Tom Corson
Tom Corson, executive director of SIFAT, was the guest speaker at our Jan. 10 meeting.
Servants in Faith And Technology (SIFAT) is a Christian nonprofit organization that provides training in self-help programs for a needy world. SIFAT offers opportunities for Christians to get involved personally, both to learn from others and to partner with them in missions.
Acknowledging Christ’s concern for the spiritual as well as the physical aspects of His children, SIFAT responds to the great commission by sharing God’s love in practical ways. Faith and technology are merged for the purpose of enabling the poor to develop holistically in Jesus Christ. Since its founding in 1979, SIFAT has trained community leaders from 80 countries around the globe in practical skills to meet basic human needs.
The idea of SIFAT was conceived in the jungles of the Alto Beni of Bolivia in 1976, when Ken and Sarah Corson took their four children and moved to Sapecho to be pastors of a Bolivian church. Realizing that the homesteaders there needed more than spiritual nourishment, Ken and Sarah began work in integrated development with the people of the village. The Quechuan mayor of the town, Benjo Paredes, became a Christian that year and has been a great Christian community leader.
Benjo and Ken cofounded CENATEC (Centro Nacional de Tecnologia Sustenible), a nonprofit Christian organization in Bolivia. CENATEC was the mother organization out of which SIFAT was born. In 1979, the Corsons returned to Alabama and established SIFAT as a training center for meeting basic human needs. Since then, CENATEC and SIFAT have worked closely in many endeavors.
