Some FAME partners are brand new in 2024 as your impact grows and increases around the globe. But other FAME partners have been connected for decades, and their influence is astonishing!

One such partner has established many clinics across their country. Each location is remote, requiring half a day to a full day to travel between them, not only because of the distance but also due to the poor road conditions—if you can even call them roads. These clinics serve as true outposts of the gospel in predominantly Muslim communities. On a recent visit by one of our FAME staff members, they observed that every church building connected to most of the clinics (either on the property or adjacent) was solidified or built after the establishment of the clinic. Each building, a hut-like structure, currently holds around 100 people for services. However, at more than one of these sites, construction is underway for simple but larger church buildings that will accommodate 500+ people for a service!

Each clinic has a chaplain who is the pastor of the church or a pastor in the church! The founder of this mission – whom I will name and identify next week in “Part Two” said the quote above on the subject line. It is from the middle of this sentence, Why do we partner with FAME? Because Medical Evangelism…it works! For sharing the gospel and church planting.

You have heard FAME say over and over, “Lack of Access to Healthcare, Lack of Access to the Gospel” because of the remote areas where FAME partners serve.

Recently one worker at one of those remote clinics was recognized nationally in all of Ghana.

Ruth was serving in her own small way at the FAME Clinic at Tatindo, Ghana; little did she know that her efforts would be recognized nationwide.

Ruth Ampomah is a passionate and hardworking Midwifery Officer with 7 years of working experience serving deprived and hard-to-reach communities.

Ruth received an award at the 3rd annual Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards Ceremony. This award is no mere feat and is a testament of hard work, diligence and dedication to service.

Ruth Ampomah has achieved a lot in terms of maternal healthcare delivery but the most impactful ones include reducing unsafe home deliveries from over 80% to almost 10% in 2022!

This is significant because there was a crisis: The Maternal Mortality Rate dropped in Ghana from an average of 240-337 per 100K people in 2010 – 2020 to 0 (zero) in 2021 and 2022 in part because of workers like Ruth and others like her at the 9 FAME partner clinics in Ghana.

She relates well with the women and encourages their husbands to provide basic items like baby dresses, sanitary items, and others to their wives at the point of delivery and this motivates every pregnant woman and gives a desire to always want to deliver at the facility. She quickly learned the culture of the people, got associated with them, became a life coach to the young girls and used the opportunity for education and the gospel and reduced teenage pregnancy drastically.

The deprived nature of the communities in most parts of the Northern region is recognized by the government in the title of the award and Ruth has been honored for her work!

These are your FAME partners! When we think of the people you are supporting and encouraging through your partnership – it is

hard-working people like Ruth!

Thank you for your impact and partnership!

Typhoon Odette hit the Philippines in December of 2021 destroying the homes of 12 million people and becoming the second costliest typhoon in Philippine History. Obviously, homes were only part of the destruction, as community services, structures, and infrastructure were also destroyed.

On the island of Bohol, the Village of Hope Orphanage had begun construction on a clinic prior to Typhoon Odette. While this remote area did have a government health center, the orphanage saw an opportunity not only to provide healthcare for their children but also to share the good news of Jesus with the community.

Both the government Barangay Health Center and the construction of the Village of Hope clinic were damaged in the typhoon. As a result, the orphanage and the community were left without access to healthcare, except for a two to three-hour trip, depending on road conditions and mountainous terrain!

Edlyn, the brother of an orphanage volunteer, had suffered a life-threatening injury and was unconscious, rapidly losing blood. It was very late at night when a friend threw Edlyn over the back of his motorcycle, successfully taking him to the hospital three hours away.

Unknown to the friend driving the motorcycle, unconscious Edlyn’s bare feet were dragging the ground for the full three-hour drive, and upon arrival at the Emergency room the situation was even more serious than before.

THIS LACK OF ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE is exactly why you are such an important partner to FAME. No one should be so far from care that the journey is worse than the initial injury.

The Village of Hope Clinic is going to be rebuilt in a couple of phases! The need is even greater than before the Typhoon because the government has no plans to rebuild the Health Center. This clinic will become a beacon of hope for the orphans and will remain sustainable by providing essential services to the community. The FAME “Yes!” Fund will be sending funds for Phase One soon, which will grant access to treatment and THE cure!

You will be glad to know that even though Edlyn did lose some toes, he didn’t lose his life. Your FAME partner reports:
Our staff was able to join the volunteer in visiting Edlyn (her brother) in the hospital. The incident opened the door to several important spiritual conversations. Edlyn still struggles with the idea of forgiveness and grace, but several good conversations have since happened. He seems several steps closer to the cross than he was before. His children, however, have since fallen in love with Jesus.

You can see how important your partnership is to people like Edlyn.

