Last Wednesday’s chapel was a very special chapel at Compassion. Celebrate with us as Tony Beltran, Michelle Tolentino and Richmond Wandera, formerly sponsored children and graduates of our Leadership Development Program, become the first graduates of our scholarship program at Moody Bible Institute.

Their actual graduation is in May but Wednesday was the best time for us to give them a special tribute and send them off with our love and prayers.

We’ve also created a podcast of our chapel messages, which you can subscribe to via iTunes.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

The moment I was sponsored through Compassion at age 8, I became aware that I was bigger than poverty. Poverty was a situation, a condition, but I was a life. All I needed were positive messages of hope to grow out of it.

It is the relationships that sponsorship promotes through letter writing, not so much the money, that ends poverty. Think about it this way: A child runs to a parent for protection not because he has see the parent carrying weapons but because the parent has fostered a relationship that assures the child of protection.

In the same way, a starving child approaches the mother for food even when he can clearly see there is no food in the hands of the mother.

This is a relationship that grows confidence and bears fruits of optimism and the belief that nothing is impossible.

The moment I read my first letter from my sponsor I felt empowered. I heard him tell my 8-year-old heart, “There is nothing impossible with the God I am telling you about.”

I believed him like he was a messenger from God. Writing about it now reminds me of a story I heard many times growing up — that the angel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth, saying to the virgin Mary, “Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you.”

I remember myself at that age wondering how God will release me from poverty, and my sponsor sending another letter saying that he is praying for me and encouraging me to work hard in school and trust in God.

Jimmy visits Graceland ministry in South Africa, which cares for children of alcoholic parents.

At times poverty threatened and lied to me that nothing is possible, but my sponsor would write to me, “Jimmy, it doesn’t matter what you are going through, ‘for nothing will be impossible with God’.”

A candle was lit inside of me and I started believing in the dreams of my childhood. The circumstances didn’t matter: I believed I was bigger than poverty. In time I began seeing myself as the savior of my community from the oppressor, this grinding poverty.

I became a joy to my mother. She loved listening to my positive messages. I became her favorite preacher. It satisfies me to remember the many times I made my mother forget her struggles, pain and suffering.

My sponsor restored my mother’s joy. Within a year of sponsorship, I could read the Bible that I had received from the program. I read to her all my favorite childhood memory verses in English.

Many nights she asked me to read her the Bible and then she would pray and we would go to bed a happy mother and a hopeful child.

Some of those nights we went to bed on an empty stomach. On such nights, unable to sleep from hunger, I would hear my mother crying to God to let me live another day. In my innocence I would ask her why she was crying. She would reply, “Because I can hear the rumbling in your stomach.”

I would assure her that I would make it to the morning. That was the strength my sponsor put in my heart — to be there for my mother.

At her deathbed, my mother called me to her and shared her joy for having been my mother. She encouraged me to live a life of loving people just as my sponsor loved me. Then she bid me goodbye saying, “My son, I see you succeeding in life but I do not see myself sharing the success with you. Trust in God.”

A few months later, I received the sad news that my mother had died. She had left my grandmother a gift for me: her Bible. From her Bible I quoted Jeremiah 29:11 to my sponsor when I wrote to break the sad news.

In his reply, my sponsor Mark wrote:

“I am sorry to hear about the death of your mother. I cried when I read your letter. It was great to read your scripture reference – Jeremiah 29:11 — because I also believe that God has good plans for you. I shall continue to pray for you.”

Jimmy and 8-year-old Jayden at Graceland ministry.

I celebrate my sponsorship with Compassion because through the relationship with my sponsor, I caught the fire of hope. Sponsorship puts hope in the hearts of children and in return these children serve the rest of the world with that hope.

My mother died in hope, satisfied that she bore a son of hope; a hope she believed will survive and be taken to the ends of the earth to the glory of God.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

The eight-minute segment aired on Moody Radio on July 31.

Prime Time America

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

I have a friend who wrote to her child that she was praying for the family, and the child wrote back that they were praying and fasting for her weekly.

Last month, I stopped in Colorado Springs on my way home to Wyoming from Phoenix. I had heard that the Moody Scholars were going to be participating in Compassion’s chapel, and I attended because I greatly wanted to meet them.

Jimmy Wambua, the newest Moody Scholar, was asked to pray during the service. Now, I’m used to praying for children all around the world, but he was praying for all the sponsors. That was really special for me to hear.

Following the service, I was invited to join Tony, Michelle, Richmond and Jimmy (from left to right) for lunch, which was more than I had hoped for.

I was excited to meet each of them because I practically had them on pedestals, like celebrities. Instead, they treated me like a celebrity!

And even though I had lots of questions for them, I ended up answering far more questions than they did.

• How long have you been a sponsor?
• How’d you find out about Compassion?
• What are the challenges of being a Child Advocate?
• Would you tell us about your sponsored children?

Lunch was anything but a solemn time. These students were funny, joyful, hilarious — teasing each other, and “breaking in” the new member of their group.

It was fun to see them interact with each other in such a positive, loving way.

Michelle had us laughing about the fact that she nearly fell down during her dance presentation in chapel.

