"From The Heart of a Pastor"

The ZITA Alliance is a gathering of representatives from the North American household of faith who feel compelled to join forces with the Zimbabwean Church in the fight against the human predicament that is exacerbating the impact of HIV/AIDS.

We are profoundly grateful for the pastors who have caught the vision and are challenging men and women of God toward sensitivity to the heart beat of God, so that they will hear the voice of God when He whispers, "I need you to be part of this ..."

Please read this prayerfully, and consider the role God would have you fill as we respond to the challenge He places before us. It is something a ZITA Alliance pastor shared with a team of individuals from the congregation he serves, who are contemplating being part of a trip to Zimbabwe early next year.

"This vision trip is a pro-active step to peel back the insulation from the wires of our faith and connect us with the power of God's vision for the nations.

You may or may not be affected by the HIV crisis in Zimbabwe, but if you go on this trip, you will return changed. We live such protected and insulated lives in our communities in America. To really grasp the purposes of God for our lives, we need to make conscious and energtic steps to expose ourselves to the pain and suffering of this world. Honestly, this trip is more about your walk with God than it is about the millions of Africans dying with HIV.

HIV is an agent that focuses the intensity of the curse on mankind. Just as the earthquake focused the intensity of the curse upon Haiti. But after the devastation of the curse, what remains is the beautiful image of the body of Christ.

The polished and materialistic wrapper of religion is removed and the living, breathing, active people of God empowered by His Spirit remain to bring glory, honor and praise to the name of Jesus Christ.

There is a frantic global effort to address HIV AIDS. But any efforts to erradicate AIDS will only prolong the inevitable - death - not just death but spiritual death - separation from the Life Giver. ARVs, money, orphanages, nutrition are all an effort to bring a slice of heaven to earth so that people will want to join God in His kingdom. If they never experience a little heaven in the middle of the curse, they will never thirst for heaven, but instead some other vain thing or idol.

Our job is to get back down to the level of the curse and look at it, see it, smell it, taste it and grieve over it. In the midst of the grief, we can bring the glory and hope of Jesus Christ by caring, listening and comforting. We bear the image of God. We bear His Word. We bear the Spirit of God. We bear the hope of Eternity. We bear the name above all names - Jesus Christ. We are His ambassadors, His priesthood, His body, His bride, His family, His rulers, His hands and His voice.

This trip will scrape the scab off of our hardened hearts and help expose us to the groaning creation as it waits for the redemption of Christ."

We will be hosting vision trips on the part of two churches in January and March of 2011. God is raising up individuals with specific professional and individual gifting that we so desperately need for the counsel they will be able to offer us. More importantly these people will be going with a right heart, committed to finding the real pulse of the Zimbabwean reality.

Each of these individuals is as much a part of the team as is any individual on the front lines.