Good Stewardship Update. (The Goodness of America).(Brief Article)

Last year (see THE NEW AMERICAN for February 26, 2001, page 33) we described a unique charitable endeavor conceived by Rev. Denny Bellesi of the Coast Hills Community Church in Aliso Viejo, California. For many years he and his wife, Leesa, had discussed ways to involve his congregation in the practical application of the biblical principle of stewardship.

In November 2000, during a sermon about the biblical parable of the talents, Rev. Bellesi used $10,000 from the church's general fund to launch what he dubbed "The Kingdom Assignment." He gave $100 bills to 100 members of the church, who were instructed to use the money to do some good. "I told them it had to be invested outside the church. It had to be glorifying to God and it had to be benefiting to others," he said at the time.

One parishioner, Terry Zwick, opted to help Lisa Panzica, a struggling single mother. On November 22nd, noting how a friendship between Zwick and Panzica had blossomed, the Associated Press quoted the latter as saying, "Terry has become family, the family I've never had." For her part, Zwick insists that "God allowed this opportunity with Lisa Panzica to energize me to work on helping others," as evidenced by the $200,000 she later helped raise to open a shelter for women and children.

Another parishioner, Michael Rodriguez, opted to help a family that was too poor to pay for the funerals of two daughters ...