Ep. 433: A Conversation with James Whitford, Founder of The True Charity Network

If you are a regular reader of MinistryWatch, you know that we write a lot about ministries that care for the least and the lost in our culture. The Bible is clear that care for the poor should be one of chief concerns as Christians, but helping the poor in ways that are actually helpful is not easy. The issues are complex, and solutions require wisdom and discernment. One of the smartest, and most compassionate, people working in this field is my guest today, James Whitford. Whitford earned his doctorate from the University of Kansas Medical Center before he and his wife, Marsha, founded Watered Gardens Ministries in 2000. Watered Gardens has been on the forefront of the “effective compassion” movement for more than a decade. In 2019 it won WORLD Magazine’s “Hope Award for Effective Compassion.” Whitford and Watered Gardens take no government funds, and they put Scripture front and center in their work. Whitford says that true freedom and dignity cannot flourish if people are trapped in dependence – whether than dependence is on alcohol, drugs – or the government. Whitford has taken the lessons he learned at Watered Gardens and created True Charity, a network of like-minded organizations (now numbering more than 200), that champions the “resurgence of civil society in the fight against poverty.” James has a new book out. It’s called The Crisis of Dependency: How Our Efforts to Solve Poverty Are Trapping People In It And What We Can do To Foster Freedom Instead. I’ve been a fan of James Whitford for a couple of years, and now I’ve become a big fan of this book. I think every Christian donor who cares about helping the poor should have this book. And if you will stay tuned until the end of the program, I’ll let you know how you can get your own copy. But until then, here’s my interview with James Whitford. That brings to a close my interview with James Whitford. His new book is The Crisis of Dependency: How Our Efforts to Solve Poverty Are Trapping People In It And What We Can do To Foster Freedom Instead. We are making this book our donor premium for the month of February. That means that if you give a gift of any size to MinistryWatch, we’ll send you a copy of this book as our thank-you gift. Just go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the donate button at the top of the page. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We technical, database, and editorial support from Christina Darnell, Casey Sudduth, Stephen duBarry, and others. I’m your host, Warren Smith. I hope you will join me again on Friday, when Natasha Cowden and I will bring you our take on the news of the week from MinistryWatch. Until then…may God bless you.