Shareholder’s Luncheon

On Sunday, June 29th, starting at 12:30, we will have a shareholder’s luncheon, an opportunity for our friends and family to have a share in what we are doing. Quite literally.

Some people have a great idea for a way to do business. They have the plan, but not necessarily the money. They then set up a corporation, wherein they share their vision to others who would invest in that vision monetarily, to own a piece of that corporation. These investors are called shareholders, as they have a share in the ownership of that company. Now that company or corporation has an obligation (not begrudgingly, mind you) to divest in all that it does to its shareholders.

We within the Colombia Team are doing something similar in two weeks, a Shareholder’s Luncheon on the 29th of June.

This is an opportunity for our friends and family to invest in our trip to Colombia, and we’d like you to prayerfully consider (or, if you’re not a praying person, then thoughtfully and positively consider) coming by for Colombian food and presentations and information about what we expect to do during our upcoming trip. The luncheon will last from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. Shares come in prices of $25, $50 and $100 each (there are other variables. Please contact for more info). The event will be held at Salem Evangelical Free Church,
2825 W Mclean Ave. in Chicago.

Shareholders will also have an invitation to a post-trip dessert party, where team members will share what did happen.

If you’d like more information or to make an RSVP, please email us at jasdye@gmail.com or jenfronz@gmail.com. You can also leave comments if you have questions.

Much peace and love.

The Displaced

Now I feel it appropriate to tell you WHO our target demographic is: the displaced.

Due to political, economic and safety issues, many citizens in the rural areas (mostly farmers) had to abruptly leave their homes and enter into the major cities. Many of those who left did so with only the clothes on their backs, as their property earned them little-to-no value at that point.

The effect on the cities and the migrating population is much like that of the urban swelling that happened in the US and other Western countries 100-200 years ago. Imagine that scenario multiplied by the resulting loss of Hurricane Katrina. Cramped quarters, makeshift shanties, tremendous competition for fewer jobs, economic upheaval…

There is only so much work for the unskilled and uneducated laborer, so many of the displaced cannot find adequate wages or housing. And the children who are growing up in this environment – who deal with poverty in many of the same ways that other children and young people around the world deal with poverty – often resort to lives of cyclical hopelessness, meandering, frustration, violence, despair, lostness…

We believe that there is a friend who hears our needs, who listens to our hearts’ murmurs, who can meet us where we are and who is stronger than any adversary. We want to be a part of introducing these young people (and, in effect, their families) to this wonderful counselor and abiding friend. We want to help build bridges that will support them, enable and empower them in community and in Christ from now through eternity. And we want to step in and celebrate the good work that the Christian community is doing now for and with the displaced in Medellin, Colombia.

Needed within the next week

We know that asking for money over the internet is not necessarily the best conduit. After all, how many of us have sent money over to a prince from Nigeria after he solicits from us the funds he would need in order to regain his crown, only to still be waiting for our promised 100-fold return two years later? (Show of hands? Anybody besides me?) So, how about listing our financial needs as prayer requests?

• Altogether, we still need another 1,000 dollars (American) within just over a month. Pray that the Lord will supply us with the necessary funds to meet this goal.
• Pray to the Lord of the Harvest that we may receive the $100 we need for the next milestone (which is at the end of this week).
• We want to praise our Provider in giving us the funds so far, and in moving people to respond with generous gifts to help us get to this point.
• Lastly, pray that you will be moved to consider if and how you can support us. We are firm believers that God is active in this world but that he chooses to be most active in and through every-day, ordinary people.

If you have any questions, or would like to know how further to pray and/or support us, please email us at jasdye@gmail.com (Jason) and jenfronz@gmail.com (Jennie).

Peace and much love.

Team Medellin – Basic Info

This blog is an effort to keep our friends, family and other loved ones up-to-date on planned family journeys to aid, assist or otherwise attend to those that we feel God is calling us to. In the future, there may be other places, there may be other lands, there may be other people-groups. For the present, however, we are planning on going to Colombia to work with children and those who work with children this August. Specifically, we are going to Medellin, a city roughly the size of Chicago on the Western end of the country.

Furthermore, we are trying to raise awareness of what it is we are doing there and what it is we are doing to prepare to be there. At this moment, we have been throwing fund-raisers (which include monthly bake sales, a Wii tournament), meeting monthly as a whole team, learning more information on the culture, climate and people of Medellin (as well as of our own prejudices), and just recently meeting in our smaller groups.

More information to come shortly.