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I have a confession: I love reality TV shows. It’s true. Although I’m enough of a realist to realize that as viewers, we see a heavily edited version of actual reality, I still like watching the shows because they tell people’s personal stories. They tell stories about people that actually exist. I love people’s stories.

Communications at Compassion is largely about telling people’s stories. And it’s something I think we do well. However, some stories are most powerfully related by the people who actually experienced them. Something is lost in the translation of a personal story to a secondhand story … when it is no longer “my” experience, but ”someone else’s.” 

While we’ve known about the power of personal testimony for a while, we have only recently begun to delve into an area called social media. This is an exciting new venture for Compassion. There are so many new ways for people to share their stories, and we’re just beginning to explore all the possibilities. Through our social media efforts we want to give people a way to tell their own stories, in their own words, totally free of our “translation.”

We have created a section of compassion.com called Share Your Heart. We wanted a creative forum where users could share their personal experiences with poverty, whether it was something they read or heard, a movie they had seen, a personal trip they took or a trip with Compassion or with another organization. We just wanted to get people talking.

Some of the stories people have shared are inspiring. Some are funny. Some are evidence of God’s perfect timing. Some are challenging. There are also photos that tell stories of their own, in ways that words never could. Go check them out. No doubt you’ll be encouraged.

Do you have a story of your own to share? How has God changed your heart towards children in poverty? Who or what has he used to change you? What one picture from your trip captured the entire experience? Share it with us. Don’t be shy.

You never know whose life will be changed by reading your story.

Popularity: 19% [?]

I spend a fair amount of time educating people about Compassion and what we do and how we are different. I love the process, and I love helping tie all the loose-ended questions together for people. It’s pretty simple to explain what we are all all about and proceed from there…

We do child development in developing countries facilitated by the local church. We don’t use missionaries and every child is guaranteed to be taught the gospel. Whether they accept the Gospel is up to them. We work with the poorest of the poor to change the community inside out…starting with the kids and moving into the family….

That last part is where the puzzle starts to make sense for people. At Compassion, we build communities inside out…start with the kids and the work moves and extends into the family. Change a child’s life, change a family’s life, change the community.

Because we work with the local church, the church now has an equipping tool to reach families in ways they never could before by directly helping these little children. You know…they get medical attention, meals, school clothes if needed, education and the Gospel. They are also taught vocational skills along with a little micro-industry from time to time. It’s all pretty powerful when you see it in action. Not to mention the amazing impact writing letters has on these children and for you as a sponsor.

Then comes this question: Well, then how does it help the family? Oh, well…I’m glad you asked! These are just two examples.

1. If the Compassion project is teaching the kids the importance of drinking clean water, then sometimes you will see Compassion staff pass this education on to the family: “We are giving your child clean drinking water and we want to make sure this continues at home. Here’s how to do this….”
2. Another way is while these children are learning to read and write, chances are mom, dad, and other brothers or sisters don’t know how to read and write either. I’ve met several families over the years where their children have come home and taught the rest of the family how to read and write.

At the very end of the discussion with people, I can usually pinpoint when the big picture comes together. They start talking about how they understand how helping one child helps the whole family by providing so much for their children and how cool it is to see the church literally grow in that community because so many are now accepting Christ into their lives, and then I follow up with this statement…You know, it lifts the burden of the family by one child.

At this point they get it. The light goes off and it all comes together. It’s something I came up with as my own little way of processing through the big picture. And then one day I was on a trip to El Salvador….

I walked into the home of one of our sponsored children in El Salvador with some of our artists in tow. We sat down with the family in this small 10 x 10 room where a family of five lived, slept, and ate. Some of our group started asking questions. A little ways into the conversation, I asked the mother of the household, “how has your child being in the Compassion program helped your family?” You know what she said? I have never heard this on a trip before. She said, “It lifts the burden of our family by one child.”

Here’s my question for you. What does this mean to you? What would this look like in your own life if someone else had lifted the burden of your family by one child?