Richmond slipped in wisecracks when he could.

Tony’s head was full of jokes and funny stories. He laughed about the lady who thought his country (the Dominican Republic) was in Africa.

Jimmy has apparently come up with nicknames already for the other three; he also joked about coming to the United States so he could sample the food.

But lunch wasn’t all just fun and laughter.

We talked about what they plan to do when they return to their countries in a year.

• Tony wants to bring light and truth to his nation.
• Michelle spoke about discipleship and breaking the cycle of “poverty and corruption.”
• Richmond wants to train pastors in all the different parts of Uganda, since most have no theological training as they share the Word of God.

As Tony explained in chapel, the Leadership Development Program students are lights in their communities — evangelizing, sharing in small groups, standing up in class to argue for the truth, taking leadership roles.

I had thought of the Moody Scholars as stars and celebrities, and perhaps they are, but they are more than that.

The morning after my lunch with them, I read a devotion, Joy in the Journey by Michael Card, which speaks of “North Star People,” and I thought of Michelle, Tony, Richmond and Jimmy:

“When sailors or even astronauts are lost, they look for Polaris, the North Star, to regain their sense of direction. Polaris is a dim, slightly green star, always in the same spot, the tip of the northern axis that goes through the celestial sphere.

“As North Star people we can serve a deeper purpose. When people need us, we can be there for them, pointing the Way. While the world is spinning at a dizzying pace, we can remain grounded to the same spot, less dazzling but unmovable.

“Jesus was a North Star person. According to Isaiah there was nothing in his appearance that seemed especially brilliant.

“In his time there were far more dazzling messianic stars who came and went with a flash. But Jesus has always remained there, rooted to the same place in the universe, unmovable.

“Jesus constantly calls out to us to turn around and behold the dazzling dimness of his light, as it shines in this present world — to find our way to it, and then to find our way by it.”

I had thought of these Moody scholars as bright stars and celebrities, but discovered they are normal, ordinary people, shining the way towards Jesus.

They are fixed in their beliefs, principles, passion and purpose. They will be solid, unmoving leaders for the present and for the future, grounded in our North Star, Jesus.

Before I left, Michelle started giving me some candies from the Philippines.

I said, “That’s enough — you can stop,” and she replied, “It’s just that I love you so much!”

When I got in the car and popped one in my mouth, I wish I’d taken the whole bag (They’re that good!). But I also thought, “Wow, the tables turned again … these Moody scholars ended up giving far more ‘sweetness’ to me than I could ever give to them.”

Precious students and friends, indeed.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

With Jimmy from Kenya (a.k.a. Jimmy Wambua) as a house guest, we were treated to the first reactions to life in America from the perspective of someone who had grown up in poverty.

After the first couple of days, I asked him how it was going and what struck him most about life in America. It was the cheese.

“In America, you are so particular about what you want. You take me to Subway and they ask, ‘What kind of bread do you want?’ ‘What type of dressing do you want?’ ‘What type of cheese do you want?’ In my country cheese is cheese. It’s this or it’s nothing.”

The variety in general was a bit overwhelming to Jimmy.

“When I asked Mike for tea, he opened the cabinet and there was so much. Tropical tea, dessert tea, tea cocktail. Even in cars you have variety. You have a car for different kinds of weather and different activities.”

At every turn, we seemed to be asking him to make choices. And let’s not even talk about our trip to Walmart.

He was also quite struck by our home and our neighborhood. We live in a fairly typical middle-class American neighborhood and home.

Before he came, I had felt a bit self-conscious because the other hosts of the students were older with nicer homes. I secretly thought he’d be disappointed to stay with us. I know this is a silly worry considering he was coming from a one-room home without indoor plumbing, but I was thinking about the Joneses.

His perspective was different than mine.

“This is the home of a politician. These are the couches of a politician … . This is what I’ll call stinking rich. You live in posh environments, but you don’t feel they are posh.”

Jimmy stayed in our basement, which has an attached bathroom. He said,

“When you first showed me my room, I thought, ‘This must be the main part of the house, the best part of the house.’ Then I saw it was just the basement. In my country, I could work for years and still not have something as nice as your basement.”

I asked Jimmy if it frustrated him or made him angry to see people with so much. I always wonder that when visitors come — are they secretly judging us? Jimmy was gracious.

“Someone without my background who is struggling might be angry. But my feeling is biased because of Compassion. I understand why God blesses Americans — what you give. I believe that spirit of giving has gotten into American culture. You’ve been able to be content with what you have and give to others instead of keeping it for yourselves. Because of your generosity, God has blessed. God rewards you for listening to his call.”

I hope I can live up to Jimmy’s generous attitude toward us.

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Each one of them is going be in Colorado Springs very soon. And they’ll actually all be here at the same time, which is a rare occurrence.

What this means to you is that we’ve grabbed a sizable block of their time so we can serve as a proxy interviewer on your behalf, kind of like we did with the Ask Wess series of blog posts. But this is going to be captured on video.

Let us know what questions you have for them as formerly sponsored children-cum-Leadership Development Program graduates, students at Moody Bible Institute and emerging Christian leaders, and we’ll get you some answers.

