Telling of God's works: Hope Award for Effective Compassion

Psalm 73 concludes with the job description of a Christian journalist: “I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” Issue by issue, WORLD tries to be a record of God’s works, man’s sins, and Christ’s redemptive power. As Covenant Theological Seminary professor Dan Doriani points out in his commentary on James, faith in Christ leads to salvation, which leads to the good works that attest to genuine faith.

That’s one reason we hope more WORLD members will read our stories about this year’s Hope Award for Effective Compassion finalists, and then vote for the one that particularly appeals to them—and my hope probably targets you, good reader. Sabbath afternoons are a good time to contemplate how God works in the world, so if you haven’t already visited, the Hope Award section of our website, I hope you will do so soon. Voting ends in two weeks.

Since this is the 10th year of the contest, this morning I looked back at the 99 Hope Award winners and runners-up. They come from 34 states and seven foreign countries. California and Tennessee have each been home to 12 of those 99. Michigan is third with eight representatives, and Georgia, Illinois, and New York are tied for fourth with five each. Florida, North Carolina, and Colorado have four each, while Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas, and Wisconsin have three each.

The basic requirement is that a ministry be explicitly Christian, local rather than national, and dependent on donations rather than government grants. The national winner receives $25,000, regional winners $4,000 each, and runners-up $1,000 each. No national winner has come from the Northeast. Each of the past three years has brought a winner from a different region: WorkFaith Connection of Houston from the South, Administer Justice from Illinois and the Midwest, and Jubilee Leadership Academy from Prescott, Wash., way out West.

We accept nominations throughout the year: To nominate an organization, please email June McGraw (jmcgraw@wng.org) a note including the ministry’s name, address, and web address, with a sentence or two explaining why you love it. Our staffers will then do extensive checking. Nominees from previous years remain in our database and are eligible for reconsideration.