Along with Max and Mike Dye, I gave my five dollars plus fifteen more dollars to a young man named Louis D. of Kinmundy who is attending Eastern Illinois. This young man is in need of financial help. Your idea of the five dollars was a great motivation factor. The money will help buy textbooks.
Bob Raver
My family together with Bob and Mary Ellen Raver sent our money to a young man who is a junior at Eastern. He has no help from home - he's trying to work his way through his last two years. He wants to be a teacher and coach. He works for me part time on the lube rack when he is home in the summer.
Max
Editor's Note: Here's the letter they sent along with the money.
Dear Louis, Last Sunday at First Christian Church in Salem, our minister passed out envelopes to each person in attendance. The theme of his message was: To share and help others. Inside each envelope was a $5 bill. We were asked to add our own $5 to the Church's money and help someone with this special money. Six of us have decided to ban together and sen this to you to help with your book expenses or your tuition. Please receive this and us it with the Lord's blessings.
Since we were gone during the holiday weekend I was not able to participate in the five dollar challenge. But while returning home from vacation this summer I was approached by a man while on a driving break and he asked if he could wash my windshield, hubcaps or anything else that needed cleaned. He stated he was trying to get his wife home, bad job situation, and just generally down. I am normally skeptical of people, (34 yrs law enforcement), but my faith and belief in God provide a very good balance. I just reached in my pocket and gave him $10.00 and he was very thankful. My wife returned to the car and as we were about to leave he returned and said his wife made him come back and thank me again. My wife asked what that was about and I told her, thinking it was a private matter but I guess a good deed should be shared but not bragged about. It felt good to share with someone in need (actual or not is between he and God) but it seemed to be a challenge to me from God and I just did it and felt better for doing it. We must be available to good deeds and listen to God when he presents an opportunity.
Chris T.
Hi Phil-
Jared and I weren't really sure how we were going to use our $5 until we both got an email on Tuesday afternoon. It was from a member of our small group about another couple in our group here in Decatur. This couple had been struggling financially for a while with difficulty finding jobs and things of that nature. I thought of this couple during your sermon but wasn't really sure how to go about giving the money...until I got the email. The wife works at a church camp in the area and part of the job included an apartment on camp grounds, but last week they were informed that the camp would be hiring a new director and the wife of the new director would get the wife in our group's job and their apartment, which gave them 3 weeks to find a new place to live. With the husband only having a job for about a month now, they really didn't have the savings to even put a deposit down on a house/apartment. The email suggested that we (if we were able) come together and collect some money to help them with some of the expenses they were going to encounter. I knew at that moment that we would use our "starter" money to help them out in this way. We added some extra to the $10 we were given on Sunday and gave it to the couple last night. I'm not sure how much we (as a small group) collected, but the envelope was pretty thick! They were very appreciative and shocked that we would all come together to help them in this way. Thanks for encouraging us to give and I know this will make a big difference their lives. Jared and I really enjoyed your sermon and look forward to the Sundays that we come home. Have a great week/weekend.
See you soon.
Love- Becky Collier
Dear Phil,
Thank you for starting the program to "encourage" someone. Clark and I decided to pool our $5.00 bills and add $20.00 to it and give it to Cassie K. Cassie has been a Nurses Aide at Salem Hospital for serveral years and she decided to go back to school and get her nurses degree. The Hospital Auxiliary is helping with a scholarship, but she will not be able to work as much and will have other expenses for uniforms, gasoline, etc. and we felt perhaps this small gift from the church and us will help. Thanks.
Clark and Jo Anne Henry
My $10 went to a young man who runs a Christian coffee shop in China. It is part of an outreach program started by the Jackson Avenue Coffee Shop in Charleston, IL. -- Julie McCullough
I have not been attending FCC very long but I have really been moved by the whole experience. I have not passed my $10 on yet, I have not "felt" the right situation yet. However, this has also given me that opportunity to reflect on some of my past experiences.
This last summer, I was standing in a grocery line next to a lady buying milk and bread. The cashier was waiting for her to count out change. Yes, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. When she was done she was ten cents short. The cashier stood there. Lady looked around. I believe she was looking for someone that she might of known to help her. I gave her a quarter. She thanked me over and over and tried to return the fifteen cents. I told her to keep it, she might need it, or she could share with someone else in need of a favor. It was such a small amount of money but I could tell that it was the "biggest" gesture. I am thankful that I had to stop at the store that day and that I was given the opportunity to help. I am looking for the appropriate situation where God lets me know that I can help the situation again.
