Archive for Social Action
Francis Chan – Main Session #2
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Why are we not doing everything that we possibly can about a problem like human trafficking?
Acts makes me mad because I don’t look around and say “wow, we’re just like that!”
Acts 4:13 – astonished by their boldness when they were uneducated
Now, I am astonished by the lack of boldness with all of our education.
Talking about his executive pastor sharing about repenting after reading Revelation and losing his first love.
It used to be easy, then I got educated…
Is our system taking people that are fired up and then we gradually make them “normal?”
We can’t live like this any more, we can’t drive this passion out of people.
Peter & John get out of jail and they are still speaking in boldness.
When was the last time that we went out and found the boldest people around us and pray that they would have boldness? We take people and slow them down!
Social justice isn’t about just adding a little good works to our message, it’s about going all the way with it.
Everyone always says, “calm down, calm down, you can’t save the world.” Well, why not!?
Stop and think about it. We are all loaded, we’re all rich in the scheme of things. If I give my money I don’t have to worry about buying stupid things. People say to put $ away for an emergency. Is what is happening around the world not an emergency? The 29,000 kids that are going to die today are not an emergency?
We are talking people out of living for eternity.
“Every morning I wake up and think, I am so stupid if there is no heaven!” Talking about letting a woman with 4 kids move in and then she invited her sister and kids to move in!
We never look more like Christ than when we are rescuing others.
It’s not just about us living for the future it’s about us setting an example for the next generation.
Sometimes, maybe we need to protect new believers from being “discipled.”
I have to live like my very next breath could be in heaven.
Am I keeping people from living fully dependent on God?
What’s it going to feel like when we meet God face to face and we have spent our lives, everything we have in rescuing other?
Help Me Choose My Shoes!
Posted by: | CommentsI am getting another pair of TOMS Shoes soon and I need your help! I am having a tough time making a decision so I thought I would ask for your expert fashion opinions. Below you’ll find the two options, leave me a comment and let me know which one I should pick. I am going to be giving away two copies of Doug Fields book What Matters Most and you could win one of them by helping me out with this!
OK, here are the options:
A: The University Ash Rope Sole TOMS
B: The Olive Canvas Stitchout TOMS
I’ll be making my decision on Saturday, 4/18, so get to it!
Giveaway!
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I haven’t brought this up in a little while so I just thought that I’d get a quick reminder out there about the challenge to donate 50,000 Shoes in 50 Days! Here is the fun part though, you can win stuff now! I know you aren’t going to donate for the simple fact that you are going to get something back out of it but, if you have thought about donating a couple pairs of shoes then now is the best time! Check this out:
Anyone who donates a pair of shoes on 50000shoes.com from today until midnight (CST) on december 6 will be entered into a chance to win 2 round trip tickets for wherever Southwest Airlines flies!
The more shoes you buy, the greater your chances are of winning the tickets!
Also, we have a special challenge during this time frame too.
If 1000 shoes are donated between now and December 6, we have a very special corporate sponsor who is willing to match 500 of those shoes. so, for every 2 pairs donated, this sponsor will donate 1 pair. how incredible is that?
This started with the shoe count at 6314. We need to be at 7314 by December 6.
There are some other fun giveaways coming up, but don’t let this one pass you by. Now is a great time to invite your blog readers, email address book people, facebook friends, and everyone you know to participate. Don’t forget to tell them about winning the SWA tickets and the fact that basically 500 “free” shoes will be donated if we reach our goal of 1000 shoes by December 6th!
donate now…donate often! and please, for the love of Thanksgiving turkey, spread the word!
50,000 Pairs in 50 Days
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Do you remember what it was like to go out and get that new pair of shoes for an upcoming school year?
There are millions of kids throughout the world that have never had the opportunity to have a decent pair of shoes to protect their feet, never mind a new pair of shoes that fit right.
This is where you come in, and it isn’t even difficult!
Here is how it works, you simply click on one of the banners or just go to 50000shoes.com.
Once you are there simply click on the donate button on the right! This is great because you get to give $5 and then 2 pairs of shoes are given away!
Here is another way that you can help. Just pass on the word! Link people back to 50000shoes.com when you tweet, on your Facebook status, or on your own blog!
