Amy Norton (right) with “Auntie” (middle) says, “We desperately need sponsors for these children.”

India (MNN) — There are millions of children without caring parents worldwide today. From the United States to India, the need for foster parents, adoptive families, or orphan care is immense. India alone has 15-25 million orphans.

Is the problem too big to address?

Not according to Scripture. James 1 says, “True religion is caring for the widows and orphans in their distress.” Orphan Outreach is doing just that, and today they have an incredible need.

Orphan Outreach Program Director Amy Norton is in Manali, India, with a mission team from MNN affiliate 91.3 WCSG in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Orphan Outreach supports The House of Grace, an orphanage there with 80 kids. “We are urgently needing sponsors for the kids here because we recently lost some support that they did have through a local church who had to cut their budget back.”

The program in Manili is amazing. Norton says the orphanage is in a Buddhist stronghold. Despite coming from Buddhist backgrounds, these children are following Christ. “Their faith amazes us. And that is in large part due to the woman who started this orphanage. We call her Auntie. She was persecuted as a Christian. Her legs were even broken. She fled where the Buddhist were persecuting her for being a Christian for taking in these children.”

Team members from 91.3 WCSG in Grand Rapids, MI loved orphans in Manali, India and many became child sponsors. You can, too.

Not only have many children come to Christ, but they’re growing, says Norton. “These children are in devotion every morning at 7:00. They are in devotion in the afternoon. They all can quote Scripture. They love the Lord. We were on the bus with them yesterday; they sang worship songs the whole way to the park and back. They just truly love the Lord.”

It’s not an easy place to be a Christian. Norton says, “The Christians are very much in the minority, and so children from an orphanage who are Christians are even more so in the minority.”

What are American Christians doing to help? “We have been playing with these kids,” says Norton. “We have done all kinds of vacation Bible school activities. We do a devotional each day. We’ve had pizza and movie nights, ice cream, we had a huge bonfire last night, taught the kids dances, and they taught us dances.” The Orphan Outreach team is pouring their lives into these needy kids.

The need is so great, team members are responding to the sponsorship call. Norton says, “One of the most touching times was this afternoon watching one of our trip participants tell this little boy how much she loved and cared for him and she would sponsor him. He broke down in tears, and she broke down in tears.”

It costs $36 a month to sponsor a child in India. Norton says, “Every bit of that money comes here to India, and it support these children–not only each child, but it supports the whole orphanage with food, it pays for electricity, shoes, school supplies, monthly for their medical needs.”

The kids are listed at Orphan Outreach. Sponsor a child today to make a difference for their eternity.

Biblica has been sending Scripture to soldiers since the War of 1812. (Image courtesy Biblica)

Students teamed up with Biblica on Monday to pack around 55,000 Bibles for military servicemen and their families. Mark Rader is a retired Air Force officer and Biblica’s National Director of Military Ministry.

He spoke with Joel Hill, a reporter for MNN’s sister station, WCSG, at CU’s “Bibles for the Brave” event.

“I’ve been doing this for four years, and this was one of the most amazing events I’ve been involved with,” Rader stated.

“The power of God’s Word, whether it’s in the battlefield or here in the U.S., is still the essential element for spiritual growth in a life. Many of these soldiers have never heard the Gospel before, so this is an extraordinary opportunity.”

NIV Military Bibles and NIV Finding Hope Beyond the Battle Bibles packed by CU students were provided by a partnership between Biblica and Family Christian Stores.

The groups’ “Frontline & Homefront Bible Campaign” invites Family Christian customers to donate Bibles for military servicemen and their families. The campaign runs from Labor Day through Christmas, and over 60,000 Scriptures have been donated so far.

Click here to add another one to the list.

“I personally will be directing where all these Bibles go,” Rader says. “We already have about 10 or 12 military installations that have requested Scripture from us, and that’s all across the nation. Some of them also will go to chaplains that are down in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Soldiers sacrifice comfort, freedom, and their lives to protect the freedom of others. Biblica has been providing Bibles to the U.S. military since the War of 1812. Today the ministry offers hope to servicemen in active duty and their spouses.

They’re also developing a PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) Bible for traumatized soldiers. Learn more here.

“Pray for the people receiving these (Bibles) all around the world,” Rader requests. “Our servicemen and women are under a lot of pressure right now, and they really need our prayers.”

Students teamed up with Biblica on Monday to pack around 55,000 Bibles for military servicemen and their families. Retired Air Force officer and Biblica's National Director of Military Ministry, Mark Rader,  spoke with Joel Hill, a reporter for MNN's sister station, WCSG, at CU's "Bibles for the Brave" event.

"I've been doing this for four years, and this was one of the most amazing events I've been involved with," Rader stated.

"The power of God's Word, whether it's in the battlefield or here in the U.S., is still the essential element for spiritual growth in a life. Many of these soldiers have never heard the Gospel before, so this is an extraordinary opportunity."

NIV Military Bibles and NIV "Finding Hope Beyond the Battle" Bibles packed by CU students were provided by a partnership between Biblica and Family Christian Stores.

The groups' "Frontline & Homefront Bible Campaign" invites Family Christian customers to donate Bibles for military servicemen and their families. The campaign runs from Labor Day through Christmas, and over 60,000 Scriptures have been donated so far.

Click here to add another one to the list.

"I personally will be directing where all these Bibles go," Rader says. "We already have about 10 or 12 military installations that have requested Scripture from us…all across the nation. Some of them also will go to chaplains that are down in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Soldiers sacrifice comfort, freedom, and their lives to protect the freedom of others. Biblica has been providing Bibles to the U.S. military since the War of 1812. Today the ministry offers hope to servicemen in active duty and their spouses.

