Bowling Green Covenant Church

Good news to report from the The Daughter Project Website. Check it out – http://thedaughterproject.org/weve-got-land

CNN ARTICLE

West Pokot, Kenya (CNN) — More than 13 years after his parents drowned in a flash flood, David Kakuko is at the Moruny River, building a bridge that might have prevented their deaths.

The hanging footbridge will provide safe passage over the Moruny, a frequently flooded waterway in West Pokot, Kenya.

“Before the bridge, there [were] so many people, so many who lost their lives,” said Kakuko, 32. “I know, because I have no parents. I have no parents, because this river took them.”

Kakuko is working alongside other local residents and Harmon Parker, a master mason who has been building bridges through Kenya’s mountainous terrain since 1997.

Parker, a Lexington, Kentucky, native who came to Kenya in 1989, has seen firsthand how flash floods — and the threat of predators such as crocodiles and hippos — can make rivers impassable in isolated communities.

“I’ve worked all over Kenya,” said Parker, 54. “And every community [has] a story of … loved ones lost.”

When Parker arrived in Kenya as a young missionary, he befriended Jay Hindson, a fellow mason and development worker who introduced him to a bridge build in 1996. The experience changed the course of his life.

“It was a plea from the community,” Parker recalled. “I saw that building a bridge could change lives and transform communities.”

Harmon Parker has been building footbridges in Kenya since 1997.

Parker has been building bridges ever since, and in 2003 he founded the nonprofit organization Bridging the Gap. The organization oversees the building of bridges that not only save lives but connect isolated villagers to resources that can improve their way of life.

“When it floods, people really suffer not being able to get to the clinic or the market or to their school,” Parker said. “Like every people, they have dreams. They want to prosper.”

Since 1997, Parker has helped build 45 bridges in Kenya. He estimates they’ve affected tens of thousands of lives, but he insists his work is not about the numbers.

“I have built many bridges in very remote areas for the ‘few and the needy’ that a larger organization may not consider,” he said. “Knowing this bridge will probably save at least one life is what makes me tick. … I build bridges because I want to save lives, lives that I will never know about.”

Parker’s hanging footbridges are simple in design, with an average length of 120 feet and an average cost of about $6,000. They are built using basic materials and local tools so villagers can maintain them and make repairs when needed.

There is high demand for Parker’s help. But because of limited financing, he is able to organize only five or six projects a year.

To determine which projects he takes on, Parker visits the village that initiated the request. To qualify for a bridge, the river in question must be considered a peril to cross. It also has to inhibit access to education, health care or commerce.

Parker also requires that the community demonstrate a willingness and ability to participate in the construction of the bridge, whether it’s by gathering sand, making gravel or digging foundations.

It’s “so they can take pride in their bridge, so that they feel they played a big role in it and that they have ownership,” Parker said.

Kakuko has no problem with making that commitment.

“It is good for us, because this is our bridge,” he said. “It is not for the men who gave it to us. It is ours. So people should guard and watch over it like it is their own.”

Although the bridges are sponsored by donors, villagers are also expected to provide some form of financial contribution.

“I don’t know how many goats I have in this region. But they always give me a goat,” Parker said. “I was even offered a young wife in a real rural area. And I had to refuse that.”

Parker’s work requires that he spend weeks, even months at a time away from his wife and home in Nairobi. And over the past 15 years, he’s been robbed at gunpoint, plagued by parasites and afflicted with grave illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever. But he doesn’t see his role as sacrificial.

“I feel I’m blessed … privileged to do what I’m doing,” he said. “A bridge is a beautiful metaphor for many things. There are bridges of hope, bridges of peace, bridges of life. To me, bridges are beautiful.”

Want to get involved? Check out the Bridging the Gap website at www.bridgingthegapafrica.org and see how to help.

By 7PM EST, CNN will be posting Harmon’s narrative and related videos on their CNN Heroes website: http://www.cnnheroes.com

Harmon will be featured as “Hero of the Week.”

Follow this story at these sites as well:

• FACEBOOK – http://www.facebook.com/bridgingthegapafrica
• TWITTER – http://twitter.com/btgafrica
• WEB SITE – http://www.bridgingthegapafrica.org/

Please pass the word along.

HARMON PARKER CNN HEROES AWARD

Our brother, Harmon Parker, has been nominated for the 2010-11 Heroes Award from the CNN News Channel.

This is a tremendous honor, and a recognition that will bring great attention and focus to Harmon’s important and life-affirming work for Bridging the Gap Africa. His noble efforts save lives, build community, and increase commerce for East Africans, but, most importantly, bring glory to God.

