The Belmont Foundation

At the end of each year I spend some time reflecting on the events that took place during the year; where God grew me, where I’m still immature, places that God showed up. This year I decided to search the Bible in hopes that I might find something that takes the year and encapsulates the events with truth. As I did this, I got the sense that God sat with me, whispered the book, chapter and verse into my ear and then put his arm around me while I read this from Isaiah 42:6-9:

“I, the Lord, have chosen you to do what is right. I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you safe… And you will be a light for the other nations. You will open eyes that can’t see. You will set prisoners free. Those who sit in darkness will come out of their cells. I am the Lord. That is my name! I will not let any other god share my glory. I will not let statues of gods share my praise. What I said would happen has taken place. Now I announce new things to you. Before they even begin to happen, I announce them to you.”

As you reflect on the past year and look forward to 2008, may you know that God has chosen you to do what is right. And in doing that, He takes your hand and leads you into what is right while protecting you.  May you set people free this coming year, be a light in dark places and break down the walls that imprison others. May you look back and know that what God said would happen has happened and look forward knowing that God is announcing new things to you!

Many Blessings,

Wade

I met with someone recently who wanted to know how we measure results at the Belmont Foundation. It’s not the first time I’ve fielded the question, in fact, it is being asked more and more in the non-profit world. The question is a marketing question; a production question. It makes one major assumption, that is, that people are products and their quality as people must be measured in order to validate our work.

I struggle with the question because my mind isn’t wired that way. I don’t know how, for instance, to measure things like a kid I worked with who met Jesus, stopped smoking crack cocaine and now lives an amazing life. I also don’t know how to measure a kid I know who died of AIDS on the streets of Hollywood, California. I sat with him a few weeks before he died and kept him company, and told him that I loved him. Then there’s a kid that we work with now who’s dad died last year form the effects of alcoholism. We spent Saturday with him and took him on a hayride and picked pumpkins and talked about school and soccer. That, too, isn’t measurable.

At the Belmont Foundation, we carry around a different measuring tape. The thing about our measuring tape is that it always shows the same result. At every mark it says, “created in the image of God.” Because we know that, we don’t go around measuring people. While we desire to see the quality of our kid’s lives improve, we know that only God has the power to transform hearts and lives and that we are ministers of love and support; signposts pointing to the heavenly father.

So, while we won’t promise that 100 children will meet Jesus this year, or that Zach will get better grades next semester, we do promise that we will do our best to be faithful to minister God’s love to the fatherless. That, we think, leaves a good deal of room for God to work out his vision in a person’s life and it allows us to see Him at work and to follow Him.