Growing up on a farm, Connie Weaver didn’t really like chickens — but she knew how well they could provide for a family. That’s why, when she and her husband, Jack, first connected with World Relief, she got excited about a project helping families in Turkana, Kenya, raise chickens.
That personal connection to lives and livelihoods thousands of miles away started Connie and Jack on a journey of generous, Christ-inspired partnership with World Relief, investing in projects like clean water boreholes and sustainable agriculture in Turkana, Kenya. With a deep trust in God’s provision, they saw giving as both a responsibility and a joy.
In 2023, we grieved Jack’s passing with Connie, and today, we’re honored to continue walking alongside her as she finds faith and joy in God’s work through World Relief.
Q: Connie, can you tell us a little about yourself and how you first got connected to World Relief?
I am 69 and a recent widow. I was married to my husband, Jack, for 42 years. He was a wonderful, godly man with the gift of giving — which is a very fun gift to have because you just keep giving and giving, and the Lord keeps giving it back to you. It was such a blessing to be married to him.
I grew up on a farm in Kansas, and we had chickens. I didn’t like the chickens, but I knew they provided food. So when I heard there was a chicken project for Turkana, I thought, I want to do that because I know about chickens. Jack and I both have had a heart for missions since the mid-1970s. We liked to send money to other countries through World Relief because they could do things we couldn’t. We couldn’t be there, but we could give.
Q: What specifically drew you to investing in the work in Turkana?
I like my giving to have a personal connection. Anybody can just send a check, but for me, it’s something more. The chickens were a personal connection because of my background growing up on a farm.
Then I learned about the boreholes for water, and I thought of the verse that talks about giving a cup of water in Jesus’ name (Mark 9:41). I have a faucet where I touch it and the water turns on. They don’t have that in Turkana. I just can’t imagine not having water. So I’m going to do whatever I can to help those people have water.
When I saw a video of the children dancing in the water after the borehole was successful, I just wanted to cry. It moved me so much to know that I had a small part in that happening for them.
Q: How has your faith influenced your generosity?
Jack and I always went back to Matthew 25:35 — “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” Those are examples of what Jesus says: if you do this for the least of these, you do it for me. So why wouldn’t we do things for Jesus?
When we first connected with World Relief and heard about the challenges in Turkana, we felt we had to do something. We had resources to help, so to not give would be wrong of us. It was an act of obedience to help these people, who I probably won’t meet this side of heaven, but I have to obey what God says in my heart.
We prayed together every night, and sometimes those prayers were, “What’s the next giving project to do?” We always had so much fun giving over the years. Jack always said, “God has a bigger shovel.” We give money out, and then God just gives it back to us — or even more than we gave. That’s been true so many times.
Q: How has giving brought you joy?
Our financial planner helped us turn our giving into something besides just writing a check. He said, “There needs to be joy in it.” So we started praying for that, and God answered that prayer, that it wasn’t just paying a bill every month.
I don’t think there’s any joy in hanging onto money. The things we might purchase for ourselves only bring happiness for a short time. But giving into people’s lives, especially ones you can’t see, that brings a different kind of joy because you know it’s changing their lives.
For little old me in Wheaton, Illinois, to be able to change lives in Africa — now if that doesn’t bring me joy, then there’s something wrong with me!
Q: What would you say to someone who feels like they don’t have much to give?
Search the scriptures to figure out what God might say to you about that. A cup of water in Jesus’ name is what’s in the Mark 9 passage. A cup of water is very small, but Jesus didn’t say, “If you have an ocean, give that in my name.” It was, “If you have a cup of water.” So people who don’t have a lot, they have a cup of water. You can start out that way, and then see how God blesses that. And then you move on from there. And God will bless it — that’s the nature of God. He’s going to bless your efforts.And I would encourage people to not hold onto excuses that hold them back from giving. I lost my husband in late 2023, and I could just sit here being a sad widow. That’s not what Jack would want, and it’s not what God wants. Go up in faith and give, because God is the one who’s going to bring you the joy. He’s the one that’s going to multiply what you give. We aren’t going to take it with us, so we need to send it on ahead.