Water - It covers 70% of the earthʼs surface, yet less than 1% of the worldʼs water is drinkable. The result is that, in a world of over 6 billion people, almost 1 billion lack access to clean, safe drinking water.  Even more tragically, this means that one child dies from contaminated water every 15 seconds - the time youʼve spent reading this paragraph. 

The health of a nation, a city, a village and a family all depend on access to clean water. Whether itʼs community development, the reduction of under-five child mortality, reduced waterborne illnesses, or poverty alleviation, access to safe water is crucial. Today, itʼs estimated that half of the worldʼs hospital beds are occupied by those suffering from water-related illnesses. In fact, nearly 80% of illnesses worldwide are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Each year, over 3.5 million people die from water related diseases. The worst part of this news is that it usually never makes the news - a vast majority of these victims are the weakest members of their communities, with 4,500 children under the age of five succumbing to water-related illnesses daily.

As we were traveling these statistics turned into families, mothers, brothers and sisters. They were no longer the latest UNICEF report, they became friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.

In Matthew 9 it says about Jesus, ʻWhen He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.ʼ This is what happened to us - the compassion that Christ has for his people and the lost and hopeless began to overwhelm us. In response, Jesus asked for prayers. But not prayers for the masses. He asked for prayers so that His Father would send out workers to ʻheal every disease and sicknessʼ as well as preach the good news of the kingdom because the harvest was ripe.

This is how we see the church in America. So much prosperity. So much wealth. So much opportunity to care for the harassed and helpless.

We are praying that the Lord of the Harvest would send an awakening throughout the American Church. That we would all see the poor and the lost through the eyes of Christ. That God would raise up local churches here in America that would partner with local churches in impoverished nations in order to reach the lost and care for the poor. We donʼt know exactly why Scripture describes the masses as harassed and helpless, but we believe the billion people without clean water would meet that definition.