Author: Jim Cantelon

I spent a day yesterday recording the JCT TV programs for October (jimcantelontoday.com). As usual the television mantra is“Hurry up and wait”. Why? Because there’s always a piece of equipment that suddenly malfunctions, or a battery pack for the control room to floor intercom fails, or a camera operator called in sick, or, or… Yesterday was no exception but we prevailed. Even though the viewership is in the thousands my view of it is this: the camera is one person, and that person is you. It doesn’t matter if there are thousands. No one sees or hears with anyone else’s eyes and ears but their...

A defining scripture for my wife and me these past 21 years is from Psalms 6:5, “A father of the fatherless, and a defender of widows, is God in his holy habitation”. While founding and pastoring King of Kings Church in Jerusalem Israel in the 1980’s we were exposed to the massive orphans and widows realities of Sub-Saharan Africa on several speaking assignments. A decade after our return to Canada our heart for these vulnerable ones saw us founding Visionledd in 1999, now known as WOW (Working for Orphans and Widows). Currently we work with chosen champions of the poor from several churches...

You know the old adage, “Better to light a candle than curse the darkness”. So true. But I must say that we’ve never seen such darkness in our world. There’s no need to rehearse the crises facing us in terms of pandemics, wars, and natural/environmental disasters. Yet, WOW has just lit a little candle that’s already a life saver for young widows and orphans in South Africa. It’s a place called “House Nehemiah”. Our champions in the “irregular settlement” (read “slums”)in the north west quadrant of Johannesburg have created this safe house for “the least of these”, orphans and widows with nothing...

I was researching Christian missions recently and came across the motto of the Moravian Brethren: ”In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love”. This Czech body of believers rose to impact the world in the 18th century. Founded on the teachings of the great Bohemian (Czech) theologian Johann Huss, it predated the Protestant Reformation. Strong on Christian love and liberty it was seen as an outlier in the then Holy Roman Empire. It’s worth researching this vital church. It is alive and well today all over the world. The motto is what caught my attention. If I were...

Recently when recording Jim Cantelon Today TV I was asked by the director what my thoughts were re: the state of the world. He referenced the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the ongoing conflicts  in Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan, Libya etc, the wildfires in California, Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Israel, the floods in Turkey, Japan, and China, the virulent “fourth wave” of Covid, and on and on…What do you think Jim? Are we living in the last days?” My thoughts, of course, are just that-my thoughts. But I’m sure our world has never seen so many crises at one time. We’re in a global perfect storm. Two...

One of the major concerns in our world is that of violence against women. It’s a pandemic that has persisted long before Covid 19 afflicted the globe. And, with our WOW ministry (wowmission.com) we’ve made Gender Based Violence Mitigation a core value in our commitment to young widows and their orphaned girl children. Several years ago we established a Home of Rescue for abused widows and orphaned girls in Lilongwe, Malawi which has become a national standard in the fight against GBV.  Now, as of this month (August 2021), we’ve established another home of rescue in the huge slum area of north...

I was just reading about the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Afghan general says this conflict will greatly impact global security. Jihadists are joining the Taliban from Europe, Indonesia, North Africa, and other states in what may become a global conflict. Then there’s Iran, not only rattling its developing nuclear sabres, but facing a drastic water shortage that may precipitate desperate military measures. The Ethiopian-Tigray conflict threatens African security, while raging fires and floods are killing hundreds and creating thousands of refugees in various regions of our world. And...

The government of Malawi recently empowered the police to strictly enforce mask wearing to counter a troubling surge in Covid-19 infections. The police are taking this newfound authority seriously and, as I know from my many visits to this impoverished nation, they are overly zealous in their enforcement. The people, long-suffering as usual, carry on. Stress on stress is the reality for Malawians. They are in the grips of two pandemics- HIV and AIDS (which has been wreaking havoc for over 20years) and now C-19. This on top of systemic poverty is enough to break a nation’s spirit. But no. I’m...

For the first 12 months of Covid I was surprised and grateful that it’s impact was seemingly doing an end run around Sub-Saharan Africa. India was/is another story. Chennai, where we work with a small but vital church in Home Based Care for orphans and widows is a designated Covid “hot spot”. Our work there has ramped up considerably. We’re not only caring for afflicted orphans and widows, but the state government has asked us to help care for the first responders in the slum where we work as well. Thankfully the Lord has increased our resources so that we can take on the added challenge. And,...