Sally Wilson and Dallas OHS partners on their visit to Atlanta
I had the distinct privilege of talking with Sally Wilson from Dallas and Amy Tankersley from Birmingham about their One Hundred Shares journey. The common denominator aside from their love of the Lord, was a trip to Atlanta that brought them together (at different times) with Anne and Tim Irwin! The Wilson’s were old friends of the Irwin’s from a time when they lived in Atlanta before making Dallas home. Amy met Anne through her husband’s professional relationship with Tim. Tim told both women about OHS and encouraged them to talk to Anne about starting it in their hometowns. -Jane Ridall
Jane:
After hearing about One Hundred Shares Atlanta, what was your next step?
Sally:
Well, I prayed non-stop for two weeks and felt as if I was getting nowhere. But once the Holy Spirit convicts you, He just doesn’t let go…He can be kind of pesky! I told Him that I couldn’t do it alone and Bingo…that’s right where He wanted me, relying totally on Him. I quickly learned about the obedience of staying behind God. That Fall of 2009 we held our first coffee and awarded our first grant in the spring of 2010! We have given over a million dollars to date. We just wrapped up another fabulous year and can’t wait to get back to doing things the “normal” way in 2021. God continued to bless our efforts through a most challenging year. We did our site visits via video and had almost 80% participation. We are thinking of incorporating that in this year’s physical site visits.
Amy:
After meeting and talking to Anne at her husband’s urging, I began to pray mightily about the possibility of starting an OHS in Birmingham. It was March of 2017, I prayed, researched, googled and by July I just couldn’t shake the feeling that God was leading me somewhere. The problem was, I don’t start things, I come along side others! So, I asked God to bring me a partner and soon found myself seated beside Shawnn Grubb, who eventually became my founding co-partner. I reached back out to Anne for encouragement and the next step and her advice was simply to pray and let the Holy Spirit lead! In January 2018, Shawn and I began contacting women we felt the Lord had laid on our hearts to pursue this endeavor. In March, 11 of us took a vision trip to Atlanta and attended the OHS Spring Coffee. That same day we had lunch with three of your board members. This trip “sealed the deal” and we began the process of forming a board. Nine of the eleven became our founding board. In 2019, our first grant year, we awarded $107,000. In 2020, we awarded $123,500. (Birmingham is now 146 partners strong)
Amy Tankersley and Birmingham OHS partners on their OHS visit to Atlanta
Jane:
What were some obstacles along the way?
Sally:
Myself! I’m pretty good at being in control and I had to be totally dependent on God! It actually helped me in other areas of my life too! We spent an extended time of prayer in the necessity of getting our 501C-3 classification, having been told that process would hold us up for many, many months. God made it clear it was necessary and we got it four months later! We were shocked!
Amy:
We struggled with exactly what God was calling us to do through OHS…would it be supporting local ministries supporting local needs or local ministries supporting global needs? We developed our Mission Statement and decided to leverage everything we did against it. It became our best friend!
Jane:
What have been your biggest surprises?
Sally:
To be thanked by so many Executive Directors for our willingness to stay true to our Christian mission in awarding our grants.
Amy:
Anne told me that the Lord will surprise you where he works outside of your organization. Our first year, a husband of one of our partners was so touched by all four of the finalists and the detailed vetting process we used to get to that point, that he funded the grants that were not chosen to be recipients from the Finalists! It just emphasized to us, that God is always the provider…not OHS!
Jane:
What would your advice be to anyone starting a similar giving group?
Sally and Amy:
PRAY and KEEP IT SIMPLE!
Sally:
Don’t tinker with God’s direction…we have sailed because of simplicity!
Amy:
We wanted the organization to be a blessing to all involved and simplicity was the key!