Cross supports education and microenterprise programs that promote development.

There is an old saying that goes: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The second part of that saying is the goal of much of the work we do to help the poor here at Cross.

However, during staff devotions this morning we were reminded of how important the first part is, as well. Our newest projects officer recently returned from Central America. It was his first time visiting some of the projects we support there, and he was struck by the impact of our elderly feeding programs — those meeting an immediate need rather than supporting development.

Cross also meets the poor’s more immediate needs through feeding programs for the sick, elderly, and vulnerable children.

“These programs provide palliative care to deal with the effects of poverty. As we minister to the more immediate needs of these people, we are expressing the love of Christ in a very real way,” he explained. “Yes, it is important to teach people how to fish, so to speak, but what about the people who are too old or sick or unable to learn how to fish? Should we just forget about them?”

It is clear from Matthew 18:14 — “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” — that every person is important to God.

Giving an elderly woman a daily meal is just as meaningful in God’s eyes as supporting a scholarship or microenterprise program. Both are meeting important needs of the poor and, in the process, sharing the gospel of Christ with them.

Click here to learn more about what Cross is doing to meet both the immediate and long-term needs of the poor in Latin America.

This week, Cross was visited by the resource manager of a Christian orphanage we have been working with to provide earthquake relief and recovery in Haiti. Nathalie Amyotte shared a personal story that painted a vivid picture of Haitian poverty and the life-saving work of the orphanage.

Jamesley (center) and two of his brothers getting a physical at a Cross-supported orphanage.

One night, as Nathalie was getting something to eat, she saw children on the street begging for food. They were calling to her by name – “Madame Nathalie! Madame Nathalie!” – because she often helped the children in town. But this time, something was different.

“There was one child who was apart from them and he wasn’t begging and he wasn’t asking for anything,” Nathalie said. The boy was holding a plate of old chicken bones, and she realized he had collected them because he had nothing else to eat. Suddenly, another child bumped into the plate and knocked it over, scattering the bones across the ground. The boy raised his voice and cried as if grief-stricken.

“His cry will stay with me my whole life. It haunts me. Because his little chicken bones had been thrown to the ground and that is the only meal he was going to have that day,” Nathalie said. “I went to see him because I heard this cry. He was trying to wipe the dirt off his little chicken bones. And I said, ‘No, no – let’s go eat.’”

After feeding the boy, whose name was Jamesley, Nathalie visited his home. She learned that his mother was pregnant with her eighth child and about to get kicked out of her home. That very day, the orphanage gave the family money for food, paid for a year’s rent so they wouldn’t get kicked out, and agreed to take in Jamesley and one of his brothers. Now the boys are going to school and eating three meals a day.

The immediacy of the response is typical of this southern Haitian orphanage that has done so much to help the needy in the aftermath of the January earthquake, whether by taking in new children, sending food to displaced families, or even working with a local hospital. We are proud to support this great ministry as it spreads Christ’s love to the poorest of the poor!

Ask a boy who his hero is, and chances are good he’ll name an athlete, rock star, actor, or even a comic book character. But 10-year-old Joshua, who lives at the Cross-sponsored Kondanani Village in Malawi, is no ordinary boy. His hero is a charismatic Zambian preacher he watches on TV, and he’s already started to emulate him.

Joshua, 10, weighed only 2 lbs. when he came to Kondanani as an infant.

When Joshua first came to Kondanani as an orphaned infant, he weighed only two pounds. Today he is a healthy, outspoken boy who loves telling other children about Jesus and inviting them to receive him into their heart. Once a week, he also helps out with evangelistic outreaches in the local village, where they do drama presentations, music, teaching, and prayer.

Joshua’s zeal for ministry shows. He took the initiative, without any suggestion from the adults, to organize a group of friends to sing worship songs. Despite their young age, the boys are as polished as a church choir. They sing loud and joyfully, with perfectly coordinated dance moves and harmonies.

Without hesitation, Joshua will tell you what he wants to be when he grows up: a preacher! He is just one example of the many lives saved and nurtured at Kondanani, a Christian orphanage where children are rescued out of squalor, rehabilitated from malnutrition, given a quality education unlike anything else in the country, and best of all touched with the love of Christ.

