Calling the less Equipped (Justice For Orphans)

I have thought alot about these last few weeks and what God has in store for the Orphans in Swaziland and Mozambique Africa (Childrenscup.org).God who will step up and provide, who are you going to call to meet this need. There are care points with Children depending on us for food and clothing, education, and love, and now they are shutting down, this cant happen, how will they make it, we must do something. I wont lie to you I used to be the guy that when I would see commercials on TV of the children in Uganda and Sudan I would turn the channel as soon as possible because I was scared, and honestly did not think a dime of my money would do a bit of difference for these children. I did not turn the TV because it freaked me out or made me mad at people asking for money, I turned the Channel because I felt guilty for not having alot to give, or thought that what I could give wasn't going to be enough to help these Children for any more than a day so why give them false hope. I have to say that after going to Africa twice now my heart has been so captivated with these precious children, and I have learned that any little bit that you give makes a huge difference. Weather money or Prayer, clothing or food, it all makes a difference. God who are you going to call. The answer he has given me has been the less Equipped. When we are weak he is strong, when we have little God takes that and does much. I have noticed that God has been gripping this young generation to make a difference for his kingdom, he has been calling teenagers without jobs or income, he has been calling college students that are willing to risk what little they do have to make a difference, he has been calling those without great influence to step and be bold, he has been calling those with a passion to start a fire in the hearts of men for something greater than themselves. He is calling those that are willing at all cost to see others reached regardless of what comfort they lose and pain it causes themselves as long as they can share the Love of Jesus to others. God has birthed an amazing ministry called children's cup that takes care of so many Orphans in Africa with many essential needs, food, clothing, education, etc. But we all know that in these difficult economic times resources are limited and fear is running lose in the world, due to alot of these circumstances many of these carepoints are having to shut down because of lack of funding. My prayer for you and me is that we ask God to show us what little things he wants us to give so that he can make alot. God specializes in working with the little things and turning them into big blessings. The little boy only had a few loaves of bread and some fish but God made basket fulls. I am in the process now of putting together an event where I will do a 24hr bike ride to raise money for the children, called Ironman for Orphans, anyone will be able to come out and ride or walk or run for however long they want to show and help raise support. I just want to take what God has placed in my hands and do the best I can with it, even if it's not that much, because it's the less equipped that God equip's the most, and those with a willing heart. If you have any desire to get involved please contact me on facebook or go to the Childrens cup website to see how you can give. www.childrenscup.org . But most importantly pray that provision will come for the children and that people will get involved in what is going on. Thank you all for reading and praying for the Children it is greatly appreciated and felt. IN HIS GRIP

IronMan For Orphans

This is gonna be awesome, for about a year now I have had a huge desire to do big fundraiser for the Orphans in Africa. After having the most amazing opportunity to go to Africa twice with Healing Place Church School of ministry and be apart of International Relief program I have wanted to do so much more for the Children. Our Idea right now is to do a, wait you ready for it. 24 hour Bike, Run, Walk event to raise money for the children. I will be biking for the full 24 hrs straight, but anyone will be able to come and bike, walk, or run for however long they desire to help support and raise money for the Children. 100% of the proceeds will go directly towards the children. In the process of thinking about this event there were many questions of how will we do it, where will we do it, and how will we get sponsors and partners, alot of that is still in the works but for the most part the planing stages are wrapping up. But we did know that we wanted to go big, we wanted to do something that would really be challenging but also allow people that would like to come out with family and friends for a few hours or just to show support for a little while for the event to be apart. So the 24hr Idea came up. You can go solo, you can have teams and do relays, you can unicycle if you want we just want people to get involved. Until we get the date set and location of the event I would like to ask you to pray for us as we continue getting this event together.Our goal is to raise between 50 and 100,000 dollars for the children.In efforts to reach this goal we are going to contact as many businesses in Baton Rouge as we can possibly find and also house to house outreaches to raise support. So as we get to a point where we are ready to kick off the event we will keep updates posted on facebook.com under Barton pickens for time and location if you want to get involved. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support, we could not do this without you and the children could not do it with out us.

Heather is Home and Recap

Here are some pictures of Heather in Mozambique and Swaziland Africa with the Team from Healing Place Church. They spent two weeks preparing and putting on the Vacation Bible School for all the kids. It is so great to have her back home but also I am so excited at what God has allowed her to be apart of on this trip. I love her so much, hope you enjoy the pictures and also I hope that God places in your heart a desire for Missions especially for Africa and the beautiful children there.