Read all the posts in the Wess Speaks series.

• Have you been able to use your sign language as a ministry tool? (Sara Benson)

Wow … how do you even know that that’s one of the languages that I learned?

I learned sign language in San Angelo, TX. It was right after I had come out of the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, CA, where I had been learning Czech to be a spy with the US Army. I saw sign language for the first time in a little Baptist church and I thought What a beautiful language.

I went up to the lady and said, “What are you doing?”

She said, “This is sign language.”

And I said, “Really?”

And she showed me [the signs for] Jesus and love and save – the gestures are so powerful. And this dear lady said to me, “You want to learn this?”

And I said, “I’m only here in San Angelo for three months.”

She said, “Every Sunday afternoon if you come to my house I will teach you this language.”

I fell in love with the language, and I got to the point where I could sign the hymns as we were singing, but I couldn’t ever get good enough to keep up with the preacher. The tragedy is that I haven’t done anything with it. I do now sit in church behind the sign language section because I just love to watch it. It is so expressive.

The beauty of sign language is that you can’t ignore the person you’re talking to when you’re doing sign language. You have to be eye to eye – personally engaged – because the gestures all matter. It is one of the most beautiful languages on earth.

I’m so chagrined that I fell in love with it, learned everything so quickly, and then haven’t had a chance to do anything with it.

Popularity: 27% [?]

By this time, you should know the drill. But if you’re new here, our Ask Wess post got the ball rolling, and it’s left the following in its wake:

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Parts etc.

• What advice would you give to a young director of a small starting ministry? (Gabe)

Make sure the cause of the ministry that you are leading is your absolute passion. Ask yourself deep in your soul

Is this really what I’m all about? Is this absolutely my passion?

The test that I put myself through every few days — and I would tell you to do the same — is this:

When you think about this ministry that you’re launching, test whether or not it can move you to tears in 30 seconds — either tears of great sorrow at the need that you are trying to fill or tears of great joy at the impact and the joy of making a difference in your world? If it cannot move you to tears in 30 second, my advice is … don’t do it.

Don’t start a ministry without huge passion. It’s got to come from deep inside you.

• What is the best thing that people going on a short term missions trip can do to make a lasting impact with the people that they serve? (Sara Benson)

First of all I would say, “Good for you!” for going on a mission trip. I think in this day and age, as small as the world has gotten and how easily we can travel to any corner of the world, anyone who can financially do it ought to get out there and see it. But my caution to you, Sara, is that you’re in for a surprise. Because you are going to be the one who’s impacted.

I know that it takes a wonderful heart to go out there — a heart to bless people and to make a lasting impact on them. But you are the one who’s really going to be changed.

What you should plan to do is to go to love, to serve and to learn, and you should go fully expecting to be blessed. God gave us two ears and one mouth, and I advise you to use them in that proportion. I know that’s especially true when you go overseas into a setting that you are not familiar with. You should do twice as much listening as talking.

Go with a heart to bless, but my experience has been — and I believe your reality will be — that you will come back with a heart far better blessed than you could ever imagine. Your biggest challenge isn’t what you do over there. Your biggest challenge will be determining afterward what you are going to do over here with what you now know and what you now feel. Scripture says “To whom much is given, much is required.” And that isn’t about money … that’s about experience and heart and insight. So I wouldn’t go over there without a realization that when I come back, I’m going to have to do something with what was done to my heart.

And one last thing I have to say is read Hope Lives – Amber Van Schooneveld’s book. I don’t know of a five-week personal journey that better prepares someone for a mission trip than that book.

Popularity: 28% [?]

We recently gave you the opportunity ask our president, Wess, any questions you like. We’re publishing his transcribed answers one day at a time. Well, today is like yesterday; it’s special. You get two answers.

Read all the posts in the series.

