Chris came to Helping Up Mission four years ago. A quiet guy, he’s from Nigeria, West Africa (the land of my wife’s nativity!).
He’d been living here in Baltimore and found himself in a place with no help and support him. He found HUM. He finished our 12-month residential Spiritual Recovery Program and continued to live on campus in our Graduate Transitional Housing and started attending Faith Theological Seminary in Towson.
With minimal resources, the FTS family has practiced what they believe by helping Christ in so many ways. Beyond tuition, transportation and general materials costs, Chris has needed help with textbooks.
Everybody has chipped in to help – usually by loaning or giving him their used books. Worst case scenario, when a text can’t be located, someone always purchases what he needs online.
Chris has a New Testament class this semester and Mike Rallo, HUM Spiritual Life Director, asked around for help. I had a copy of one he needed – Merrill Tenney’s New Testament Survey – which I used in seminary three decades ago.
Today I received a note from Chris thanking me for the book. “It is a privilege to read from the same book and use your markings as a guide,” he wrote.
That thought scared me a little! Hope things I marked as important were good ideas – sure don’t want to lead Chris down the wrong road. Even worse, hope I didn’t write anything stupid in the margins!
I’m so happy for Chris as he furthers his training for God’s service. It’s also a good thing for Tenny to get off the shelf and back in circulation!
One Day at a Time,
Pastor Gary Byers
Deputy Director