In life, Mike Barnett had a deep passion for helping people in need. As a professor at Columbia (S.C.) International University, he drew on his experience as a businessman to help impoverished families start businesses that would lead them into better lives. He was among the founders of Baptist Global Response (BGR), a Southern Baptist relief and development organization.
Mike Barnett |
When Barnett died unexpectedly Aug. 10 at age 62, family and friends wanted to see his 25 years of commitment continue to Christian humanitarian mission and marketplace missions with the International Mission Board. BGR has launched a memorial campaign for microenterprise projects to help impoverished families gain skills to run a small business that can improve their lives and give them an awareness of God’s love and a hope for the future.
Poor farmers in western Honduras, for example, are seeing the benefits of microenterprise projects in their families. Obando Velásquez, an agricultural extensionist with the Chorti Agricultural Development Center in Cabañas, Honduras, is teaching others how to colonize honeybees. The bees not only produce honey that can be sold, but they also pollinate plants, which helps increase crop yield – important benefits for subsistence farmers dealing with deforestation and drought.
“Mike’s involvement in the formation of Baptist Global Response nine years ago demonstrated his passion for helping people in need,” said Larry Cox, chairman of BGR’s board of directors and longtime Barnett colleague. “Mike was a businessman before the Lord called him and his wife Cindy into overseas missions ministry. This campaign will continue his legacy by helping entrepreneurs in impoverished corners of the world start their own businesses to support their families.
“Mike had a passion for sharing and showing the love of Jesus with people in need in places where His love is not known,” Cox added. “He loved the idea of providing microenterprise loans to help people start their own businesses and raise their families and communities out of poverty.”
For information about the Mike Barnett Business Initiative Memorial Fund, go to gobgr.org/Barnett or call (866) 974-5623. Contributions designated to the fund can be mailed to Baptist Global Response, 402 BNA Drive Suite 411, Nashville, TN 37217.