Spence Smith is an artist relations manager for Compassion, working with musicians and bands who advocate for Compassion and children in poverty. He was also one of the bloggers on the Uganda blog trip.

Popularity: 26% [?]

I met an amazing young woman this week while leading a trip to see Compassion’s work in Honduras. The young woman’s name is Rosa, and she is part of Compassion’s Leadership Development Program.

This university-based program, known as LDP, works with high achieving and high potential students from Compassion child development centers. The LDP program in Honduras is in its first year, and Rosa is one of 19 students in the inaugural class. It is inspiring to hear the LDP stories throughout the world, and I was honored to be in attendance at Ethiopia’s first LDP graduation a few months ago.

Compassion’s President, Wess Stafford, stood in front of the 24 Ethiopian graduates and congratulated them on completing their college degrees and then challenged them to be servant leaders in their communities and nation. He closed his talk to them by saying, “You may have been born into poverty, but poverty was not born into you.”

Rosa is a testimony to Wess’ statement. There were many times in her difficult life where she could have given up, and most of us would not have blamed her. However, if you spend just a few minutes with this remarkable 17-year-old girl, you will realize that giving up was not an option. She shared with us her daily schedule, and it is a great snapshot of the will and determination of Compassion’s LDP students.

6 a.m. – Wakes up each morning to clean the house and make sure all laundry is done for her mother and brother. Rosa’s mother raised all five of her children alone and works at a local restaurant cooking chicken.

8 a.m. – Prepares breakfast for her family.

9:30 a.m. – Begins baking tortillas to sell for the business she operates out of her home. Each day Rosa makes tortillas and people come from around the neighborhood to purchase them to eat for lunch. The money she earns from her business is used to help buy food for her family, and it also pays for her bus fare to and from the university.

12 p.m. – Finishes selling the tortillas and starts lunch for her 14-year-old brother. After he has eaten, she makes sure he gets off to school.

12:30 p.m. – Cleans up, eats her own lunch, and studies for her afternoon classes.

1:30 p.m. – Takes the city bus to the University of Tegulcigalpa, where she is a first-year student studying Business Administration.

7:30 p.m. – Returns to her home and spends the rest of the evening studying and spending time with her mother.

Rosa was asked what she would like to do once she graduates from university. “I eventually want to own and operate a business in my community but first I think I want to get my Masters degree,” she says.

The question, “What does success look like for Compassion International?” has become an easy one to answer because of students like Rosa.

Brian Seay is an artist relations manager for Compassion, working with musicians and bands who advocate for Compassion and children in poverty. He was one of the bloggers on the Uganda blog trip.

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Anthony’s Leadership Development Program graduation ceremony is today. Send him some love. And tell him you want pictures and a post, when he gets a chance, since your invitation probably got lost in the mail like ours did.

Maybe our invitation didn’t actually get lost in the mail. Maybe one wasn’t sent because he thinks we’re a little too square. Maybe he was afraid we’d do THIS at the ceremony.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Last night was one of the best nights of my life. I got to meet Amisi, my 5-year-old sponsored boy; the Uganda office was kind enough to coordinate our visit.

I have to say, Amisi has to be the cutest boy in the entire country. Of course, I’m sure I’m a bit biased. I was worried he would be scared or overwhelmed by Kampala since it’s such a large city. But he was so excited. As soon as he saw me, he ran to hug me. He loved the coloring books, stickers and his new ball, but nothing could compete with the doors in the hotel lobby that automatically opened. He’d never seen anything like it. He was squealing and laughing so loud I was afraid we’d get kicked out of the hotel!

He knows a few English words. He knows, “Jesus,” “Thank you,” and “sponsor.” He also knew enough to laugh at me as I tried out a few words in his native language.

I really didn’t think he would understand who I was, but the project director said he’s been telling all of his friends that he was going to meet his sponsor. He was excited all week.

If you are a sponsor, I would encourage you to check into visiting your child! It means so much to them — and to you! If you don’t already sponsor a child, please pray about it today!

Popularity: 52% [?]

All of us have had a few highlights in our lives that changed us forever. Right now, I’m in the middle of one. I’m in Uganda gathering stories for Compassion. It’s my first trip to a developing country.

