{"id":48084,"date":"2004-01-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-01-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/"},"modified":"2004-01-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2004-01-05T00:00:00","slug":"hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands-On Approach to Philanthropy Increases Giving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kenneth Behring seemed to have everything. He was affluent and generous. But something transformed him during a trip to Vietnam in 2000. The retired construction magnate was helping a relief organization bring food and medicine to a village. It was there Behring personally delivered a wheelchair to a 6-year-old polio victim. The girl&#39;s reaction changed his life.<\/p>\n\n<p>&quot;She got a big smile on her face. She couldn&#39;t believe it,&quot; said Behring. &quot;It&#39;s a sensation I&#39;ve never experienced with anything else.&quot; Inspired, Behring, who used to donate time and money to other charities, created the Wheelchair Foundation, which today delivers 10,000 wheelchairs a month worldwide.<\/p>\n\n<p>More of today&#39;s philanthropists are no longer satisfied with making a charitable donation. They want to see how the money is put to use and perform the benevolence themselves. Behring is part of a new wave of &quot;engaged philanthropists&quot; who choose hands-on involvement over writing checks. Some experts believe that donors who see the impact of their money ultimately give more.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3483,3543,3548,3648,4043,4057,4488,4953,5005,5077,5078,5079,5080,5266],"tax_ctp_topics":[388,396],"class_list":["post-48084","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-benevolence","tax_ctp_tags-capital-campaign","tax_ctp_tags-caring","tax_ctp_tags-compassion","tax_ctp_tags-generosity","tax_ctp_tags-giving","tax_ctp_tags-money","tax_ctp_tags-service","tax_ctp_tags-social-action","tax_ctp_tags-stewardship","tax_ctp_tags-stewardship-of-abilities-gifts","tax_ctp_tags-stewardship-of-money","tax_ctp_tags-stewardship-of-time","tax_ctp_tags-wealth"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hands-On Approach to Philanthropy Increases Giving - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hands-On Approach to Philanthropy Increases Giving - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kenneth Behring seemed to have everything. 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The girl&#039;s reaction changed Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/\",\"name\":\"Hands-On Approach to Philanthropy Increases Giving - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-01-05T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2004-01-05T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hands-On Approach to Philanthropy Increases Giving\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hands-On Approach to Philanthropy Increases Giving - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hands-on-approach-to-philanthropy-increases-giving\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hands-On Approach to Philanthropy Increases Giving - CT Pastors","og_description":"Kenneth Behring seemed to have everything. 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