My wife and I recently traveled to the Dominican Republic.  We stayed at an all-inclusive resort for my cousin's wedding on the beach.  I was proud and happy to stand with him as the Best Man.  We all had a wonderful time.

But the contrast between life as a guest at a private beach resort and the life of a typical Dominican resident was clear and striking.  And being a part of The Ghana Project, I couldn't help but compare my own temporary lifestyle of the rich and famous to the lifestyle of my friends in Bolgatonga or Sakoti or Yagcuri, Ghana.

When our plane landed in Punta Cana, we breezed through customs and immigration, met our travel agency representative, and were shown directly to a chartered van.  We were driven to the resort where more security guards checked the list and found our names among the expected guests and raised the gates.  Up the winding driveway, we were dropped off at the bellman's station and welcomed with a complimentary glass of champagne.

Most Dominicans and most Ghanaians will never experience the freedom of travel that we take for granted.  As Americans, we are welcomed with open arms in nearly every country in the world.  Others are, often, viewed with suspcion, however, especially in the United States.  Our walls are kept high and barriers remain in place to, rightly or wrongly, prevent visitors from overstaying their welcome here.  Even if they had the necessary documents and permission to travel, the airfare alone would almost certainly be prohibitive.  And the cost of four days at an all-inclusive resort . . . well, you get the picture.

After checking in, we were shown to our room.  In addition to what you would expect in any hotel, we had a balcony overlooking the one of two enormous swimming pools on the property, a whirlpool tub, a basket of fresh fruit, a bottle of champagne, more liquor than the two of us could drink in a decade or so, and a mini-fridge fully stocked with beer, soda, and bottled water.  All of this, we were reminded, was included, and everything would be replaced or restocked as needed.  If that wasn't enough, there were eight restaurants and ten bars around the resort where we could eat or drink anything or everything we wanted.  Or we could order room service 24 hours a day.  All included.  Games, pool, swimming, horseback riding, batting cages, live shows, and other activities . . . all included too.

And all of it reaching a level of extravagance that a typical Dominican or Ghanaian could not believe.  How could a person whose local water source is a contaminated well in the middle of a dusty pasture - who has to walk miles to reach a borehole with a hand pump each morning and night to survive - imagine the luxury of a mini-fridge full of bottled water?  Or even the running taps?  How does a whirlpool make sense?  What about all the booze?  And people scrambling to bring food to your room when you don't feel like walking down the the restaurant?  How in the world is it right to enjoy such luxury when others are starving, or thirsty?

The contrast did give me some mixed feelings.  It wasn't as easy to allow myself to induged and pampered and catered-to as it might have been - but I did it - as probably any of us would.  I won't dare to compare my "difficulties" in dealing with my over-exposed privilige to the day-to-day difficulties of the people living in the Dominican Republic or in northern Ghana.  None of them, and none of you, should feel sorry for me.  That's not my point.  My point is to show the contrast between the life that I have been blessed to lead as one of the lucky ones and the life led by so many others around the world.

Since I've been home, I've also realized that while the life I led for those few days in the Dominican was outrageously luxurious, the lifestyle that I lead as a typical suburban American is also outrageously luxurious when compared to people living in other parts of the world.  I have running clean water, available and affordable healthcare, plenty of food in my refrigerator, multiple bedrooms in my home, electricity, two cars, and on, and on, and on . . .

When we arrived at our vacation resort, the bellman greeted us genuinely saying, "Welcome to paradise!"  Since then, it has dawned on me that in reality, I already live in paradise.  And so do you.

In my mind, the privilege we experience as the result of the happy accident of our being born in this country requires us to help those who weren't so lucky.  If you realize how lucky you are, please commit to helping The Ghana Project or another charity.  There are plenty of people in need.  And your help can make a real difference. 

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."  When he had said this, he breathed his last.  Luke 23:44-46.

Today is Good Friday, the day each year that we set aside to remember the sacrifice that Jesus, God incarnate, made for us.  We remember that he gave us everything.  He chose to suffer and die because he loved us.  And he died brutally.  He allowed himself to be tortured until, as the physician evangelist Luke puts it so mildly, "he breathed his last."

I was thinking about sacrifice today at lunch, and the fact that living a privileged life in America I've never had to sacrifice much, if anything.  I thought about my Roman Catholic friends and their symbolic sacrifices every lenten season, at the very least in their abstention from meat on Fridays.  That's not part of my tradition so I can't even count such a small sacrifice in my life.