You can see how important FAME’s partnerships with our global partners is to people like Edlyn and his children!

I am so thankful for you and for the way the “Yes! Fund” is continually being funded to meet needs and requests like the Village of Hope Clinic.

Thank you for your partnership!

Right now there are some places that are, and have become, exceedingly dangerous to be a Christian involved in evangelism.

Recently there have been some very public reports of persecution and threats against Christian leaders for Evangelism at Hospitals in one specific country, but that country and leader are not alone.

There are so many more! On an international trip I took not that long ago, the FAME partners in one country were so cautious about my visit drawing attention that some cancelled my visit. Others made detailed, distracting schedules and even had me come in the wee hours of the morning! But here is why: They are active in Evangelism and don’t want that to be hindered or interrupted!

This is how serious this persecution has become. My co-worker Jeff was recently with a potential FAME partner who has a vision for a clinic added to their church planting through a Business as Missions model. This husband and wife team deeply desires serving their people with a clinic. When Jeff asked, “Are one of you a Medical Provider” They looked at one another, and tears welled up in her eyes. He is a Pastor, businessman, and Evangelist, and they knew that if she could become a Nurse or even a Medical Doctor it would accelerate their impact. She said, “We want to do as Jesus did and heal people, while telling them the good news. I finished my Nursing and realized that it was not that much longer, in comparison to eternity, to complete medical school, (there in the country we are speaking of) so I pursued my full Medical Doctor License.”

She completed medical school with honors, but the administration refused to grant her a diploma because she wouldn’t deny Christ. She shared, “They guaranteed, that if at any time I would deny my faith in Jesus, that the diploma and Medical License would be mine. I can’t do that. So now we wait on the Lord to open different and new doors.”

I don’t know if they will become a FAME partner, BUT I DO KNOW God is at work even when His people are at risk. There are dozens of current FAME partners treating people in the name of Jesus, and trusting God that the good news they share will penetrate the culture and countries where they serve!

Because of you, the gospel is on the move.

• Pray for FAME partners around the globe.
• Pray for FAME partners in countries where you have heard of persecution.
• Pray for new believers to remain faithful as they grow under pressure.
• Pray for shipments of medical supplies and equipment so that we are able to get into difficult locations.
• Pray for the continued construction and remodeling of 5 facilities in one of the most difficult cultures in our time.

Thank you for allowing me to be vague to protect dozens of your FAME global partners – but also want to encourage you that THE GOSPEL IS ALIVE AND ACTIVE! Your FAME partners are not just providing treatment but the cure that only comes from Jesus!

Bill Warren
Executive Director

 

 

We all are clock watchers. We like to know what time it is, how much time until our next activity, how much time is left in the school play, we just like to know how much time we have!

When we think about why FAME does what FAME does – time is of the essence.

One of your FAME partners works specifically with the Maasai people in Kenya – and FAME is currently raising funds to remodel a clinic in their region. This clinic is critical for the future of their people because the Maasi people have a life expectancy of only 45 years.

For the Christians in the community that means a real lack of elderly wisdom and leadership. It means there is a gap of grandparents and great-grandparents influencing the next generation with the gospel. The facility is active in health education in the schools and villages and is a top-performing facility in the country!

This Health Centre is changing the landscape for the Maasai people! As a matter of fact, the Talek Health Center which is located at the northeastern entrance to the world-famous Maasai Mara National Reserve was just recognized by the Kenyan Government as the “best-improved facility in management against 16 facilities both in government and private organizations.”

Please pray for FAME as we rally support for this clinic project. Please pray for Community Health Partners in Kenya as they care for the Maasai People with healthcare and the gospel – extending life expectancy and generational impact!

When you say “Yes!” to FAME

You send treatment and the cure…

…so more people say “Yes!” to Jesus!

Thank you for your partnership

FAME is seeking a Mobilization Coordinator to help build and grow our ministry of short-term medical mission trips. The successful applicant will have excellent organizational and people skills.  Experience with international travel is a plus.  Extensive domestic and international travel will be required.  Projected start date will be January 1, 2025.

To apply, send cover letter and resume to mfehl@fameworld.org.

Mobilization Coordinator Job Description

Dear FAME Prayer Partner,

Thank you for your faithful partnership with the ministry of FAME through prayer. We are blessed to have you come alongside us in praying for those here in the U.S and those around the world.

This month we are excited to have a short-term team going back to Colombia to serve alongside
the ministry, La Costa, Colombia. The team will be hosting multiple medical outreaches in local cities and towns in and around Barranquilla, Colombia, including Santa Marta, and Buena Ventura to develop and support indigenous Christian ministries.

