Books and Movies List Update

New books added to Red Card Kids:

Street Kids

• Lessons from a Street Kid by Craig Kielburger. Ages 6-9.

Take A Stand

• Free the Children: A Young Man Fights Against Child Labor and Proves that Children Can Change the World by Craig Kielburger. High school, young adult.
• It Takes A Child by Craig Kielburger. Ages 6-9.

New movies added to Red Card Kids.

Child Laborers

• Fields of Mudan, 2007. R. Mudan, a frightened young Asian girl, is forced into sex slavery by a brutal child brothel owner. She and another brothel girl courageously choose to live their lives as innocent, ordinary little girls despite their conditions and the bleak future that awaits them. Run time: 23 minutes. Mature audiences.

Take A Stand

• It Takes A Child, 1998, PG. True story of how the Free the Children movement began with a young boy who advocates against child labor. 56 min. Grades 5-12.

Freedom Sunday

February 26 is Freedom Sunday. It’s designed to build awareness about human slavery and trafficking in local churches. Here are some Biblical-based lessons and projects for children on these issues.

• Loose Change to Loosen Chains is a student-led campaign for elementary to college students to combat modern-day slavery while learning about the reality of injustice today. Order materials from the International Justice Mission. IJM uses money donated through this program to rescue victims of slavery and other forms of oppression.

• Break the Chains: The Power of Choice – Free download lesson on human trafficking for older elementary kids. Look in the Bible Study section. This is part of the Break the Chains Initiative from the Evangelical Covenant Church.

• Childhood Lost – Free download lesson on child labor for elementary children from Stand4Kids. Look in the Bible Study section under New Children’s Curriculum.

Chiildren’s Ministry Day 2012

The fifth annual Children’s Ministry Day is February 18. Developed by WMU, Children’s Ministry Day gives kids in grades 1-6 the opportunity to participate in  local community ministry. Individual projects are designed by children’s leaders in churches and Christian schools all across North America. This year’s theme is Operation Education. The theme verse is “Do your best to please God. Be a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed. Teach the message of truth correctly.” (2 Timothy 2:15, NIrV)

WMU created a downloadable Children’s Ministry Day Pack ($11.99). It contains a 16-page booklet with project suggestions, planning tips, and learning activities to enhance your project as well as colorful posters for promoting your event.  Other free resources like clip art, flyers, and a Powerpoint presentation overview are also available for download.

Ready to plan an education-related project that kids can carry out in your community? Make sure to invite others to assist you. If you can’t hold your event on February 18, pick a day that works for you. Here are 10 ideas to get those creative juices flowing:

• Help your kids host a used book drive and donate the books to a literacy ministry in your community.
• Make and send thank-you cards to principals at local schools. Better yet, have your kids deliver the cards personally. How many of them have ever seen the inside of the principal’s office–in a good way?
• Find out when the next school board meeting is. Help your kids prepare cookies or other snacks for the meeting. Ask if some of your kids can deliver the goodies and pray for the board members at the beginning of the meeting.
• Contact local school administrators and ask permission for your kids to help clean classrooms.
• Contact a local after-school program or a child-care facility and ask for a list of items they might need. Have your kids organize a drive in your church or school to help meet those needs.
• Prayer walk around neighborhood schools on the weekend.
• Help older kids prepare and read storybooks to preschoolers or kindergarteners at their school.
• Collect school supplies for needy children in your area. Have your kids write an encouraging let­ter on the first page of the notebooks.
• Have your kids make and send encouraging notes to GED students.
• Ask permission to host a teacher appreciation breakfast or lunch at a local school. You’ll probably need to enlist parent help for this one.

Invite your church leaders, teachers, and parents to be involved by praying for your kids and the people they will serve. And don’t forget to take lots of pictures!

World Food Day

October 16 is World Food Day. In our world today, 925 million people are undernourished (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO). This is 13.6% of the world population! Because their bodies are still developing, children are effected most by hunger. Every five seconds, a boy or girl dies from a hunger-related disease. Hunger has many facets and layers. Here are three.

