Pastor stunned to find mysterious envelope with huge donation inside

ATLANTA — The pastor of a metro Atlanta church couldn’t believe her eyes while tidying up the sanctuary.

Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen was in southeast Atlanta, where Park Avenue Baptist Church was in real need.

That is, until Rev. Darci Jaret found an envelope that turned out to be quite a blessing.

“I’m cleaning up a little bit and look in the back of the church. It’s an envelope just sitting back there,” Jaret said.

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Inside was $2,000.

Jaret said the mysterious donation was all the more shocking because the congregation hasn’t met in person since last March.

Because of the pandemic, services have been online, but the computer needed to produce the virtual services broke. Since then the pastors have used their own devices while they tried to raise funds to buy a new one.

The donation is enough for a new computer.

“This was the spirit talking when we found that envelope in the sanctuary,” Pastor Henra Chennault said.

Chennault said the new computer will be important to the church’s new mission.

“One good thing about Zoom and the pandemic is we reach individuals across the world,” Chennault said. “We want to continue that.”

The church may never know who gave them the donation, but they are thankful.

“It’s a Judeo-Christian idea that the highest blessing is to give and not receive recognition for that giving,” Jaret said. “This may ‘be’ recognition of it, but they remain anonymous and we want to thank them so sincerely.”

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