Understand The Times, International

This report is about some ideas that I have entertained with regards to how the Bryce Homes Program can expand in Kenya and around the world in the future. I don�t want to give the impression that we have come to a decision to expand and then do this on our own. The program is not ours nor is it the product of good human planning. The program has developed in steps that I believe have been divinely ordained. In no way do I want to get ahead of God and start doing things man�s way.

For me, a vision that comes to man from God has to be from the heart of God. The vision cannot be something that man dreams up. Also visions, don�t happen without prayer. I believe that God chooses men, women and even children who are willing to do His will. I am reminded of the Scripture �For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.� - 2 Chronicles 16:9.

When God finds someone or some group willing to do His will, then God runs the program, not man. If man attempts to take the credit for success the program will fail. Sure, it is also possible for Satan to use man to accomplish his sinister plans so that it appears that certain individuals or groups are very successful. Sometimes it may even be hard to discern the difference.

God�s plans are always Spirit led and never purpose driven. God uses leaders who are humble and never proud or arrogant. God uses the weak to confound the wise. Satan uses the powerful to take advantage of the weak and biblically illiterate. In short, God never deviates from His Word. He will inspire those who will serve Him God�s way and bless them. If the plan deviates from ground zero, God will lift His blessing. Remember Ichabod? If you don�t, please read 1 Samuel 4:21 to understand what I mean.

Satan has a counterfeit blessing. While it seems certain humans are successful because in the world or even the church�s view they are doing well, check out the program through the eyes of Scripture. Numbers is not the way to measure success. It is not about quantity. It is about quality. One group of churches that I know about makes the claim they are expanding in numbers at the speed of light. While they may justify numbers increasing, the fact is that they are decreasing in scriptural integrity. How can you dilute God�s Word with postmodern-purpose-driven-seeker-friendly methods to promote church growth and claim you are becoming more and more successful? One has to wonder where this kind of reasoning comes from.

The point that I am trying to make is that we want no part in using numbers to justify how God is working through us. If it appears we are expanding it is only because of God�s direction. It is He who gets the credit, not man. We don�t need public relations departments or fund raising programs. We don�t set goals and then show a thermometer (donor-meter) on our website illustrating where the giving is compared to our goal. We let the Holy Spirit lead, not human manipulation.

Nor do we seek out million dollar donors lobbying wealthy Christian businessmen by flying around in a privately owned jet paid for by donors who believe their money is going towards ministry We will never borrow money to build mega-buildings or employ massive staffs. Our plan has always been to use as many volunteers as possible, employing only when absolutely necessary for tasks such as professional accounting and the recording of documents for reporting to government agencies.

Now, what has God been showing me? When it comes to needs around the world, with regard to what we are doing, the needs are bottomless. One of my friends came up with this line after he traveled with me to Kenya and saw the situation. He said, �You could throw a dart at a map of the world and find very few locations where this program does not work.� I agree. Even in Canada and the USA.

In fact, we already have one Bryce Home in the USA. There are needy people who attend churches in USA and Canada too. Sometimes grandmas are looking after abandoned grandchildren because both parents have run off or become drug addicts. The grandma is by herself and doesn�t have enough of a pension to pay for her grandchildren to go to a Christian school. The children have been collecting bottles and doing odd jobs to help out. They just need a few more dollars every month to pay the tuition and attend school. The pastor of the church and his board are already maxed out trying to meet their budget. They simply cannot afford anymore. However, there are Christians, perhaps even in the community or somewhere else who would like to see children like this succeed. They jump at the chance to help out.

Now back to Kenya, or for that matter any country where Bryce Homes have been established or will be established in the future. On this trip I met several brilliant young men and women who had just finished high school and passed their university entrance exams but had no possible way they could attend college. Where would they find the funds to pay the tuition or how could they borrow the funds to go?

These are intelligent young men and women, some of whom have gone through the Bryce Homes Program and have a vision to be surgeons, teachers, government leaders, social workers and many other professions. They have great potential to change the corruption that is so rampant in their own country. Furthermore, they have the vision from God to do so.

I interviewed several of them and have their interviews recorded. In Kenya, yearly tuition at a college could be covered for about $100 per month. There are some fees above that for a place to sleep in a dorm and food but another $300 a year. This is doable, don�t you think? Compare this modest request with the tens of thousands of dollars it takes to educate a doctor, lawyer or other professional in the West, who in turn will bill his or her clients hundreds of dollars per hour for services. Would it be reasonable to think that investing $100 a month in a student in a Third World country that would become a pillar in their nation would be a good investment?

Something else needs to be said. When students from Third World countries attend college or university they don�t fool around and waste their time or their parent�s money. Their parents don�t have any money to waste because they don�t have any money. They don�t have midterm breaks and fly off to fancy resorts to participate in wild orgies. I am talking about young men and women who love the Lord.

We have one young man in Myanmar who will graduate from medical school soon. Another young girl there will receive an education degree. Another is presently taking classes so that he can design websites. He already knows how to repair computers and cell phones. When these young adults came to us as children they were destitute with hopeless backgrounds. When one has experienced living with so little and has been lifted out of a pit, there is a desire to do well and share their success with others.

