Open Arms Community Church is planning a mission trip to Africa next spring to help some newfound friends.
"It's really quite interesting how this all worked out," said Multimedia Coordinator Josh Hatcher, describing the circumstances that built the church's relationship with a a church and school in Conakry, Guinea.

"I watched a movie called, 'Blood Diamond', about the civil war in Sierra Leone. The movie shows the horrors that these people faced, and it left me with a strong feeling that I should look for a way to help these refugees and victims of such a brutal war," said Hatcher.

A few weeks later, a friend lent Hatcher a book called, "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah. "When I read the story of this young boy who was conscripted to fight in an army, hopped up in drugs, and forced to kill at such a young age, I started to pray for a way to help."

Now, Hatcher was armed with information. In Beah's account, he escaped to a city in Guinea, where many refugees went to escape the war-- Conakry, Guinea. "For the next month, I prayed, and asked God to give me an opportunity to help the refugees from Sierra Leone that live in Conakry," said Hatcher, "But at that point, all I did was pray. That's why the email caught me completely by surprise."

Hatcher recieved an email from David Coker, Pastor of New Family Church and Administrator of Gateway International School in Conakry, Guinea. Coker had been browsing the internet when he discovered the Open Arms Church Website, and decided to send an email asking for the two churches to partner together.

"I get so many scams in my inbox, that I couldn't believe it. To get an unsolicited email from the exact people group in the exact city that I was praying for just seemed too strange," said Hatcher, who followed up with a little research.

Hatcher then came into contact with The Baobob Foundation in Texas. The Baobob Foundation is a small start up non-profit that is working to help Pastor Coker in Guinea, and other communities in Africa. They confirmed that Pastor David Coker's request was legitimate, and that their founder, Dr. Robert Bradsby had actually helped Coker start the school in Guinea a few years ago.

Open Arms Pastor Mike McAvoy and Hatcher started communicating with Pastor Coker via email, sending sermon notes, encouraging emails, and even some financial support.

Coker invited a team from Open Arms to come to Guinea in March of 2009 to help lead a Pastor's conference, offering training and equipping for pastors from all over West Africa.

"We plan to take a team that will not only help lead the conference, but also to do humanitarian work. Pastor David's School is in need of some maintenance and supplies, and we desire to help them strengthen their impact on the community they live in," said Hatcher.

McAvoy said, "I'm excited to go and be a part of making a difference in Conakry and hope that we the people of bradford realize that we can make a difference for the good both here in Bradford and overseas. I hope we're all challenged to think outside our box of our own lifestyles and wants and consider how our life and resources can help others."

Open Arms and the Baobob Foundation plan to send over a shipping container that will arrive at the same time they do. "We're collecting medical supplies, school supplies, treadle-powered sewing machines, gently used computers, new clothing, and anything else that would help our friends in Guinea meet the basic educational and health needs of their community."

Hatcher says that Open Arms is still raising funds to make the trip, and accepting donations of supplies. For more information, please contact Open Arms at 814-368-8846 or openarms@openarmsbradford.org

If you want to hear more about it, here is a link to a Radio Interview with Josh Hatcher and Mike McAvoy - http://openarmschurch.podomatic.com/entry/2008-10-02T12_36_36-07_00

Dear Friends:

I am writing to make you aware of an opportunity that I have, along with my team, to serve those in need in Guinea Africa.

You may be aware that in the late 90’s and early 2000’s there was a major conflict in North West Africa over diamonds. The result was war between the government and guerrilla forces. The greed and need to win led both sides to commit atrocities including child abduction into their Child Armies (which assimilated them through drugs, physical and mental abuse, and desensitization by forced killing of family and strangers, both adult and children), the maiming of adults and children to keep them from working and providing food for the opposition, and blatant murder. The “Blood Diamond” issue (as it came to be known) came to an apex with an explosive battle between the government and these guerrilla forces in Freetown, Sierra Leona, Africa which resulted in many dead and many more fleeing north to Guinea Africa for refuge.

These events and issues were depicted in the 2006 film titled BLOOD DIAMOND.

My team and I have been given the privilege to go to Conakry Africa to work with Pastor David Coker who was in Freetown when conflict errupted and fled with his family to Guinea Africa. Specifically we will be working with a school started by Pastor Coker to educate and feed the children of these refugees. We will have the opportunity to work on the school building and other community needs, set up needed equipment, distribute food and clothing, and share God’s love with many children and their parents on a mass scale.

We will also have the privilege to work with leaders from all over Africa to equip them to train up other leaders and reach out with compassion to their own communities, regions, and nation.

Here’s where you come in. You may not go to Africa, but your life can make a difference in this world for good. You can be a hero to a people you will never meet in this life and you can meet a need that you and your family will probably never have to face yourselves.

We’re asking for help in four ways:


We need funding for the purchase of airline tickets and food.
We need to raise supplies or money for supplies to help meet the needs of those in Conakry.
Pray for us.
Contact us if you have any supplies (non-perishable food, clothing, computers, building materials, mosquito nets, Bibles, education materials, instruments, first aid supplies, toiletries, water purifiers, etc) and we will give you the location to ship them to be loaded into a large shipping trailer that we are sending over ahead of us.
More information about the work in Guinea can be seen at http://www.baobobfoundation.org

A group of us will also head from Guinea to Migori Kenya, where we will help Bishop John Okinda in his work at the Migori Worship Center and orphanage. For more information, check out: http://kenyaalliance.blogspot.com/

All donations are able to be used as a tax write off and can be given in one of three ways:
1) Send a check to Open Arms Community Church and in the memo put “Africa Missions Trip” and then my name.
2) Use Paypal online by going to our website and clicking on “Give” in the left hand column. Then send an email to us letting us know that you contributed, how much you gave, and who you are sponsoring, so that we can receipt you for giving, keep track of everything and make sure every penny is accounted for and used to help in Africa.
3) Give online through the "Sponsor Me" App on my Facebook page.

Please consider how you will contribute to this mission. I want to thank you in advance for your support and for partnering in this mission with us. Together we can make a difference in this world and be the heroes God made each one of us to be.

God bless you.
-Josh Hatcher
www.openarmsbradford.org

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5488992207381620353&hl=en