On Sunday afternoon, August 29th, JMI On-Call was officially launched as a new ministry for Justice and Mercy International.

JMI On-Call will organize medical/dental mission trips to any place on the globe that is currently being served by JMI, but is not limited to those countries. Requests to consider new mission fields will be considered based on need and connections or experience with NGO partners on the ground.

We have 3 goals in mind for JMI On-Call:

• Provide medical and dental care to underserved, impoverished and remote populations
• Encourage the notion of international servanthood among those in the healing professions
• Use the gift of healing as a bridge to sharing the person and work of Jesus

Healing is both a multi-dimensional gift and process. We hope to involve dentists, doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners, dental hygienists, pharmacologists, hospital administrators and students of any of the healing disciplines. We also have a need for those without professional skills who want to serve around the periphery of the professionals, organizing activities for those awaiting care, registering patients, tending to children and sharing the message of The Great Physician.

In addition to our mission trips, JMI On-Call also hopes to provide funding for clinics, supplies, and doctors and dentists to do on-going work in some of the places we’ll serve. You can already help us equip a clinic with supplies and a physician along the Amazon in Brazil by making a one-time gift or monthly commitment.

Here are a few ways you can be involved in JMI On-Call regardless of expertise:

1. Share our brochure or website with your personal physician, dentist, or any professional colleagues and encourage them to contact steve@justiceandmercy.org for more specific information, or sign up to be registered as a JMI On-Call volunteer to be notified of trips.
2. If you are aware of services or individuals that might benefit our mission, please inform us by emailing steve@justiceandmercy.org. Services might include such things as Christian associations of doctors and dentists of which you’re aware; entities or organizations that provide medical/dental equipment or supplies; graduate programs that might consider partnering with JMI; etc.

Roughly 90% of the girls trafficked in Mumbai are coerced or tricked into servitude. Generally, they are obligated to three years of sex slavery, after which their relationships with their pimps become more of a partnership, splitting their earnings. By this time, all their self-esteem and innocence has been stolen from them and they view their bodies as commodities that likely will earn them more money than other forms of work. In addition, these girls come to view the situtation as part of karma and their “surrender to destiny” as a way of earning a better lot in the next reincarnation.

The approach of our partnering organization, Bombay Teen Challenge (BTC), is to change lives by shining the light of the gospel into this pit of depravity. They are not able to do many “rescues” because of the corruption that protects the brothels… corruption that would shut down their operations if they become too overt. Instead their staff will actually conduct Bible studies for the girls in brothels and provide them with opportunities to worship. The hope is that their lost sense of worthiness will be rekindled along with their desire for something more Godly for their lives. You can click here to access a powerful video about their organization.

It is likely that our first trip will find us working in the following arenas:

More specificity to come. Our partner Thomason is encouraging a team of no more than 10 right now so we will need to see who continues to be led in this direction and who might not. Assuming we have many more than 10 who feel called to go, there is the possibility of a second trip a little later in the year. We’ll see what God has for us!

Funds go to Moldova’s Transitional Living Projects

$7 at the door
Contact Ingrid for ticket details.

While in Ecuador, you’ll work with volunteers from JMI’s founding church, Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin, TN, while ministering to hundreds of children and teachers within the public school system. In this role, you will help lead games, Bible studies, music, arts and crafts.

In addition, our team will host a national leadership training conference for ministry leaders, children’s workers, jungle church planters and youth workers. This conference is a unique opportunity for us to literally impact the entire country. Leaders travel from all parts of Ecuador to attend!

 The only option for an education higher than 8th grade is to live in faraway Manaus.  One young lady from the village attempted that last year and was trafficked into prostitution, a significant risk for these simple, unassuming jungle dwellers.  Ana-Rita worries about that happening to her.  She will, in all likelihood, choose to be married instead and, like most of the other girls in their culture, have her first child by about 15 or 16 years of age.  To be able to earn any money for herself, she will string beads or carve skewers.  Carving 1,000 skewers as a family will take a week and earn them a little over $2.  These are the only commercial options available to anyone in her village, despite the fact that their men are considered to be tireless workers.
 
Ana-Rita deserves so much more than that and I believe we can give it to her.  Over the course of the next few months, JMI will be developing a strategy to come alongside three villages and provide them with sustainable solutions to their greatest needs:  adequate shelter; protective mosquito nets; the cultivation of vegetable gardens; clean water; construction tools; medical and dental care; microenterprise opportunities; places of worship and places to keep their traditional culture alive.  In fact, we’ve already begun by setting up four water purification systems and left money to start a program to raise chickens for eggs and meat.
 
Going forward, this mission will be highly relational and reciprocal.  We have and will be invited into their lives as family.  Mission trips will include the opportunity to worship with them and we’ll be allowed to observe their historical, cultural dances.  Those who are interested will be trained to use bows and arrows and invited to go along on hunts for food in the jungle and fish with nets from canoes.  The women have expressed a desire to learn crochet and would love to discuss family issues with us. 
 

In addition to trips organized for church groups that would address spiritual needs, I envision multiple mission trips a year to accomplish specific objectives:  medical/dental trips, construction trips and trips dedicated to agricultural and farming concerns.  Those of you who are skilled in any of these areas may never have a better opportunity to make a more lasting difference.
 
Whether it’s South Africa, Moldova, Ecuador or Brazil (or Haiti or India to come), I hope you’ll find a cause you can fall in love with and to which you can give your heart.  To help fund these blessings in Brazil, JMI will have a sponsorship program in place by the end of May.  For more information on how you can get involved, visit our website – www.justiceandmercy.org.  On the website you’ll discover fascinating ways you can be a part of a God-sized ministry that will literally change lives, including yours!

