TIGARD, Ore. -- Eager to see how members of his church would spend money to help others, pastor Paul Linnemann of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church handed out 20 $100 bills to volunteers of all ages during a Sunday worship service last November. Each was then told to spend it for the kingdom of God and come back in March to tell what each did with the money.

According to a report by Christian News Northwest, Aija Stapars, whose parents emigrated from Latvia, turned her own battle with diabetes into a cause to help others also afflicted in Latvia. She added to her $100 by collecting $700 from family and friends and got the Aid Association for Lutherans to match the $800. The $1,600 total was spent on test strips for diabetic Latvians.

A new mother, Kimbelee Reitmeier, turned her $100 into $4,536 for the House of Ruth, a shelter for unwed mothers in Hillsboro. She gathered the additional funds from a women's Bible study group, friends, relatives, co-workers and an anonymous donor who matched all the donations.

Dan Coburn, 12 years old, spent his $100 on Christian rock CDs to be used in a new youth music area of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church's basement.

Six-year-old Parker Woodley used his $100 to help buy toys for children of families in crisis.

And Nick Dugas, a 14-year-old senior at Conestoga School, gave his money to a project that would put external cardiac defibrillators at public recreational facilities. A close friend and past schoolmate of Dugas's died last year from a sudden heart attack during a party at a public pool. Dugas's father doubled his son's donation to the project.

Pastor Linnemann said the project was exciting and that he got the idea from a pastor in Aliso Viejo, Calif., who did the same.

After watching a video of the Aliso Viejo effort, Linnemann and his board of elders agreed to do the same thing at Our Redeemer Lutheran.