Social media is my job. I manage this blog. I send out the tweets for @compassion. I create the photo sets in Flickr, upload videos to YouTube, update our Facebook status, etc.

I have a good job. I like it a lot. I don’t want to do anything else. My fellow webbies are great peeps. Lots of fun. And I love seeing and being a part of the conversations you have with one another. But amid all that I can still be a bit jaded at times.

Since this blog is a place of honesty and transparency, I have to admit that I have been known to say “Who cares?” to a tweet or two. Not any I send, of course.

I also admit to not putting much effort into managing “my personal brand” in those spaces, and that includes our newly launched OurCompassion.

However, on Wednesday, I learned what OurCompassion is really about. (more…)

I got this in a letter from one of my sponsored children in Bolivia – actually a correspondent child. Notice how the child is connecting us together.

BTW, I’m 6′5″. I stand out like a giant in Bolivia. Isaias is always amazed at that. LOL!

And please realize, I don’t really wear a pink dress!

1. How long have you been in your current position with Compassion El Salvador, and what is your job?

Two years. I am a supervisor within the Sponsor Donor Services department.

2. What are the main responsibilities of your position?

I make sure the sponsors have up-to-date information about the children. Not just the letters, but also new cases. I keep the biannual report updated. I make sure that pictures and information are high quality and are sent on time.

3. What is an average day like for you? (more…)

1. How long have you been in your current position with Compassion Honduras, and what is your job?

Seventeen months. I am an auditor.

2. What are the main responsibilities of being an auditor?

Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the partner church as well as the challenges it faces.

We look for strengths so that these can be used as a support for other churches. We look for weaknesses and challenges so we can suggest solutions and give the appropriate follow-up in order to correct and solve problems in the churches.

In other words, we hope to provide necessary and timely support to the church.

3. What does an average day look like for you? (more…)

For five years, I had the privilege of leading the tours of our Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs. It was exhilarating showing adults and children the part they could play in bringing poverty to an end by sponsoring a child.

God blessed me over and over during my years as a tour guide and allowed me to see His spirit move in the hearts of tour guests on behalf of children in poverty. During that time, He also revealed to me the presence of a small but powerful lie being used against us every day – the lie of poverty.

First, poverty lies to the poor by telling them over and over that they do not matter, that no one cares for them, and that they are forgotten. Poverty speaks to the heart of a person (especially children) and tells them, “Give Up!”

But that’s only one part of the lie of poverty. The lie is actually a double-edged sword, and it cuts us as well.

With stealth and determination, the lie of poverty tries to redefine what sponsorship means. It causes us to doubt to the difference we are making in the lives of our children.

Have any of these thoughts ever gone through your mind?

• My sponsorship is insignificant, and letters to my sponsored child don’t matter.
• How can a simple thing like a letter make any difference in the life of a child?
• It takes so long for my letter to get to my child, there’s no way a relationship could ever be built.
• They don’t know me and I don’t really know them! Poverty is so big, a simple letter couldn’t possibly be the weapon to use to fight it.

Have you bought into the lie of poverty? Has it fooled you?

As a sponsor, I take great pride in fighting the lie spoken to the poor. I fight it diligently and with fervor. I have to because our enemy is diligent and determined, too.

The truth is that our letters may be the most critical element in releasing our sponsored children from poverty.

The time we spend on writing is sacrificial. The letters we write are mighty weapons that slay the enemy and cut him down at the knees.

I have seen the faces of sponsored children when they talk about receiving letters from their sponsors. They have told me with tears in their eyes how letters from you are the very strength that gives them the courage to keep going and to not give up.

I have met sponsored children who are now adults and still have every precious letter and sticker their sponsors ever gave them. Letters matter!

Letters are weapons against the enemy! Sponsorship makes ALL the difference in the world! Don’t be fooled by the lie!

Write your child now.

It amazes me how often God uses the “least of these” among us to teach us valuable life lessons. Having worked here for a little more than four months, I have already experienced this phenomenon many times, as the children we serve “speak” to me about things such as hope, faith, love and trust.

Last week, they spoke to me again from a place where you wouldn’t expect to find much of anything at all except despair, doubt, hatred and cynicism. (more…)

“…And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us some e-mail.”
– a 4-year-old girl reciting the Lord’s Prayer

Perhaps this little girl didn’t get it quite right, but she certainly illustrates the point I want to share with you today. Our sponsored kids want to hear from us! They need our letters, our cards, our photos and, yes, even our e-mail.

One-on-one sponsorship is set up to give each of us the opportunity to shepherd and encourage the children of our world. We need to be there for our kids. We parents know how quickly our children grow up. Well, your sponsored kids grow up just as fast! Don’t waste the opportunity to connect with them — to know them.

Now here is a confession. I have been a sponsor for over two years — two years of very regular, very wonderful correspondence — but I need some help! I need some ideas on how to keep my correspondence fresh, and educational and exciting.

So readers in blogland — sponsors, advocates, former Compassion kids, Compassion staff — please share with me some creative things you’ve done, or seen done, for the children. Is there anything that really stands out as special or unique?

Sponsors, is there something you sent that you felt really great about? Is there something a child received that really wowed them?

Please share…