Perhaps there's some truth to the Disney song people love to hate—maybe it is a small world after all. Just ask Gavi Leticia Lopez Ponce, a bright-eyed young woman from Ecuador. One minute she was like many other kids in an impoverished region of South America, orphaned and without means to attend school or break out of the cycle of poverty handed down to her; the next, she was a long-distance member of Michael W. Smith's extended family. Smith and his family sponsored Gavi through Compassion International's child sponsorship program in 1987. Not only have their monthly donations helped her in countless ways throughout her school years, she became a Christian during the process and is now on her way to college.

Compassion International is a non-profit organization dedicated to the long-term, holistic development of kids who live in poverty. Simply put, Compassion provides food, clothing, educational assistance, shelter, health care and Christian training for poor children around the world. The organization accomplishes the majority of its work through individual child sponsorships—a concept that links donors with specific children.

Shortly after sponsoring Gavi, Smith was approached by Compassion employee Devlin Donaldson about being a spokesperson for the organization. Smith was hesitant to agree at first. "I went to Ecuador in 1988 to check out [Compassion’s program] and to see Gavi," recalls Smith, "and I was absolutely sold on the first trip. I think just seeing the projects at work and seeing how successful they were was enough for me. It was such a dark, dark place, and Compassion was a huge bright light in the middle of it all."

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Compassion partnering with Christian artists, many of whom have helped raise awareness about the sponsorship program by exposing their concert audiences to its existence. Compassion Music Program Director Andy Ivey credits Mike Johnson, an artist from the late ’70s, with planting the seeds of the partnership idea. "Mike Johnson had a wealthy benefactor who said, 'Look, I'll underwrite a tour for you if you will make the tour a benefit for a charitable mission,'" says Ivey. "When Johnson came to us, he had actually already contacted several ministries who all turned him down. Compassion asked him to go to Haiti and see the work first hand. When he came back to the States, he was so eloquent in describing the situation in Haiti, his involvement with the ministry became a huge success. That was the nugget that started the whole partnership between Compassion and Christian musicians."

Twenty years and more than 130,000 child sponsorships later, Christian musicians are still championing the cause. Artists such as Caedmon's Call, Audio Adrenaline, Billy and Sarah Gaines, Rebecca St. James, Sixpence None the Richer, Susan Ashton, Phil Keaggy and Geoff Moore are only a few of those currently working as spokespersons. How each artist promotes the organization varies widely. At concerts, one artist might speak briefly about the program while another may give a video presentation. Some artists appear in ads; others take occasional trips to Compassion sites.

Occasionally, Compassion will offer an artist/spokesperson financial assistance— money spent either for advertising purposes or to supplement the cost of a certain performance. Compassion's Communications Director Chuck McGinty says that there’s no formulaic approach to how Compassion works with an artist, but that it highly varies according to the need of the moment. "In every situation we try and work out a win/win," says McGinty.

In 1998, Amy Grant was responsible for linking 3,000 sponsors with children. Ivey estimates that in the 10 years Michael W. Smith has been working with Compassion, he has brought in over 15,000 sponsorships. But he is quick to point out that high-profile artists aren't the only ones effectively promoting the ministry. "There's a duo called Lost and Found," says Ivey, "and years ago when they were both single and fresh out of college, they decided to take a summer and bike across America. Both of them grew up in the Lutheran church, and when they would get to the next town, they'd call or visit a Lutheran church on the spur of the moment and say, 'Can we play a show for your kids? We'll do it if you'll feed us and let us borrow a guitar.' They've graduated from the bikes to a van, and now they play about 130 concerts a year. Not too many people outside of the Lutheran church have heard of them, but through their efforts 600 kids were sponsored last year. They're unbelievably committed to the cause of Compassion."

Being committed to the cause of the organization is a posture all Compassion artists carry to some degree. Few, however, speak of Compassion with as much passion and conviction as Randy Stonehill. Stonehill was recently honored (along with Glad) for 15 years of partnership with the ministry. Those 15 years began when Donaldson invited him to accompany Compassion on a trip to Haiti. "I had agreed to go with them," remembers Stonehill, "but in the meantime realized that what I do best is tell a story in a song. So before we even left I wrote, ‘Who Will Save the Children’ and played it for them. Their eyes just kind of got wide with shock, and they said, 'It's uncanny how you were able to articulate the essence of this situation without having ever gone to a Third World country.'

"Then I went to Haiti, and it was like going to another world," he continues, after a lengthy silence that signals a sharp change in perspective. "I was so moved by the beauty of these people, but I was so pained by their suffering. I was shocked that it was a 90-minute plane ride from Miami; we might as well have been on Mars. I kept thinking, 'This is such a travesty; this is so wrong. We're all human beings on the same little planet, but we live such radically different qualities of life.' Initially, I had not wanted to go because I was afraid that it would break my heart—and it did. But after I went, I realized that is crucial. We need our hearts broken so that we can cry about the things that would make Jesus cry, and then we can move past our tears to act with genuine compassion."

Thousands of people have been moved to act as a result of having heard about Compassion from one of their favorite Christian artists. Currently, individual sponsors are connected to approximately 263,000 children in 21 countries. However, there are more than 41,000 children who have registered but do not yet have sponsors. Stonehill, Smith and a host of others say they are committed to continually remind their audiences that $24 per month can substantially change the quality and focus of a life somewhere in the world. "What I want to tell people is that it's legit," says Smith.

"I've seen it in action. I've seen thousands of lives changed by this organization." Stonehill adds, "When talking about the excellence of Compassion's ministry, I typically point to three elements: their holistic approach, their high caliber of integrity and their emphasis on interpersonal relationships. You don't just send a check; these children actually get grafted into your family, into your life. My work with Compassion has been more than just pointing to a charitable work that's appropriate. It's actually brought more weight to my work as a writer and a communicator in that I've been able to articulate a more holistic approach to living out my faith. Compassion has played a vital part in helping me to fill out the picture of how we are to live when Jesus comes crashing into our lives."

Information about sponsoring a child through Compassion can be found at www.compassion.com or by calling 800/336-7676. Information about becoming a Compassion artist can be found at www.ci.org or by calling 800/899-5224.