They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky

This is the book that I am currently reading. It is the true story of three boys from Sudan who share their stories of the things they went through in the Civil War Torn Southern Sudan.

I will post a review as soon as I complete the book but I can tell you up front that it is worth reading. Be warned that you will never be the same after reading it!

Ronnie

Support from a friend for The Children of Sudan

I received this late last night from a friend who wants to support the children of Sudan and have some fun with it at the same time. I will admit that it would take a Miracle of Water to Wine proportions in order for me to do a Marathon in 2 hours and 5 minutes but it is worth praying for.

My best time in a Marathon to date is 4 hours and 15 minutes and that was the first one I did, All the ones after that became longer. I am honestly training for a 4 hour Marathon in November,

Ronnie

I would like to donate. I am going to have fun with it and base my donation upon your performance in the race. In the full marathon, here is the chart I will use:
If you run in less than: I will donate:
Hours Minutes Donation
6 30 $5.00
6 25 $6.00
6 20 $7.00
6 15 $8.00
6 10 $9.00
6 5 $10.00
6 0 $12.00
5 55 $13.00
5 50 $14.00
5 45 $15.00
5 40 $16.00
5 35 $17.00
5 30 $18.00
5 25 $19.00
5 20 $20.00
5 15 $21.00
5 10 $22.00
5 5 $23.00
5 0 $25.00
4 55 $27.00
4 50 $29.00
4 45 $31.00
4 40 $33.00
4 35 $35.00
4 30 $37.00
4 25 $40.00
4 20 $42.00
4 15 $44.00
4 10 $46.00
4 5 $48.00
4 0 $50.00
3 55 $60.00
3 50 $65.00
3 45 $70.00
3 40 $75.00
3 35 $80.00
3 30 $85.00
3 25 $90.00
3 20 $95.00
3 15 $100.00
3 10 $125.00
3 5 $150.00
3 0 $200.00
2 55 $205.00
2 50 $300.00
2 45 $400.00
2 40 $500.00
2 35 $800.00
2 30 $1,200.00
2 25 $3,000.00
2 20 $5,000.00
2 15 $6,000.00
2 10 $7,500.00
2 5 $10,000.00

So, if you break 6 hours, I will donate $12. If you break 5 hours, I will donate $25, and so forth. Thus, if you break Haile Gebreselassie’s world record, I will donate $10000. 🙂
This should make it interesting for you! Maybe you can get some others to donate similarly as well!

Good luck and have a great race! You will be in my prayers!

This is what motivated me to Run for The Children of Sudan

Get a Copy, Read it, and your life will be changed!

Ronnie

Running for the Children of Sudan

After reading an inspiring book “Take Your Best Shot” and coupling that with the Biblical mandate to help those who are in need. I have decided to run the Atlanta Thanksgiving Day Marathon to raise support for the children of Sudan.

Why not do something you love and help others at the same time?

Our Holston Conference of The United Methodist Church has partnered with Southern Sudan to help with the needs there and there is a possibility that I could travel there on a mission trip in the future. In the mean time I want to do something to help the children.

Here is how it will work. I will travel to Atlanta in November and run the 26.2 mile Marathon on Thanksgiving Day in honor of and support of The Children of Sudan Africa, “Hope for the Children”. By the way I will also run in honor of our great friend Ona Smith. Ona ran in this race several times before going to be with our Lord earlier this year.

Every gift that is given will go to support the children of Sudan, “Hope for the Children”. I will personally pay all of the expenses of entering the race as well as transportation to and from Atlanta.

There are several ways that you can support.

# 1 is in your prayers

Donate $1 for every mile = 26 dollars

Donate $5 for every mile = 130 dollars

Donate $10 for every mile = 260 dollars

Donate $20 for every mile = 520 dollars

Donate $100 for every mile = 2600 dollars

or simply Donate Any $ Amount

Special Opportunity – You could join me in the run and help raise money for the Children!

