What are we doing?
- The Call: While in Africa in May 2007, Michael was in a meeting and listening intently to instructions that were being given. A small group of children had come into the shanty church. A small child pressed against his leg. Since he was listening to what was happening, he did not look down to see who it was. He simply placed his arm around the child. When he did this, the others seemed to gasp. He wondered what he had done wrong. He looked down to see a young boy with a terrible skin affliction. Some speculated that it was leprosy. The boy had large white patches of skin with bloody edges and it was peeling away from his body. When Michael saw this, he knelt down and hugged him tightly and the boy smiled from ear to ear. Michael was told by some that he was foolish for doing this and could contract a very deadly disease. He learned something that day. He would be content to die of a disease, but he could not be content to let this boy die in the street without a hug...without human touch...without knowing he was loved and that he had value. To Michael, this child was unreached because no one ever told him that he was highly valued by God and could be a prince in God's Kingdom. He was also untouched, not knowing the warmth of love and compassion. Psalm 113:78 (NLT) - "He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, even the princes of his own people!"
- Our Vision: We are involved in compassion ministries in this land. Our heart lies with the children and youth. There are many homes where there are no parents because they have already died of AIDS and the children are left behind. We have a vision for Hope Centers to be opened where children can receive medical attention, hot meals, help with school work so they may continue their education, and most of all, a safe place where they receive love and compassion. In addition, Michael maintains a very full preaching schedule and does training courses. You see, we are not being sent to simply touch a community or a city, but to impact a nation before it is too late. God chose us to go to one of the last kingdoms on earth. We are literally one in a million! There is one Goodling family, and one million Swazis. Still, we believe as in the Book of Esther, "Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14.
