What Are You Willing to Give for the Persecuted Church?
People are often willing to give a great deal to help persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. Seventh grade science and social studies teacher, Park Gillespie, may be the first to give his hair!
After hearing Christian workers talk to his class about Sudan, Park’s students caught a vision for helping refugees who were being persecuted for their faith. The students’ fervent compassion surprised even their teachers.
What started out as drive for the seventh graders to collect blankets for the suffering Sudanese soon spread to the entire school and eventually to the community. Gillespie contacted WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina, and told them about what kids were doing to alleviate suffering in Sudan.
Blankets had already begun to fill the classrooms, but the question of shipping costs had not yet been addressed. When the reporter from WBTV came for the story, Gillespie mentioned that he would shave his head if they would help with the bill. Shortly after the story aired, funds began to pour in.
Thus out of his love for people he had never even met, Gillespie shaved his head. The entire school body was gathered for the shaving and the reporter from WBTV filmed the event. Americans often feel as though they can do little to help persecuted Christians in other countries. Park Gillespie proved otherwise.
Park Gillespie and his students teach us the process of how compassion moves to creativity, to commitment, and—ultimately—to cost. Park and his students were glad to pay the cost—even down to the last hair on his head! Compassion is a natural response to suffering, but it is not enough by itself. We must activate our compassion with creative solutions to problems. Next, we must commit to putting our solutions in motion and be willing to pay their cost. Where are you in the process? Have you put your compassion to work with some creative thinking? Have you made a commitment to help make a difference? Are you ready to now pay the cost?