30 Hour Famine Report

As reported in the Oakleaf:

Two weeks ago, 45 junior high and high school students went without food for 30 hours to raise money to fight world hunger, and to fast and pray on behalf of the hungry. During the fast, students engaged in service projects, played games, worshipped through song, and even got in some ballroom dancing!

Including the individual donations collected by students, the Sunday bake sale ran by our junior highers, and the "Get Off My Lawn" fundraiser our high school students came up with, Fair Oaks students raised approximately $2000 that will go to World Vision, the foremost Christian relief agency in the world today.


Our primary service project was a trip to Love-A-Child, a shelter for homeless women and their children in Bay Point. We piled out of our van caravan and were immediately put to work. Within minutes, kids were mixing concrete, painting walls, consolidating and stacking ceramic tiles, and shoveling gravel. Students also cooked and served lunch to the ladies and their kids, all while not eating themselves.


In the latter hours of the fast, students went out into the neighborhood surrounding the church in teams to collect food donations for the Monument Crisis Center. In little over an hour, they gathered three huge boxes full of food.

Students broke the fast with a feast of marinated chicken, tortillas, beans and rice.

Special thanks are due to the many adults who supported our students through donations, prayer, and volunteering their time during our 30 Hour Famine event.

30 Hour Famine Fundraisers

30 Hour Famine is an annual event sponsored by World Vision, with the goal of raising awareness and money to fight world hunger.

Last year was the first time the Fair Oaks youth group did the famine, and I am thrilled to report that our youth have caught the vision!

We already have about 40 youth signed up to participate, and they are preparing for this weekend's 30 hour event by planning their own fundraisers.

The junior highers put together and ran their own bakesale, selling off freshly baked cookies, brownies, and pies, with all donations going to World Vision. All credit goes to Spencer, an 8th grader who came up with the idea, then organized everyone involved! (I found out later that this may have been the very 1st bakesale in Fair Oaks Church history!)





The high schoolers came up with their own creative idea: taking over people's lawns! For donations, you can send a group of fun-loving teenagers to hang out on your friend's lawn! Or, for a donation, you can purchase insurance to keep said teenagers OFF your lawn!

I had no idea what the response would be to this idea, but our whole church has really gotten a kick out of it, and much has been raised towards our cause.



I look forward to reporting back next week how much our group has raised!

A Win-Win Situation

I'd always wondered what happened to the championship gear that was made up in advance for the team that ended up losing. It turns out, World Vision has a program set up to deliver the unsellable clothing to families in need around the world. You can see their full article here, or check out the snippets below:

Super Bowl: Children in need benefit from brand-new clothing printed for losing team

Even though they didn't win the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots will still be champions in several countries around the world. Before major NFL events, like the Super Bowl, participating teams often pre-print victory apparel. The winning team sells its items right away, but the losing team is left with large quantities of merchandise that cannot be sold.

In this case, World Vision is partnering with the NFL and Reebok to help children in need receive the treasure of new clothing. Instead of throwing it away, the losing team's pre-printed victory apparel will bring joy to children in need around the world. For many of the recipients, these will be the first new articles of clothing they have ever owned.

After the 2007 Super Bowl game, a significant portion of the apparel for the Chicago Bears — last year's losing team — was distributed in Zambia, and the rest went to areas of Chad, Chile, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Zimbabwe, and Romania.

Read an article here about a similar partnership between World Vision and Major League Baseball, which provided excess postseason apparel to flood survivors in the African nation of Ghana.

Thank God for the gift of brand-new clothing that Mihaela, Paula, and Gabita received through World Vision's partnership with the NFL and Reebok. Pray that this partnership and others like it would continue to benefit children and families around the world who are in need of basic necessities like warm clothing for the winter months.

Donate now by clicking here to help World Vision ship and distribute the donations of clothing and shoes we have received from generous American manufacturers. Your gift will multiply 14 times in impact to help keep children warm in 20 countries around the world.

World Vision Experience

Yesterday morning, Gary and I had the privilege of walking through the World Vision "Step Into Africa" experience at Cornerstone Church in Livermore.

