During the 2014 annual meeting of the Alabama Baptist State Convention, The Alabama Baptist handed out dollar bills at its display booth at Lakeside Baptist Church, Birmingham, on Nov. 11–12. Messengers were challenged to “Be a Blessing” — to take a dollar and touch a life. Below are personal stories of how the dollars were used to bless someone’s life. Share your story with us. Email pr@thealabamabaptist.org.
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A lady in our church told me she lost her job earlier in the day. I’d known she was unhappy and was looking for another job but the termination was a shock. I reached in my pocket and gave her the dollar envelope. I told her I would pray for her and would be her advocate in the job search, listening for opportunities and willing to make calls or write letters. The dollar-blessing envelope was a good entry for the larger discussion we had and my promise to be her friend.”
Michael J. Brooks
I put the dollar with some other funds and gave it to Team Noel, a missions group from our church (Shades Crest Baptist) which will travel to Diriamba, Nicaragua, Dec. 1–6 and partner with Nicaraguan Christian Outreach to share the love of Christ with the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. They will deliver Christmas gifts to children. Thank you for blessing a child.”
Clella Lee
My dollar went to the Luyando feeding program in Zambia, Africa, to battle childhood poverty.”
Donald H. Jones Jr.
I stopped at a drive thru and made an order. I drove to the window and gave the person taking the order the dollar bill in the name of Alabama Baptists and for being so nice while taking the order. She did not know if she should take it or not but the supervisor told her it was OK. I told her to keep being so nice when people order. She thanked me and accepted it.”
Bill McDonald
My brother brought a mentally challenged young man whose father is sick in the hospital home for dinner while my twin girls were there and KayLee picked up on the fact that he didn’t have money for food.
When I told them about their dollars she immediately wanted to give hers to him. My girls are also all about earning a buck. They had just recently come up with the idea to start a leaf raking business for the neighborhood. They made up business cards and everything.
My aunt and uncle had hired them to rake leaves for one hour at $5 each. KayLee decided she would let the young man have her business also and gave him the ‘Be a Blessing’ dollar to get him started.
Karalina is giving her ‘Be a Blessing’ dollar to a young man who attends Ider High School. He is a senior this year and has been diagnosed with cancer.
A lot of the high school students have been doing fundraising but the younger kids wanted to get in on the action. The third grade started taking up donations and came up with $20 the first day. The high school robotics team decided to let the third grade in on their fundraiser so they are letting the third grade sell bracelets with them.”
Jenny Mann
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