When the Apostle Paul was launched out from Jerusalem to change the world with the most revolutionary theological advancement ever – the gospel of grace – the council of elders added one small, but profound assignment to his mission that we can never overlook ... "don't forget the poor."

 
James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: To look after orphans and widows in their distress. ... " Surely as we are called to preach the gospel to the poor, this gloriously glad message must become incarnational. That is, we preach it not with word only but with substance ... we share our bread. And in this giving, there is a tremendous oil of favor that manifests in our own lives as we remember the poor.

 

This year, Sons of Thunder is excited to announce that we have doubled the size of our home for orphaned children in India! We are already taking new admissions thanks to the additional space in our expansion – saving the lives of children who would otherwise be abandoned, facing poverty, disease, illiteracy, sexual abuse or even death.

     

We began work on our children’s home in 2007, under the helm of directors Joshua and Ranjana Immanuel. As house parents and founders of Joshua Generation Church, the Immanuels both have powerful testimonies. Joshua was delivered from a muslim background and Ranjana grew up in an orphanage herself before working with Youth With a Mission. As faithful stewards, they have walked with us in trust to oversee construction from start to finish.

 

This year, we’ve added a second story onto the building, completing all construction, roofing, plaster, painting, plumbing, wiring and sewage. We recently purchased more land around the facility, constructed a protective wall, gates and drive. The facility has a clean water well, septic system, bedrooms, common areas, kitchen, study and caretaker areas. Our vision is not simply to house and feed children, but to give them a future. Not merely to pull them from poverty ... but to thrust them into prosperity. For this reason, SOT ensures that they are well fed, clothed, receive medical care and get top-notch schooling to guarantee successful futures.

     

Thanks to your support, Sons of Thunder is making an impact where it is needed most. Every day, there are more than 16,000 children who die of hunger-related causes. That is one child every five seconds. And more than 800 million go hungry each day. Around the world, more than 11 million children under the age of 5 die from preventable causes, simply because they are too poor to stay alive.

Here at Sons of Thunder, caring for the orphan and the widow will never be a fleeting project or a one-time event. We are committed to continually spend ourselves on the helpless. Child prostitution exploits more than 400,000 children in India, between 200,000-300,000 in Thailand, and many more around the world. It is a privilege that we can participate in asserting justice, rescuing the poor and "breaking the fangs of the wicked" (Job 29).

 

Most of the children in our home come from hindu or muslim backgrounds. Some are victims whose parents have died of HIV Aids. Several of our boys – as young as seven years old, were pulled from brothels – their mothers chained to a life of prostitution.

Thanks to your partnership, we are making a difference. Statistics can seem overwhelming – problems can seem paralyzing out of our control. We don’t get overwhelmed trying to fix the entire world. But we do choose to start somewhere. We can begin to make a difference in one of these individual little lives. And so can you. We want to thank all who have joined together with the Sons of Thunder team – working together in hearts of compassion to truly live this beautiful gospel in a glorious overflow of generosity!

 

If you would like to contribute to Sons of Thunder on a regular basis, to help us with this and other mission efforts around the world, please consider joining us as a regular monthly partner. Sons of Thunder is a registered 501(c)3 charitable non-profit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. We are grateful for your love and support.