by Dr. Karl K. Stegall
The only miracle of Jesus that is found in all of the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is the miracle of His feeding the 5,000. The little boy that offered up his five loaves and two fish to Jesus is not even given a name. We do not know where he lived. We do not know what happened to him after this story. He was not even included among the number 5,000, for that number included only men, not women and children. Yet, when this little boy freely offered up his simple gifts of five loaves and two fish, Jesus took those fragments and multiplied them to meet the needs of thousands. That simple story always speaks to me in two separate ways as I reflect upon our Seminary Scholarship Foundation.
1. Like the little boy in this story, our seminary students step out in faith, offering up their simple gifts in service to their Master. They freely give up their comfort zones of being surrounded by family members and friends as they move away from home to go to seminary. Yet, as a result of their faithfulness, God takes their simple gifts, multiplies them in deeds of loving service, and when they return back home to serve in our local churches, miraculous things begin to happen in the way of transformed lives.
2. Like the little boy in this story, our generous donors also see an overwhelming need by the financial struggles of our seminary students. Their hearts are touched, and they want to offer up their monetary gifts in various and sundry amounts. They long to make a difference in the lives of our seminary students. When their simple gifts are offered up to the Master and combined with similar gifts from other donors, miracles begin to happen and the financial burdens of our seminary students are lifted.
When our Scholarship Foundation was started 7 ½ years ago, it was a stretch for us to give each seminary student $1,000 a year. Through the miracle of multiplication expressed by all of you, we are now giving each full-time student $10,000 a year. Our goal is to one day pay in full all of the expenses of our seminary students, so that each of them can return home debt-free to serve our churches within the Alabama-West Florida Conference. Thanks for being such a vital part of this “miracle of multiplication.”
You are making a huge difference!