[quick note: I thought I had posted this weeks ago. I learned about this from one of my readers (thanks Josh...) When I was preparing my post today about the bank in North Dakota I realized this was in my drafts.]
There's a church in Charlotte N.C. call Elevation. One week instead of taking up an offering, they gave away the offering. A total of $40,000 was contained in envelopes that everyone in the congregation received. The amounts were $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, and 5 special envelopes contained $1000. Everyone agreed to use the money to "bless someone else."
The stories that came from this are amazing. Here's are two of my favorites:
Grant Dixon
My name is Grant Dixon and I am 11 years old. Here’s my story. My 12 year old cousin Haley told me about what had happened at church the morning of the Bless Back Project. That same morning my Aunt Robin came over to tell us what had happened too. She asked us what we my brother Chase (9) and my sister Robin (5) would do if we had the money to give away. We talked about a number of things but decided to wait and see what was in Aunt Robin’s envelope. Inside was $10. We then talked about what we could do if we added to it. We first thought about doing an Operation Christmas Child box that we each do every year. Since we already do this we thought we would consider helping somewhere else. I had heard about the Feed the Children organization. We looked them up on Google and saw that if we had $24 we could feed three kids for a month. We all decided to add to the $10 to make up the difference.
David Benson
friday night i went to a high school football game just to support the head coach who wouldnt even know i was there. 3 of my children graduated from that school and my fourth is a junior there but does not play football or go to the games, too slow and boring for a soccer player. i sat with a man who is in my band of brothers. i did not plan to sit with him or anyone else for that matter, but i ended up beside him. his daughter dates one of the players who is in need of lots of love and resources. in other words he is poor. my friend’s daughter was at the game as well even though she is a freshman in college. my friend told me of this boy’s plight and i listened with interest but nothing sparked. sunday morning i showed up for elevation’s 10 service and was quite surprised by the presentation. on the way home my wife and i discussed what we were going to do and i thought of this young man. today i delivered an envelope to my friend for this young man and i multiplied what elevation gave me by 5 to be like the good servent in the parable. this young man will not know what my name is or who i am other than that i signed it as “a friend of the king”. i will let u know his response. i had fun doing it and helping someone in need without any glory for me.
You should take the time to read a few of the stories. Here's the link to the Bless Back Project.
I also came across this post covering the Bless Back Project on a blog called The Friendly Atheist. I want to pat the author on the back for not shying away from this amazing project just because a church was involved.
There are so many stories there that I couldn't get through them all. But, I wonder if anyone that received the forwarded blessing shared their story, and what they might have done to keep the blessing growing? If you take the time to read the stories and find an example of the domino topple continuing please post a comment on the blog.
As you pointed Josh, Domino Theory at work... Thanks.
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