They're also developing a PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) Bible for traumatized soldiers. Learn more here. 

"Pray for the people receiving these [Bibles] all around the world," Rader requests. "Our servicemen and women are under a lot of pressure right now, and they really need our prayers."

Morning Show host says they started their trip with an 18-hour bus trip because pilots with the airline were on strike.

“We started our week in the foothills of the Himalayas in a town called Manali,” he says. “There we spent time with about 95 kids in an orphanage playing games, sharing Bibles stories, and doing crafts.” Just spending time with the kids was monumental because they rarely have visitors, he added.

From Manali, the radio team traveled back to Delhi where they were able to visit two different slums. “I had a chance to visit with the director of one of the projects who ministers to the kids in the slums. He said the people there are uneducated and they don’t know a lot about their background–which happens to be Muslim. So they’re very willing and very receptive to people coming in and sharing the love of Christ, which has been really cool. We were able to do just that. We told Bible stories through interpreter. So as those seeds were planted, we’ll just see what God does from there.”

Pray for the team as they deal with jet lag. Pray for the orphans that they’ll remember the lessons they learned and the love they received, and eventually will give their hearts to Christ.

Today, a team is heading to India to do just that. Our sister station 91.3 WCSG in Grand Rapids, Michigan is leading the team. “We have 15 listeners from all walks of life and all areas of West Michigan who will be going with us.”

The team will be in northern India. “We’re going to be mainly in an orphanage in the foothills of the Himalayas, a place called Manali, and I’ve heard that fewer than half of 1% of people are Christians in that general area.”

WCSG says time is the key to describing their work. “Time is really something that they value tremendously — just getting to spend some time, getting to know you, and getting to share stories and those types of things. Along with sharing stories, of course, [we’ll be] doing vacation Bible school type things — Bible stories, games, and crafts.”

Activities will be themed after the Olympic games, which is scheduled to begin in just a few short days.

There is a reason the radio station partners with Orphan Outreach. “Their mission, their goal, isn’t just to play games with the kids: they really do have that evangelical perspective — wanting to share the Gospel and share with the kids why we’re there. We’ve had that opportunity many times, and we’ve seen results.”

Prayer is vital to the team. They’re already feeling attacked. “If you’re about to do something meaningful, you will face resistance. If you’re doing something that really isn’t going to make a difference, then it’ll be easy. I’ve seen already it hasn’t been easy. We’re being challenged. I think it’s going to be amazing.”

If you’d like to join Orphan Outreach on a future trip to India or other parts of the work, click here.

That means orphans and others who are dependent on the government will be struggling in the months ahead.

Orphan Outreach is just starting their work in Latvia to reach out to orphaned children. This week, a team from 91.3 WCSG Radio in West Michigan is there to help the national staff from Orphan Outreach minister in love to the orphans of Latvia.

Executive Director of Cornerstone University Radio Chris Lemke is with the team. "I never would have thought that doing ministry would involve going grocery shopping, going bowling, and hosting a pizza party — all in the context of loving kids."

All of this "ministry" was part of an after-school program that's in desperate need of funding. $2,500 a month is needed to run the program three days a week. That supports 40 kids, three teachers, a cook and all costs associated with running it.

The program provides food, tutors, activities, and most importantly, the Gospel. Lemke says, "There [are] physical needs that must be met, there's no question about that. But [Orphan Outreach] wants to do it in the context of the local church because it's the local church that really makes a difference in these lives."

If funding isn't found for the after-school program, kids will go hungry and the Gospel will be stymied.

In the meantime, teams who visit the poor and orphaned children not only minister to kids, but also the local church. "The church was just so encouraged. It's like, 'Wow, we have people coming from the outside and giving us a hand! People do recognize what we're doing!' And for them, it was just a huge 'shot in the arm.'"

The team is getting ready to head home this weekend. As they do, they have several prayer requests. Pray that people would step up and become monthly financial supporters of the after-school program. More importantly, pray "that these kids would be open to and hear the Gospel and that they'll reach out to Jesus Christ," added Lemke.

If you'd like to help support the after-school program of Orphan Outreach, call our resource line at 800-284-9361, or e-mail us at info@mnnonline.org.

Several nurses have already signed up, but the team needs
doctors as well as a few other people. The
team will leave for Guatemala City on October 10
and return to Grand Rapids,
Michigan on October 17. 

A mudslide caused by Hurricane Stan devastated the community
of Panabaj on October 4, 2005, killing more than 1,000 people. The people live in temporary housing outside
the town while they wait for it to be rebuilt. 

The team will bring medical relief and humanitarian aid to
the community. Many of the people suffer
from tuberculosis, upper respiratory issues, skin issues, and nutritional
issues, said Greg Yoder of Mission Network News. The team may also provide vaccinations. 

Yoder said the trip is an exciting opportunity for medical
professionals to serve the Lord in missions. "This would be the perfect time for a doctor to use his or her God-given
skills for Christ, helping the Guatemalan people physically and spiritually,"
he said. 

The trip will also incorporate visits to Christian schools
in the area, activities to entertain the children while their parents are
seeing the doctor, and possibly a showing of the "JESUS" film. 

Guatemala
has some of the worst malnutrition, life expectancy, and infant mortality rates
in its region of the world. 27 percent
of all Guatemalan children under 5 years old are underweight. 

If you are interested in spiritual and medical ministry to
the people of Panabaj, click here. The application deadline is May 29.