We wanted to do this whole thing live, but the tool we are looking to use isn’t cooperating — at least for now.

We’ll choose the questions we ask from what you submit today and tomorrow.

P.S. If you’re new to the blog, you can learn a little bit about Michelle, Tony and Richmond by using the tags below “read these related posts.”

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

This video is about a year old, and if you haven’t seen it, it’s definitely worth your time.

The video is a little less than eight minutes long, and in it Michelle talks about the value and meaning of Compassion’s programs in her life.

We don’t have a video about Tony Beltran Morales, scholarship recipient number three, but we did profile him back in November 2008 – Leadership Development in the Dominican Republic.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Do you have 21 minutes? If so, you’ll be hard-pressed not to be impressed by this humble man.

Greg Nettle, senior pastor of Rivertree Christian Church, conducts the interview.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

All four of my children were teenagers at the same time. It was challenging.

I would hear things like, “My dad lets me do … ” or “My mom cooks dinner like … ” It seemed my particular “momming” abilities (for my kids or my stepkids) were never good enough. Consequently, my self-esteem took a beating and I felt unappreciated most of the time.

I have to admit, the years of parenting teens left my heart wounded. The pains of these old wounds have stayed with me. I often wondered if I would ever be released from them.

Then, without expecting it, a special gift from God found its way into my life …  all the way from the Dominican Republic.

A Special Call

Last year, Compassion and Moody Bible Institute partnered to raise money for three scholarships. The scholarships are awarded to Compassion Leadership Development Program (LDP) graduates and enable them to come to the United States and obtain a master’s degree at Moody.

When the three scholars were chosen, they flew from their home countries to Colorado for Compassion orientation, and Celina Baldwin put out a call seeking volunteers to host the students while they were in Colorado Springs.

Being a sponsor, I thought to myself, “I wonder if my family should offer to host a student?” and all the memories from parenting young adults came rushing back. I felt a pain in my stomach.

As a compromise, I told Celina to give me a call if she did not get the volunteers she needed. I figured I did my part and was off the hook.

A Divine Appointment

Not so! Celina called. She needed me to host 23-year-old Tony Beltrán from the Dominican Republic. Uh oh! What did I get myself into?

Tony was the first LDP graduate from the Dominican Republic, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in computer engineering. He stayed at my home for 10 days before flying on to Chicago to begin a master’s degree program in theology.

I didn’t know what to expect. Would he be shy? Would he like the food I cooked? Would he want to talk with me? I didn’t know it. But God did. And He had a divine appointment scheduled for me and my heart.

What first amazed me about Tony was the fact that he saw everything through eyes of appreciation and gratitude. He was a computer engineer, but had never seen a dishwasher before. He took great pleasure in saying with a big smile as he loaded his dirty dishes into the machine, “Don’t worry, I’ll wash the dishes for you tonight!”

Tony and I had long conversations about God, school, family and girls. He listened to everything I offered him and took it to heart. He responded with things like, “That’s right, that’s in God’s Word and I want to live an obedient life for God.”

He appreciated the time I spent with him and he was proud to be with me. I made lasagna for dinner and it became Tony’s favorite. He would say to me, “Can you save me a piece of the lasagna? I want to have some later before I go to sleep?” I could feel the healing inside my heart.

Released by a Compassion-assisted Child

Sometimes people can be so kind and caring that my defenses cannot stop the love from coming in. That’s what happened with Tony. He’s such a fine young man and his authentic integrity, respect and appreciation for people (and all that God has done for him) has a healing affect on those he’s in the same room with!

I didn’t realize the full affect Tony was having on me until it was time to say goodbye and I burst into tears.

Looking back, I’ve determined it is because God used Tony to reach the dark places of my heart and heal them. It’s an amazing thing.

I’m an American and I love to sponsor children and release them from poverty (whatever that looks like in their lives), but they in turn release me. Oh we have a very clever God!

If you ever get the chance to host a Compassion-assisted child in your home, don’t hesitate, just do it! You will be blessed in ways you never dreamed of. Oh! You do have that chance.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

As part of our Moody Scholarship program, the students have opportunities to speak at various events throughout the country. (If you’ve ever had the chance to hear them, then blessed are you! If you haven’t – I hope you have an opportunity soon.)

Summertime is especially busy for our young speakers because they have a break from school and because summer is when many events and festivals occur.

Anyway, the challenge we face this summer is to find housing for the students. We’re collecting contact information for folks who want to help by hosting one of these amazing Leadership Development Program graduates.

If you are interested in hosting a student during the summer or during an upcoming school break, or even just being a friend to them while they are studying at Moody, please e-mail me at moodymasters@us.ci.org. I expect we will have two students to host for the entire summer and, hopefully, three students for a few weeks at the end of the summer.

We prefer that you live in Colorado Springs or Denver because we want the students to be close to our Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs, but if we can’t find help in our area, then we’ll have to find help somewhere else!

As I mentioned before – everything with the Moody Scholarship program is brand new, so we have a lot of learning to do and lots of ground to break! Please consider this your formal invitation to grab a shovel and help us break some ground.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates