Radical Small Groups: Stories

GONE RADICAL!

We have 9 children and live in Surprise, Arizona. We began watching the Radical Series via internet in August of 2009. After watching the first video, we were hooked. We were blessed by each message and decided that we were not going to wait a week to watch each one, but watch one a night until we were done. Our children started to come and sit and watch as well, and couldn't wait until the next night. The last two series we watched together on our anniversary weekend, in the mountains. The place we stayed was so remote that we had to drive into town to the McDonalds just to download the video to our laptop so we could watch it later. By the last series, we were in tears, on our knees and asking the Lord for forgiveness and a new way of life for us and our children.

Once we were home we knew we had to share this with our friends and family, so we formed a small group. I mentioned we had 9 children: we have 4 biological children and 5 adopted children from China, Russia and Ethiopia. At this time, we were still fund-raising to complete the adoption of our 3 children in Ethiopia. After showing the first video to a group of friends we received a gift of $6000 for our adoption, "as a direct result of this Radical video.” Praise the Lord. This couple had seen fit that they give like never before...and did.

Our group began to grow and grow. These series have caused us to look deeper into the type of life we want to lead with the Lord, and we chose the Radical route. Next we decided to have rice nights with our little Friday night group and save the money we would have spent on dinner and donate it to a specific ministry.

Our group has also just had the opportunity to partner with a Pastor and his ministry in Africa. He and his wife live in a remote village in Kenya and are caring for 20 orphans. When we went to Ethiopia to pick up our children, we visited him. That week, he took in two more orphans. They haven’t had enough food to eat, but the lack of resources has not stopped them from pursuing God’s work wholeheartedly. Their faith is astounding. We are thrilled we get to join hands with this pastor who loves Jesus and be a part of what God is doing through him. We get to give; and in turn he gets to give. It is fun!

One amazing thing has been that many of the families in our small group changed the way they spent on Christmas. They cut their budgets and donated chickens and goats to ministries instead. Most of us found that when we asked our older children what they wanted for Christmas they answered, “nothing” or “a chicken or a goat.”

Our group is now watching Faith Works and conducting the Radical Experiment!! Included are a few pictures from our time in Kenya with the orphan-care ministry with whom we are partnering.