We are giving away thousands of dollars.  Right now, we are literally giving away $1,000's.  We are hosting "The Great RHM Giveway".  This ministry raises money for local and member organizations, but now we have given each employee $1000, with one small catch;  it all must be given away.  The rules are simple and there are only three stipulations:

1)  Spend on anyone outside your immediate family.
2)  You may not give to the person who has the need but, rather give to the need itself.
3)  The money must be spent out of our ministry account, with receipt reporting what God has done.

We do not take applications for benevolence.  If we are in the path of a need and we sense God leading us to respond, we will.  Anything forced or calculated is automatically counted as trying to 'help' God and we wouldn't participate in such endeavors.

Here are a couple of stories our employees are reporting:

Minister's name: Jack Noles

One of the persons I offered help was to Jason Free (fictitious name for anonymity).

The amount of the gift we gave Jason was $169.85.

Jason and his mom needed food. They had spent all their available funds on caring for his grandmother while she went through a short illness that ended her life.

Jason's grandmother passed away and she was the main provider of the family, which consists of himself and his disabled mother. Without the provision of his grandmother, they were in a severe money crunch.

Jason was unsure how to respond to the offer of help at first, but did agree to accept after I talked to him and assured him that our desire to help him was heartfelt. He was very conservative when we first started shopping, but with the aid of my wife, he got enough food to last for a couple of weeks.

Jason met me and my wife at Wal-mart and we assisted him in purchasing the groceries he needed.

Being able to meet the immediate need of Jason was a wonderful experience. While I have done things in the past that made me feel good about myself, this experience really made me feel like I made a real difference for this young man. It came not with a feeling of pride, but of satisfaction that I was able to help further the love of Christ.

Minister's name: Betty Roberts

One of the persons I offered help was to Sheila Foster (fictitious name for anonymity).

The amount of gift we gave Sheila was $875.00.

Shelia is a single mother of 2 children. She is recently divorced and has been struggling financially to meet her bills and pay for schooling and the extras it takes to provide for the children. She receives little to no financial help from the father of the children. She recently lost her home in foreclosure struggles each month to pay the normal monthly expenses. There is no money for any extra expenses that always seem to hit each month especially with children (doctors visits, school field trips, sports or other kids activities).

Numerous conversations with Sheila revealed many needs. She had told me that she was trusting God to take care of her family and their needs but at this time she had a lot more things due then she had the money coming in to take care of and all were due immediately.

Sheila was Very Excited and very appreciative. She stated that God is SO Good. She recognized that this gift was made possible through God. She even called her sister and the first thing she said to her was God is Good.

This gift was actually 3 gifts in one. Three separate needs were paid such as $375.00 to Bank for expenses owed in trying to get loan in attempt to not loose home. $400.00 registration fee for the two children's school. $100.00 payment for the boys school science trip.

I work everyday in this ministry (Restoration House Ministries) that part of our reason of being and what we do is to raise money to be able to be available to meet needs of individuals and other ministries as we feel God is leading. But even though I see and have seen many, many needs and blessings given by this ministry it has sometimes been more like a spectator and not as a actual participator. There is no better feeling then to have the opportunity to have personal contact and see first hand that you have had a part in helping someone else. As this young mother stated God is indeed so Good. I have learned a valuable lesson that sometimes God wants us to leave our comfort zone. As important as the monetary gift was to Sheila, even more important and more exciting & rewarding to me is that this womans faith was strengthened and she realized that God was the true giver. I ask myself, “Who was the true receiver?” I think perhaps, it was Me.