This story is too good not to share!
From The Christian Chronicle:
Exclusive: Church splits $1.5 million for good works
Let God write the story.
Pulpit minister Don McLaughlin made that request of the 1,400-member North Atlanta Church of Christ last fall as he revealed astonishing news.
A donor who asked to remain anonymous had given $1.5 million to be divided among all present that Sunday — from first-graders up — and spent on good works in the Lord’s name.
“The most amazing thing to me was that if you were at the service that day, even if you were a visitor, you could get a voucher because the elders felt like God had placed that person there for a reason,” said longtime member Cari Thornton, who has taught children’s Sunday school classes for more than 30 years.
Read the full story on The Chronicle’s website here.
I’m a big fan of the North Atlanta Church of Christ. I’ve heard Don preach several times and have always enjoyed it (besides this one time at a youth retreat – funny story – maybe I’ll share sometime), but really like what they’re doing with their recovery ministry. They go out of their way to minister to “the least of these” (Matt. 25:40), and this story is another example of that.
It’s wonderful! Again, I encourage you to read the entire story.
People stepping out in faith, doing good in the name of Jesus – I love it!
The Overflow 
pretty neat idea. our tanzania mission even received some donations from that program. it’s amazing to think of how many charities, works, and mission efforts were helped through just one church empowering individuals to make decisions on where money would go.
i imagine it also raised awareness in the minds of the members there, opening them up to what work needs to be done in our world — and how they can contribute.
Glad to hear you benefited from this, James. And you’re right – I’ll bet it will raise awareness among the people there. I wonder what else what happens as a result?
I look forward to hearing the stories about the impact of what the people do with the money.
Listen to his sermon from the Tulsa Workshop on Wed night. He spells out the trail that led up to this and where it has gone since. It is a POWERFUL STORY!
Steve – thanks for the comment. Me too!
Lynn – thank you for the heads up on the workshop presentation … I’ll order that one for sure.