David Z Nowell

Read:1 Corinthians 2:6-10 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God …

Read:Luke 6:32-36 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be …

Read:Psalms 68:5-6 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. Hours after the children who call Hope Unlimited home scuttle off to bed, the houseparents gather for a late night cookout. Soon, conversation turns from local politics and soccer to the real passion of every person there: the hearts of the children in their care. As dinner winds down, the randomly-placed folding chairs are pushed to one side, the houseparents form a …

Read:Psalms 119:9-11 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Food, clothing, and a safe place to sleep are not enough. If that is all we can offer, children will leave our care and eventually return to old destructive patterns. Even more troublesome, generational cycles of poverty and despair will not be broken, and the same situations that trap our kids …

Read:1 Thessalonians 1:3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. When we speak of the Hope Unlimited staff, our thoughts usually go to those on the front lines with the kids or the visible spokesmen for the program. But there are a lot of behind-the-scenes folks who make a difference in the lives of our children: accounting staff, the ladies who wash the kids’ clothes, the thrift store team, and the maintenance crew. While they do not have day-to-day …

Read:Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. When children come to Hope Unlimited, they bring short lifetimes of destructive behaviors with them. Sexual promiscuity, drug abuse, violent acting-out, theft, and dishonesty are all part of a street kid’s life. Hope Unlimited’s staff and, importantly, children whose lives have already been transformed, work diligently to help newcomers put harmful life choices behind them. Fortunately, through God’s power, we know new …

Read:Psalms 118:26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. “Pastor! Pastor!” Young voices ring out as he walks across campus. One child shows him a high academic mark. A teenage boy hurdles a fence and claims a handshake. A younger girl reaches for an affirming hug. Over a decade ago, Derli Barbosa became Senior Pastor to the children at Hope Unlimited. “God confirmed in my heart I should be here,” says Pastor Derli. “I have a calling from God. Seeing transformation in their lives and watching them …

Read:Psalms 10:11-18 He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.” Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”? But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be …

Read:Hebrews 12:7-13 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems …

Read:Psalms 22:3-11 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” Yet you brought me …

Read:Jeremiah 29:12-13 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Sex trafficking brings images of young girls kidnapped, transported, and forced to sell their bodies. But reality is much more complex. According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, trafficking occurs any time “a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age.” Basically speaking, anytime someone …

Read:John 10:27-30 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” Is “father” really a dangerous word? Unfortunately, for many of the children who come to Hope Unlimited, especially our girls, danger is exactly what that word connotes. Their fathers (or often stepfathers) are the ones who beat, sexually …

Read:Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Before coming to Hope Unlimited, the children we serve are often swept into destructive lifestyles by a cultural current pulling them towards drugs, crime, sexual exploitation, and poverty. A central part of our philosophy is maintaining a campus culture that, instead, directs the children in a positive trajectory. We count on older children, whose lives have already been transformed at Hope Unlimited, to help us establish a positive, productive …

Read:Matthew 18:5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Children often arrive at Hope Unlimited in the back of a police squad car. They have been taken from their homes or the street by armed police with no idea why—and no idea where they are going. To help them make the transition to their new home at Hope Unlimited, new residents are met by a welcoming committee of their peers, instead of adult staff members. A small group of kids, once anxious and afraid themselves, provide a campus tour, introductions to the Hope Unlimited family, and …

Read:Deuteronomy 10:12-18 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above …

Read:Proverbs 22:6 Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Walking in a favela, I asked a little boy and girl, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Without hesitation, the boy said, “Advogado (lawyer).” More shyly, the girl said, “Professora (teacher).” I asked, “Do you do well in school?” The little girl turned away and the boy shook his head. “I have never been, but Mom says maybe I can go next year,” he said. The public elementary school was nearby, but the …

Read:Psalms 10:14-15 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out. When we walked into their shack, the 13-year-old quickly stepped behind her mother, physically separating us. “She is afraid of men,” said the mother. “Her stepfather abuses her.” Answering the question in our eyes, she continued, “I am afraid to report him, because he will …

Read:Psalms 10:17-18 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror. During the 400 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, 40% of slaves taken from Africa came to Brazil, making it a trading hub. Brazil was the last country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish the despicable practice, and its culture is still affected today. Brazil remains a country strongly divided by classes, where whole groups of people are viewed as sub-human or simply objectified. Even …

Read:Psalms 139:8-18 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost …

Read:Matthew 25:31-46 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I …