Medical outreaches open doors for our Colombian hosts to engage in personal relationships with those who come to receive treatment from our team.  Through those relationships, the good news of Jesus can be shared, and ultimately lives will be transformed.

Please pray for not only the trip participants that will be going, but also the leadership of La Costa Colombia, and the people the team will be treating in the name of Jesus.

Other items of prayer include many volunteer groups at FAME this month, some shipments going to DR Congo, Togo, and Ghana (shipping a 40’ container of medical supplies and equipment), and our FAME staff.

Lastly, I’d like to share some of a devotion I recently came across by Lysa TerKeurst, that really touched my heart on the importance of not only being in God’s Word, but how we should view the Word. She writes, How will we respond to the Word when it is presented to us? Will we be torn in our hearts and drawn to repentance and worship? Or will we remain prideful and resistant?

I believe our answers to these questions hinge on how we view God’s Word.

If we treat God’s Word simply as an ancient book with some good principles, we will read it and take from it what we want. But if we truly believe the Bible is the living Word of the one true and holy God, we won’t just read it — we’ll let it read us. Our key verse reminds us, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

If we will let it, Scripture can breathe fresh life into us, rearrange our wrong thinking, redirect our wayward heart tendencies and cause us to become more and more humble with each interaction.

Blessings in the coming month,

Click here for the September Prayer Calendar

In 1979 I was in a “camp team” traveling to represent Great Lakes Christian College. That is the summer I first met a missionary who had taken his ventriloquist dummy on the mission field to Rhodesia.

Rod Cameron spent many years encouraging children and students to consider missions. He was the Director of a church camp in Central Indiana. Prior to meeting him, he had written a book, A Dummy Goes to Africa about he and his ventriloquist dummy, “Gabby” and their adventures in Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

Not long ago his son Bruce, wrote Jeff Coon when he heard FAME had remodeled the Birthing Center/Area at Mashoko Christian Hospital in Zimbabwe. Bruce was thrilled because he was born in the previous one!

“Dummies” currently play a role in the story of nurses being trained to go into many villages and teach CPR to community leaders in each village, so that more lives can be saved in these areas! CPR mannequins were just shipped to your FAME global partner overseas which runs the nursing program. CPR mannequins are critical to the training that occurs. So I guess we could say, dummies still go to Africa and make an impact!

Thank you for your partnership with FAME!

Bill Warren
Executive Diretor

I’m in the season of life that when I get on the scale, I hope that the numbers go down!

But the first weeks and months of a baby’s life, as you know, are the opposite. Births are announced with their weight included. We celebrate each successive appointment when they’ve gained a few ounces or pounds.

One of your FAME partners visited a village to give medical care, teach health lessons, and encourage the church planted in that village and met a young mother. She brought her child to the medical clinic and the team thought this was a newborn, only a few days old. But they came to find out that this little 6 lb. baby was 6 months old!

The care given turned the corner for little Josias! This partner is one of the great FAME partners who continue to serve among the villages they visit and they return to train leaders and continue care among the villagers.

Three (3) days ago a FAME team went back to that village and it has been 14 years since first meeting little Josias. This is him! He is strong and healthy, still enjoys balloon animals, and is a testimony of great things happening through God’s power!

Because of YOU and your support, ministries like this are able to intervene with help and hope, even for a mother and her 6 lb. child.

Thank you for your partnership!

Bill Warren
Executive Director

Road Closed!

Here in Indiana, it’s probably because of Summer road construction. But recently, in Guatemala, a medical team was informed that the community they were planning to visit was not accessible- there was no way for a bus to go over the pass.

So last minute plans were made to go to a community to which they had never gone and had wanted to see if there was an open door for the gospel there. They report:

On our second clinic day, we headed to this new community. Two hours after we opened the door it was apparent why we were here. A little girl was carried into our clinic in a Hyperglycemic Crisis. I saw His intricate planning, and how He aligned everything months in advance for this moment. FAME ministries were a part of His plan. Because of your donations, we had the IV kits we needed to buy us time to get off this mountain and to the nearest hospital. Those fluid boluses helped us save this little girl’s life and we could not have done it without you. Our God deserves all the praise. I am so grateful that He used both of our ministries to not only save Little Hope but also to share the gospel with her entire family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those IV Kits being with the right team, in the right place, at the right time is Amazing!

• They were donated by someone to FAME.
• They were received, labeled, and entered into inventory by volunteers and staff at FAME.
• They were listed on a request form from the partner.
• They were pulled from the shelf, taken out of inventory, and prepared for delivery by volunteers.
• They were packed and sent out with the team.
• They flew with a team to Guatemala.
• They were supposed to go to one community but went to another because of a Closed Road.
• A life was saved and the gospel was shared.

All that timing is only possible because of God – but it is also because of YOU!

Thank you for your partnership!