Yet Jesus sacrificed his life for me.  As a follower of Christ, shouldn't I be willing to sacrifice something for him?  For his Kingdom?  When Jesus is present in our world as "one of the least of these brothers and sisters" and "hungry" or "thirsty" or "sick"?  (Matthew 25:35-40)

Those questions, of course, answer themselves.  At least they should.  Of course I should be willing to sacrifice something for Jesus.  But what?  And when?  And how?

Well, God provided me with an answer, something to start with anyway.  As I said, I was thinking about this at lunch and an idea came to me.  I was sitting at a table eating a sandwich and drinking a soda.  I began to wonder, not for the first time, "how much money do I spend on soda?"  Soda, of course, is clearly unnecessary.  Human beings, of course, must eat and drink but water will solve our thirst as well or better than soda.  And water in America is almost universally free - or very close to it.

Soda, on the other hand, isn't free.  I looked at my receipt.  I paid $1.39, plus tax, for my soda at lunch today.  And, typically, I would drink two or three or four more sodas (cheaper of course, bought in grocery stores and consumed at home or the office, but still) today, like any other day.

What would happen if, instead of buying soda to drink on Fridays, I drank free water instead?  What if every Friday, while drinking that water, I remembered how much Jesus loved me and sacrificed for me?  And what if I put the money that I would have spent on soda into The Ghana Project? 

And I thought about how great it would be if a lot of us did the same thing.  We could recognize Jesus in "the least" of our brothers and sisters in northern Ghana and give the thirsty a drink.  We could "do" for Him.

I'm in.  There are 38 Fridays between now and Christmas Eve 2012 when The Ghana Project will collect its third Miracle Offering.  On each of those 38, I'll be sacrificing soda, in an effort to make every Friday "good" for something.  My Friday "soda money" will be added to our family's contribution to the Miracle Offering. 

I know it's not much.  I know that it is nothing compared to the blessings that I've been given or the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. But it is something. 

If you join me and sacrifice soda, or something else with more meaning to you, every Friday between now and Christmas, and give the money to The Ghana Project, what a difference it could make in this world.

I'm in.  Are you?

Two years ago, Michael McIntyre experienced God's call to bring clean fresh water to forgotten people in sub-Saharan Africa, to Ghana, a country Michael knew nothing about except that it was in Africa.  Since then he (and we) have experienced a wild ride and things have been moving fast.  

Amazingly fast.

The story of Sakote is a case in point.  When Michael, Greg Finfrock, and Michael Logsdon visited Ghana for the first time in October of 2010, they were taken to Sakote and found a village with a well, a borehole even, the type of well that could have and should have provided the villagers with clean and safe water.  But it didn't.  Unfortunately, the borehole was not drilled deep enough.  During the six-month-long dry season, nothing came from the pump.  The rest of the year water flowed sporadically at best.  The rest of the time, villagers were forced to make due with other, questionable, water sources.

Imagine yourself coming upon a village with hundreds if not thousands of people living without any reliable source of safe water - water that wouldn't make them and their children sick.  What would you do?  What could you do?  

That first team from what eventually became The Ghana Project did come upon Sakote.  And they knew what to do.  They brought the story of Sakote back with them and shared it.  They dreamed of providing the people they met with water.  And they promised to do so, trusting in you to help them fulfill that promise.  With God's help, you did.

Within six months of that first trip to Sakote, three new boreholes were drilled and operational, providing the gift of water, and life, to men, women, and children in that remote Ghanaian village.

Last month Michael returned to Sakote, only seventeen months after he'd first been there.  Last month Michael visited those boreholes and last month Michael bent down, filled his bowl, and drank deeply from the cool, clear, safe water flowing from a borehole that was once only a dream.

Imagine yourself coming upon that village now.  What a difference!  What a joyful difference!

With your continued support, and God's continuing help, The Ghana Project can repeat the success story of Sakote all across northern Ghana.  Please, please, continue to help.

By the way, if you haven't read the story of Michael's call or if you simply want to be reminded, click this link.  You won't be disappointed in the story.

This wonderful group of people is leaving tomorrow for Ghana on a mission trip to Bolgatonga, Sakote, and other villages in the northern part of the country.  I'm very jealous.  One year ago, I was one of the lucky ones who went on The Ghana Project's spring trip.  It was awesome, powerful, and it definitely changed me.  I'd love to be going back with these folks tomorrow.

I'm not . . . but here's the next best thing . . .

The Ghana Project is on Facebook and folks on the team (if the technology holds up) will be posting on the Facebook page.  I'll be following those posts and you can too . . . link here for the Help Ghana Page or just search for Help Ghana now within Facebook.  If you're on Facebook, "Like" the Help Ghana Now page and updates will be sent straight from Ghana to your news feed.

