That’s one reason I was motivated to promote a new ministry venture I recently learned about. My blogger friend Kent Shaffer’s wife, Evie has assembled a creative initiative to allow artists to use their talent to help other charities. A Beautiful Idea (ABI) allows artists to showcase and sell their unique product, with 100% of the sale of that item going to charity. This can be ongoing, or a one-time deal.
One would have to be living under a rock (or a shoe) not to have heard of Soles4Souls Ministry in recent months. Soles4Souls has a simple concept: they get shoes and give them away. You can read more about their history HERE. This is one ministry that went to work immediately and is making a huge impact in the Haiti disaster.
Is your passion more for Christ or more for growing your church?
I am thankful for the women that bring their family to church every Sunday alone, because their husbands will not come. I know that many of those women have one great prayer request; that their husband would become a believer and/or assume the role of spiritual leadership in the home. Having walked through this with many families over the years, I would like to share some suggestions of things I have seen that work for wives in helping to wind their husband for Christ.
Operation Serve! What an experience! I am so thankful to be a part of Grace Community Church and for all that serve! Let’s not allow this to be a once a year experience. Find ways to continue to take Christ’s love to the streets of our community!
As a church planter concerned about spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but consistently meeting people who have no interest in what they believe Christianity to be, this appears to be an important movie. My friend Michael Hyatt was the first to recommend this movie, which would be enough to encourage me to watch it. After watching the trailer, there is no question I will put this movie on my “must see” list.
It is hard being the nice guy all the time, is it not? I have heard people ask, “Why do I always have to be the one to give?” I’ve heard that question relating to marriages, to parenting, and among friends. Sometimes it just seems that we are the only ones doing good unto others. I know that is not true, but it does feel that way at times. We sometimes start to feel that we are being taken advantage of, do we not?
I love shirts that do not have to be ironed. I travel a lot and right now the nylon, breathable shirt appears popular, at least among my age, and so I can be “in style”, comfortable and basically wrinkle-free with little effort. I have to confess to something, however. My style is usually determined by what other people do not want. I choose to dress primarily in rejected clothing! You see I am hugely price conscious. I love new clothes, but the thoughts of spending more than $10 for a shirt bothers me, so if it’s on sale for $6, I tend to like it even more. I have often wished there were a store for folks like me that sold only the clothes others didn’t want…the rejects…at dirt cheap prices.
One of the primary purposes for our recent visit to Lithuania was to work with business leaders and individuals on issues related to personal finance, leadership, and budgeting. This was our initial trip, but we were able to open doors and build trust with key people in the church and community for future interaction. Our end goal is Kingdom-building, but instead of a medical or construction project, which is typical for many mission trips, we went addressing the primary need of the Lithuanians at this time; the economy. Naturally we received lots of questions about the economy in the United States. There was keen awareness that our economy impacts their economy.
I have pages of random observations from my time in Lithuania. I thought I would share them with you randomly. These are my opinions and these notes come right form my personal notes as I made observations while in the country and from conversations with Lithuanians. In the coming weeks I will unpack some of them more.
