A way to change the life of a hungry child

I want to tell you a story about something that happened in the life of my mother. Back in 1983, she was teaching a sunday school class in southern Honduras. There was about 200 kids under a tree and it was very hot. Mom and Dad was called to be missionaries back in 1969 and they had planted many churches but they had never seen in all their years so much suffering and hunger. People were actually dying each day in Honduras of hunger.

Mom taught the kids how much Jesus loves them and that Jesus wanted them to be saved so they could live in a mansion in heaven. Mom had to explain to the children what a mansion was because they had no idea. They all lived in dirt huts and walked on mud floors. Many did not even have a bed to sleep on. After the Sunday School class, the pastor of the church gave my mom and dad a can of sardines and a hot pepsi to drink. They were really proud to be able to offer this meal to them. As they were trying to eat this, a little girl was standing about 20 feet from my mother eating a green grapefruit. She kept her eyes on my mother the whole time while she peeled that green grapefruit.

The Holy Spirit started talking to my mothers heart. Mom thought "I wonder if the little girl is thinking, why does the missionary get to eat sardines and a pepsi and I only have a green grapefruit. Why does the missionary have shoes to wear and I am barefoot. Why does the missionary have a stool to sit on and I have no where to sit." Probably none of these thoughts ever entered her mind but mom could not get that little girls look out of her mind.

The next week, mom went back to teach the Sunday School class and that little girl and two others had died of starvation. She was torn into pieces and she told my father that she could not do this anymore. How could she teach about the love of Jesus to starving children. Mom and Dad did not have any money and they did not know what to do. Mom decided to write a simple one page letter to some of their supporters in the states asking them to help feed these hungry children.

Just a couple of months later, people started sending in donations to help feed the hungry. Mom never imagined that 25 years later, we would be providing 120,000 plates of food every single day in 40 feeding centers in Honduras and Nicaragua.

One day, dad was supervising the feeding centers and it was school time and none of these children were in school. He told mom, "these kids are going to grow up poor and their kids are going to be poor, we have to do something about this". They decided to start a christian school but never did they imagine that 25 years later, we would have 6 Christian Schools with over 3,500 children receiving a christian education. Can you imagine how many graduations we have had in 25 years? Many of these children that was once poor are now Pastors and Evangelist. Many work in banks, stores, government jobs and one student who was extremely poor is now the secretary for the First Lady in Honduras. These children are taught that everything they receive is because Jesus loves them.

Aaron, Eliu and Harold from Samaritan Revival were also children at one time who ate in our feeding centers. They had no clothes to wear but one day a family in the U.S decided to sponsor them and look how the Lord has used them to touch many lives. That family who picked their picture off of a table we had placed during a church service many years ago never imagined the impact they were going to have in the lives of these three men.

So far, Samaritan Revival has found sponsors for over 350 children who are hungry and have no education. These children are now eating every day and they are now in school. They now know that Jesus loves them so much that He touched someone's heart in the U.S to sponsor them.

This is something that we offer in every concert we do and you can offer it also. One dollar a day will change a child's like. Sponsors can write to their child either by mail or email as much as they want and they can even visit their child on one of our 20 mission trips each year.

If you have a gospel group, pray about offering this opportunity to people during your concerts. The program is called "Opportunity of a Lifetime". Why? It not only gives the child an opportunity to survive and have a chance to grow up to be somebody but it also gives an opportunity to a family in the U.S to make a difference in a child's life. We are very small compared to World Vision and others but we do what we say we do and that is why the Lord has blessed this program.

If you would like to help us find sponsors for many children who need help, please call our office at 770-459-4058 between Monday thru Friday and ask for Rebecca or my mother Joan Tyson. We will send you pictures and bios of children that need to be sponsored. They will explain how the program works.

This is a great way that your group can make an impact and minister as you sing in your venues. The Bible says, he that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and God will Repay. Do you want to make a loan to the Lord? You may not see rewards here on earth, but you will see them in Heaven.

Philip Tyson
Samaritan Revival

Christian Music and the Internet

It has only been one year since we started Samaritan Revival and WOW have we learned alot.  First of all, we have learned that we are not the only Christian Group trying to be noticed on the internet.  There are literally thousands of Christian groups who are subscribing to about every music community like Myspace, Facebook, Hi5 and others just trying to reach a new fan base.

When we first started out, we were so excited that we really did not care about exposure, we just wanted to sing to people and we prayed that our music would touch hearts and souls.  Unfortunately, you can compare music to a favorite food.  You find out that you love fried mushrooms but after you eat the mushrooms for a while, you are ready for a new taste.  You may say that it is not this way if your purpose is to minister but it definitely is.  What if you went to church and you heard your Pastor preach the same message over and over again.  After a while, you would get tired of hearing the same thing.