The experience (totally free, by the way) is a tour of sorts through the life of a real child affected by AIDS in Africa. As you put on the headphones and step through the curtain, you take on their identity and walk in their footsteps. You see pictures of them with their family. You sit in their bed. You consider what you would do if you were faced with the same decisions, if you were treated the same way by others, if you found yourself in a similar situation. My child was Emmanuel, a young boy in Uganda, orphaned by that deadly disease.

It was interesting for me to walk through this experience after having spent time in Africa in 2006, to feel a sort of familiarity with what I saw. But for red earth under my feet, and the heavy smoke of burning trash heaps in the air, I could have actually been in a hut in East Africa.

The idea of this experience is to break past the overwhelming statistics and make the reality more personal. 1 million orphans in Kenya alone - these kind of numbers can paralyze you. But to understand Emmanuel's life, to walk in his shoes for half an hour, reminds me that even sponsoring one child will make a positive difference in the world. While there is much to be sad about, there is encouragement to see that something can be done.

Sunday evening, Gary and I will be going back, this time with a few high schoolers from our church. We are going to hear from Princess Kasune Zulu, Dr. Sam Huddleston, and a special choir. Following the service, we will walk through the experience together, then as a group purchase and assemble a few AIDS caregiver kits.

I invite you to join us for the event Sunday evening, or to check out the experience on your own any time through Wednesday.

Milestones on my Journey

We have all had certain experiences or encounters that, though seemingly inconsequential at the time, have had a profound effect on the rest of our lives. A few of those major experiences for me have been spiritual in nature, and have shaped the core of my identity.

My mission trip to Ireland when I was 13, for example. I simply knew I was supposed to go on that trip (my first encounter with that still small voice, I think). I wasn't conscious at the time that my concept of the missionary - evangelist - "superchristian" was to be eroded away. After all, if God can work through a self-conscious 13 year old girl, He can surely use anyone!

Another profound experience for me was leading our junior high youth group through the 30 Hour Famine for the first time. Newly married, I had all kind of concepts about what I "needed" to furnish our apartment home. After going through the studies and videos provided by World Vision for the youth event, I was completely floored by how badly I'd confused my wants with my needs. God was starting to break my heart for the poor, though I didn't know yet what that meant for me.

The next 'breakthrough' moment for me came during a general seminar at the National Youth Workers Convention in 2004. These seminars are always encouraging and thought provoking, but one in particular cut right through to my heart. The speaker was Princess Kasune Zulu, a Zambian woman who spoke about the effects of AIDS in her country, and her dramatic story of how she has been affected personally.

After the seminar concluded, our group headed to lunch at the nearest Del Taco, but I was so overwhelmed I wasn't able to get out of the car. I just sat back and sobbed. God was piercing my heart, taking me to a new level of brokenness: so painful, but so undescribably right.

What I most remember Princess specifically saying was how other governments had begun to provide assistance to those in need in Africa, money for food and HIV tests and treatments. And that was all good. But, despite all of that, the church should have already been there.


The church - God's chosen means to demonstrate His love, His care, to pray for the sick, to provide for orphans and widows, the church - had missed it's call. It had fallen down. And in that moment, I cried, not just for the sick babies and widows forced into prostitution and all the horror that goes with poverty, but at the realization that when we as a church, we as individuals, do not live out the purpose God has designed us for, the world suffers. There are horrible consequences to our resistance to 'get involved'. And I was just as much a part of that as anyone.


It's funny to me, that at the time I had no overwhelming call to go to Africa, or sponsor an AIDS baby, or anything that specific. Some people are called to do those things. Others are made for a different purpose. But at that moment, a veil was lifted from my eyes, and I received a glimpse of what could be possible - what God might accomplish through His people if we were only willing. What suffering might be alleviated. What lonely people could experience love for the first time. What freedom might ring if we chose to stand up for the oppressed. What joy might resound if we loved the Lord with ALL of our might.

All that to say, I made a decision that day: I don't want to miss an opportunity; I want to fulfill my purpose. Have there been other milestones in my life, in my journey of faith? Sure. And I pray that there will be many more.

I suppose I share all this with you now, because I just learned that Princess Kasune Zulu will be sharing in a local church this Friday, and I am elated to go and see her again. God has brought me oh so far since that afternoon in the Del Taco parking lot, and I know He ain't done with me yet.

