By Tom Stolle
Gary Lambertson died on October 12, 2025.
I didn’t know Gary. I was going to meet Gary at The Gathering in Ocean City. He was excited to attend and proclaim his joy about being saved to all in attendance. He couldn’t wait to come and tell everyone how Jesus changed him from the inside out. Even though he was extremely poor and even though he had no roof over his head, Gary knew that God saw him and loved him. Gary wanted others to know the reality of a God who loved him, though many would consider him unlovable.
Gary suffered intensely in this life. Now, Gary has an eternal home, adopted into the family of God.
The world around us is full of people like Gary. People on the margins. People who are hungry. People who are homeless.
In Maryland, approximately 30,000 people experience homelessness each year, with ten times that number of people also experiencing poverty. It’s tragic, and it’s not lost on God. As Jesus ministered on earth, it was clear that he cared about those who were poor. If we claim to be Christ followers, we should too.
Jesus directly tells us what he is going to say at the judgment in Matthew 25:31-40 (ESV): “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
How can any Christian read these words and not consider compassion ministry to be of the utmost importance to God?
As believers, we should take the words of the one we call “Lord” seriously. However, often the human expressions toward the poor, homeless, and others on the margins can be hurtful and hateful. My friend Richard Pope, senior pastor at Canvas Church, shared these words concerning what he experienced when he read online comments about Gary’s passing: “So many people posting hateful, demeaning things about homeless men and women also post Bible verses and talk about being Christians. If our faith does not move us toward the hungry, the homeless, and the forgotten, it’s not the faith that Jesus taught.”
As a father of a young man affected by severe disabilities, I know how blessed I am. I have sufficient finances and resources to provide a home for my son. Jimmy isn’t homeless. Jimmy doesn’t experience poverty. Those of us who have never experienced this may fail to understand or may take our blessings for granted. But Jesus wants us to see it, and to do something about it, even if it makes us uncomfortable.
Consider that all of us are born with the worst condition any human can ever have. That is separation from God because of sin. No one can cure that problem, that disability, that poverty, by themselves. No human can fix it. The Son of God chose to take on human flesh, be born as a helpless baby, live on earth enduring all that we do, and endure a violent and brutal death so we, by placing our faith in Him, can have the worst condition that anyone could ever be born with totally cured. We are all born broken. God chose not to leave us in eternal poverty. God chose to rescue us, not because we are great, but because He loves us.
We may have resources, but that doesn’t make us better than any other human. Our worth is not tied to our possessions. As Christians, our worth is found in Christ.
Jesus calls us to love and serve those who suffer from poverty. Jesus calls us to love and serve those who are homeless. Jesus wants us to bless them with dignity, to welcome them, and to invite them in. It’s easy for us to forget about those who live in extreme poverty, as we may not encounter it in our daily lives, and we may be uncomfortable with it when it does appear before us.
But Jesus doesn’t call us to live a life of comfort, but rather a life of obedience.
Do we take God’s instructions seriously? 1 John 3:17 (NLT) states: “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?”
May God continue to grow us to be the people He designed us to be! May we excel at love and service to those in great need.
Tom Stolle serves as the executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware.
For more information about how BCM/D can help you start or strengthen a compassion ministry in your church, visit our website.