Articles

The Boy Who Did Not Bow Down to I.S.I.S.

January 5, 2016 by Admin Crea Criout Leave a Comment

The Boy Who Did Not Bow Down to I.S.I.S.

Nouri Is Recovering From Surgery

By John Bills

Many of you will remember our dear friend Nouri, a refugee boy who lives in a refugee camp of over 27,000 displaced persons. Nouri suffered from extensive abuse from I.S. that resulted in his left foot becoming deformed because of constant beating from the soldiers. I met Nouri while in the Northern part of Iraq visiting the refugee camps. Upon hearing his story, I felt that Lord say that I was to take on this need that Nouri had to have surgery to reconstruct his foot. The challenge was raising $5000 for the surgery. But, from the help of so many who heard Nouri’s story, all the money came in. So, on Christmas day, Nouri had his first of two surgeries to repair his foot. The surgery was extensive lasting several hours, but Nouri was a real trooper and came through it great. We have had one of our team members oversee his surgery to make sure he received the best care he could get. Nouri is now on the mend and will need therapy to walk on his new reconstructed foot again. I will be visiting Nouri soon to see how he is doing and have an opportunity to talk with him more about how the body of Christ stepped up to the challenge. We, from CRI want to thank each and every person who prayed and gave for Nouri to have a new life. Where I.S. tried to destroy him, God’s people responded that Nouri might know love of Christ. Each time he walks, runs and plays with other children, Nouri will remember that it was God’s people who loved him.

Fuel 2016

December 30, 2015 by Admin Crea Criout Leave a Comment

Fuel the Work of the Harvest in 2016

Give a Tax-Deductible Gift by 12/31

Our hearts are burning with the urgency of the hour we are living in.The urgent needs of crisis and the demand to train and mobilize people and resources to meet the needs of the hour are heavy on our hearts as never before. Our team is working harder and smarter to expand into online training including the coming launch of CRI Academy. Our work in the Middle East is literally rescuing women and children from the hands of ISIS. We’re involved and working to aid in Texas and Mid-West flooding happening right now. But there’s so much more to do.

It takes finances to support this work and that’s why I am writing today. We just launched our year end campaign- FUEL2016 with a goal to raise $21,000 by 12/31 to support this work reaching the harvest in crisis. As darkness covers the earth, we believe the Light of Christ is rising on the people of God to bring hope, love and light into the darkest corners of the earth.

Will you consider partnering with us to fuel our work to all nations in 2016?

Invitation to Fuel2016

I want to personally invite you to fuel our work reaching the harvest in crisis in 2016. By texting FUEL2016 to 41444 you can give by text or of course just click here and give your best gift today to get full tax deduction by 12/31. Your support is touching nations for the glory of Jesus.

Until He comes,

Sean Malone

P.S. You can view our campaign progress here.

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Fuel the Work of the Harvest in 2016

December 29, 2015 by Admin Crea Criout Leave a Comment

Fuel the Work of the Harvest in 2016

Give a Tax-Deductible Gift by 12/31

As I reflect on all the Lord did through CRI this year I can’t help but be overwhelmed with God’s goodness and grace. Together with our friends, partners, trainees and responders we’ve taken ground, labored with all our hearts and seen lives touched for the kingdom of God. We’ve brought hope to the hopeless. We’ve brought light to the darkness. We’ve brought love to the broken. Thank you for making all of this possible.

Touching the Nations

When Laura and I started CRI in 2007 we dreamed that one day we would touch the nations of the earth with the goodness and glory of God. I am happy to say that as I write this our teams are working hard in Greece, bringing aid and relief to thousands caught in the crossfire of one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time. I am overwhelmed at the dedication and commitment of our team of workers in Iraq, laboring tirelessly to rescue and aid women coming out of some of the worst situations on planet earth- enslavement to ISIS.

A Strong Team

I am also humbled by the team God has built around Laura and I that make CRI function on a day to day basis. This year the Lord has blessed us with a growing staff who are taking our organization to the next level and positioning us for even greater impact now and in the days to come.

Your Support Matters

I am overwhelmed by all God is doing in our midst and I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the many friends and partners behind the scenes making CRI what it is today. Our supporters helped us reach financial milestones for the ministry this year. Thanks to many who have partnered with us we’ve grown the capacity of CRI. This allowed us to deploy and respond to disasters around the world including a major deployment and rebuilding effort in Nepal this year.

Fuel2016

As I look forward to 2016 I am excited for what the Lord has in store for us. We are planning on launching our online CRI academy. We will also be busy building out our headquarters and base in North Carolina. We will be leading more live trainings than perhaps ever before including an Intensive in Cyprus. As we sense the blessing of God like never before I am also feeling the burden of his heart for the Middle East and those who need our help. As many of us are blessed to be with family and friends please continue laboring in prayer for us and for those who need our assistance including women and children who we are working to rescue. We know our God is faithful.

I want to personally invite you to fuel our work reaching the harvest in crisis in 2016. By texting FUEL2016 to 41444 you can give by text or of course just click here and give your best gift today to get full tax deduction by 12/31. Your support is touching nations for the glory of Jesus.

Until He comes,

Sean Malone

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P.S. You can view our campaign progress here.

Seeing Through His Eyes

December 28, 2015 by Admin Crea Criout Leave a Comment

Seeing Through His Eyes

And the Greatest of These is Love

By Natasha Istomin

I walked out of camp last night at 1 am, with a heavy heart. I was leaving a lot… walking out. Leaving never felt so wrong.

I walked past rows of people sleeping on the rocks outside the camp. We had already directed as many as I could inside the Syrian rooms. They had cardboard to lay on…and it was too full for more.

