My name is Phil Eckart. I live in southern Indiana. I have been a resident of Indiana all my life except for two years in the military. I have been married since 1969 to Karen Eckart. We have two children and one grandchild. I became involved in church work in 1977 after many years of running from God. Our church had a retreat for the weekend at a church campground in the next county. The director invited me to Liberia for a pastor's conference in February of 2004. He had been there in February of 2003. The war was still raging as he made the trip. After some hesitation I agreed to go.

   I had no idea that this trip would have such a profound affect on my life. Within two days I realized that the Lord wanted me to spend the rest of life on helping the churches in Liberia. The conference organizer and I became fast friends. His name was Peter Gebeor. By the end of the week we had made many plans about how to help the churches in Liberia recover from the war. Peter had started his church just five years ago and had already established 14 more. I left for home a changed man. I had no idea how to help but I knew that I had to do something.

  Many things happened when I got home that were very unexpected. Almost everyone I talked to seemed to want to help somehow with this cause. I showed the video I had Peter make when we were there. Mark Parmenter was touched at once. This happened to other folks also. Mark immediately became my partner in this endeavor. In a most unusual way I found out that the former President of Liberia was living just 17 miles from me! We have become friends and talk regularly.

  I invited Peter to come live with me last year. We pulled all the strings we had to get him a visa granted. This included a letter from Dr. Amos Sawyer ( the former president ) and a senator and congressman from Indiana. On the day of Peter's appointment the 17 people ahead of him were turned down but Peter was granted a visa. He stayed with me for two months last fall. This was his first visit outside Africa. We made lots of progress in fund raising and making folks aware of the plight of the Liberians.

  My church fell in love with Peter. They donated two vehicles and many other items including two generators, five new chain saws and much more to pack onto a shipping container. Then the money came to ship the container. Eighty computers were also donated by a small business that exchanges them at large corporations. The container arrived on Peter's compound just last week.

  Mark and I have plans to go to Liberia yet this year. Peter has gotten a plane ticket for an AIDS symposium in New York later this year. We hope to have him for a month this fall after the symposium. Mark and I are making plans to speak at several churches soon concerning this work. We are also planning a second container for Peter's work in Africa. We are excited about what the Lord has in store!