At this point I will mention the personal testimony of a young lady who graduated from high school in Kenya with excellent grades. Lydia is also a product of the Bryce Homes Program in Kenya. Soon after we started the program, one of our pastors assembled 12 girls in a Bryce Home called Bryce Home Twelve. These girls all came from troubled situations. Some were being raped in their homes and feared for their lives. They attended a nearby school and we were able to provide food, shelter and a matron to watch over them.

The photo below is of a girl named Lydia. She was one of them. The photo was taken when I first met her.

She had run away from her home in the southern part of Kenya because her father threatened her with FGM. If you don�t know what that term means I challenge you to do a search on the Internet. You will be horrified.

The custom accepted from the tribe she was from in Kenya forced young girls to have this barbaric procedure done against their will. Apparently fathers can sell their daughters and get more for a dowry. Her sister had already been subjected to this barbaric procedure. Bryce Home Twelve took her in and provided the environment so that she could be safe and go to school.

Later God used another organization to support these girls and provide education for them. I met this girl this year when in Kenya. She has plans to get an education degree followed by an engineering degree. She also wants to become a public voice and raise awareness to the brutality of FGM in her country. She deserves every effort we can muster to help her connect the dots.

Another young lady by the name of Laura who is a recent graduate of high school is equally as brilliant. Her father is one of our Bryce Homes Kenya Board members and this entire family is also one our Bryce Homes. This family has needs as well and cannot afford her tuition. This girl wants to be a surgeon. She has graduated with very high standards according to the Kenyan education system. We plan to represent her as well to see if we can find a sponsor or at least to set up a fund for higher education. The list goes on and on.

I started this report by saying that God is speaking to us in a small voice but when the circumstances are so powerful you would have to be stone deaf not to hear what God is saying. The Bryce Homes Program, I believe, will assist young men and women to go to college and University. We will establish a fund for this or people can personally choose someone with a profile. One way or another I believe God will help us to connect the dots. Think of the potential. Think of what you or your family could do to help out. Our Bryce Homes Kenya Board can choose those young men and women who qualify. If a sponsor wants to have first-access to the student they sponsor, they will be able to. Now we see something we had never seen before. Investing in human lives in a small way is God�s way and will provide a formula that not only changes lives individually but even a nation.

As time goes by the vision is expanding from county to county, within countries, and country to country around the world. Obviously, one person, a board in Canada, and also one in the USA can only do so much. Have you ever tried to visit seventy or more homes in 7 countries spread around the world in one year? I have come to the stark revelation that I am not getting any younger.

The time has come to delegate some of the responsibility that I have been carrying to others. God is raising up others who have caught the vision. God knows who they are. This is His ministry, not mine.

In the next report I will describe what we are doing in Kenya to set up a structure that will make all hands there accountable for every decision that is made. We are already moving ahead to register our Bryce Homes Program with the Kenyan national government. This new board of directors in Kenya will be responsible to our Canadian and USA Understand The Times Boards. Overall, each member of the team, wherever the member is located is responsible to the Lord.

Now, I don�t want to have to finish this way, but I am compelled to write something. Our program is not without detractors. Understand The Times is the non-profit and Bryce Homes International is a ministry under the headship of UTT. Understand The Times presents the news from a biblical perspective and exposes various trends that show us we are living in critical and deceptive times. If you have ever read the Bible, you will have some understanding of what I mean.

When one exposes unbiblical practices today in the church it is comparable to stirring up a hornet�s nest. People who are steeped in tradition, dogmas and practices that they consider biblical but are not, hate the ministry of Understand The Times and me personally.

We do receive threats at various times in various ways. There are people who despise what we are doing when we simply post news items from secular sources even without comment. This not only happens from people in the world but also from so-called brothers and sisters in the church.

This especially occurs when the sacred cow of ecumenism is exposed. We live at a time when political correctness is accompanied by the cousin of religious correctness. If one insinuates that different religions worship gods other than the God of the Bible, he or she is considered to be a religious bigot and dangerous to society.

There are those who threaten to report us to government authorities and have us jailed because we tell the truth � that is, the truth according to the Bible. Perhaps you can understand if you are aware of church history that this is not the first time in history that this has happened. In the past there have been Christians who have been burnt at the stake as martyrs for their faith.

I am not saying this is what will happen again, but it is possible that tremendous persecution is ahead. In fact, persecution for Christians is happening all over the world in places like China, Myanmar and elsewhere. So far, we in North America have not had to face physical persecution, but fasten your seat belts, it is coming.

Those in the mainstream of Christianity in the world today don�t have to worry about this. They have already sold the farm. Their faith, while called Christian, is a sham and an ecumenical hodgepodge of beliefs that can be traced to Babylonianism. They believe in anything and everything in the name of Christ. Some believe that evolution is God. Some believe that the world is getting better and better while the world is going to hell.

The ones who will suffer are the ones who remain biblical, standing on the Scriptures. This is why I am finding the ministry in Third World nations to be so exciting. We are seeing the Book of Acts in action. These brothers and sisters have faith in God and not man. They are not about gathering possessions. They are dedicated to the true gospel and their desire is to see that others know Jesus Christ, the Redeemer.