Leaving a legacy of generosity

Wendell Campbell seemed like he was 100 years old when I was a little kid in my church. He was a retired social work professor from Azusa Pacific University. He collected the 1976 bicentennial quarters. If you found one, you could bring it to Wendell. He carried a pocket full of regular quarters, and he would trade you quarter for quarter, but he would also throw in a piece of candy. He was generous with the candy.

He spent most of his time shuttling and driving the older people (even older than him) to doctor's appointments and shopping because they could no longer drive. He was generous with his time.

When I was 10 years old, he hired me to mow his lawn. Which seemed like a great deal because I was mowing at home for free. He was generous with his patience for a 10-year-old lawn boy.

When I went to college, he started sending regular checks of $250, and they always came at just the right time. Honestly, sometimes I didn’t have money for laundry, and a check would come. I went to graduate school, and the $250 checks would also come at just the right time. He was generous with his money.

With every check, he would share an article about something he had been reading that he thought I might like and always include a personal note about how proud he was of me. He was generous with his praise.

His wife, Vera, had had cancer for over 20 years. They moved to Las Vegas about the same time I moved to Sandpoint. Vera was in a nursing home, and Wendell went three times a day to spoonfeed Vera. He wasn’t going to let anyone else have the privilege. He went three times a day, 365 days a year, for about two years, until she passed away. He was generous with his devotion and his love.

In 2003, Wendell died. I flew to Las Vegas to speak at his funeral. While I was there, his son told me he had been going through his dad’s stuff and found a ledger of the $250 checks. But they weren’t just to me, but to 27 other young men who were preparing for ministry that he had invested in. Wendell Campbell was generous with his life.

You see, Wendell had received the generous grace of God and the generous sacrifice of Jesus, and he decided that his life would flow with the excess abundance of God’s generosity.

That’s how I want my life to be! So transformed by the generosity of God that it’s reflected in me, in the choices I make, and in the way I spend my money and my time. The world needs to see, not a church that is generous with our criticism but generous with our love.

Generosity is not about wealth. We can be rich and generous, or we can be poor and generous. Generosity is about trust, and about joy, and about connection, and it comes by the grace of God, who has given so much to us. Are you leaving a legacy of generosity?

Chad Wilks has served since 1997 as the lead pastor at Sandpoint Church of the Nazarene.