Kevin J. Bowman - a pilgrim trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus

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Come Alongside Me!!!

Monday, May 05, 2008 12:05 PM


I really must tell you the truth, I'd like to already be in Swaziland, working at the orphan village, pastoring and discipling these precious fatherless children. Since God has confirmed this calling in our lives, the path from here to there can seem discouraging and irrelevant.

Yet I know that is NOT God's way. To God no step along the path is irrelevant. I feel more than ever before I need to curl up close in the Father's side, and use my hands to join his work Here, Now, Today!

A Prayer: Holy God, I am so thankful for my precious second child and her love to work alongside me in our kitchen. I need to get my step stool out and join my daddy in his work. Thank you Lord for showing me that if I am alongside you, I am right where I need to be. Your Kingdom Come - On Earth As It Is In Heaven - In My Hands as they are guided by you!

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A 100 Person Family

Tuesday, April 08, 2008 2:42 PM

I don't know the answers to these questions. At least not on a functional level. I do know that through the power of Spirit I will learn the answers to these questions and others as we attempt to build a sense of family into the "orphan village" in Nsoko, Swaziland.

Here is a blog post by Gary Black, about the Nsoko orphan village, where our family will be moving to serve. This place is a haven of food, education, safety, and family for a group of the fatherless we will partner alongside the Swazi moms to knit into a family.

Dreaming big dreams are great to inspire us and set a goal even if their results are never practically realized. I see these orphan villages as being the redemption point of the disease of AIDS.

AIDS is a blood born disease. AIDS is DEATH in the blood. In the word of God BLOOD is always a symbol of life, "there is life in the blood." (Leviticus 17:14) So this epidemic of death is an attack on God's symbolic life. This attack is devastating. One needs not slide far down the slippery slope facing Swaziland and the rest of the southern African continent to see that a nation of orphans will be a people raised with no authority, no moral structure, and no hope. This disease decimates the people of Swaziland physically and also spiritually and emotionally. The very fabric of faith, the future of hope, and the participation in love ceases to exist as there is no example of these truths modeled and instilled into the kingdom's children.

DEATH and AIDS must be REDEEMED in Swaziland. Satan has used this plague to advance his kingdom. Yet, the Blood of Christ waits to make good what Satan has intended for harm. These orphan villages are redemption. Not in a macro way, not now at least, but in the lives of those who can be touched and can be trained, and can be taught to experience REAL ABUNDANT LIFE in Christ: the end of faith, the end of hope, the end of love that Satan intended through this pandemic of death can be reversed. The redemption of the plague of AIDS is when the causalities of it's consequences become the FAMILY of GOD knit together into a new tribe that will be EMPOWERED to take God to the nations.

That is the vision we hold onto, that is the future we claim, that is the truth we believe, though now it may be only hoped for, and in our lives it may remain unseen, we believe it in faith. God will REDEEM this pandemic of AIDS through fostering in these children a new future, a new family, and a new love!

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Follow Me and Fear Not

Saturday, March 22, 2008 10:52 PM

God has been very clear to us in our prayers through the Amazing revelation of his presence that He is calling our family to orphan work in Swaziland, on the southern tip of the African continent. I have obeyed God to in his command to "Follow Me" and we have been busily working to align ourselves with an organization to work with in that calling. Although, there is a lot to learn about each other from the organization we want to go with, we know that God is making roads and in a short while we will be ministering to the orphans of Swaziland.

I have not learned to trust God enough yet. "Fear Not" has eluded me for weeks. I have struggled, and fought with the looming fate of revealing this season of life to my boss. I have feared his reaction, since he is one of my best friends, and I did not want to disappoint him by moving on from serving as an employee in his companies, and yet we have known God's will revealed.

I told him today, fearing the worst, and God has prevailed and shown himself faithful once again. Where I feared anger and hurt, God has placed excitement and blessing. I wish I would have trusted God to "Fear Not" weeks ago and shared this amazing journey with my friend sooner.

I am so excited, and can not wait to see the many more movements of God as he leads us into this ministry! I can't wait till the day I make the post, "Swaziland Is Official" God has revealed his will, so pray for us as we wait for the cogs of humanity to catch up!

God Be Praised!!! The amazing power of resurrection!!!!

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Meeting Seth Barnes

Sunday, March 09, 2008 8:57 PM

As with most Sundays, our plan was to go to church as normal. Then yesterday we were excited to read on Seth Barnes blog that he was speaking in Chicago. So we zipped off a quick email, to find out what church and rearranged our plans to join him for worship. This meant getting up a little earlier than normal since this church started earlier than ours.

I got out of bed at 7:00 AM to grab a shower and be ready to walk out the door at 8:30. My oldest awoke with me, and asked if I could log her on to my computer to play Webkinz since she was up an hour early. Unfortunately, neither my wife nor I had remembered to reset the clocks for the time jump. As I booted the computer, which automatically adjusts clock, the reality of the time change came crashing in. I awoke the entire house in a tizzy, began throwing clothes on children, and rushing around to get a family of 5 dressed for a church where we are foreigners and out the door in now what was 20 minutes.

We made the departure, and arrived at the church, who did not start till 15 minutes late, on time. Children were settled and we were ready for the message. It was a great sermon, with 3 great points. Truly it seemed as if it was message God had spent a week preparing us to hear. . Seth first spoke of dreaming Big for God. That is not a problem around our house right now, we are talking quite often about the calling we both feel, we are talking a lot with the kids about the differences between US life and African life. We have been dreaming big since we God back from Swaziland. Seth's final point was to RISK for God's dream.

It was as if he was talking to me, and to my heart. This is where we are at. The dream is solid, the calling is concrete, and the risk is looming. Risk seems a four letter word. Dreams without risk are easy, since with no liability there is no loss. I was cut to the quick teetering between my passion for reckless abandon and my duty of responsible adulthood. I don't know what that means to my life and our family, but I know it is a balance that will teach me to be more dependent on God than I have ever known in the past.

After the service we got to spend some time with Seth. As we were talking Seth asked if I and the family would come to the teen class and let him "interview" us about the process we are going through. It was a VERY neat experience. No prep, no outlines, no points. Just Q&A about our trip, and how that has changed us, and changed our direction. I did most the talking, but even Christi shared about how holding a orphan with malnutrition, sickness, and most likely AIDS wrecked her world.

It was a great Lord's Day!!!! It was an honor to hear a message that seemed so directed to our hearts. It was an honor to meet this "newest" faith hero of mine. It was an honor to speak to these kids about exactly HOW BIG our God is. It was an honor, just to be a little player in God's great kingdom!

UPDATE: Sermon Audio from Western Springs Baptist Church

UPDATE 2: Who Is Seth Barnes - Seth Barnes is the director of Adventure in Missions and the World Race. His work is responsible for over 65,000 people finding a place in Short Term and Long term Missions. His Bio and Blog are both very informative.

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This Will Post Wreck Your Day

Friday, February 22, 2008 1:41 PM

Seth Barnes director of Adventures in Missions had this unbelievable post on his blog yesterday. The team he is talking about, is one of the very teams that who work feeding, educating, and discipling the Swazi orphans Five for 50 supports.

We have a team in Swaziland, that nation in Africa where nearly half the adult population has the AIDS virus. I received this email from Gary Black in Swaziland today and it wrecked me:

"The team found a four week-old laying on its dead mother yesterday, they kept it - we are getting it to the abandoned baby hospital Friday."

What do we do with this? That's my son's team down there. I don't know about you, but I'm outraged by a world that produces situations like this.

And while that may seem like a world away to many, for my son, it's as immediate as it is heart-wrenching.

The only thing that appalls me more is that so many of us Americans who can do something about this are more interested in stuff that will only ultimately burn up in the big fire.

God help us. God, help us to wake up. Help us to see how much you love the widow and the orphan. God help us to break as you are broken up over this four week-old.

God, help me to lose this tortoise shell religion that sheds these kinds of tragic situations like water. Forgive me God for not praying more. Forgive me for not emptying my bank account for your little ones. God, we have lost true religion. We have sought finer sanctuaries and better parking lots.

We have tried to fill our church pews with seekers, but we have not sought your children dying on their mother's chests. We need to see a way out of this mess that we've got ourselves in. God, help us in this 21st century mindset that we've acquired. I don't even know what else to pray.

Bono's famous "this is not about charity, this is about justice" quote could not be more true, and could not be more pointed than to US the people of God. We live in a dark world, but we are called to be light!

Support 5 for 50! If you are on Facebook add your monetary gift to my little fund raiser for 5 for 50. If you are not their work can be supported directly from their site.

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Swaziland - Thank you Winterfest Teens!!!

Monday, February 18, 2008 12:31 PM


We raised $150 on Saturday night at the Chicagoland group devotional after Winterfest. I am SO thankful to everyone who bought necklaces, and those who straight up just threw money in the box! Your response to the pandemic problem of AIDS and Poverty in the country of Swaziland was Awesome!

It's time we do more!!!! If you are on Facebook, please Join 5 for 50 as a start. Next goto Hopechest.org and find out more about the awesome work.

