So many people are homeless – millions in fact – that China is now asking for tents to help house those displaced by the earthquake in the southwestern Sichuan province. I’m Charles Morris and welcome to HAVEN Today where we tell the great story that’s all about Jesus. Condolences and relief is pouring in from nations all over the world and one of the great needs for hundreds of thousands injured and millions displaced is a place to live. And that’s why the government of China is asking for three million tents to help people find shelter. In the next few minutes we’re going to visit with a friend of mine, he happens to be a Christian and he is involved in Kingdom business in China and – of all things – he runs a company that makes tents in China. Don’t miss the story of one company making a difference and how you can help make a different, too, on this program called “The Tentmaker’s Freedom”. Before we go on, I’m going to ask you to read between the lines in a conversation you’ll hear in the next few minutes. There are many questions I wish I could ask but cannot ask. And there are answers that our special guest can’t give for obvious reasons. But my prayer is that you will listen with ears to hear. I will not be using the “M” word and nor will he. But if you are a follower of Jesus, you will pick up on the different layers of what we will be talking about and that you or maybe even your church will be able to respond. And if you missed our programs last week on biblical archaeology with the latest findings covered by Dr. James Hoffmeier, who is a working archaeologist as well as professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, we’ve left them up on our homepage – haventoday.org. Now I am going to carefully repeat all of our contact information for you after we have our time with this person from China in the next few minutes. So get ready now for a program coming first-hand from China. Darlene Zschech of Hillsong leads us as we open with her hymn Call Upon His Name.
Song: Call Upon His Name – Darlene Zschech – Change Your World – uploaded & itunes
This is Haven Today which originates from Southern California, but on the line with us from China is a friend of mine Doug Whitzig who I met when I was in China about a year ago. Doug, I just want to welcome you to Haven Today:

INTERVIEW w/Doug Whitzig
(Doug) Thank you Charles for having me on Haven Today, it is great to be with you.
(Charles) I’m glad we have a line open to you, you happen to live in China with your family. You live in a little city, it’s not too little of a city by North American standards with about six hundred thousand people, but you also happen to be a tent maker – aren’t you?
(Doug) That’s right; we operate and manage a small factory there sewing tents and awnings. Most of our product is exported back to North America for the do-it-yourself market.
(Charles) Ok, I wanted to have you on so we could talk about the earthquake, which of course put millions of people out of homes. The death toll now is so huge; it’s getting close to seventy thousand, sixty eight thousand one hundred is what I heard, there are still many thousand that are missing at this point. For just a second though, let’s tell everybody where you are from; you are originally from Borton Illinois and you actually have a Master’s Degree from Moody Bible Institute, don’t you?
(Doug) Yes, I come from the mid-west and now I find myself half way across the world in China.
(Charles) Now I know of the tent awnings that you make and send back to the United States, but, now you and your small company are helping to make tents to help and stay in China. How did you get involved making tents for the relief of the earthquake?
(Doug) Well, we had been making some window awnings for the residential market in North America and people in our city new we had the capacity to make tents. And there is a business man who is working in our city who was from the Sichuan province where the earthquake struck. His parents still live there in Shangdu and his own mother had to go up and down the stairs of her apartment building every time there was an after-shock. Because his mother had arthritis it was very difficult for her to run down the steps and down the street each time the after-shocks hit and so he wanted to send her a tent. He called us up and asked my plant manager if we could make him a couple of tents that he could send to his relatives and Charles that got us thinking that we could have a bigger role in this project.
(Charles) So you are actually gearing up and making tents that can be sent in - I know that the Chinese government has sent out a call around the world for tents and many of the tents that are being sent into China right now from the outside were actually made from China in the first place. What you are going to be doing, along with other China tent makers, is you are going to make the tents there and send them over and that is much more economical, isn’t it?
(Doug)Yes, the call has gone out for three million tents. So far they have only been able to deliver to the disaster zone over four-hundred-thousand. Right now Charles the ministry of civil affairs has given a contract to seventy-five-hundred tent making factories in China. They want to try to produce nine-hundred-thousand tents and have them delivered by June 20th to help give shelter to the people that are living out in the fields and townships. Our approach is a little bit different; we are a private company, we do not have a contract from the government. Just out of love and compassion for those people we would like to raise some donated funds and make a batch of maybe two-hundred or so tents and send them out to two Christian relief agencies who we have contacts with now. The agencies are on the ground, they are registered with the government to help in the relief effort. They have agreed to receive our tents and help pass them out to people who can use them.
(Charles) Wow, that’s wonderful. Let’s just talk for just a minute because people are probably wondering how is this guy with an American accent? You are a Christian, aren’t you – living and working in China with your wife Jen and your kids Zachary, Luke, and Joel. Tell us how you got to China, and within the boundaries of what you can tell us, tell us about your background a little bit and what led you there?
(Doug) Well, after graduating from Moody Graduate School with a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies back in 1992, my wife Jennifer and I came out to Hong Kong first and studied the Cantonese dialect of Chinese. I worked in Hong Kong for a few years and then we had this amazing opportunity to move into this small city to teach English and get involved with opportunities there. We have been there for almost 12 years.
(Charles) I know from having a really wonderful breakfast in your home, it’s not the easiest thing to live there, but by most standards that some of our listeners would be use to, and the Lord is blessing you – he’s blessing your work isn’t he?
(Doug) Very much so; we feel that we have been called to live with our family and some friends there, and we have experienced much grace over the years there. I tell you Charles, being involved in this project has been a great door opener for us. We have been in this business now just over two years and through that have made many more contacts in the business community of our city. We have met government officials, banking leaders, suppliers and contractors. After having taught English there for about seven years, this is kind of a new adventure for us.
(Charles) If someone has a pair of blue-jeans and it says; ‘made in China’, you happen to be in the blue-jean capitol of the world. So it is pretty convenient being in the awning and tent making business by where you are located isn’t it?
(Doug) They send a lot of jeans to Southeast Asia, Middle-East, South America; some do make it to the states. But because that industry being in our city, we have a good supply of sewing ladies who we can hire into our country.
(Charles) Well, thank you for just describing what you do and then also telling us about the project to being able to send tents in.

