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December 17

A Steep Learning Curve

Each month we take time to share with you what we are learning. Usually, this comes from books or videos that we are using for research. This month our Two Pennies University education moment has come through practical experience. This last year we’ve watched in apprehension as the value of the cedi has fallen. Just […]

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Blog

December 3

Once a Year…

Each year in November and December we hold a fundraiser online and at First Baptist Church, Elgin. That one fundraiser has traditionally been what allows us to set our goals for the upcoming year and to welcome new sponsors to our ministry. We have been so blessed to welcome many new sponsors over the last […]

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October 27

Continuing to Grow

Last month we explained the trials that we are facing with our work in Ghana. Rising prices due to inflation and supply chain issues have affected the people in that country in unexpected ways. For many, it has been devastating. This makes our work in Ghana that much more important. The twenty people working at […]

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September 20

A series of events…

You are undoubtedly aware of the challenges that we face here in the United State due to inflation. It is impossible not to notice that the price of gas, bread, clothes and other items have been on a steady rise over the last year and a half. In our April newsletter, we explained the impact this has on […]

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June 27

Back to Journeys

From June 6 through June 16, I was able to take my daughter, Hannah, on her first Two Pennies Journey to Ghana. We spent time at the Love and Care Orphanage, (pictured above), we visited the 5 different congregations in Akim Kwameng, read with children at the Vision of Christ Academy, worked at the mill, […]

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Blog

April 19

Dealing with inflation

It is easy for us to see it in the price of our everyday goods and services. From the grocery store to the gas pump we see inflation at work. The “official” inflation rate here in the US over the last year is about 8%, although many people believe it to be substantially higher. Although […]

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August 15

The difference we make

Sometimes the work that we do is difficult to measure. We are literally producing tons of garri each month, but are we making a difference in people’s lives? Are we being ambassadors of Christ with those we are employing through our mill? Are we treating our workers as Christ would – with dignity and respect? […]

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July 14

The Cocoa Trap

In May’s edition of 2P University, we brought up the importance of jobs. It is amazing how much jobs define us and the percentage of our lives that are caught up in our careers. This is similar in many parts of Ghana, with the exception that most people feel that they have little option in […]

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Journey

October 8

7 reasons NOT to go on a Journey…

How do you know that this year is not the right time to go on a Journey? You’ve got the itch to go. You may have even been thinking about it for years. You’ve talked to others who have gone on Journeys, you’ve watched the videos and even imagined what it would be like to […]

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September 4

We Need to Talk

“We need to talk.” In an era of texting, Facebook, Instagram, and email, it seems as though this is an antiquated idea. We’ve made communication faster, more convenient and straight-forward. We no longer need to make or read facial expressions – we have emojis! Why waste the energy on getting together when we can LOL […]

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Blog

January 1

New Year – New Reminder

The dawn of a new year is always a good time to take some time to reflect on the last year and look forward to the year ahead. For us at the Two Pennies Ministry, it is a chance to take a breath and recover from the busy Christmas season and our annual fundraiser at […]

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Journey

December 5

Conclusion to the Interview with Dave Towner

This is the second part to the interview with Dave Towner. See part one on the blog post from November 28th. 2P – How about the second trip? Did you go back with the same objectives or did you go with a new goal? Are you pretty pleased with how much you accomplished from the […]

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Journey

November 28

Interview with Dave Towner

This is the first installment of a two part interview. Check back on December 5th for part 2! By Innocent Chia Dave Towner is no stranger to short term missions. Before his first trip to Ghana, missions for the task oriented IT Engineer consisted in setting goals and getting projects completed. But when he got […]

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Journey

October 10

Just a Tire…

Each year, at around this time, the students in our school write pen-pal letters to students in Ghana. We encourage them to tell students their pen-pals about their faith, family, school and what they do in their free time. Invariably the students ask a multitude of questions about the lives of children and how they […]

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Blog

October 3

Edward–A Man of God in Ghana

One of the great things about going on journeys with Two Pennies Ministry to Ghana is the relationships we build when we are there. I would like to tell you about a man I met on my first journey to Ghana in 2012. He has an exciting faith story and has become an invaluable member […]

