open letter to supporters of children's cup

my dad just wrote this letter to supporters of children's cup. i think it's worth sharing here, too.

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.

My friend, Pastor Dino Rizzo of Healing Place Church (HPC), and I had breakfast together this morning. I can’t even remember tasting the food.

We talked about relationships—individuals and organizations—focusing together and combining resources to fulfill the Great Commission to “Go everywhere, tell everybody.” I’ve never known anybody more gifted at bringing people and groups together to impact the world with the Gospel. We have talked often about these “strategic alliances.” Pastor Dino has unselfishly brought his wide network of relationships to the table to help Children’s Cup.

HEALING PLACE CHURCH

Pastor Dino has led HPC to generously support Children’s Cup with finances, short-term missionary work teams, and even helped support HPC members to move to Swaziland to work with us.

JOYCE MEYER MINISTRIES

Dino connected me with Chad Daniel, a missionary friend who worked for Joyce Meyer Ministries. Dino encouraged Chad to introduce us to David Meyer, who directs the World Missions Outreach for David and Joyce Meyer. David started supporting Children’s Cup and then he and his wife Shelly, daughter Stephanie and son David spent a week with Jean and me in Zimbabwe. Our hearts knit and another layer of strategic alliance formed. JMM started helping us in Swaziland. I remember David saying, “Let’s think big and impact this country for Jesus.” Under David’s direction, JMM has put hundreds of thousands of dollars into creating OVC CarePoints in Swaziland—eleven are now up and running, caring for 3000 OVC (the UN acronym for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children) on a daily basis.

For every dollar ‘Cup has raised for Swaziland, JMM has matched that dollar and often doubled it. This is not a formal matching agreement—that’s just how generous their support has been.

MISSION OF MERCY

Pastor Dino introduced me to Kevin Donaldson, then director of Mission of Mercy, a child-sponsorship program. Dino, Kevin and Ron Barefield (my long-time friend that worked with Kevin) decided to do Mercy Cup Golf Tournament fundraisers to fund the building of more CarePoints (theirs are called Mercy Centers) in Swaziland and Mozambique.

Kevin’s successor director of Mission of Mercy, Dr. Wayde Goodall, has carried forward this great alliance with Children’s Cup, JMM and HPC. Mission of Mercy’s medical director, Dr. David Beyda, has visited Swaziland and has raised funding to build and operate a new clinic to help care for our 3000 kids. Dr. Beyda, the top pediatric doctor for a major institution in Phoenix, gives weeks of his life to come to Swaziland and train local doctors and nurses to deal with the challenges of AIDS and other diseases killing our children.

ASSOCIATION OF RELATED CHURCHES

Add another layer, ARC.

HPC is a member of this high-impact organization that has launched more than 30 new churches across the USA. Young ministers with the same pastoral DNA as Dino—some were his Bible College classmates—have started churches that grew from zero to several thousand members in just a few years. Dino has brought these pastors into shared planning for missions, including Children’s Cup. Some of the churches have already sent work teams to Africa to help us out.

AND YOU, CHILDREN’S CUP’S DONORS

We call you CupBearers and partners. You are individuals and churches—even some businesses. You are the financial foundation that provides the funds for us to keep up our end of the strategic alliances and implement the projects.

As your support widens Children’s Cup’s base, we are able to enter into more alliances with like-minded individuals and groups. These strategic alliances effectively multiply every dollar you send.

Surely Jesus, who prayed that we “might be one,” is delighted to see all this happen!