What’s in a name? That is a common question the world asks on a regular basis these days. Especially when your are a technology access provider (TAP) and your name is Smooth Stone Ministries International.

Our name actually comes from the story in the bible of David and Goliath. When facing the giant Goliath, David went into a creek bed and chose five smooth stones. These he used in his sling and brought down the giant! Today, there are many figurative giants in the world and one of them is the great digital divide. Those who have access to technology and the internet seem to forget that there are countless thousands who do not have computers and yet are still expected to somehow be successful in life!

After thirty years refurbishing computer equipment and parts, I felt a great need to “give back” by helping provide the computers needed by the David’s of this world. To help find a way to provide them affordable computers to be their “smooth stones” to help overcome the giants in their lives. As I began to look closely, I began to see all around me people and people groups that just had a need for something as simple as a computer to help them overcome the giant of joblessness and it’s brothers homelessness, helplessness and hunger.

I was amazed at how one computer that had been lovingly and painstakingly refurbished could mean so much to someone until I saw their faces as I presented a smooth stone to them in the form of a computer. So, technology for me became a way that I could help in an area that I had some expertize and become a “godsend” to someone in need. Many of the processors in the older computers that I began working on many years ago were pinless with smooth bottoms. I saw them and I was reminded of the smooth stone that David used to defeat the giant and the name Smooth Stone Ministries for the non-profit was born!