Southern Baptists...

Even in tough times, people who care help people in need
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 Jun 18, 2009 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A trip to Africa opened a Kansas woman’s eyes to a different world – one of suffering and praise.

She saw people starving. She held babies with bellies swollen from malnutrition. She worshipped with a handful of refugees squeezed into a small, tin shack who praised God simply for being alive. She returned home, determined to do something more to help. She and her husband began donating regularly to Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist international development and relief  organization. They helped provide food packets for starving families in Zimbabwe, where $90 will feed an entire family for weeks.

Then the United States slid into an economic recession. The Kansas couple’s small contracting business took a huge hit as the housing market plunged. Budgets were tightened and stretched thin. Yet they found ways to continue providing food packets.

The couple joined many other Christians throughout the United States who have kept reaching deep into their pockets to support non-profit organizations – despite tough economic times.

 “We don’t have a regular paycheck. We get one when the job is done,” said the Kansas contractor, who wants to remain anonymous. “The first thing that comes out is our tithe; then our planned gifts, like for BGR; then we pay our employees; then what’s left we live on. Sometimes, it isn’t much – but we always make it.”

The deep recession and resulting job losses have prompted many people who care to support charities that provide basic services like food and shelter to people in need. They want to touch people’s lives where they hurt the most. As a result, many non-profits are forging ahead with ministry at a time when many for-profit organizations are cutting back. Last year alone,  Southern Baptists funded more than 500 overseas humanitarian aid projects worth $12.8 million. This collective effort of Southern Baptists touched more than 3.5 million lives worldwide.

Most donors are motivated by tangible ministry results: people nurtured both physically and spiritually. This philosophy drew Mississippi State University doctoral student Adam Orr to search out Baptist Global Response. He wanted to meet peoples’ needs at their basic core, while empowering their future. Through his agriculture and animal science background, he knew agriculture is one of the most successful ways of helping families in developing countries find meaning and purpose – and hope – in life. Last year, more than 20,000 people received some type of agricultural training through Southern Baptist projects, while more than 1.2 million people received food.

'How can I not give?'

Orr said once he saw the connection between the physical and spiritual, giving was essential for him. While he admitted giving was not one of his spiritual gifts, that hasn’t stopped him from setting aside money from the student stipend on which he lives.

“How can I not give?” Orr asked. “In some ways, it is more important now than ever before to give. Because of the recession, others may not be able to give. And think – if we are this hard hit in the States, it might be worse in developing countries.”

The International Monetary Fund voiced the same concern – that people who are already poor will be the hardest hit by the economic downturn. But retired missionaries Ralph and LaVerne Rummage of Waco, Texas, don’t rely on a report to tell them how the global economy affects developing countries. They know first-hand. After living in Africa for more than 30 years, they’ve personally experienced famine, drought, and hyper-inflation. They can testify that when the global economy takes a hit, everyone goes into survival mode.

During the 1970s and 80s, the Rummages distributed food in Zimbabwe that had been provided through the Southern Baptist World Hunger and Disaster Relief funds. Orphans and widows, who did not know where their next meal would come from, time and time again praised God’s provision.

“We praised Southern Baptists for giving unselfishly back then. Southern Baptists provided for so many people who were our friends and helped open so many doors,” Rummage said. “That’s the reason we count it a privilege to give to Baptist Global Response efforts now in our retirement. We saw the difference [giving] made in people’s lives and want to continue being a part of that.”

Giving what they can

The Rummages’ loyalty to meeting needs illustrates how donors are helping some nonprofits weather the economic storm. Committed donors adjust their lifestyle to maintain their giving as best as they can.

The Rummages live on a fixed income as retirees. They said they find ways to cut back costs and often do without “extras” so they can continue giving.

The Kansas couple said there are months they just can’t give to BGR, but they don’t let that overwhelm them. They give what they can, when they can.

Orr echoed that sentiment. The student said sometimes his gifts are small compared to what he assumes most people give. However, he figured when his $10 was added to the gifts of others, they all combined to do something great.

This type of giving is exactly how the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability said nonprofit organizations are surviving. The ECFA surveyed 1,000 organizations and found most contributors give less than $100 a year. Although BGR received some large donations last year, the majority of donors gave anywhere from $5 to $50.

Jeff Palmer, Baptist Global Response's executive director, described this “widow’s mite” type of giving as crucial to meeting needs around the world. Many people in need have nowhere to turn for help.

“We are truly thankful for those who have continued to give even during these hard times,” Palmer said. “In the past year, we have seen Southern Baptists rise to the occasion and, like the widow in the Bible who gave sacrificially, we see Southern Baptists giving even though they are struggling themselves.”

Creative fund-raisers

Palmer said it’s not just the monthly gifts that keep BGR going, but the special, one-time offerings as well. Often these receipts originate from some pretty creative Southern Baptists who conduct fund-raisers from soup suppers to benefit concerts, which pooled together fund a wide variety of projects. Palmer stands in awe of the creative methods people come up with so they can give to causes that touch their hearts.

A Girls in Action group from Heuck’s Retreat Baptist Church in Brookhaven, Miss., took a month-long lesson on world hunger to heart. They got their entire church involved by asking them to bring canned goods. The girls then spent the day making soup from the collected items. The entire community was invited to the soup supper, and donations went to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund.

“This was the girls’ favorite project of the year,” GA leader Laurie Chassion said. “They’re our future. We wanted them to experience how we take care of people and that you don’t have to travel to do it. We can make a difference in the world from our own home.”

A benefit concert involving ethnic Chinese Southern Baptists in Maryland raised $4,893 for earthquake relief efforts in China. Twenty-six Vacation Bible School children at Memorial Baptist Church in El Campo, Texas, collected their pennies for a BGR food project in Zimbabwe and raised enough money to purchase 270 pounds of food.

A teenager in Tennessee raised thousands of dollars to dig a well for thirsty people in North Africa. Girl’s in Action groups raised hundreds in walkathons. Even in economic crisis, the needs of others move the hearts of people who care. People find ways to provide resources for the needs they see.

“It's like Jesus looking at the crowds and being moved with compassion,” Palmer said. “People giving when times are good is good itself. People giving sacrificially in times of hardship is amazing – a God thing.”

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