Starvation: Starvation caused by famine, like the one currently threatening families in the Horn of Africa, is the most extreme form of hunger. Starvation often leads to death, especially in children.

Food insecurity: Not all hunger is caused by famine. For millions, lack of access to sufficient amounts of nutritious food is an ongoing, daily reality. Families eat the bare minimum to stay alive. Children go to bed each night, not knowing where their next meal will come from.

Hidden Hunger: In addition, two billion people exist on a limited diet. Because children eat the same thing every day rather than a variety of foods, they don’t get the vitamins and minerals needed for healthy growth and development. The resulting malnutrition has serious consequences. For example, children with Vitamin A deficiency have severe problems with eyesight and some become blind.

Here’s a map put out by the FAO. It shows that state of undernourishment in countries around the world. Did you know that there’s more than enough food to provide adequate nutrition to everyone on the planet? Here’s a simple simulation you can do with families in your church, school, or homeschooling group. It shows that hunger is more about an imbalance in food distribution than a shortage of food.

Tajikistan: Law Restricts Children’s Ministry

Tajikistan, a little-known Central Asian country, holds a special place in my heart. Here’s why.  1) I created the Tajik Kids curriculum, part of the Kids Around the World mission series for children. 2) My local church adopted the Tajik people and we have an ongoing relationship with national believers there. 3) I’ve served on two short-term teams to Tajikistan. Both times, I was privileged to equip and encourage children’s workers. As is usually the case, I learned more than I imparted and was challenged by the tenacity and creativity of first-generation Christians on fire for God. They realized that when God transforms the heart of a child, there is hope for societal transformation as well.

During my 2007 visit, national workers expressed concern over increasing restrictions on evangelizing children. Since then, the situation has worsened. This August, the Parental Responsibility Law went into effect. It stipulates that the only religious activities in which children under 18 may participate, apart from funerals, are those at state-approved religious education institutions. An amendment to the Criminal Code was passed that would punish organizers of “extremist religious” teaching.

Both measures seek to prevent recruiting of impressionable children by religious extremists. Whatever the intent, these rulings affect ministry to children on several levels. They affect parents, robbing them of the right to raise their children in the faith they choose. They affect boys and girls, preventing them from attending worship services, Sunday School, and church-led functions like summer camp. They impact children’s workers, forcing them to interpret what “extremist religious” teaching means to the government and discern ramifications for their ministry. While it’s too early to know how new laws will be enforced, it’s not too early to pray. Please join me in lifting up Tajik believers in the following ways:

• Pray for protection for believers who may be targets in regard to this law in coming days.
• Pray for boldness and perseverance for parents who seek to disciple their children.
• Pray for wisdom and creativity for children’s workers as they navigate what the new laws mean for their ministry.
• Pray that God will continue to grant believers favor with local government leaders as they meet the holistic needs of children in Tajikistan.
• Pray that many boys and girls in Tajikistan would come to know and follow Jesus.

Book List Updates

Just updated the children at risk suggested books on our Red Card Kids website. Recent books include:

Street Children

The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids On the Street by Ron Ruthruff (New Hope Publishers, 2010).

Working with the Street Children: An Approach Explored by Andrew Williams (Russell House Publishing, 2011).

Orphans

Love Has a Face: Mascara, a Machete and One Woman’s Miraculous Journey with Jesus in Sudan by Michele Perry (Chosen, 2009).

Children of War

My Father, the Maker of Trees: How I Survived the Rwandan Genocide by Eric Irivuzumgabe and Tracey D. Lawrence (Baker Books, 2010).