If you're not on Facebook, you can sign up at Facebook.com but I think the link above will work whether you're a Facebook member or not.

And oh, by the way, please keep these missionaries in your prayers.  Thanks.

It has been a few months since our latest mission team returned from Ghana and so much has happened since then.  In October, the team was able to visit Sakote and see that construction had begun on the new vocational technical high school funded entirely by The Ghana Project.  In December, our in-country missionary friend, confidant, and partner - Mary Kay Jackson - visited the site and sent us an update (reported here).  At that time, Phase 1 of the school building was up to the lintels.  Now the masonry is finished on Phase 1 and the foundations have been dug for Phase 2.  Concrete footings will be poured in the next few days, as soon as a load of sand is delivered.  This photo shows the school as it stands today:

It is an amazing thing to be able to see progress being made in real time.  It is even more amazing to realize that the entire school will be completed this summer and dedicated.  Then, this fall, the first high school class ever in the long history of this village will begin.  Wow!  What a difference this school will make in the life of this village and in the lives of the residents of the area.

Mary Kay also sent back the photo below, also taken today in Sakote.  It shows one of the borehole wells provided for the village by The Ghana Project.  The uniformed children are students in the lower grade schools of Sakote.  Just a year ago, these kids not only had no high school, they had no source of clean, safe, drinking water.  Now that has all changed, because of the generosity of our contributors.

The Ghana Project also provided a clean water to the village of Yagzuri.  And, last fall, we decided to go the next step and agreed to fund construction of a sanitary latrine for the community.  Mary Kay was also able to visit Yagzuri today and provided this photo:

All that is left to do is install the doors and do some painting before the facility is ready for use.  It will be dedicated and opened in a ceremony next month.  

These photos are wonderful reminders of the progress that is being made for the people of northern Ghana.  But that's not all that's happening.

As you know, the Christmas Miracle Offering taken up for The Ghana Project in 2011 raised just over $200,000.  The Project's Steering Committee met last night to consider how those funds should be invested for maximum impact in Ghana.  Thanks again to your amazing generosity, we have been able to commit the necessary funds to complete Phase 2 of the Sakote school.  We are fully funding the purchase of land in the village of Navrongo, where a small school will be built.  We are funding, again, our partner ministry in Ghana, The Mission Society, which allows Mary Kay Jackson to facilitate all the projects we do.  And, we are also providing funding for four more borehole wells to provide clean water to thousands more people in three villages, including Tambiugu.  That village's current water source - yes, really - is shown below:

But that's not all.  We are also holding significant funds uncommitted for the next few weeks because we have another mission team headed for Ghana on March 16.  There is nothing better than being there and asking questions to assess what folks need.  We fully expect the mission team to return with more and better ideas of where to invest the money entrusted to us to accomplish the most good.  After all, we had never even heard of Tambiugu until the last mission team visited that village.

And there's more to come.  2012 is going to be an exiting year for The Ghana Project.  We'll keep you informed as more progress is made.

It's flu season in the U.S.  At least it is in my house.  For nearly a week, my wife, the kids, and I have taken turns dealing with what we (for the benefit of the toddlers) call a "tummy bug."  "Tummy bugs," as I'm sure that anyone who has had one knows, often result in, how should I put this delicately, expulsion of the contents of one's "tummy," either upwards or downwards.  At the risk of getting too personal (if I haven't already) I'll simply say that our results have been typical.

So why am I telling you this?

Because as we've dealt with this illness in our family, not once did I worry about anyone's life being in danger.  Not once.  And that's because my family is lucky enough to live in the United States.  We have access to healthcare and clean water.  Plenty of food and safe fluids.

Around the world, however, diarrhea is a killer.  According to a 2009 report from UNICEF and the WHO, "Diarrhea remains the second leading cause of death among children under five globally.  Nearly one in five child deaths - about 1.5 million each year - is due to diarrhea.  It kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined."  Forty-six percent of these deaths occur in Africa.  In Ghana, diarrhea causes the deaths of 9% of all children who die before the age of five.  

Diarrhea is a huge health problem in Ghana, especially in rural areas, because clean water is so often lacking and appropriate sanitation is almost non-existant.  Twenty-six percent of all Ghanaians living outside the major cities have no source for clean drinking water and ninety-three percent of them have no access to improved sanitation systems.

But with your support, The Ghana Project can improve those numbers, one borehole, one latrine, and one village at a time.  

So, the next time your family's down with a "tummy bug," just be thankful that it is not that likely to kill any of you and remember those who aren't so fortunate.

