I’m guest blogging for Tom who is right now sitting in the Vancouver airport. I wish I had better news to report. He was scheduled to keynote the Unite in Worship conference this weekend–but he was not permitted to enter the country and is now being sent back to Denver in about 30 minutes.

Tom and his wife, Emily, were in line at the passport control desk, noticing that many people were being turned away. Apparently several other passengers on their flight had some issues as well. When they got to the front of the line, they were also told they could not enter Canada and were "deported" bck to the United States. Tom is exhausting every contact he has trying to get this decision reversed.

Tom was scheduled to teach two workshops and give the keynote address. We’re all stunned at this turn of events, and earnestly praying that God would intervene. Apparently there are some new restrictions on Americans traveling to Canada that apply to Tom. He now has to fill out more paperwork here in the U.S. to get clearance to travel to Canada.

Please pray for Tom and send this to anyone who would intercede on his behalf. This was a key part of Children’s HopeChest’s plans to open a Canadian office, and recruit more churches into our orphan care sponsorship program.

We often quote James 1:27 in our work. Right now, we’re thinking of another verse from James 1:"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance. Perserverance must finish it’s work so that you may be mature, and complete, not lacking anything."

Tom is anything but joyful right now. He’s caught in a bureacratic mess of red tape that is preventing him from the opportunity to advocate for orphans in Canada. Please pray for a miracle. The process he needs to go through to enter Canada is supposed to take 3-4 months–maybe longer.

Thank you for standing with Tom in prayer. I or Tom will post an update when one is available.

Sincerely,

Matthew Monberg

COO, Children’s HopeChest