Letter from Kay
Welcome to the HIV Caring Community website! If this is your first time to visit, be sure to look through the archived issues for helpful information about how your church can begin an HIV ministry. If you’re a regular reader, I know you’ll enjoy the variety of personal stories in this month’s issue. The firsthand account of a woman who toured the World Vision Experience: AIDS exhibit at the 2007 Global Summit on AIDS and the Church is a tender reminder of the commitment needed by all of us to provide for orphans. You’ll be encouraged to learn what two churches in Orlando have launched as a result of attending the 2006 Global Summit on AIDS and the Church. You’ll be touched by the story of a man with a secret who finally decided that he was through hiding. The story of a woman manipulated into prostitution will challenge you to consider ministering to men and women caught in the sex trade.
May 2008 be the year that God seriously disturbs and gloriously ruins you for His Kingdom!
Warmly,
Kay
P.S. Check out the article on my book, Dangerous Surrender: What happens when you say yes to God, and visit www.kaywarren.com for messages, music and downloads that will enhance your reading experience.
Kay Warren, co-founder, Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif., and executive director of Saddleback Church's HIV/AIDS Initiative
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Dangerous Surrender:
What happens when you say yes to God
Surrender. It is not an inviting concept, is it? Yielding. Relinquishing. Our very nature resists these concepts.Intimacy with God. Now that is far more appealing. Don’t we all long for a deeper personal experience of God’s presence?
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World Vision Experience: AIDS
Most of us have heard of World Vision. They are known for their child sponsorship, and being a “boots on the ground” ministry in over 160 countries over six continents. In November 2007 during the Summit on AIDS and the Church, Saddleback hosted the World Vision AIDS Experience on campus. Over the course of the week, over 3,000 Saddleback attendees and community members walked through the exhibit and glimpsed into the life of a child in Africa.
When I first walked into the tent I received an iPod Nano to begin my experience; I put on the headset and entered the narrow African-decorated hallway. The beating of drums resounded in my ears, and I was directed by my narrator to enter and assume the identity of a child: the life of Kombo.
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I Wear A Scarlet Letter
If you’ve read the book, “The Scarlet Letter”, you’ll remember that Hester Prynne is led from prison with her infant daughter in her arms with a scarlet “A” on her chest signifying her crime. She was paraded through the streets, thus beginning her life of shame. While I’ve never been paraded through the streets, I’ve lived in personal shame resulting in secrecy. I’m not sure how the Church would judge me or treat me because I simply haven’t taken the chance . . . until today.
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What if one community came together…
In the summer of 1990, I met the first person I had ever known who had AIDS. I was a young hospital chaplain intern and he was a 51-year-old man named Tom. Over the course of the next nine months, Tom and I grew to be great friends as he neared death. I would meet with him almost every day. After about six months, it finally dawned on me: no one else was coming to see him.
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Ransomed The first National Human Trafficking Day took place January 11, 2008 and our church sponsored an information meeting. I attended because child prostitution, forced labor, and sex trafficking were issues that I was already aware of, but I had no idea the extent of how much my thoughts would be changed and my heart would be broken in one short three hour period of time.
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How you can care for orphans
At the Cry of the Orphan Web site, learn practical ways that you, your church, or your organization can care for some of the world’s 143 million orphans. Cry of the Orphan is sponsored by FamilyLife, Focus on the Family, and Shaohannah’s Hope.
Connect with others who care about AIDS
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria recently launched a new Web site – MyGlobalFund – for people interested in fighting the three diseases. Visit the sites online forums, blogs, and other discussion areas to interact with other people who are addressing HIV/AIDS.
Working together to address AIDS in South Africa
In this package of articles from Baptist Press, learn how local Christians, churches, and missionaries are working together to address HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
These links are offered only as a reference. The information may not be appropriate for audiences of all ages. Content, views, and information found in these external links are not necessarily supported or endorsed by Saddleback Church or Purpose Driven Ministries. |
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