The Birthing of Gifts for the Nations

Throughout the ages God has used ordinary people to accomplish His work. In their own words, the Cramers call themselves just that -- “ordinary people.”
Jerry and Debbie live in a Kansas town of about 400 people where Debbie cooks from scratch, hangs clothes on the line, plants a vegetable garden and cans their own vegetables. Jerry, when he’s not working, loves to fish. Together they gather needed items for the Lord they call “gifts” and place them into the hands of ministries and missionaries.
Both were raised in Southeast Kansas, growing up on small family farms with their parents and grandparents in the home. Their families were not fully devoted to Christ, but they were introduced to Christ as children and were both baptized as teenagers. Five years ago, after a serious illness Debbie suffered, both rededicated their lives.
Jerry graduated in 1965 from Labette County High School in Altamont, Kansas. He has worked as a welder, machinist, and shop foreman and is looking forward to retirement. In their ministry, Gifts for the Nations, Jerry hauls, packs, fixes, builds, and restores. He truly is gifted through his hands.
Debbie graduated from Oologah High School in Oklahoma in 1978. Following her marriage to Jerry nearly 29 years ago, she has worked most of her life as a real-estate, commercial and agricultural, appraiser for the department of revenue. Yes, a tax collector! She is presently studying at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri.
Jerry and Debbie have been blessed with six children: twin sons Craig and Gregg (who is in heaven), sons Travis and Jerrod, and twin daughters Amber and Alyssia, nicknamed Faith and Hope.
Both Jerry and Debbie feel God has been preparing them for the ministry throughout their lives and are excited to be used by Him in sending “Gifts for the Nations.”

In My Weakness

God’s grace is truly amazing! It was by the hand of God “Gifts for the Nations” ministry was born.
Five years ago, I became very ill and went through a period of weeks and months of misdiagnoses, overlooked diagnoses, and severe reactions to medications -- all in an effort to find the cause of my problem. At one point, I became so weak it was difficult to walk and I could hardly speak. What I didn’t know then was the amazing work God’s love was beginning in our lives. It was during this time, in my weakness, that my husband, Jerry, and I renewed our love for the Lord and fully relied on Him for our strength.
In my weakness, I surrendered to a call to full time ministry and vowed to the Lord to do service for Him.
As the weeks and months went by, I grew in the Lord, studying His Word, and listening for His direction. Without a doubt, I knew He was calling me to in-depth study of His Word in preparation for ministry. I held on to the promises in Isaiah 41:10 as I lay in my bed during those long months of recovery. During the hours of aloneness, I would reach up and grab hold of His righteous right hand. He saw my tears. He heard my crying. Yes, He was there with me!

Divine Appointments

When I became strong enough, I enrolled at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri, to study and prepare for ministry. Before long, the Lord revealed a bit more of His plan for my life through Brother Chris DeWelt and a missionary from Africa he had met while on a missions trip.
As I talked with this missionary, I recalled that, as a young child, I had been convicted to help those in Africa. But, I was too afraid to go -- too afraid to follow God’s calling. During our conversation, I learned that he had been just as afraid to come to America to share the needs of his people as I had been to go to Africa!
His faith in God helped him make his way to America, just as my faith in God had led me to Ozark. It was by divine appointment that we met! I learned that it was not through my own strength that I would do what He asked me to do, but through His.
The missionary showed me picture after picture of people living in villages in Africa -- people who live in mud huts with thatched roofs, who go from day to day not knowing where their next meal would come from. People without proper clothing or medicine.
As I looked at those pictures, I knew these were the ones the Lord was calling me to help. I went home and shared with Jerry what had happened. We prayed and agreed that “gathering gifts” is what the Lord was calling us to do. At the time I didn’t know how we would find the gifts needed, or how we
would get them to the remotest villages in Africa. We just had faith that this is what God wanted us to do and He would help us do it!

Partnering with FAME

A short time later, I learned of FAME (Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evangelism) and met Brothers Rick Wolford and Cameron Mayhill. The more I learned of their ministry, the more convicted I became that we were being called to not only gather supplies for Ghana but for FAME as well.
God was asking us to expand our vision.
So, with a bit of anxiety, I wrote a letter announcing our intentions to start collecting medical supplies in addition to supplies for villages in Ghana. The same day I left the letter with Brother DeWelt, he received a call from a hospital in Kansas. A young woman named Brandy said, “I’ve been instructed to get rid of the extra medical supplies at our hospital. God is telling me they need to go into the hands of missionaries. Do you know of anyone who is accepting medical supplies?” Wow! Confirmation? Definitely!
Through that phone call, we saw miracle upon miracle.
One of the medical supplies we received from the hospital was a Cardiac Care Unit which the Lord allowed us to present as a gift to the Medical University of Ghana. It was their first Cardiac Care Unit, exactly what they had been looking for! Through this gift, the Lord opened up the heart of the Medical University to provide transportation for all the other gifts we had collected for Wale Wale, Ghana, a small remote town 500 miles north, and its surrounding villages.
Due to my class studies at Ozark, it became evident that God’s heart is for all people and all nations, thus the name “Gifts for the Nations.” Shortly after announcing our partnership with FAME, the outpouring of donations became amazing. At one time, our home had become so full of supplies we were offered the use of the hallways of our church to store items for a couple of weeks.
The Lord provided many gifts, boxes to load them in, sacks to send them in, a container to store them in, a semi to haul them, and people -- numerous people -- who answered God’s call along the way. Many new friendships have been formed through ministry and new avenues are continually being opened to see that our gifts of hope get to those in need.
On that first shipment, the Lord provided 94,000 medical items for FAME and 16,616 humanitarian items, along with tools, equipment and wheat.

Seeing God at Work

It is difficult to describe what we have seen God do. God used the supplies we sent to heal a burned little orphan girl. The missionaries caring for her had been praying for the desperately needed supplies. God provided. A tractor needed in a new Christian farming project in northern Ghana will soon be on its way. God provided. Our eyes have truly seen things that only God can do!
When we began this ministry, we did not have the first item to send or the first dollar to send it. We simply believed that our Lord was asking us to do this. God has enabled us. He prepares us for what is before us and He had been equipping us to birth this ministry.
God opened our eyes to see that, although we may not go to the fields where some are asked to go, we can do our part for the goal of the gospel by gathering gifts for those who do. It is through our gifts we are being a helping hand in fulfilling the Great Commission.
Come join us as partners! See what God can do through your life to send needed gifts to the Nations. Gifts for the Nations will have information about the ministry at the National Missionary Convention in November. We welcome you to drop by and visit with us at the FAME booth.

Brochure

Newsletters: Summer 2005 / Fall 2007

We are pictured in Fame winter 2006 journal.

Ministries Updates

 

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