One season between Thanksgiving and Christmas a needy person came to a local pastor, the Rev. Roger Horton. The indigent man was not known to the pastor or his church, but the pastor was moved by his heart-rending story. The man had four children under the teenage years. He had lost his job and his wife had major surgery with a long recovery period. Paying his bills, feeding his family and the celebration of Christmas seemed very bleak.
Pastor Roger could make no promises to the man because his parish was not affluent. However, he made verbal and non-verbal appeals to the members and stressed the urgency of the appeal. To his astonishment in two weeks the congregation through sacrificial giving raised over $5,000. It was gratifying to share this gift with the needy family. Then, shortly afterwards the man disappeared and the pastor discovered that the whole story was a scam. Pastor Roger was devastated. How could he explain to the congregation? He announced it on a Sunday morning and apologized profusely. Then he went to the pulpit and preached on the text of God loving a cheerful giver. He said that nobody liked to be taken advantage of. On the other hand, something wonderful happened when God touched their hearts to what seemed to be a pressing need.
It was a living testamony to responding to human need with the whole self. He said that they as a congregation in their response received the gift of unselfishness and came much closer to following the unconditional love of the Lord.