I had the honor of speaking to over 9,000 Liberty University students this morning.  The semester just started, the students are excited, and it was great to be back on campus at my Alma Mater.

Liberty University places such a high priority on missions. I love it and they prove it by giving the students so many opportunities each year. This year they can serve in Haiti, Western Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and even more places. Some will even be working with Muslim youth! So these are not easy-going missions trips.  They are challenging, hard work, and some involve risk.

That’s why this morning I challenged the students to risk it all for God. To not let the idea of comfort or safety hold them back from reaching the lost and hurting!

In part I told them,

“I’ll tell you one thing that ...

Today I am officially back from my sabbatical, even though I have been working part time from home the past week and a half.  It is good to be back full time in the office ready to tackle the challenges and opportunities of the fall and year-end.

First of all, thank you so much for the opportunity to take some time off to rest, read, pray and re-focus.  It truly was refreshing.  The dullness is gone.  I feel like a new person.  I am deeply grateful for the time and investment you have made in my life.  I know World Help will reap tremendous benefits by me having my batteries recharged.

While I was away I was able to spend large amounts of time each day reading.  I read six books concerning issues we face.  Subjects like how Jesus ...

Today is my Dad's 85th birthday. What a life he has lived! I'm so proud of him and everything that he has accomplished. I can't think of a better way for you to know my dad than by sharing this letter with you.

Dear Dad,

Happy 85^th birthday!  What an incredible life full of accomplishments and milestones.

I have been reflecting this week on all the wonderful memories I have as a result of your life. It was so important that you took me with you when I was a little boy and let me experience the thrills and joys of your life first hand with you . . . it was contagious.

Do you remember the trip to Oklahoma City where you preached and then took me to Turner Falls the next day . . . what a happy memory.

What about the ...

It has been 5 months since the earthquake in Haiti. I just returned from Port-au-Prince and I find myself wondering if the world has so quickly forgotten these people.  The US Military has left. Some NGO’s have left. The Haitian government is still practically helpless to ease the suffering of its people.

But I know that I can never forget what I have seen there. I can never forget the children wandering in the street, in front of the collapsed rubble of their homes.  The masses of people crammed into overwhelmed tent cities. And it is still a nightmare.  The streets have been cleared of most of the rubble and the bodies are gone, but the entire city is still desperate and tensions are at a breaking point. 

That is why World Help is still continuing to ship aid that the ...

Guatemala is in ruins after being hit by Tropical Storm Agatha this past weekend. 123 people were killed and 90 are still missing due to massive flooding and mudslides. And because Guatemala is such a poor country, those left in Agatha’s wake are clinging to life and in desperate need of help.

Carlos Vargas, our Guatemalan partner has been working around the clock to bring help to those most affected.  He wrote me an urgent email this weekend,

“The situation in Guatemala is devastating; at Hope of Life we are safe from the flooding that has caused so much suffering, outside of the ministry things are extremely bad.  In Chiquimula and the northeast region the rivers have flooded and this has caused total destruction and loss of many lives.  Thousands of people are without shelter because they lived along the river in huts.  They all are ...

Today was such a special day.

Two of the three men that have influenced me the most in my life were here at World Help.  It was a time to honor them for the years of faithful service they have given to God.

Fred, my father, has always been my number one hero. My uncle, Roscoe Brewer, is also a hero of mine who has profoundly shaped my life of missions.  The third is Jerry Falwell and I’m sure he was looking down today from Heaven and smiling.

My dad has served in full time ministry for 65 years.  I can’t think of a single other person who can say that. He was ordained in 1944 at the age of 19.  He went on to pastor 6 churches and even planted 2 of those. He has also led evangelistic groups all over ...

Pueblo Modelo is a dry, dust blown collection of shacks in Guatemala.  Over 2,000 extremely poor families call it home.  World Help is working to bring total transformation to this village and in January I was there with my daughter Noel and a team from World Help. 

Hundreds of the desperate villagers surrounded our group as we distributed food and water.  But one mother followed our group all the way across the village.  She was pulling her nine-year-old daughter Margarita by the hand with a determined look on her face.  She made her way up to Noel and pleaded for help in Spanish.  The mother was so insistent and her daughter so distressed that Noel asked for a translator and listened as the mother began to tell her daughter’s heart-breaking story.

Margarita had been raped.  The resulting complications were life ...

Liberty University, World Help, and my life . . . three cords that have been intertwined for the past two decades.

That is why last night’s events were so special and humbling. Liberty University bestowed upon me an honorary Doctorate of Humanities.  To receive this degree is an honor and I am truly thankful for it. To think of how it all began and how far it has gone amazes me. 

I graduated from Liberty University in 1973, back when it was called Lynchburg Baptist College. I was in the very first graduating class.  My last name started with “B” and so by chance I was the very first graduate.  I have always considered that an honor because of how much I love Liberty. I went on to serve as the Dean of Students and the Vice President of Student Development.

It ...

I just received an email from our partner in China updating me on the pastors that were recently arrested. Part of the email is below:

Thank you so much for your prayers, this afternoon at 4 p.m., I got word that 5 of the 16 were released at 3 p.m., but after my meetings were done today at 9 p.m., I got another phone call telling me that actually 5 will be staying in jail for at least 14 days under serious investigation, these 5 are my close partners and we do not know the fate of the 11 pastors yet. The national security bureau has charged them for illegal gathering. Many of these pastors have been in prison before for the gospel, so it does not seem to be good.

Yesterday,  I asked some of our friends in that area to check on their status and ...

As I stood in the rubble of countless destroyed buildings in Port-au-Prince, Haiti I thought to myself, how will they ever rebuild. I couldn’t even imagine where to begin.  When I met with the President’s Chief of Staff he emphasized to me that their highest priority was housing.

It’s important to keep in mind that hundreds of thousands are still living in deplorable tent cities. They call them tents, but most of them are simply 4 poles wrapped in cardboard, sheets, or trash bags.  The floors are dirt, mud, and trash. In these conditions diseases are rampant. There are thousands more who don’t even have tents. Some are sleeping under trees.

Housing is further complicated by the rainy seasons that have already begun.  Mudslides have claimed lives and swarms of mosquitoes will take even more.  The tents that Haitians are in now are not ...