I know of groups that upload their music to many sites like reverbnation and hundreds of others but after months or years, they never update their sites with new songs or as we see now, with photos, blogs, or even videos.  One good example of a group who really has it together is Mercyme.  They not only promote their music but they use sites like youtube and Godtube to show their personal side and their day to day activities.  With so many reality shows on TV, people today want to see more than just what they see at a concert.

The internet is so powerful because you can go into peoples homes and expose your life to them.  Let me just warn you though, people are not dumb and they know if you are just putting on a show or if you are being honest about what you are showing them.  When someone gets to know you as a person, then your music becomes part of them.  They relate to you in such a different way and they even worry about your progress in the Music Industry.

Today, many artist are staying away from Record companies.  I do not know if that is good or if it is bad but what I do know is that the tools are out there on the internet to help you promote your music.  Itunes has got to be one of the greatest portals that has ever opened up to the indie artist, but you cant just have your music on itunes an expect everyone to buy it.  You have to work and I mean work extremely hard to meet people, make fans, and sometimes even give your music away for awhile until you build up a following.

Samaritan Revival uses several tools to promote and sell their music.  One great site is www.blastmymusic.com/avivamiento - Here you can listen to 30 seconds of each song and then purchase it for .99 cents.  We also created a youtube page called www.youtube.com/samaritanrevival which is really great because you can upload any video you want.  You can just video yourself talking to your fans or your newest music video.  Don't expect millions of visitors overnight.  We have been on youtube for about 6 months and our videos have been watched about 10,000 times.  Compared to others, that is not alot but it is alot more than we had six months ago when no one could watch our videos. 

If you are a Christian Artist, it is really important to let people know what your purpose is.  Is it just to sing and gain popularity or is it a ministry for you.  These are very important points that you need to bring out to your fans.  

Our biggest promotion tool has been our site at www.myspace.com/bandaavivamientosamaritano - our songs have been played almost two million times and we have met many wonderful people including Christian artist who have given us advice spiritually and advice on many areas that has to do with the industry.  I know that there are pages on myspace that are not suitable for a Christian but here is a simple solution.  Don't visit these pages.  If you walk into a book store, there is always a magazine stand with great magazines but their are always adult magazines.  Just like myspace and some other sites, you just stay away from them.

I do not know if we will ever get signed by a record company but what I do know is that when we do, we will already have a large fan base.  Just remember this, even though we love to sell Cd's, that is not our purpose and God is not blind to the desires of our heart.  He will bless you as long as you work hard and your purpose is placed on him.

Philip Tyson

www.samaritanrevival.com

Hate Sin but not the Sinner

Have you ever heard the saying "Hate sin but not the Sinner."  It is harder to say it than to actually do it.  I can talk about this because I have experienced it in my life.  

Back in 1997, my life was as good as it gets.  I was working for the Lord and I was building my sixth radio christian  station in Honduras.  What people did not know is that my home life was a wreck.  To make a long story short, I ended up in divorce and for seven years, I was out of the ministry and miserable.  I had so much guilt inside and I truly believed that God could not forgive me.  It wasn't until 2003 that I fell to my knees and asked God to forgive me.  I felt a peace that I had never felt before.  I was ready to tell the whole world about what God had done for me and I was ready to start serving Him again.

I never imagined what was going to happen next.  You expect that people who do not know Jesus is going to try to hurt you but Christians, NO WAY.  Well, YES WAY.  Even though God has forgiven me, all my Christian friends did not want to have anything to do with me.  I had never done them no harm but I guess all they could see was a big "D" on my forehead.  I made phone calls and I wrote letters asking everyone to forgive me for not living up to the standards that they expected of me but I received no response.

As the years passed, some people started approaching me and we started building relationships once again but many did not.  Even today, after so many years, there are people who I love with all my heart will not talk to me.  I ask myself, "WHY"  There are so many verses in the Bible about redemption and forgiveness but why can't we really forgive like God does?  I wonder what God thinks about the attitudes that we show towards others.  

As Christians, we should hate sin with all our strength but we have to love the sinner.  When a sinner has asked forgiveness from the Lord, this is when we should love them even more because this is the time that they need us to be close to them.  Life is not easy for me and I only blame myself because if I would of not falling in sin, this would of never happened but it has shown me a tremendous lesson.  I am going to show compassion to people who are hurting.  I am not going to judge anyone because I am not a judge, only God is.  Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well when the disciples would not but she ended being the link to Jesus preaching to the whole city.  

