Haiti quake panel mandate ends; ministry feels budget crunch

Mission Network News: "Haiti (MNN) ― The mandate is ending Friday for a Haiti reconstruction panel that was set up to coordinate donor aid after last year's earthquake.

It comes at a time when Haiti's government is newly formed, and hopes are high that what was started by the panel will continue under the government's care."

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GAiN cautious but optimistic about Guatemala elections

Guatemala (MNN) ―Ministries have cancelled mission trips. Some reports say violence has increased. So what's the danger in Guatemala? Presidential elections.

President Alvaro Colom will conclude his term as president this January when the winner of the September 11, 2011 elections takes office. Currently, most sources agree that Otto Perez Molina, who lost to Colom in the 2007 elections, is the frontrunner in the race.

The winner will be stepping into a difficult role. The struggling country of Guatemala is still trying to recover from a civil war that ended 15 years ago. It's one of the 10 poorest countries in Latin America, with approximately 29% of the population living below the poverty line.

More frightening still -- and an issue that has been a frequent topic of Guatemala's presidential debates -- is the nation's alarmingly-high homicide rates. Some estimates place Guatemala as the fourth in the world for homicide rates in 2010.

"If the current frontrunner is elected, things should be fine," says Steve Watson, Guatemala Liaison and Trip Leader for Global Aid Network (GAiN). Watson took a group to Guatemala at the beginning of August to work with Campus Crusade for Christ in the city of Chiquimula. They had the chance to help develop ministry with an indigenous people group known as the Chorties, and to bring aid to teachers and students.

During that time, Watson says he was nervous, but things went fine. Beyond political rallies and strikes, nothing disruptive occurred.

Although GAiN's ministry partners are expecting things to go smoothly, Watson says the ministry is still taking precautions.

"We have held off on shipping containers because you never know what the change of government is going to do," says Watson. "So that's the only major disruption we've seen: we're not shipping containers right now."

GAiN cleared its last container in the country last week until the elections end, but the ministry hopes to pick back up with their work to send aid to partners in Guatemala as soon as the coast is clear.

"I do have containers of food, Bibles, clothing and things like that which are ready to ship. Once we see that things are okay, we're going to start shipping again based on how much money we have to ship."

Funding for shipping is always a need. You can help when you click here. Aid goes not just to provide physical needs for recipients, but to share the love of Christ with people who otherwise may never experience it.

Pray for Guatemala as they approach election day. Pray for a leader who will cling to Christ, care for Guatemalans, and bring the nation out of poverty.

Shipping prices directly affect spread of the Gospel

International (MNN) ― Gas prices are finally starting to slowly climb back down in the U.S., and the costs are expected to continue their decline. Over the past few months, oil prices have gone down, and yet shipping costs, which rose with the rise in oil costs over the last few years, remain high.

Oil prices are still higher than they were a year ago, which is part of the reason that shipping costs have remained higher than a year ago as well. Even as oil prices go down, some shipping companies are playing catch-up.

Increased shipping costs have presented a significant dilemma for ministries attempting to send large amounts of aid or resources to far away nations. Global Aid Network (GAiN), for example, has millions of meals prepared to send to East Africa where severe drought has thrown millions into levels of starvation. However, GAiN has had difficulty procuring the funds to actually send the food to Africa.

In another case, shipping costs are directly affecting the spread of the Gospel.

"[In] one of the locations that we just sent to, [shipping] was literally $2,000 more than it was last year at this time," says the executive director of Christian Resources International, Jason Woolford.

CRI ships Christian literature and Bibles to Christians across the globe, many of whom are pastors and church leaders but have never owned a Bible. For many, it can be dangerous or just financiallyl difficult to obtain Christian resources. But when CRI comes in with thousands of dollars worth of books, they're able to get study Bibles, commentaries, devotionals and more for free, equipping them to better preach the Gospel and strengthen their faith.

"We have four sea containers and Great Crates that are waiting to go that represent about $50,000." The next two containers are scheduled to go to Jamaica and Democratic Republic of Congo. The container headed to Congo is going to rebuild the entire library of a Bible college that was burned down by Muslim extremists. (Read the full story here.)
CRI gets donations of old and new books alike to their Michigan warehouse all the time, but as shipping prices rise, sending these resources out gets much more difficult. If $50,000 doesn't come in throughout the year, Woolford says, "It means that in fact we can't send as many containers, which means we can't receive as many materials."

The effect of fewer containers sent is severe. "It would mean that certain Bible colleges wouldn't be able to get their accreditation. It would mean that the person that is preaching, if you can imagine, a gentleman preaching his sermons for three months out of one little Daily Bread--it would mean people like him not being able to have a Bible or a Pastor's Library."

Essentially, this chain reaction of events starting with rising shipping prices results in fewer people reached by the Gospel. CRI frequently reminds believers that one Bible can reach up to 40,000 people in some cases. Far fewer Bibles and books getting into the hands of believers without proper funding could mean hundreds of thousands fewer ears hearing the Good News.

The stakes are incredibly high. CRI is still on track to send $5 million in free books across the globe by the end of 2011, but no matter how many books come in, that goal won't be reached without funding for shipping. Higher shipping prices come at an especially bad time now, during the "death months" for ministries financially: July and August.

There are ways for you to help. It costs approximately $10,900 to ship a container, and about $500-$800 to ship a smaller package. You can give individually or with an organization or small group. Each donor will receive a DVD tracking the history of CRI and the ways God has used the ministry in the States and across the globe.

If you'd like to be a part of this life-giving mission, visit cribooks.org and get involved today.