October 1, 2010

Sources: Zondervan, HCJB Global (written by Ralph Kurtenbach)

Tucked inside the slick pages and glossy photos of the book, Zealous Love, are distressing details of dirty water, disease and unsettling accounts of human trafficking, refugees and other global challenges.

The book's editors, Mike and Danae Yankoski, offer startling statistics of seemingly intractable problems, such as:

The Yankoskis have witnessed some of these unsettling realities. For example, they probed people's water needs water needs in Uganda. In Ecuador they investigated water needs and observed solutions offered by HCJB Global Hands. Their book (visit www.zealouslove.org) unstintingly urges faith-in-action answers and casts aside guilt as an inadequate motivator.

"Like a college student surviving on too much caffeine and not enough sleep," the Yankoskis write, "a guilty Christian will eventually crash. Instead, we're after something healthier and more sustainable-something we can live with."

Bruce and Cherith Rydbeck have been doing exactly that-living it-by serving as missionaries on a variety of development projects in Ecuador, Colombia and Kenya since 1980. The Rydbecks wrote, "A Community Transformed" as an upbeat, hope-filled section of the chapter, "Unclean Water."

Their story is set in Ecuador where the Rydbecks live. Bruce directs clean water projects in HCJB Global's community development department while Cherith mentors Ecuadorians in leading Bible studies. She also volunteers in hospice care.

Their account begins in a Quito neighborhood called Rancho Alto where a carpenter named César endured death threats from neighbors because of his faith in Christ.

Eventually, these neighbors were convinced of his authentic faith and profound concern for the community. He spearheaded the clean water project effort by weaving his neighbors' collective will for bettering their world with the engineering expertise of Bruce and his colleagues. Community members volunteered for dusk-to-dawn project work on weekends, and the project was completed in less than 35 days.

"When it was completed they were wonderfully amazed," Bruce said. "All they had beforehand was very dirty water, which of course was contaminated from the mountainside-lots of cow manure and mud, etc. And now they have pristine water they've enjoyed for the last eight years. They do the management of the water system."

"When I was up there just a few days ago, I realized that they've added on another 100 homes in the community, plus another 84 homes in the next door community," Bruce continued. "So there are 284 homes that receive from that water system. It's just a marvelous benefit to those people."

Changes to basic services in Rancho Alto, however, were only part of more profound changes in what may be termed "transformational development" in the lives of all parties involved.

"There were individuals who were affected by the Christian message and even families that were affected," Bruce said. Problems of alcoholism, abuse, and neglect diminished because the message of the gospel accompanied the communities clean water effort.

"We can't transform people; God transforms people," he emphasized, adding that his ideas on development have matured throughout the years of working in Ecuadorian communities, primarily in rural areas.

"I have a very different outlook about the spiritual component and how this works-how God wants to participate in development," Bruce concluded. "He wants to be the provider, and most certainly He wants to do his redemptive, transformational process in each one of us."