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What is Compassion?
June 15th, 2009 | Comments Off
This is an amazingly well crafted video explaining the history and purpose of Compassion International.
Compassion International just celebrated its 1 millionth child sponsored. That is what I call making a difference in the world.
Addictions
May 18th, 2009 | Comments Off
This morning I had a great discussion with a couple of friends about time management. One of the things we did together was a figure out whether or not each of us is addicted to urgency. If you’re like me you are asking yourself what “addicted to urgency” means. I mean, I’ve seen my fair share of Intervention episodes but I have never even thought about someone being addicted to urgency. However, after our conversation and a little contemplation I think this might be a real problem in our society–and especially in church leadership.
So what are the qualities of an urgency addict?
Here are a few questions to get you started on figuring out whether you might struggle with this issue of urgency. (Please note: these questions are not intended to deliver any kind of diagnosis but are provided merely for introspection.)
- Do you feel like you do your best work under pressure?
- Do you enjoy–and look forward to–the rush of adrenaline that you get when working with short deadlines or crisis situations?
- Do you keep thinking that someday you will be able to do what you really want?
- Do you find yourself giving up quality time with important people in your life to handle crisis situations at work?
- While working, do you feel the pressure of all the other things you have to do that are hanging over your head?
If some of those resonate with you a little more than they should, you might want to take this Urgency Index quiz and start to analyze your workflow to see if this is a problem in your life. A lot of this discussion was based on thoughts in Stephen Covey’s book First Things First, so you might even consider picking up a copy of that, for further study.
While urgency addiction may truly be an important issue, this conversation doesn’t stop there. It is actually only the beginning of a greater conversation about how we prioritize lives and what we consider “normal.”
Let’s take a step back from this specific issue and look at other things in our society that we let creep into our lives. Anne Jackson just posted some great thoughts about things that we often put in the forefront of our lives without even realizing how much they impact how we live. More importantly she asks how often we fail to take those issues seriously. How is it that we determine which addictions or distractions are serious and which are joke-worthy?
Not to over-spiritualize the situation here, but ultimately any addiction is a form of idolatry, right? An addicted person is misaligning his priorities and focusing too much on something that is ultimately trivial instead of focusing on things that are truly important. I don’t bring this up as a condemnation of addicts or to cause anyone struggling with addiction to feel guilty, but rather to compare the things that our society (and the Church) views as serious problems to the things those same people view as normal behavior.
Take, for example, the “Baptist potluck.” I have traveled to many churches over the past few years and taken part in many potluck meals. Almost every time I left the table more full than I should have been–sometimes even with some joking comment about gluttony. (If we joke about it then it’s not true, right?) Christians even have jokes about eating too much at church like “What’s another name for a Baptist preacher’s belt? A fence around a chicken graveyard.” But I wonder how many people have serious issues with overeating that are swept under the rug with humor instead or being discussed with the same seriousness as alcoholism or pornography.
How many church leaders (both paid and volunteer) are workaholics? Is this behavior any less destructive for them and their families than any other addiction? Is the Church doing a great disservice to its leaders and its members by brushing off certain issues as normal behavior instead of challenging and correcting them? How can we focus on things that are ultimately important instead of being distracted by things that end up being trivial?
Failure is being excellent at something that is ultimately not important.
Perspective
May 1st, 2009 | Comments Off
Shaun and a bunch of bloggers are on a trip to Kolkata, India, right now seeing the work Compassion International is doing to fight poverty and provide hope to children and families. Becky, Shaun’s wife, is on this trip with him even though she isn’t a blogger herself. This is her first trip overseas to see the work of Compassion so I have been very curious to see her reaction and hear her thoughts.
Today Shaun posted the e-mails that Becky has been writing their kids here in America while they’ve been in India. You must go read this post. Here’s an excerpt from Day 5:
The house we visited today was one of a little Compassion girl who is 11. Remember that it is only the size of your bathroom (without the bathtub, toilet, and sink) and her whole family of 5 people sleeps in there with no bed. The floor is clay and there is one window. It is painted a pretty blue color. She asked us how we liked her house. We told her that it was beautiful, and she started smiling. She said “My life is very happy,” and began to sing a song to God. You would think that she would be sad that she didn’t have more, but because she has God and knows her sponsor from Compassion loves her enough to send letters and money to take care of her, she is happy.
My wife and I are in the process of buying a house — our first house. It’s probably going to be a little bigger than a bathroom, but it might not be as big as the neighbor’s house. I only hope that we can remember to be happy because we have God who loves us and because we love each other, and not be sad because we don’t have more stuff.
Go read Letters from Mommy.
Compassion Bloggers in India
April 27th, 2009 | Comments Off
A group of several bloggers are on a trip to Kolkata, India, right now. Each day they are visiting projects run by Compassion International–meeting kids, discovering hope in the midst of poverty, taking pictures, and telling their stories on their blogs. It’s probably the closest we can come to being there without actually taking that 16 hour flight and enduring the 120 degree heat.
I have not been overseas with Compassion (yet) but I love reading these stories. It helps gain a little more of a world perspective instead of being stuck in my American bubble and realize that there is both great need and much hope. Check out the Compassion Bloggers site and take a little trip to India this week.