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Journey

September 12

An interview about a Journey

Amanda Towner is the daughter of Dave and Joy Towner. She is a Junior at Westminster Christian School where she participates in Music Theatre, Art Club, and Science Olympiad. She works part time at Headquarters Salon. At a youth camp at the age of 13, Amanda gave her life to Christ and became a Christian […]

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Love and Care

August 29

The Heart of our Ministry

The Heart of our Ministry I remember clearly sitting at a table in the back of the foyer at First Baptist Church feeling so uncomfortable…praying that people would look at the faces of these children and feel lead to sponsor one of the children at Love and Care Orphanage. So many thoughts ran through my […]

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Medical

August 15

One Week Medical Fundraiser

Text from video: Over the last six years, Two Pennies Ministry has partnered with the people of Ghana to do some amazing work. And Whether it was building a library, providing lunches for school children, or building a new home for a struggling orphanage, we’ve made ministering to Children one of our top priorities. Because […]

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prayer requests

August 8

Our Journey with Bernard

It all began with Bernard. Just over five years ago, while we attended a church service in Asebu, Ghana, a woman came up to Aboagye and tugged at his sleeve. She whispered a few words to him and then he turned and asked if we could meet outside. In the shadow of the church the […]

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Medical

September 7

Relationships that Leave a Hole in your Heart

Over the five years that the Two Pennies Ministry has served here in the United States and in Ghana, West Africa, we have been blessed by the relationships that we’ve had the fortune to develop with people. We have helped to fulfill many dreams and are currently working to continue this in exciting ways. The […]

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August 8

The Power of Teamwork

Over the last five years, the Two Pennies Ministry has done a host of projects and touched hundreds of lives both here in the United States and in Ghana. We’ve had the pleasure of seeing hope come alive, lives transformed, prayers answered. We’ve dug the foundation of a church, and an orphanage. We’ve provided life-changing […]

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Projects

August 4

Our Farm

Last December, January and February, First Baptist Church of Elgin, Southbury Elementary in Oswego and Sycamore Trails Elementary in Bartlett teamed up to provide lunches for school children in Ghana. Our team that visited the school to work with teachers there were able to witness the beginning of the first lunch program. We were able […]

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Journey

January 2

Continuing our Mission…

A New Opportunity In eighty days we will be sending another team to Ghana. This will be our sixth team in just over three years. We are excited by all that God has done through us during this time. This time our main goal is to work with teachers and we are excited to be […]

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Blog

November 30

To be the miracle…

On our Journey last March, amidst the rush of construction and the planning for the pastors’ conference, I had the opportunity to witness how God is using the Two Pennies Ministry in ways that we never anticipated. We were worshipping at a church in Asebu, near Cape Coast, when a woman approached Aboagye. In her […]

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Blog

November 16

Faith

God has truly worked in Amazing ways in each of our lives and in the life of the church. For two thousand years Christ has been working through his bride the church to expand his Kingdom. Our history is full of miracles, mistakes, saints, leaders, false teachers, new movements, periods of decline and times of […]

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connection

October 12

Two Pennies Cascade

Last night we had the privilege of celebrating three years. It was wonderful to spend a couple hours talking about how much God has done through us in Ghana. In this short amount of time we have paid for surgeries, built an orphanage, sent 7,000 books, constructed a church, hosted a pastor’s conference, purchased 2,000 […]

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Blog

February 4

A Beautiful Partnership

The following is an excerpt from the newsletter that will be out in a few days: Next month we will be sending eight men on what will be our fifth Journey to Ghana. It is truly amazing to see how God has worked through this ministry. We have run soccer camps, a health clinic, and […]

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connection

December 6

Our Scholar

Making a Difference In March of this year a team of 3 men went to Ghana with the Two Pennies Ministry to see how we could continue our work there. While we stayed at a house in the Cape Coast region we were introduced to a girl named Priscilla. She was dressed in school clothes, […]

