Homeless and day laborers sponsor a Haitian child

From my friends at New Hope Publishers. Amazing story!

(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.)—June 11, 2010—Jimmy Dorrell, executive director of Mission Waco, recently held a Friday Morning Breakfast—the weekly group of about 100-plus homeless, day laborers, and low-income folks who eat weekly at First Lutheran Church. This breakfast group had voted to sponsor a Haitian child in Mission Waco’s program in Ferrier, Haiti. The cost is $195 per year (or $16.25 per month) and the group chose to donate weekly toward the sponsorship.

“The biblical story of the widow’s mite stands in stark contrast to those of us who have so much, yet share so little,” says Jimmy Dorrell. “When the Friday Morning Breakfast group of low-income persons made their decision to sponsor a Haitian child, they showed us again how a life of generosity is so liberating, even for the poor and homeless. I am constantly humbled to be around ‘the least of these’ who teach me basics in God’s kingdom!”

Sponsored children get to go to school (one of two Christian schools which Mission Waco works with), get a uniform, books, and one meal a day to eat. Mission Waco is empowering the poor to serve others instead of harbor feelings of entitlement or selfishness, even amidst their own relative poverty.

“The generosity of Mission Waco is inspiring and challenging. This congregation shows us what the gospel looks like. I am humbled by Jimmy’s ministry and the people with whom he serves,” says Andrea Mullins, New Hope Publishers director.

Mission Waco has almost 150 children now sponsored by its donors with a new group of 75 more children who have just been identified as wanting to go to school and needing sponsorships. Mission Waco does not charge any administration cost for its work in Haiti, which also includes clean water well drilling, micro-credit loans, a new women’s co-op creation, fair-trade items for sale in the World Cup Café, and medical clinics.

Jimmy Dorrell is the pastor of Church Under the Bridge and author of Trolls and Truth: 14 Realities About Today’s Church That We Don’t Want to See (978-1-59669-010-3, $14.99). Church Under the Bridge is an interdenominational church that grew from a Bible study with 5 homeless men in Waco, Texas, in 1992 underneath an interstate bridge. Today, there are 300 diverse people of many races and economic backgrounds who meet outside under the same interstate bridge each week.