See this woman? She’s a hero of the faith. Through her, the walls of poverty are crumbling for her family.

Ana Morales is the mother of our very own Tony Beltran. Tony graduated from the Leadership Development Program in the Dominican Republic and will be graduating from Moody Bible Institute in May.

Tony is known for his leadership and for speaking with passion. That passion shines through as he looks at his mother and testifies about this amazing woman.

Ana Morales is a portrait of perseverance. Poise and confidence inhabit her words.

Ana grew up in church, where she first learned to trust our heavenly Father. That trust was vital in the midst of poverty. As a child, Ana and her siblings often went without meals.

As a young woman, Ana married. After two years of marriage and with a 6-month-old baby, her husband died. She clung to that same trust that sustained her through her childhood.

“When you are young, and when you experience hard times, you grow up with lessons in courage and perseverance. You realize that you will make it and that God will provide.”

Ana Morales is a prayer warrior.

Tony recollects his mother’s early encouragement. She once told him, “While I have knees, you will go to college.” This prayer warrior was constantly on her knees, lifting up prayers to Jesus for her young son. She saw early on that Tony was admired for his passion, always willing to work hard and excellent at scripture memory.

Ana Morales is a servant leader.

Tony speaks about his time at Moody Bible Institute. About the people he’s met and the lessons he’s learned on leadership. Yet one of the many things he realizes: “The best leader I ever met was right in my house. It was my mother.”

The mother and son look at each other, recalling difficult times. Ana admits that often there was not enough food to go around for all of her children. So to make sure they could eat what little was available, she pretended she was working in the kitchen and didn’t need any food.

Ana knows, though, that it takes a community of believers.

“Compassion is a ‘Fountain of Help,’” she says, tears streaming from her eyes. Ana was able to provide the intangible things Tony needed: love, prayer and family. But she was not always able to provide financially.

Around the same time that Ana was praying for her son, the lives of the Sibley family were about to change. They began sponsoring 14-year-old Tony. Their choice allowed Tony to continue with high school and eventually move on to the Leadership Development Program and Moody Bible Institute.

Gary and Cindy Sibley joined us for the wonderful celebration of Tony’s graduation.

Cindy and Ana grabbed one another’s hands and the tears began to flow again.

“We met yesterday for the first time. It was extremely emotional!”

They share the love of the same child. They have been used by God to help raise this child to become quite a man.

When Tony was younger, Ana’s biggest hope for him was that he would finish his schooling. Now that he has earned a master’s degree she prays he will maintain the path of the Lord and God’s plan for his life.

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

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 Pastors Discipleship Network (PDN) is an initiative begun by Leadership Development Program graduate and Moody Bible Institute scholar Richmond Wandera. It exists:

“to train and equip local pastors in Africa with basic study tools for accurately interpreting God’s Word through monthly seminars, accountability relationships, and the provision of study resources.”

We’re bringing PDN to your attention as an example of what we mean when we say,

“The Leadership Development Program identifies young Compassion-assisted men and women who have shown potential to become Christian leaders who can, in turn, influence their own families, churches, communities and nations.”

PDN is an example of your support bearing fruit! Even if you don’t sponsor a leadership development student, your commitment to Compassion helps create the environment for opportunities like this. That’s what holistic child development is.

You can learn all about PDN at pdnafrica.org and can stay current with Richmond’s work via the PDN Facebook page.

But the philosophy essentially boils down to this:

“When a pastor is trained, his church is also trained; when you resource the pastor, his church is also resourced … everything rises and falls on leadership … a trained pastor becomes a watchman against heresy and false teaching. Therefore, training a local pastor protects the church.”

“My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” — Hosea 4:6 (NIV)

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

Compassion Sunday is an annual event that provides sponsors and donors across the United States a chance to speak to their churches on behalf of children in poverty. The purpose is to draw the attention of the Church to the needs of the world’s poorest children.

Each year, dedicated volunteers present Compassion in churches across the country, and tens of thousands of children are sponsored through their efforts.

This year Compassion Sunday is April 18, but if you ever want to host a Compassion Sunday at your church you can choose any date that works best for you … and your church, as Debbi did.

My name is Debbi Akers. I have been an Advocate with Compassion in north Alabama for nearly 1 1/2 years.

As soon as I completed my Advocate training, my first thought was to host a Compassion Sunday at my church. I was on fire, passionate, and thought that was the obvious next step. I was wrong.

Even though the administration at my church was very welcoming of my passion and the ministry of Compassion, their calendar was already set in motion for the holidays and then for the beginning of the year.

Of course, once the first of the year rolled around, Compassion Sunday got pushed back on the church calendar again and again.

If you have ever been told “no” or “maybe next year,” please do not be discouraged. Time that you commit to God for His glory and for His kingdom is never wasted.

As I waited for a later date for Compassion Sunday, the passion God had given me for the least of these and for His ministry through Compassion could not be squelched. I felt that if I did not “speak up for those who could not speak up for themselves,” the rocks would start crying out for those who were suffering! So, I spoke.

I spoke to Sunday school classes, women’s groups, combined classes — anyone in my church who would give me a opportunity.

