sending it on ahead

Dear fellow Heartlanders

We are writing you to share the immense joy we have experienced by funding the “Reverse Offering” back in March.

Our experience closely parallels something Randy Alcorn wrote about in The Treasure Principle. He describes the excitement he and his wife feel each year as they decide which summer mission trips they will personally support. Why are they so excited?

He writes, “Because we get to hear the stories and read the e-mails. We see the enthusiasm the growth, the kingdom-mindedness, the changed priorities. We gain a vested interest in more facets of God’s work around the world. We pray that those who go—as well as those to whom they go—will never be the same. And we will have had a part in it!” That is how we have felt as we read your “Give Stories” on the Heartland web site.

Your stories have made us smile, laugh, and at some times cry. We could imagine clearly the shining face of little “Jackson” as he read the “You are so special” note one of you left in his school locker under the guise of the Tooth Fairy. Our eyes filled with tears as we imagined the tears in the eyes of the single mom who could afford to send her two children on the summer mission trip because one of you was faithful with your envelope contents. We could hear the song of praise sung by the man one of you helped when he had run out of gas. We were warmed by the childlike joy one of you described feeling as you jumped and skipped through the frigid streets of Chicago after giving your envelope to a bus driver there.

On and on it goes. Every “give story” was wonderful in its own special way. The imagination and creativity many of you used in figuring out how to best give the contents of your envelope impressed and delighted us. Much thought and prayer obviously went into many of your gifts. Other stories showed clear evidence of the Holy Spirit’s involvement in providing the opportunity and the method you used to pass on your envelope.

Many of you took your portion of our gift and multiplied it, some as much as one-hundred times or even more. Several others wrote how our small gift reminded them of the joy of giving and inspired them to renew or increase their regular giving, and to look for opportunities for “random acts of kindness.” Some wrote how this activity led them to volunteer with organizations that serve the needy.  One person even started a “One Talent Fund” group that continues to buy used toys and refurbish them to give away to needy children or to sell and use the money to meet other needs.

All that means that our small investment in the Kingdom of God will continue to “pay dividends” well into the future. Because of your faithful stewardship, we can’t begin to estimate the total impact on those in need in our community, or the number of lives that have been changed because you showed them the love of Christ.

THANK YOU for sharing your “Give Stories” and for being so faithful with the small amount we provided. As we write this, we are filled with excitement and hope because we know that you will continue to be faithful and true, using all your time, talents, and treasure as God leads, and to show Christ’s love to others as each opportunity arises.

a little birdie

My give story is long overdue. Sadly, I held onto the money longer than I wanted to or should have.

A friend of mine has been struggling financially for some time and has just recently gotten her budget on track. She was nearing the end of her very first month of being on track financially while accruing no more debt when she realized one of her payments online was made twice. It would cost her an overdraft charge because the money to cover the double payment was already committed to filling her car with gas to get to work. Having a 'good month' financially was now a thing of the past. She was pretty bummed.

I decided to send an anonymous gift of $30 (the $10 I received from Heartland as well as $20 additional) to help her put gas in her car and pay for the overdraft, allowing her to reach her first 'good financial' month-end.

She later let me know that 'a little birdie' had sent her $30 in the mail. When she received it she was overwhelmed and began to cry. She thanked me because she had known I had done it.

It felt so good to help someone out.

the one talent fund

This is an update of my give story. By buying and refurbishing used toys and reselling them, I have grown the $1 I received to $1100! I have started calling it the "one talent fund". Of the $1100 raised to date $720 has been given away to various causes, and my garage is piled high with toys waiting to be reconditioned and sold. The gift just keeps giving and growing. I want to share one especially poignant story.

With "one talent fund" money I purchased a play house. After reconditioning, it was given to a little girl who was battling cancer. When some friends from my Men's Journey group helped me deliver it, her face lit up with joy. Her family cried as they thanked us for the gift. Little did we know that the next day she would be rushed back to the hospital, never to return home. What a blessing it was to bring a little joy to the last days of this beautiful child.

The "one talent fund" is developing its own web site and several of my friends are getting involved in acquiring and refurbishing used toys that will be sold to continue to grow the fund. It is amazing how God can take a dollar and do so much with it.

