We called her Ms. Finny.
Her real name was Linny Fenton, and she taught me one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned.
Ms. Finny was a member of the first church I pastored, Hilltop Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Hilltop Baptist was located in a part of town that a lot of people avoided. The church’s main claim to fame was that it showed up twice on the TV show Cops because there was so much crime in the neighborhood. The building was broken into so many times that we finally just put a sign out front that said, “Unlocked. Please come in,” so people would stop trying to break down the door.
I was still a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary when they called me in a unanimous vote as their pastor—7–0. Ms. Finny had been a member at Hilltop for as long as anyone could remember, and it didn’t take me long to figure out that she was going to teach me way more than I’d ever be able to share with her and the rest of the people there.
Ms. Finny was a living, breathing, version of the widow Jesus talks about in Mark 12, because Sunday after Sunday, she “gave all she had to live on” (Mark 12:44, CSB).
She lived in a very modest home—some would call it a shack—and she somehow got by, barely, on a very meager income each month. But, more than anything, she loved giving to the work of the church. I remember talking with her about it, and she would literally weep, calling it an “honor” to give and be a part of the larger work God was doing around the world.
She understood what the Cooperative Program was. She understood what the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering were. She knew that every dollar she sacrificially gave would be combined with hundreds, then thousands, then millions of other dollars given every Sunday in Southern Baptist churches all over North America. And knowing those truths made Linny Fenton, a woman of very limited resources, a contagiously cheerful giver.
She was not famous, and her church was not, at first glance, influential. And yet, she showed me very early on in my ministry journey how every gift, no matter how big or small, is precious and meaningful. Now, as president of the North American Mission Board, I can’t help but see every single dollar Southern Baptists give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering through Ms. Finny’s eyes.
I don’t suppose anyone’s ever heard of Linny Fenton. She passed away a long time ago. And yet 40 years later, I haven’t forgotten what she taught me—every gift matters.
I’m so thankful for Ms. Finny and the millions of other Southern Baptists just like her.
She was my Annie Armstrong.