My goal is simply to raise as much money as possible and have fun doing it. I am inviting people (Runners) who would like to help raise money for the children of Sudan to join me in the run. You can sign up to run at http://www.atlantatrackclub.org

Make your checks payable to: The Holston Conference of The United Methodist Church or The Holston UMC

Designate your Check “Hope for the Children of Sudan”

Mail to: Ronnie G Collins, PO Box 356, Hillsville Virginia 24343

I will compile the checks and get them to Holston Conference on behalf of the children. You will receive a letter from me to signify when the gift is received.

I am excited to see just what Miracle the Lord will do.

Ronnie

Hope for the
Children of Sudan

Here‘s what is happening…

In the past two decades, more than 2 million people have lost their lives through violence, disease and starvation in southern Sudan due to a North vs. South civil war.

In Western Sudan, in the Darfur region, the Coalition for International Justice released a report in April, 2005 stating that approximately 400,000 men, women and children had been killed due to genocide in the region.

Years of food shortage, displaced children/families, and disease have forced millions (35 million+) to live in crowded refugee camps. Thousands have died and continue to die, needlessly.

This is Sudan, a country in crisis.

A Story from the Bible

Matthew 25:35-40

³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Hope for the Children of Sudan

Here‘s what is happening…

In the past two decades, more than 2 million people have lost their lives through violence, disease and starvation in southern Sudan due to a North vs. South civil war.

In Western Sudan, in the Darfur region, the Coalition for International Justice released a report in April, 2005 stating that approximately 400,000 men, women and children had been killed due to genocide in the region.

Years of food shortage, displaced children/families, and disease have forced millions (35 million+) to live in crowded refugee camps. Thousands have died and continue to die, needlessly.

This is Sudan, a country in crisis.

A Story from the Bible

Matthew 25:35-40

³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Introducing the Holston Conference – Southern Sudan Pertnership

United Methodists unite to send help to Sudan

Bishops Daniel Wandabula (left) and James Swanson sign covenant papers affirming the partnership between The United Methodist Church’s East Africa Conference and the Holston Annual (regional) Conference. UMNS photos by Annette Spence.

By Annette Spence*
June 26, 2008

Angelo Maker, one of the “lost boys” of Sudan, recalls how his mother and brothers were fatally shot when he was seven years old.

United Methodists from five annual (regional) conferences attended a summit to discuss sending urgent help to the suffering people of Sudan.

Days after the Holston Annual Conference overshot a goal to raise $125,000 for southern Sudan, a gathering was held to connect other United Methodists who want to serve in the same region.

The Sudan Summit also included two bishops, two Sudanese Lost Boys, and two staff members of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). The gathering was held June 20-21 in Lake Junaluska, N.C., immediately following Connect, a Southeastern Jurisdiction meeting of United Methodist Volunteers in Mission.

The Holston Conference organized the June summit after signing a covenant with the East Africa Annual (regional) Conference in February. The covenant includes plans for a new school and clinic, scholarship assistance, leadership development, mission teams and a missionary superintendent in Yei, Sudan.

Since June 11, the 906 churches of Holston Conference have raised $185,934 for Sudan, surpassing a 2008 goal of $125,000, and advancing toward a total $250,000 goal to be achieved by June 2009.

During the summit, Bishop Daniel Wandabula, resident bishop of the East Africa Annual Conference, spoke of how the money will be used. He also addressed the challenges of poverty, hunger, and underdevelopment in a region ravaged by 50 years of civil war.

“What we saw there was unacceptable,” Wandabula said of southern Sudan, which he oversees along with the rest of Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya. He thanked the Holston Conference for its partnership and for “opening the doors for more partners to come in.”

Forty summit participants shared information about other ministries in Africa, while considering Holston’s invitation to join one of six mission trips to Sudan within the next nine months.

The Rev. Buford Hankins and his wife, the Rev. Phyllis Hankins, will train local pastors and coordinate mission teams.

