One of the most vexing problems we face in the work we do is the problem of measuring ministry effectiveness. We can measure how much money goes to an evangelistic effort, but how do you really measure true conversions. You can count decision cards, or hands raised, or baptisms, but how do you measure love, joy, and peace? If you give money to a child sponsorship program, you get a photo of the little boy or girl, but do you really know what happened to him or her? At age 20 or 25 or 30, is that little girl you prayed for and donated money for…is she OK? Is she following Jesus? Most ministries, even very good ones, struggle with these sorts of measurements.
My guest today, Nathan Mayo, doesn’t have all the answers, but Nathan and the group he helps lead, True Charity, has been asking these tough questions for years, and he has some interesting things to say on the subject. If you’ve been around MinistryWatch for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of True Charity. It’s founder James Whitford, has been a guest on the program, and we’ve quoted him and others from True Charity in many of our stories.
That’s why I’m excited to have Nathan Mayo on the program today. Nathan earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Upon completion of his military service as a Captain, Nathan and his wife, Abigail, spent two years in Haiti building up a network of Haitian-run churches and schools before moving to Missouri to join True Charity in 2020. Nathan is inspired by solving challenging problems with data and translating the insights of experts into applications for practitioners.
Here’s the giving guide I mentioned in the program:
The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.
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