Compassion - WMHK - Gateway Church

What do these three ministries have in common? Simple. We are making a difference in a country called Bangladesh. Imagine living in a country that is 83% Muslim, 16% Hindu and 0.5% Christian. Imagine living with 54% unemployment. Imagine, if you were fortunate enough to have a job, making a wage of 11 cents per hour. Imagine living in a village with no running water or electricity. Imagine not knowing if you will have anything to eat tomorrow. Imagine living in utter spiritual darkness with no hope for a future. That is Bangladesh.

Compassion International is making difference in 26 different countries. Bangladesh is one of them. They have been ministering for 7 years in this country of great need. Currently over 20,000 children are in a Compassion project.

WMHK had a dream to sponsor an entire project that was new and no sponsors for the children. Compassion challenged them with a new project in northern Bangladesh. WMHK accepted the challenge and ask me to travel with them. We had the rare privilege of being with 150 children on their very first day of a brand new project. It was amazing. God stretched me beyond measure.

God challenged me to reassess how I was spending my resources. Am I just entertaining myself or am I investing in eternity? I have always heard, "you can't take it with you." Well, according to the Bible, you CAN send it ahead! For $38 a month, I can be used by the Holy Spirit to bring a young child to Jesus... to feed him one balanced meal everyday... to educate him... to clothe him... to introduce his entire family to Jesus... and possibly introduce his entire village to Jesus. What a deal! Now that is an eternal investment.

Gateway joined me in this challenge and on a single Sunday sponsored nearly half of the children in this new project. Now WMHK is seeking to sponsor the remaining children in a special emphasis February 15th and 16th.  

Are you investing in eternity?

A Fifth Grader Who Wanted to Make a Difference

Eli Goodwin is in the 5th grade. He literally started attending Gateway nine months before he was born. He is just one of those kids you instantly fall in love with.

Eli and three of his friends from Lake Murray Elementary School decided they needed to do something to help the people of Haiti. Their first thought was to set up a lemonade stand. Marty, his Mom, suggested that lemonade might not sell very well in cold weather. So they settled on a bake sale. They asked their parents, friends and anyone who would help to bake items that would be sold to raise money.

This past Saturday, they set up shop on the corner of Wessinger and Dutch Fork Road. Eli’s sister and brother (Callie & Nic) were there to help as well.

As the day progressed, a steady flow of cars would stop and make purchases. There were a few times when no one was stopping so they would start packing everything up. Then another steady flow of cars would begin to stop.

At the end of sale, with all the goodies sold, they counted their money. They were hoping to raise about $100. Imagine their excitement when they realized they had raised $1,020!!! WOW!!!

By the way… a certain company is probably going to match their money. If that happens, that will translate into a small group of 5th grade students who dreamed of sending a $100 to Haiti to actually send over $2,000.

We dream big for God… then God shows up and makes it HUGE.

Hey Eli, this verse is for you and your friends:

“Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12, NLT)

Sunday’s Reflections – ReThink Compassion

Awesome day of worship.

• Cory and Judd do an excellent job in leading us into the presence of God each week.
• The choir blessed us today.
• Reggie Boan challenged us with his testimony of his personal involvement with Compassion International.

Of the 6.7 billion people that live on this planet:

1. 1.1 billion have little or no access to water
2. 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation
3. 1 billion people use 80% of the world’s resources
4. The USA accounts for 4.6% of the world’s population and we consume 33% of the world’s resources.
5. There are 2.2 billion children in the world
6. 1 billion children lives in poverty
7. 25,000 children die each day due to poverty

I challenged you to make a difference by considering:

1. Sponsoring a child through Compassion International – we will have packets next Sunday.
2. Become a Foster Parent – there are 443 foster children in Lexington and Richland Counties with only 207 foster homes to serve them.
3. Adopt a child in the United States or Internationally.
4. There are 143 million children that need to be adopted world-wide
5. There are 100,000 children in the United States waiting to be adopted.
   
   Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27 (NLT)