Michelle Torentino’s Story
April 21st, 2009 | 2 Comments
I had the privilege of attending Compassion International’s artists dinner (a part of GMA week) last night. The main speaker for the evening was a former sponsored child through Compassion named Michelle Torentino. She was an amazing reminder of why we do what we do.
She also challenged me to consider every single child sponsorship packet that I set out on a table at a concert as potentially being an amazing servant of God. Every great leader of the Church was once a little child. I realized that we aren’t just releasing children from poverty but we are also releasing them to opportunity. We can each play a part in God’s perfect plan by enabling children to grow up to be the persons that God created them to be. Amazing.
Please, take seven minutes out of your day and watch her tell her story below. I promise you it will be worth it and you will be changed. Then, either sponsor a child or help us challenge your church community to get involved in the lives of these children.
The future of the American Church
April 16th, 2009 | Comments Off
Shaun Groves is participating in a blog-based book tour where he asks Skye Jethani, author of the book The Divine Commodity, a question about the future of the Church in America. I have to say, I very much agree with his response. I don’t think that the Church has to be a massive entity with great influence in order to positively change the world. I also think that greater impact is often made through the smaller channels rather than larger.
For example, I grew up in the South where most people go to church on a regular basis. I have noticed that the larger a single church body grows the more people show up just to be seen. However, I have also witnessed smaller congregations who are much more committed to changing the world around them in Jesus’s name. While the large church may have a much greater sphere of influence, the smaller group is likely more determined to actually make use whatever amount of influence it may have. As Skye Jethani says:
The overwhelming witness of Scripture is that God transforms the world using the smallest and most unlikely methods—the outcasts, the underdogs, the forgotten, and the under-resourced.
That’s just a small part of the discussion so I encourage you to head over to Shaun’s Blog and read the full post.
Am I a blogger?
April 22nd, 2008 | Comments Off
I am a bad blogger. I guess since I don’t really even blog regularly (yet!) I am not really a blogger at all. What makes someone a blogger anyway?
Is being called a “blogger” a matter of consistency? If I don’t blog at least once a day then I cannot call myself a blogger. Or maybe you don’t consider me a blogger unless I post on a regular schedule.
Is is a matter of quantity? As long as I put up a bunch of stuff whenever I decide to blog then I can blog however erratically I want. Or, as long as my posts are all long then that makes up for my lack of consistency (I know that one isn’t true).
Is is quality? What if I don’t say much, and I don’t say it often, but when I do post it is quality? Would that make me a blogger?
Is it just “owning” a blog? Do the posts even matter? I mean, I have a blog and I could blog whenever I want (even though I don’t).
What does make someone a blogger? Is it just a label? Is it a group that people try to belong to?
What makes someone a “Christian?” Is it just a label? Is it a consistent following of Christ? Is it about the quantity of “good” we have done? Is it just about attending a church or telling people you are a Christian? Is it doing or being?
If we have a good definition do we consistently follow it when looking at our own lives? What about when looking at others’ lives?
Speaking of churches…
March 24th, 2008 | Comments Off
This weekend I attended one of the coolest churches ever. Ever.
First of all, the back-story.
Rebekah comes from a family that puts a lot of emphasis on family traditions. Basically this translates into “every holiday we are getting together with someone to eat a meal.” This is definitely a good thing and something that Rebekah and I fully intend to carry on in our family. Easter meals generally happen on Sunday afternoon after the entire family has gone to church together, however this year the family meal was on Saturday night because Rebekah’s brother just joined the staff of a church (and apparently Easter Sunday is kind of a big deal so they wanted him there). Since he was in Louisville and the rest of the family had no place better to go, we drove up to his church on Sunday morning.
And now for the good stuff.
Sojourn is a community of people in Louisville that gather together for Sunday worship and for weekly community groups. I know this sounds cliche because a church is a church and every church these days tries to call itself a “community of people” when really it’s just a building full on Sundays and empty the rest of the week. However, I really feel that Sojourn’s mentality is different. While I would still say that no church is perfect since people aren’t perfect and we are the ones in charge, this church has a lot of great things going on.
The people of Sojourn hold creativity and the arts very highly and they are a highly creative bunch. In fact, the old school building that they meet in doubles as an art gallery and music venue. They have people in the community that create beautiful pieces of art for use within the church and for special occasions.
A lot of the music that they use for their worship gatherings is original music which definitely helps them define their own collective voice. The general feel of the music at the service I attended was a modern, electric-guitar driven, bluegrass singing. The emphasis was not on playing a great show for the audience like it is at a lot of churches these days, it was very much on getting the audience involved in participating in every aspect of what was happening on stage. They definitely tried to unify the crowd instead of separating the audience and the stage. Their worship band even regularly records and releases CDs of their original music.
The leadership of the church encourages members to live in the community around their building so that they are all active members of their neighborhood (which is by no means the rich side of town). The teaching was simple but true and I never felt like the speaker was trying to (1) merely evoke an emotional response from the audience or (2) water his message down so far that everybody would leave feeling happy. These two traits are probably the most common issues that I have with Easter sermons (generally speaking). So it was a breath of fresh air to hear something different.
It is rare that I attend a church that makes me want to move to their city just to be a part, and that is pretty much what happened this past Sunday. If you are in the Louisville area over a Sunday (morning or evening) I would encourage you to check out Sojourn. Hopefully you will find it as refreshing as I did.
What qualities do you like/dislike in the American church? (Please, keep it constructive.)
