All Hands on Deck

Four years ago, I went to Ecuador and was moved by the struggle for basic needs to be met. Food. Education. Adequate housing. Effective medical care. All in scarcity.

So C3 helped plant a church where there were no churches and nearly 300 kids were sponsored from that village and given a hand up. At the time that we did this, we were only a church of about 30 people meeting in our living room.

Shaina and I sponsored one of those kids. Her name is Yelixa.



And then we took a team to Ecuador and Shaina and I met Yelixa. We saw where she lived. Met her mom. Found out she, like most of the kids in the village had no father figures in her life.

And we got to spend a day with her. And all she wanted to do was hold my hand. And that was when poverty became a person rather than a concept. Sure there was food and shelter and education and medical care. But there was also a poverty of relationship. And, even though I've never been "Warm and Fuzzy Hug Guy", I knew that the exact way to be good news to her was to give her my hand. For the entire day.



And I'm becoming increasingly convinced that people in poverty don't need a hand out, though meeting tangible needs in the moments when they arise is important. They don't even need a hand up. Though helping them break the cycle of poverty and have a shot at something better and more self-sustaining is important. It is not giving a hand out or giving a hand up that best changes the world. It's giving a hand.

Connection. To know we don't have to go it alone but that others are in it with us.

Lend a hand.

This is why 6 of us are trying to plant another church in Ecuador in an area impacted by major earthquakes and a place that doesn't have a local church. We get the church off the ground and immediately over 200 kids have the opportunity of being sponsored. They receive the helping hand to let them know they are valuable, loved, and cared for.



So we are running a half marathon this Sunday to give a hand to a village that needs Jesus people to show up in tangible ways for them.

My personal goal is to raise $15,000. I'm at $6700. I have 5 days. Because this matters, City Campus Church will match every gift given from October 11-15. Your $1 becomes $2. Let's get there together.

The opposite of scarcity is enough. Inviting you to lend a hand to change the story for a child, a village, a generation.

Give here and select Ben's run for Ecuador in the dropdown menu.