 Okay, I admit it . . . I'm one of those nerds who enjoys "playing" fantasy football with his buddies.  To the uninitiated, fantasy football is a game played by couch potato (mostly) team "owners", like me, who select real NFL players for their fantasy teams and then score points throughout the season based on the performace of those players in real football games.  Geeky?  Sure.  But I want to tell you a short, true story about a friend of mine and how, through him, fantasy football is helping provide clean water in Ghana.

Bruce is a good friend of mine.  We've known each other for almost twenty years.  And we've been playing fantasy football against each other since 1995.  This year I served had a pretty good team even after losing Peyton Manning in the pre-season.  I made the playoffs but ran into Bruce's buzzsaw in the semifinals.  Bruce's team went on to the fantasy Super Bowl but lost.  But, in our league anyway, the runner-up still wins a modest prize.

Bruce had yet to receive that modest prize when I met him last week for lunch.  (Our league commissioner, you see, a.k.a. me, is a slacker who just hasn't gotten around to sending out the prizes.)  During the course of our lunch conversation, Bruce asked about The Ghana Project.  I was, of course, more than happy to tell him about all we've been able to accomplish so-far, the results of the Christmas Miracle Offering, and all the things we hope to be able to accomplish because of that offering and into the future.

And now comes the good part . . .

Bruce looked at me at the end of that conversation and said, "Jim, you know that prize money from our fantasy football league?  Don't pay me.  Give it to The Ghana Project instead."

Now this might seem like a small thing.  We don't play fantasy football for big bucks.  The money is really only a token.  But it isn't a token to The Ghana Project.  Every dollar given goes directly to help needy people in Ghana.  We have no overhead.

So here are a couple of questions, inspired by my friend Bruce . . . did you win something in your fantasy football league this year?  If so, did you put your winnings to as good a use?

Now, can anybody get me a lunch with Tom Brady or Eli Manning?  Anybody think we could convince one of them to put their Super Bowl winnings to good use at The Ghana Project?

The Ghana Project began in 2010.  On Christmas Eve that year, members at Living Word Church in Wildwood, Missouri, were asked to spend half of what they normally would on Christmas gifts for their families and friends.  They were reminded that Christmas was not their birthday and challenged to give the other half of their gift budget to the real birthday boy by making a donation to help his forgotten children in Ghana.

Beyond anyone's wildest dreams, that 2010 Christmas Miracle Offering raised $186,299.19.  It was amazing.  That money has already been put to use providing clean water, sanitation, a dormitory, a chapel, a school, and life to the people of northern Ghana.  And that is amazing.

Fast-forward to Christmastime 2011.  The Ghana Project is not a shiny new toy anymore.  But, again, we asked the folks at Living Word, and friends we've made beyond the walls of our church to, once again, forgo spending what they planned to spend on Christmas gifts.  Again, people were asked to spend half on their friends and family, and give half to The Ghana Project.

We didn't dare speculate.  We didn't dare dream.  Economic conditions were certainly not getting better and, in fact, might have been worse.  Times are tough, unbelievably tough for many people.  I didn't share my worries with anyone else but I barely held out hope that we could raise six figures this time.

But I should have read my bible.

Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  Matthew 7:7 (NIV)

Well, we asked.  And through you it was given . . . $201,157.24 was given!

What an unbelievable total.  And what a credit to the supporters of this project.  The people of northern Ghana are no longer forgotten.  They were never forgotten by God.  And they will never again be forgotten by us.  The Ghana Project is no flash-in-the-pan.  It is enduring and will change the world, beginning here, beginning now.

Thank you for your amazing support.  Again.

Time is flying.  One year ago, The Ghana Project was little more than a notion, a dream, a desire to reach out and help people forgotten by the rest of the world.  We were inspired, but had no idea what God could do through this notion.  A challenge had been issued.  People were asked to remember that Christmas was not a holiday for themselves.  It was not their birthday.  They were asked to remember that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and asked to give their gifts to him last year.  And people responded.  $190,000.00 was given to the Christmas Miracle Offering in 2010.  I won't claim to speak for him, but I'm pretty sure Jesus was happy with those gifts last Christmas.

I believe Jesus is also happy with how those gifts have been put to use.  Mary Kay Jackson visited some of the locations in northern Ghana where projects are underway.  She has reported major progress on many fronts.  Here are some of the highlights:

Construction of the secondary technical school building in Sakoti is well underway.  "The school is up to the lintel level," Mary Kay wrote, "The lintels should be formed and poured [this week].  Then the walls will be completed, roof trusses raised and the roof put on.  It looks really nice - the contractor is doing a high quality job!"  When she visited the construction site, Mary Kay also met with the village leaders.  "The Chief, the Landlord [a tribal leadership position - don't think of an American-style landlord], the Queen Mothers and the other elders were all quite pleased with the way the school is progressing," she wrote.  "The Landlord also said that the borehole near his home has been a huge blessing to those who live in his area."  The Ghana Project funded three boreholes in Sakoti.  This Christmas, villagers there have ready, reliable access to safe, clean water.  Last year they didn't.  Next year, their children will be able to go to high school.  All because of The Ghana Project.

