The Pittsburgh Steelers win the Super Bowl. At least that is what a lot of people are going to think in developing countries. Why? Haven’t you wondered where all those shirts and caps go that were printed for the Super Bowl, but they were printed with the losing team on them. Certainly, you have noticed that the winners are wearing merchandise immediately. And if you were actually there, shirts for the Packers were being sold as soon as the game ended. And if there were shirts for the Packers, there were also just as many somewhere for the Steelers.
So where do all the shirts for the losers go? Well, the companies that print them give them as a gift in kind to a relief agency that gives them to poor people in another part of the world. These people who receive the merchandise probably don’t know anything about American football or even know who the Pittsburgh Steelers are.
But this whole “Super” gift has become controversial this week among relief work. The merchandise companies get to make a charitable donation because of the gift which makes it easier to justify printing shirts for the losers and more profitable. And the relief agency gets its bottom line looking better by sending more relief. But do the recipients need another 100,000 t-shirts? Aren’t American t-shirts already in abundance in nearly every developing country? And if they are not needed, what about the immense cost of shipping them? And most textile industries in developing countries can no longer make it because they can’t compete with the donations of new and used clothing from America that is actually better than they can produce. And these products are sold very cheaply or given away. So how can they ever make an economic turnaround with such unfair competition? Continue reading →
When you think of food fights, it is hard not to picture John Belushi in “Animal House.” But food fights have escalated and become more serious lately. High unemployment and food prices have caused major riots in Algeria, Tunisia, and now Egypt. And it is going to continue elsewhere.
Obviously, we have seen the rising unemployment in the United States. But have you been to the grocery store lately? The prices are going way up when your salary is not. But in other developing countries, we are seeing prices doubling on needed staple items. The price of food is making the most dramatic increases that we have seen in years. As a result, the major future conflicts that we will see may not be fought over oil and nuclear weapons. The substance of conflict may be something a lot more basic—do I have food to eat?
Jungle. It was exactly what you expected in Africa. We had our Land Cruiser traveling where ordinary vehicles dreamed of going. It was one of those places way out in the middle of nowhere in Uganda. The people looked native. The huts were tiny and made of mud. The language was strange to me. But the people were welcoming. And why wouldn’t they be? It was church.
Their building of praise was really only four logs standing upright with a grass cover for a roof. But the building didn’t hinder their worship or enthusiasm for God. It was a time of celebration like I had never experienced. Some of the women led the way with a tribal dance of worship led by yells, shrills, and eventually loud singing. Wow, I had never experienced exuberant song anything close to this before. This was church. I was in awe of their extreme joy in the midst of such huge poverty. But their lack of food, clothing and good shelter hadn’t prevented them from having the joy of the Lord.
Now it was my turn. It was preaching time. It didn’t take long into my sermon before the most annoying thing started happening. Over and over again, their cell phones started ringing. And in remote Africa, there is no proper etiquette for incoming calls. Yes, they answered and talked just as loudly as I was in my sermon. Continue reading →
What causes the expansion of Christianity? What makes a church grow? How can we be more evangelistic? These questions are certainly some of the most discussed among Christian leaders today. Usually the conclusions are similar, and you have probably heard most of them.
However, I read a book that presented a different idea. It is one that may be unheard of to you. Rodney Stark in The Rise of Christianity examines several critical factors that helped Christianity move from an obscure religious movement to the dominant world religion in just a few centuries. What makes the book so interesting is that he is not writing it to promote Christianity or to change the habits of churches in regard to their evangelistic styles. No, he is a professor of sociology at the University of Washington and merely gives an academic critique.
Several of the points Stark makes are the same ones that you would expect and commonly hear by church leaders concerning the rapid growth rate of the early church. But Starks camps out on one particular distinctive of primitive Christianity that truly needs to be explored. He concludes that one of the primary reasons that Christianity grew so quickly was because of the way they responded to epidemics. There were frequent epidemics in the first few centuries. Usually these vast disasters occurred in the cities. When the epidemics happened, people started fleeing the cities. But while everybody was running away trying to avoid the plagues, Christians stayed and ministered to the sick and dying. This caused two things to happen. First of all, the compassion of Christianity was vividly revealed and juxtaposed to the lack of love in the secular city and other religions. Secondly, the survivors of the epidemics were indebted to the Christians and adopted their belief system.
I love college students. So much of my life has revolved around campus ministry. My first two ministries were at Texas Tech and the University of Washington. I have attended the last 37 National Campus Ministries Seminars. In fact, I think campus ministry is the best way to change the world.
In Acts 19, Paul goes to the school of Tyrannus in Ephesus. I’m told that it would be the closest thing to an institution of higher education in that time. It would be like the University of Washington is to Seattle. Anyhow, it says that he stayed there for a couple of years, and everyone in Asia heard the word of the Lord. How did that happen? I assume that people from all over the world came to this school and stayed for a few years developing knowledge and leadership. Then, they left and went back all over Asia. And they carried with them the gospel that they learned there. People come from all over the world to American universities and then they go home as the world’s leaders. It would be so nice if they took Jesus back with them.
When I was growing up, there was a little kid who lived a couple of doors down from me who had some mental challenges. Being a kid, I didn’t really understand his problems very well. But on the other hand, it didn’t make much difference to me. We played together, and I enjoyed being with him.
