Too Small to Ignore: Why the Least of These Matters Most

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Too Small to Ignore: Why the Least of These Matters Most (eBook) Pub. Date: 1/20/2010 Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
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Too Small to Ignore: Why the Least of These Matters Most (Reprint) Pub. Date: 5/15/2007 Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group

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Overview

The time has come, argues Dr. Wess Stafford, for a major paradigm shift: Children are too important and too intensely loved by God to be left behind or left to chance. Children belong to all of us and we are compelled to intervene on their behalf. We must invest in children–all across the world.

There are strategic, persuasive reasons–beyond love and kindness–to invest in children. Today they may snuggle into your lap, if you let them. But tomorrow you may not have access to them in the corridors of power they might occupy. Now is the time to shape the future.

Dr. Stafford issues an urgent call for change. His adventures as a boy raised in a West African village provide an often-humorous and always-captivating backdrop to his profound and inspiring challenges. Wess lived the reality of “it takes a village to raise a child” and calls us to “be that loving village for children everywhere.”
This book will encourage you to turn your good, loving intentions into strategic actions and empower you to help change the world–and the future–forever: one child at a time.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781400073924
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Publication date: 5/15/2007
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 304
Sales rank: 425,684
Product dimensions: 5.99 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

Dr. Wess Stafford, author of Too Small To Ignore: Why Children are The Next Big Thing, host of the daily radio feature, “Speak Up with Compassion,” and president of Compassion International, is an internationally recognized advocate for children in poverty. Founded in 1952, Compassion International is one of the world’s largest Christian child development agencies, partnering with more than 65 denominations and thousands of local churches to serve more than 600,000 children in 23 countries.

Wess’s life experiences have uniquely prepared him for this role. While he has earned degrees from Moody Bible Institute, Biola University, and Wheaton College, as well as a Ph.D. from Michigan State University, Wess often says, “Everything he really needs to know to lead a multinational organization, I learned from the poor, growing up in an African village.” As a boy, the son of Ivory Coast missionaries, Wess was one of the village children who were watched over by a wise and loving African “extended family.” But his young heart was often broken when African friends died from the cruel ravages of poverty. Wess feels privileged to continue his parents’ commitment to the poor and to now minister to those who have always been so close to his heart.

While Wess’s passion for serving the poor was sparked in childhood, later adventures continued to fan the flames. He attended high school with Native American and Hispanic classmates in the southwestern United States before graduating from Wheaton Academy, and in college, spearheaded literacy programs for disadvantaged teens in inner-city Chicago. His education and experiences in broadcasting, writing, and non-formal education, his facility for languages, and working cross-culturally were important threads of his life that were eventually woven together for the purpose of preparing him for his life’s mission of speaking globally on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.

As a young man, Wess represented a consortium of relief and development agencies in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. During his four years in Haiti, Wess experienced the most devastating message that poverty speaks to a child, “You don’t matter.” Wess also learned that the most strategic way to break the cycle of poverty is by investing holistically in children, meeting their physical, spiritual, socioeconomic and vocational needs to give them a hope and a future.

Wess joined the staff of Compassion International in 1977 and has worked with the ministry, both overseas and at headquarters, for 28 years. He has served as president since 1993. “Compassion and I were a perfect match,” Wess said. “Their philosophy of development reflects everything my experience told me was true– the importance of preserving the dignity of the poor, focusing on empowering people by equipping them rather than ‘doing for’ them, and enhancing cultures by enabling the local church to disciple children. If Compassion had not already existed, I would have had to create it!” Compassion’s approach works–hundreds of thousands of its program’s “graduates” are now giving back in their own countries as Christian spouses and parents, health care workers, educators, lawyers, entrepreneurs, pastors and church workers.

Wess was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Biola University in 2003. He is a veteran, having served four years in the U.S. Army as a linguist in military intelligence. An avid outdoorsman and committed family man, Wess lives on a little ranch near Colorado Springs, Colorado, with Donna, his wife of 25 years, who was a Compassion sponsor even before she met Wess. They have two daughters, Jenny and Katie–the two children in the world for whom Wess is the greatest advocate of all. They also have a dog who worships the ground Wess walks on, and a cat who worships himself!

Since 1952, Compassion International has touched the lives of more than a million children. To learn more about this revolutionary approach to child development, visit www.compassion.com or call (800) 336-7676.

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P_Jones

Posted September 29, 2010

Highly Recommend

I bought this book to find out more about Compassion International, the organization Dr Stafford is the president of. What I learned from the book was much more. I learned how to be a better parent and a better person. This book made me cry and laugh, sometimes at the same time. Dr Stafford is an amazing speaker and it shines through in his book also. With stories from his childhood and his weaving of scripture with practical application in our daily lives this is a must read. I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE. It has a powerful message about the value and importance of children, ALL children.
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mosto

Posted March 13, 2010

Fabulous Book!

Stafford does a wonderful job of showing his heart for children; not only because of his current position, but also because of his childhood. He shares his incredible experiences without becoming preachy or prideful. He is a humble writer with a huge heart for God and His children.
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