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Emily: Welcome back to the 4:18 Podcast. Today we are here for more with Dr. John Fuder and we are diving into what makes this ministry unique. 

John: Well, I think the fact that it isn’t just doing something for people, if you will, it’s really doing something with people. The idea that those that are being reached are the ones that are being trained and equipped, if you will, certainly through the scriptures to be, you know, 

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we would say a fully devoted follower of Jesus, but that they then see the wholism of the Gospel that calls them into a lifestyle of caring, not just for their own family, but making provision even for their own village or for their own community and sharing those kind of resources and doing it in a way that does not live in dependency upon outside aid, which

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really comes and goes and is heavily dependent on grants and foundations and monies that can sometimes dry up because I think so many missional organizations are almost from the jump designed to do things for people to save them so to speak you know and only Christ can do that through the Gospel and it gets I think particularly messy when you have Americans

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many of us, Caucasians, showing up as the great white hope to fix Africa, which tragically has been a legacy for a long, long time, not unique to Africa–Asia, Latin America, the whole colonial mindset, which causes a culture of dependency that people just wait for somebody to come and help save them, fix them, provide for them. So I think Martin from the jump was trying to flip that whole thing completely. And I watched him speak very eloquently, not…

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throwing shade on the World Vision and others. And we know who a lot of these players are. And God uses profoundly, I get it. It’s not that. But I could see Martin was not about that. But he had an amazing capacity that I saw even from that first trip. And then I was privileged to go back multiple times. I don’t even remember how many times as he was scaling it, starting in Kenya, then into Malawi. And yeah, we crossed into a few other countries and now he’s obviously in Rwanda and so forth. It’s grown beyond.

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He could articulate that vision more of what people could be to help care on their own. And we watched early on, we heard people receive that and hear that. But I think the willingness to be with them and to show them how was cow, chicken, tomato, whatever it was that they’re gonna provide and care, and then surround that with training and equipping the pastors in those communities as well to help carry out that vision in the villages.

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I hadn’t seen that really. And we’d done trips to other places and so forth that it was heavy outside in rather than developing inside out kind of ways for people to care. And I think that’s why God has, you know, I mean, God blesses many things. I get it, PA’s not the only game in town, but you could see from the beginning that God had his hands on that. But again, I think it took a real anointed guy like Martin

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who was willing to flesh it out and to travel extensively weeks on end to stay in villages. And I’m kind of a city guy, lived in the Bay Area, LA, Chicago, and for me, some of that village stuff was really kind of like out of my depth, like, wow. I mean, really the poorest of the poor, really when you think about it are so far, far removed from any kind of resources that you would typically find more in the city, you know,

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and to sacrificially stay in those settings, to travel, to get there in and out, bouncing along on jeepneys and these little, what they call roads, but they’re almost just ruts. And he just lived that and I think that what has endeared him to so many people, it’s not like one, if I can use myself as sitting in their little study with all their books and getting others to do the work kind of thing, the ivory tower, but boots on the ground from the very beginning

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deeply, deeply impressed me with Martin.

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Emily: Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend so we can grow this podcast and share this good news. Thank you for being here. We appreciate your partnership in prayer and in giving. If you’re interested in partnering financially, be sure to head to usa.possibilitiesafrica.org and hit the donate button. Thank you so much for being here. God bless you!