“We have no tent and no blanket,” they said.

“Please help my baby, she is very cold!”

We distributed blankets, but we realized there was no way we could keep everyone warm last night. Hundreds of people, bitter cold, and not enough man power to organize.

Waiting With 7 Year Old Sadra

I walked out…leaving 7 year old Sadra wrapped in her father’s arms in the cold. Her body is twisted with cerebral palsy and her heart has defects. Her lips were blue in the cold and her breath came fast and choppy. I knew she wasn’t getting the oxygen she needed. We took her to the medical tent and they didn’t have what she needed.

She looked up at me as I held her close. A small, sweet, smile formed on cracked lips. An angelic smile. She was cold, dirty, and breathing deeply for oxygen…and yet she could smile at me. It was a little piece of heaven. I realized all we can do is wrap her in a blanket and wait for doctors to come.

A young Yazidi man was translating for me. 8 months ago his Father died in Iraq. His sister was taken by ISIS and he hasn’t heard from her at all. He was young, energetic, and had a contagious smile.

“I don’t believe in anything, ” He said…”No God, nothing.”

In the kitchen we had mad chaos trying to keep the lines back and moving slowly. People yelled and pushed and shoved to get food. My Iranian friend helped us calm them. My friend is from Iran and escaped police with his family. He became a Christian in Iran and started hosting secret Bible studies. The police caught him and imprisoned him for 3 months. They yelled at him to recant and give up his faith.

“I will never.” He replied.

So they knocked his teeth out of his mouth.

He escaped, and came with his family to safety.

“All I want is safety for my family.”

They love their children too. They fight for their children too. They long to keep them warm and safe and free from the destruction of war, just as we do. These are real, beautiful, people with individual stories. They are parents trying to keep their children warm, sisters trying to escape alone without their parents, grandchildren trying to get their handicapped grandparents to safety and peace.

They feel too–just as we do.

Lahila and Her Children

Imagine walking in the shoes of my Yazidi friend, Lahila. She is in her early 30s, a beautiful women with that look of intense strength. I met her when she came in at 3 am off a wet boat. She had an arm full of babies. Another baby sat on the rocks beside her wailing pitifully. He was dirty and cold and as I picked him up he snuggled deep into my arms and quieted. I found out he was a twin. 1 years old. There were 4 other children, all under 7, counting the baby after the twins. They were all filthy dirty, exhausted, and the baby had a messy diaper and was desperately hungry. Lahila sat almost despondently on the mat, so weary she could hardly function. Her babies screamed, then fell asleep where I laid them on the blankets. They just needed to be warm and kissed and loved.

In the midst of the chaos that night, I looked to God to take the heaviness. I cannot change the world… I can’t save the world, but in the face of such desperate need my heart breaks and I fight the panicky feeling of trying to help everyone.

Just then a man walked up to me, took my hands and said, ” When you smile like that, it gives me hope.”

Love Is the Greatest Need

Thank Jesus for the reminder that love is the greatest need. A loveless heart experiences deepest poverty. When we cannot warm them and help them all we can always love. And love, BIG, Jesus love, always triumphs.

Another man walked in the door…he was young and thin and I noticed right away that he wasn’t breathing right.

“I can’t breathe,” he gasped.

Eric took him to the medical tent…and I noticed him desperately inhaling his meds. He walked up to the counter and I looked into his eyes and couldn’t look away. I have rarely seen such deep anger and hopelessness. I asked him where his family was. His father was killed 16 years ago in the Syrian war. More recently his little sister and big brother were both killed in the war. He befriended a women on facebook and she married him, only to divorce him as soon as they had a child.

He was only 23, but his face had aged with years of hate and war. When he finally stopped talking, I told him I’m not surprised he has difficulty breathing. Stress-induced asthma was tearing at his lungs.

He paused, and then looked directly at me and asked,” Is there a therapy for hate?”

“Yes, my friend…I know a therapy for hate. JESUS!!”

Jesus- the KING of love. By His stripes we know they can be healed.

A Challenge to My American Church

This is a challenge to my American church. As we engross ourselves into the festivities of Christmas and New Years and celebrate the birth of this Jesus they are grasping for, God forbid we forget his words directly to us.

“I was sick, and you visited me. Naked, and you clothed me. Hungry, and you gave me food. If you do it to the least of these-you do it for ME.”

There is more and more opportunity opening up for volunteers to come and serve. Last night I was inside the prison camp and found out they need many more hands inside as well. We are needing to be careful how many we pull in to Moria as we need to staff the other camp well before we start something new.

You can help. There are people that can’t come because of finances. If you can’t come, maybe you can help us get people here. Small things, like finances for transportation and rental vans. Small things, but so needful to keep everything flowing.

We need leader men that are active in ministry wherever they are. We need women who dare to love big and care hard. We need supporters that will band together and see what all our little contributions can do. I believe God is calling.

A Plea for Prayer

This is also a plea for prayer. We need heavy prayer support as we enter a camp that is so dark spiritually. If we band together as the true church of Christ we can move in with an avalanche of love. It is too much to do alone. But together-with God power and love, we can change the world. We can welcome these broken ones with open arms and hearts and show them the King of love by our touch, our smile, our words.

Because we know the therapy for hate, the healer of wounds, the Savior of the bound and imprisoned. We know the one that can heal their shattered souls and set them free.

It’s JESUS. And He is the true meaning of this Christmas season. Celebrate him today by engaging in His heart for the destitute. Kat — feeling Jesus we NEED YOU!!!

To give to Crisis Response International’s extensive outreach and ministry in the midst of the Middle East and European Refugee Crisis click below. Thank you for your support.

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