Love and Truth Church is a Korean-American congregation of about 400 people in Bergenfield, N.J. Last fall I was invited to speak there about the famine in the Horn of Africa. I did not know what kind of response to expect.

“The church already sponsors 64 children, and we are raising funds to buy our church building,” I was told by Julia Kim, a World Vision staffer and member of this congregation. “But I know the church will give something.”

The message I gave was nothing remarkable, but what happened after I sat down is worth telling. Pastor Benjamin Oh stood and said, “I feel that God is calling us to do something. There is a collection box in the back marked ‘famine.’ I want everyone here to consider putting something in the box as you leave. Young people, do you have money in your pockets? Put it in the box. Children, do you have money? Give it. In fact, I want the elders’ permission to give the offering we took today to fund the new building.”

Every congregation I speak to gives generously, but I have never heard of a pastor giving away his building fund offering. My heart was pounding. The church had been without a home for 13 years and needed that down payment. After a stunned moment of silence, the elders granted their permission.

“I sensed that we should give the building fund offering,” Pastor Oh later told me. “I don’t know if that was my faith, but I do know that our people exercised their faith. I feel so proud and thankful for their giving, because they responded so generously with their loving hearts. It’s not always the amount. It’s the heart of those who give.”

Pastor Oh is right. It is not always the amount. But in this case, the amount was impressive: Love and Truth Church gave more than $8,000 that Sunday. Amazingly, more came from the “famine” box than the building fund.

They gave another $4,500 over the next few weeks. Best of all, 74 more children were sponsored, bringing the church’s grand total of sponsored children to 138.

And what about that down payment? “We closed on the building on Nov. 8,” Pastor Oh told me. “But you know, we’d already been blessed, for the giving itself is a blessing. And the giver [is] a blessed one.”

This church truly believes that everything they have comes from God; they understand that what they so humbly give away simply goes right back to the One whose hand first supplied it.

“You are helping change someone's life for tHE better and inspiring other people to do the same thing. It's incredible to be part of that.” —Ben Ward

Name: Ben Ward

Home: Long Island, N.Y.

Occupation: Worship pastor

Program: Team World Vision 

The Buzz: While Olivia Ward was competing on “The Biggest Loser” TV contest (which she won in May 2011), her husband, Ben, was attempting his own dramatic weight loss. He dropped 113 pounds, despite lacking the facilities available to contestants on the show.

Ben, 35, is a worship pastor who lost much of his weight by running. He entered the ING New York Marathon and asked people to support him by sponsoring a child. Ben aimed to get 26 children sponsored — one for every mile of the race. His wife’s TV celebrity status was helpful in achieving that goal: Ben promoted his quest to her 27,000 Twitter followers.