"I Have A Dream"

There are very few people who have had as profound an affect on their culture as Martin Luther King, Jr. I became a student of King's life as I began my ministry some 30 years ago. While he was a flawed human being, he was also a powerful leader. His courage and his dynamic speaking ability shaped the future of a nation. He was able to inspire people, to influence those in power and to turn the tide of public opinion. His commitment to non-violence earned him the respect of friend and foe alike.

On this Martin Luther King Day I wanted to return to his shining moment, his "I Have a Dream" sppech in Washington, D.C. from August 28, 1963. I hope that you'll take the time to watch it and ask yourself, what are you doing to make the world a better place.



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Deserved Praise

Unsung Heroes - Sandra Tineo

I've decided to do a few blogs on unsung heroes. We live in a hard world, but there are some people who unselfishly and sacrificially give of themselves to make the world a better place. One of those people is Sandra Tineo.

Sandra was born and raised in a slum of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, called Aguas Negras. Translated into English, it literally means "Black Water," and is named for the sludge that often runs through the streets, and often the homes of this poor community. I got to meet Sandra a few years ago when I was on a fact-finding mission for our church.

Like many others who meet Sandra, I was left with a lasting impression of a woman who loves her people and has a red-hot commitment to improve their lives. She told me that her activism started innocently enough; she asked her pastor, in a better part of town, to start a satellite church in Aguas Negras, because she believed in the power of the local church. When he said "no" she was devastated. But as she continued to pray, she felt God telling her that it was she who was supposed to begin this work - this was her calling.

That was her first venture into community transformation. Since that time Sandra has started a school, and organized health workshops and medical clinics. Sandra is an unassuming woman, simply looking to meet the needs of the people as she sees them. She has stumbled into a holistic approach to community development. Recognizing the need for jobs, she started a cottage sewing industry for some of the ladies. Seeing the need for greater communication, she opened a room with computers with internet capability for the locals.

Growing up in this neighborhood, right at the mouth of the San Carlos River and below the cities sewage lagoons, she had first-hand experience with sewer water running through the streets and even the homes of many in the community. She began to seek out partnerships to build better homes that were built above the flood levels, or often simply to raise the floor level three feet and do necessary repairs.

Touring through the neighborhood with Sandra it's clear how much she is loved. In the streets and in every home she is greeted with a smile; children call out her name. Recognizing her gifts, at least one North American Church has offered to put her on their staff and continue to allow her to work among her people. In typical Sandra fashion she declined because, in her eyes, it would have put her above the people she served.

So she continues to work where she grew up, helping where she can. When someone needs medical care, she will try to connect them with an agency or a donor that can assist. When a crisis arises, Sandra meets it with the faith that has allowed her to build a thriving ministry in a slum. She has been called the Mother Teresa of Puerto Plata for obvious reasons. Their motivation was/is to serve Jesus Christ through serving the "least of these." A true unsung hero - Sandra Tineo.

Deserved Praise

"Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." (Isaiah 1:17)

I came across a natural follow-up on the last few blogs with the latest recipient of the Wilberforce Forum Award. Each year since 1989 Prison Fellowship has given the William Wilberforce Award to that one person who has made a substantial difference in the face of formidable societal problems.

The winner this year is a man of whom most people would likely never have heard. His name is Gary Haugen, founder of the International Justice Mission and champion of the ongoing struggle to end human trafficking.

Like Wilberforce, Haugen found himself face-to-face with an issue from which he could not retreat. In 1994 he was on temporary reassignment from the U.S. Department of Justice working with the United Nations genocide investigation in Rwanda. The horrific scenes which he visited as he collected evidence would not allow him to return to normal life. The more he read his Bible, the more verses like the one above would speak to him. He decided he had to act.

He surveyed more than sixty-five organizations representing some 40,000 overseas missionaries and relief workers and Haugen found numerous examples of modern-day injustices for which there seemed to be no remedy. Issues like child prostitution, the murder of street children, persecution, etc... abounded, yet those who were aware of the problem lacked the resources or the power to affect change.

So, in 1997 Haugen formed the International Justice Mission (IJM), a human-rights organization founded to seek justice on Christian principles. the organization includes lawyers, criminal investigators, and government relationships workers who defend and rescue victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery, and oppression around the world. Their four-fold purpose is:

• Victim Relief - Relieve the victim of the abuse currently being committed.
  
• Perpetrator Accountability - Bring accountability and just consequences under the law to the specific perpetrator(s) of abuse.
  
• Structural Prevention - Prevent the abuse from being committed against others who are also at risk by strengthening community factors that are likely to deter potential oppressors, reduce the vulnerability of at-risk populations and empower local authorities to stop such abuses.
  
• Victim Aftercare - Provide access to services to help victims transition to their new lives and to encourage long-term success.

Haugen is an author of two books: Terrify No More and Good News about Injustice. The advice is not to read them unless you're prepared to do something with what you learn. You will be changed.

Congratulations to Gary Haugen. I hope we hear a lot about the success of his organization. they're helping to make the world a better place.

Heroes

Wesley Autrey was simply waiting for the train with his two daughters. He wasn't planning on risking his life, he just reacted. A young man nearby began to have a seizure and staggered backwards, falling onto the tracks of the New York subway. Death appeared certain, as a train was already coming out of the tunnel and into the station.

What happened next shocked a city. Wesley, a construction worker and navy veteran, leapt onto the tracks, situated the man between the two rails and flattened himself down on top of him. The train cleared them by less than an inch. the young man is recovering in hospital and Wesley is trying to get used to his new found fame. You can watch a video of an interview with him by clicking on this link.

Understandably, Autrey is being hailed as a hero for his actions. We hear stories like this and we hope that, if placed in that situation, we would do the same thing. But, the question is, what makes us, as human beings, applaud actions such as these? This is obviously a worldview question.

Stark materialism can't provide a satisfactory answer for it. Neo-Darwinists call acts like this the result of "enlightened" selfishness. So, a Neo-Darwinist would say that parents care for their children and family as a way of guaranteeing that their "selfish genes" get passed on to the next generation. But, even if this explanation were reasonable, it certainly doesn't explain why someone would jump in front of a train to save a stranger.

In a worldview in which meaning is limited only to this earthly existence, self-sacrifice in acts of heroism are actually the peak of stupidity. What possible selfish purpose would it serve for someone to lay down their life for another if that would end their opportunity to perpetuate themselves.

On the other hand, for a person with a Biblical worldview, this type of act makes complete sense. Jesus said that "Greater love has no-one than this, that a man lay down his life for a friend."

Since this life is a pre-cursor to an eternal life with God, and since each human being was created in God's image, heroic acts like this are to be admired. It's hard to deny that we know this intuitively. That's why we all look up to heroes!