Song: Completely Taken In – Dallas Holm – Signature Songs – uploaded or itunes

Dallas Holm- This is such a good message when we think of the earthquake and all the devastation that it has caused.

Some lyrics: Where do the broken hearted go, to find a comfort for their pain. So many hurting need to know, the hope there is in Jesus name. I have Joy in the time of sorrow, I have peace in the raging storm. I have faith that Jesus holds tomorrow, I have hope, I'm resting in His arms". From the album "Completely Taken In" Benson Music.

Dallas Holm here on Haven Today -The Tentmakers Freedom is what we’re calling this program. I’m Charles Morris and in a few moments I’ll give you our contact information if you would like to learn more and if you would like to help donate part of a tent, all of a tent, or even several tents to help in China. Not a dime to HAVEN. We’re passing this gift straight through with no handling fee.
I couldn’t help but think of a tentmaker many years back. His name was Paul and we know a lot about him from the Bible.
Tentmakers are Kingdom workers who help earn their own support. They make a living at what they do and there are thousands of tentmakers like Doug Whitzig in China today, they teach English, or run some sort of business, like my friend Doug who runs a Kingdom company in Hoiping, which happens to be the blue jeans capitol of the world.
The term “tentmaker” comes from the apostle Paul, from the way he conducted his ministry. He was literally a tentmaker – he paid his own way by sewing animal hides together into tents and selling them in the market. His friend, Dr. Luke, gives us this little but of information in Acts, 18:
Acts 18:1-3
“Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.”
The hides they used to make tents were naturally water proof and cool in summer. Roman legions loved them. So did anyone else who wanted a warm, dry place to spend the night. Paul probably learned his trade growing up in Tarsus where tent-making was a major industry.
For Paul being a tent-maker meant he could share his faith without depending on new believers to support him. It cleared the air of any suspicions that he was just after their money. It meant the churches he planted would never have to wonder if he really loved them or if he was using them. He explained all this in a letter he wrote to the Thessalonians:
1Th. 2:-9 The appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.
On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed — God is our witness.
We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.
We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. “
The theologian FF Bruce called Paul “The apostle of the heart set free”. He was one of the most liberated individuals who ever lived. He had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and he was never the same. When the Son of Man sets you free, you are free indeed.
But as I read these verses in Thessalonians what I learn is this -- Paul knew he couldn’t take that freedom for granted. He had to guard his freedom. It’s easy to lose. In these verses you pick up clues about how he kept from losing it.
I see three:
1. Stay Gospel centered.
As an apostle, Paul was “entrusted with the gospel” and everywhere he went he was always sharing the gospel and preaching the gospel. But it was more than that. His own heart was Gospel centered. The freedom, the forgiveness, the privileges, the love, the future hope – all the riches of the Gospel – they were always up front and personal for Paul. They were central to his life. He lived and breathed the good news -- and that keeps your heart free – because freedom comes from knowing how rich you are.
2. Keep free of people-pleasing.
Paul lived exclusively to please the Lord. “We’re not trying to please men but God . . . We’re not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.”
There’s real freedom in living that way. I’m not sure if we always realize how enslaved we are to our desire for approval from people. How much of our anxiety comes from trying to keep people happy.
