Agathos

Last Saturday we had an opportunity to go to a dinner hosted by the Agathos Foundation. This foundation was started by a man who lives in the Seattle area, but is a native of South Africa. He was shocked at the crisis facing orphans in Africa because of AIDS so he decided to do something about it. Agathos holds conferences to educate pastors in Africa and teach them what the Bible says about the responsibility to care for orphans. The pastors then pledge to care for the orphans and widows in their village. The church is matched with a first world church that helps the village form an orphanage and help it become self-sufficient.

I was shocked at the conditions in Zimbabwe. Unemployment is at 80%. We get upset here if unemployment is at 6%. 10% of the entire population are orphans under age 18.

Agathos is also doing some exciting new things, including a for-profit venture. One of the problems is that the governments are very corrupt and don't provide basic services like keeping up the infrastructure. This makes commerce and business very hard. So they are starting a ferry service on Lake Victoria to help open avenues for business and trade. It seems so basic that you have to remind yourself this is the 21st century.

If you are looking for some year-end giving, I would urge you to look at this organization.

Missions Fest Seattle

This weekend we attended Missions Fest Seattle. The key verse for the weekend was Micah 6:8-

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of
you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God.

The speakers spoke alot about social justice and what the church is doing about it (or not doing about it) in the world. Unfortunately I didn't get to hear alot of what the speakers said because
there wasn't a nursery and Joel was with us. I really enjoyed what I heard. I hope to buy the DVD of the sessions to watch at home without a toddler throwing airplanes and cars down the
auditorium floor. Go to Aaron's blog to read more about the weekend. He wrote a few posts about it.

One of the unique things I liked about the conference was the children's program. Starting at age 3 they had a program for kids to learn about non-judeo religions like: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and tribal religions. Micah came home telling us about the 10-40 window. I think making young children aware that there are people out there that think differently than us is a good thing!