Author Steve Corbett, who specializes in helping the poor help themselves, had problems with his microphone during a talk at Crestview Church of Christ on Friday.

But he didn’t panic.

“This is nothing compared with having an anaconda decide to slither through the room,” said Corbett, who had that happen to him while making a presentation in Peru.

Corbett, 53, has been around. He trained people to help the hungry in 25 countries after God changed his life.

Author Steve Corbett speaks about effective ways others can help the needy help themselves. He was part of a conference titled “No Need Among You, Including the Excluded” held Friday at the Crestview Church of Christ’s community center.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Before that experience, he dropped out of college, joined the Merchant Marines and once found himself homeless in New Orleans.

Corbett spoke during a conference entitled “No Need Among You, Including the Excluded.” Attending were more than 200 people from churches and ministries in Texas and other states.

Variety of topics

The conference included an array of speakers on topics ranging from housing for the homeless and racial reconciliation to addiction and financial literacy.

It was sponsored by Crestview Church of Christ, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Mission Waco and the Baylor School of Social Work.

Corbett, heard at the event’s first large-session meeting in the morning, had been with Food for the Hungry International for 12 years before joining the Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College in Georgia.

He also is co-author of “When Helping Hurts.”

Western civilization, Corbett said, focuses on poverty as a lack of material resources. But mankind also can experience poverty of spirit, broken relationships and self-esteem, he said.

“We are all broken,” Corbett said, adding people should remember that in our dealings with the materially needy.

He said those who help others must fight against having a God complex, or a belief that they have all the answers.

Corbett discussed three principles for helping others — relief, rehabilitation and development.

He said transitioning between the three can prove tricky.

Residents of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who suffered a devastating earthquake this year, needed relief immediately, Corbett said.

So did the woman “who showed up at your door with a black eye and kids in tow,” he said.

But then comes the period of rehabilitation, Corbett said, and it needs careful attention.

“Aid from the outside sometimes has unintended consequences,” he said. “We sent so many clothes to Haiti after the earthquake that the price of clothes there dropped. What did that do to the people who sell clothes in Haiti, or to the cobblers who makes shoes?

“A better idea might have been to use relief funds to buy clothes there.”

Providing solutions

The best approach to rehabilitation, Corbett said, is providing food or cash for work performed. This method gets those affected involved in providing a solution themselves.

“Outside assistance is fine, but if you ask too little and bring too much, that’s tokenism,” Corbett said.

Development goes beyond rehabilitation to include improvement in the lives of people.

“Participation is key,” Corbett said. “But by that I don’t mean that we provide the piping and pump for a water well, and you dig the hole.

“The process of positive improvement is more important than the outcome.”

Those getting help should be involved in planning and evaluation, he said.

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

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