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Jason Holt and I visited two cities today on the coast of Chile. Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar. Between these two cities there are a little over 1 million people. This city looks a little older than Santiago in its buildings and things, but it is very clean and the people were very freindly. This city looks wide open and in need of a missionary or missionaries.

There is no way to describe this post from North Africa. You just need to read it and ask what in your life compares to this. We could be on the front edge of a major work in North Africa. Read and comment. Tell me what kind of courage this takes. Tell me if you have enough nerve to get involved in evangelism toward your friends and family when you read this. Pray for M. Read the Ramblings from North Africa.

So where do major donors come from? From grateful people.

How does it happen? The desire to give starts from the sense of gratitude. A person who knows or has been taught to be grateful for what he has becomes a giver usually because a grateful person esteems things lower than people. Possessions to a grateful person represent the generosity of God through others toward him. His things only have value with respect to their potential uses, primarily for others. A grateful person does not value himself for what he has but what he can do. A grateful person would not consider a gift or a help to someone else as anything other than the right thing to do if it were in their power. I have two and you need one is a simple equation for them. This is a learned attitude since we are basically self centered beings. It can be learned at any age but obviously the earlier the better. For a self centered or even family centered person to look outside their own self or house requires some sort of humbling, striking, or other life changing moment. It brings the realization that it is really impossible to fully control anything we have.

Here are the two things that you add to a grateful person to make him a major donor; major money and a major cause. So what is major money? Major money is the excess that begins to accumulate because he lives contently below his means. This attitude makes him not only willing but able. The second thing is a major cause. One of the things that drew me to the ministry in Peru so many years ago was the size of the need. Having been involved in Independent Baptist Missions for ten or so years by the mid 90s, I was used to seeing ministry work that required hundreds of dollars or maybe a couple thousand dollar needs. As I began to understand the work that was happening in Arequipa, I realized that this ministry was using tens of thousands of dollars. I began looking into it to find out what was going on and found myself very involved. The work, the donor and the donations have all grown since the mid-90s and continue to do so.

Summary: Three steps to becoming a major donor:

1. Develop a grateful attitude:
2. Live contently below your means:
3. Find the cause and commit to it in every way.

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You can get Austin’s Podcast and hear messages preached weekly at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta.

You have seen a bunch of material here on man’s work and stepping up. The challenge to the youth (jovenes - pronounced hovenes) in Santiago Chile last night by Austin Gardner was all about that. Are there men? Will they step up? We are at a decision point. I firmly believe that we do not have a lack of desire but a lack of nerve. The message made me want to re-up. Pray for Chile that the power of God will stir their hearts for God. Pray for the Holt family as they build a work.

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Here are some pictures from the youth congress.

Tonight at the second night of the Second Annual Youth Congress at the Faith Baptist Church in Santiago Chile our pastor preached on I Corinthians 15:10. I am what I am by the grace of God, but it was not given to me in vain. Austin preached about the gifts and talents that God has given each of us and how they need to be used to glorify Him. I could not help but think while he was preaching how great our God is and what a blessing that we have a Pastor that has given himself totally to God and His mission. It was a special night and many people responded to the preaching. Jason Holt did an incredible job leading the service. He has been greatly used here in Chile to build a church that will, no doubt be instrumental in World Evangelism

I enjoyed the special music by a group from Fe, and my daughters Kristen and Kathryn also sang.

One of the greatest blessings of visiting my friends on the mission field is to see how the whole family is serving God. Jason has a special way with his congregation and God has given him a great talent to communicate well. Not just in the language but in his personal way with them. Lori is a tireless worker and has opened her home to us and become a closer friend. She is a tremendous blessing to the church and the ladies there. Katie (who is 5) is working on being mom number 2, Joshua (who is 2)is the door keeper for the house and church and Andrew (6 months) has great singing voice.

Tomorrow, Austin will be preaching and teaching pastors in the morning for two hours.

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Sandy and I arrived in Santiago Chile this morning and are enjoying the fellowship with Jason and Lori Holt. Kristen and Kathryn are also with us. We are here for their youth congress this week. Austin Gardner will be preaching and brother Jason has a great week planned. Jason and Lori have been in Chile since 2005 and have already seen God do tremendous work through their faithfulness. I encourage you to keep up with the Holts on this blog or at www.jasonholt.wordpress.com.

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Vision Baptist Church has Bible training for career and professional people to make sense of business concepts and give them the skills to manage life and work. The Bible is the source book for every business principle and provides all the tools you need to make your career productive and prosperous. Learn the Biblical concepts and develop the character and fortitude necessary to get you up to any task, then learn why God put you there and what the real objective is.

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You have heard this from our pastor several times in the last month. It is a truth that is seldom promoted. Work draws something out of us that the creator put in.

Do not choose your life work solely for the money that you can make by it. It is a contemptible estimate of an occupation to regard it as a mere means of making a living. The Creator might have given us our bread ready-made. He might have kept us in luxurious Eden forever; but He had a grander and noble end in view when He created man, than the mere satisfaction of his animal appetites and passions. There was a divinity within man, which the luxuries of Eden could never develop. There was an inestimable blessing in that curse which drove him form the garden, and compelled him forever to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. It was not without significance that the Creator concealed our highest happiness and greatest good beneath the sternest difficulties, and made their attainment conditional upon a struggle for existence. Our motive power is always found in what we lack. Never feel above your business. All legitimate occupations are respectable.

Orisen Swett Marden - Pushing to the Front