01.10.2020

Look what you are doing!

When God decides he is moving, look out he will exceed your expectations.

If you support us, read here about the extraordinary model for spreading the Gospel God dropped on us. If, after reading this you want to be a part of this extraordinary model, you can DONATE here.

Our intention in Cambodia was to be seed planters and ground cultivators. We never set out to be harvesters. That does not mean we were not evangelistic. Quite the contrary. The Gospel has always been the primary motivator but assisting the local people harvest has always been and continues to be the vision of Incurable Fanatics. We do not report “decisions”. We report disciple makers and disciple making environments. Functions and people ministering to their friends and neighbors. Planting, growing and harvesting among themselves. This was the vision God gave to us.

Wow! He has exceeded our vision to make sure his vision goes on.

Our role has shifted from instigators to planters to mentors to coaches to advisors to consultants and now resourcers and idea planters. We remain connected and available but constant presence is now in their hands and the blossom of this fruit looks delightful.

At the school, affectionately called ”Purple School” in the community, staff are discipled 5-6 days per week in ongoing biblical training written and used by Debbie with the first staff group. The teachers then impart that biblical foundation into a growing group of students now exceeding 260. And that training is happening 5 days a week 8-10 hours each day in each subject. The kids are in school all day because their parents are at work in garment factories 10 hours a day. School is their safe place.

The level and intensity of discipleship is Thank previously unknown to me. It truly is a Mighty Work of God.

We also work in the community with local believers to advance micro-businesses so that they can secure more reasonable income. A more reasonable income means they can afford some tuition for their children and this in turn grows a self-sustaining school.

Join us in the next phase as look to start the same school and business program in another at-risk community. Help us help THEM deliver the life saving FREEDOM offer of the Gospel. DONATE here, tax deductible.

01.21.2018

Hitting “Reset”

Hitting reset. Then what? It is what we get to do. Human trafficking does not simply end with “reset”.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew‬ ‭28:19 ESV‬‬)

I have come to realize that in many places where we send people to “go and tell and make disciples”, where we work now thanks to a slew of supporters, the hearers need a lot of mentoring to shift from being hearers to being trusters and doers.

This step is not automatic. Nurturing and mentoring is needed. Is this not the role of believers and the church to new believers? What if the church has little generational depth in believing and following? This is where the missionary who is sent steps in. Encouragers who help new believers hit “reset” in their lives.

I have learned that when you teach someone to hit the “reset” button they will need to know the hows and be mentored in the new way as it unfolds. There is no familiar path and very few to follow or lead the way.

“…. teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” ‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭28:20‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Hitting “reset” in American culture affords many opportunities through churches, small groups, para church groups and multiple resources for the new believer to become trusters and doers.

Hitting “reset” in a foreign culture does not often afford the same support groups and materials. Except when there are “senders, supporters and goers” who can become the resources for the new start.

Our focus is those lost, trapped and often unseen in the world of human trafficking. When they decide they want to to reset their lives the things they must shed are often dark, heavy and so discouraging that hitting reset will only begin a loop back in a very short time. Sustaining the reset takes mentors.

That is what we get to do. Set the captives free and walk with them in “reset mode”.

We say thank you to our senders, supporters who make it possible for us to be goers and mentors.

We pray 2018 will bring Good News to those around you. Help someone hit “reset” in their life.

If you are interested in helping to end modern human trafficking, we would love to have you on our support team. Visit our donor page at Click here

11.07.2016

Difference makers or not? You decide.

So what is it we, Incurable Fanatics, actually do here?

How do we put our efforts into ending human trafficking by continuing our work in Cambodia and presenting Awareness Events in the US?

To our supporters, is our effort really making a difference? Is it significant enough to warrant your continued interest and support? fishing-village

Consider this.

These are questions we consider literally every day. We get home dirty, tired and sometimes quite frustrated. Other times we get home dirty, tired and amazed at the power of God to change the lives of people.

Here is a sample of what we do, an average day looks like this:
Meet with a church planting pastor who has identified a village or community where people have come to Christ and while now saved and eternity settled, they still face poverty and poor education.

Visit the village and its leaders to determine the existing skills resident, sometimes for generations, within the village.
Find a way to capitalize for their benefit on the skills that are already present.
Offer project ideas for the village to develop into commercial products – usually things that we can help them sell beyond their borders and achieve a more western margin. The margin is the key to overcoming poverty and poor education.
Publically assign credit for any project development and success to the local pastor and church to elevate the stature and influence of the church in the village.

So, here is how that plays out. Saturday I met with the pastor and elders of an almost 10 year planted church. A church d mending-nets eep, very deep, in poverty. The families are primarily fishermen by trade but when the rivers and ponds are not swollen, human trafficking is common. Even within the starving families of the church who with great shame, still traffic children believing it is the only means of avoiding starvation and death. The situations are desperate beyond comprehension.

In a common village like this, we find plentiful skill in making and repairing nets. They know the right fibers, the right knots and the sources of the materials. This is a skill set passed down from father to child – they get it. Their lives depend on good nets made from good materials.

We present the opportunity to make other things. Items we can help them sell like bracelets and necklaces from the very same material and on the very same tables in the very same homes where they prepare nets. The new items they can make can be sold abroad at significant margins to the workers and the path to overcoming poverty and providing education begins to come into view.

bracelets2 And it is the local church-plant that gets the credit. Not us. Not the foreigner. Not incurable Fanatics. We are careful to make sure the local leaders are seen as the wise helpers and are present ourselves simply as people helping them. And the church begins to grow in stature and become an integral component of the community.

This is just one example. This is what we get to do every day. This is God allowing us to help the movement of His compassion into people groups who feel captive to earthly despair.

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor: he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1 ESV)

When we are invited to share in a church, community, or school in an Awareness Event with Made27 (Made27.com) we bring goods made in these villages by victims and at risk workers. We become a voice that they cannot bring to the world themselves. We become advocates for their freedom and their opportunities.

If you are an individual donor or a church that supports us regularly, please know we are enormously grateful to you for making our work possible.

If you are a business and sponsor our work, please use our stories in your business newsletters so that your clients and customers know what you are doing to advance freedom around the world.

If you have never been a part of our support team, OK, pray about it and maybe there will come a time when you too can engage and become part of the world-wide battle to end human trafficking. Because God sent his Son to set ALL the captives free. Together, we can work to set them free.

IncurableFanatics.org / Made27.com

Tax-deductible Donation portal: IOM-online.com (Missionaries, Asia, Pete & Debbie Livingston)