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| | Musicians Sound Call to Action
On May 21, 2003, Christian music group Third Day presented a concert in partnership with World Vision to encourage sponsorship of children in HIV/AIDS-affected regions. During the concert, a video with mind-boggling statistics and moving images was shown to the audience. The video included a touching poem read by its author, Edward — a 12-year-old orphan from Zambia. Following the video, Tai Anderson, Third Day's bass player, challenged the audience with this call to action:
| "Of all the statistics about this disease, there is one that hits me the hardest — a recent survey has shown that Christians are less than half as likely to help with this problem. I refuse to believe this survey. I know and trust that you guys have the heart of Jesus inside of you .... Our challenge tonight is to rise up as never before. This is a job for the government and other organizations, but most of all, this is a job for us, for the church. The good news is that there is hope. World Vision, an organization that has worked in Africa for years, is doing incredible work in communities affected by this disease .... Tonight you have an amazing opportunity to sponsor a child in one of these communities through World Vision's Hope Child program. Many of these children have been orphaned by AIDS, some are sick with the disease .... If you are looking for a calling in life, sponsor one of these children tonight." |
After his passionate plea, World Vision volunteers passed around picture folders of children in need of sponsorship — nearly 800 of these children had sponsors by the end of the evening. Six of the sponsors shared with us their reasons for making this special commitment:
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 | | "I went to the concert with our youth minister and a group of kids. At the concert, they asked for sponsors for these children who had been affected by the AIDS crisis. Then we watched a very sad movie about AIDS in Africa. But towards the end of this movie, there was this one little boy who had such spunk and who kept smiling even in the face of this terrible situation. I kept thinking about his face and decided that I would like to bring happiness to one of these children. So I made the commitment to sponsor a child that night. My child lives in Zambia." —Betty Hennion |
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 | | "I’m in my first year of college. Even right around my school, there are people that need help. I’ve been tutoring kids and helping out at a center for victims of domestic violence. I went to the concert with some girls on my hall. One girl is actually sponsoring a whole family through World Vision. I was very moved at the concert, so I decided that it was my turn to help a child affected by AIDS. Actually, I guess I got the inspiration from my mom too, since she has been sponsoring a child in Africa with World Vision.
My little boy is from Malawi. I keep a picture of him in my wallet. My college friends think it’s really cool that I’m sponsoring a child. I think they will sponsor children too.”—Kat McAvoy |
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 | | "I’m only 19, but now I have a steady job. All my life, I’ve wanted to give to others. So when I was at the concert, it just felt right to sponsor one of the Hope Children. My child lives in Haiti. She’s already sent me a drawing. Recently I sent her a school pack with school supplies." —Dawn Christensen |
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 | | "I have a severely challenged child named Jessie. We took Jessie along with a whole group of challenged children to the Third Day concert. The music, the words of the musicians, and the video on Africa were very moving. We thought about how our child needs so much help and love, and then realized that these orphans in Africa also really need our help. So we decided to sponsor a Hope Child that night. It’s a family project–Jessie really enjoys looking at the picture of our sponsored child." —Marty Stair |
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"The turning point for me was when I lost my mother and father to cancer. They were both pretty young. And just recently I was diagnosed with early melanoma. I kept thinking about how we could "store treasure in heaven" for my lost parents by sponsoring children. That night at the concert, my husband and I felt so broken-hearted for these children affected by AIDS. I think God put it on our hearts to sponsor three children that night. We didn’t specify whether we wanted a boy or girl, but it turns out we got three boys who live in Africa. This delighted us since we have two girls of our own, but no boys. They’ve rounded out our family!
You know I’ve always thought about helping people in other parts of the world. When I was young, I got a poster from National Geographic that showed some hungry-looking children in Africa. Under the poster, I put the words ‘Who will feed them?’ So I guess, in a way, I’ve been thinking about sponsoring these children in Africa for a long time now!" —Trish Saunders |
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| "The day of the concert, a friend of ours had to get an AIDS test because she was exposed to another person’s blood in a freak accident. We were very shaken by this incident. That night, as we heard the words of Tai Anderson and watched the video on AIDS in Africa, we realized how easily you could become an innocent victim of this disease. We also realized how terrible it would be if people shunned you and didn’t help you in your distress. We felt so badly for the orphans shown in the video whose lives were affected by this horrible disease. So we decided that night that we would sponsor a Hope Child. We’ve been sponsoring one child already, so now we have two children to sponsor. We have two children of our own, and we believe that you should sponsor a child for every child of your own." —Deborah Thompson |
|  | 1-888-511-6548 : P.O. Box 9716
Federal Way, WA 98063-9716 Who Is World Vision?
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
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