Also, watch this video:


Finally, Donate! Donate! Donate! I set a cheezy $316 goal for the next month. Please help me MEET THAT GOAL!!! Use this DONATE link to help now!!! If only my current Facebook friends help out, and at only $5 each that means we could raise $1300. It seems $316 to affirm our belief in God's Love is a simple task. Please Support the work of the Kingdom.

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Swaziland - Erin Wilson

Thursday, February 14, 2008 8:41 AM

Erin was one of the amazing people we spent a week with while in Swaziland. She had an article shared about her trip in her local newspaper.

The Children of Swaziland

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Swaziland - Moriah Center

Tuesday, February 05, 2008 12:16 PM

The highlight of our trip for me was our time at the Moriah Center. Moriah Center is run by a South African woman named Diane and her staff of four Swazi women who serve as the teachers. Diane and her small staff have amazing dreams for the future of Swaziland, and those dreams start in Big Bend.

Big Bend is a sugar colony in eastern Swaziland, lying on the Lusutfu River. The only enterprise in the area is the sugar. The plantations stretch as far as the eyes can see. In this area the sugar company controls everything. The electricity, water, and roads are used as the sugar company sees fit. Every skilled worker for miles around is on the payroll, and does only the work the sugar company orders be done. The sugar fields are plush green and yet only feet away from these seemingly endless acres of lush green is the harsh dusty reality that most of the sugar companies workers are oppressed into.

Moriah center, though an Oasis of hope in that depression, is so much than just another care point. Diane sees Moriah Center as the foundry of a new Swaziland. The UN population estimates for 2050 do not include a future for Swaziland. At a 46% AIDS rate the nation is dying. So Moriah Center is a place where orphans and the vulnerable children are being provided the future of God's Kingdom. Like the Biblical Mount Moriah this is a summit of God's presence.

As I wrote last night about the ABC of ministering in Swaziland, Moriah center's beauty is how they are already participating in all three steps of this plan. Even more exciting is their dreams to multiply into a more grand temple of the living God.

Appetites - Most of the care points we visited while in Swaziland were feeding a community of children who came and spent the day at that care point. During school holidays that number increased since those kids who were able to attend would no longer come once enrolled. Moriah center is not content to feed only those children who can not attend school. Each morning as the children able to attend school are walking past the Moriah Center, the staff is outside with a high vitamin nutrition drink that the children can drink as they walk. There as sandwiches available for those who would have no means for lunch to pick up and take with them as well. After the school age children are past an in their schools, Moriah Center then recieves the preschool age children who will be given the nutrition drink and sandwich in the morning, as well as a hot meal like the other care points in the afternoon. Diane's dream is to have the resources to provide a second hot meal after school hours where the her students and the school age children could receive a meal as they travel home.

Basic Education - Currently Moriah Center provides a preschool to begin the learning the process with her students. There are 3 teachers and they take local children and give them a basic education that will prepare those with the available resources to attend school once old enough. That basic education is not enough for Moriah Center. Big dreams for the future include and elementary school that would be able to continue the education of those who do not have the resources to goto school otherwise. Even bigger plans for the future include a sewing school, a carpentry school, and an electrical school to teach the children a trade they can use to break free from the cycle of poverty.

Christ - Kid's Church, Girls Purity Training, Bible Club, and a local Christian church are all part of the ministry at Moriah Center. Moriah Center is providing a backbone of Christian education that will be vital to the future of the Big Bend community. These young children and teens will be raised up hearing a message of God's plan for community rather than the plans they see modeled in the broken homes around them. Young girls are being taught about God's plan for sexuality, and His desire for purity in the marriage bed. Moriah Center realizes that a generation of Godly girls will need to be met with a generation of Godly young men, so it is therefore desiring to add Marriage, Family, and Purity training for the young men as well.

The beauty of Moriah Center is the ability to dream beyond a simple ABC plan, and instead be challenged to grow into a body that will be able to meet the needs for a new future in Swaziland.

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Swaziland - ABC Kingdom Building

Monday, February 04, 2008 9:30 PM

After a week of visiting many great care points and listening to the local ministry staff share their needs, and the dreams I desired to compile a simple mnemonic that would help my mind grasp the issues faced by the people ministering to the orphans and vulnerable children in these places. As I continue to process the memories of the sights and words from the trip I realize that a simple ABC solution well sums up the immediate needs faced by those working on the ground in Swaziland.

Appetites - Clean water and basic food should be considered a minimum human right in a world our resources. Yet the reality is this is not a human right, and were it not for the work of organizations like Children's Hope Chest and the tireless daily effort of the missions staff of AIM 1000 of orphans and vulnerable children in this country would goto bed without a meal every single day. One can not claim to have the Love of Christ in him and turn a blind eye to the starvation of fatherless children.