There’s only one problem. The thing that I was afraid would happen has happened. I have fallen head over heals in love with every child I’ve met. At each village we visit, children run up to you, wrap their arms around you, and before you know it, steal your heart.

Because poverty is so overwhelming, always before, I tried to distance myself from the stories. Without meaning to, I guarded my heart. But now these stories have faces and I’m completely attached.

But the surprising thing is, I don’t feel helpless. And that had been my biggest fear—finally coming face to face with poverty and feeling powerless to do anything. But I keep hearing from caregivers and children how much their lives have changed through Compassion’s programs. I can’t help but feel hopeful.

One mother today told me today how thankful she is that Compassion pays for her son’s malaria medicine. This has saved his life. Another told me there is no way her daughter could go to school without Compassion helping with school fees. Dickson, a student enrolled in the Leadership Development Program, said, “I hope Compassion sponsors and donors know their support is not in vain. You are helping to transform lives.”

So if you’re a sponsor or donor out there, I want to pass on these messages of hope. I pray they encourage your heart as much as they did mine.

Robyn Spencer, a full-time writer for Compassion International, is currently on her first Compassion trip to Uganda. Robyn is experiencing Compassion’s life-changing work first-hand, so she can educate sponsors and donors when she returns home.

Popularity: 26% [?]

Forgive me for being somewhat confused. Oprah’s “The Big Give” TV show debuted on Sunday night to huge ratings - 15.6 million viewers - a huge hit for the ABC suits.

The show bases its obvious popularity on the benefits found in giving to the less fortunate, the causes of the broken and down-trodden. The reality of a nation in love with some one else’s reality, are we now minimizing the beauty of giving by watching philanthropy become the latest opportunity/victim to claim fame over?

In the series opener, Oprah meets the ten contestants and gives each an envelope with only the name and picture of a stranger whose lives they must forever change. Each contestant must use the resources awarded to them to drastically improve the life of their assigned person within five days, making the participant cope with the stress by using strategy and creativity.

As a professional whose work is involved in the cultivation of hearts that choose to give, I am torn between rejoicing at this opportunity to promote altruism and frustration that we have somehow made the sacred art of giving the impetus of yet another reality show.

Are we trivializing giving or promoting it? Are we advancing a cause or witnessing the thrill of someone fortunate enough to win their opportunity at personal wealth? I place myself in the homes of countless donors who have sacrificed their time and energy to bless the causes dear to their heart and wonder if somehow we have made their desire to give less impactful and certainly less noble. But why should I even worry?

I am reminded of Paul in his letter to the Philippians who when asked if it was right for others in the jail to promote the cause of Christ said flatly - as long as Christ is preached I rejoice.

By no means am I comparing Paul’s ministry to the modern reality show based on the hope of Oprah, but my confusion becomes more an opportunity to rejoice and reconsider. If my vocation requires me to hold in high esteem the end result of gifts given to benefit others, then shows that promote the same should have my support and not my condemnation. Like Paul demonstrated, I can not be the ultimate jury on someone’s motivation and heart — even if a million dollar prize lies on the other side of their motivation. My professional covenant to honor Christ and enhance relationships to the causes of His kingdom are not license to be critical of another’s rationale for serving, helping and loving.

I think I will reconsider what I view next Sunday. Perhaps less judgemental  and suspicious, I will pause to rejoice at what is being said to millions of people who may not have realized that the sacred art of giving comes not in the promotion of self but in loving our neighbor well. In stooping to provide a hand even when the cameras have all been turned off.

Ken Norwood serves as Compassion’s Director of Development for the East Region of the United States. His work allows him to connect donors to the work and mission of Compassion by aligning them with areas of funding and support beyond child sponsorship.

Popularity: 24% [?]

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
-Isaac Newton

Over the small number of years I have been around, I have come to realize that it’s quite rare for people to have a positive impact on someone’s life, but when they do the impact is immeasurable. More so if that impact is also Godly influenced.

