John Rowell, the lead church planting pastor for Generations, has been pastoring churches for nearly 30 years.  During this time he has also been deeply involved in global missions, a role that has taken him to Europe, South America, and Asia. Part of his mission involvement has included serving as a member of the Board of Directors for Food fro the Hungry (FH) since 2004. FH is a $200 million evangelical relief and development agency headquartered in Phoenix, AZ.  When the January 2010 earthquake struck Haiti with brutal force, FH had nearly 30 staff resident and operating in Port au Prince. It took weeks to locate these workers and to assess their own personal losses in terms of lives lost and property damage sustained from the earthquake.  These courageous people quickly returned to work to bring relief aid to their neighbors. 

Since that time, the dimensions of FH’s work in the country has expanded dramatically to include HIV AIDS treatment programs; supplying food, shelter, and water purification systems; organizing “child safe spaces in a variety of communities in the capital city; sponsoring “cash for work” programs to employ Haitians whose jobs were lost in the disaster; counseling services for post traumatic stress relief; and long term recovery and development programs.  Now more than 100 people work full time in the FH staff team in Haiti.  Generations is partnering with FH trying to add our resources to the considerable FH repertoire of responses to this crisis in hopes of helping to relieve the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Haitians who remain homeless, unemployed and in need of the most basic resources for sustaining life.  In this partnership, Generations is committed to child sponsorship, prayer, community to community partnerships with Haitian churches, short term teams mobilization, financial aid for the overall FH effort in Haiti, and long term mission service in the country.  We invite you to review the information regarding FH included below:

Vision

The Food for the Hungry vision – “God called and we responded until physical and spiritual hungers ended worldwide” – represents action and advocacy for those about whom Jesus spoke when he quoted the prophet Isaiah in Luke 4:18, “He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.” In a prayerful manner before God, we continue to ask God for great and bold impact in a world of incredible need.

Since the humble beginnings of Food for the Hungry in Glendale, California in 1971, God continues to call regular, ordinary people like our founder Dr. Larry Ward to help disclose to the world God’s passion and heart for the poor. Desiring His mercy and grace to go forward, God calls His followers to face outward to the world, connecting and drawing into service a sometimes inwardly-focused church and society. Food for the Hungry’s commitment to reveal God’s heart cry for the poor – remains unchanged. It is why He calls us, and it is why, by His grace, we respond to end physical and spiritual hungers worldwide.

Background / History

Food for the Hungry was founded in 1971 and gave birth to the ministry now at work in more than 26 countries worldwide. Since then, Food for the Hungry has boldly spoken out for and served the poor, sending courageous heroes to help communities transform themselves. Founder Dr. Larry Ward held to the simple premise that “they die one at a time, and so we can help them one at a time.” Again and again, we turn to the words from Scripture from which our name emerged, “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry,” Psalm 146:7.

Visit the website for more information: www.fh.org