Venezuela and the Conversation at Menlo Church

I am being asked about Venezuela. Last year we hosted an event at Menlo Church which outlined the historical issues and economic problems with Venezuela. We thought the problems would be somewhat short-lived with the possible and immanent replacement of President Nicolas Maduro with opposition leader Juan Guaido. Then things went south. Guaido has been…

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Special Gift for Monthly Supporters

Ohhhh that was so much fun!!!!!!!!! My special gift for monthly supporters of our mission during 2017. This is what I said: “I am inviting you for a 5-day holiday with me and my family. I will take care of accommodation and food and will pick you up from the airport and drop you off.…

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Philanthrocapitalism

At a New York Social Enterprise event called the Feast I had the privilege of hearing Matthew Bishop, author of Philanthrocapitalism which is about the “head and the heart coming together” in a new model of capitalism. We should use the present financial crisis to build something worthwhile, said Matthew, and shared with us that more will…

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Resourcing Missional Entrepreneurs

Reblogging this post today because I get requests how to find my presentation. ————————————— Prague. Yesterday I spoke to a group of Christian business professionals and Foundation leaders from USA about how to resource missional entrepreneurs in Europe in a sustainable way, ie, without creating eternal charity cases. These people, all of them very friendly,  are…

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Helping Syrian Refugees

We leave for Turkey in a few days and are quite excited about helping out with the Syrian refugee situation but also not quite sure exactly how we can be of greatest assistance. Perhaps the best answers will come when we arrive in Turkey and then Jordon. Right now we are putting a team of…

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12 Resources for Christian Generosity

My friend Sas Conradie from the Global Generosity Movement has just released 12 Resources for Christian Generosity: E.G. “Jay” Link’s latest book ‘Who’s In Charge Here?’ is now available. The pdf and Kindle versions of the book are free – just go to this webpage.   The Money Revolution is a website linked to a book that helps…

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Our WorldWide Dinner Party

Tonight was our worldwide dinner party as part of the Feast on Good movement. We made our own pizza and had a nice dessert (thanks Claire!) The issue we chose to tackle was poverty in our area.  Here’s what we came up with. Poverty is a real issue in our area. We want to help…

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The Feast Worldwide Dinner Party kicks off here

UPDATE: We just had our dinner and it was GREAT. Read about it here. ———————————————- ORIGINAL POST: The creative people at Feast on Good, who I met in New York and have mentioned on the blog before, are hosting a worldwide dinner party for good on Friday Oct 5. And we are doing it with them by hosting…

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Overhead on non-profits

Summary of study from GreyMatter: New research shows the average American believes it is reasonable for non-profit organizations to spend 23 cents out of every dollar on overhead expenses such as fundraising or administration.  However, 62% believe non-profits typically spend more than is reasonable for overhead, and the average American estimates spending on overhead at…

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$500 mini-grant to know Your community

Starting a social enterprise? You need to know the community you serve. My friends at Echoing Green want to encourage you to do this by offering $500 for the best strategy. You have until August 8th to submit your idea on how that $500 could make a difference. That’s one week. So on your bike and…

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How Communities Heal

Update: GREAT evening. Photos are on Facebook.Thanks Vivian for your inspiration! And thanks Colin and Laurel for the invitation. ———– Original Post: Debbie and I have been invited to a book launch tomorrow for How Communities Heal: Stories of Social Innovation and Social Change, by vivian Hutchinson who spells his first name in lower case. Either that…

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On having a bender and what else we might learn from Kony2012

So Jason Biggs appears to be the first serious contender for a Jason-Russell-style naked-meltdown parody. I expect more people will follow Jason’s example and there might even be some niche products and T-shirts on their way. Ring-tone, anyone? I chose not to blog the Kony2012 uber-trending event. Sorry if you were expecting me to jump…

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Emerging Philanthropy: NOW Funding, not SOON Funding

Sometimes, you need NOW funding to assist an emergency situation. When an earthquake hits, people need resources immediately. They have no house and only the clothes on their back. If its cold, their families will freeze. Rescue workers need to be fed or they will stop shifting bricks and more people will die. Fundraising takes time…

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Innovative worship shift

“The edges and images of congregational vitality continually shifted over the last half of the twentieth century“. David A. Roozen. From “A Decade of Change in American Congregations 2000-2010” [PDF] which claims to be the largest national survey of congregations ever conducted in the U.S. HT: Faith Communities Today, TJ

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Epoch2011 giving away $50,000

Big event tonight in Atlanta at the Fox Theatre. I received an invitation to be a part of Epoch 2011 but unfortunately, I am in the wrong part of the world tonight. From what I can see, the event is a celebration of Christian ministry and creativity. I like the idea of making the selection and…

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Philanthropists and the Reformation

This week we visited Bethleham Chapel in Prague, where Jan Hus pastored and preached. Sasa Flek gave us a great historical overview of the Reformation from the Czech perspective. Normally, when theologians tell the story, they focus on the doctrinal changes of the Reformation and honor the theologians like Wyclif, Hus, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc. But…

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Lunch with Isaac Slade of The Fray

Our family stopped into Denver last week and had lunch with Isaac Slade, lead musician and vocalist for The Fray. I met Isaac last month in South Africa, right after he visited a social enterprise in Rwanda. Great to see a musician with a heart for changing the world. Nice guy – intelligent, hard working,…

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