This is what can be said of my sponsors, a married couple, who decided to take a chance on me.

Their decision made it possible for me to know what it feels like to wear your first pair of shoes, to hold your first pencil, to enjoy three meals a day–something unheard of in the slums–a chance to have medical care and not die from malaria like many of the children in the slum do, a chance to go to school and not be part of a gang or a victim of HIV/AIDS, and the greatest gift of all: a chance to hear the word of God, which gave me the chance to have a personal relationship with Christ.

Wikipedia defines a sponsor as a contributor, a financial provider, which in a way is true because of the amount of money the sponsor contributes monthly. But to me the sponsor is more than that; he or she is a bridge between hunger and strength, between thirst and renewal, between fear and knowledge, between desperation and hope.

Through the letters shared between the sponsor and the child, hope is not only stirred, but relationships are built, wounds healed and love blossoms. These and so many other things start a chain reaction not only in the child’s life but also in the lives of those around him or her, and impact is felt to generations. The bonds created can never be broken, and in doing so the world is changed by changing the life of one child at a time. We can learn a lot from the sponsor:

1. It’s in taking a chance, or should I say a risk, on someone that the real change begins, and we allow God not only to change that person but also to change other people’s lives.
2. It’s good to be vulnerable. It’s important to let other people into our lives and into our hearts. It’s important to love.
3. God is not looking at what we don’t have–He is looking at what is in our hands, little or big, and when we surrender it to Him, He uses it to “feed 5,000 people.”

It’s no wonder that I, too, decided to become a sponsor. How ironic that a child who was once sponsored is now sponsoring you might say, but I am a product of just that. I wanted to give that chance to someone else in the same way because my sponsor gave me that chance.

Its no wonder that each night I ask God to send more sponsors into this world, more sponsors like you and me. And if you are not one, then this is your chance to become one. God bless the sponsor.

Popularity: 32% [?]

People often ask me what I REALLY do for my job. It’s a valid question since for some of my friends it doesn’t seem like working with artists is that demanding of a job. Actually, the time I spend traveling for this job should tell you how demanding it really is. I travel on average about 120 days out of the year. As I try to master the art of video blogs, I’m going to bring you “A Day On The Road With Spence.” I’m sure you all will be glued to your seats for this Spielberg-like master piece.

So what does this have to do with taking artists to the next level? Not a whole lot other than I needed some sort of intro for this blog. On to the post….

When an artist decides they want to work with Compassion, I know going into this relationship that they have a heart for children living in poverty. For most of us, that seems like its a “given.” For some artists, though they have a heart for it, they’ve never really seen the kind of poverty we are talking about and dealing with on a daily basis. So on Compassion’s Artist Relations team, we take these artists overseas to see our work first hand. It’s a great experience for them and one of my favorite parts is watching these artist “get it.” Meaning, you actually see them being transformed by what they are experiencing as they meet these children and their families and by learning how the local church is involved in these children’s lives on every level. It’s at this point that an artist’s passion for releasing children from poverty goes to the next level. It becomes a part of their everyday lives. Not just a part of their show.

Last spring, I took country artist Bryan White to Ecuador to meet his sponsored child. It was an awesome trip! After we got home, Bryan called me and said, “Spence, I wish I could travel with Compassion to visit every child in the program. This has changed me forever.” You know…he was right. He talks to everyone he knows about children in poverty and how sponsoring a child changes children’s lives forever.

I love Bryan’s attitude. It’s what taking things to the next level is all about.

For Michael W. Smith, he has been talking about Compassion for over 20 years now. He’s been to see our work 11 times — 10 to Ecuador to see his sponsored child and once to Kenya. I took Michael to Kenya in January of 2007, and we shot this video below. What you see on this video was a small example of watching a man, Michael, who had been talking about Compassion for all these years become even more passionate about the work being done for kids all over the world and the urgency to bring hope to these children in need.

Until next time friends…

Spence Smith is an artist relations manager for Compassion, working with musicians and bands who advocate for Compassion and children in poverty. He was also one of the bloggers on the Uganda blog trip.

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