Have you ever noticed, that when Jesus was physically present on the earth, he often used ordinary things to achieve incredible results? He used mud to heal a blind man, and a little boy’s lunch to feed a crowd. As we seek to follow Jesus, God is allowing our simple, ordinary offerings to be used to save hundreds of lives and reduce the impact of the plague of mosquito-borne malaria.

Malaria kills 3,000 people every day in Africa (that’s about one every 30 seconds), and it infects and weakens many, many more. Jesus MCC, through our Missions Board and the Sudan Ministry Team, are helping to change that by providing mosquito nets — a simple, ordinary thing — to save hundreds of lives.

We’re working with New Community Project and their Every 30 Seconds Mosquito Net Program to provide some ready-to-use nets (constructed by inmates in the Indiana Women’s Prison) and also sewing machines and netting material so that nets can be made on location in Sudan. NCP was overwhelmed with the response from Jesus MCC. This year’s Every 30 Seconds program — which they thought they’d have to solicit several churches to fund — was paid in full by Jesus MCC!

The Sudan Ministry Team has received funding from special fundraisers and activities over the last several months, including the Art Auction in April and two car-parking volunteer events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Abundant thanks go to:

• everyone who attended the Art Auction, and to everyone who helped in any way to make that event a success;
• to all the volunteers who parked cars at the Speedway;
• to the inmates of the Indiana Women’s prison who have labored to construct the nets;
• to our Sudan missionaries and the New Community Project who organize this effort and distribute the life-saving nets;
• and to everyone who is a part of Jesus MCC, who contributes time and talent and treasure to make our church a vital part of God’s kingdom. Even if you’re not directly connected to the mosquito net initiative, your faithfulness has kept children from dying and has improved the quality of life for hundreds of people. Thanks be to God!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Helping Those in Need. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.