Click here to learn how you can be a blessing to Joshua and all the other precious children at Kondanani.

If you’ve ever wondered where the most religious place on earth is, a new study from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has an answer: sub-Saharan Africa. More specifically, the countries south of the Sahara Desert and north of South Africa.

In many cases, indigenous African beliefs, such as sacrifices to ancestors, have been incorporated into their newfound Christianity.

Researchers found that a large majority of Africans consider religion “very important.” But the more interesting find has to do with which religions they are practicing. Just a century ago, traditional indigenous beliefs dominated the region. But Christian missionaries have turned the tables to the point that one in five of the world’s Christians now lives in sub-Saharan Africa!

This reversal is great testimony to the effectiveness of evangelism, but it’s not the whole story. In many cases, indigenous African beliefs, such as sacrifices to ancestors, have been incorporated into their newfound Christianity. A man might attend church on Sunday and then on Monday earn a living as a witch doctor. And as the infamous Rwanda genocide has shown, the tribal violence that plagued pre-evangelized Africa continues to be a problem.

How should we as Christians respond to this? Deep, sincere faith cannot be forced, but God has given us the tools to be an effective witness, and one of those tools is the simple act of loving our neighbors. That’s what is happening at the Kondanani Orphanage in Malawi, where severely malnourished children are taken into the care of loving Christians, raised in an environment of biblical teaching and Christ-centered worship, and instilled with powerful faith. We know that the Spirit of God is moving at Kondanani, because the children have taken the gospel to heart and are telling other people in the community about Jesus!

Cross International is an enthusiastic partner and supporter of Kondanani Orphanage. Click here to find out how you can help Kondanani bring God’s love to Africa.

Earlier this week, the U.N. and other international groups observed World Water Day as a time to raise awareness about the plight of those who lack access to clean water. It’s hard to believe that in this day and age, many families in developing nations still don’t have plumbing in their homes and must resort to traveling long distances to fetch water from parasite-infested streams and other questionable sources.

Waterborne illnesses are one of the world’s leading causes of disease and death, because so many families have no choice but to risk the dangers of using contaminated water.

Unsafe water has far-reaching consequences. In fact, waterborne illnesses are one of the world’s leading causes of disease and death, because so many families have no choice but to risk the dangers of using contaminated water. One result is that an estimated 2 million people, most of them young children, die each year from severe diarrhea. Other common waterborne illnesses include malaria, cholera, and typhoid.

Here at Cross, we’re doing our part to improve clean water access in developing nations by building wells for poor villagers. These wells offer a safe alternative to polluted rivers and open cisterns, and their convenient location spares children from having to spend hours each day fetching water in large plastic buckets instead of going to school.

Clean water is a basic necessity that no one should have to do without. It is needed for drinking, bathing, farming, and for maintaining even a tolerable standard of living. Click here to find out how you can bring radical transformation to a poor community by providing a simple well.

Below is a video of relief supplies being unloaded from the 220-foot ship that was carrying 10 containers from Cross. The food, water, medicines, and other goods are now being distributed to earthquake victims in Les Cayes.

Because the southern seaside town has only a small harbor with a wharf that cannot accommodate large vessels, small boats were used to transport the relief supplies to shore. Loading the 20-foot containers on the little boats was quite a feat!

After weeks of anticipation and a few bumps in the road, 10 containers of relief supplies from Cross being carried by a treasure-hunting ship reached our ministry partners in Les Cayes, Haiti.

The 20-foot containers — carrying food, water, medicines, and other urgently-needed relief supplies — were a welcome site to our ministry partner, who runs a home for more than 600 orphans and has been spearheading our efforts to help earthquake refugees pouring into Haiti’s southern region.

The crew of the 220-foot Sea Hunter, which partnered with Cross to ship the supplies, encountered three vicious storms that delayed their journey. But through God’s providence they have arrived safely with the precious cargo.

The Sea Hunter coming into the port in Miami, Florida, where it picked up 10 containers of relief supplies from Cross International before heading south to Haiti.

