Great Story...

Taken from the Prism ePistle.

TREASURE IN HEAVEN: How Would You Invest $100 for Gods Kingdom? What would you do if you were handed $100 and asked to invest it for Gods Kingdom? Denny Bellesi, serving as interim teaching pastor, posed the question at Lake Avenue Church, a large congregation with 4,300 members in Pasadena, California. The question is based on Christs Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30). A master asked three servants to invest his money while he was away. Two increased their funds and the master praised them. But one so feared the master that he hid his money in a hole. It is a lesson in stewardship and faith. Pastor Bellesi brought the lesson home by then asking church members to take on a real-life Kingdom Assignment. The challenge burned in the heart of Dave Scanlan, 40, a fireman in Pasadena, who is married with two sons. He was one of the more than 100 people who came forward to signal their readiness to accept the challenge. Each received a $100 bill. Scanlan said they were told to take that money and pray about it - however you feel led to invest it, you invest it.

The pastor asked them to report back in 90 days.

Scanlan prayed about it, but says, I couldn't find an assignment. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Then he went to a concert given by the Christian band Third Day. The band told the crowd about the crisis in Northern Uganda, where children have been abducted and forced to become child soldiers and sex slaves. This was the first time Scanlan heard about it. At the concert he also learned about World Visions work to save the children, and he signed up to sponsor Anthony, a six-year-old in Uganda. Scanlan contacted World Vision to see how else he could help. He used the $100 from his Kingdom Assignment to make more than 100 copies of a World Vision video he distributed to friends and family. He handed out flyers and gave presentations. And people responded.

He says, "The best thing was that I had kids come in and give me their birthday money, saying, [The children in Uganda] need it more than me." When the time came to give the church his 90-day report, his $100 had turned into more than $3,000 in donations to help children in Uganda with aid such as food, water, medicine and counseling. And things kept rolling. "People kept calling me. They wanted me to keep going." So now Scanlan is into Phase Two and is working to reach even more people in his church to help more children in Uganda.

Scanlan says he was truly surprised by all this. This was his first significant involvement at his church, where sometimes he had just felt like a face in the crowd. He describes himself as a behind-the-scenes kind of person, and not a public speaker. "All I did was tell the story," he said, "and do a bit of legwork. And people then wanted to know what they could do to help." Scanlan says that if you follow your faith, doors open. He says he learned that it is all really quite simple.