Blog Action Day: Poverty, Compassion and Christian music

To be honest, I've been thinking about poverty a lot over the last couple of months.

Like many of the Christian music artists you see on this blog,I'm an advocate for Compassion International, a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty, in Jesus' name. People like me and you sponsor children in developing countries; that monthly support provides supplemental nutrition, education, and spiritual education for a child living in poverty.

Our family sponsors three children, in India, Uganda and Columbia. I can attest first-hand to what an amazing experience it has been to develop relationships with children in developing countries, to see how our small financial support can change their family's lives, and how a child can grow to achieve his full potential with proper nutrition and health care.

But the child isn't the only one who's changed. I've been changed as well. Our child in Uganda, for example, has challenged me to think about food, an apt topic for a Blog Action Day about poverty.

See, Opio and his family live on potatoes and maize that they grow themselves. If it rains and the crops grow, they eat. If it's dry, they go hungry. In one of his letters last summer, this little boy asked me what I was growing to eat. I had a hard time coming up with an answer for that. How do I explain that I can go to the grocery store and get food any time I want, in or out of season? I don't have to plant it or tend it or harvest it.

I was feeling guilty, and so this summer we planted a small garden. Just some peppers and tomatoes, nothing special. Let's just say that if we had to live on what we grew, we'd starve. Literally. I harvested one pepper and not enough tomatoes to do much with.

The experience made me think about Opio and the millions of other children living around the world who live on what they can grow, often in harsh conditions.

I know that we know about poverty, but we don't understand what poverty really means. When we're late for dinner, we say we're "starving." Do we know what it really feels like to be starving? When we open the fridge and there's nothing in there that appeals to us at the moment, we say there's nothing to eat. Do we really understand what it means to have nothing to eat?

It's estimated that one child dies every five seconds from hunger-related causes. More than 6 million children die every year from malnutrition, and there are 50 million starvation-related deaths every year.

Compassion works in a way similar to the story of the Good Samaritan. You can't be in India or Haiti or Uganda, but there are churches and Christians there who can directly meet the needs of the children in their community, with the right resources. Like the Samaritan who took the stranger to the inn, and said, "Please care for him and send me the bill," you provide the resources to those on the ground.

Our gifts to Opio have purchased a goat, a hen, and a bag of seeds, in addition to his regular schooling, clothing, health care, and supplemental food provided by our monthly support.

It's a life changing experience, for you and your child.

So what does this have to do with Christian music?

There are many, many artists who support Compassion - artists like Rebecca St. James, Superchick, Michael W. Smith, Bebo Norman, The Afters, DecembeRadio, Point of Grace - and at their concerts you'll usually hear a pitch to sponsor a child. These artists have chosen to support Compassion because they believe in the ministry and because they feel they can use their platform to help spread the word. They're also child sponsors themselves.

The next time you hear a pitch, I want you to listen. I want you to go the Compassion table and look at the children waiting for sponsorship. Go ahead and ask questions, talk to the volunteers, pray about the decision. I want you to really consider your role in meeting the world's hunger needs.

Because I want you to witness first-hand how Compassion sponsorship changes a child, and a family, and a community. And eventually, the world.

To learn more about child sponsorship, and to view children waiting for sponsorship,visit Compassion International.