New Hope: Show Up... and Save a Life!

By Dr. Bill Gaultiere, Executive Director of New Hope

Recently Jacqueline, one of our New Hope volunteers, worked an extra shift. A call came in from a woman in the Midwest who was very distressed. She had been fired from her job. Her utilities had just been shut off. And her daughter had been unkind. She had nowhere to go. She said her life was hopeless and that she had a loaded gun and was going to kill herself.

Jacqueline had the woman's cell phone number, but that is difficult to locate. Fortunately, the woman mentioned the name of the street she lived on and Barbie, the counselor assisting Jacqueline, contacted the local police.

Then about twenty minutes into the call, the woman became hysterical and fired her gun. Jacqueline kept talking with her, trying to comfort her, but the woman refused to put down her gun and she refused to calm down. The woman fired her gun again and said that she was writing her suicide note. Jacqueline started crying. The woman was crying. Jacqueline prayed. Finally, the police arrived and they got this woman to a hospital for care.

What if Jacqueline hadn't shown up to volunteer this extra shift? What if Barbie hadn't been there to assist Jacqueline? Together, with God's grace, they saved this woman's life! She will get help now to put her life back together.

You might think that you could never save a life like that. But all it took was...
• Showing up at New Hope to answer the phone.
• Listening, caring, and praying.
• Calling the police so the woman could get to the hospital.

Don't be scared to volunteer to be a hero! Very few New Hope calls are that dramatic. Usually people call because they're lonely or stressed. But when it's a crisis call Jesus and a friend are there to help you. And time after time God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary ministry. He gives you the strength, compassion, and wisdom you need to help others.

Learn how to listen, care, and pray. Led by Dr. Bill Gaultiere, Director of New Hope, and Dr. Jim Kok, Pastor of Care Ministries, a series of New Hope classes will begin soon. For details, call Barbara Barrientos at 714-971-4123.

In Focus: Wayne Champion, The Music Man

Wayne Champion was born into a musical world. His father was the director of choral music at their church. His mother was the organist and pianist. Music and people were their loves and Wayne still majors in both. He plays trumpet and piano and majored in choral composition at Northern Illinois University and Roosevelt University in Chicago. But his strong mellow voice has been his musical gift, along with creating musical productions. That is why you will see during worship services sitting down front near the orchestra, his friends, every Sunday morning. It started in Evanston, Illinois where he was the oldest of six children. Hard work and high standards were values his parents modeled. It is no surprise that a city named him "Businessman of the Year." He knew how to work.

Three sports - baseball, football and track (he was an outstanding hurdler) - occupied his life in high school. Then he was drafted into the U.S. Army where he also started his musical career in earnest.

Wayne's military assignment was police work. He became a prison specialist in the army lockups. But every spare moment, Wayne was onstage singing with The Six Tornadoes of Heidelberg (Germany). He was the one on that fateful night in 1963 who had to share the terrible news that "President Kennedy has been shot."

After his military discharge, Wayne entered the business world. He did well selling for Columbia Ribbon and Carbon. Then he took a big step. When a dealer he knew went out of business, Wayne got a S.B.A. loan and bought in and soon built the small shop into a million dollar a year success. He reflects that, "I was the first black man in that company and I amazed them by my pace-setting ability."

In 1974-1975 his dad died, his wife divorced him, and his business failed. His musical talents kept him going and they continued to grow. He sang on the road with a group called The Playboys and he was a part of The Metropolitan Choraliers of Chicago and several other groups-anyone who called. Meanwhile he kept bread on the table by working as a late night chef at Lutheran General Hospital.

In 1985, Wayne came west, primarily to stretch himself in the musical entertainment world. All its uncertainties meant he also had to have another job. That turned out to be The Toll Road Company, collecting tolls.

Always a man of faith, his job gave him an unusual opportunity to radiate loving-kindness. "I could heal people in three seconds," Wayne says with a beaming smile. "I would make eye contact, smile, and say something like, 'Have a great day-anyway.'" Once an R.N. sent a letter to his bosses telling how Wayne's kindness had consistently brightened her spirits on hard days.

Today Wayne is retired, but consistently producing CDs and singing nightly with "El Mariachi" of Orange. "Each day I ask God to enable me to bless someone with my music or to let my simple human kindness touch a few lives," says Wayne. A wonderful gift of God to our world, Wayne lives his faith every day.