Pipeline, Winter 2007

PIPELINE REACHING THE WORLD WITH WATER & THE WORD WINTER 2007

THIS ISSUE...

TH E ROAD TO NO RTH UG AN DA

SHOP FOR CLEAN WATER

GULLIKSONS SAY GOODBYE TO HONDURAS

GIVE GIFTS OF LIFE THIS CHRISTMAS

2007 GALA & OPEN HOUSE NIGERIA: BRIDGING THE GAP

WAYS TO GIVE IN 2008

G

A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT

PIPELINE VOLUME 6

NUMBER 4

LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL

God continues to increase the capacity and expand the outreach of Living Water International around the world. In the next year, we plan to distribute

Executive Director

Gary Evans

President

Jerry Wiles

10,000 bio-sand filters, repair 1,000 broken hand pumps, drill 750 new wells

Vice President

Lew Hough

Vice President

Tim Mulville

Vice President

Bruce Whitmire

and teach thousands simple health and hygiene principles.

In Ephesians 3:20, Paul reminds us that God is able to do above and beyond

Living Water International exists to demonstrate the love of God by providing desperately needed clean water and medical attention, along with the living water of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone satisfies the deepest thirst.

all that we ask or think. We know that we cannot do anything without His guidance. We are so grateful for your partnership with us and

PIPELINE is published quarterly by Living Water International to raise awareness about the global water crisis and to inspire Christians everywhere to respond with compassion to the needy of the world.

pray God’s richest blessings for your part in advancing His kingdom.

At this time of year, this holiday season, time

We welcome your stories, comments and/or address changes. Send them to: The Editor, Pipeline, PO Box 35496, Houston, TX 77235-5496 or e-mail the editor: pipeline@water.cc.

seems to fly by. I encourage you to find small moments of solitude and to rediscover Christ in Christmas. Contemplate what

Living Water International is a nonprofit Christian organization and tax exempt by the IRS under code section 501(c)(3). Gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law. Contributions are solicited with the understanding that the donee organization has complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds.

it means to be a Christ-follower during this holy season.

In this issue, you’ll read about communities in Uganda and Nigeria that have been radically transformed by clean water and the hope of Christ. This season,

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

please consider giving the gift of clean water to desperate communities like these around the globe. Such a simple gift can make a world of difference.

Thank you, again, for your dedicated prayers. Let us return the favor. Our staff has a daily devotion time together and would love to know how we can pray for

All photos by staff and volunteers of Living Water International unless otherwise noted.

you. If you would like us to lift you up in prayer, e-mail your prayer request to

COPYRIGHT © 2007 BY LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL INC.

pipeline@water.cc.

IN THIS ISSUE

THE JOURNEY TO WATER LWI Uganda was on their way to Gulu when they saw women gathered at a mud

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| THE ROAD TO NORTH UGANDA

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| BRIDGING THE GAP

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| BLESSED BY OUR SUPPORTERS

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| WAYS TO GIVE IN 2008 | GULLIKSONS SAY GOODBYE TO HONDURAS

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| ADVENT CONSPIRACY

hole beside the road, fetching water. The crew repaired the broken well on the other side of the road, and now, the women

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gather at the well.

Combined Federal Campaign # 10788

EVANGELICAL

PRESS ASSOCIATION

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news BE INFORMED • GET INVOLVED • GIVE

PRODIGALSONMAG.COM LAUNCHES A FAITH EXPERIMENT ProdigalSonMag.com recently launched OneMillionWitnesses.com, a new faith experiment whose goal is to “share how you have been blessed and bless others.” Founder Jason Wenell hopes the site will become an online monument to God that shares His goodness with others, sparking a movement of love and worldwide change.

Wenell and his wife, Shanelle, developed OneMillionWitnesses.com not only as a means of encouragement, but to bless others by providing for those in need. The site’s first mission is to help Living Water International provide 100 water wells in Liberia.

When a user enters the site they will see hundreds of little blocks. The idea is to get users to purchase a block for a minimum $10 donation, benefiting LWI. Users can tack on their own personal testimony or story of God’s love to their block, which can include anything from a job promotion to a physical healing.

As this experiment catches fire, their tagline — “Changing the world, one story at a time” — will become a reality. The small voices will become one large message. Jesus is real and small ripples of His love can make a worldwide impact.

