The World is Hungry!
By Jimmy Porter
The pastor began his sermon with this statement, “The world is hungry!” He paused and stood silently to allow the words to rumble around in the minds of his congregation. Then he asked, “How many of you are wondering why they are hungry and for what are they hungry?” Over half raised their hands.
The simple truth is that the world is hungry for food, not peace, not universal health care, nor more money, just basic food. It is fairly safe to assume that you, like me, know very little about malnutrition and hunger. But many in our world face a crisis every day—no food. The United Nations reported in June 2009 that approximately 1.02 billion people are acutely hungry every day.
The world’s population is estimated to be around 6.788 billion as of Sept. 30, 2009. Approximately 1 billion live in developed or industrialized nations …
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Got Bread? Give to World Hunger
By Jimmy Porter
“Obesity costs Mississippi millions” was one of the featured articles in the June 4th edition of The Clarion Ledger. The adult obesity rate for Mississippi in 1991 was more than 15 percent. Now it is 30.6 percent. That is the highest in America. The article suggested obesity cost Mississippi taxpayers $221 million per year. The national medical bill for obesity is approximately $93 billion annually.
These figures are staggering and startling, but do not let them deceive you into believing that hunger and malnutrition are non existent, especially in Mississippi and the rest of the world. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 200,000 Mississippi households live with hunger or the threat of hunger on a regular basis.
The leading cause of hunger is poverty and it is here that Mississippi leads all states. The Food Stamps Program, the first line of defense against hunger, …
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Help Beat Hunger
By Lee Yancey
If you are looking for a way to make a difference in the fight against World Hunger, consider having a BEAT Hunger retreat at your church. BEAT Hunger is about Believers Everywhere Attacking Hunger in their communities and in the world. It’s about your group of believers entering into active warfare against the evil of world hunger. It’s about getting off the sidelines and making a difference in the high-stakes game of life or death. It’s about growing a passion for compassion – a compassion that is born out of a love for God, not pity.
Those who participate in a BEAT Hunger event will experience hunger over an extended time period (most will do a 24-hour period of fasting and prayer). Participants will also be involved in a service project such as delivering food to needy families or a homeless shelter. They will experience firsthand what Jesus …
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You Give Them Something to Eat: World Hunger Emphasis
Making disciples involves leadership and Jesus worked very hard to instill leadership qualities into the twelve around Him. If you look back at Luke 8:51, Jesus allows Peter, John, and James to accompany Him as he brings a dead girl back to life. In Luke 9:1 ff, Jesus sends the twelve disciples out on a trial run and gets them some much needed experience. After Jesus is crucified, resurrected, and ascended into heaven, the disciples will have learned from this valuable experience of preaching and healing.
The natural result of Jesus’ work and the twelve disciples’ preaching and healing was that the crowds had started rumors all over the country. Herod the tetrarch was confused because he had recently had John the Baptist beheaded. Now some were saying that Jesus was John resurrected. Others thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the prophets.
As nightfall came, …
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