• I noticed you hold a doctorate. I haven’t heard much about that — what did you get it in, and why? Does it help you at Compassion? (Chuck)

My doctorate is from Michigan State University and it is in non-formal education. That is how the poor learn … not in the classroom, not getting credentials, but through practical, functional, hands-on learning. I determined after my time in Haiti that I was not going to work among the poor until I formally studied how the poor learn: How do they take in new information? How do they adapt innovations? How do they change behavior?

My advice is: Don’t get a doctorate just for the credentials. If you’re going to get a doctorate, or even a master’s degree, you ought to ask yourself What is it that am I really passionate about learning in order to use it to change the world? A degree is just icing on the cake. Do not do it for the building up of credentials, as many, many people do.

I am Dr. Stafford, but everybody at Compassion calls me “Wess.” All across Asia I’m “Papa Wess,” which I love. (I think that’s better even than Dr. Wess.) The reason I rarely use my title is, first of all, I didn’t get it for that kind of credentialing reason. But also, I’ve discovered that being introduced as “Doctor so-and-so” builds walls, not bridges.

I use my credentials (being “Dr. Stafford”) if I am dealing with a developing nation and need to get into their department of education or to the president of the country. Wherever I need the title to advance the cause of Compassion, I use it. But I don’t use it around here. I don’t use it among our staff, because my experience is that it doesn’t add anything.

Use the information that that degree gives you, but don’t carry the degree around as some badge.

• What type of master’s program would you recommend for those who want to impact poverty and children in poverty? (Ian Durias)

Whatever your bachelor’s degree was in, if that has gripped your heart, pursue that. Working among the poor now requires all skill sets.

My master’s degree turned out to serve me quite well because it was in communications — it was in broadcasting. Almost anything you do among the poor is either speaking to the poor, which requires a lot of cross-cultural sensitivity, or speaking on behalf of the poor, which requires a lot of communication skills. You can’t miss in education, and I don’t think you can miss in communication.

But if God gifted you in math, study math. Get really, really good at it because as the world gets more and more complex, and the ability to travel gets easier and easier, every skill set, I think, is needed out there to help the poor. Don’t feel like you have to get a degree in social science or early childhood development to be relevant to the poor — you don’t.

Go for the learning and take the degree as icing on the cake. And then don’t use it as a club, use it as a bridge.

Popularity: 26% [?]

We recently gave you the opportunity ask our president, Wess, any questions you like. We’re publishing his transcribed answers one day at a time. Well, today is special. You get two.

Read the previous posts.

• If you didn’t work in the ministry field, what other career path would you have chosen? (Amy)

At one time I fully thought I was going to go into journalism. I have a master’s degree in international broadcasting, and I would have enjoyed going into journalism with a heart to do good - to have been a television anchor or a radio personality that honored heroes. The closest I ever come to using that part of my formal schooling is when I do the radio program, Speak Up With Compassion. But that’s about the only thing I can imagine myself doing.

I also could have happily gone back to the mission field where I grew up, but I guess that would be “work in the ministry field” so that won’t work for this question. It’s just hard for me to not think that way.

• What would you say is your “best blessing” that you have had or experienced with this ministry? (Chuck Guth)

I don’t even know where to begin. God has had his hand on Compassion’s ministry for 56 years and I’ve seen 31 of those years. I’ve been able to shepherd this organization for 15 of those years.

I’m overwhelmed by the blessings on the place. I rejoice that there are 4,500 churches across the world that have been able to be salt and light in the midst of really poverty-stricken communities. And I really get a kick out of the fact that we add two churches — with 200 or 300 children each — every day of the year. I get up in the morning and get a cup of coffee, light a fire in the fireplace, and I pray for those two churches wherever they are in the world. I think Lord, I don’t know where they are but let them get off to a good start. Let them be a blessing to their community.

My greatest joy is that this year over 150,000 of Compassion’s little children will accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. That doesn’t happen just because of Compassion … that happens because of the churches where these children are being blessed. It’s at the knee of their pastor or in the Sunday School class under the mango tree. That’s 477 children every day! (But who’s counting?)