Be a witness on OneMillionWitnesses.com. Share your story and help LWI bring clean water to 100 Liberian communities.

DRINK WATER TO GIVE WATER Take the challenge!

Make water your only beverage for two weeks. Save the money you would normally spend on soda, juice, tea and coffee and drill a well with Living Water International for a community in desperate need. Visit http://livingwater.theh2oproject.org to learn more.

STOCKING STUFFERS Gifts of appreciated stock offer additional tax savings for you and also benefit LWI. You avoid capital gains tax and receive a tax deduction for the full value of the stock on the date of transfer. For these tax advantages, you must have owned the stock for at least one year. For additional information call Sandra at 281.207.7817 or call Michael Bow CPA, CFP at 281.265.2697.

VISIT US ON THE WEB! MySpace, Flickr, Facebook… social networks seem to be the new equivalent to hanging out at the mall or gathering around the water cooler – it’s where friends from across the street and across the globe gather to share the things they care about. LWI is part of the conversation at these and other popular sites; we invite you to drop by to show your support. See photos and videos, and join the dialogue about being part of the solution to the global water crisis.

Change.org – www.change.org/lwi Flickr – www.flickr.com/groups/lwi MySpace – www.myspace.com/livingwaterinternational Facebook – www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2356646101 Virb – www.virb.com/lwi Razoo – http://beta.razoo.com/groups/lwi

GOODSHOP FOR CLEAN WATER Now you can shop online and earn money for Living Water International at the same time! Hundreds of great stores – including Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy’s and Barnes & Noble – have teamed up with GoodShop.com, and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause. Just go to www.GoodShop.com and be sure to enter LWI as the charity you want to support. Be sure to spread the word!

TH E ROA D TO NO RT H U G AN DA

BY STAN PATYRAK

240 MILES For those living in Texas, we know the distance from Houston to Dallas is about 240 miles – a four-hour journey on most days. In Uganda, 240 miles connects Entebbe to Gulu, south to north – no stop signs, no street lights. Roads are made more of holes than cement. This 240-mile trip can take seven hours.

One does not have to look closely to notice that a majority of those traveling by foot along this road have water on their mind. Everywhere you look there are young girls and women carrying jerry cans (narrow yellow jugs commonly used to carry water in Africa). Everyone is either going to gather water or coming back with heavy, full jugs. For most, these distances are best measured in kilometers and hours.

There is an incredible story told by what those jerry cans hold – it’s either clean water or it’s not.

NOW WE WAIT EIGHT MORE HOURS Over and over again we pass communities bathing in and drinking from drainage ditches, while just kilometers away, other communities are gathered around a hand pump. For LWI Uganda, it is refreshing to see hand pumps (although few) in place and working, as some reports cite that only half of Uganda has access to clean water.

About halfway through our journey north, we made a stop at an elementary school. A crowd of people

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around a hand pump caught our attention.

School was not in session that day, but the hand pump certainly was. It was early in the day and we were warmly welcomed. Men, women and children spoke with us, while always keeping one eye on the steady flow of water entering their jerry cans. One man had brought four jerry cans in a wheelbarrow. While one full jerry can – weighing approximately 44 pounds – was being replaced with an empty one, water began to hit the cement pad. It made little sense to me why a few members of the crowd seemed to get angry that this was happening, reacting strongly to the girl tending to the jerry cans.

And then, the water stopped flowing. The well had been pumped dry and needed time to recharge.

As the last few drops trickled from the pump, many from the crowd left with their empty jerry cans. We asked a young boy how long it would be before they could get water again.

He shared with us that they would have to wait eight more hours. When asked how close the next hand pump was, no one really knew.

Frustration over the wet cement made perfect sense now.

THE 100 CLICK WELL An hour or so later, just south of the Nile River and about 100 kilometers (clicks) from Gulu, LWI Uganda made another stop. This time a crowd was not around a hand pump; rather, a group of women were on their knees around what was nothing less than a mud hole. Tree branches lined the hole to give better access to the only drinking water for kilometers.

Top Left: A girl in a bright white dress fills her jerry can from a mud hole near the side of the road. Across the road is the “100 Click Well.”

Bottom Left: Young Ugandans collect water from a storm drain.