Children in Prayer-Part 4

Rashid excitedly follows his father and uncles to the mosque. He has joined in prayer with the men before, but this time is different. He’s finally old enough to participate fully in the fast of Ramadan, the most holy month on the Muslim calendar. As his stomach growls in protest, Rashid realizes it has been hours since his predawn meal. His stomach will just have to wait until sunset, the time he will enjoy a meal with his family. But it is worth it. Rashid remembers his father’s words: “Fasting is an expression of our faith, a form of worship, and a way to please Allah.” Entering the cool interior of the mosque with the others, Rashid imagines other Muslim boys all around the world. Like him, they are observing the fast, going to the mosque in their town, and seeking to please Allah.

Robert is getting ready for bed. Earlier at dinner, his mom and dad read a page about Indonesia from the Just for Kids: 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World booklet. His parents have also been explaining the basics about Ramadan. Robert thinks about Muslim boys and girls in Indonesia who do not understand that Jesus is God’s son. Instead of trusting in Jesus to forgive sin and bring them back into a relationship with God, they are taught to please God by doing good things– like not eating or drinking during the daytime for a whole month. Robert closes his eyes and begins to pray for children like Rashid. “God, please help kids in Indonesia to know you love them. Help them understand that Jesus died on the cross to remove  their sin.”

RAMADAN IS AUG. 1-30. JOIN BELIEVERS AROUND THE WORLD IN PRAYER FOR THE MUSLIM WORLD.

Children in Prayer-Part 3

When I was really little, I used to hang out in the garage. One item that always intrigued me was my dad’s can of Turtle Wax.  At that time, the label showed a turtle holding a can of turtle wax that had a small label of a turtle holding a can of Turtle Wax. My brain hurt from imagining how small the turtles would get if this just kept going and going.

So what does Turtle Wax have to do with children in prayer? If we introduce children to prayer warriors through stories and they take us seriously, our children will become models of prayer for others, who will become models of prayer for others. Here’s a true story of a young girl whose prayers reflect those modeled by adults around her, adults whose prayers reflect those of an earlier model, George Mueller. This is a fun story to tell and act out right before a family meal or class snack when everyone is already seated.

Children in Prayer-Part 2

Last spring, I was discouraged by a boy’s comment made during a Sunday School lesson I was teaching on Jesus’ power to heal. “God doesn’t still do things like that today” he blurted out to the group of 1st-4th graders.  This caused a flurry of other responses ending with, “Yeah, I don’t think that Jesus is as powerful today as he used to be.” I rallied with a Biblical response, but was not sure the group was buying it.

I realize it’s difficult for grade-school children to make the shift from how God worked thousands of years ago to how God works today. This got me thinking. If they really don’t see God for who he is, do children have any foundation for believing that their prayers make a difference? How can we as teachers assist? After that lesson, I made two decisions: 1) to share more of the daily miracles God works in my life with my students and 2) to find and share modern-day examples of God at work through the prayers of children. On my hunt for models of children in prayer, I found this gem: Albanian children intercede for the sick in their community during a period where it was against the law to believe in God, much less talk to him. Please share this story with those wide-eyed, wheels always turning, children in your sphere of influence.

Children in Prayer-Part 1

Ramadan, the Muslim month of prayer and fasting, is August 1-30 this year. Check out this prayer guide that can help your children pray for their peers in the Muslim world: Just for Kids: 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World.  But let’s take a step back. Do your kids really believe their prayers make a difference? They can see God heal a scrape on their leg or provide a job for their dad, but seeing a Muslim child in a different country begin to follow Jesus — that’s not quite as concrete. It’s up to us as teachers and parents to provide the concrete. As you invite your children to intercede for kids around the world, encourage them with plenty of examples of how God answers when boys and girls talk to him about what’s already on his heart. During the month of July, I’ll provide you with some stories you can use with your class. Here’s the first one: Hope Smith, age 9, intercedes for Mongolia.

Books and Movies List Update

Just updated the children at risk suggested movies and books on our Red Card Kids website. Recent books include: 1. Do Something! A Handbook for Young Advocates, 2. Not In My Town Exposing and Ending Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, and 3. Orphanology: Awakening to Gospel-Centered Adoption and Orphan Care. The movie Life, Above All is scheduled for release in the United States on July 15.