The blessings are absolutely overwhelming. Maybe people don’t know this, but this is a 56-year-old organization that has doubled in size in the last four years. That’s amazing! This year’s budget is 54 million dollars bigger than last year’s budget, and that’s in this economy where “nothing” is going right. Amazing! God has chosen to bless us in spite of the circumstances in which we try to work.

Popularity: 23% [?]

We recently gave you the opportunity ask our president, Wess, any questions you like. We’re publishing his transcribed answers one day at a time. If you want to catch up, here’s the background skinny.

• Do you have any personal goals or goals for the organization that you care to share? (Lisa Miles)

1. First, I want to see Compassion double in size in the next six years. Based on our recent growth, I believe it is pretty safe to predict that this organization will move from 1 million children to 2 million children in the course of the next six years.
2. Second, I want our Leadership Development Program, which I think is pure gold, to grow from our current count of 1,800 university students to 10,000 university students before I go. We already have that many qualified students, but we just need the money to put them through college.
3. Third, I want the alumni associations to expand. If we were to gather Compassion’s kids together, there would be standing room only in the biggest stadiums, and I can’t wait for the day when we actually do that! Everybody in the stadium would be a Compassion child or a Compassion graduate worshiping together. I would love to have that in place in the near future.
4. Fourth, I want to wisely choose my successor. We have great leaders in this ministry and when the time is right I want to get out of the way and let the next generation lead. I need God to orchestrate this and direct me to that person.
5. Lastly, I want to finish well. When my time serving Compassion is finally done, I want to walk out of here a man of God, overjoyed but humbled. I am deeply passionate about walking closely with my Lord in such a way that when the time comes I will leave this place “well.”

Popularity: 24% [?]

We recently gave you the opportunity ask our president, Wess, any questions you like. We’re publishing his transcribed answers one day at a time. If you want to catch up, here’s the background skinny.

• What do you think is the largest challenge in eradicating poverty on the earth? (Allan)

The biggest challenge of eradicating poverty in the world isn’t finding enough money to throw at it. We often think that poverty is a lack of money. That’s a big piece of it, but it’s not the whole of it, or even the most critical part of it. If it was, I think we could probably organize our world to throw enough money at it to make it go away.

But poverty is much more complicated than that — it’s not about the kind of house that you live in or whether a sewer runs in front of your house. It’s not about the amount of calories you take in or the amount of money you have. Those are only the symptoms of poverty. That’s not real poverty. Real poverty is much more complicated than that and it doesn’t just happen overnight. It rolls down through the generations.

At Compassion we realize that the biggest challenge of poverty is a mindset — a lie that says to a child:

Look around you, nothing works, nothing is pretty nothing smells good — you don’t matter. Look at you. It’s all garbage and so are you. So give up. There’s nobody coming to your rescue. Nobody cares about you, just give up.

We must go into the midst of that abject poverty and breathe hope and love and life. We can meet the critical needs, but there’s no end of that. Scripture says, “So what does a man profit if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?”

What I think is the hardest thing is mobilizing God’s people around the world to not only send their money but to send their hearts and enter into the hurt of a little child and breathe hope:

Don’t give up. I’m watching you grow. I got your report card. I got your picture. I pray for you every night. I think you’re wonderful. Don’t give up.

If we could get enough people in the western world — this rich world that you talk about, Allan — to do that, we could absolutely end poverty on our planet. It’s not going to end with more effort. It’s not going to end with more money. It’s going to end with more heart.

Those of us who have been blessed have been blessed for one reason and one reason only, and that is to be a blessing. Anything God gives you beyond enough ought to be given away to lift someone else up to enough.

Popularity: 23% [?]

We recently gave you the opportunity ask our president, Wess, any questions you like. We’re publishing his answers one day at a time. If you want to catch up, here’s the background skinny.

