Posted on

Friends and Partners

This picture tells a thousand stories. I met Insaf (bottom left) in 1998 when researching refugee ministry opportunities in Istanbul (her husband, Shawki, is far right). They were refugees from Iraq. They turned my understanding of refugee ministry on its head. They had planted a refugee church in Istanbul by accident. Before finally getting resettled to Canada 🇨🇦 in 2001, they were also running a school for refugee children (that included a daily meal) out of the church. Insaf continues to serve refugees in the Middle East today with IAFR Canada.

Innocent is the African in the photo. He has a Burundian passport, even though he spent all but 3 months of his first 27 years outside of Burundi as a refugee. We met in Malawi back in 2007 (I think) and a have been partnering in ministry together in Dzaleka refugee camp ever since.

Then there’s Jake (middle). I met him in Malawi too. He was serving with Innocents organisation (There Is Hope). Jake joined IAFR when he and his wife returned to the states a few years ago. He presently serves as our Regional Leader for East Africa.

And Rachel is in the photo too. We first met when she was serving refugees in Athens. She and her husband, Tim, went on to pioneer ministry in Rome and later in London. They now serve with IAFR. She’s our Director of Training and Tim (not pictured) is our Assistant Director of Operations.

We all met at the North American Round Table of the Refugee Highway Partnership in Toronto last week.

I count myself blessed to be counted among their friends.

Posted on

Annual Board Meeting

I am thankful for the dedicated Board of Directors that stands behind everything IAFR does. I’ve heard some peers speak in terms of fear and trepidation when they plan their board meetings. I thank God for the team of Directors who may not always agree with me or one another, but who unquestionably have the good of IAFR in mind in all they do.

While we meet monthly through online video conferencing, September is the month when we have our Annual face-to-face Board Meeting here in Minnesota.

Our first board meeting was held outside of a Famous Dave’s restaurant in Minneapolis back in 2009, so we will maintain tradition and start off our Annual Board Meeting weekend with an informal meal by Dave’s in our porch on Friday evening.

We will then convene at the IAFR office all day Saturday. We will assess the past year of ministry, solve some challenges and take care of necessary business. This is not the shiny part of the work – but it is ever so important as the board assures we are faithfully pursuing our God-given mission of helping people survive and recover from forced displacement.

I welcome your prayers as I make final preparations for the weekend – and for the Saturday board meeting itself.

Posted on

Save the date

15 NOVEMBER 2019

You might want to be in the Twin Cities that evening. There is going to be a celebration 🎉

Curious? There just might be a helpful clue in my preceding post.

Be sure you are signed up for IAFR emails (just go to www.iafr.org and click the sign up link) for more details!

Posted on

IAFR Conference

Most of the IAFR team converged on Minnesota for a few days to retreat together this past week. It was a rich time of reconnecting, worship and learning. I am so grateful to be part of this amazing fellowship of the Highway.

Posted on

The Geek Hat

One of the challenges of pioneering a new organization or starting a new business is the need to wear many different hats.

Earlier this month I put on my geek hat as I migrated IAFR’s email accounts from one service provider to another. The trick in doing something like that is to pull it off without losing too many emails along the way.

I was on a big learning curve, but pushed the button and migrated everything over the July 4th holiday. There were a few bumps, but nothing too serious was lost in the process.

Perhaps the most painful bump was related to one of our most important email accounts – finance@iafr.org – through which donors contact us as well as our missionaries concerning all things related to funding. We seem to have lost about a week’s worth of email between 3 – 10 July.

I feel pretty helpless in ever being able to recover those emails and I truly hope no serious issues result from it.

The good news is that everything is running smoothly again.

_______

I want to give Microsoft for Nonprofits a big shoutout as they accepted us into their nonprofit program and are giving us Microsft Office 365 and email services at significantly discounted prices. It is an unbelievable service to young growing nonprofits like IAFR!

Posted on

10

I can’t let this day pass without thanking people like you that have encouraged, prayed for and supported IAFR during our first 10 years of ministry!

We registered as a nonprofit in Minnesota on 30 June 2009. At the time, I was filled with questions concerning where God would take us. All I knew was a clear sense of calling that it was time to establish an international mission designed for ministry in humanitarian space.

I look back today and see God’s fingerprints all over the journey.

How thankful I am to have the privilege of serving refugees since 1980!

Posted on

IAFR Canada 🇨🇦

I spent the past few days in Toronto meeting with the executive leadership of IAFR Canada. We meet face to face twice annually in order to invest in our relationship, assess progress and challenges, listen to God and confirm our commitment to partnering internationally as we pursue our common mission.

We ended our time together last night gathered in the backyard of one of the board members for a tasty supper of Lebanese kebabs (photo).

It was encouraging to have met some of their new teammates as well as sit in on their board meeting. It is a joy and privilege to be serving together along the Refugee Highway.

Posted on

Dignity and hope

“You guys are all about restoring dignity and hope to people.”

That’s what a professional consultant and marketer told me after spending six hours together with him and a handful of friends last weekend. They had come to hear about the ministry of IAFR. After a 30-45 minute overview, they pummeled us with questions about refugee realities and what the work looks like on the ground. It was so encouraging.

It was clear the consultant/marketing guy was running all we said through his filters as he tried to identify IAFR’s unique contribution to the world of refugee response. And I think he nailed it.

Human dignity and hope are no small thing,
just ask someone who has lost them.

He also offered to help us sharpen our communication about the mission and impact of IAFR. I look forward to taking him up on it.