Too Small To Ignore by Dr. Wess Stafford

I have confession: In my mind, I had written off Compassion International as just another guilt laying, money making machine.

Why?

I can’t really point towards a particular reason or event. It’s just that during college it seemed like their speakers were EVERYWHERE holding up pictures of poor and dying children. The same message was spoken: “While you are living rich on the hog, these kids are dying. Therefore, YOU MUST give us money.”

After a while I got burned out with all the guilt and manipulation – besides, I never (or shall I say, I can’t remember) heard any GOOD news from Compassion, just the message of guilt.

That has now changed.

A few months ago when I was in Texas for the national pastors’ conference I was browsing the book table (surprise, surprise). Just as I was getting ready to leave, a book about children caught my eye. It is important to note that God had been working on me to learn more about why my wife has such a passion to minister to children. As such, when I saw this book about ministering to children, I decided to buy it.

The book, as you have probably guessed, was “Too Small To Ignore: Why the Least of These Matters Most” by Wess Stafford, who just happens to be the President and CEO of Compassion International.[@more@]

You would think that God would give me a break now that I bought a book – but He didn’t… you see, it turns out that Wess was one of the keynote speakers at the conference….(Yeah, talk about a set up!)  Shoot, his talk (click here to listen to the talk) that week was one of the most powerful sessions of the conference. Never before had I seen a man so passionate about loving children and giving them a hope for a better life in Christ.

It broke me.

It was surprising in some ways – I mean; it wasn’t as if I was indifferent to the plight of the poor or children in general. In contrast, I have spent a lot of the past ten years ministering to children both in the USA and abroad through Sunday school, feeding programs, VBS or other such activities. The difference is that while I cared about the plight of the children, it wasn’t my heart song. Instead it was my wife’s heart; I just joined in for the ride as I knew it was her passion.

This is where the book “Too Small To Ignore” comes in.

As I read this book about the life and ministry of Wess Stafford, I saw a different picture of children. I saw an opportunity for Christ to change the world.

It’s funny in some ways that it takes a book to crack me…I mean, I remember teaching Sunday School in Texas and hearing the reports of four and five years praying for their grandparents and siblings and seeing complete healing. I’ve seen the joy on a child’s face as they receive a sandwich that might be their only meal for the day…

Wess writes in his book that approximately 80% of all Christians around the world come to Christ before the age of 18. Yet, the majority of resources – time, money, materials, etc – goes to reaching people over the age of 18…. Talk about a messed up system – especially when you note that the majority of world’s population is under the age of 18…

Remember how I mentioned that I had become skeptical about the ministry of Compassion International?

Hearing Wess’ heart for children at the conference and then reading his book about the importance of children has radically changed my heart and mind. Not only is Compassion led by a true man of faith – but the concept of changing entire communities by reaching out and giving the children food, shelter and the opportunity for education is amazing.

Rest a sure that Compassion doesn’t stop there – as Wess pointed out in his book, the only way to break the stronghold of poverty is through an encounter with the Living God. At the root, poverty is a spiritual battle taking place in the material world. We, the Church, must fight on both levels – bringing the Good News of victory through Christ along with practical care of food, medicine and education.

Please note that the battle for the heart and souls of these little ones is not limited to national boundaries. It is happening right here in the USA.

Stop and think for a minute: were you not formed, molded and sent off in a direction as a child? Personally I can say that the deepest cuts to my heart were done when I was a child. At the same time, the words that encouraged me and propelled me forward where spoken.

Children are wet concrete into which a gentle word or a loving action can do wonders. Let us not lose the chance to propel a life toward Christ.