Praise God.

30 Hour Famine Report

"30 Hour Famine was amazing. I never knew that fasting for 30hrs would be that easy. I felt kinda bad the first night but then I felt really good the rest of the time but I was still tired. I had sooo much fun praising the Lord and hanging with Bryan, Josh, Carol, and the one girl who's name slips my mind. We got so much done and the dinner was soo rewarding. I'm never going to forget this."

This past weekend, G-Dub and I gathered at the church for a 30 hour fast with about 45 of our students. As part of World Vision's 30 Hour Famine program, we spent approximately 24 hours together, worshipping, playing games, and serving in our community, all while fasting and praying for world hunger.


Highlights of the event included:

-Powerful student-led worship and prayer times.
-Crazy JH games! Nuff said.
-Watching students pour into their various jobs at the Love-A-Child mission.
-HS students making a banner with their hand prints - each hand print represented 100 children that die every day due to hunger and hunger related diseases. The banner was so long it stretched allllll the way way across the front of the church.
-Great conversations with lots of different kids.
-Movie night watching Invisible Children.
-Last but not least, a phenomenal 'break the fast' meal of slow roasted chicken and mashed potatoes. Mmmmmmm...


Our weekend was not without it's unexpected twists, but God provided and everything ran smoothly. It was such a joy to see students fasting for the first time, to see their hearts touched for the poor and oppressed, and to see them so excited about making a real difference in other kids' lives with the money they raised. I am thrilled to report that at this time, our students have raised at least $3,600 , which is enough to provide for ten children for an entire year! Praise God!


This is the press release we sent out prior to the event:

Wars and natural disasters all over the world dominate the daily headlines. Behind the scenes and far from the spotlight, though, hunger and preventable diseases claim the lives of 29,000 of the world's children each day.

Right now, more than 850 million people around the world don't have enough to eat. Annually, more than 10 million children under the age of five die from disease and malnutrition as a result of hunger. But world hunger is 100% preventable and teens from Fair Oaks are ready to be a part of the solution.

This weekend, students from our junior high and high school groups will be participating in the 30 Hour Famine, an international campaign to fight world hunger. Our students will go without food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world's poorest children and families face everyday, and to seek God's help on their behalf.

Prior to the event weekend, students have sought donations with the knowledge that every $30 they raise can help feed and care for a child for a month. Funds raised by 30 Hour Famine participants help feed and care for children in poverty-afflicted countries around the globe. 30 Hour Famine funds contribute to World Vision's response in areas where famine, conflict, and other crises make children vulnerable to hunger and preventable disease. Since 1992, 30 Hour Famine has raised more than $100 million, representing countless saved lives. World Vision works in 100 countries, helping approximately 100 million people every year.

During our event weekend, we will worship and pray together, play games, and learn about God's heart for the poor and hungry.

Students will also serve at the Love-a-Child Mission in Bay Point, a shelter for homeless women and their children. We'll be helping this incredible ministry in any way we can: preparing and serving a meal, minor construction projects, and relational ministry with the ladies who live there.

The 30-hour fast begins after lunch on Friday, so participating students shouldn't eat again after that. Junior highers will gather at the church at 6:30pm, and high school students at 9:30pm. We'll spend the night together at the church, and the event will culminate in a "Breaking the Fast" celebration meal at 6:30pm on Saturday night.

I did it!

As many of you know, I have been praying for quite a while about the children of Swaziland. I feel that God has really broken my heart for that nation, and I have been praying about what my response should be.

Well, this morning, through World Vision, I decided to sponsor a little girl named Nothando. She is four years old, and as precious as can be. I would post her picture here if I could, but security measures won't allow me to do that. Just trust me when I tell you that she's the cutest thing ever!

If you are also interested in sponsoring a child in Swaziland, you must click on the "Find Child" button on the left-hand side of the World Vision home page. This will take you to a search page with a drop down menu of countries you can choose from. For some reason, Swaziland only shows up on this list, but not the one on the home page.

It always blows me away how much God has blessed those of us in the States, and it is such a joy to be able to give God's blessings back by helping those in need. I pray that little Nothando will come to understand just how much God loves her, and that my sponsorship will help her and her family to stay healthy and safe.