Clean water is also flowing from a new borehole in the village of Yagcuri this Christmas.  And construction is underway on a sanitary latrine facility there too.  Mary Kay will visit that construction site in January.

Construction started, then stopped, and hopefully has started again on a bathroom facility for the primary and junior high school at Ebenezer Methodist Church in Bolgatonga.  The contractor began to dig for the foundation but was stopped by the Ghana Education Service.  Mary Kay informed us that "the GES says that the area is supposed to get three additional classrooms at some point."  That's good news.  So a meeting was planned last week to determine where to build the new bathrooms and work was set to "start again as soon as the location is set."

Mary Kay also reported, as I mentioned in a previous post, that the Paga Chapel is complete.  The Ghana Project is also supporting a chapel in Nagakenya.  Mary Kay reported that the church there has located land and is presently negotiating a final sale price.  Construction of that new chapel will, hopefully, begin soon.

Great things are happening for Jesus and his children in Ghana.  But these great things come at a price.  $190,000.00 may seem like a lot, but all of last year's Christmas Miracle Offering has been allocated for current projects.  The four boreholes completed so far, for example, cost over $30,000.00.  $100,000.00 is committed to the school in Sakoti; $20,000.00 to the bathroom facilities in Bolgatonga, and $15,000.00 for latrines in Yagcuri.  The price of the land purchase and construction of the chapel in Nagakenya are expected to total about $10,000.00.  We've also built dormitories at a school in Kumasi and completed the Paga Chapel.

The Ghana Project has started something big, as Mary Kay put it:

A lot is going on here, thanks to the generosity of your congregation.  There is a new hope in Sakoti and Yagzuri as they see development come to their communities.  There are people coming to Christ in Paga and Nagakenya because of the outreach of the Methodists in these communities, who have been encouraged by your generous gifts towards their chapels.  In fact, as you are gathering on Christmas Eve and taking up another collection for Ghana, the churches in Paga, Nagakenya, Navrongo and other nearby communities will be holding a revival (Dec. 23 to 26).  They will all be praying for you, even as you are praying for them – the Body of Christ at work all over the world!

Imagine that.  As we are celebrating Christmas and praying for them, the people of northern Ghana will be praying for us.  Let's follow through and create more miracles in the year to come.  More villages need clean water and, God willing, more boreholes will be drilled in 2012.  The Ghana Project hopes to continue to support schools and begin providing medical clinics or supplies.  But that all depends on you.

This year, on Christmas Eve, The Ghana Project is asking you to give your gifts to Jesus once again.  Please give to The Ghana Project.

Mary Kay Jackson is a wonderful, caring person serving as a full-time missionary in Ghana.  The Ghana Project works very closely with Mary Kay.  She serves as our in-country presence.

Mary Kay recently posted this on her Facebook account:

Finally on the way back to Tamale after a long day. But it was good to see the finished chapel at Paga - complete with blackboard so it can double as a schoolhouse. And the school at Sakoti Ís up to lentil level! Thank you, Living Word UMC, Wildwood, MO.

First, let me extend those thanks from her not only to folks at Living Word who supported The Ghana Project but to all of you around the country and around the world who may have no connection to our church but have also provided your prayers and support.

I was, of course, so pleased to see that construction of the secondary technical school in Sakoti had progressed so far.  The building is cinder block/concrete block construction so Mary Kay is reporting that those blocks have been assembled to the tops of the windows and doors.  In other words, they're almost ready to put a roof on.  Yeah!

And, of course, it makes me very happy to see that the chapel in Paga is complete.  It is wonderful that people there are now able to gather and worship even in the midst of sandstorms that sometimes made services impossible before.  Yeah again!

But the portion of Mary Kay's update that I enjoyed the most . . .  the blackboard.  That made my day.  Maybe my week.

The Ghana Project decided to commit funds and build a needed chapel and it was built.  And we all thought that was the end of the story but we got a bonus too.  Now the chapel is also a school.  A building used not only for worship but to educate children.  To change their lives in spiritual ways and in temporal ways too.  Wow!

God can do a multitude of great things when we give him a chance.  He may even do two things when we're only thinking of doing one.  May He bless the lives of the Ghanaians who worship at the Paga Chapel . . . and the schoolchildren learning there.