We're going to Africa!

With less than three weeks to go, the Ghana Rock team is counting down the minutes until we head to Doryum, Ghana! We all feel honored and blessed to get to be the representation of Ghana Rock in Africa for a week. While we are there we will get to serve with City of Refuge staff, meet some of the newly rescued kids, distribute 200 pairs of shoes courtesy of Samaritans Feet, and venture to Lake Volta to witness child slavery first hand and by Gods grace bring kids to safety and freedom!

We would love your support as we prepare for the trip and while we are there. For a lot of the team this is their first trip either out of the country or to a third world country. I am pretty certain there will be some culture shock! ;) I asked a sweet sweet man I love and respect so much how we even begin to prepare your heart for the poverty and hurt we are going to see, his response? You pray God wont ever let you forget it, you'll be more significantly changed that way. So pray with us, that we never forget what we see and come home significantly changed.  Pray for good attitudes in any situation (after all, it is Africa and it's hot... all the time). Pray every opportunity we have to share God's love, grace, and compassion we take... without hesitation, and that we will be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak God's word with boldness.

Also, pray we can miraculously pack all 200 pairs of shoes... look at all these boxes! 

- Madi 

P.S. Going to Africa is really expensive, if you would like to support the team in monetary or physical expenses please email ghanarockteam@gmail.com and we'll give you more details. 

Pictures!

Hello All! This is my very first blog post this year, and I've come to bring you all the first few official pictures of the Ghana Rock 2012!

A lot of work went into this concert, and God came through in such an amazing way! We were able to raise money for such an incredible cause, and I cannot wait until all eighteen of those kids have been rescued. 

Enjoy the pictures! 

This is the sound booth during Shawn McDonald's sound check.

During the show, the work never stopped. 

Before the concert, people were encouraged to write notes to the children at the City of Refuge in Ghana, where we will deliver them ourselves when we go to Ghana in July.

Shawn McDonald doing work! It was so incredible to hear his story and his music!

Kristian Stanfill. 

By the end of the night, hundreds of notes had been written, collected, and hung up by our volunteers as tangible evidence of the impact that Ghana Rock 2012 had. 

I cannot WAIT to deliver these incredible messages expressing God's love and simple words of encouragement.

Thank you all for your participation in Ghana Rock 2012, and we can't wait to see you next year!

-Katy

Benard & Rapheal. What cuties!

Meet the first two boys City of Refuge Ministries has been able to rescue because of the support they've received from Ghana Rock. These two boys lives have been rocked because of every person who has given finically or prayed for them over the last few months. I am already head over heels in love with these two cuties, and God is going to use them big someday! We cannot wait to see who else God brings into CORM, but for right now... let's brag on Benard and Rapheal a moment :) 


Meet Benard!! 
He is around 8 years old. Benard has been living at Lake Volta for the past 5 years where his responsibilities were to fish and maintain the nets. He went to work for the fisherman after his parents passed away. A few months ago Benard's older sister went to visit him at the lake. She saw the harsh conditions he was living in so she decided to bring him back to live with her in her village near Lalonya (this area is a large supplier of children to the lake, sending communities). Due to lack of money Bernard's sister wasn't able to put him into school after bringing him back to live with her, so he was sent to fish in the lagoon near their village.

City of Refuge knew Benard needed help. When they first saw him, his body showed all the signs of malnourishment. Benard and his sister came back to the CORM Children's Village she signed guardianship rights over to CORM.Since being with City of Refuge he has been to the clinic for a complete physical. He is receiving a daily nutrition supplement and his doing very well. Benard doesn't speak English or Twi (only Adangme - the local language in our area). Benard will be starting school next year, as the school year is almost over in Ghana. He will be a part of a special classroom where all of the newly rescued kids will be learning in a self paced environment so that they can work towards transitioning into new classrooms with the other students at the school.




Meet Rapheal!! 

He appears to be  approx. 10 years old (although he really wants to be 12 :) Rapheal's parents passed away and he was left to live with his VERY elderly relatives. Rapheal was brought to CORM during a community education event - he had been living on the streets for the past 6 months because his elderly relatives were unable to care for him. After further investigations and interviewing Rapheal's guardians we concluded that he was very vulnerable to being trafficked as the community as a whole is a sending community and he was easily accessible to being sold. Before Rapheal's parents died he was living with his mother in Ashaiman and attending school. He is able to speak Twi, Adangme and some English. He is a very bright child and will be able to attend school next year without the help of the special classroom - although extra help will be made available to him if he needs it. Rapheal's physical went well - he is getting some extra vitamin supplements as he is low on iron.

In the pictures Benard and Raphel are holding SAVE A CHILD WATER. These bags of water have a message about the issues of trafficking and the importance of our children having a childhood and a future. SAVE A CHILD WATER company only hires single mothers. Through their upcoming marketing campaign, CORM will be able to educate the people in our area about the issues of child trafficking through local media. How cool is that?


Keep Benard and Rapheal in your prayers as they start to adjust to their new life! Also, continue to pray for the ongoing investigations. CORM is working on the immediate release of 5 children all working under one fisherman. There are also 2 boys working for a fisherman they have been in negotiations with for over a year. Slavery is a huge problem, but thankfully we serve a God who is bigger! 


And in the words of Paul, "To God be the glory, forever, and ever. Amen"


I will keep everyone updated as we get more information!
-Mads 

To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Ghana Rock has a large goal this year. We want to rescue 18 child slaves and put them safely into the City of Refuge safe house for one year. Amazing, right? What continues to stress me out and be on my mind is the cost of doing that. $50,400. Seriously. I can’t even comprehend that number, or visualize that much money. I am someone who thinks I’m rich when I have a full tank of gas, and enough money for Starbucks. 

  

Then I think about how big God is. In Romans 11:33-35 Paul sings, “Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid?” I say sing, because Paul wrote a doxology which basically means words of glory. I can’t even read this without some sort of melody going with it. I would like to think Paul had vocals like Kristian Stanfill's to go along with these lyrics. It is a beautiful passage because when you look closely at what Paul is saying your mind is blown by who our God is. Paul is saying, no one can tell God what He can do, no one can help God, and no one is going to understand God, because He is that big and that powerful. Crazy, right? Suddenly my riches of Starbucks and gas seem really small, and my life and my accomplishments appear itty-bitty compared to our God.

But Paul isn't even done. At the end of this passage in verse 36 he says, “For from Him, and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”  From God is where that $50,400 is going to come from, and through God is how we’re going to raise it and rescue 18 child slaves. and the glory is going to go to Him. Forever. I love how Paul ends that statement with an “amen” it’s like he is telling us, you can’t argue with this, so I am going to go ahead and stop you now. Amen. 

So with that, I am going to keep trusting Him to provide the money for those kids. 

To Him be the glory forever. Amen. 

 -Mads 

What we have to give (Easter 2012)

Behind every big mission, there is an even bigger purpose and motive.  So what really is the purpose in saving 18 boys from a life of slavery on Lake Volta, over 3,000 miles away on a continent most of us will never visit?   What do nine teenagers feel that they really have to offer those kids?

As I get wrapped up in the current state of my life, I often forget to remember the reality of my life before Christ.  However, when I consciously step outside of my bubble of daily activities, web of friends and family, and anything else that has come to constitute my safenet of security other than God, I can vividly recall a time when there was little I could think to do to escape the grasp of bondage. Whether captivity has presented itself in a physical, mental, or emotional way in our lives, we have all experienced some form of slavery. Scripture affirms this idea -

 

In the words of Paul, "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, THOUGH YOU USED TO BE SLAVES to sin... YOU HAVE BEEN SET FREE and have become slaves to God.  The benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  (Romans 6:20-23)

 

Before we discovered freedom in Christ, we were every bit as defenseless as a little boy sold into servitude by his parents in Ghana. Galatians 2:13 says that we were "brought near" when we "were far away". Romans 5:6 says that "when we were utterly powerless, Christ died". Clearly, we had no power of our own to escape our situation of bondage.  Aside from the physcial concept of slavery, it cannot be denied that each one of us has experienced enslavement.  That is, until God sent His perfect Son to save us from that enslavement, to "transfer us from the kingdom of darkness... purchasing our freedom with His blood and forgiving our sins" (Colossians 1:13). 

The more I think about the true mission of Ghana Rock, the more I am convinced of the necessity of this message through FAITH.  If we were on a mission merely to free children from physical slavery, would we be answering God's primary purpose and call?   If City of Refuge was an organization that rescued slaves only to "reintegrate" them back into a life filled with spiritual bondage, would they really be succeeding in their objective to "free slaves"?  The reality is this - slavery cannot be ended if ALL forms of slavery are not put to death in Christ.  Imagine the disappointment and confusion of a boy, having been rescued from Lake Volta and housed in a safe home. turned out into the world to face the unexpected trials and trauma of an unfamiliar and equally debilitating kind of slavery.  Imagine the anguish of a young man who, believing he had conquered the greatest hurdle of his life and had done away with bondage forever, finds himself susceptible to sin and in fear of death.  What kind of freedom would that be?

 

The City of Refuge Ministries is committed to introducing rescued boys to Jesus Christ and nurturing their relationships with Him.  Former child slaves rescued with the very dollars raised and the very prayers lifted to God through Ghana Rock, will not only know freedom from slavery on Lake Volta but also the incredible freedom of the Lord.  This means that at the concert in May, we will not only get the opportunity to celebrate the freedom of 18 African boys but also the freedom that we ourselves have experienced in Jesus Christ.  Until then, let us wholly rejoice in our complete release from every kind of bondage. We are no longer slaves to fear, slaves at the hands of men, slaves to our sinful nature, slaves to the inevitability of death or the brevity of life, or anything else that this life can bring. In every possible sense of the word, we can have FREEDOM in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Happy Easter, He is risen indeed!

 

- Katie Hensel

Living Sacrifices

"And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:2

When Christ sacrificed himself for us, he gave us a gift. He expected nothing in return, for we have nothing to give. He gave humbly and quietly, not drawing attention to himself, but to his heavenly father.

When we give sacrifices in our lives, we should follow Christ's example. The credit that we might get from the sacrifice should be directly given to the Father. When our hearts are right for the sacrifice we are giving, the fruit from it will be all the more bountiful.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24

While no sacrifice can ever compare to the magnitude and love of Christ's sacrifice, we can strive to be like him and sacrifice things in our lives for his sake. I challenge you, live out your faith. Sacrifice yourself for Jesus and be vulnerable. This is how faith grows in the Lord.

Romans 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."


-John Dockery

Why worry?

Worry. So much time in my life is spent in worry. Why do we worry? We worry because we try to pin all of our problems on ourselves. What can we do about these problems? Nothing.
What about this; what if there was someone that could take all of our problems and conquer them no matter what? What if there is a creator who loves us unconditionally and shows his mercy and grace in our lives daily? What if there was a God who gave his ONLY son so that we could spend eternity with him?
Christ says in his word," Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:25-26.
Stop right there. God cares about our problems? God doesn't just care about our problems, he wants to solve them and show his power in our lives.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30.
"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22.
"So we can confidently say,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6.
Trust in the Lord. Give up your worries to God and he will surely bring peace that passes all understanding into your life. My life is definitely not an example of this concept, but the more I give up to God, the more I find he blesses me and uses his power to show how mighty he is. I am constantly humbled by how infinite His majesty is.

"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all." 2 Thessalonians 3:16

-John Dockery