MISSIONS
The Greatest Motivational Talk Ever? Almost.
Mar 24th
This talk from the Web 2.0 Expo in 2008 may be the greatest motivational talk ever. Mom (and others) I apologize for his salty language, but Gary Vaynerchuck is a passionate guy. The funny thing is, I think he’s almost right. Almost. Here’s a guy who has (almost) figured it out. You take the thing you’re passionate about, add absolute determination and hard work, and you find yourself doing something significant.
But here’s why I say he’s almost right. Because the thing that he’s passionate about is boring compared to what I’m passionate about. His hard work is wholly unrewarding compared to my hard work. The significance of his legacy is not nearly as great as he thinks it is. Why? Because Gary Vaynerchuck still thinks it’s about him and about us.
But here’s the thing, I think every church planter and pastor needs to see this video. Everyone who has ever felt like God was asking them to do something and giving them a passion for it needs to watch this. Every missionary, human rights activist and college student determined to change the world needs to listen to the words Gary is speaking.
Why? Because he has tapped into something fundamental in the human soul. What he has stumbled upon is the thing that God has placed inside of us that allows us to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” He has found an echo of the voice of God inside of us.
Take his words and apply them not just to the thing your passionate about, but the thing that God has made you passionate about. “Hustle” at the things that God puts in front of you. You want significance in your legacy? Work for the only One who was here long before you and will be here long after you. The passion that Gary exhibits in this talk should be reserved not for Web 2.0, but for a king – for The King.
If we can become as passionate about Jesus as Gary is about wine, web and whatever else, we can absolutely change the world. Jesus isn’t about Web 2.0. That’s WAY too boring for him. What he’s up to is World 2.0. And we’ve been invited to be on his team of initial investors. Let’s sign up and take the plunge!
ABBA Fund
Mar 10th
ABBA Fund provides interest-free loans for adoptive families
Have you ever had a meeting with someone and walked away absolutely sure that the encounter was God-ordained? I had had just such a meeting on Monday with Jason Kovacs. Jason is part of an organization called ABBA Fund. ABBA Fund is an organization that offers interest-free loans to families to pay for adoption expenses. Yes, that’s right, interest-free. No interest. No fees. Nothing. Just money that you need in order to pay for adoption.
And if that isn’t cool enough, ABBA Fund is also in the business of partnering with local churches to establish church adoption funds. Of course, in keeping with the spirit of their mission, they don’t charge the churches anything to set up or administer these funds. Yeah…zero dollars to handle the process from beginning to end. Sound crazy? Yeah.
If you’re like me, whenever you hear of an organization willing to put forth the kind of energy, expertise and risk of reviewing applications, approving and managing personal loans and they don’t ask for a dime of interest from the loan recipient or from the partnering organization, you ask one question: What’s the catch? There’s always a catch, right?
Well, yeah. The catch is that these guys are crazy about adoption. They are crazy about God’s heart for orphans. And they have determined to do everything in their power to help unite these kids and the families who want to care for them for the rest of their lives. As I talked to Jason, I began to understand that there really is no other objective here. It really is all about the kids.
Of course, one of my first questions to Jason as we began to talk (over a bowl of Pappasito’s chips) was, “So, if you don’t make any money off of the loans and you don’t get any money from the partner churches, how to you afford to operate?” He explained that ABBA Fund has a few donors who believe in the mission of the organization and who designate funds specifically for operations. By keeping their overhead low, ABBA Fund is able to function on these donations alone and allow all of the money coming in from other sources to go back to families in need of adoption funds. “People keep suggesting that we charge for what we do,” he told me, “but the board just keeps coming back and saying ‘We want to do this for free.’” (Sounds like a good board, Jason!)
As Jason and I continued our conversation, it became very clear that God had put us together for a reason. We talked about the future of ABBA Fund, about what God seems to be doing within church circles regarding adoption and about the need for more organization, more communication and a better network for adoptive families. We promised to keep the lines of communication open as we journey down this path and we promised to meet again soon. I know that we will and I’m really looking forward to it.
You can follow Jason and ABBA Fund on Twitter at @jasonkovacs and @ABBAFund. You can also read more about ABBA Fund and what they do at www.abbafund.org.
Chile, Haiti and…
Feb 28th
As the images and information come in about the Chile earthquake, aftershocks and the resulting tsunamis, many of us are reminded of the earthquake in Haiti just over a month ago. All day, I’ve heard people comparing the two earthquakes (the Chile quake was perhaps 500x stronger than the Haiti quake). Of course, the most common question is, “Why was the damage so much less in Chile?”
That’s a question that can be pretty easily answered by anyone with knowledge of the two countries. Chile is located in the infamous “Ring of Fire”, where 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur. Yeah…90%. Haiti, on the other hand, is a country that hadn’t seen what could be considered a major earthquake since 1860 and not one of this magnitude in nearly 250 years. The Chilean people prepare for earthquakes. The Hatian people do not. Chilean buildings are made to withstand shaking (although many collapsed during this massive quake). Hatian buildings, many made of unreinforced concrete, crumbled under even modest shaking. So, the disproportionate amount of damage and casualties in Haiti is easy to understand, even if it’s difficult to swallow.
Unfortunately, there are still hundreds who lost their lives yesterday and hundreds of thousands who had to sleep outside last night. To them, the devastation is just as bad as Haiti. Their families will be forever changed by this event just like the families in Haiti. The big difference to you and me? This is not as “sexy” of a news story for the media to cover.
Is that an unfair assessment for me to make? Well, judging by the CNN coverage today that spent an hour showing a webcam in Hawaii waiting for a tsunami to hit (and the seeming disappointment by the anchors when nothing really happened), I think the news media will be done with this story in less than a week. It’s not going to make them money, not going to win them awards and not going to increase their ratings. So they will forget about it. And so will we.
Need proof? We’re already letting Haiti slip from our minds. Before yesterday, when was the last time you thought about Haiti? Did you think about the fact that millions are sleeping outside in the rain? Did you think about the separated families, the children stuck in UNICEF camps and those who can’t leave the country because of government corruption?
And even if you have thought about Haiti, has it dominate your thoughts and conversation like it did a month ago? Is it as real to you today as it was then? Sadly, probably not. I confess that even though I think about and pray for Haiti regularly, it has slipped from the forefront of my thoughts. How in the world did I let that happen when there is so much work still to be done?
And what about New Orleans (which is still rebuilding) or Indonesia? Yeah, remember Indonesia? Six years ago, a massive earthquake and the accompanying tsunami killed over 230,000 people (roughly the same as the Haiti quake). Before all the tsunami talk yesterday, when was the last time you thought about that deadly wave in Indonesia? Have you prayed recently for the countless number of people who lost loved-ones in that tragedy? Have you looked to see how you might be able to help the people in that region? Again, I confess that I hadn’t until today. (I found this article which outlines the rebuilding success and remaining challenges).
As eager as I am to help in Chile and Haiti, right now there isn’t much I can do. But in 6 months or a year or 5 years, when these people really need the kind of help I can provide, will I have forgotten them? Will I, like the media outlets that inform me, have moved on to the next disaster, political scandal or “sexy” news story? Wow, I hope not. God, help us to remember…and to lend a hand and a voice when others have forgotten.
