GivingTuesday is November 28, 2023!10 years of GivingTuesday! WOW! In 2013, SIFAT introduced a new opportunity for our donors to give, a “holiday” called GivingTuesday. We were excited about the concept—a global day of giving dedicated to honoring nonprofits and joining together to support them. This annual event has grown more than we could have ever imagined. You answered our needs every year. Because of your enthusiasm and overwhelming generosity, GivingTuesday is a highlight of our year. October 2023: Fall Worship Night at SIFATEditor’s Note: Each month, we mail an article with our contribution statements to the previous month’s donors. Click here to download a PDF version. Written by Kaitlyn Glenn, campus program assistant  On Oct. 8, 2023, 72 youth and their leaders came to SIFAT for our Fall Worship Night, where they enjoyed playing games, hayrides, worshiping together and a bonfire with s’mores!
It is important to cultivate community at home and abroad to effectively share God’s love to encourage and help one another. SIFAT’ s campus staff hosted a worship night to bring local youth groups together and to build community with churches in our area. Seventy-two youth and adults attended, and a wonderful time of fellowship was enjoyed together. Students enjoyed a meal, hayrides, games, a bonfire with s’mores and a worship service led by the staff. Josiah Corson gave a short sermon, while Shelby Dickey and Kaitlyn Glenn led the worship music. Intern Alex Angel has fit right in with our staff and was a great help assisting with the program, and local friends came to help out, as well. We also welcomed back some of our previous interns. Our Fall Worship Night was a success, and two youth leaders reported that their students cannot wait to come back. We look forward to hosting more worship nights and hope that events like this will continue to open doors to minister to local citizens, teaching others how to share God’s love with the community around them. Thank you to all who worked to make this event possible! September 2023: Raphael Returns to SIFATEditor’s Note: Each month, we mail an article with our contribution statements to the previous month’s donors. Click here to download a PDF version. Written by Tom Corson, executive director SIFAT Graduate Raphael has returned to SIFAT various times since first participating in our 10-week training practicum. He has taught in our trainings after using what he learned and implementing appropriate technology in his ministry in Nigeria. In his heart and mind, he believes what SIFAT believes is the Heart of the Gospel: sharing God’s love in practical ways—love for God, for everyone, even for our enemies. And wherever Raphael lives, a little part of the Kingdom of God develops around him. He came to SIFAT this September to visit and to serve us by repairing the Nigerian houses he helped Learn & Serve youth build in our Global Village during a previous visits. When he leaves SIFAT, he plans to visit friends and supporters.  Raphael, a SIFAT graduate from Nigeria, spent two weeks with us this September. Our staff loved spending time catching up with news from his ministry and family, as well as having his help on campus.
Years ago when Raphael returned from SIFAT to Nigeria, he was moved to see migrants escaping from the part of the country where terrorists were taking over farms and killing people. These people had lost everything and were fleeing for their lives, hungry and destitute. SIFAT’s Graduates’ Project Committee partnered with him to raise money to buy 24 acres of land, which he divided into mini plots on which 30 migrant families could grow enough food to eat and have extra to sell for profit. In three years, the average migrant family worked these tiny farms, harvested their own food and sold enough to provide for their needs. Additionally, most were able to save enough to buy their own farms, which freed the land Raphael was loaning them for others to begin this process. This plan is still working today! The migrants believe in Raphael’s testimony, because he not only told them about Jesus, he lived out the Gospel with them every day. August 2023: Introducing a New Generation to SIFATEditor’s Note: Each month, we mail an article with our contribution statements to the previous month’s donors. Click here to download a PDF version. Written by Matthew Ivey, Student Minister, Brandon FUMC, Brandon, Miss. I first came to SIFAT around 2004 as a middle school student and fell in love. I attended multiple retreats as a student, and I even helped serve on support staff for summer camp when I was older. If you would have told that 15-year-old kid that he would end up in ministry and serve as a student pastor, he would have laughed at you! Here we are years later, and I have had the opportunity to take my students on a trip to SIFAT!  Matthew (front left) came to SIFAT as a student, and now he is bringing his youth group to Learn & Serve! July 2023: Our SIFAT Family is a Blessing on this WorldEditor’s Note: Each month, we mail an article with our contribution statements to the previous month’s donors. Click here to download a PDF version. Written by Marie Lanier Narváez, Promotions and Marketing Coordinator  caption I just returned from spending three weeks in Ecuador with two mission teams serving in Machachi, south of Quito. During my trip, I met new friends and reconnected with others I had not seen in months or even years. Though our teams were small in number, they were mighty in love, compassion and energy! One night during devotions with Carrollton (Ga.) FUMC, team members shared about how they had previously been involved with SIFAT. Britt, the team leader, had led mission teams to Ecuador, but he had also brought youth groups to participate in Learn & Serve retreats on our campus in Alabama. Angie served on campus work teams with her college ministry, and she also traveled to Ecuador as part of a study abroad team in 2019. Cole and Caroline attended Worship on the Water whenever they visited their grandparents at Lake Wedowee. As I listened, it was as though our summers at SIFAT were all in one room – international mission teams, Learn & Serve and WOW! |
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