The Good News Story

Summer is here and church lawns are decorated with colorful signs announcing Vacation Bible School. I attended VBS as a child and have served as a teacher for many years. Not only is the gospel message presented in an intentional way, but children are invited to receive Jesus as their savior. I’ve heard many stories of kids, churched and unchurched alike, accepting Jesus at VBS. My church celebrates these decisions by giving children a certificate and Bible.

But what happens between the gospel presentation and the certificate? When a child expresses interest in following Jesus, he or she is often sent to speak individually with a volunteer who can answer questions, share Bible verses, and pray with that child. Many volunteers feel ill-equipped to lead a child to Christ. Here’s a tool I just found that can help. The Good News Story is a 16-page booklet for children with seven Bible stories that focus on the gospel. It’s easy for kids to read with great illustrations. There’s even a “steps-to-salvation” chart with specific Bible verses. Comes in a set of 10 booklets.

Read to Feed

Recently, I toured Heifer Project’s working farm in Arkansas. Originally, donated farm animals were kept there until they could be shipped overseas to poor families. The practice of shipping animals proved too costly so these days animals are purchased in the same area where the needy families live. The farm is now used for teaching. Thousands of children come on field trips to learn about the connection between farm animals and helping families to break free from the cycle of poverty.

I learned the 7 m’s, an easy way to remember what animals provide: meat, milk, materials, muscle, manure, money, and motivation. I also learned about a great program called Read to Feed ®. It gives kids the opportunity to combine leisure reading with helping hungry families around the world. We’ve featured it as our June/July Take a Stand opportunity.

Here are some books kids could read during the program to help them learn more about poverty and hunger-related issues:

Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier

Cups Held Out by Judith L. Roth

Faith the Cow by Susan Bame Hoover

Give a Goat by Jan West Schrock

The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough by Katie Smith Milway

Kids Against Hunger by Jon Mikkelsen

A Kid’s Guide to Hunger and Homelessness: How to Take Action by Cathryn Berger Kaye

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway

This Child, Every Child by David J. Smith

At the end of the Read to Feed program, I’d plan a way for your kids to CELEBRATE! Invite parents to take part as well. Here are a few ideas.

• Visit a local farm or the petting area of the zoo to experience farm animals up close and personal.

• Attend a demonstration of sheep shearing, spinning wool, milking cows, making butter, etc. Check for these kinds of programs at local historical museums.

• Have kids make animal masks and have each “animal” explain what materials they provide for people.

Global Day of Prayer

June 12 is the Global Day of Prayer. Believers worldwide are joining together to intercede for the nations. You can involve the children in your family, class, or club. Show them the Children in Prayer video that demonstrates ways that kids around the world are actively interceding for their families, communities, nations, and the peoples of the world. Download the free children’s 10-day Prayer Guide. It includes topics like poverty, disabilities, orphans, war zones, and children who have not heard the gospel. Each day is divided into four main sections:

1. Praying for children of the world – a different subject each day, based on the Lord’s Prayer, with ideas of how to pray

2. Thanking God – for His promises about the topic, for blessings we have

3. Journaling/Personal Prayer – reading a Bible verse, responding, listening to God

4. Prayer Activity – follow-up activity that helps kids personalize the day’s topic

Mission Websites for Kids

My church just finished our annual mission emphasis events. This year’s theme was “imissions” and teaching focused on how missionaries use technology to advance the gospel. I work with the 1st-4th graders throughout the year to keep missions in the forefront of their minds and hearts.  Because kids are so computer savvy (and because our large-group teaching space was finally wired for the internet!), we chose to focus on mission websites for children. We introduced them to six websites that help them learn about other cultures and provide ways for them to pray for their peers who have not heard about Jesus. We also showed them the “Today” video described below. Here’s the meat of the parent letter we sent home.

Caravan Friends website on peoples of South Asia from the International Mission Board. Includes many cultural and prayer activities for peoples of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,  Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Plenty of stories, cultural activities, and prayer requests.

Quest for Compassion website on poverty from Compassion International. Kids design their own travel buddy and can visit the countries of Bangladesh, Brazil, El Salvador, and Ghana.

DiscipleZone is the online portion of DiscipleLand Curriculum. Use the dials to choose Grade 1, Quarter A, and Lesson 1. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the WorldWatch icon. You will see Part 1 of a 12-part continuing story on an unreached people group. Go back and click on Lesson 2 to see the second part of the story. Four stories (one for each quarter) are provided for each grade level. That’s 24 people groups to learn about and pray for.

SIM Kids website on missions in South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru); Africa (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria); and Asia (China, India Pakistan, and Philippines). Loads of stories, activities, and prayer requests.

Sonlight Curriculum has an online section called “My Passport to India” with video clips, family devotions, crafts, games, and recipes. Travel with Chris to India through short video segments. Then do related activities. Includes family devotions and prayer requests.

Stand4Kids website has a fun way to pray for unreached kids and children at risk around the world. Includes photos of children and prayer requests, one for every day of the month.

“Today” is a 4-minute video that will inspire you. It’s the story of God’s heart for children, challenges that children face today, and how children who trust Jesus are serving in God’s kingdom. I highly recommend this for anyone serving in children’s ministry.

Red Hand Day

According to the UN Convention of Children Rights, recruiting and using children under 18 as soldiers has been illegal since February 12, 2002. Nine years later, many countries have yet to ratify the treaty. Others do not enforce it. On February 12, children and youth around the world will stand against the recruitment and use of child soldiers by being part of the Red Hand Campaign. Human Rights Watch offers a free, downloadable resource pack that has examples of what many groups have done to commemorate Red Hand Day. For more information about child soldiers, click here and scroll down to the section on Children of War.

How To Participate In Red Hand Day:
1. Use red paint to make a hand print on a sheet of paper, and add a personal message about your desire to end the use of child soldiers. Organize others at your school or in your community to do the same.

2. Deliver your red hands to your local government representatives and ask them to work on behalf of child soldiers or send your red hands to the United Nations missions in New York of the countries that have not yet ratified the optional protocol that sets age 18 as the minimum age for serving in armed conflicts. Include a message urging them to do so as soon as possible. For a sample message and list of addresses, click here.

3. Upload photos or videos of your event here.

4. Pray for children who are living through the horrors of war. (See Day 29)

Fair Trade and Child Labor

Fair trade could help millions of children just like these two:

I’m 7 years old and I work on a coffee plantation in Kenya. I have to reach up high to pick the ripe, red beans off of the coffee plants. To keep away bugs, the farmer sprayed the coffee plants with poisonous pesticides. About four million Kenyan children just like me are forced to work in hard, dangerous jobs.

I’m 10 years old and I live in Texas. I work on a farm to help my family earn money. One of my jobs is picking onions. I don’t go to school very much during planting or fall harvest. About 500,000 kids in the United States work on farms for little pay. Many of us miss months of school each year.

Workers on Fair Trade farms enjoy safe working conditions. Forced child labor is strictly prohibited. Because workers are paid a fair, above-market price for their goods, they earn a living that enables them to take care of their family. This diminishes the need for their children to work. Fair trade eliminates the middleman so more of each dollar spent on products goes back into the pockets of the farmers and workers who actually produced the goods. Some of this money is reinvested in community development projects like schools. Education helps prevent the cycle of poverty that is closely connected with child labor. To find Fair Trade Certified™ products in the stores you frequent, click here.

Children’s Ministry Day

Each February, thousands of boys and girls in grades 1-6 participate in hands-on ministry projects in their own community on the same day — Children’s Ministry Day®. This year’s event is on February 19!  From feeding hungry people to visiting shut-ins, children across America follow God’s command to “put your love into action” (1 John 3:18). The theme of this year’s fourth annual event is Neighbor to Neighbor, based on Leviticus 19:18c, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” WMU (Women’s Missionary Union) provides creative ideas that help groups develop and tailor projects to meet the needs in their own communities. Although WMU is an auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention, the suggested activities are generic enough to be used by other churches, Christian schools, homeschooling groups, and families.

