24/7 prayer for Europe until September 26

Last Friday, 24/7 prayer launched a 6-month vigil for Europe. Join with us in prayer:

What is the BE?

OM USA is the host for BE, an event for those seeking God's purpose for their lives. Learn more and get a registration form on the BE Facebook page.

Be from OM USA Video on Vimeo.

pastors and youth leaders: take your group to the BE

Andrew Scott, COO of OM USA, talks to youth leaders about the benefits of taking your group to the BE. Learn more and get a registration form on the BE Facebook page.

What is BE? from OM USA Video on Vimeo.

Pray for Mission Retreat this weekend

The Journey Deepens is a retreat for those interested in mission but not sure which step to take next. It is being held on the OM USA campus this weekend. Please be in prayer for those attending. Ask that the Lord would use this time to direct each one in His will. Thanks.

greetings from Haiti

OM USA staff member Ray Cooper is in Haiti awaiting the 40-ft container of supplies shipped from OM and scheduled for delivery Monday. He writes:

Greetings from Haiti. These past three days have been filled with kids, kids, more kids and truck rides.  Our team has grown in size. Adding to the three of us are 4 locals who join us each day. All four of them work with youth at their church or orphanages and are eager to gain new ideas and stratagies about childcare.  It's been a blessing to have them join our team. 

The team is praising God for taking care of every need, including transportation and even extra time at the end of each day to debrief and plan for the next.   Please pray for this team as they plan on visiting five more orphanages.  Pray for safe travel and good connections with the kids and the staff.  Pray strength for those serving as translators as they stay very busy in this role.

DIY: turning crates into beds for Haitian orphans

When OM announced plans to ship a container full of supplies to Haiti, OM staff member Randy Jury thought the most efficient way would be to build crates to hold the items. When staffer Ray Cooper heard about the crates, he wondered if they could be designed to reassemble into sturdy bunk beds upon arrival. Ray had been to Haiti since the earthquakes and knew kids in the orphanage were sleeping on cardboard mats or on the concrete floor. So Randy went back to work to create the crates.

Randy Jury and Tom Paver begin to reassemble a crate.

Randy, Ray, and the rest of their crew built 25 crate bunks -- that’s 50 new beds for orphaned kids in Haiti. The measurements fit mattresses being made in Haiti, and the bunks will be painted using supplies bought in country. Nearly one ton of sheets and blankets were included in the container shipment.  Each crate took 2-3 hours to construct but will only take 20-30 minutes to reassemble as a bunk bed.  

Thanks to everyone who helped build or load these crates. The final shipment contained 22,394 pounds of much-needed items for Haiti.  Many of you from Atlanta-area churches were part of this project and it could not have been completed without your help.  The container is on its way and due to arrive Monday morning, much quicker than expected!  Please pray for the container's safe delivery and for an easy distribution.  

OM staffers with a completed bunk.
(clockwise from top left:) Randy Jury, Tom Paver, Carl Hoffman, and Nigel Harman.

LAST WEEK: Atlanta-area Haiti drop-off

OM USA is filling a container with very specific items bound for Haiti. If you are in the Atlanta area ONLY  and can bring any of the following items, please do so by March 22. If you are not local but would like to give, give online to Haiti relief. For more information and directions see the OM USA website.




Please choose from only this list:
tarps and tents
mosquito nets
rice in larger bags
black or pinto beans, dry, in larger bags
spaghetti, dry pasta
toothbrushes and toothpaste
bar soap
crutches, walkers, and wheelchairs

George Verwer interviews one of the original OM members and gives away a free book

OM founder George Verwer with founding OM member Roger Malstead. Hear about Roger's latest project and how you can get a free book from George:

continued prayers for Haiti

Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9 

Though heartbreaking news from Haiti may seem endless, let us stay diligent and remember those for whom daily survival remains a challenge.  OM has been partnering with local churches in the Port au Prince area to provide food and water to a growing number of orphanages and communities. We have worked short-term with a medical team, a logistics team, and a structural engineer. These skilled workers have been invaluable, as have been the team of nationals working right alongside.

We are grateful for the gifts we have received. Your partnership has allowed us to do so much already. Thanks for standing with us as we continue to show the love of Jesus to a hurting people. Please continue to keep the people of Haiti in your prayers.

George Verwer in India

George Verwer interviews Moses Parmar, Chairman of Good Shepherd Community Church in India about the ministry there.

shoot out in Rome

OM Italy's Matt Gibson invites you to Rome, Italy, where OM will be shooting out teams to all over the Mediterranean this summer.

February International Update

OM International Director Peter Maiden talks about Haiti, Doulos, and several other topics in this month's International Update.

Pray for Haiti shipment & team

OM is partnering with Delta airlines to get supplies into Haiti. A small team left today with a shipment of cargo. Please pray that all goes well with the flight and that the supplies will get to the people who need them most.