Above: Water flows from a well nearby an elementary school. Soon after this photo was taken, the well ran dry and everyone left. Eight hours later, after the well had recharged, they returned.

Opposite Page: Women and children crowd around the newly repaired “100 Click Well.”

Watching a beautiful young girl in a clean, bright white dress fill her jerry can from a mud hole made her dress seem whiter and her drinking water seem muddier.

There is always a deeper story in what fills jerry cans. Water is rarely ever just water. Instead, it almost always represents greater issues of dignity, health, education, development and hope.

We asked these ladies if this was the only drinking water they had. They pointed across the road to a field overgrown with grass, telling us, “Our hand pump is broken.”

LWI Uganda followed where the ladies had pointed. About 50 yards from the main road was a broken hand pump, a growing problem in much of the developing world and an indicator of great need for a truly community-based approach to water solution implementation. All over the world, jerry cans that once held clean water have become filthy again. It’s hard to know what is worse – a community that has never had clean water or one that has experienced community transformation from clean water, only to lose it.

We spoke with a teenage boy named David Bekar, who shared with us that this pump had been broken for over a year. According to David, everyone now has typhoid and cholera. We promised David, the women, and the beautiful girl in the white dress that we would return to repair their well.

Two days later, LWI Uganda returned. David met us at our vehicle while the Ugandan crew began to unload supplies, asking us why we were there. When sharing with him and others that we were there to repair their well, all David could say was, “Today

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PIPELINE

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Top Left: A new pump cylinder lying against the old, corroded pump cylinder from a well in the Koro IDP camp. Bottom Left: Clean water flows again from a well after LWI Uganda repaired it and two other wells in Koro IDP camp. Opposite Page: An LWI Uganda crew member repairs a well at the Koro IDP camp while those who live there wait with jerry cans in hand, anticipating clean water.

will be a wonderful day.” An hour later, the community was drinking safe, clean water for the first time in a year. The crowd around the mud pit moved across the road.

Within a month of repairing the “100 click” well, LWI Uganda returned yet again to drill a deeper well in the same area. In addition, LWI Uganda is working with this community to facilitate a community-led church plant.

ALL OF OUR PUMPS ARE BROKEN After nearly two decades of violence perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), it is estimated that there are as many as 1.6 million people displaced in Uganda. The LRA is directly responsible for the killing and kidnapping of tens of thousands of civilians, and is believed to have abducted 20,000 children and forced them to fight as rebels. Today, many ex-child soldiers, as well as victims, can be found in IDP (internally displaced person) camps – camps like Koro.

Once home to 14,000 people, Koro is now home to 7,000 people.

Some of the original population has been able to rebuild into homes, many others have simply relocated to other camps. We met Francis while visiting the Koro IDP camp. Our first conversation occurred over a broken hand pump. He told us that the pump we were looking at has been broken for almost a year. He continued by saying, “All of our pumps are broken.”

Actually, he was wrong. The pump on the contaminated well worked.

At best, Koro IDP camp once had four working wells. Every day, 14,000 people would utilize four hand pumps, working them 24 hours a day. When the population began to recede, so did the number of working pumps. The one working well in the camp was about a kilometer away, directly downhill from community latrines.

Francis shared with us that because it was the only working well, it was impossible to convince residents not to use it, despite known contamination.

We watched woman after woman and child after child come up that hill after collecting contaminated water with jerry cans on head.

The water in those jerry cans told the story of the displaced people living in Koro.

OF LOSS & JOY

BY KATE PHILLIPS (KATE TRAVELED TO UGANDA WITH LWI IN AUGUST 2007)

My time in Northern Uganda is like a series of puzzle pieces that I have yet to fit together. The coexistence of an extreme capacity for joy and unimaginable loss I witnessed there, was as foreign to me as the food, the language, and the culture of reconciliation observed by the Acholi people. Pain and hope make a home together in Gulu, just as those terrorized by the Lord's Resistance Army have found a way to live again with its former members. The tension existed in almost every facet of our trip.

People who eat one meal a day roasted their best goat in our honor and baked us a cake. A little boy covered in dirt and born into war hugged my neck and sang to me, "God is so good." It is the tension now of my world, in which my education, my financial stability, and my secure home greatly contrast the lack of opportunity, abject poverty, and the looming fear of insurgency of my friends in Uganda. I am not sure that the pieces will fall into place in my lifetime, but for now I will live in the tension that my new memories bring. I believe that is where God is at work, both in my heart and in the world.

