Untouchable No More: Get to know: Ben J.

7.21.2008

Get to know: Ben J.

The fourth in a series where we will introduce you to our team. Next, Ben J.

Greetings! My name is Ben Jones; I am 23 years old and I was born and raised in Lynnwood, Washington. I had the privilege of having(and still have) wonderful Christian parents, Dennis and Margaret, who taught me to seek Christ first in all things and set an example for me to follow. They graduated from Biola University in southern California as well as my grandparents and I am scheduled to graduate this December with a degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management. I am the youngest of 3. I have an older brother who is 25 who has been married to my sister-in-law, Genoa, for 3 and a half years. I also have an older sister who is 26 and currently lives close to me in southern California. I enjoy traveling, eating food from other cultures, taking photographs, climbing mountains, helping people in need and accepting new challenges. I am most satisfied when I follow Christ’s plan for my life. Our first day has been incredible and I am looking forward to working with the beautiful Indian kids!

1 comment:

Unknown said...: Sounds like you're having a good trip so far. I'm praying for you guys. Ben J., try to stay awake. See you when you get back to Grace.; July 23, 2008 at 1:09 PM

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Prayer

Here is how you can be praying for us.

- Pray for the Freedom of those oppressed by the Hindu caste in India.

- Pray for the continued support of the school. It is growing rapidly and despite all the expansion they've seen in facilities they're quickly outgrowing their facilities. They have big dreams to expand, pray for the support and funding to make it happen. It won't be on their own, they'll need a lot of help, but God has been faithful to provide thus far.

- Pray for the continued advance of the Gospel in an ever increasingly oppressed land.

Praise

Here is what we are praising God for

- We came together as a team. Held together by our Creator, we became a close-knit bunch.

- The school continues to grow! And there is no student in India who is getting a better education. (We may be a little biased but after seeing it first hand, I wouldn't doubt if it were true.) They continue to add students and teachers and have been able to expand the opportunities to teach and educate. And their dreams for the future are big!

- The Gospel is advancing!

much more to come...

Who we are

We are a group of adults and students from Nebraska who have been introduced to the idea that we are involved in an invisible world called the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ invited us to join Him on this narrow road that leads to a greater joy and fruit. Consequently being ruined for 'normal' living!

In 2003 we learned that there were millions of Indian Dalit who were cutting social and religious ties with Hinduism. The Christian Church offered what help they could. 'Educate our children' was the request. 'Even if our world-view is Biblical?' was asked. 'Yes!' was the response. So a group of Christian organizations committed themselves to operating schools for Dalit children. Our group knows a good challenge when we hear one. And this was big. More than 200 high school and college kids raised the money to build a school in 4 months!

The following summer it was decided we should go see where the school would be built and become acquainted with the teachers and students who were studying in a rented cattle barn. Hearing the teachers and leaders tell us that we were the first Americans they had met who 'followed' their money made us see this relationship differently. God had prompted us to send some money, but He was also very interested in us having our own lives change.

Each year we have taken a team of 10 or so to be in the school for a week. We plant ourselves in the classrooms to watch the teachers creatively educate these swarms of beautiful and unruly children with very few props. To watch the children grow and become brilliant and bilingual!

We return from our time there with our value system tweaked. We are more grateful for what we have, less consumer-oriented. We find that we are really impatient with ourselves for being petty or self-absorbed. India haunts us because we find that the same Spirit that is growing us up in Him here is at work there wrestling people away from death and slavery.