Hey, I already stopped by and donated a few pairs. Why don’t you give up a meal out or sacrifice a trip to Starbucks to give away a few pairs of shoes?
The 40 Day Fast – Day 8
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A couple years ago I began hearing about a new concept called “microfinance.” The big idea here is 
just what it sounds like, making small loans, with low or no interest in order to finance a business. So what does all of this have to do with injustice and oppression in our world? That’s the same question that I had until I came across Kiva.
I quickly understood the role that I could play, through Kiva, in actually doing something to take action against oppression all over the world.
Before microfinance there was only one option for people in developing nations that needed money for their family or business and that was to visit a local money lender. Typically the lender would have terms for the loan that stipulated that the goods or services must be sold through the lender only, the loan would have an outrageous interest rate (some upwards of 500%,) and typical loans could only be paid back in one lump sum (no installments to reduce the principal that was accruing interest.) The obvious outcome of this practice is that the receiver of the loan becomes a bonded slave to the lender.
Kiva gives you the opportunity to connect with other lenders and then to small business owners in developing nations through loan organizations that it partners with. The beauty of this is that by simply putting up a few dollars you can help an individual or family to remain free, out of slavery.
Here is how I use Kiva. I have decided to just set aside a certain portion of my monthly spending to make a loan on Kiva (my lender page, my youth ministry’s lender page.) Then, when the loans are repayed, I will reinvest them into another business owner! Imagine the impact after a couple years! Imagine the impact if all of us did the same thing! Imagine being the conduit to enable a small business owner in a developing nation to invest in another small business owner simply by paying back their loan and trusting you to reinvest!
Take a minute to pray about how you could live differently so that you could use some of your resources to give some people the gift of freedom. Then, if you are ready to take action, simply click on the link below to find out more about that individual who needs a loan or surf around Kiva to find a person or group you would like to loan to!
More about Kiva from their “about” page by clicking the continuing reading link and make sure you visit Licia’s Haiti Rescue Center Blog today!- Read More→
The 40 Day Fast
Posted by: | CommentsOK, so here is the news…
A few days ago I found out about The 40 Day Fast and InspiredToAction.com from Brody. Because of my interest in organizations such as IJM, Blood:Water Mission, and Kiva, I decided that I would register to try to be part of the blogging team for the event. Today it is exciting to announce that I am part of the blogging team for the 40 Day Fast this year!
The way it works is that there are 40 bloggers & 40 days. Each blogger will post about a country, need, or cause that needs attention and about an organization that is working to meet that need.
Here is the most important aspect of this blogging event though, you can join in by following each blogger, praying for the needs, praying for the organizations that are highlighted, taking action on a need or in an organization, and then joining in with everyone that is participating in fasting on August 1!
So what am I blogging about? When will I be posting? You’ll just have to keep checking out InspiredToAction.com to find out 
My Favorite Dry Cleaner
Posted by: | CommentsThere is a dry cleaner that I pass every time I go to church, which for me is a lot! The thing that I love about this dry cleaner is that they have a huge sign out front and they are constantly changing the messages on it (about 4-5 times/week.) Today I was driving up to church to make a clothing exchange (picking up and dropping of “office clothes” so I can ride the bike without them) and I noticed the new message:
Taking action on the message of this sign is the solution to so many problems!
When it comes to oppression in the world or in our neighborhoods, the solution is not to complain about it but rather to take action.
When it comes to living as followers of Jesus in a world full of sin and so many people that don’t have the slightest clue about who Jesus is, the solution is not to retract into our protective shells (church) and complain about all of the problems “out there” but rather it is to live and love as followers of Jesus right in the middle of the darkness.
New Sidebar Addition
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On the off chance that you don’t know already, I want to let you know about Kiva.org, a non-profit that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world.
You choose who to lend to – whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq – and as they repay their loan, you get your money back. It’s a powerful and sustainable way to empower someone right now to lift themselves out of poverty.
I also love Kiva because it essentially gives someone in a developing country the opportunity to invest in another business owner in a developing country simply by paying back their loan and trusting that I will reinvest it.
Check it out the new addition to my sidebar!
