I had a great time at the G42 Summit held in Colorado Springs this past week.  Times of challenging teaching by Andrew Shearman, prophetic prayer led by Gary Black, awesome worship (with a little help from Desperation Band’s Jon Egan), and planning the next steps of the G42 Spain training center with Seth Barnes… We have some pretty good leads at a location near Malaga, Spain,  and I will be researching more properties this upcoming week.  We have made the 1st of November the ‘line in the sand’ for finding and selecting our location for Spain, which will allow for a Spring ‘09 start to the training center.  This fall, I will make trips to New Jersey and Georgia to visit family and attend the AIM Breakthru Conference, with a possible visit to Spain to finalize preparations there.  So the schedule is packed!  And I am excited!

Yesterday, I drove the 11 hours (straight through!) to re-unite with my family here in Fountain Hills, Arizona.  It was a great homecoming, and means that we are a complete family again after 10 months apart (7 in Iraq, 3 in Colorado Springs).  Now I try to re-integrate myself into the smooth-running machine my wife had going to take my place as father and “priest.” 

I will definitely keep you updated on what is going on with the training center…

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Well, yesterday was my last day of work for the Air Force.  It’s a weird feeling… and Monday will feel even weirder — no uniform, no boots, no badges or rank… it’s a huge change after 10 years.

 But I am excited about this next chapter, there’s no way we will be bored, we have way too much to do.  Please continue to pray for us:

- I can find some work in this interim period.  I’ll be trying my hand at substitute teaching, which at the same time should allow me some flexibility to work on projects for G42, the Spain Training Center, and Nsoko Village.

- That we find favor regarding the logistics of the move to Spain and the establishment of the training center–everything from visas, finding and securing a location, setting up teachers, and connecting with donors.

- That my family can raise enough support to allow us to move to Spain soon.

- In that through all of the details & work that needs to be done, God is glorified and His Kingdom is expanded!

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Our Nsoko village and care points ministries inside Swaziland continue to grow and produce fruit–the following is from Julie Anderson, who leads AIM’s women’s ministry in Swaziland, and is just one of the great people I’ll be working with in the coming years.  Her report from Swaziland is just one of the outstanding growing ministries AIM and G42 are spearheading.

Hi Friends…it’s been a while since I posted an update. Sorry about that.

The summer (winter here) months are always busy ones with lots of teams coming through. I’m not as involved w/ the short term teams as I used to be, but I’ve enjoyed hanging out w/ the teams we’ve had here during the last 2 months. They’ve really been an encouragement and blessing to our ministry to the women here and also personally as well! One group gave my house a new paint job, another helped host the retreat for the women in June, another brought me cans of green chilis from the States!…things that may seem little but are huge to me.

Here’s a picture of medical check-ups happening at our retreat in June.

 

When I titled this blog entry,  ”We’re Growing,” I was wondering if some of your first thoughts were, “Does she mean her family is growing? Has Julie found another baby she can’t live with out?!”  Don’t worry–people ask me quite often if I’m planning on adopting more children. My standard answer (although I am open to WHATEVER the Lord has for me!) is, “Not until I adopt a husband!” (Does anyone know where I can do that?

So, although my family isn’t getting any bigger, Timbali Crafts is! On Monday I met w/ a group of 35-40 women from Nsoko, Swaziland, a rural community about 1.5 hrs south of where I live in Manzini. G42, a partner organization of AIM, helps to support 8 feeding centers in Nsoko, and soon their cooks will be sewing for Timbali Crafts, and hopefully generating an income! The southern part of Swaziland is the area with the most need, hit hardest by HIV/AIDS, drought, and poverty. So the needs are great. Many of the women walked around 3 hours to attend the meeting. (below are a few of the women leaving the meeting)

