My Wife's Legacy of Mission Work and Benevolence

"She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy" (Proverbs 31:20, NIV).

Twenty years ago, my wife was a student majoring in accounting at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri. As a part of the campus ministry Koinonia, she persuaded her campus minister to take a group of MSSU students to Juarez, Mexico to help the Iglesias de Cristo in that poverty-stricken area. She and the group spent their Spring Break laying new tile on the floor of a church building.

Today, before attending our services with the Contact Church of Christ, we attended the early services of the Northside Christian Church in Broken Arrow because her former campus minister, Matt Stafford, was leading worship services for the congregation. Today, Matt is a faculty member at Ozark Christian College, but he and his wife continue to take college students to Juarez to work with a ministry to build homes for the poor in Mexico. He and his group were on their way back to Joplin from their Spring Break mission trip when they stopped at the church in Broken Arrow to lead the worship services.

Because of Janet's initiative, Christian college students from the Joplin area have been helping the poor in Mexico during their Spring Breaks for 20 years. Isn't that amazing? I'm so proud of my compassionate wife!