WMU offers some free resources to help you promote your event as well as an inexpensive booklet with ministry ideas, parent letters, decorating ideas for classrooms, children’s sermons and skits, and learning activities.  Need more ministry ideas? Check out what other groups have done.

Kids’ Missions Skits book

Looking for a creative way to help your church understand God’s heart for the nations and the state of missions today? Do I have the book for you. The Kids’ Mission Skits book has 20 highly motivational dramas that can be presented to children or adult audiences. This book has been updated to reflect current mission statistics and now comes in downloadable format. 14 creative and fun skits on mission topics are suitable for children and youth to perform. They include a children’s version of the worldview demonstration.

The skit book also contains six historical narratives of these famous missionaries – Gladys Aylward, Elisabeth Elliot, Eric Liddell, David Livingstone/Florence Nightingale, Harriet Tubman, and William Tyndale. These monologues are perfect for high school youth (or adults) to perform for children. Some churches have built time machines and had different missionaries emerge in costume to perform their monologue.

Drama is a great way to add ongoing missions education into your church’s mid-week programming or weekend classes. This book is also perfect for mission conferences! You can see the table of contents or sample skits here.

Pray for China Calendar

If you don’t have a 2011 calendar yet, (I always wait to buy mine after New Year’s when they’re half off) here’s one to consider, especially if you have a heart for the people of China. This year’s Intercessors for China wall calendar has the theme “Children and the Fight for Joy.” There are adorable photos of children and a prayer item for every day of the year. Main topics include God’s glory, family, church, workplace, government, poor and outcasts, and children. All the Saturdays have requests for boys and girls in different regions! You can see sample pages here. If you order the calendar, make sure to select the language you want – it comes in both Chinese and English.

4 Global Prayer Resources for Kids

With the launch of the new edition of Operation World, adults can join a 60-day prayer movement to intercede for the nations and ask God to fill the earth with his glory. What about the kids? Here are some great resources to get children involved in praying for their peers around of the world, especially those who have little access to the gospel. The first two use the THUMB acrostic.

T is for Tribal
H is for Hindu
U is for Unreligious (or atheist)
M is for Muslim
B is for Buddhist

1)    Kids Prayer Cards: 25 colorful cards with a carabiner clip highlight children from 22 different people groups. Three activity cards give your kids directions for painting tribal art, making an Indian snack, and meeting and making friends with internationals in their own neighborhood. For ages 7-10. Get more details and see a sample card here.

2)    THUMB Coloring Book: Black-line drawings of 25 children in unreached cultures. Includes suggestions for using the coloring book, important facts about other belief systems, focused prayer points, and a world map indicating where each people group lives. For ages 5-10.

3)    Window on the World: This 220-page book uses an A-Z format  to teach children about countries and people groups. Each 2-page spread includes a map, information on the people, and prayer points. Now in paperback. For elementary ages, but some have used this book effectively with middle schoolers as well.

4)    Free resource: The pray page on the Stand4kids website features a month’s worth of photos of children around the world, each with a prayer request.

Book on St. Nicholas

Jolly Old St. Nicholas — did he really smoke a pipe and have a stomach that shook like a bowlful of jelly? Voice of the Martyrs produced a 40-page storybook that  teaches kids about Nicholas of Myra, the real man behind the legend of Santa Claus: The Story of St. Nicholas: More Than Reindeer and a Red Suit by Cheryl Odden (On Pointe, 2007). Living at the time when the Romans ruled the world, Nicholas refused to bow the knee to anyone but Jesus, the Son of God. This move landed him in prison. Later in his life, Nicholas endured persecution from church leaders when he took a stand against a false doctrine. Nicholas is a wonderful example of someone who stood strong in his faith in the midst of opposition and served others with a generous, giving spirit. The Story of St. Nicholas is appropriate for children ages 5-10. Younger children will love the beautiful illustrations. For older children, the content lends itself to a discussion about the true meaning of Christmas and how we live that out in our daily lives. It’s not just about the guy who brings the toys. Available from Voice of the Martyrs or Amazon.com.

