By James E. Copple The Church is a relationship to something bigger and greater than an individual and a people, and that’s true across denominations and even for the un-churched. For me, it is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, one that has taken me to the White House and 30 governor’s mansions. It has […]

By James E. Copple John F. Kennedy and the new frontier defined my view of politics and why we should be concerned for the poor. I was 14 when Kennedy was assassinated and completely drawn by media coverage of his funeral. Watching endless commentary about his life and listening to his recorded speeches, I was […]

By James E. Copple Human-trafficking lives in the shadows of our global urban centers.  “Shadows.” That’s her word, and she is a 15-year-old Eritrean girl sold by her parents and trafficked via container-truck to Nairobi, where she lives in a small shack. And hers isn’t an uncommon story in East Africa, where famine and drought […]

Patricia Melnice of Tough Angels has spent the last three weeks with me in Kenya visiting sites related to the work of the Kenya Gender-Based Violence Partnership. This partnership  consists of SAI/Servant Forge, UNICEF, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Tough Angels, the Crossroads Church of the Nazarene in Arizona, and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries in Kenya.  […]

Dedicated to the staff, partners, and beneficiaries of SAI/Servant Forge “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death – you are with me.”  That you are with me promise jumps off the page and seizes my heart and my head every time I read it.  In my 63 years, I have certainly […]

The country became a part of my life when Kenya exploded into the headlines in 2007-2008…The post-election violence led to the death of 1,300 people…and a major disruption in the economic, social, and political conditions of the country.

We work together to build capacity so the search for food and water becomes secondary to sustainable work or agriculture that will secure their families. When I see the faces of these friends and colleagues – I cannot escape the disconnect.

This five-hour, one way trip to several communities seemed like just one more humanitarian mission. For reasons I cannot totally explain, it became so much more.

I spent most of the year in the developing world with particular reminders of Ethiopia, Swaziland, and Kenya.  I observed for the first time a Church working underground in a hostile political and religious environment.  I was both amazed and startled by the harshness of religious bigotry and the courage of people who have made commitments to […]