Because Les Cayes has only a small harbor with a wharf that cannot accommodate large ships, skiffs were used to transport the supplies to shore where they were trucked to our ministry partner.

Dozens of boxes of food were a welcome site to our ministry partner who cares for more than 600 orphans in Les Cayes.

In Proverbs 17:22 we are reminded that “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…” Over the last several months we have been overwhelmed with images of sadness and despair from Haiti and, more recently, Chile. Sometimes it is nice to be reminded that the poor smile. Below are recent photos from the field of some of the individuals who we’ve helped through the generosity of American Christians. Remember God’s promise from Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Nicaragua

Guatemala

Dominican Republic

Philippines

Cross President Jim Cavnar and several staff members recently returned from a trip to Haiti. During their time in the earthquake-devastated country, they visited several of the ministries we are helping during this time of recovery.

In their first few hours on the ground the staff was struck by the empty streets of Port-au-Prince, which before the earthquake were teaming hundreds of vendors, children, cars, and animals.

Cross International President Jim Cavnar surveys the damage in Leogane where nearly all of the houses were destroyed by the quake. Cross is supporting an IDP camp of about 200 people who lost their homes there.

“It was like being in a ghost town on the set of a Hollywood movie — it was unreal,” Jim said.

Michele Sagarino, vice president of development, added, “The lack of life in the streets and knowing what that means was very hard to process.”

The group from Cross met with Gladys Thomas, who runs an orphanage and Christian school we support just outside the capital, to survey the damage her ministry sustained. She told them that they’ll have to completely replace one of their buildings and rebuild the tall cement wall that protects their property from trespassers. She also said that her ministry has taken in 20 new children since the earthquake.

Jim and the staff from Cross also visited an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp we are supporting in Leogane, which was at the epicenter of the deadly earthquake. Despite the extensive destruction, there was hope among the people in camp. They had just received another shipment of rice when the group from Cross arrived.

With tents and supplies from Cross International, Project Medishare was able to set up a makeshift hospital that is helping hundreds of earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince.

After visiting a few other ministries we support, assessing damage, and planning an approach to help, the team from Cross stopped by Project Medishare’s tent hospital. Jim and the staff were very impressed by the work being done there — work that has been going on since the first day after the quake. Cross donated tents and supplies to the ministry, which were of great use when the ministry set up makeshift surgical and exam rooms, an infirmary, a lab, and a pharmacy.

Overall the group was impressed by the work we’ve accomplished together with our ministry partners to help those suffering in Haiti. “Our partners are showing tremendous courage and faith in the wake of this disaster,” Jim said. “Though it was difficult to see the suffering, we were glad to also find hope among the people as we met with our partners. We feel blessed to be a part of the recovery efforts that are bringing relief to those hurting in Haiti.”

Click here to learn more about our relief efforts in Haiti.

On Wednesday, many Christians began observing Lent, a time of prayer and fasting during the weeks leading up to Easter. Although some denominations don’t recognize Lent, the practice has a long history among both Protestants and Catholics.

There’s a tradition that during Lent, Christians will give up a particular luxury they enjoy, such as unhealthy foods or even television. But this year, some pastors are calling on their flocks to take a slightly different approach: don’t just give something up – give it away.

The Rev. Bill Hewitt from the Church of Scotland encouraged his congregation this week to reach out with their time and talents to others in need: “I prefer the idea of Lent being a time of giving of ourselves in service to others. This runs contrary to a culture that suggests that the only thing that motivates people is money.”

Lent is a great opportunity for Christians to bless others while denying themselves. We can turn our thoughts not only to the needs of the neighbor across the street, but also to the poor and downtrodden around the world. Of course, not everyone can personally travel to a faraway land to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but those of us who stay home have an important role to play in supporting those who go.

Our Cross International mission partners simply could not do what they do without the generous giving of our Christian donors. Whether you choose to feed orphans at the Kondanani Children’s Village in Malawi or build houses for poor families in the Philippines, your gifts make a real difference. Check out our online project catalog to see how you can be a blessing in someone’s life today!