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What to Expect on Sunday |
As many of you know, in January of last year I had the opportunity to take a fact-finding trip with Compassion International to Ecuador. I had known about Compassion International for many years. In fact, our youth group in Hastings, Nebraska back in the late 80’s and early 90’s sponsored a child through Compassion. However, when I left that church I allowed Compassion International and its ministry to children throughout the world to fall off my radar screen. Last year’s trip very much brought Compassion International back on my radar screen. Since that trip, about which I shared last year, Kim and I began sponsoring a child, some of you also began sponsoring a child (several of you were already sponsoring a child through Compassion or some other similar organization), and our church through the Mission Committee has been sponsoring a Leadership Development Student, a program of Compassion International that continues support of Compassion children beyond their basic education years and on to college and careers. That trip changed my life…and it certainly changed the lives of a few children throughout the world because of the sponsorships that resulted. More about that in a moment. First of all, however, I want to call on Wesley Stafford, the president of Compassion International, to enlighten us about the real issues of poverty throughout the world. No, Mr. Stafford is not present with us today. However, through a DVD presentation Mr. Stafford challenges our thinking on the issues of poverty. (DVD, The Lie) That reveals much about what I have learned from Compassion. To truly address poverty, it must be addressed at several levels—physically, socially, economically, and spiritually. Compassion projects, which work with and are held at local churches, seek to address poverty at all those levels. And I like the perspective Compassion gives to addressing poverty in the world, a perspective shared by Wess Stafford at the end of that video and a perspective I first heard when our youth group sponsored a child 20 years ago. That is, "I cannot change the world. But I can change the world for one child." The statistics of poverty are overwhelming: More than 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day; More than 6 million children under the age of 5 die every year of preventable causes. How do we address 1 billion people? 6 million children? It all seems so overwhelming. But rather than become paralyzed by such overwhelming statistics, Compassion reminds us that we cannot change the world. But, we can change the world for one child. So, Kim and I are trying to change the world for one child. Let me introduce him to you. His name is Carlos. Carlos Andres Zambrano Molina. Carlos lives in Ecuador. Carlos is now 7 years old—we need to get a new picture of him. He is below his age level in school, so we’re hopeful he can improve on that. We try to encourage him in our letters to him. Carlos’ tutor, Margoth, writes for Carlos when he sends letters to us. But, Carlos likes to draw. Every letter we receive from him includes a drawing from Carlos. This is one of them. Apparently houses are important to him, every picture has a house in it. Understandable in view of the fact that Carlos currently lives with his grandmother. His father and mother are elsewhere hoping to find work. Carlos writes through his tutor that he is worried about where he might live. It concerns us too because, along with regular concerns about moving to a new area, we wonder about whether a Compassion project will be in the area where he moves. We can only wait and see what develops. We’ll return to child sponsorship in a moment, but I also want to introduce you to Karen Noemi Alvarado Holguin. Karen is the Leader Development Student our Mission Committee is sponsoring. After being raised as a Compassion child, Karen applied for and was accepted into the Leader Development program which seeks to support promising students through the next stage of their life—additional education and a career. Karen is a graphic design student in college. She’s also very active in her church, teaching Sunday School and working with children. She meets the criteria for a Leadership Development Student—someone who shows promise as a leader who can make a change in their community and family. It will be interesting to see what develops with Karen. To sponsor a Leadership Development Student costs $300 a month due to costs of tuition and more independent living. That’s the commitment our Mission Committee has made. However, to sponsor a child, to make a huge difference in the life of a child somewhere in the world, to provide "enough" for a child who is trapped in the throes of poverty costs only $32 a month. The statistics tell us a variation of Jesus’ teaching in our Scripture passage for today. Jesus says, "The harvest is plentiful." The statistics of poverty tell us that there are millions of children throughout the world who do not have enough. The need is plentiful. As individuals, potential workers in the field, the need is more than we can address. But, we can address the need of one child. At the table set up between the exit doors, you will find packets which give you a picture and information about a child who lacks enough in his/her life. You can choose to sponsor one of those children. If you prefer a child from a country not represented in those packets, or you prefer and boy and only packets of girls remain at the table, you can use the insert in today’s bulletin to request the child you’d be interested in sponsoring. I hope you’ll give consideration today to sponsoring a child through Compassion International. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. I’m praying the Lord will call workers today into the harvest field that is child poverty in the world. |
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