There were the three – Peter, James and John. The inner circle, friends Jesus relied on more than any others.
And there were the twelve. The disciples passing out bread to the multitude, circled up around the Rabi, praying in the garden, sharing a meal together that last night.
And the seventy-two. You’ve never heard of the seventy-two?
“…the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.” -Luke 10:1
Seventy-two who “went ahead”. We don’t know exactly what the seventy-two did, but somehow they prepared the way.
I’m heading to Peru with a bunch of bloggers November 13-17. Our goal is communicate to first world readers what Compassion International is doing to serve children in and around Lima. Because of this trip hundreds of people will become sponsors, hundreds of children will be released from poverty, hundreds will come to faith. This trip will make ripples in eternity.
In short, we’re going to war against want and apathy. And we can’t do it alone. We need you to prepare the way, to be our seventy-two.
Pray
I cannot stress enough the importance of prayer to the success of these trips. I believe Satan hates it when people give and when children are freed from poverty. And I don’t believe he stands by and lets either of those things happen without a fight. Our greatest defense and offense? Prayer. Apart from Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5). Please pray daily for all of our team.
Please tweet the word out about this trip, linking to bit.ly/CBPeru and using hashtag #compassion. You can follow (and retweet) the entire team here.
I’m curating a board on Pinterest for this trip to Peru. There are already four images in it. Please watch that board and repin the stuff you think your followers would enjoy.
I’ve created three Facebook cover images to promote the trip. (These conform to Facebook’s guidelines for cover designs.) You can grab these from the photo section of my Facebook page or click this link to download them. Here’s how to change your Facebook cover image.
Read & Encourage
These bloggers are leaving familiarity and family behind for a week – some of them have never left the country before. They’ll face fears of flying, of getting sick, of not writing well. And they may have to do this while reading a few nasty emails from detractors. Please read their posts daily, share your favorite posts with others, leave an encouraging comment or shoot them an email. Your words before, during and after this trip really will help.
Thank you for being part of our seventy-two. We need you to prepare the way.
Penny says:
I had never heard of the 72 before (at least not in my memory), then the kids and I read about them just last week. We are reading through Luke in our studies. Then the 72 were mentioned in an article I read the other day. Now you mention them here.
Think maybe God is trying to say something?
Prayers for you all on your trip.
Shaun Groves says:
Maybe.
Thanks for praying, Penny!
Teena says:
Can’t wait to read, follow, spread the word… and PRAY! Thanks for the helps! Going to use one of the cover photos. Cool
Thanks for all you do.
grace~
Shaun Groves says:
Thanks for the help, Teena!
Kris says:
I will be praying and reading along. I believe God will use this team and this trip for His glory and purposes, and I believe the enemy will scratch and fight against the heart if this–praying the protection and strength of Christ over you all. We are more than conquerors.
I can’t wait to see what God will do!
Shaun Groves says:
Me too, Kris. Thanks for having our back.
Mary says:
I just got back from Peru with Compassion Int. as a sponsor on the 21st of OCT. so am so excited to follow you guys and pray for you and hear your perspectives. God’s blessing, protection and enlightment to all.
Shaun Groves says:
What part of Pere you in, Mary? We’ll be in and around Lima.
Yvonne says:
I’ll do my part to pray, follow, and share about the trip! Thank you for doing what you do to share with us about how amazing Compassion is in the lives of these kids!
Shaun Groves says:
No thanks needed. These trips are my favorite thing to be a part of at Compassion. I mean…you’re welcome ; )
Vicki says:
Shaun, I’ve posted the widget to my blog, and I’ve tried three times to download the FB covers, so I can choose one and change my Timeline cover photo. The files go, apparently, where no files have gone before…or wherever it is that such things go. I’ve run a search on my hard drive, and nothing’s shown up. I’ve looked in countless folders, followed the URL until I ran into roadblocks, checked my cookies list . . . everything I could think of.
I suspect the problem lies in that they are zipped files, and I don’t have a zip drive–??
Anyway, if there is any other way to accomplish this, I will be happy to change my FB cover photo. Otherwise, or if the “any other way” is too bothersome, I’ll file this under “I tried!”
Blessings to you!
Shaun Groves says:
Let’s see if I can help, Vicki…
In your browser’s toolbar up top, you may be able to see your downloads. In my browser I just click on “Window” and choose “downloads” from the drop-down menu. Once you see your recent downloads, just click on the facebook covers zip file.
Surely your computer has something that opens a zip file. It’s hard to imagine a computer not coming with a decompression program.
Now, if none of this works, go to my facebook page. Click on the photos tab. Click on the facebook cover image there that you want to use. The image will enlarge. Hover over it and you should see some options. One of them will let you use that image as your cover.
Vicki says:
Got it done, Shaun. Thanks!
Jennifer says:
What centers will you be visiting? I have a child near Lima in PE131.