Children’s Pastor Generates Nearly $14,000 for BGMC

“I wanted to make an impact on the lives of our church kids,” says Brad Winkle, children’s pastor of First Assembly in Victorville, California. “I wanted them to see how blessed they are and how they can be a part of something bigger than us — our city of Victorville and even California.”

Winkle’s idea? Raise $10,000 to help children in desperate need. But what type of fundraising event would utilize his skills to help raise the funds? The end result was a golf tournament benefiting BGMC (Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge) — the AG missions-giving program for kids — to help orphaned children in Cambodia.

Winkle, who enjoys golf and understands how to put on an effective golf tournament, began putting his plan into action by first gathering a team of people who could help him make the event a big success.

Winkle also shared his vision by doing 45-second video commercials in the adult morning services. He says he was amazed when one businessman approached him following a video announcement and wrote out a check for $9,000.

Simultaneously, Winkle says he began to share with his church kids about how they could make a difference in the lives of orphaned children halfway around the world. 

“I shared photos of the Cambodia children’s home, asked the kids to think about what it would be like to be orphaned, and challenged them make a difference in the lives of Cambodian orphans,” say Winkle.  “We handed out the BGMC Change Agents offering boxes to the kids and challenged them to a six-week competition of boys vs. girls. Our weekly BGMC offerings tripled from $25 a week to $75 a week.”

The tournament, held in early November, saw 37 golfers compete for cash prizes donated by local businesses.  “As part of the tournament, we did a four-man scramble,” Winkle says. “We also did two other contests — longest drive and closest to the pin [closest to the hole].”

After the tournament, Winkle and his team put on a lunch for the players. There he had the opportunity to share about BGMC and the main objective of the tournament — to help put a roof on the building of an Assemblies of God orphanage in Cambodia.

Winkle says he surpassed his fundraising goal, raising $13,954. Better yet, Winkle was able to help a local group of kids reach beyond their own lives to make a global impact.

Marshall Bruner