While doing all this speaking, I was blessed to have about 30 families sponsor me to go on an Advocates tour to Guatemala. After that life-changing trip, I spoke even more.

The beauty of having so many people support me financially on the tour was that they felt they “owned” me when I returned, and I had a duty to speak to their classes and groups and share about my trip!

God’s time was not wasted. He used what I initially perceived as rejection as a time of planting. Seeds were planted throughout my church, and my heart learned to trust Jesus like I probably had not done in a long time. I started to remember what it felt like to rely on Him again as He prepared the fields for harvest.

During that time of planting seeds, I made a chart. It was a simple chart where I kept the name, contact information, child name and reference number for each new sponsorship associated with my efforts. This has proven to be one of the most effective things I have done as an Advocate. As new sponsors came along, I simply add to this chart.

By the time I actually held my Compassion Sunday (Nov. 29, 2009), the list had grown to close to 70 sponsors — one child at a time!

In planning Compassion Sunday, I remembered something Wess Stafford once said about the reason many people do not get involved with charity organizations. He said they do not know where to begin and they do not know who to trust.

Well, having a Compassion Sunday shows people where to begin, but I needed to focus on showing my congregation that Compassion was an organization they could trust.

I pulled out my handy, dandy chart of sponsors. If my congregation could see that the leaders and many longtime church members were trusting Compassion, it might make a difference.

I called Compassion and gave them the reference numbers from my chart. Compassion was able to provide me with a digital picture of every sponsored child connected to my church.

I made a simple slide show with those pictures. Each slide had the face of the child and his or her name alongside of the sponsor’s name. Our adult and children’s choirs sang “He Knows My Name” as the slide show was presented. My congregation felt like those children were “their” children.

We were then abundantly blessed to have Miguel Figueroa speak, as a formerly sponsored child and now Leadership Development Program graduate attending Moody Bible Institute.

None of these things could have taken place if the dates I had initially requested had been granted. God’s timing brought about a harvest that surpassed what I had prayed for.

We now have close to 200 sponsors at our church, and the sponsorship table is still up! Each week someone stops by to either ask about sponsoring, pick up some information, ask questions about a current sponsorship, or tell me about a letter received from a child. It is my act of love to sit at that table each week. To Him be all of the glory!

The little chart with sponsor information did not end once the numbers grew. It took on a life of its own. My trip to Guatemala left me with a passion even greater than the one I already had for finding sponsors. It is a passion for getting those sponsors engaged in the lives of the children they sponsor.

With the contact information in hand, I have been able to establish a monthly newsletter for the sponsors in my church. In addition, this past month I offered six different opportunities for members to attend a Compassion 101 class where they could come together and learn how to set up an online account at compassion.com, learn about letter-writing, gifts, trips, blogs and more.

Also, if there is a crisis in a country such as we just experienced in Haiti, I immediately know which sponsors to connect with. Or if there is a blog post that pertains to one of our sponsoring family’s child development centers, I can let them know. Basically, anything that I can do to advocate for the continuing relationship between the sponsor and child is made possible through a simple task of record keeping.

So my fellow Advocates and precious sponsors: Pray. Trust His timing. Pray. Take every opportunity, especially the seemingly insignificant ones, to speak up. Pray. Keep some records if you can. Pray. Enjoy His harvest. And give Him all of the glory.

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

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

In this clip, Tony explains how Leadership Development Program students are missionaries to their classmates.

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

In this first clip, which is just over 13 minutes long, you’ll get to see how Richmond, Tony, Michelle and Jimmy interact with one another.

You’ll get a taste of the strength of their relationships with one another and with God.

And you’ll get a little insight into what Jimmy probably asked his sponsor when they met at Catalyst 2009.

Beyond getting to know them a little better, by learning what these agents of change are studying at Moody and why they chose their fields of study, you’ll also hear, among other things:

• Tony speak about his call to serve teenagers
• Michelle and Richmond share about their desires to develop strong Christian leaders in the Philippines and Uganda
• Jimmy relate what life was like before he was sponsored

Enjoy.

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


The reason why is I know Jimmy. Jimmy stayed at our house for two weeks, so he went from being a formerly sponsored child, an African, and someone with a different culture and accent, to being a friend. To a human.

 
As much as we don’t want them to, our differences — culturally, geographically, economically — can separate us. “Others” can seem so very other. So unlike us. So “unrelatable.”

Yes, we have compassion for them. But it’s hard to really relate to them. Understand them. View them the same as we view ourselves, our neighbors, our family.
 


But Jimmy is my husband’s age. The two of them sitting on our couch talking about girls made Jimmy so utterly real to me. He’s someone who despite all our differences is so like us.
 
Someone who simply had a sponsor who loved him, who told Jimmy that Jesus loves him, and set his life on an entirely new path. 
 


So when I watch this video, I don’t just see some African who some Canadian “saved.” What I see is myself in another situation, another time, another circumstance. I see that this could have been me. And I see that this can be my sponsored child.

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

Christian child sponsorship: kids get it.

Tony Beltran

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