ONE Prayer Field Report: India (Rock Fort)

One Prayer India Update - ROCK FORT from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

One of the significant privileges of both my life and my job is getting to hang out regularly with D. Rajendran (or "The Raj", as we affectionately refer to him). He runs all the field ops, church planter training programs and administrative infrastructure for Life Mission International in Southern India, and i consider him to be one of my greatest friends as well. As you watch the video above, i hope you're struck (as i am regularly) at the aggressiveness and fruitfulness of our Indian brothers and sisters as they go to the quite literal "ends of the earth" to not only engage people through planting local churches, but their everyday lives as well through real world needs on the ground in the communities in which they operate.

2nd Saturday: Books!

2nd Saturday Books for India from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

In addition to the Crocs packed at Feed the Children during this past 2nd Saturday, GCC teams also had the opportunity to prepare and sort loads of children's books that we will also be hand-carrying to India. These books are provided through partnership with Better World Books (a company that sells used books online, is based here in Michiana, and is an exceptionally socially transparent organization), and will help significantly with our Conversational English teams in India.

"But why English language books, Jack? I mean...don't these kids speak Tamil?", you might ask. Well, yes, they speak Tamil, but in India, in order to have a shot at a better life, engage in commerce or trade, or attend good schools, you need to be able to speak English. Why? Well, in the case of the latter, all the classes at top universities are offered in English. You see, although the national language in India is Hindi, the language for all practical, technical and commercial transactions is English. Want to succeed in the emerging Indian global powerhouse? Gotta speak English. These books will help.

2nd Saturday: Crocs!

2nd Saturday Crocks from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

Hey! At 2nd Saturday this past weekend, we had the opportunity to add to our normal activities of packing food and personal care boxes a chance to pack pairs of Crocs shoes at Feed the Children. These Crocs will be hand-carried by GCC India teams in a couple of weeks to the places where we are working on the ground, and will be integrated into the Health and Hygiene curriculum deployed during that time-frame.

ONE Prayer Field Report: Episode IV

Here is the next installment of our ONE Prayer field reports from Cambodia. Pretty exciting stuff!