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Yet, within the same IDP camp, written boldly on a mud hut, were words of hope: “Be happy every day in Jesus Christ.”

A day later, LWI Uganda returned to begin repairing Koro’s broken wells.

The broken well that Francis and the LWI Uganda team visited around had broken because of a $5 chain link – $5. A year of corrosion on pump parts warranted a full replacement of the entire pump.

A crowd of children stood by for the two-hour repair, staring intently at the pump, anticipating the first drop of clean water.

One woman named Joysee came and asked LWI Uganda why we were here. When told that the pump would soon be repaired, all she could do was smile and then told us, “We have been suffering a very long time.”

Once repaired, clean water began to pump. I am not sure if much water even hit the cement pad before it began to enter jerry cans. The crowd of children rushed towards the well site and an audible cry of joy could be heard. A few hours later, Dixon with LWI Uganda shared: “I have only heard cries of joy like that one other time – from my family on my wedding day. It brought tears to my eyes.”

YOU CAN HELP By building relationships with communities, helping to create or strengthen water committees, building a local presence in each country we work, and implementing maintenance schedules for existing projects, Living Water International makes every effort to ensure that water today means water years from now. However, in the areas we work, we continually come across broken hand pumps, just like those in Uganda. As you have read, a broken hand pump is devastating for a community – causing many communities that have experienced marked development to regress.

While still increasing the number of new wells drilled in 2008, LWI has a goal to repair over 1,000 hand pumps in the next year.

Finding them will not be hard. Funding them is perhaps the most cost-effective means of providing clean water for communities.

In many areas where LWI operates, a hand pump serves approximately 1,000 people. For only $1,500, LWI can work with a community to completely repair and rehabilitate a non-functioning well, restoring clean water to a village that has been forced back to a mud hole or other contaminated water source.

You see, there is always a deeper story in what fills jerry cans, and you can be a part of that story. www.water.cc

PIPELINE

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Csjehjoh uif!Hbq LWI NIGERIA USES CLEAN WATER TO BRIDGE ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS GAPS IN AFRICA’S MOST POPULOUS COUNTRY

BY MELANIE DEWVEALL

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Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and one of the fastest growing on earth, is home to more than 144 million people that align themselves into 250 ethnic groups. Such diversity has often spurred cultural, economic and religious conflict within the country. Today, conflicts over resources, like oil reservoirs in the southeast, and underlying economic, social and political factors tend to manifest themselves along Christian/Muslim or ethnic lines.

The 47-year-old republic, most recently restored to civilian rule in 1999, is largely segregated: the north remains primarily Muslim, while the southeast is largely Christian. Disputes over land and government power have led to violence on both sides.

While many things divide them, one thing remains common – their need for clean water, sanitation and a better life. Half of the population lacks access to clean water and adequate sanitation. More than 90 percent live on less than $2 a day.Living Water International Nigeria is bridging the gap to demonstrate God’s love to animists, Christians and Muslims alike through the provision of clean water.

The central Nigerian community of Egbe is a microcosm of Nigeria’s population.

Half of the population is Muslim, while the other 50 percent practices Christianity or animist beliefs. Half of its population is from the Fulani tribe, while the other half is from the Yoruba tribe.

In this community of nearly 600,000, LWI Nigeria drilled a large capacity well on the grounds of a Christian hospital run by the Evangelical Churches of West Africa (ECWA). The hospital serves approximately 20,000 people with a variety of afflictions and offers counseling and testing for HIV and AIDS patients. It also houses one of the best nursing and midwifery schools for women in western Nigeria.

The staff had been running the hospital without sustainable clean water for a long time, and was ecstatic to finally have a well on the premises. Without clean water, treating patients was difficult. Patients would often need to bring water with them for their stay. In the United States, this situation is difficult to conceive, but in Nigeria and all over the developing world, hospitals do not always have the luxury of something as simple and crucial to human health as clean water. Now this hospital can offer patients clean, safe water and improved health.

Thirty kilometers outside of Egbe, LWI and Sunny Okorie drilled a well in the mostly Muslim community of Okoloke.

