Would You Give Up a Pizza for a Child?

by bgs on 27/04/09 at 2:50 pm

Geremy, our sponsored child

This is Geremy. He’ll be eight years old on August 1. He lives in Nicaragua with his stepfather and mother. He makes beds and runs errands for his family, which includes three other children. He likes to play with cars, enjoys ball games and bicycling.

For some time we’ve been hearing about Compassion International, a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty (from Compassion’s Web site). The photos of the children have always moved me, and I’ve felt like we should sponsor a child, but never quite got around to it.

Back in March, Tony Campolo spoke at our church, Christ United Methodist. He gave a dynamic, challenging, eye-opening and moving talk as he challenged us as Christians to respond to the needs of the world around us with sacrificial love. (See my video interview with Campolo here). Then he ended his talk with an appeal to sponsor a child and I was hooked. The minute he began to talk about Compassion I knew it was time.

Compassion has done a great job of highlighting their ministry overseas through social media. Last year, I followed the progress of 15 bloggers in Uganda as they shared daily updates through their blogs, Twitter and other social media sites.

This past Friday, a team of bloggers, a photographer, a videographer and three leaders left for Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), to visit and minister to the poor that Mother Theresa once served. That same day, the Compassion package with Geremy’s photo and biographical information arrived in my mailbox.

When I see photos and video of the children in India, read about sponsors who meet their sponsored child face-to-face, and consider the circumstances in these children must live, it makes me wish I’d gotten off my butt and sponsored a child sooner. And someday, maybe there will be a Compassion Bloggers’ trip to Nicaragua.

To learn more about Compassion India and sponsor a child from India, click the banner at the bottom of this page. Follow the bloggers’ progress through their individual blogs and Twitter profiles listed below and through this site.

Compassion Blogging Team

Sponsor a Child

It’s only $32 per month. For the price of a couple of pizzas, a child will receive:

Nutritional supplements
Clean water, as needed
Bible teaching and learning about God’s love
Medical checkups
Encouragement from you — you can write to your child and even visit your child on a sponsor tour!

Get off your butt. Today. Sponsor a child.

Buzz it!

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