Continued blessings at ROCK THE DESERT

The latest installment of God's favor upon the Artist program occurred last weekend at Rock the Desert (RTD), the eighth annual Christian-music festival in Midland, Texas. Unlike last year’s RTD, characterized by tornadoes, lightning, tarantulas and locusts, not a cloud was in the sky this time, and our goal of finding 200 sponsors for children was exceeded!

We left the ground late Saturday night with 206 sponsorships and expect more to trickle in over the next few weeks.

Most children sponsored at RTD live in Piswa, Uganda, a community riddled by AIDS and extreme poverty. Still, the Christian Church in Piswa is very involved with Food for the Hungry and has dedicated itself to working toward total community transformation -- physically and spiritually.

These new sponsorships mean crucial programs will continue and expand, and each child will know he or she is loved and cared for by someone thousands of miles away, someone who once was a stranger.

Ben Homan, Kanakuk Kamps President Joe White, and Willet front man, Jeremy, spoke on behalf of the children, and God massaged many hearts into making the decision to sponsor.

We also are thankful to Doug and Marcy Tull and Mike Goeke for their dedication, prayers and hard work!

Our team was surprised to find that many of the sponsors (if not the majority) from last weekend’s festival were young people – under age 30 or so. I saw several groups of 2-4 teens who joined forces to sponsor a child, and this age group seemed particularly interested in working toward something bigger than themselves. Praise God for unexpected conversations about AIDS around the world, about mobilizing church youth groups, about internships and Go ED., about short-term teams, and so on.

This was very encouraging to me, as it showed me that representing FH at music festivals goes far beyond sponsoring children. And it showed me that young people today are able to see past the lies of happiness through materialism... they are willing to 'put their money where their mouth is' and show Christ's love through actions and in truth.

So let's celebrate that more than 200 children will have a meaningful relationship with a caring sponsor while benefiting from the child-sponsorship program! Please pray for these children and for their sponsors. The LaRocque family, advocates who volunteered with us at RTD, first got involved by sponsoring a girl in Bangladesh. Pray that child sponsorship would be only the beginning for our new sponsors.

Also, please pray for God’s continued favor and protection as the Artist Program works three more music festivals between now and the beginning of September. We are hoping for safe travels, good weather and hundreds of sponsors.

To become a part of God's transformative work around the world, sponsor a child at www.fh.org/artists.

Thanks for reading!
-mary e.