Delta notified OM over the weekend that space on this flight would be available, so a call went out to local churches for bedding: foam pads, sheets, blankets, and mosquito nets. The response was so great, there was concern yesterday that not all the bedding would be accepted for this flight. But it was and everything collected will go to Haiti today.

Praise the Lord for His provision. Pray that these materials might bring comfort to a nation that has been sleeping outside for over a month. Pray this team could discern any other immediate needs. Thank the Lord for this new partnership with Delta.

George Verwer in NYC

OM founder George Verwer meets with Joy Christian Fellowship pastor Danny Han in New York City.

Stories of Hope: Like a Dream Come True

Hear about a late-night conversation in this episode of Stories of Hope, the podcast of OM ship Logos Hope.

Are you going to Transform 2010?!

Spend a few weeks in the Mediterranean next with Transform 2010. Here's a video overview:

The Journey Deepens: a retreat

If you have a heart for mission and are beginning to sense the Lord prompting you to take the next steps, you may want to attend a weekend retreat called The Journey Deepens. OM is hosting the March event on our Atlanta-area campus. For information see the Journey Deepens website.

FREE THE DALITS!

Incredible video of the Dalit cup-smashing event that ran throughout Passion 2010. Jill Monaco of One Verse interviews OM VP Michael Kaspar about the story behind the Dalit cups, then several students participate in this prophetic act. Please pray for the Dalits and for the end of the caste system in India.



For $25 you can provide one year of school lunches for a Dalit student.

Bus4Life in Hungary

See what OM Romania is doing through their Bus4Life ministry, a partnership with local churches. You can join the Bus4Life team this summer for a short-term mission trip.

Bus4Life brings hope to Eastern Europe from OM USA Video on Vimeo.

A week of God moments in Haiti

Written by Lane Powell, OM USA Communications

“I knew there were going to be ‘God moments’ through the week when the tap-tap [taxi truck] ran out of gas right in front of the orphanage.” That was the beginning of the visit to Haiti by Henry Couser, a member of OM’s staff in the USA. He had traveled nearly two hours from the airport in the tap-tap, and the fuel lasted until they got to the orphanage gate.

Henry arrived in Carrefour, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, in the first days after the January 12 earthquake. His goal was to visit the three orphanages OM had helped in the past, in partnership with a US church, and assess their needs. He based himself at the first one, where the tap-tap ran out of gas, and found that instead of 200 children, the orphanage was housing 350 and was also giving shelter and food to approximately 1,000 people from the community. And they were coming to the end of their food supply. No outside help had arrived yet. Their buildings were still standing, but, like everyone else in the region, they were sleeping outside due to concerns about aftershocks and damage to the structures. By finding some shops that had not been destroyed, Henry was able to purchase food for the immediate need.

Two days later, Henry was joined by a six-member, trained emergency response team sent by OM’s USA office and led by former OM missionary Rusty Garrison. One of their tasks was to check the rubble of a nearby school that had collapsed on 2,000 students. They could find no signs of life. Faced with this and other sites where children had died in piles of rubble, the team wanted to work at removing bodies. “But we knew that our mission was to help the living, and that had to be our priority,” Rusty said.

Each of the three orphanages was visited, and at each the team found a similar situation: buildings standing but showing cracks, children and staff living outside, food and water nearly gone. Through contacts in the communities, the team was able to find food and water to stock each orphanage. They located a relief aid warehouse which had begun receiving food shipments, but the director was overwhelmed at organizing it and establishing a distribution system. He asked only for the team’s labor of unloading trucks and organizing a supply line in exchange for food they could take to the orphanages. “I’ll never forget the cheers that erupted as we drove into the orphanage gates,” says one of the team members, speaking of arriving with food from the warehouse. As they transported injured people to a hospital in the area, they found that the medical staff had run out of food two or three days earlier. The team provided them with food, as well.

During a week in Haiti, the three orphanages were supplied with food and water to last until a shipment could be arranged, injured people were transported to clinics, and a child whose adoption had been finalized just before the earthquake was helped out of the country with her adoptive parents. Everywhere there were the stories and stunned faces of people still in shock--not yet grieving, only staring at the rubble. There was the old man who, with his wife of 58 years, was visiting from Canada when the buildings collapsed. Her body was removed from the rubble, and he asked Henry to take a photo of her passport picture “so that the world will not forget Anne Marie.” There was the family who lost 15 members in the collapse of their home. Four bodies were recovered and placed in one coffin, but the other 11 were still in the ruins. The family asked Henry to take of photo of the surviving members. The heartbreaking sadness was knowing that hundreds of thousands of people had similar stories.

But in the midst of such tragedy, after the team’s work, there were three orphanages which had smiling children with full stomachs. They understood that God had brought Henry and the team to help them.

Thanks for your gifts to long-term Haiti relief.