It’s a bit overwhelming to think that in the next month we will nearly be doubling in size, which means our sales will need to double in size, and so will the work it takes to make it all happen! But at the same time I have a real excitment about the possibilities and the provision that will come to 35 more families here. We’ve already had someone donate money to buy a sewing machine for each care point, and to help with the first month’s pay day.  So even though I’m wondering how all this is going to happen, I see God already providing, and I look back at the last two years, and see how God has grown and prospered us inspite of my cluelessness, so why not jump head first into this new area!? I hope ethnic looking hand bags don’t go out of style anytime soon. :)  (the women in Nsoko will also be sewing some table runners and wall hangings, so keep watching our website for new items…www.timbalicrafts.org)

So as always, there are really great things happening, along with the really hard things that come with the state of things here.  Pray for more help with the business side of Timbali Crafts–I’m at my limit! and keep praying for this nation, and for us as we live and work here. We want more and more people to know the hope of Jesus, and we want to do everything we do in the Lord’s strength and His timing!

Thanks for reading our blog!!!!

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I’ve added some links to the sidebars of the page.  Click on them and check them out–you’ll be helping me out at the same time.  //Dave

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I currently sitting in Phoenix airport, after an excellent long weekend with my family, waiting for my flight back to Colorado Springs.  (Love you guys!) These last 8 months have been tough on the family, but in 3 weeks, my terminal leave with the Air Force begins and I am reunited with my family For Good.  But I just wanted to write a little more about the huge change we are about to make. 

Basically, we’ve accepted the Jesus’ commission and the challenge… to go into the world and preach the gospel.  In the near future, the “world” for us will be Arizona State University (we’re helping develop a student ministry while we are in Arizona), then Spain and Swaziland.  By entering into this mission, we’ve jumped into spiritual warfare–and we realize that the road will not be easy, and that the enemy will try to slip through any chinks in our armor.  By that, I mean that he will try to sow seeds of doubt, fear, and use the world to discourage us from our stated goal: to build God’s Kingdom, to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Life will get harder, but at the same time, it will be more rewarding, and we will be able to see more closely the working of Christ in our lives and in the world.

When I say that life will get harder, and that the “trials” will get tougher, it’s not that for some reason the Christ in us is now overpowered by evil–instead, we have entered the arena, we are allowing the devil to shoot his arrows at us–so that we can shrug them off in the power of Christ, to display his glory and to break the strongholds as we build the Kingdom.

Jesus never said it would be easy:

John 16: 31-33:

“You believe at last!” Jesus answered. “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. …

 ”I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Amen!  and one last thing…

1 Corinthians 9:16– Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

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All-powerful.  All-knowing.  Eternal.  Creator of the universe, and everything that is in it.

Eternal.  Perfect.  Just.  Merciful.  Loving.

God of the Angel Armies.  (my personal favorite, obviously.)

All of these would describe, in most peoples’ view, the God of the universe.*   He is also called Yahweh, and has called himself “I AM.”  If you can wrap your mind around that– “I AM,” that basically sums it up.  He is.  He was before time began, and we be forever.  He doesn’t change, and His promises from thousands of years ago still are true today.

And he’s my friend.  Heavenly Father, yes.  I respect and fear His awesome power, yes.  But still, He is my friend and He desperately seeks for my heart.  And yours.  We sung “I am a friend of God” yesterday at church, which got me to thinking.  [I have to admit, it took a while for me to agree to the words of this song… who are we to say that the all-powerful creator, the Father, is ‘our buddy’?  But Abraham was a friend of God (Isaiah 41:8, James 2:23), and I am a descendant of Abraham, heir to the promises of God, there’s no reason that I can’t be a friend of God.]  But anyway… 

Think back to middle school now … … how great was it when “the cool guy,” or the biggest guy in the class (maybe he skipped a few grades ;^) was your friend?  You could walk around, head held high, not worried about what others thought and not in fear of harm.  [Okay, maybe it was just me… but go with me here.]

Now, multiply that by about …oh … infinity.  