Indian dirt

I have a friend that is called to do missions in India.  She travels there with a group from her church 2-3 times a year and is raising money to buy land that will one day be the site of a multi-building campus that will contain an AIDS orphanage, health clinic & school.  The money I received was given to buy a "piece of Indian dirt"- it's one of the $200,000+ she has already raised!  This was such a wonderful experience; I received SO much more in giving!

world vision

When the envelopes were being passed around, I was secretly hoping for one with $100 because I had already decided I wanted to double whatever I received.  I got an envelope with $1, but added $100 to it and donated it to hungry children in Africa through worldvison.org.  Thank you!

outside the norm!

I thought about this for a long time as I carried "the envelope" around in my purse.  I ran through a dozen ideas, each one sounding better than the last.  Finally I landed on IT - sending it to a college student who had lost her job when her truck failed - I included a new pair of warm sox and the story of our "reverse offering". I LOVE this concept as it reminds me of "pay it forward", which has always spoken to me.  Cheers for thinking outside the norm!

fun experience

I used my $50 to bless 21 students from various colleges around the country who gave up their spring break to volunteer at Operation Breakthrough, a philanthropic organization in Kansas City, Mo. that assists children at high risk. These incredibly generous students spend time working on miscellaneous, very unglamorous tasks. They pay for their own travel, lodging, and food, so on their last day the Operation Breakthrough teachers give them a going away lunch that is paid for by other volunteers. I decided it would be great to use my money to buy the items for their going-away lunch.

I trekked to Sam's Club to buy lots of snacks, chips, beverages and sandwich goodies for these fabulous kids. I went over my budget of $50 but it was totally worth it to spend the extra money on kids who are being so wonderfully generous with their spirits, hearts and time. The kids created a thank-you card for me after they learned what I was doing! It was so incredibly sweet to get to see photos of them and see their signatures and message. They are giving so much of themselves, yet they took the time and had the forethought to thank ME! Gives you great hope for the future of our world, doesn't it?

This was such a fun experience for me! Thanks so much for allowing us to help others in this way.

encouragement

Thanks to the family who anonymously gave for encouraging us back to stewardship. Our family had been donating to Compassion International for several years, but had fallen behind in regular support for various reasons. The reverse offering renewed our motivation to be consistent givers again.

accountable

I have had it burned in my heart to give my tithe to a family from Germany and the Netherlands who are part of the International House of Prayer ministry. They have three children (the third one was born this year!). The money you all gave me was just the kick in the rear I needed to make me follow through on the tithe I had planned on giving. Thanks, I needed to be kept accountable!!

detour

We really struggled with exactly how to give our money away.  After all this time we still had not determined what to do with it.  If God would just give us some sort of sign.  The other night as we were leaving Wal-Mart, we saw a woman standing at the corner with a sign that said she needed help paying her bills this month.  We looked at each other and knew this is what God wanted us to do.  We had already passed her and there was a line of cars behind us so we drove around the block, took out our money, multiplied it and gave it to her.

motivation

I am finally able to write my giving story from the reverse offering sermon back in March!  I have been pondering what to do with the $5 I was given during the service that day and never had an earth-shattering idea.

So, this weekend there is a food drive here in Columbia MO (I was an out-of-town visitor at your church service that day) and I put some food in a paper bag and enclosed the $5 in an envelope to go toward the food drive.  Thank you so much for the encouraging message -- it was very motivating for me to learn to give more of the funds that God has blessed me with!

matchless generosity

I turned the $5 I received into $120 by asking several friends, relatives and co-workers if they would like to match it. We really have 16 people to thank for the $120.

I gave the $120 to a single mom who is struggling to put herself through school and raise her son by herself while working full time. Being a single mom myself, I can relate to this woman and her struggles.  I know that this gift will make a difference in her life.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do something good like this.

peace of mind

I previously told how we took our $1 and added $39 of our funds to give my assistant $40. She needed the money so she could afford the co-pay to have some possibly cancerous growths checked out by her doctor.

I am happy to say that the results of her biopsy came back negative for cancer! She was so relieved. Cancer and a few other serious health problems run in her family. This news from the doctor replaced her fear and stress with peace of mind.

She is not only my assistant, she is also my friend. Thank you for providing me the way to help her without offending her or making her feel bad. And thank God for keeping her healthy!!

sneaky

I have often heard of people paying for the person behind them in a drive through line.  I never thought to do it until I was given a dollar during the reverse offering a few Sundays back. I was idling next to the window at a local Taco Bell when I decided to take my dollar plus a few bucks and pay for the lunch of the person behind me. I felt sneaky doing it and quickly screeched away before I could be found out. I'd have to say it was kind of a rush! I can trust that God will water that seed! It was so much fun that my wife and I took a look at our budget to find more opportunities to give!

"Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6:4

a rose by any other name

I received a dollar and at first tried to think of a cute way to give it to someone. Then I realized that though I'd been given only a dollar I could give so much more (Like the guys who multiplied their talents). So I began praying about what God would have me do.

I was just finishing up the recent Divorce Recovery class offered here at Heartland. (A class I'd strongly recommend to anyone going through the hurt of divorce.) During our group's weekly meetings I had been touched by the pain of broken relationships and the longing to be loved gain. We talked long and hard about the need to be secure in Christ and His love for us before there can be hope for any future relationships. As the class was coming to an end I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to do something special for those in the class; something to show them His love for each of us. So I bought some small glass vases and a single red rose for each member of our group. I arranged the rose with greens in each vase and at our final evening together I gave each person the rose, not from me but from our Lord Jesus Christ. The really cool thing was, and I didn't know this was planned, after the roses were handed out a letter was read called "My Beloved". It was the most incredible blending of various scriptures about God's amazing love for each of us into a single "love" letter. It was a perfect ending to a perfect evening.

That group and that evening will always be special to me and I thank God for laying on my heart how I could be used by him to "Give" to others.

merci beaucoup, brother

My wife and I picked dollars out of the reverse offering.  The experience warmed my wife’s heart and prompted her to give her sewing machine to a dear French speaking refugee Lady from the African Congo. My wife said “it is heavy” and gave me a "look."  The look said, “After the KU game you are going to haul that pain-in-back-to-move sewing machine and it’s bulky cabinet down to the worst place you can imagine on Independence avenue even if you have to risk life or limb!” After 34 years of a happy marriage you become a quick study of certain looks and you learn to say “Okay”.

My sons and their French speaking friends befriended Maria and have helped her start to learn English. She prayed to God for young friends and a machine to sew herself some dresses. Maria's husband ran a lucrative peanut company in the Congo.  Maria was in charge of protecting the women in her community.  The enemy killed her son to get to her and then her husband lost his life.  She is unable walk well and has to have some help to go anywhere. 

I do not understand French with the exception Merci beaucoup. Maria said that about fifty times when we delivered the machine. My eighteen year old son interpreted her French, but her hand motions made it clear even to me that she needed a measuring tape, scissors, and material. Like magic the dollar I received at Heartland jumped in the middle of a $100 bill in my front pocket. I gave it to her.  She said the young people in the room were like her children and that I was her brother.

As we floated out of the building she yelled at us to come back. She gave each of us some bags and we graciously took them. I didn’t realize for a while that we were taking out her trash.  Maria knows how to ask and the dollar I took from the offering basket gave me an adventure in giving.  Merci beaucoup, Merci beaucoup!

blessed

I gave my dollar away by putting 50 cents with it to buy two big homemade chocolate chip cookies. I gave them to a student that I work with here at the high-school. I told her these were for her and her friend.  She was surprised and thanked me, and I was blessed.

"The Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35

safehome

My husband and I combined our money, doubled it, and gave it to SAFEHOME, a domestic violence shelter for women and children. This was such an inspiring experience.  We truly love this Church, the leadership and staff and the direction you're taking.  I'm so impressed with the efforts to branch out to help others both locally and abroad.  So glad we've decided to make Heartland our church home.

apples of gold

With the $1 I received, I purchased a packet of blank cards. In them I will write short cheerful notes to  give a local nursing home to distribute to residents as they choose.

"A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver" Proverbs 25:11

building the church

My wife and I pooled our money and gave it to Philadelphia Bible Church for their building campaign. They now meet in a high school. Richard, the pastor, works full-time for me on 3rd shift, and has not taken a salary from the church since starting it 3 years ago. Their struggle has helped me see why one of our 'Big Rock' goals is to plant churches.

Richard was the last person I talked to before giving my life to Jesus. I guess he was number fifteen!  Because he urged me to find a church that I would enjoy being a part of, I now call Heartland my home.  Richard also helped me understand the Trinity, and is always there when I have questions about my faith. The $80,000 they have raised in three years pales in comparison to the $8,000,000 we are slated to raise in the next 3 years! Even so, I was humbled by Richard's amazing gratitude for the $25 we gave.

Thank you for this opportunity to see what a small gift can mean to someone who needs it. I know that it will be put to good use in his church.  I feel truly blessed to be a part of a congregation that would do something like this.