Combining Two Passions

February 28, 2017

Hello Everyone,

I have set up this "Hiking to Help Refugees" blog as part of my plan to leverage a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail to raise awareness of the plight of South Sudanese refugees, and funding to help support what we do, via the nonprofit Calvary Road Ministry, for them. 

I have entitled this first post "Combining Two Passions" for a reason. The passions are: a passion to serve the beleaguered South Sudanese people, and a passion for spending time in God's great outdoors.

My wife, Renee, and I lived in East Africa for 23 years.  During our last 6 years of service, we mentored and supervised the personnel who lived and served in South Sudan, plus 4 other adjoining countries.  During that time frame, we became very close to many South Sudanese.  When the current conflict, which has produced this latest wave of Sudanese, started on 12/15/2013, we and our colleagues immediately went to work to help meet various needs, the largest being providing drinking water via drilling boreholes.  We also started training both Ugandan and S. Sudanese leaders in how to utilize the chronological Bible story method in discipleship efforts.

So those years of working closely with S. Sudanese Baptist leaders placed within us a deep passion to continue to serve our Sudanese brethren.

My passion for the outdoors grew when I was young.  I always enjoyed camping, hunting and fishing.  That passion led me to earn an A.S. degree in Forest Management.  After moving to Kenya in 1993 to live and work among the Maasai, I spent a lot of time outdoors in some of the most beautiful territory found in the Great Rift Valley.  I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya twice with my children.  As a family we spent tons of time in Kenya and Tanzania's greatest game parks.  So, in brief, my childhood passion for the outdoor life only grew and expanded as a result of my life's vocation.

So now at age 60, I believe my Lord would have me bring together these two passions and leverage them to benefit people who deserve, and who have requested, our ongoing help.

Through this blog you can:
    * Follow along with me as I prepare for and carry out this massive venture
    * Learn more about individual South Sudanese people as I share their stories
    * Discover how you can pray for me and for them
    * Find out how you can join our team by praying, giving and even going

This should be an awesome journey.  I hope you'll take it with me.