Take a minute and think about that.  THE ALL POWERFUL, CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE IS YOUR PERSONAL FRIEND.   Seriously.  I don’t think we actually think about our inheritance, our standing in the universe, often enough.  If we just actually accept his love, which he gives unconditionally and graciously, we can walk with our heads held high, not afraid of what the world has to throw at us.  Not afraid of what people think of us.  Because we know, that we are friends of God and can have a personal relationship with him through his Son.

 *According to the Barna Group, 69% of Americans believe in God when described as the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator of the universe who rules the world today. (2007)

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Being a military guy, I love the account of the Centurion in Matthew 8: 

5. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”

 7. Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”

 8. The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

 10. When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

For the past 10 years, I’ve lived a lifestyle that is established on authority.  I have authority over some, and I am under the authority of others.  In the military, it is essential that orders are followed–in the most drastic cases, it could mean life or death.  In day-to-day work, authority is just as important–it’s the way work is completed, efficiently and quickly.  So I identify with the centurion here, and I can accept the ultimate authority of Jesus in my life.  I take his words at face value, and I know his promises will be accomplished.  I’m trained and conditioned to follow the direction of my leaders.  I don’t do it blindly, but my leaders have earned my trust through their words and actions, and their willingness to sacrifice for the mission. 

In the same way, I trust Jesus wholeheartedly–I know His word will not return void, and he has already made the supreme sacrifice for all of us.  So I follow his authority.  And if he says something will be done, it will be done.

Matthew chapter 10 also talks about authority: that which was given to us by Jesus Christ.  “He called his disciples and gave them authority to drive out evil…”  We, as Christ-followers, as Warrior-Shepherds, have been given the authority, entrusted to us by Christ, to exert our God-given power over evil, to defeat it, to crush it under our feet.  Amen!

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So here’s the deal… “We’re done!”   We can no longer sit in our safe, secure suburban life and watch the world from our armchair.  We can’t sit idly by while an entire African generation is wiped out due to AIDS, leaving an orphan epidemic.  Neither can we sit by while another American generation becomes video game zombies with zero passion about anything worthwhile, amazed that the world is not just about “them.”

When Jesus saw James and John fishing, He walked by and said “Follow Me”… and something in James and John knew that this man was worth following.  Jesus didn’t say that he would make it easy, he didn’t promise a 401K, he just said “Follow Me.”  So that is what we are going to do.  We are going to go, and do whatever He tells us.  With three children to raise and support, this is not just a whim.  This is a commitment to become who God made all of us to be.  We are excited to show our kids what the kingdom of God is all about…righteousness, peace, joy, power…We are even more excited to show them that spending another Saturday in a mall is not what life is all about.

God has called us to work with G42, an organization whose purpose is to raise up a generation of radical Christ-followers.  Our desire is to live in a community of believers, of radicals, who are unashamed of the Message and who are dedicated to train an army of compassionate, loving, young adults to live as Jesus Christ—to love first, to care for the orphan and widow, and to proclaim His message of grace and power. 

The ministries of G42 are currently The World Race, Nsoko Children’s Villages, and Leadership Training Centers.  The World Race is a year-long missions trip that combines elements of adventure, community, and kingdom—a microcosm of what we’re about.  The Nsoko Children’s Villages are self-sustaining villages, housing up 8-10 orphans each that provide vital necessities for children who have been unwilling victims of the AIDS virus that is running rampant through Africa.  The Leadership Training Centers around the world will equip and disciple a generation of Christian businessmen, civic leaders, and pastors.

I hope you can see why we’re passionate, why we believe so much is at stake, why we feel such urgency.  And though God has called us to this ministry, we can’t do it without a lot of people behind us.    Obviously we need prayer…to open doors that need to be opened, and to close others.  Miracles, supernatural happenings… can and will happen, we are sure of it.  We also need your financial support–food and shelter are good things! You know us and our hearts—you can trust us to be good stewards of your money and prayers—we won’t squander either of them.  We will be based out of Europe and initially will need your help to be self-sufficient for the necessities of life. 

