A point of crisis, in our feeding center program

This morning, we faced a dilemma.

We can purchase meals for starving or malnourished children, for 2 cents per meal. It seems like we should have so many people jumping on board to help us with this, but in fact, that's not been the case. We struggle to pay for the food needed to feed the children currently enrolled in the program, and we have not been able to expand the program for almost 5 years, despite the fact that we have had to turn away pastors who come to us requesting food to help the children in yet another struggling village.

Currently, Honduras is experiencing a serious drought. Every day, more children are suffering from malnutrition and starvation. Pastors of churches are coming to us regularly, asking for the resources to begin feeding programs through their churches, to help their communities during this time of hardship.

This morning Allen and I were in the middle of writing an email, attempting to line up a partnership with a new food supply organization, when Russell called to tell us that, at that moment, another new pastor was at his house, requesting food assistance.

This situation was somewhat unusual. A group of fifteen pastors had pooled their resources to arrange for one of them to make the ten hour round trip to Gracias, driving a pickup truck, in the hope that we would be able to send back food for their 15 churches to feed the starving children in their needy communities. We just didn't have the heart to send that truck back empty . . . so, in faith, we have now enrolled these 15 new churches in the program.

We always attempt to make the best use of the money and other resources we receive, and we also try to be careful not to bankrupt the ministry by promising more than we are certain we can deliver. Occasionally, the question comes up: "Are we trusting God enough, in our endeavors, or are we carefully using business principles to protect ourselves and the ministry?"

Today, our actions clearly fell on the side of trusting God, even though we don't have the resources in hand to continue to feed the children we've now committed to helping. We are, of course, praying that God will supply the food which is so desperately needed! 

If you would like to pray for these pastors personally, here is a list of their names, their locations, how many children each pastor has registered to feed, and how much it will cost to purchase the food for that particular feeding center, for an entire year.  If you'd like to be a part of how God supplies this need, donation information can be found here.

 - Pastor Edgar Lopez, in El Cedro, feeding 22 children - $44 per year

 - Pastor Jose Chavez, in El Paraiso Copan, feeding 31 children - $62
 - Pastor Rene Arita, in El Paraiso Copan, feeding 131 children - $262
 - Pastor Gonzalo Contreras, in El Jardin, feeding 56 children - $112
 - Pastor Genero Contreras, in Monte Cristo, feeding 56 children - $112
 - Pastor Luis Leiva, in Pimienta, feeding 31 children - $62 per year
 - Pastor Mario Herrera, in El Naranjito, feeding 89 children - $178
 - Pastor Jesus Garcia, in El Manacal, feeding 51 children - $102 per year
 - Pastor Oscar Menocal, in Alto Colon, feeding 31 children - $62
 - Pastor Manuel Contreras, in El Limon, feeding 62 children - $124
 - Pastor Saul Palma, in La Laguna, feeding 37 children - $74 per year
 - Pastor Herminio Diaz, in Santa Cruz, feeding 36 children - $72 per year
 - Pastor Lorenzo Ramirez, in El Paraiso, feeding 24 children - $48
 - Pastor Adin Hernandez, in El Manguito, feeding 41 children - $82
 - Pastor Santos Gutierres, in El Rosario, feeding 47 children - $94

Follow this link for complete information on how to donate to the Sowers4pastors Feeding Program, and how the program works.