Today marked the end of our trip to TheHopeline with our return flight to Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Connecticut. We spent some time with Debbie’s sister Barb before driving back to Marlborough, Massachusetts. The past two weeks have been a marvelous and moving experience for us.
To finish our thoughts on the case for support of the ministry, most impressive to us is the character of the people and the organization. First, they have a heart for their mission—they really believe in what they are doing. Their love for God and inner joy reflect on their faces. We sense integrity, humility, and a genuine reliance on God’s leading as they conduct the ministry. They realize that they cannot succeed by themselves—they seek to collaborate with other organizations, donors, and interested parties as God leads. Listen to CEO Tim Altman describe the current challenges facing the ministry.
When the organization accepted our offer of a two-week mission trip, it was difficult to know whether or how the leadership would use our services. It was also difficult to know how the staff would accept us and how transparent the organization would be with "outsiders" to the operation, let alone donors, albeit modest donors. To be transparent is to be vulnerable. However, the staff has welcomed Debbie and me with open arms. They have shown us kindness, respect, and appreciation for our help. They made us feel like a part of the team. The leadership gave us unfettered access to virtually all areas of the ministry, while appropriately protecting the confidentiality of sensitive information. The transparency of the ministry and their high level of trust in us tell us that they have nothing to hide and are genuinely interested in our input.
The ministry’s leadership even encouraged our blog while making no overtures to control or steer its content. Their only input into the blog were twofold: 1) to ask the staff to give us their time (despite how busy they are); and 2) the spontaneous videos that you see on this site. Even as they gave us total freedom to expose the ministry through this blog, they clearly recognize the impact this social media can have on spreading their message. We felt privileged and honored to serve with them the past two weeks and to spread the message about a very worthwhile cause.
I have supported this ministry for years and, at times, have done so with a critical eye. I like to know that my support dollars are well invested and am not bashful about using my experience as a finance leader in a large organization and a CPA to do so. Even though my support dollars have been small in relation to the ministry’s overall budget, the current leadership has humbly welcomed constructive feedback. I find that the organization has a much better grasp on stewardship now than it did years ago before the current CEO and CFO were hired. Debbie joined me in support of the ministry when she became aware of it two years ago, jumping in as a hope coach.
The Dawson McAllister Association is a 501(c)(3) organization under the Internal Revenue Code and is now a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). As such, their financial information is available for public review and donations are tax deductible as prescribed under the law. As we are able, Debbie and I will be supporting them financially into the foreseeable future. We invite you to join us and will describe how in the next post.
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