God calls us to give. This means different things to different people, but tithing is one central piece of it. When you give your tithe to the church, it helps many people in your own conference — supporting their churches, schools, community outreach, and more. It also comes back to your local church. But what if you are inspired to give more than just your tithe? What if you are inspired to support the people around you by paying for their schooling?
For many, this sounds like an unrealistic idea. But the people who are most generous are often not the people who have too much money and don’t know what to do with it. They are the normal people who attend your church, and you never know they are giving so faithfully.
Lorrain Viehmann, member of the Watsonville Adventist Church, has seen the power of giving since she started tithing during her first jobs at 10 years old. She began babysitting while also helping her dad on his cotton farm, and she paid tithe on everything she earned. “The reason I love to give is because I like to help, and that is something my parents strongly instilled in me. Look for others who need help,” she says. “I remember as a child going with my dad. He would take the old pickup into the bakery and get all of the day-old bread and go to the farmers and get produce. This was back in the ‘50s and ‘60s.” They would then take this food to the local labor camps, where people stayed in shacks on the edge of town.
“My dad would get on the back of the pickup and he had me get up there, and we would tell the people, ‘There's free food. Come and get it.’ And these people would come out of their little shacks — nothing but two by four boards, just a place to lay down instead of being on the hard ground.”
Viehmann would help her family pick cotton, and she received 3 cents per pound. “My mother made a sack for me that I could put over my shoulder, and when I had that full I’d haul it up to the wagon and weigh it and dump it. When I got paid by my dad, he’d lay out the money and say, ‘This is how much you have. How much are you to give?’ I was taught at a very early age to pay tithe.”
At 35 years old, though, she came to a point where she wasn’t certain what she believed. “In my mind I was wondering, Is this really where I want to be in life? Do I believe this? I was baptized at 11, but I didn’t know for sure. And that went on for a few years. I never left the church. I just kept it between me and God. And God smacked me and woke me up. I would not want any other place to be.”
These experiences led her to be faithful in continuing to give, especially in supporting Christian education. She was able to help two of her grandchildren pay for their education at Monterey Bay Academy, Southern Adventist University, and Walla Walla University, investing in their future. Another grandson will be starting at MBA this year. “I strongly, deeply, believe in Christian education, That is where our children belong,” she explains.
She continues to give to the students attending Adventist schools, but at times this is difficult. Recently, she told God that there were three children she wanted to help attend Monterey Bay Academy, but she didn’t have the money. “I had been talking to God. I said, I have three kids that I know need some help to get in here next year.”
Only a week or two later, Viehmann was given an award at MBA for $3,000. “I went the next day to the principal and I said, ‘You know I don’t need anything. I’m not going to go anywhere.’ I told him, ‘These are the three kids. I want it put on their account so they can come next year.’”
Her suggestions for anyone who is considering increasing their giving — or maybe giving for the first time — are to be faithful with your giving, test God, and trust Him. “I just look at it like I'm putting my money in God's bank in heaven and hopefully one of those dollars will help give somebody a little bit of information about our maker, and they will choose to join Him.”
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