Pastor Scott Sherwood stared in dismay at the sermon he had planned to preach January 17.
Bloomington, Illinois, First Church of the Nazarene is in a sermon series on stewardship. Just days after a January 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Sherwood was about to preach about making money.
The series is based on John Wesley’s mandate for believers to “Gain all you can, save all you can and give all you can.” Sherwood was going to speak on Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25:15-29 in which a master gave his servants bags of money with the instruction to invest it and bring back more than he had given them.
“On Tuesday this earthquake happened in Haiti and there’s unbelievable suffering going on, and here I am getting ready to talk to Americans about making more and being as productive as possible,” Sherwood said later.
It turned out that the sermon couldn’t have been better timed.
A lesson in stewardship
After extensive prayer and discussion among the church board, Sherwood and his leadership team realized that “gain all you can” was the perfect topic to discuss after a major disaster. He could challenge the church to increase the resources God had given them to assist their hurting brothers and sisters in Haiti.
Sunday morning, the congregation was surprised when each of the 260 in attendance received a sealed envelope with instructions not to open it.
Sherwood delivered his sermon before announcing that different amounts of cash were in each envelope, totaling $5,000. He urged each individual and family to ask God how He wanted them to invest the funds so they could bring a greater amount to the service on January 31. Everyone would then collect their return in a congregational offering to Nazarene Compassionate Ministries’ Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.
“What I saw was an instant enthusiasm, instant excitement,” he said. “Families are doing this together and a lot of children are really taking initiative.”
Eight-year-old Brett Vieth had the idea to sell homemade cookies. His family pooled the money they received to purchase baking supplies. As of January 20, he had orders for 40 dozen cookies at $5 a dozen. He will continue taking orders through the weekend.
Brett’s mom, Lori, loves what the stewardship exercise is teaching her family.
“We can all give money, but I like the fact they’re actually putting their time and effort and thought into it,” she said.
At first the family discussed the inconvenience involved with having to do a fundraising project rather than simply writing a check, since both parents work and their three children have multiple after-school commitments.
“But isn’t that the point?” Lori said. “We’re sacrificing for something bigger. Baking cookies is nothing compared to what the people of Haiti are dealing with.”
The family was surprised when out-of-town friends who heard what they were doing began sending them checks.
“It’s definitely a chain reaction.”
From fear to faith
Kelcey Bradley was less enthusiastic during the service.
“I almost felt sick to my stomach and wanted to look for a way to leave,” she admitted later. “I did not want that responsibility – to have something given to you and say ‘You’re supposed to use this.’”
Her fear turned into enthusiasm when she and her husband, Scott, began discussing what resources they possessed. The couple own a Dairy Queen restaurant in Bloomington and, although they have wanted to use their business for God, until now they had been short on ideas.
“We’ve gotten some of our employees to come to church with us,” Bradley said. “It’s huge, but at the same time it seems small – we come into contact with hundreds of people a day.”
The couple decided to use the money in their envelope to buy extra supplies to make Dairy Queen Blizzards and to hire additional staff on Friday, January 29. That day, for every Blizzard purchased, they will donate $1 to NCM’s Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.
When Bradley announced the plan to their staff, an employee wrote a check for $100 toward the fundraiser. Another employee’s roommate, who works at a university, offered to hand out fliers to students. Bradley also posted an announcement about the event on Facebook. The announcement has over 200 confirmed attendees.
On a typical Friday, the store sells roughly 500 Blizzards. If the advertising is effective, she expects to sell many more.
Before Sherwood’s sermon, Bradley had viewed The Parable of the Talents in light of money. This exercise is showing her something new.
“People are using their talents – they’re knitting scarves and using their talents along with the money,” she said. “Everything everybody’s coming up with is what they’re good at.”
Like Abigail Posey.
Give all you can
When she opened her envelope and found $10, Posey wondered what she could do with it. Then she thought of the puppet ministry she’s had for 7 years.
After praying, she felt led to use the $10 for gas to transport her puppet supplies and stage to a local business. On January 30 and 31 she’ll host “Puppet Playtime.” For a donation to NCM's Haiti Earthquake Relief children will spend time with Posey learning how to use puppets. There will also be decks of playing cards the children will use to build houses while Posey talks with them about rebuilding Haiti.
“I feel like this is a huge opportunity for me to make a difference outside of the United States while being here,” she said. “It’s creating an awesome connection point for me and also it’s great to see God answer prayers immediately.”
Other ideas reported by church members include selling hand-crafted jewelry, hosting dinner and movie nights for friends, selling hand-made afghans, playing a benefit concert and sending fundraising letters.
As members of the congregation promote their goods and services in the community, a pattern of response is emerging. Intrigued, people ask why they’re buying all those cans of pumpkin, baking so many cookies and knitting dozens of scarves. The congregation members explain they’re learning how to invest what God has given them to reach out to the people of Haiti. Suddenly, other people want to be involved. In many cases, those offering to assist the congregation members with the fundraisers are not believers.
“I think it’s going to give us a voice right now and a little bit of respect,” said Office Administrator Chris Hole, who is fielding dozens of exuberant calls from congregation members. “For a little bit we have an opportunity where [the community] knows we’re here.”