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Before the new well was drilled in March 2007, people relied primarily on ponds, rainwater harvesting and shallow, open hand-dug wells for their water supply. These sources of water were unreliable at best and deadly at their worst.

Clean water often bridges a spiritual gap, creating open doors where none previously existed. In this community, Sunny and his wife, Florence, were able to share why they had come to provide clean water. Through this physical demonstration of love, through clean water, some people began to see a Jesus that loves them and cares about them. Eight people from Okoloke crossed the spiritual gap that day.

Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and former capital, is located near the coast in the southwestern corner of Nigeria. It supports a population of 14 million. Karimu Street houses

1,500 people, a mosque and a Foursquare Gospel church. Although they live in a large urban center, the people on Karimu Street didn’t have a steady stream of clean water from the public tap system. When it ran at all, the low pressure produced only drizzles.

LWI Nigeria drilled a 65-foot well with a hand-rotary rig on the church’s property in October 2006. They installed a storage tank and piped the water outside the church walls to three tap stands along the street.

The well serves thousands in the surrounding community, including a mosque two blocks down the street.

Rev. Luke Egbonuba, the church’s pastor, immediately began providing free water to everyone in his community. “I want everyone to know that it’s out of the love of God we are doing this,” he said. Without this free water, the people on Karimu Street would be forced to buy water from large water tankers that patrol the streets. When people fill their buckets from these taps, they know that it is love in liquid form.

LWI Nigeria’s Dr. Sunny and Florence Okorie have lived the life of those they serve. Their families both worked for the Nigerian government and fled Enugu to their home villages during Nigeria’s civil war (1967-1970). Florence and her family lived in Amaigbo, and every day, she would walk five miles to fetch polluted water from the Nwangele River.

Please pray for the work of LWI Nigeria as they bridge gaps with clean water.

Top: People fill their buckets and jerry cans from the three water taps at the Foursquare Gospel church on Karimu Street. Bottom: Locals get water from the new well in Okoloko, Nigeria. Top Right: A typical source of water for communities in Nigeria. People sometimes walk for miles to gather water like this.

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Blessed By Our Supporters $1.76 million raised at ninth annual gala

BY MELANIE DEWVEALL

Top: LWI Staff members Brad Saltzman and McGregor Macgruder talk with Jesse Farrell, an LWI supporter, at the October 20 Open House.

Bottom: LWI Peru’s Tommy Head passionately speaks at LWI’s ninth annual gala about his work with people in the Amazon Jungle.

Living Water International had another record-setting gala, raising $1.76 million.

More than 675 people attended LWI’s ninth annual gala on Friday, October 19, held at Houston’s InterContinental Hotel.

In his ministry report, LWI President Jerry Wiles said to date, the ministry has completed more than 4,600 water projects that daily serve an estimated 7 million people. LWI Peru’s Tommy Head brought guests face to face with the field, sharing about his quest to bring water and the Word to tribes living along the tributaries of the Amazon River.

Chris Seay, an acclaimed author and pastor of the Houston-based church Ecclesia, challenged the crowd to re-examine their gifts, to step out in faith and do something about the global need for clean water.

Gary Evans, LWI Executive Director, used the evening as an opportunity to announce the ministry’s goals for the coming year. In 2008, LWI plans to install 10,000 bio-sand filters in homes across the globe, ensuring that 10,000 families will have clean, safe water for years to come. A new pump repair initiative to repair 1,000 broken pumps will re-establish a clean water source in 1,000 communities. LWI also plans to drill 750 new water wells around the world.

LWI presented Gary Loveless, a co-founder of the ministry and its current chairman of the board, with the Harry Westmoreland Award for his dedicated service and for his efforts to advance the awareness of the critical need for safe, clean water in the developing world. The passing of Harry Westmoreland, the award’s namesake, in February made this year’s award particularly meaningful.

This year’s Volunteer of the Year Award was shared by four men who have been essential to LWI’s mission trips and training program: Ken Kirchner, Jay Moseley, Don Parker and Greg Schoolar.

Talk radio host Cynthia Hunt emceed the event, and Christian singer, songwriter and worship leader Shannon Wexelberg was the musical guest.

