this project is estimated to be $44,500, though this may change as new opportunities and needs develop. TWR desires to offer ongoing comfort and hope to the people of Port-au-Prince in this critical time of need.

Contact David McCreary at dmccreary@twr.org or visit https://www.twr.org/projekt/967.

Union Rescue Mission
DOING
We are working to send containers of needed medical supplies/pharmaceuticals to Haiti
We’d like to purchase and send http://edar.org tent units to Haiti for people, especially children to have a roof over their head

NEEDING
A way to transport the http://edar.org units, possibly with another NGO’s shipments

CONTACT INFO
Andy Bales or Joe Callahan abales@urm.org or jcallahan@urm.org

http://urm.org

Water Missions International
Water Missions has 8 people on the ground. We have 4 full time staff and have added 4 more from the US.
We have installed or assisted in the installation of 9 Living Water Treatment Systems. We have 3 more systems in country that should be installed with the next day or two. We have 10 stand alone chlorinator systems. We have a good amount of solar powered pumps and panels and generators. We also have water storage and distribution systems on the ground.  Tuesday, 1/26 9 more systems should arrive, followed by another 10 on Wednesday. Operation Blessing has another 10 systems arriving this week as well.  We believe that upwards of 100 systems will be needed.

Transportation is always a need. Fed Ex has been able to ship 10 systems for no charge, but we will have to pay for the rest of the equipment. The cost is about $2700 for air at this time.

Jerry Miner, VP Disaster Response, cell 843-670-7101, jminer@watermissions.org
www.watermissions.org

World Concern
Merry Fitzpatrick is on her way to Haiti. She will help our staff mount an effective disaster response by doing an assessment and coordinating our efforts with the UN cluster teams. We anticipate that initially we will be working with USAID in the distribution of blankets, emergency shelters and clean water. The press release sent out this morning can be found here.
We are not at this time soliciting gift-in-kind donations or recruiting, but please check back for updates. We are collaborating with other AERDO members.
For more information and to donate, call 1-866-530-5433
Or visit our website at www.worldconcern.org

World Hope International
World Hope International (WHI) is mobilizing its 60-strong Haitian staff and community volunteers to respond with food, safe water, cooking fuel and other basic supplies as available. As the work of first responders ebb, WHI will expand its response by mobilizing U.S. volunteers to assist the Haitian staff and communities in clean-up and rebuilding. WHI responds to natural disasters where it has the national staff and capacity (as it does in Haiti) to do so effectively. WHI first began in Haiti in 1996 and presently implements a large-scale HIV/AIDS program funded by USAID. WHI’s CEO, Karl Eastlack and COO, David Erickson are set to arrive in Haiti on Monday, Jan. 18. We are accepting donations for Haiti relief efforts and plan to send teams of volunteers down to Haiti as soon as it is feasible.

For more information, visit www.worldhope.org. The HQ contact person is Leeann Little; leeannlittle@worldhope.net; 703-923-9414.

World Relief
World Relief staff and partners are currently working with King’s Hospital, a 300 bed hospital in Port-au-Prince, to provide surgeries and medical care to the critically injured.  Food items and emergency supplies are distributed through the hospital and local churches, and hot meals are provided to up to 15,000 victims per day.  Upcoming activities include drilling wells and improving sanitation. World Relief has worked in Haiti for 15 years providing basic healthcare, combating AIDS, protecting orphans and at-risk children and improving financial security for vulnerable households.

The HQ contact person is Lawren Sinnema; lsinnema@wr.org; 443-451-1941. The Media Contact Person is Andrea Kaufman; akaufmann@wr.org; 443-451-1966. Please see our website at wr.org

World Vision
World Vision is supplying families and individuals with rations of water and food, as well as emergency non-food items including hygiene kits, tarps for shelter, blankets and collapsible water containers, airlifted into Port-au-Prince and through the Dominican Republic. The agency set up mobile clinics while also providing urgently needed medical supplies to hospitals since the day after the disaster. Children’s needs are a main focus of Word Vision’s response in any disaster, with safe havens known as Child-Friendly Spaces where children are protected, free to play, and begin to have their psychological trauma addressed. At a second operations center on the Dominican Republic border at Jimani, support is active for the influx of displaced Haitians now in that area. World Vision is also developing responses to the disaster’s longer-term effects in rural areas and communities across Haiti where the agency has worked for some 30 years.

