Steve Hayes serves others 8,338 miles away
If you spend much time on Wabash’s campus, you’ve probably seen Steve Hayes making the rounds in the campus security golf cart. Alongside his position with campus security, Hayes volunteers as the chaplain for the football team.
Crawfordsville isn’t the extent of Hayes’s devotion, however. On the other side of the world — 8,338 miles away — Hayes is making a difference in the Philippines.
Hayes has played an instrumental role in leading a merger between World Mission Builders (WMB) and Hope In The Harvest Missions International (HITHMI). HITHMI is a not-for-profit organization that extends agriculture education along with the Gospel to impoverished areas around the world.
WMB is a mission dedicated to building churches and educating pastors around the world. The mission relies on individual fundraising to support the work of volunteer missionaries like Hayes. However after the passing of its founder Ed Thomas, the future of the mission was in danger. That’s when Hayes stepped in to help bring WMB into the fold of HITHMI. Hayes played a major role in fundraising to support the merger.
“If it had not been for Pastor Steve’s offer to help with fundraising for the WMB side of the mission, I don’t believe we would have proceeded with taking on a second division to HITHMI,” said Travis Sheets, who founded HITHMI alongside his wife.
The two missions will work hand-in-hand providing support in feeding villages and establishing churches that serve many roles from worship centers to community gathering places, schools, emergency shelters and medical centers. HITHMI specializes in teaching locals how to get greater harvests out of their farming, often increasing yields four-fold.
“I have a heart for kids that are hungry,” said Hayes. “I definitely do. I’m going to feed them. It’s easy to do. The average American farm today is mass produced. It’s not a small, two acre farm. But [in the Philippines], out of two acres, we can feed a village. That’s pretty incredible.”
Hayes traveled to Cebu City in the Philippines to meet with WMB pastors to finalize bringing the ministries together. Hayes has had a long-held conviction to help the Filipinos who suffer from poverty. His involvement with WMB in the Philippines stretches back to his 30-year pastoral career.
“I fell in love with these people,” said Hayes. ‘They’re amazing, they are hard working. They’re poor, but they raise their families beautifully.”
Hayes hopes that in the next ten years the ministry can build ten new churches and make a sizable dent in food scarcity in the Philippines. In a shorter term Hayes says they will be repairing churches damaged by a recent typhoon.
At Wabash, Hayes continues to rally support for the Philippines amongst the local community. He hopes to see a few Wabash students intern with HITHMI to help feed those in need. The role requires interns to raise their own funds, but with the help of Hayes no one has ever failed to reach their necessary goals.
While he keeps up the vital work of building churches and raising funds to support better farming education in the Philippines, Hayes will be around Wabash continuing to help anyone who asks.
“I’ve helped several students with some issues over the years and prayed for them,” said Hayes. “That’s my role on this campus. That’s what I do here. You’ve got a local missionary driving a golf cart.”
