From Toys to Treasure

When you first meet 11-year-old Blake Britton, you’d think he is just an average kid. He loves dogs, baseball, and books. But when you talk with him, you hear him speak with a real passion for God. His faith is so strong that, while some kids are busy collecting toys, Blake is busy giving them up so he can give generously to others and to the church.

Blake has been part of the Saddleback family as long as he can remember and learned about giving and tithing to the church at a young age. When Saddleback began the Daring Faith campaign, a 10-week series during which our church was challenged to take big steps of faith, Saddleback Kids also went through the series. And during Daring Faith, Blake felt God challenge him to give in a bigger way than ever before. Blake had given money towards two of his friends’ missions trips in the past, but this was something new. Even though he is just 11-years-old, Blake wanted to stretch his faith.

But how could a boy his age, with no allowance, give anything? Blake’s father suggested a lemonade stand, so he set up a stand at a local busy intersection and people came from every direction to buy his drinks. His customers not only seemed to like the taste of his lemonade but also the vision behind it. Blake earned many times more than he had hoped for from his generous neighbors. He was so excited, he didn’t want to give up selling lemonade that day. His dad even had to drag him away so that he would have some lunch.

He was still feeling very happy about the successful lemonade stand when the next opportunity came along. Kids Small Groups (KSG) had a garage sale to finance a mission trip for the youth and Blake wanted to take an even bigger step of faith. "If I give just my Legos to the sale, then I still wouldn’t make much money," he said, "so I decided to donate my bike to the garage sale as well. It gives me more pleasure to give and change people’s lives than to spend money on myself for things I don’t really need!"

Blake collected the money from the garage sale–– more money than he’d ever had before in his young life––and brought it to Saddleback during a weekend service. When the time came for Blake to place all of the money into the offering basket, there was a short moment when he thought, "Wow, that is a lot of money!" But he he didn’t question his decision and gladly gave the money to God. “It felt really good,” he recalls.

In the future Blake wants to keep raising the bar and give more and more. He is also hoping to be a leader at KSG one day and to go on his first PEACE trip next year. He has already started recycling bottles to raise money for the trip. This will be one of his biggest steps of faith yet, but he has decided to trust God instead of letting fearful thoughts distract him from his goal.

"I will go," he said decisively. "There is no doubt about that!" When he feels like wavering in his faith, he has learned to just hand the worries over to God.  

Click HERE to learn more about Daring Faith.