Did you notice the yellow jerry can embellished on the back fender of the truck above?

That’s hope.

The great people at charity: water are celebrating their fifth birthday this September by raising money  to purchase a compressor truck, support truck, pipes, tools and a host of spare parts. [...]]]>

Did you notice the yellow jerry can embellished on the back fender of the truck above?

That’s hope.

The great people at charity: water are celebrating their fifth birthday this September by raising money  to purchase a compressor truck, support truck, pipes, tools and a host of spare parts. And why? Because 1 out of every 8 people worldwide still lacks access to clean water. And that’s inexcusable.

Together we can make a difference. For insanely small amounts of money we can provide clean water to people all over the world. And when we roll our money together we can buy something like what you see above. $1.2 million gets us a rig, crew and parts for 80 wells every year. That’s 40,000 people that now have a chance at life because they no longer drink water that will kill them. 

Will you join my family in this? Find out more and get involved here.

It wasn’t a dig at large churches (or a particularly large church where I used to serve).

It was a pointed dig at all of us who go to American Churches – regardless of size.

Because we all love our buildings.

I grew up in the church – [...]]]> Just a little clarification on yesterday’s post…

It wasn’t a dig at large churches (or a particularly large church where I used to serve).

It was a pointed dig at all of us who go to American Churches – regardless of size.

Because we all love our buildings.

I grew up in the church – watching the building fund thermometer on the wall every Sunday morning. We talked about how God wanted us to have buildings – bigger, better, more advanced buildings for his Kingdom.

And we all fell into the allure of the thermometer.

It was a way we could measure our faithfulness – or effectiveness for God.

Of course, all those thoughts are silly. And in the end all our buildings will burn to hell.

Yesterday was about all of us. Because we’re all guilty. None of us will arrive in heaven to hear, “Well built, my faithful building fund manager.”

If we took half our passion for building buildings to Haiti, Port-au-Prince could be rebuilt in the next few years.

If we took a fraction of the money we put into ourselves and unleashed it on water or food or human sex trafficking – we really could change the world.

So, in a way, yesterday’s post was meant to shake us out of the norm. To wake us up. To call us to a greater way of living.

Because it would be tragic to stand judgement for making a building the most significant thing we did for God’s Kingdom.

“While 40 million people died of starvation in the last decade, chuches spent $10 billion on campuses.”

Anger was the first emotion.

Then disappointment.

Followed quickly by frustration.

And then I remembered the line that the article started with: “Thirty-four million [...]]]> I read a stat yesterday that I honestly don’t know what to do with.

“While 40 million people died of starvation in the last decade, chuches spent $10 billion on campuses.”

Anger was the first emotion.

Then disappointment.

Followed quickly by frustration.

And then I remembered the line that the article started with: “Thirty-four million Americans have given up on organized religion…”

And I thought: if that’s how organized religion is caring for the oppressed, maybe that’s not so bad.

After all, this was personal to the author:

“I went to seminary, and after several years of study, I began my career as a professional minister. It wasn’t long, however, before I discovered that the church was more lost than the world it was trying to save.

“Go into many churches today, and instead of finding an institution interested in saving the world, what you may find is an institution vastly more interested in saving itself.”

I’m pretty heartbroken – only because his words ring so true. (You can read the rest here.)

We have to change things. We have to abandon the old way of doing things. We have to bring the freedom found in Jesus to the world. We have to raise up communities of people – churches – that are connected to one another, to their cities and to the world.

We have to dis-organize, de-centralize and de-construct what we have come to know as church.

We need to rediscover the path of Jesus.

For me, when I heard of hungry people, I thought: we have a team that handles them.

I wasn’t engaged (or even aware) of the global water crises.

I really [...]]]> It’s easy to get wrapped up in the institution of church. There are programs, teams and systems to run.

For me, when I heard of hungry people, I thought: we have a team that handles them.

I wasn’t engaged (or even aware) of the global water crises.

I really wasn’t welcoming strangers (outside of them coming to a weekend service).

Providing for those who need clothing wasn’t high on my list… or on it at all.

Caring for the sick was something someone else handled (because I told myself I wasn’t “gifted” to do it).

Connecting to those in prison was for the fringe ministry people, not me.

And based off Jesus words in Matthew 25:41, my actions were those of a pastor who is going to hell.

Jesus also said, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

For, I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

I was naked and you clothed me,

I was sick and you visited me.

I was in prison and you came to me.

So maybe I need the oppressed more than they need me. Maybe in serving I find redemption for my own soul. Restoration for my own heart.

Maybe in serving them I meet the God of the oppressed in real, tangible ways.

And maybe, when it comes to the church, all the systems, the programs, the teams, the services – all of it is peripheral. Maybe instead of giving our lives to the church, we should give them to Jesus – feeding the hungry, providing water for the thirsty, welcoming the rejected, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and filling prisons with the hope of Christ.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said it best: If you want to build a ship, don’t summon people to buy wood, prepare tools, distribute jobs and organize the work, rather teach people the yearning for the wide, boundless ocean.

What do you see?

What story does her face tell?

Do you believe there is a God who has a plan for her life?

Here’s her caption from the NYT Photo Blog: Indian sex workers held candles as they celebrated International Sex Workers Rights Day organized by the Dubar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, [...]]]>

What do you see?

What story does her face tell?

Do you believe there is a God who has a plan for her life?

Here’s her caption from the NYT Photo Blog: Indian sex workers held candles as they celebrated International Sex Workers Rights Day organized by the Dubar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta. The International Sex Worker Rights Day began in 2001 when more than 25,000 sex workers gathered in India for a sex worker festival.

Now what do you see?

Which makes me want to live a new way… a way that would lead myself and those around me into deeper relationship with this God who meets needs.

And I’m starting to figure out what that looks like.

culture of excess numbs me to the God who provides needs.

Which makes me want to live a new way… a way that would lead myself and those around me into deeper relationship with this God who meets needs.

And I’m starting to figure out what that looks like.

Donating to Haiti, providing shelter to those who have none.

Pouring my life into providing clean drinking water to the 1 billion people who lack access to it.

Partnering with Tom’s shoes to give children shoes that will prevent disease and death.

Altering my life drastically (like living with one car) so I can afford to do all this.

The best way to know this God who meets needs is by actively working as his image to the world – meeting every need I can meet.  And maybe that’s why we keep talking about changing the world. Because if Jesus’ followers got together and met needs like he would meet them, everything would change.

And it would be incredible.

Having access only to what I need feels insufficient because I’m used to having so much more.

How about you?

Could you live with shelter that was simply sufficient? [...]]]> I have trouble understanding a God who meets the needs of his people because the entire context of my life is built upon excess.

Having access only to what I need feels insufficient because I’m used to having so much more.

How about you?

Could you live with shelter that was simply sufficient? (The UN says a cover with four walls and a floor made of anything other than dirt.)

Or one cup to drink out of – washing it each time you use it rather than grabbing another one out of the counter? What if you didn’t have a cup, just access to clean water?

How about one set of clothing? One pair of shoes?

One car?

For me, all of these things are drastically less than I have – major compromises in my standard of living. But they’re enough.

And though my needs would be met, I would be ungrateful and dissatisfied to the core of my being.

So how do I understand – how do I know – the God that meets the needs of his people?