Ministries casting down their buckets where they are

February is Black History Month, and Booker T. Washington deserves far more remembrance than he gets. Washington is unfashionable now in part because his most famous speech, one he gave in Atlanta in 1895, focused on how African-Americans should work hard and make economic progress. He said that would eventually lead to political progress, but others then (and more now) call him an “Uncle Tom” because he wasn’t demanding immediate voting and other civil rights.

In that speech, Washington told a story of a sailing ship lost at sea for many days and then stuck slightly off the coast of Brazil, with no winds to get it ashore. The ship’s lookout sighted a friendly vessel. The ship’s captain sent a signal: “Please give us water. We die of thirst.” The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” A second and third time the distressed boat signaled, “Water, send us water!” The answer each time: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” The captain at last heeded the injunction. The bucket went down. Then it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River. So enormous was that river, so strong its current, that it propelled fresh water well out to sea.

For a decade WORLD has given each year a Hope Award for Effective Compassion. We’ve profiled during that time 100 groups. I’ve visited a bunch of them. The program founders I enjoy the most are those who cast down their bucket where they are. For example, Randy Nichols for nearly two decades has run Maury United Ministries, which gives poor people south of Nashville rides so they can get to jobs. Nichols said, “ I’m not a great speaker and I’m not charismatic, so I … started praying and the Lord showed me if you want to just exist as a poor person, you can get housing through government assistance, food stamps, so you can exist. But if you want to do better, if you start looking for work, you’ll run into a transportation issue.” Over the years he’s given or coordinated more than 100,000 rides. Cast down your bucket where you are.

Another example: Buddy Osborne in 1980 was the Pennsylvania Golden Gloves middleweight boxing champion. What does a Philadelphia boxer do? Anyone who’s seen the Rocky movies knows: He becomes an enforcer for union bosses or criminals. In 1988 Buddy went to prison for eight years. There he became a Christian. What does a Christian boxer/felon do in Kensington, one of the poorest parts of Philadelphia? He starts Rock Ministries, named after both rocklike faith in Christ and Rocky Balboa. He teaches kids how to box, and trains some to be champions, but his greater purpose is to give them hope, perseverance, self-discipline, and the desire to look ahead a year or a decade, not just an hour or a day. Cast down your bucket where you are.

A third example: Tim and Becky O’Mara moved Beltline Bike Shop in 2008 to the Adair Park neighborhood of Atlanta. They wanted to be good neighbors. They saw a girl they knew who owned a bike but wasn’t riding it because it had flat, worn-out tires. They offered to help fix the bike if Brittany would do some chores around their house to pay for the new tires and tubes. One thing led to another, and they decided to find a way for kids to earn bikes by working. Kids have now earned more than 400 bikes, made more than 4,000 repairs, and sometimes changed their thinking about work and much besides. Cast down your bucket where you are.

I could give dozens of more examples, but I’d rather have WORLD members nominate more potential Hope Award for Effective Compassion winners. Do you know of someone in your area who has cast down a bucket and found fresh, sparkling water? Send a note to June McGraw (jmcgraw@wng.org) with the name and website of the organization, and maybe a few words about what has impressed you. We’re looking for small, local Christian ministries, not international ones or national chains. They should offer challenging, personal, and spiritual help, and should not rely on government grants. Ideally, they should see a problem—adults without rides, kids without guidance—and find a way to help that makes great sense and prods people in other communities to think, “I could do that too.”