Paul intentionally chose not to live that way. He loved people, profoundly, but he wasn’t a people-pleaser. He was a God-pleaser. I once heard a speaker say his life changed when he stopped living for the applause of the audience and starting living just to hear the applause of the Lord. You can’t do both. You can’t serve two masters, as Jesus said. Living to please the Lord instead of people will set you free because that’s the way you were meant to live.
3. Get your heart checked on a regular basis.
For Paul, being a tentmaker meant he could say, “My motives are pure. I’m not putting on a mask to cover up greed.”
Paul knew it was easy to have self-serving motives. He knew his heart needed frequent checkups.
And it’s the same for us. It’s so easy to rationalize; it’s so easy to put a spin on what we do, to put on an act. And it’s so hard to know what’s really true about ourselves, to be clear about our motives, to know if our love is for real or not.
But Paul knew his heart. He could honestly say,
“The appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.”
How did he know his heart so well? He tells us, “God tests my heart.” Paul stood before his Lord and said, “Show me my heart, expose my motives, bring me into the light.” He stood before the Lord and had his heart tested. If there was insincerity or false motives, they were exposed. When the Lord shines in the light it humbles us and purifies us and changes us and then --our conscience is clear. I can’t tell you how great the benefits are of living that way. Paul could honestly say to the Thessalonians,
“I loved you so much that I was delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but my life as well, because you had become so dear to me.”
How do you know that for sure Paul? How do you know your own heart?
He tells us, “God is my witness.”
God had tested his heart. Having regular heart-checkups will keep you free because it’s keeps your conscience clear.
The Tentmakers Freedom and this is HAVEN Today.
May all Christians in special ways that God gives them, be in one way or another a tentmaker for King Jesus.

Thank you for joining me as well as Doug Witzig coming to us from China. If you want to pass this interview on and maybe someone you know, maybe even your church, might want to help, just go to haventoday.org. Choose the prominent button labeled ‘listen’. Not only you can hear the program again, but you can easily pass it on to others to hear as well. And please pray for people to respond. We’ve taken up an offering here at the ministry to help buy tents and just know that the way we are channeling your gift, it will be made in the name of Jesus. Not a dime for HAVEN. We are taking NO handling fee. We’ve arranged for the money to pass through safely to this Chinese company run by Doug Witzig and the tents will be distributed by Christian ministries doing relief work in the Sichuan province of southwestern China. Now, I’m about to give you our contact information. Be sure and let us know on your check or on-line that you want this gift to go towards buying a tent. And if you were planning on making a gift to HAVEN Ministries, please in the comments section on-line, on your check memo or when you talk to Geoff, Deborah, or Holden, or somebody else on our team, let them known which portion of your gift goes for tents and which portion goes to HAVEN Today. We want to honor your request. Now, here’s how you can learn more and get in touch with us.
The easiest way is on line at haventoday.org. Or you can call us toll-free at 1-800-654-2836. If you want to mail a physical check, write to HAVEN Today
Haven Ministries Send E-Mail to: Haven Ministries
P.O. Box 79997 ministry@haventoday.org
Box 6800
Riverside, CA 92513-1997 Copyright © 2008 Vancouver, B.C. - V6B 4C9

Let us know the station you’re listening to. And remember, to please pass this program on to others by going to the ‘listen’ button at haventoday.org.
I’m Charles Morris, thanks for being with me. Come back and join me again tomorrow won’t you? When again we will be telling the great story that goes all away around the world and back, it’s all about Jesus and we’ll do it together here on Haven Today.