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Lad Proves a Little Goes a Long Way
GRANITE BAY, CA (January 9, 2004) - Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC)
President Glenn R. Palmberg pledged his support for the Congo Covenant
Church (CEUM) last June during the 118th Annual Meeting in Chicago,
calling upon Covenanters everywhere to join in helping make a difference
for the people of Congo.
Memo to the president: Nathan Sommerville heard you.
Nathan is the seven-year old son of pastor Phil Sommerville, who serves
as an associate pastor at Bayside Covenant Church in Granite Bay,
California. Sommerville's senior pastor Ray Johnston heard Palmberg
speak about the needs in Congo - most particularly a clean water project
- and began talking about how Bayside could help the CEUM. Sommerville
told his family about it and his oldest son decided to do something
about it.
"I went home and told my family and my son got excited about helping
raise money for the clean water project," said Sommerville during a
recent telephone interview. "Later, my family was driving home from
church and Nathan said he wanted to have a lemonade stand. My wife Linda
initially said 'Oh no,' but when he said it was for the Congo project,
she said she would support that. They put a table outside and got a
world globe out so he could point to Congo and tell people what he was
raising the money for. He also put out plastic animals you would see in
Africa on the table."
The result? Two hours of freewill offerings to Nathan's lemonade stand
added up to $40.12 to help support the efforts in Congo. It might not
sound like much, but Covenant World Relief director Jim Sundholm wrote
to Nathan, telling him that the money he raised will have a huge and
immediate impact. Ruth Hill, executive minister of Covenant Women
Ministries and a longtime missionary to Congo, recently headed to that
country and told about Nathan's work. She also brought the $40.12 to
hand deliver it to CEUM leaders.
Nathan's funds could enable the CEUM to hire a water technician for 30
to 40 days, or the money could be used to pay for 10 gallons of diesel
gasoline to run the electric pump, Sundholm noted. "If other children
caught Nathan's idea, wow! One hundred stands could raise $4,000, the
price to pull and rebuild three hand well pumps, and if 1,000 children
had drink stands, they would raise $40,000, which could rebuild water
wheels and water systems for several hospitals in northwest Congo,"
Sundholm added.
Nathan Sommerville may not be able to generate those larger sums, but
the second grader prays for Congo regularly in his prayers, said his
father. His mom thinks he's pretty special, too.
"I am very impressed with him," said Linda. "He's a tender-hearted kid
and when he hears about a need, he wants to do something about it. I
love that about him."
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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