When was the last time you sang to me?

What does it mean to sing to Jesus? I love the words from the prophet Amos in the Message:

"I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I've had all I can take of noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice - oceans of it.
I want fairness - rivers of it.
That's what I want. That's all I want."

As our family forges ahead into the unknown, the words of Amos continue to echo in our ears. It is so easy to get blinded by the meetings, fund-raising and goals. Our prayer is that our family would be able to sing to Jesus... that our heart and mind would be that of Jesus and our hands and feet would match our Father, in our efforts to be a voice for the voiceless. Please pray for our family!
Thanks

The Family

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AIDS

AIDS!
How could you?
You thief.
Stop stealing the lives of the innocent.
They’ve done nothing to harm you.
You’re the daughter of Satan, the man with the gun shooting down a pheasant, or the cheetah chasing the youngest gazelle.
You cover up our eyes so we can’t see your victims.
Then shield our ears so we can’t hear their cries.
We pass by you and never seem to care.
I’m going to be a Good Samaritan and stop you right now.
Through education I’ll haunt you and in perseverance, love and belief you’ll die.
Like a frog on a highway we’ll crush you flat.
You’ll stay there forever mourning the day you tried to hurt God’s people.
We will celebrate every moment for we have saved lives.


By
Cassondra

This past year has been a remarkable time of God’s story unfolding in our family. For eight months, our family worked to organize, serve and mobilize a local church and community in Gulfport, Mississippi, devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Our twelve-year-old daughter Cassie was baptized; our ten-year-old daughter Mikayla learned to ski; our five-year-old son Collin started school and our family serving together at Watermark Church in Grand Haven. Another life changing event was Carol and I embarking on a trip to South Africa and Zambia. This expedition was pivotal in God redirecting His story for our lives.

Throughout our time in Africa, God wrecked our hearts as we experienced first hand the hardships of Africans (men, woman and children) dying of HIV/AIDS. Pastors perform an average of 3-5 funerals a week; teenagers raise their own siblings because mom and dad died; thousands of orphans are homeless and millions who live in appalling conditions. As a result of this escapade, God made it clear to Carol and me that we need to give our lives by providing hope, help and healing in the name of Jesus to our new friends in South Africa. Also, out of this experience we have been part of a pioneering effort in launching a new organization called Project Vox (please look at attached card, DVD and visit www.projectvox.net). Project Vox is a concerted effort to turn back the tide of HIV/AIDS. This is a new faith venture that we believe will lay the foundation for a broad based collaboration among missional-minded churches, both here and in Africa.

Our family feels so compelled by God that this June we will be taking a huge leap of faith and leaving everything that we are comfortable with: my job at CMP (17 years), family, friends, an amazing church, school, and neighbors. We have been asked to serve alongside an incredible group of pastors, leaders and radical God followers. Our family will initially be in South Africa for six months. Upon our return to the States we will continue our efforts by speaking up and doing whatever we can to mobilize American churches, businesses, colleges and individuals to define and invest in tangible solutions and begin doing something about the greatest pandemic in the history of mankind.

Along with several other organizations, Project Vox is partnering with Global Partners. Global Partners is the missionary arm of the Wesleyan Church and at this stage will be our sending agency while we are living in SA and mobilizing businesses, churches, colleges and resources stateside. Our relationship with GP will not only help us with credibility while we are in Africa, but will also assist us in streamlining our energies so we can concentrate on developing the infrastructure of Vox.

We are not only sharing the story God is writing through our family, but also asking how you can be a part of this story of offering hope and help. There are two ways you can partner with the Takas family. The first is through prayer. Our desire is for God to be at the center of every facet of our family, Project Vox initiatives, and our new friendships in South Africa. The second would be helping by investing financially. With the assistance of Global Partners we have generated a reasonable budget of $70,000 for the six months in SA and six months of mobilizing the American church stateside. This financial budget would handle almost every aspect of our yearlong mission in SA and stateside (travel, housing, vehicle, operational budget, insurance, etc…).

Thanks, for your prayerful consideration in partnering with our family!

Love,
Mike, Carol, Cassondra, Mikayla and Collin Takas