In conjunction with the gala, LWI hosted an Open House on Saturday, October 20, 2007, in their brand new facility in Stafford, Texas. For the first time in its history, the ministry owns its own building. The new office boasts eight conference rooms, a full kitchen, two warehouse spaces and 48 cubicles with room to grow.

S

ave t h e Dat e !

WHEN:

For the Second Annual

LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL GALA IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

APRIL 8, 2008 1 . 3&$&15*0/ t 1 . %*//&3

WHERE: HILTON WASHINGTON DULLES AIRPORT HERNDON, VIRGINIA 10 PIPELINE

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Ways to Give in 2008

WELLS DRILLED

This year, Living Water International has been able to drill 468 wells, repair 274 pumps and install 366 bio-sand filters — and the year isn’t over yet!

Every day, approximately 6,000 more people receive clean water and experience the gospel because of your involvement with LWI.

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PUMPS REPAIRED

God has given us a vision for 2008 to reach an unprecedented number of people with water and the Word.

In 2008, LWI hopes to: • Repair 1,000 broken hand pumps.

• Drill 750 shallow wells (up to 300 feet with a hand pump).

• Drill 250 deep wells (between 300 and 1,000 feet with an electric submersible pump, storage tank and generator, as needed).

• Install 10,000 bio-sand filters in homes around the world.

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It’s estimated that there are 1 million broken hand pumps in the world just waiting to be fixed. Living Water International can repair a broken pump and rehabilitate a well for approximately $1,500 each.

New wells provide entire communities with a source of clean water where there previously was none. LWI can drill a shallow well for $3,000 to $5,000 and a large well for $10,000 to $50,000.

In 2008, LWI plans to install 10,000 bio-sand filters. One filter can be purchased, shipped and installed for as little as $100, providing a family with clean drinking water right in their own home.

Clean water changes everything. At this time of year, please prayerfully consider making a generous year-end contribution to help us bring the gift of water, the gift of life and the light of hope to the neediest people on earth.

BIO-SAND FILTERS INSTALLED AND THE YEAR ISN’T OVER YET!

Thank you for partnering with us to reach the world with water and the Word. * Numbers reflect work completed by 10/30/07.

Gulliksons Say Goodbye to Honduras After nearly ten years of service in the field, Mike and Georgann Gullikson are leaving Honduras and returning to work with Living Water International in Houston. Mike will continue working with LWI Honduras as LWI’s program director and trip coordinator for Honduras. Georgann will facilitate health and hygiene on mission trips in Central America.

Since 1998, the Gulliksons have dedicated their lives not only to bringing clean water to the Honduran people, but also to improving their health – both physically and spiritually. Georgann became a nurse before moving to Honduras with the sole purpose of treating the illnesses of the people. Mike began a church planting movement and started a training center for Honduran pastors.

From the beginning, the Gulliksons began to develop a national team of Hondurans to carry on the LWI vision. God brought them an incredible group of people who love God and have a heart for the lost. Emilio Castillo will take over the leadership of LWI Honduras, supported by Yadira, Alfredo, Roberto and Abraham. Please pray that God will use them in magnificent ways to reach their own people. Pray for LWI Honduras and the Gulliksons this December as they make this transition.

Chri rist gets overlooked at Christmas. Let’s be honest. December com mes and you think, “Okay, this is the year.” This time you sw wear you’ll slow down, make the most with family, help the needy, take a hard look at what it really means to be a Christfollower during this holy season.

What if you could inspire your Church, your family and yourself to avoid being consumed by commercialism this Christmas?

In 2006, people like you from five churches around the countrry got together to do something radical. They changed their spen e ding habits at Christmas, avoided the commercialism, and d gave relationally—the way Christ modeled for us through His gift of Himself. They took the money they saved—nearly half a million dollars—and gavee it to Living W Water International so that desperate communities could have the gift of clean water. Fa amilies from tho ose s churches are still telling stories of how Christ returned to their Christmas. Com mmunities were renew wed e . Lives were changed. Now that’s a Christmas to remember.

This year, morre than 1,000 churches have already banded together for Advent Conspi piracy 2007—an international moveeme m nt to restore the meaning of Christmas by worshipping Jesus th hrough compassion, not consumption. Be pa part r of the conspiracy. Visit www.AdventConspiracy.com m.

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