College Scholarships Confronting Poverty
When I first started in my role as CEO, I knew one couple working in Nicaragua, and we weren’t really active there. After speaking at Abbey Church one night, Cliff Weaver approached me and said, “I feel like I’m supposed to take you to Nicaragua.” A few months later we were off! I couldn’t have known then how much of my life and the lives of others would be impacted by this act of generosity. Fast forward to now, and some of our strongest relationships are in Nica. Holly and I even have God-children there now.
Connecting people is the least glamorous but probably most significant part of what we do at Links. We have a tendency of being the catalyst for people meeting people that do amazing things together. On my second trip to Nica, I invited Kevin Minor to go with me. It was Kevin’s first (and I’m pretty sure last) experience on Spirit airlines, and it was…memorable to say the least.
The short story is that we introduced Kevin to our friends at The Hope Project, and amazing things began to happen. Kevin with his amazing wife, Diane, oversee the William Minor Foundation. Among other things, they have an amazing heart to see kids thrive in education. They provide libraries and computers to support children in vulnerable areas. Recently, they have expanded to a College Scholarship program as well.
I have had the honor of carrying a lot of books and computers and dedicating two William Minor libraries in Nicaragua, and I’ll never forget talking to mothers who through tears expressed how grateful they were for God sending these precious people to them. They understood the significance of their children having access to education. I’ll never forget Kevin and Diane being absorbed into a mass of precious children literally smothering them with love and hugs.
Before the libraries, there would have been very little opportunity for a college trajectory for these kids. And now, the William Minor Foundation is preparing kids early for the life-changing reality of higher education. This is confronting poverty. This is creating potential. This is Good News to the poor.
It is a high honor to be a part of things like this all the time. We are so grateful for the multiplication of Gospel impact throughout Nicaragua through the work of The Hope Project, and we believe greater things are coming still. Let us know if you’d like to go to Nicaragua to see this first hand.