I don't have all the answers but what I can tell you is that Christians can hurt you more than the lost people of the world.  The reason for this is because we expect the lost to act the way they do but we do not expect Christians to act like the lost.

Philip Tyson

Not Living in Reality

Every Tuesday Night in San Marcos de Colon, Honduras, our group holds a devotional with about three hundred young people.  We have seen such a change between our services last year and this year.  Last year, we saw many young people receive Christ and their savior but this year the amount of professions of faith have been less.

Unfortunately, technology has reached this small town.  Their are now Internet Cafes where kids can spend many hours each day on the internet for a very low cost.  Reality has changed in the minds of the young people in Honduras.  We hear more talk about chat rooms and widgets and instant messages instead of milking the cows, cutting fire wood and picking coffee.  For the first time, these kids have an opportunity to look into a computer to see what other kids are doing around the world.  

The internet can become like watching an action movie.  No matter how many cars blow up or how many bullets are fired, the hero never gets killed.  They also have a chance to read about other religions and sects which is brain washing the minds on these once open minded young people.

Here is what I know.  The Holy Spirit is stronger than any force in this world and it may be harder today to win people to the Lord but we must do our duty and follow our calling by preaching the Gospel of Christ.  Results are wonderful but are job is not to save, it is to preach the Gospel.

Please keep our ministry in your prayers so we can keep preaching about the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philip Tyson

www.samaritanrevival.com

Our New Cd is now in Honduras

So many Christian bands out there have a story to tell but this one is incredible.  The Samaritan Revival new CD called "Quien Soy Yo" which is translated into english as "Who am I" was recorded in Nashville in March of this year.  The Cd's finally arrived at our office in Georgia on May 25th and they were on their way to Honduras the next week where thousands of people have been waiting to purchase our Cd.

Three days before they were supposed to arrive at the Tegucigalpa, Honduras airport, a airbus 300 from Taca airlines crashed landing at the airport.  One of the people killed in the crash was the President of the Central American Bank.  He was also the best friend of the President of Honduras.  The President was so upset that he permanently closed the airport saying that it was too dangerous for planes to land.  Chaos exploded throughout the country with no airport now in the capitol of Honduras.  The Good Samaritan Baptist Mission has back to back groups from the U.S. to Honduras starting in June and ending in December and our CD's were being brought down with the first group.

The group was routed to Managua, Nicaragua and our first thought was "these CD's will never get through customs without paying a great amount of import taxes.  By a miracle, the luggage was not checked by customs and the CD's entered Nicaragua.  Now we had to get them to Honduras.  

At 2:00 am, I was called to go to the border because the group has finally arrived at the Honduras border after a four hour bus trip from Managua and there was only one person working.  Let me just tell you that this is one scary place.  Hardly no lights, dark winding roads, and a run down building which was almost destroyed during the war and it has not been fixed up or remodeled.  The group had over 50 suitcases and this one man in charge, wanted to open everyone of these suitcases up to check every item coming into Honduras.

It was now 2:30 am and I was in a dark corner talking to him trying to explain to him how tired everyone was.  I could see his eyes just looking up at the stars not caring about anything I had to say.  I put my arms around him and said "these americans have come to help and if you keep them here in the awful place any longer, what are they going to think about Honduras.  It is not their fault that the airport in Tegucigalpa has been shut down.  They have been up for 24 hours and they are tired and they need you to show compassion on them."  

He looked up at me and said "I guess I can show some compassion tonight, the truth is, I am tired too and I want to get some sleep".  The Van filled with everyones luggage was passed through the border without being check.  PRAISE THE LORD!

At 3:00 Am, our CD's was in our possession and they will be distributed very soon.  This is what makes our ministry so exciting.  Nothing comes easy.  The devil puts road blocks in everything we do but God always is the triumph winner in it all.  

Our concerts can now start officially and we are so excited that the Samaritan Revival will be on tour now in Honduras, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.  

Keep our ministry in your prayers and be sure and check out our new website at www.samaritanrevival.com  You can learn more about this wonderful ministry that God has placed in our path.

May God Bless You,

Philip Tyson

Samaritan Revival 

Bring the Rain

Today,  I was watching a video from the Christian Group Mercyme and the lead singer said something that really struck me deep in my heart.  He was talking about going through some hard times and discouragement.  He spoke about how Satan had attacked his family even though he did not go into specifics but you could tell by the look on his face that it was pretty rough.

As the head of this band called Samaritan Revival, we have also been going through some discouragements and sometimes it is very hard to keep going.  What Bart from Mercyme said which really touched my heart is "If me going through these difficult situations is going to bring honor and glory to God then Bring the Rain.  

We have dreams and desires as artist but our main purpose should always be to bring honor and glory to God and to win people to the Lord.