Book Review: The Good Garden

Many children in the world, including the United States, do not have enough of the right kinds of foods to develop and grow in a healthy manner. I found a great book that introduces grade-school children to the issue of food security: The Good Garden: How One Family Went From Hunger to Having Enough by Katie Smith Milway, (Kids Can Press, 2010). Set in Honduras, this is the true story of a girl who’s put in charge of her family garden. Maria learns sustainable farming practices that yield good crops and help her family begin the journey to financial independence. Available from Kids Can Press or Amazon.com.

The Good Garden created an interactive website for children to explore after they’ve read the book.  The website includes interactive games related to the story, a video of the real Maria, and lesson ideas for educators. Check out the project suggestion to engage groups of children in helping local families go from hunger to having enough.

I’ve also added an activity with children called “Who’s Got the Cookies?” It helps them understand that hunger is not so much an issue of lack of food, but of unequal food distribution. Afterwards, we discuss reasons that food is not getting to people who need it, using examples from current events.

Pray for Children in Burma

Burma (Myanmar) is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. In 2008, a cyclone wiped out villages, destroyed crops, and devastated farmland. Millions of people were left homeless and without a reliable source of food or water.  Now, in an effort to squelch opposition to the current government, the Burmese military is carrying out brutal attacks against its own people.  Recent election results do not reflect a move towards democracy. What does all this mean for the upcoming generation? As often happens in times of upheaval, children are hit the hardest. Thousands of boys and girls have become orphans. Some have seen soldiers torture or kill their parents right in front of them. Looking for a safe place to escape the fighting, many children have fled across the border to refugee camps in Thailand. On their journey, young people must avoid landmines and troops. If captured by military patrols, children are forced to serve as soldiers. Sex trafficking is a danger for girls. Even when children reach the refugee camps, they are not safe. Food is scarce and disease spread rapidly in the crowded conditions. Sometimes Burmese soldiers sneak across the Thai border and poison the camp water supply.

Where can the children of Burma turn? Most raised in families that worship false gods who cannot hear their cries for help or provide for their needs. Those living in Christian families seem to be targeted by the military. To find out more about the situation for believers, click here.

The children of Burma need the love, provision, and comfort of their heavenly father. The number one thing you can do for them is pray. Download a free 30-day prayer guide from Vision for Burma.

Book Review: Take Your Best Shot

At a conference last year, I met Austin Gutwein, a 15-year-old with a God-sized passion and vision for AIDS orphans in Africa. The amazing thing was that God had birthed this vision when Austin was only nine! Take Your Best Shot: Do Something Bigger Than Yourself details his journey. While watching a World Vision video about Maggie, an AIDS orphan in Zambia, Austin realized she wasn’t any different from him except she was suffering. Austin felt God calling him to help orphans like Maggie using something he loved – basketball. On World AIDS Day in 2004, he shot 2,057 free throws, one basket for every child who would be orphaned during the hours that he was in school. With friends and family sponsoring him, Austin raised $3,000. Those funds were used by World Vision to assist eight orphaned children.  But Austin didn’t stop there. He founded Hoops of Hope to inspire and mobilize other kids to act on behalf of orphans.

Take Your Best Shot reinforces the idea that God uses young people, even children, in his kingdom. The book is perfect for tweens and teens who are seeking to serve in ways that express their passion and utilize the gifts God has give them. Each chapter closes with a scripture passage, questions, online experience, and a take action activity. Written by Austin Gutwein with Todd Hillard (Thomas Nelson, 2009), the book is available from Thomas Nelson or Amazon.com.