• How does it feel to be making such a large salary? Do you feel like it would benefit more children in poverty if you were to take a cut in pay so that more of those funds could go toward ministering to children? (Kayla)

This is a fair question because this is a non-profit organization and this type of information is on public record. Anyone who wants to find out what the leaders of Compassion make can review our 990 form.

There are some decisions that I don’t make around here, and all the decisions about what I’m paid fall to Compassion’s Board of Directors. Our Board believes that Compassion must exercise prudent business judgment in balancing the stewardship of the ministry’s financial resources, the needs of the employees, and the payment of salaries sufficient to attract and retain the well-qualified employees who are required to effectively carry out our ministry. It is important to Compassion’s Board of Directors that we represent both excellence and stewardship.

Part of our salary structure also dictates that all Compassion staff are paid relative to that of the top position in the organization, which happens to be mine. So, if I were to be paid less, it means that every person below me in the organization would also be paid less. I have staff reporting to me who are responsible for managing a budget of nearly $400 million. It requires a high level of management competency to effectively supervise all that has been entrusted to this ministry.

I wish we lived in a world where Christians could fully focus on what we feel the Lord has called us to do without also having to worry about paying a mortgage, putting children through college, caring for aging parents, planning for retirement, etc. But, this is a reality that American non-profits (probably including many of our churches and some government officials) have struggled with for a long time.

What my wife and I have determined – and what I think everybody has to determine for themselves is – what is enough? Anything beyond enough can trap you. I live a very modest life, with a modest house and a modest car. Once Donna and I figured out what was enough for us, we agreed to just give the rest away. In fact, we give quite a lot of it right back to Compassion—we sponsor lots of kids and support every other mission effort that goes out of this place.

The truth is I would work for Compassion for absolutely nothing if it were possible.

Popularity: 29% [?]

We recently gave you the opportunity ask our president, Wess Stafford, any questions you like. We’re publishing his transcribed answers one day at a time. Here’s the background skinny.

• How do you balance your priorities between a “job” that is way more than a job and your family? (Amar Rama)
• I’d love to hear how Wess navigates the two worlds he inhabits. On one hand, he lives in a world of poverty and need. On the other, he lives in … well, America. (Kelly @ Love Well)
• I would like to know how you think your daughters were shaped and influenced by growing up in the midst of Compassion’s ministry. How did you balance giving them the joys of a carefree childhood while at the same time exposing them to the needs of the world in order to grow in them a heart for those living in poverty? (Jennie Thengvall)

It has been tough to go back and forth between these two worlds. My wife Donna and I determined we would give our lives in ministry to the poor but we promised each other that it would never come at the expense of our own children. That was a commitment that we made –- we would work very hard on behalf of the children of the world but not at the expense of our own. And so I have worked far harder at my role as father than I have even as Compassion’s president.

God gave me two daughters, Jenny and Katie. When my children were young and I was traveling, they knew that I would always rather be home with them more than with anybody else, no matter where I was in the world. So I sent postcards. (It was before e-mail.) I would call my children the last minute before I climbed on a plane to leave America and the first minute I was back.

In the evenings when I was home, I never missed a chance to put my daughters to bed. I thought bedtime was about the most teachable, precious moment I had. I taught my girls hymns every night. I told them a story every night of growing up in Africa. I was determined not to leave my girls behind. I didn’t want them to resent the poor. I didn’t want them to resent Compassion. I wanted them to know that this was their ministry, too.

I prayed with my daughters. One of the reasons they love Compassion is because it’s been a part of their lives since they were 2 and 3 years old. From the time my little girls could lisp a prayer, they prayed for the children that we sponsored.

I honored their mother. I spoke so well of their mother –- about what a hero she was –- doing so much in the house, which allowed me to travel overseas and not worry about my own home. Every three years I took them somewhere with me to see the work. Haiti, Brazil, Ecuador, Africa … I built it into their lives. The best proof is that they now sponsor kids with their own money.