However, I got a rude awakening to the prejudices of life early in my childhood as I discovered that other kids in my neighborhood didn’t want to play with this kid. Not only were the kids avoiding him, but their parents also didn’t want their children playing with him. Instead of playing together, the children made fun of him, played pranks on him and gave him a nickname– “Stinky.” Pretty soon everyone in the neighborhood, even the adults called him Stinky.
One day I was playing with him when some of the other kids came up and started making fun of him. I asked them to stop and they asked a penetrating question– “Oh, are you Stinky’s friend?” To answer that question “No” meant betrayal. To answer that question “Yes” meant that I would be put down also and they would make fun of me too. In my neighborhood, I would be known as “Stinky’s friend.” Continue reading →
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”–Augustine
If Augustine’s words are true, I feel like I have read an encyclopedia this year. Travel has opened up my mind and my heart, and I will never see people in the same way again.
This is the first time in my life where I haven’t had a local church where I experience weekly and regular fellowship. Francis Bii of Eldoret, Kenya told me that the world was my new church. Maybe he is right. When I have viewed it that way, I have found a home and family wherever I go.
So as we enter 2011, I want to thank you for my family and homes around the world. I have seen children who were saved from slavery in Liberia, children who were saved from AIDS in Kenya, children who were saved out of the earthquake in Haiti, children who got relief from their extreme poverty in Central America, and just children. There is more than one page, and I hope to finish the book.
Thank each one of you who saved one more child in 2010. I love you. You are my family. You are my church. You have invited me into your home.
And if you know Johnny Cash’s song, Amarillo was included. I’ve been there too.
My friend, Jeff Berryman, wrote a most intriguing play called “Return to Bethlehem.” He proposes the idea of a return visit to Bethlehem by Jesus when he was thirty years old. Only in Berryman’s dramatic piece, Jesus doesn’t receive a hero’s welcome. In fact, he’s not even called by his own name. Instead he meets a bunch of older women who only refer to him as “the child of the census.”
In this fictional account, Jesus’ homecoming is unfriendly because these are the very women who had lost their sons decades ago in the slaughter of the innocents by King Herod. When they see Jesus, all they can visualize are their own sons who should have been his age and still living in Bethlehem.
In this unusual twist of thought, Berryman proposes the quandary of the women. Why is Jesus alive rather than their sons? If truth were told, their sons would have still been alive if Jesus hadn’t been born. What was so special about Jesus? Was his life really better than their own sons? To put it bluntly, their sons gave their lives simply because Jesus was born. Was he worth it?
Indeed, what is so special about Jesus? Many around the world today equate the coming of Jesus with holy wars and hatred. Was his advent truly worth the division he has caused? Why is his life better than anyone else’s?
Auburn and Oregon. That’s who will play for the National Championship in college football this season. What a great matchup! And what is interesting to me is that I have spoken in both Auburn and Eugene this fall and watched football games with fans from both universities. Since I always wear orange, I was very welcomed in Auburn and a little bit suspect in Eugene (especially since they were playing the Beavers who wear orange). But what fun it was being with a bunch of fans who were seeing their long held dreams come true on the football field.
I love watching football. And I love watching football fans. The enthusiasm and school spirit of these two institutions is extremely appealing and contagious. Not only do these universities have great football teams, but they are also two of the greatest schools when it comes to team spirit. Auburn fans dance like crazy and revel in a War Eagle. Ducks actually quack and make more noise than any other fans in the NCAA. In just seconds when you are with either team you can fit in perfectly—if you root for the right team
What’s this have to do with anything on this blog? This blog is all about hope. And hope is exactly what I saw in these two colleges. They both have great hope that they are going to be national champions. What is hope? I have always defined it as “a joyful anticipation of the future.” It means that you believe that your future is going to be good. And because you believe this, you have a joy in the present. Continue reading →
What is the greatest humanitarian crisis in history? We all probably know. It is the AIDS pandemic. We have seen pictures of the children on late night television. Bono has gone across the globe calling attention to the disaster. Our last three presidents have devoted the greatest funding of any benevolent cause in the history of our country to assisting with the affected in Africa.
Is it better? Yes. Is it over? No.
A new study from the World Health Organization points out the great strides that have been made in recent years in combating HIV/AIDS. Increased funding to the US PEPFAR program (the president’s funding to help with AIDS in Africa) and the Global Fund have helped to improve testing, survival, and transmission. According to a new report by Towards Universal Access, the proportion of pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa who received an HIV test increased from 43 percent in 2008 to 51 percent in 2009. The report by the UNICEF regional director Elhadj Sy said the progress made in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission is testimony of the fact that virtual elimination by 2015 is achievable. “What we need is strong political leadership, funding, good programs and activism. If we build on the progress and with renewed commitment we are well on our way to achieving virtual elimination by 2015,” Sy said.
But in the last couple of years, contributions to these programs have either flat-lined or decreased. The incredible progress gives more evidence to how important continued donations of support can be in helping people live through AIDS. Continue reading →
The Pittsburgh Steelers win the Super Bowl. At least that is what a lot of people are going to think in developing countries. Why? Haven’t you wondered where all those shirts and caps go that were printed for the Super Bowl, but they were printed with the losing team on them. Certainly, you have noticed that the winners are wearing merchandise immediately. And if you were actually there, shirts for the Packers were being sold as soon as the game ended. And if there were shirts for the Packers, there were also just as many somewhere for the Steelers. 