The Rev. Bradford Hunt of the North Central New York Annual (regional) Conference told of a community health care ministry organized by his church in Bor, Sudan. Southern Sudan Health Projects is an initiative of nine congregations and 15 Lost Boys who aim to empower local leaders in southern Sudan to address their own health needs. Hunt is pastor at Andrews Memorial United Methodist Church in North Syracuse, N.Y.

The Rev. Laverne Larson of the Wisconsin Conference spoke of traveling to Mbale, Uganda, each year since 2003 to train a class of 60 to 80 pastors. In 2009, her first class will graduate, after completing a curriculum based on the United Methodist Course of Study. Larson left the summit with a commitment to help the Holston Conference modify the curriculum for pastors in Yei, Sudan.

“I’m so appreciative that The United Methodist Church is finally doing something,” Larson said. “To see how people are addressing this – there’s so much cohesiveness, you can hear that God is really in this ministry.” Larson is pastor of Viola and North Clayton United Methodist churches in Viroqua, Wis.

Members of the North Alabama and South Carolina Conferences came on fact-finding expeditions for their local churches and conferences. Ann Forgey of First United Methodist Church of Huntsville, Ala., left with a “sense of urgency to help these wonderful people [in Sudan].” Suzanne Jones attended the summit after leading her church, Trinity United Methodist in York, S.C., to raise $3,500 to help dig a well in Yei.

From the Virginia Conference, former Lost Boy Angelo Maker shared his testimony with an emotional audience, recalling how his mother and two brothers were fatally shot when he was seven years old and living in Rumbek, Sudan.

Maker, 28, and Ochan Hannington, 23, also provided information about southern Sudan’s rainy season and culture as participants planned future mission trips. Hannington is from Yei, Sudan, and is currently working at Holston’s Camp Wesley Woods near Townsend, Tenn. Maker is a member at Williamsburg United Methodist Church, near his current home in Newport News, Va.

“I was aware that Holston Conference was doing some work in southern Sudan, but not to level that I learned of this weekend,” Maker said. “I wanted to offer my support and also do what I could to give them my insight.”

Others providing hands-on information included Alberta McKnight and Sam Dixon of UMCOR, and Paul Turner, a former Holston native who has lived in South Africa and now works as a conflict prevention officer for the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.

McKnight and Dixon answered questions related to UMCOR’s assistance with building a school in Yei. Turner agreed to help Holston develop communications and management structures to coordinate mission trips and participation of other United Methodist groups.

“There is a real need to align The United Methodist Church in the U.S. and its desire to help the strategic plan of the East Africa Conference – to determine the best way to channel the passions exhibited at the summit,” Turner said.

Representing Holston Conference, Bishop James Swanson announced that the Rev. Buford Hankins will be appointed to serve as Yei District superintendent in June 2009. Hankins and his wife, the Rev. Phyllis Hankins, will train local pastors and coordinate mission teams for a minimum of two years.

Phyllis Hankins echoed other Holston members when she spoke of feeling “overwhelmed” at the growing enormity of the ministry in south Sudan.

“But hearing from these other people made me realize that all of this is not resting on our four shoulders,” she said, motioning toward her husband. “It’s a big relief to see these other conferences are already doing some things in Sudan and Uganda.”

Some participants expressed concern that most of Holston’s work is currently based in Yei and does not yet benefit more of southern Sudan. However, Wandabula encouraged the group to stay focused on Yei.

“We are open to extending our ministry, but I think first we must strengthen where we are,” he said. “Let’s consolidate our efforts.”

Maker noted that even those participants not joining in the Holston effort can “take the message back” to their homes: The needs are great in southern Sudan.

“In a sense, if one location gets help, we all get help,” he said. “I believe the message will get to the people in time.”

To learn more of the East Africa Conference/Holston Conference partnership in southern Sudan, e-mail connectionalministries@holston.org.

*Spence is the editor of The Call, the newspaper of the Holston Annual Conference.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.