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Blog

November 29

Continued Blessings

Continued Blessings Last Christmas, the Two Pennies Ministry raised $10,000 to provide a poultry farm for the Countryside Orphanage in Bawjiase, Ghana. The first delivery of 1,000 birds was made in February and for the first six weeks, everything went very well. In fact, not a single bird died. Then they were struck by Gumboro […]

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prayer requests

July 4

Patience Rewarded

For those of you unfamiliar with our Journey to this point, you can get caught up by watching this video. God’s Timing Be still and Know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 It is a wonderful thing to know that God is in charge. Aboagye just sent me an e-mail letting me know that the […]

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Blog

June 26

Beyond the Call

The first place in Ghana that we became familiar with was Countryside Orphanage. It was here that First Baptist Church adopted the poultry farm. We have visited several times and have even stayed in their guest rooms. They provide for over 100 orphans and over 40 others come daily because their families can’t provide for […]

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June 20

What is really important?

I was reading in Billy Graham’s famous devotional Unto the Hills, this morning and he related the following story. A father and his young daughter were great friends and much in each other’s company. Then the father noted a change in his daughter. If he went for a walk, she excused herself from going. He grieved […]

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prayer requests

June 14

Done enough yet?

Ebenezer When you first hear the name Ebenezer, what comes to mind? If you are like me, your thoughts flash instantly to Ebenezer Scrooge, the miserly and cold-hearted rich man in Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. A man whose unfeeling stinginess is now synonymous with the label Scrooge. While in Ghana, I met a […]

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June 10

Transformed

Transformed In the world today we recognize and respect people who make a big impact. We doff our hats to the likes of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates who give large amounts of their wealth to charity. There is even a webpage dedicated to this. We honor athletes when they visit children in hospitals. […]

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June 6

True Transformation

Transformation Obsessed It seems like these days people are always looking to be transformed in some way. We want to be thinner, richer, more respected, faster, smarter or better looking. We know it can be done. We’ve heard the stories of people who have overcome disabilities to become olympians. Legends like Steve Jobs or Mark […]

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May 26

We have Eggs!

Last fall First Baptist Church pulled together and raised money to restock the chicken farm at Countryside Orphanage in Bawjiase, Ghana. Chicken houses were disinfected, repairs were made, workers were rehired and finally a thousand chickens were donated. We celebrated when we received the first pictures of the chicks and followed their progress eagerly as […]

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May 19

Thoreau’s Indian and Honoring God

Reflections from Walden I recently was reading Walden, by Henry David Thoreau and came across a story which struck me as familiar. As he often tells stories about his time at Walden to illustrate life’s many intricacies, I thought it fitting to use one of his stories as an allegory for how I see us […]

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Blog

May 14

Staying Power – Part III

Our Focus – Our Commitment In my first post in this series, I discussed the questions of the issue of a ministry staying relevant or current in today’s fast moving and quickly changing culture. In my next post, I identified that I think the problem lies within us and our focus. I will wrap this […]

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May 10

Staying Power – Part II

The Problem We are a distracted people. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have a problem watching commercials. It doesn’t matter how important the show, or sporting event, I will almost always compulsively reach for the remote when a commercial break comes. I have missed game winning touchdowns, season finales and key moments […]

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May 7

Staying Power – Part I

The Questions I have found that one of the greatest challenges to ministry is staying power. In today’s fast moving age of computers and instant communication, it is the newest and fastest moving things that get the most attention. The prime example we have of this is television. The hottest shows on television are often […]

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Blog

May 4

Why Give?

When to give? Heavens knows we have plenty to save for. When you are a child, you really don’t have any money, at least the lemonade stand doesn’t bring enough in to give any away. As you reach adolescence you could give money away, but what would you do when it came time to buy […]

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May 1

Working hard for Survival

I mentioned in an earlier post how we witnessed people working hard for survival in Ghana, and my thoughts have consistently gone back to that over the past several weeks. There is a tendency to think that here in the United States we work hard for a living and that we understand the concept of hard […]

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prayer requests

April 27

Prayer for the Week

Our Journey in July This week please join us in prayer for the upcoming Two Pennies Journey in July. There are many things that we hope to accomplish on our trip and it all requires planning. We have a medical team that would like to do wellness checks and health care training. We have purchased […]