As a result of this nomination, Harmon will be featured this coming week in a broadcast of a featured report documenting Harmon’s humanitarian work, whose first airing will be this Thursday, August 19th, 2010 in the 9-10pm EST Larry King Live (LKL) hour on CNN.

“CNN Heroes: Harmon Parker” is scheduled to premiere in a SHORTENED version, with the FULL LENGTH version airing in ALL other non-LarryKinglIve slots according to the following, breaking news contingent, schedule (**All times are given Eastern Standard Time **Slash indicates re-air):

THURSDAY
CNN: 9-10p LKL Profile / 12-1a (shortened version)

FRIDAY
CNN: 8-9a, 11a-12p, 2-3p
HLN: 6:30-7a, 1:30-2p, 6-7p, 8-9p/10-11p/1-2a
CNNI: 2a, 7a, 8p

SATURDAY
CNN: 10-11a, 3-4p, 5-6p,10-11p/1-2a
HLN: 8-8:30a, 2-2:30p

In the near future, you will have the great opportunity to vote for Harmon’s candidacy for the CNN Heroes Award, and when that process is established within the CNN web site, we will alert you to take action. Meanwhile, please plan to watch this broadcast at one of the times listed and to visit this cnnheroes.com website and the sites below to follow Harmon’s work and progress toward this award.

The following statement is from the producer of the CNN Heroes series:

“As is always the case, CNN Heroes airings are subject to the spontaneous demands of breaking news and can be bumped from the schedule without notice. Harmon’s piece, text article, “Extra” video piece and Bridging the Gap’s weblink will be viewable on the main page of cnnheroes.com from the day of debut until the next CNN Hero debuts the following week. It will remain on the Heroes 2010 gallery link page for at least the remainder of the year.

“We would, of course, love to hear from you about any impact that comes to Bridging the Gap as a result of the coverage, and thank you for your considerable investment in our efforts to bring Harmon’s work to the attention of the CNN audience.”

WEATHER ALERT PLEASE NOTE:

Anytime Wood County declares a Level 2

snow emergency,  Sunday service and or all

Wednesday night activities are canceled.

Dear BG Covenant Church,

Here is an excerpt for our Membership Handbook which explains why church membership is important.  The membership class starts this Sunday after our regular church service. We have plenty of handbooks, so if you have been undecided about becoming a member of BG Covenant Church, you can still stop by Sunday and see what it is all about.  Pastor Malanga will be happy to talk with you.  Childcare will be available and lunch will be served.

Why is Church Membership Important?

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”—Acts 2.42

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”—Ephesians 3.10,11

At Bowling Green Covenant Church (BGCC) we welcome people who attend our church. We encourage those who attend to worship, share the Lord’s Supper and hear the preaching of God’s Word with us. We also believe it is biblical to ask people who attend our church to consider making the commitment to become members of our church.

The Scriptures cited above illustrate the wisdom of making the commitment for membership in a local church. Acts 2.42 teaches that church membership connects us with a community of people focused on trying their best to follow Jesus Christ. Ephesians 3.10,11 tells us that church membership connects us to a mission that is larger than ourselves, as well as helping to define our purpose as followers of Jesus Christ. It is through the church that God has chosen to display His manifold (literally, multicolored) wisdom. Thus the diversity of the church’s membership is the grace of God in action.

We invite people to become members of our church because we are convinced from Scripture that the church is a community of people through whom and in whom God the Holy Spirit is working to build the kingdom of God by telling people about Jesus Christ.

The New Testament teaches that when a man or a woman made a faith commitment to follow Jesus Christ they did so in the context of a community of other men and women. The Bible makes it clear that membership in the church needs to be based on more than just a solid record of attendance at Sunday services. Before a man or a woman makes the commitment to become a member of the church, he or she must first make the commitment to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Jesus defined the requirements for becoming His follower, or what the Bible calls a “disciple” (literally, learner) in a nighttime conversation with a man named Nicodemus, a prominent Jewish religious leader. In the conversation, Jesus challenged the way Nicodemus understood what it meant to be a follower of God. As you read the following passage from the Gospel of John, put yourself in Nicodemus’ sandals and imagine hearing Jesus’ words the way he might have heard them.

“Narnia” mania is about to crank up again with the release of the movie Prince Caspian on May 16. This is the next movie in The Chronicles of Narnia series, based on the books by C.S. Lewis.

John Blok is joined by Bowling Green State University’s Dr. Bruce Edwards who has served as a C. S. Lewis Foundation Fellow at the Kilns in Oxford, England.

Dr. Edwards explains how he first discovered C. S. Lewis (listen).

 

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