Thank you for the challenge........I am sure I will find the situation and notice God.
Dawn Collier
As we were considering how best to use our "five-dollar challenge" money, a letter came from American Indian Christian Mission in Show Low, AZ. The letter stated that on August 24th their bookkeeper resigned. On August 25th, the Executive Director of the mission, Roger Nosker, found that the former bookkeeper had emptied all accounts of the mission and had disappeared. The mission is a school for Native America children. As they do not have monies for salaries or even postage, but with sacrifice the staff and board of directors will keep the mission open. AICM is planning theri 40th anniversary. The director said in his letter, "God can solve all our problems with a blink of His eye...He most frequently performs the miraculous through His people." We at FCC are His people. -- Pete & Mary Lee Beal
Phil
Jim and I have put our money together and applyed it towards kids lunch accounts at school. If the child is not able to pay they will receive a peanut butter and jelly sandwich until the account is paid. Some children may not get a hot meal until the account is paid up.
Jim & Sandy Martin
Eileen and I decided to give the money to our neighbor. We gave him $20.00 for his family,
explaining where it came from. He was overwhelmed.
Paul & Eileen
Hi Phil,
Well, I was planning on sharing my money with someone in need at the grocery store or WalMart or something like that but instead I was presented with a totally different situation.
I have a real estate client who has put their home on the market to leave he country and become missionaries. They are leaving the end of October and we hadn't received an offer on their house until today. If all goes as planned it will close Oct. 6th. They family was telling me they are starting their fund raising efforts next week. All at once I felt lead to share my "faith in action" money with them as their 1st. donation towards t heir mission trip. I will, as I am able, share more money with them in th e future.
But I pray God will continue to bless this family as they "go in to all the world" to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and that he will multiple my tiny donation for HIS good.
Just thought I would share my story.
Jenny Holsapple
My opportunity to share came today through an email sent to the SCHS staff. A new administrative assistant to the school is in the midst of chemo treatments. The staff is collecting money to help with the travel expenses during her chemo, so I gave my $10 to help her and her family during this difficult time.
Kim Martin
Hello. My $10 went to a lady I work with. She is a rather young widow, and her income isn't hardly enough most of the time. Her granddaughter had been out of town for a while, and she was going to have her over when she returned to Salem. Some of the other girls at work were asking her if she was able to see her when she returned. This lady I work with told them no, she didn't have her over because she didn't have anything in the house to give her to eat. When I heard this, I decided that was what I would do with the money. I went to her, and explained the challenge we had from church, and told her I wanted to give her the money. I knew $10 wouldn't go far, but I thought that maybe it would get her through to pay day which was just a few days away. At first she was hesitant to take it, but I told her it was from the church, and she accepted it with a grateful heart. -- Dos Phillips
I have been mulling over what to do with the $10.00 for a while. There are lots of good opportunities out there and lots of worth causes.
There is a lady on one of my doll boards, a past customer, who lives in France. She helped me out a while back in resolving a problem with another customer in France who had bought a doll from me but did not speak English. She saved the transaction from falling through for me. She is a real cat lover and has a wonderful heart but she says she is an atheist. A few days ago, she posted on the doll board that she was asking for "good thoughts" sent her way as she was trying to find more work so she could have more money for her "cat rescue" efforts. She catches them and gets them fixed and finds them homes and takes care of and feeds quite a few. It just struck me as ironic that she was essentially asking for "prayer" and calling it "good thoughts." I wondered if I should send her my $10.00 for her cat rescue program. Two things happened, Sunday the sermon on Johan talked about how many cattle were in Tarsish (sp?) as well as people. It occurred to me that God cares for animals too as he specifically mentioned the cattle. Then the "oddest" thing happened, a old friend that I haven't seen for a while he is also a cat lover, stopped by my Mom's work and said she had felt impressed that she was supposed to pass on $20.00 to me. (So God himself doubled the amount!) The more I thought about it the more I felt this was confirmation of what I was supposed to do. So, I am sending my money to an "atheist" in France and telling her it is a gift from God. Then we will see what happens! (Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor!)
Tina McCulloch