In my book Too Small To Ignore there is a whole chapter on how we blended those two worlds. (By the way, all of the royalties from the book go straight to Compassion.)

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We recently gave you the opportunity to ask our President, Wess Stafford, any questions you like. You didn’t disappoint. We got a variety of questions ranging from serious to silly.

Wess is a fascinating storyteller. We wanted you to feel as if he were answering your questions in person. So we sat down with him, recorded the interview and transcribed his answers word for word.

Instead of choosing 10, he wanted to answer them all. (We combined some of the similar questions.) Because of the length of his answers, we’ll answer one question per day.

• How did you get involved with Compassion International? (Monica @ Paper Bridges)
• What was your daily life in Haiti like? (Laurel Wreath)

My “unofficial” start with Compassion was probably when I was 5 years old, clear out in a little African village where my heart was being shaped and my respect for the poor was being formed.

My first “official” job was 31 years ago in Haiti, where I was assigned as a field worker. I was young, 27 years old, and it was wonderful. I can remember riding along in a truck thinking, “They pay me. They actually pay me to do this!” I stayed in little huts in the villages. I ate their food. I slept on the floor. It took me back to my boyhood in Africa. Most Haitians are descendents of West Africa so I was right at home.

But my biggest job in those days was sitting down and talking with leaders of poverty-stricken communities — listening to their hurts, dreams and hopes. I would write up a project, get funding for it, help that community implement that program, evaluate it and then move on to the next one. We built roads to open up isolated communities. We built hospitals and clinics. We did reforestation of mountainsides. I put in water systems, wells and captured springs and water treatment. We did a lot of relief during famine times.

At that time I represented six relief and development agencies -– Compassion was just one of six. The longer I worked in Haiti, the more I listened to the poor and the more I understood their hearts and what they would do if they had financial resources. The more I listened to them, the more they talked about children. The poor would say to me, “If you want to help me, help my child. Because that’s where my hope is, that’s where my dreams are and that’s where my resources go.”

Well I heard that enough from the extreme poor –- and Haiti isn’t just poor, it’s extremely poor –- that I realized I was not going to give my life to serving the poor unless I was able to do what the poor would do if they had financial resources. And where their money goes is to their children. So among the six agencies I worked for, it was Compassion International that honed in on children. The more I studied Compassion’s mission and what was truly important to the poor, the more strategic sense this ministry made.

After I left Haiti. I got a doctorate in non-formal education. And I have been with Compassion ever since. I’ve had just about every job in the place and have now served for 15 years as president.

So my time with Compassion goes back 31 years. And pretty much everything I need to know to lead this ministry came from the poor themselves, either in my little village in Africa or in Haiti.

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1. Do you have a favorite Bible verse or story that has personal meaning to you?

Yes, I do. My favorite Bible verse is Lamentations 3:21-25. And if you read the whole chapter you’ll see why even more.

My favorite Bible story is the story of Joseph, for I can associate with how brothers (and sisters in my case) can disown you or treat you in a way that suggests that you are not part of the family, and how God uses all those bad experiences not only for His glory but also to lift us up and to bless others in the process.

2. What piece of the Compassion program had the biggest impact on you and your life? (Fellowship with Christians, having access to medical care, meals that were provided, educational opportunities, or something else?)

Gosh, it’s really hard to pick one program that had the most impact because all of them played a major role in my life as I was growing up, but the one that comes to mind was the Thursday Bible study I used to attend when I was 9 years old. It was here that I was exposed to the word of God, which gave me a chance to give my life to Christ (my best decision ever) and equip me with the basic foundation for the Word of God and fellowship with others - something I still treasure to date.

By the way, I can’t forget the meals (which tells you I love to eat … Ha!) coz honestly, this was the only place where most of us children from the slums had the chance to enjoy three meals a day.

And yes, educational opportunities, because I wouldn’t be where I am were it not for the chance to go to school.

3. Are there things Compassion could do to improve their service to young people and families?

(more…)

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