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Blog

April 25

Life with Significance

Every life has significance. From the Chilean boy living in squalor to the billionaire cruising in his yacht, we were all paid for by the same blood. Christ died for all. We cannot earn more significance by “being good” or refraining from evil, but we certainly can honor God by following his commandments. And what […]

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Journey

April 22

Journey – Days 3 & 4

Day 3 The third day of our Journey was spent entirely at Countryside Orphanage. Kevin, Ben and I spent our time doing interviews for a video Alighted Lantern is producing for the orphanage. It also gave us the opportunity to extensively tour the facility. Countryside Orphanage Over the course of our interviews we discovered that […]

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Journey

April 17

Journey Days 1 & 2

Our Journey I have been asked by several people to give a brief account of the Two Pennies Journey to Ghana this spring. I have decided to do this in a series of four blogs that will each cover two days of our journey. I hope this gives you an idea of how we progressed […]

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Blog

April 13

Opportunity

Opportunity. The latest trip to Ghana taught me something. I learned that the people of that beautiful country aren’t looking for money or support, and certainly not pity. They are looking for opportunity. At the orphanages they want the opportunity to support themselves and not have to rely on outside help. At the schools they […]

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Journey

April 7

Two Pennies Journey

[one_fourth] [/one_fourth] [three_fourth_last]What an amazing trip! Last week I returned to Ghana withBen Grey and Kevin Ramos. We had an extremely busy and productive trip. We were able to visit schools to deliver letters from students at Highland School, pass out supplies and meet with teachers and administrators. We conducted almost two dozen interviews, met with […]

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connection

March 23

Packed and Ready

The sixth grade students at Highland Elementary in Elgin have packed gifts for their pen-pals in Cape Coast. They have spent the last month fund-raising with candy sales in order to provide books and other school supplies for the four schools we are in contact with. They are very excited to hear back from their […]

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prayer requests

March 21

Prayer of the Week

The chickens purchased by First Baptist Church have acquired a disease called gumboro. This is a highly contagious disease which, from what I understand is not curable, only treatable. This is a moment for prayer. The chicks are God’s and we know that he is big enough to deal with this. It is certainly […]

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prayer requests

March 11

Prayer Request for the week

There were 18 people at our informational meeting for our summer trip to Africa. Pray that God speaks to our hearts as we move in preparation for this trip. We are excited about the possibilities of how God will work through this group. After the Spring trip, in two weeks, we will have a better […]

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prayer requests

March 4

Prayer of the Week

After Chilson Hills began their new project, we have had several other inquiries from other congregations about the Two Pennies Ministry. Pray for the leaders at those other churches. For those of you involved with the Two Pennies, you know what a step of faith this requires. Please join us in prayer for these […]

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prayer requests

February 16

Praise for the Week

Our Two Pennies Representative in Ghana, Aboagye, and his wife Lydia just welcomed a new baby to the family. She was born on February 4th and is their fourth child. Both baby and mother are doing well. The baby’s name in Nana.

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connection

February 9

New Two Pennies campaign / connection

A sixth grade classroom at Highland Elementary in Elgin is beginning a campaign to send school supplies to an orphanage in Cape Coast Ghana. They had considered buying a projector for their classroom, but decided to use that money to affect lives on the other side of the globe. We welcome them to the Two […]

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prayer requests

January 28

Prayer for the Week

This week we are praying for Aboagye, our Two Pennies representative in Ghana. Aboagye has worked tirelessly on our behalf. He has taken pictures, arranged for the purchase of 1,000 chicks and has traveled to the orphanage 4 times for us! This is a journey of over 3 hours each way. Aboagye is married to […]

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prayer requests

January 23

Project 1 = COMPLETE

The congregation of first Baptist Church raised $10,000 in a mere 10 weeks to fund the first Two Pennies campaign! The money is being used to replentish the egg producing chicken farm at the Countryside Orphanage in Ghana. The first batch of chicks has been ordered and should be delivered to the Orphanage any day […]

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Two Pennies Ministry is a 501(c)3 charity, EIN 83-3269475. We can be found at 1735 W Highland Ave, Elgin, IL.