When Pastor Richard first approached John and Alice about a marriage workshop at their church, they were skeptical. Married at eighteen and nineteen, they had lived together for 26 years and had nine children. They had grown apart as each…
“How was your mission trip?” It is such a simple question yet so hard to put a week’s worth of experience and impact into a few sentences. No words seem to give clarity to the whole experience. I too find…
What Does “Third World” Really Mean? I’m sure you’ve heard the term “third world.” If someone says, “third world nation,” you probably think of some place in Africa, Asia, or South America that has no running water, dirt roads, unreliable…
Have you ever noticed that in our blog posts and newsletter the “H” in the word Hope is capitalized? This isn’t a typo or grammatical error that has gone unnoticed. It is a purposeful and willful acknowledgement that Jesus is…
Anyone else out there find packing for a trip to a developing nation—like for a mission trip—a sigh-inducing task? Totally worth it, but it sure does take a lot of time and brainpower. Soooo many decisions to make, right? What…
In Paulette, Haiti, they are struggling to find clean, fresh water. Here is one solution we are looking at to help our partner church, their elementary school and the community. https://brighthope.wistia.com/medias/nt8y3njc5s?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640
I just returned from Uganda with a medical team. It is amazing to visit our church partners’ communities and see for myself the impact Bright Hope is having. We visited with the grandmothers’ club at two different church locations. What’s…
Just a couple weeks ago we experienced the chilling effects of a Polar Vortex here in northern Illinois. For two days it was colder here than it was in Siberia. (One day our “high” temperature, when factoring in the wind…
Remmy, an entrepreneur and mother of three, lives in the densely- populated Huruma slums on the outskirts of Nairobi. Several years ago, she joined a Savings For Life (SFL) group with only 14 members. Now there are 22 and call themselves, “Tunaweza A,” meaning “We can”…
One of a few defining moments in my life happened when I was 21. I was in the Philippines, in the mountain city of Baguio, and the mission team I was with was scheduled to do an evangelism crusade in…