Day 12: During a break time today in the studio, we glanced into the recording room and found the children and staff gathered together in a circle praying.

The Significance of One

Today we share with you a powerful message from “The Hole in Our Gospel”, a book written by World Vision President Richard Stearns.

This message challenges us to avoid the temptation to look at overwhelming statistics in our world – such as 163 million orphans – and forget that each of us – through the love and truth of Jesus Christ - can make a difference:

“There is an oft-told parable I have always liked that will help you wrap your mind around the daunting statistic of poverty. It is about just one man – and a million starfish.

'One early morning, after a fierce storm had hit the coast, I strolled to the beach for my morning walk. Horrified, I saw that tens of thousands of starfish had been washed up on the beach by the winds and waves. I was saddened by the realization that all of them would die, stranded on the shore, away from the life-giving water. Despairing that there was nothing I could do, I sat down on the sand and put my head in my hands.

But then I heard a sound, and I lifted my eyes. There, in the distance, I saw a man bending down and then standing up, bending down and standing up. Curious, I rose and walked toward him. I saw that he was picking up the starfish, one at a time, and throwing them back into the sea.

"What are you doing?" I yelled.

"Saving the starfish," he replied.

"But don’t you see, man, that there are tens of thousands of them?" I asked, incredulous. "Nothing you can do will make a difference."

He did not answer me but instead bent down, picked up another starfish, and cast it back into the water. Then he smiled, looked me in the eye, and said, "It made a difference to that one!"’

…The truth in this familiar story is important: we must never see poverty or justice as ‘issues’ that need solutions; rather we must see the human beings at the heart of those issues as people who need and deserve our love and respect. I believe that we really can alter the world, but we can only do it one person at a time. And when enough people choose to do this, even a crisis on a global scale can change.

It is possible to change the world’s realities, and that is exactly what God has challenged us to do. This is what it means to be ‘salt and light’ in a dark and bleak world (see Matthew 5:13-14). It’s what the Great Commission was all about. With some two billion Christians in the world, almost one-third of the population, changing the world by addressing poverty and injustice does not seem by any means beyond our grasp.”

(Excerpt from “The Hole in Our Gospel: The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World,” By Richard Stearns. Pages 162-164)

Day 11: James and Kelsey hosting Auntie Brooke, Gracia and Amelework.

Day 10: Thank you Steve and Deb for hosting the entire team this week as we recorded the new HLF album in Nashville! We love you and will miss you greatly!

Day 9: Children bowing in prayer. On the wall "Be ye strong and of good courage. Be ye not afraid"

Day 8: Cupcakes with Uncle Steve and Auntie Deb. The frosting was definitely a favorite!

Day 7: Mahder, Uncle Steve Dady and Gracia at Sunset Blvd. Studios in Brentwood, TN

Day 6: Swinging on the swing in the LaForge's backyard in Franklin, TN, after a long day at the recording studio.

Whose Calling Is It?

Aizawl, Mizoram, India - 2011

Have you ever sat in a church pew, listening to incredible stories from a person returned home from the mission field? Or have you ever read a book about great titans of faith on the frontlines of global outreach and thought to yourself, “Thank God for people like that”?

There’s nothing wrong with that sentiment – after all, we should thank God for rising up remarkable men and women of faith who do remarkable things for His glory. But the next question is a little more daunting:

Shouldn’t all Christians be people like that? Shouldn’t we all be on mission to share Jesus Christ with a broken world – whether that is with our next door neighbors or to an orphan in a third world country?

In his book “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream,” Pastor David Platt discusses this very concept:

“I wonder if we have in some ways intentionally and in other ways unknowingly erected lines of defense against the global purpose God has for our lives. It’s not uncommon to hear Christians say, ‘Well, not everyone is called to foreign missions,’ or more specifically, ‘I am not called to foreign missions,’ When we say this, we are usually referring to foreign missions as an optional program in the church for a faithful few who apparently are called to that. In this mind-set, missions is a compartmentalized program of the church, and select folks are good at missions and passionate about missions…

But where in the Bible is missions ever identified as an optional program in the church? …We were all created by God, saved from our sins, and blessed by God to make his glory known in all the world. Indeed, Jesus himself has not merely called us to go to all nations; he has created us and commanded us to go to all nations…

In Romans 1:14-15, Paul talks about being a debtor to the nations. He literally says, ‘I am in debt to Jews and Gentiles.’ The language is profound. Paul is saying that he owes a debt to every lost person on the face of the planet. Because he is owned by Christ, he owes Christ to the world.

Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell. We owe Christ to the world – to the least person and to the greatest person, to the richest person and to the poorest person, to the best person and to the worst person. We are in debt to the nations.” (Pages 72-74)

If we truly believe that we owe the nations Jesus Christ, then it becomes clear that missions work is not optional. In fact, taking Jesus to people near and far is at the very heart of what it means to follow Christ.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should go jump on your nearest airplane to India today (although God may just call you to do that – who knows??). But it does mean that we should all be willing, ready and excited to take God’s love and the truth of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

If we call ourselves Christians, then Christ has given us a clear calling.  

Day 5: First day in the recording studio in Brentwood, TN.

Day 4: Franklin, TN at Garcia's Mexican Restaurant with the Shapiro's, Kelsey, Chelsea and Melissa

Day 3: Auntie Brooke and Eyob on the bus

Day 2: Fun at the Hahn's House in Lincoln, NE

Day 1: Early this morning the HLF Choir 2 departed from Windsor, CO. The entire Ellerslie community gathered for the traditional HLF send off!