Carrie-Ann Jasper Yearty

What does it mean to be generous?

We have been exploring this topic in our Generosity Tyler community this year, considering the various forms of generosity and finding ways to highlight what is happening in our community. When most people hear the word generous, they immediately think about giving financially or philanthropy. Although this is certainly one aspect of generosity, we believe this to mean so much more.

God is generous, and the Bible is full of examples of people, motivated by his goodness, who model this. We can be generous by volunteering our time, sharing our expertise, providing vision, using our skills to solve a problem, mentoring someone, connecting people, serving on a board, and making a charitable donation. For many nonprofits in Tyler, they would gladly welcome any of these gifts.

You may be wondering, what is Generosity Tyler?

Generosity Tyler is a community of believers pursuing Biblical generosity with all our hearts and minds. We typically host a couple of events each year that brings together donors, nonprofits, churches, professional advisors, and those curious about giving. We believe God owns everything, and we are simply stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us, so we seek to educate, inspire, and connect Christ followers around the topics of generosity and stewardship.

In our May gathering, we explored how God uses pain, challenges, and difficult circumstances to bring glory to Himself and to help us find our calling. We heard from three women in our community who have taken pain and turned it into purpose, now leading nonprofits that have allowed them to use their own personal journeys to help others in our community. Author and Bible teacher, Janet Denison, shared with us how we can seek to grow from the pain in our lives and use it for God’s purpose.

Just a few weeks ago, we hosted our final Generosity Tyler Gathering of the year at Oak Crossing Event Center in Whitehouse, highlighting the amazing work of one of the most unique nonprofits in Tyler, Bethesda Health Clinic. We heard how Bethesda went from being a desire to help others to celebrating 21 years providing excellent care for many in our community. It started with a comment about a need that was not being met, a second step of considering what it looks like to put others’ interests first, and then a huge leap of faith into the unknown. It was a powerful story of how God can use anyone to accomplish His purposes.

Each of us has different passions – it could be healthcare, like those that support the work of Bethesda, but it could be human trafficking, faith and work, education, foster care, mentoring, or child abuse. We have so many remarkable nonprofits in our community that do necessary and important work. I want to encourage you to dig into your own passions and find an organization where you can be generous with what God has given you – your experience, knowledge, skills, financial support, expertise, or time.

Our generosity reflects our trust in God as our Provider and reminds us that we are only stewards of his great gifts. Generosity Tyler hosts these gatherings to inspire those that attend to live generous lives and lean into how God is asking them to steward the various gifts they have. Connecting around the topic of generosity helps us to experience the joy and reward of giving, encourages all of us to be generous, and allows us to contribute to the flourishing of our community.