We will send more updates soon, so you can know what we are doing and how the work is progressing.  Please think about supporting us.  If you wish to support us, please go to http://davidhearn.myadventures.org and click on “Support Me!” or send me an e-mail and I’ll give you some more information.

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The following is from Gary Black’s blog, please share this with any young people you know who might be willing to give up two months this fall to serve in Africa:

Upcoming Trip to Swaziland: September 8 - November 8

The people of Swaziland have few or no material possessions, are in the midst of a seven-year drought that has led to zero crop yield and are afflicted by a nationwide AIDS pandemic. And yet, they have an enduring spirit…

“There is an unnatural resilience, a strength the Swazis find in their faith… Joy leaps out of them, in spite of all the adversity they face, and it comes directly from God. They are my inspiration.” -Excerpt from a recent interview of AIM staff member Dennis Brock by Phil White for Relevant Magazine

You could spend two months in Swaziland this fall, practicing “true religion” through caring for widows and orphans and helping us start up the Nsoko Project.

Swaziland, like much of southern Africa, has been devastated by the AIDS virus and desperately needs people who are daring enough to go and be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Read more about the Real Life mission trip to Swaziland this fall.

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Yesterday, Seth Barnes wrote a blog about Gugu, a woman in Swaziland who stepped up to God’s call to be courageous and started a school for children who were sexually active (many under the age of ten).The kids said they would stop having sex if they could attend school. And so, Gugu’s adventure began. It hasn’t been easy, but years later, her school is still up and running, and many children have had a chance at life in a country that is well-acquainted with death.

As Andrew Shearman says, “Christianity is for heroes.” And Gugu is one of them. You could be, too. My question is: Will you do something heroic today? Maybe it’s time to take that trip to Africa you’ve always thought about taking.

Click here to read more about the trip to Swaziland in September. There is only a week left to apply, so if you’re even interested, check it out before July 15. Click here to fill out a Quick App and see if you’re a good fit for the upcoming Swazi trip.

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Here’s just something to get you thinking.  It’s a little bit different from my usual posts.//Dave

CNN reported intimidation by militias: hands chopped off, fingers broken.  If you wear the wrong colors, you’re beaten to the brink of death.

BBC reported that a woman was raped because she could not sing the ruling regime’s “theme song”, homes were burnt down, and citizens hid so they would not be forced to place ballots for the dictator.

Simply put, Zimbabwe is a mess.

After opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the popular vote in March, the runoff election between Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe was marked with intimidation, vote rigging, and murders of opposition leaders and their families.  Tsvangirai pulled out of the runoff to avoid more killings, and spent election day holed up in the Dutch embassy.  Of course, Mugabe claimed victory in the runoff…

African leaders won’t publicly censure Robert Mugabe… Governments in Gambia, Angola, Gabon, Rwanda, and Gambia all have dirty secrets, election fraud, and corrupt governments of their own, just to name a few.  (And those are just out of the countries with functioning governments)  South Africa, whose president Thabo Mbeki has been named mediator for Zimbabwe’s political struggles, has done nothing to intervene.  As Georgina Godwin, a Zimbabwean journalist, put it: “Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy is comatose.”  Mugabe has destroyed Zimbabwe, turning it from an example of how African nations can thrive, to a country whose economy has crumbled.  The World Factbook reports,

The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued official exchange rate, hyperinflation, and bare store shelves. Its 1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. The government’s land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe routinely prints money to fund the budget deficit, causing the official annual inflation rate to rise from 32% in 1998, to 133% in 2004, 585% in 2005, passed 1000% in 2006, and 26,000% in November 2007. Private sector estimates of inflation in 2007 are well above 100,000%.

Where is the international community?  Where is the United Nations?  Why doesn’t Mugabe qualify as a dictator (he’s been in office since December 1987) who needs to be strictly sanctioned or expelled?  The world leaders at the G8 conference and the United Nations Security Council are currently debating what to do … but they seem to be at a loss, and no nation has the willpower to send a peacekeeping force or substantial election monitors… any ideas?

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