Covenant TGIF Message from Ron

TGIF

Ministry and mission work is core to Covenant Church.  In 2021, 20% of the total Covenant budget went to ministry support.  That financial support does not include the cleaning goods for Pine Grove and toiletries for Newberry High School that were purchased and brought to Covenant by members and friends during the 4 months in 2021 that included 5 Sundays. 

I feel it is important to update you on one of our ministries to which God clearly led us.  This ministry began in 2016 and since a number of you were not here at that time, it is important to understand how God used Covenant in support of this ministry work in the country of Ghana.  This is our ministry to the Alabaster Project, otherwise affectionately known as the King Ministry, named after its leader King Hammond. 

Covenant was initially introduced to King on February 19, 2016.  Paul and Victoria McArthur were hosting a luncheon at their home for about 25 different global and domestic missionaries.  Paul and Victoria were members of a different Gainesville church at that time, but they had become good friends with Madge and Francis Bush because Paul built their home when they retired to Gainesville from Richmond VA.  Madge and Francis had decided to become members of Covenant before they even moved to Gainesville because they visited Covenant every time they visited their friends Frank and Brenda Dolwick, who were members of Covenant at that time.  Madge offered to Victoria that the Covenant ladies group would help to setup and serve the luncheon which Victoria gladly accepted.  Then Edwina Hope (one of our ladies group members) invited me to also attend the missionary luncheon because our Pastor was out of town on a mission trip, and I agreed.  When I got there, the first missionary I saw was King, who was speaking with Paul.  So I immediately went to Paul who introduced me to King.  The next 45 minutes was one of the most exhilarating experiences I ever had listening to the tale this man told of how he grew up in Ghana in an outcast family because they had no father, yet somehow managed to make it to the US for his final years of high school, then went to a US college, and went into business in the US for a number of years.  He then met a lady, Priscilla, the daughter of an Alabama Baptist minister, who would become his wife.  They then had 2 children Benton and Alyse.  Eventually King felt a calling to return to Ghana as a Christian missionary and spread God’s Word to that primarily Muslim country.

I invited King to come speak to Covenant Church for us to learn about his ministry because the whole story was so fascinating.  He agreed and during his presentation we learned the following:

• The ministry had a large enclosed compound where they primarily farmed to provide food to widows and orphans.  They also raised goats and gave each widow a female goat to produce milk for the widow to sell to help provide her income.  When a widow’s goat had a baby, they could sell it (if male) or donate it back to the mission (if female) to give to another widow.

Isaiah 1:17 – Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

James 1:27 – Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Malachi 3:5 – “Then I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, those who oppress the wage earner in his wages or the widow or the orphan, and those who turn away the stranger from justice and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of armies.

• They operate a dental and eye clinic to take care of the afflictions their local people routinely suffer.  King and others have been trained as dental assistants and can take care of many basic needs, including pulling teeth.  Cataracts are a severe problem in Ghana, even in young people including teenagers due to the bright reflection of sunlight in the desert.  Proper sunglasses are a necessity there but few are available, but King is able to provide many people with these special sunglasses through donations he receives.  Victoria and Paul, and Madge and Francis were a major help to King right after we met him as they were able to secure a huge amount of needed dental and eye supplies and equipment and ship them all to Ghana.  They will all tell you that this effort was clearly God led, they couldn’t believe how much they were able to accomplish in such a short period of time.  King has also been able to get a number of ophthalmologists to come to Ghana and perform cataract surgeries and other vision saving procedures for many people in the area, old and young alike. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Psalm 37 4:5 – Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it.

There is so much more to tell about this ministry and how God used Covenant Church and its members to support King over the years.  In next week’s continuation of this story, the God led part gets even more interesting for those of us who experienced it in person one Sunday at Covenant.  Be sure to come back next week for the second installment of the King Ministry.

Isaiah 26:3 – The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.