MINISTRY UPDATE JUNE 2009

Here's my ministry update for this month! It's for supporters of the ministry here in Morgantown but anyone can read it. Just click on the picture below and voilà, you can see it large!

HOW IT ENDS

*NOTE: My promised reflections on my recent trip to Haiti are coming forthrightly in my newest ministry update, to be posted presently on this here blog...

I am not a political activist in the least sense of the phrase. In fact, I wish most 'political' issues didn't have to BE so 'political' at all. The government exists for the people, to protect their unalienable rights (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness), and thus only circumstances that threaten these things cause me to seek the help of those who represent me in the halls of power.

There is an international crisis in eastern Africa (indeed, it is greatly affecting at least four countries and IS Africa's longest-running conflict at 23 years and counting) that hardly anyone seems to know or care about except one of my favorite non-profits, Invisible Children, and the people they've inspired with their films over the last six years. A terrorist regime called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) lurks in the jungle, primarily operating in northern Uganda but in recent months and years moving into southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The LRA is led by a man Senator Feingold has called a 'megalomaniac,' Joseph Kony, and indeed he is a sociopath (he is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the amazing, recently formed tribunal International Criminal Court). For over 20 years he has abducted children in northern Uganda to feed the ranks of his army which has no purpose and no end. These children are forced to kill and do terrible things until they know nothing but bloodshed for their entire lives. Murder, mutilation, abduction, rape, and psychological control follow this madman Kony wherever he slinks. This IS the world's most neglected humanitarian crisis, and it must be stopped.

I mentioned that I'm not political. However, that doesn't mean I'm not democratic. I'm proud to live in a country where the people have the power and they direct the actions of those to whom they've given power, namely, our congressmen and executive administration. Did you realize that if you're a U.S. citizen, these men and women, including the President of the United States, work for you? This isn't merely wishful thinking; this is reality. I was reminded of this incredible fact recently upon my venture to Washington, D.C. for the LARGEST lobby day for ANY African issue EVER, the event Invisible Children co-sponsored called How It Ends. On June 23rd, nearly 2000 young people from almost every state met with 90 Senators and hundreds of Representatives, asking them to support the 'LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Plan' bill, currently on the floor in the Senate and the House. This bill is the most important act thus far in bringing Kony's war on children and civilians to an end.

Turns out it's not that hard to set up a meeting with the office of a congressman. Turns out it's THEIR JOB. I want to encourage any reader to visit invisiblechildren.com, subscribe to their iTunes video podcast, become inspired, and write a letter to your congressmen asking them to co-sponsor the aforementioned bill. It's time for these atrocities to end and for the people of eastern Africa (espeically northern Uganda) to live free from fear.