Basic Education - The future of Swaziland will look like the history of Swaziland if nothing changes. A starving child needing to be fed and cared for will grow into a starving adult if the future of life has no prospect. Survival is only an education for survival. The future of these fatherless children lies in eqipping them with the skills to transition into successful adults. Aid that stops at the full stomach is incomplete and merely procrastinates the need for long term solutions.

Christ - Kingdom building to starving children that wants to start here is doomed to fail. The presentation of God's redeeming power must come sequentially after food and education. These orphans must be redeemed from their destiny of physical starvation before they can shown the redemption of Christ. Swaziland has no future except for the hope of Christ being instilled into the young people at the Care Points. The heart change that calls these orphans to live differently than their culture will cause them to be a remnant in a dying people. Christ must be first demonstrated through programs that meet the physical and mental needs of these fatherless children, then ultimately preached as the fulfillment for the spiritual starvation around them.

This is the ABCs, the first building blocks of a future I learned Children's Hope Chest is working to provide in Swaziland. CHC needs partners, to join them in the construction of this future. But, we'll talk about those partnerships in another post.

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Swaziland: Processing The Trip

Sunday, February 03, 2008 8:11 PM

So here I sit at 8:00 PM CST in my home, my kids are cuddled in bed and Christi is already asleep. It is 4:00 AM tomorrow in Manzini. We arrived back in the US at 6:00 AM Eastern time and then transferred to Chicago for a 10:00 AM CST arrival, almost 24 hours exactly since we began our flight home from Johannesburg.

Extreme Poverty is an unexplainable reality. Meeting not 1 but hundreds of children that are orphaned and without any means for food can not be summed up in a simple paragraph. Watching a six year old start the trek back to her home, likely at least a mile away and possibly 3+ miles a way, with her 2 year old brother riding along her back is a deeply emotional experience not soon to be clawed from the forefront of my memory.

There is so much processing to do, and to much jet lag for it to be done now. Thank you for all the prayers! God Bless!

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Swaziland - Tuesday Update

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 2:03 PM

Yesterday we went to a place called the Moriah Center. I have Soooo much to say it avout it when I get home and can process things. It was wonderful, it is a feeding center, church, preschool, and orphanage all in 1. I will say more about it. I felt such peace when I was there, and I want to tell all you how we can be invloved in serving it's ministry.

At our decond stop yesterday Christi held a little girl for over an hour, who buy the cough, and sores on her body was VERY SICK and probably HIV posisitve. It was very hard for Christi to leave after she had, held, loved and mothered her. The Mageas (village mothers) said her mom had already died of the infection.

Heartbreaking! - I wish I could write more, please continue to read. Today had great visits also, and we are so excited to talk about all this upon our return.

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Swaziland Sunday Reflections

Sunday, January 27, 2008 9:28 AM

Here it is 2 days into the country. I have so much to say, and want to write so much more, but internet is very expensive, it is about $1 per minute. I would write then transfer via USB, but I can't do that either.

My heart bleeds for the children we saw yesterday at the care point. It was magical and beautiful! We played, and fed, and watched them study the Bible. We played more. We were at one of the gems of the ministry. Later in the day we visited the gem of the minidtry. The first care point had a multi-purpose building, water tank, locakable food storage, and enclosed toilets. The second point being the gem, had electricity, electric water pump, a 3 room school house, and housing for 2 teachers. It was amaziung how the kids can be ministered to.

My heart though was truly captured today in church. I have to tell you honestly, I could move here and worship like that EVERY Sunday! The worship was FULL of such joy. It was amazing. At one point the song leader and the pastor were dancing together in the aisle, it was beyond beautiful!!! The worship made the room giddy! I have not felt in the presecnces of such joy before God in a worship gathering EVER in my life.

We later met another man named Kevin Ward, who runs an orphanage, he had such hope for the future of Christ calling a remnant of God's people to rebuild the new Swaziland. It was inspiring to heqar his commitment to being Christ to the kids.

As I said, I will not post nearly as much as I desire to. Please pray for the people of Swaziland. Pray for the work of Children's Hopechest and the care points, which I have VOLUMES to write about. Please pray for Christi and I that God will continue to transform us into the kingdom builders his Kingdom needs.

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Leaving On A Jet Plane

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:39 AM

So the bags are packed, the faucets are dripping. The electronic devices are all turned off. Our ride will be arriving in the next few minutes! We are off to go be salt and light to the orphans of Swaziland.

As I am enjoying the last sips of my last cup of Starbucks for a few days, I am overwhelmed by so many emotions. My stomach is in knots, and yet I am as as giddy as a schoolgirl with a crush. Weird combination huh?

Please pray for us, and pray that God will change our hearts to more instep with His passion for His Kingdom!

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