News February 2008

Dear Friends of Care of Creation,

Kenya forces plan changes

If you are following the news, you are aware that after a couple of weeks of declining violence things have erupted again last weekend all across Kenya. What started as a dispute over elections now appears to be all out ethnic war between various tribal groups. Roads are blocked, trucks are being burned, buses are being stopped to remove individuals of different tribal backgrounds. The effects are being felt far beyond Kenya, since the port at Mombasa supplies much of what is needed for all of East Africa. Prices in Sudan have gone up 5 fold, and there are 18,000 shipping containers stuck in Mombasa because they can’t be moved on either the railway (which has been destroyed in several places) or the roads. Brackenhurst Conference Center, where our staff live and which is the home base for our project activities, was the subject of threats one nighyt this week – though we thank God that the night passed without incident.

This has forced us to change a number of plans we had made for the month of February: A leadership team from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis has postponed their visit, possibly till sometime next Fall; Ed Brown, US Director, had planned to spend most of the month of February in Kenya – that visit is on indefinite hold until the dust settles a bit; and Jan Korbel, who has just finished raising her support to join the Kenya team, will be diverted to a language school in Tanzania for a month or two until things settle a bit in Kenya.

Continue to pray with us

For Craig and Tracy, not only for safety, but for wisdom to know if it is best to stay on site or to move someplace else temporarily;

For our local staff, Francis, Winnie and others, also for protection – they can’t leave – and that they and their likeminded countrymen may be able to be channels for God’s mercy, forgiveness and peace in this troubled land;

For our project plans: We are shortly going to have more than 10,000 tree seedlings available for planting in Kenya. It remains to be seen whether and how we will be able to get these trees into the ground. Pray for wisdom for all the staff as they try to discern what is possible and what is prudent in an uncertain climate.

For our various fundraising efforts – we recognize that there may be a tendency for funders to see the uncertainty as a reason to change the direction of their giving; we hope they won’t, for at times like this organizations like Care of Creation are more needed than ever.

Spring Seminars planned in USA

Meanwhile, in the USA we are looking forward to a busy and exciting spring. Ed Brown’s book, Our Father’s World: Mobilizing the Church to Care for Creation, will be issued in revised edition by InterVarsity Press in April. We are using this occasion to begin the promotion of the Our Father’s World Seminar. This five-hour teaching session will be presented in Madison on April 4-5 at Christ Presybterian Church, and in a three hour version in Eden Prairie Minnesota at Wooddale Baptist Church on April 19 (information not yet online).

If you are in either of these areas, click on the links above to join us. If you are not able to make either of these, but would like to see about getting a seminar or shorter presentation in your area, please contact us at seminars@careofcreation.org All events that include a paid registration feature signed copies of Our Father’s World.

Here’s a general list of places and dates we would like to set some events up (all dates are approximate). A presentation can be anything from a one-hour introduction to our ministry to a full 3 or 5 hour seminar…

• June 12-19 – anywhere along I-80/90 from Indiana through New York toward Boston;
• June 30 – July 7 – Rhode Island; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Washington.
• September – Colorado, Montana, the Dakotas
• October – Washington, Oregon, California, New Mexico

If you’re thinking carbon emissions – yes, it’s a legitimate concern – we’re trying to plan these events so as to stay on the ground rather than doing a lot of flying. That’s why if you can help us find an opportunity in your area that will fit into one of these time slots you can help us be efficient and more or less gentle to God’s creation as we travel.

Donations!

We mentioned this briefly above – we’ve been encouraged to be invited by a couple of major foundations to submit grant requests. We looking at a budget this year that is almost 100% greater than last year’s – and we appreciate your prayers as we try to grow Care of Creation responsibly and sustainably. Even as we add major donors to our funding mix, we still rely heavily on many, many small donations from ordinary people (yes, like you) who send us $25 or $50 monthly or every so often. We appreciate each one of you – whether you’ve given once or regularly. (And if just once, remember how good it felt?

We believe that God brought Care of Creation into existence because our ministry and our message is desperately needed in a hurting world. The troubles in Kenya are but another reminder that when God’s creation is hurting and degraded, it is people who hurt. Thank you for helping us to love our brothers and sisters in this way.

In Him,

Ed Brown for the Care of Creation Family

Care of Creation
608-469-7821
info@careofcreation.org
www.careofcreation.org

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