Imagine No Malaria - Tip of the Week #4
Laura Meengs
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8/11/2010
Children attending the VBS program of Nicklin UMC in Franklin and Center UMC in Polk thought outside the box to raise $700 for Imagine No Malaria.
Just ask – you never know who might respond.
Sometimes extravagant generosity comes from unusual places, and not always from familiar faces.
When Pastor Tina Carter of Parker Lane UMC in Austin, TX set her goal to save 15 lives per attendee, she turned to 20-year-old Angel Campolo for inspiration. Though she hadn’t taken a leadership role in the church previously, Angel was willing to be open to God’s work in her life.
“[After talking with Pastor Tina] I felt compelled to do something about malaria,” Campolo said.
And she did. Working closely with Pastor Tina Carter, she began asking church members if they would help save lives in Africa, pulling them aside after church and personally asking them to get involved. Her church family responded with pledges and gifts that inspired Parker Lane UMC to raise $11,190, well beyond its goal.
Pastor Tina, “just asked” Angel and she, in turn, “just asked” the congregation. In then end, reaching their goal, “wasn’t that hard” according to Angel.
Leadership from an unusual place happens close to home too. Guy Simpson found himself on the wrong side of the law, and at age 22 facing a sentence of 5 years in prison.
“I felt like my life was over.”
That is until he became involved with the Kairos Prison Ministry at Greene County Prison in Waynesburg, PA and met United Methodist Chaplain, Rev. Kathy Higgins.
After hearing a short presentation on Imagine No Malaria, Guy was inspired to send $5 to the ministry – a third of his monthly salary – along with a heartfelt note promising to send the other $5 to save a life as he was able. When the donation was received in the office, a kind stranger immediately matched it.
Guy’s “two small coins” have impassioned and inspired the entire Imagine No Malaria ministry team. He was “just asked” to consider the lives of others, and he responded.
God may have big plans for an unusual leader in your congregation – why not try asking someone new to get involved? You never know how the Holy Spirit might work through them to inspire others.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. --Ephesians 2:10 (NIV).
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