To donate to World Vision’s Haiti Quake Relief Fund, see www.worldvision.org, call 888-56-CHILD, or text “GIVE” to 20222.

Author and consultant John Pearson recently wrote a review of a book called “Church and Parachurch.”  It really has me thinking, so I’m posting in hopes that you will enjoy this as well.  The following are Pearson’s words, from his email newsletter:

When I’ve loaned out my only two copies of an old book-and had to find another one online, it tells me it’s an important book. Jerry White, now president emeritus of The Navigators, published The Church & the Parachurch, “A Critical Concern Book” for Multnomah Press in 1983. It’s still very relevant-maybe more so in 2009.

Today, many megachurches often look more like parachurches than “local churches.” And in many “parachurches” today, I find that they are functioning more in tune with a biblical model of “church” than do many local churches. Yet there are excesses on both sides, some sad and some even hilarious. Many pastors still distrust parachurches-and block the doors. “All they want are my best volunteers and their money.”
Parachurch leaders, on the other hand, often compete with other parachurches for local church dollars, volunteers and loyalties. Yet pastors display their arrogance and their ignorance when they naively believe they can control the giving and the engagement of their church members. But no church can support and encourage hundreds of parachurch causes. What’s the solution?

Jerry White, with fear and trepidation, took on this volatile subject in the 1980s. No one has done it better since. He traces the history of parachurches, gives thoughtful insight on the theological issues (you may change your own thinking) and offers solutions to this “uneasy marriage.”

Has anything changed over the last 25 years? My opinion: yes and no. If anything, some pastors of larger churches have built higher walls. Parachurches, though, have increasingly found clever ways to go around the institutional church and go directly to the people. And-in most cases-they do it better.
Example: you’ll get a prompt donor receipt, thank you letter and ministry update (eNews, etc.) from your parachurch giving. What personal response do you get from your local church giving? Usually not much, except an annual record of giving from the church treasurer (usually with typos).

White nets it out for us. “Struggles over structure, authority, and organizational rights can do nothing but repulse the onlooking world and diminish the effectiveness of the body of Christ. I believe this proposed solution [chapter 6] can be fulfilled without a wave of watered-down ecumenicity or the forsaking of doctrinal distinctives and beliefs. But to do so, both the local church and the para-local church structures must publicly make specific efforts to encourage and help one another.” Get the book-and help bless both the church and the parachurch.

To order this week’s book from Amazon (used copies from resellers are still available), click on this title: The Church & the Parachurch: An Uneasy Marriage, by Jerry White.

The UN  has released its latest report on the Millennium Development Goals.  Find it here (large download).

Colum Lynch writes in the Washington Post that the Inspector General from USAID released findings that USAID funded “biblical lessons to promote sexual abstinence in Africa” and “programs that rebuilt Iraqui mosques.”  Read the full article here.

Religion News Service is reporting that the White House Advisory Council that assists the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships met earlier this month to map out future plans.  Read the article here.

Rachel McCleary has written a book outlining “Private Voluntary and U.S. Foreign Policy Since 1939.”  According to the promo, “She outlines the increasing financial dependence of these organizations on the federal government and the consequences of that dependency for various types of agencies, as well as the often competing goals of the federal government and religious PVOs.”  View the promotional web page, from Oxford Press here.

Project CURE would like to extend an invitation to AERDO members to attend the First Ladies’ Luncheon in Denver.

First Lady of Ghana, Mrs. Ernestina Naadu Mills, will visit Denver for the fourth-annual First Ladies’ Luncheon on July 23, 2009. She will be the honored guest for the event and will speak to approximately 1,800 people about the health needs of people in her country.  Find more information here.