At the same time, the International Mission Board is considering the sale of some of, if not all of, its properties in Moldova.  These have been bases of operation for us for eight years of service to the orphans.

The orphanage closures will, in my opinion, hurt more children than they help and in ways that are devastating, not just unfortunate.  Kids who come from impoverished or abusive families will be returned home without adequate investigation into the existing conditions.  Inevitably, many of them will end up living on the streets or sold into prostitution in just the same way this transition occurred in Romania previously.

It would appear that JMI needs to act decisively and proactively if we are to get out ahead of this crisis.  These children – the ones we have loved and invested ourselves in for years, and who have blessed our lives in return – are going to need a place to live and people who will care for them.  And we may very well need a place for our teams to use as a staging point for our mission work.

We are the hope of the orphans and we must begin to consider what is required to secure their futures.  As of today, I am initiating a capital campaign to raise money for a facility that will allow us to save as many lives as possible and, at the same time, provide us with space to continue our work on behalf of orphans.

We need what, for us, is an impossible amount of money:  $500,000.  For us, this is a wild dream….for God it is a mere detail.  But because God works through people, I’m asking for your prayers and efforts to connect JMI with anyone who might be of help in this effort.

If you or someone you know would like to make a gift toward what I’m now calling, Mercy House, please use that name to designate the gift.  I am always available to meet with potential donors and would appreciate any introduction you might afford me.

This is a challenge and an opportunity born out of crisis and a history of love.  Please consider what you can do to help us rescue as many children as possible in the brief amount of time that we have!

Clemency is more or less synonymous with “mercy” which resonates perfectly with Justice and Mercy International.  But more importantly, we feel that the people behind the name are representative of what we’re all about.

Clemency is a band of brothers.  Jason and Paul Watkins are the kind of people you would be honored to have as your friends, especially if you appreciate things like authenticity, honesty, loyalty and a transparent passion to have their lives make a tangible difference in the world.  There is nothing frivolous or shallow about them personally or in their message….they’re the real deal and the kind of people you just want to win!

In their first CD entitled Vapors, the unmistakable message of a higher love and calling rises above the artistry of the arrangements, carried along by Jason’s smooth, clear vocals.  You won’t ever feel left behind wondering about a word or phrase you couldn’t quite make out.  Everything about the lyrics and arrangements is crisp and pitch-perfect and purposeful. 

With this collaboration, Clemency becomes the first musical group to represent JMI.  They will advocate for our sponsorship program at their concerts, offer JMI t-shirts for sale and generally encourage people to get invested in missions, whether through us or any other helping organization.

I urge you to follow and support Clemency as they launch their ministry compelling the wounded, disillusioned and apathetic to consider a radical new way of being because of God’s consuming devotion.

Be sure to check out their website www.clemencyonline.com

Download their latest release on itunes for $9.99

Did you know that for less than the cost of a mission trip to Moldova you can serve as a JMI missionary there all summer?

Through our partnership with The Home Foundation (which has generously offered to cover 70% of the expense) you can work on behalf of orphans in Moldova for only $1500! That amount not only provides for your flight, accommodations, meals and insurance, but $150 in program expenses that you can use to support your ministry there. You have the option of working with another American during the fall or living independently during the summer. The summer missionary would have opportunities to connect with American teams who come through.

The accommodations are with a Christian family from whom we rent Grace House and they will provide you with 2 meals a day. The job description mostly involves sharing yourself with our Grace House girls, other graduates from the local orphanage, and possibly working directly with human trafficking victims.

Being a missionary is an incredible opportunity for you to grow spiritually and in your knowledge of another culture. We are looking for someone who is willing to invest themselves into the lives of girls who are at risk for human trafficking.

More specifically, we’re looking for someone who is:

• comfortable living in a foreign country for an extended period of time
• able to train girls in English, computer, and life skills with the aid of JMI staff
• willing to connect with other orphanage graduates for fellowship and to assess their needs and safety
• possibly teach English, computer, and life skills to human trafficking victims

If you’re interested in this opportunity, please reply ASAP to Steve Davis. This opportunity is only available to one person!

Amongst the three of them, they have enough money to buy food and that’s it. They have not been able to afford their rent for over a year, and now they have been given a year to come up with $3,000 or face eviction.

My friend knows enough English to email me this brief message:  ”To me it is very difficult!”

Why did this family wait so long to seek a solution?, you might ask.  It’s a valid question.  My hunch is that they either imagined something better would eventually come their way or they just hoped their delinquency had somehow gone unnoticed. And now their year of grace will expire about the time the next bitter Moldovan winter blows in….there is never a good time to be homeless, but without help, this is a death sentence.

My friend grew up and graduated before we established our sponsorship program in Moldova.  A sponsor probably would have learned of this situation sooner and been much more proactive in notifying us to intervene.  And, although we have a graduate sponsorship now that could make a difference, she is no longer at our summer camps and is even more anonymous than before.

Regardless, JMI is working on her behalf now.  She needs help, but just as importantly, she needs guidance in setting goals and planning her future.  There are options this family has not explored and our staff is walking through those with them.

JMI Sponsorships are about so much more than financial support.  More than any other organization I know, what we offer is a personal ministry.  And when all is said and done, the warm and fuzzy feelings of church attendance, what we know and how we worship will pale in comparison to what we did for those who struggled to say and be heard:  ”To me it is very difficult!”