This past weekend Tracy and I had the privilege of doing a photo shoot for the guys at Selfless Tee, a start up (and winner of the Pepsi Refresh Challenge) that is working to help fund causes that make a difference around the world by selling T-Shirts. (Is that a brilliant idea or what?!)

So far they’ve supported the causes of Blood:Water Mision, Vermont Flood Relief (I Am Vermont Strong), and several others in only a few short months after launch! We really love these guys and what they’re doing to make a difference in the world, and the breadth of their reach could be limitless.

This time around we (Tracy + I) got to be a part of the Feel Good campaign, an organization that is working to “end world hunger one grilled cheese (cheese toastie) at a time.” They have a great video on the site that explains exactly how they are working to do this through non-profit gourmet deli’s on college campuses and to date they’ve already raised over one million dollars (since 2005) to help eradicate hunger and poverty around the world.

I’m always amazed at the creativity and ingenuity of people who come together to create positive and lasting change around the world through simple but effective ideation. I’m looking forward to following each of their stories more–thankfully it’s not that hard since I get to see them pretty regularly around the office. Take a moment and stop by the Selfless Tee site and support a cause with a T-Shirt. It’s amazing what a little can do, if we all do it together.

This is why I have been partnering with small business owners around the world through Kiva.org since 2006. I love the change that is possible through small sacrifice of making a loan to the least of these who are working so diligently to improve their living conditions. I also love how this elevates the role of human responsibility to one another–reducing separation–, while decreasing the importance of the role of government in making change around the world possible.

“…if this is gonna be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor either we’ve got to pretend that Jesus is just as selfish as we are or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition… and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.” Stephen Colbert

“Baptism is more than a way to spiritual freedom. It also is the way to community. Baptising a person is receiving that person into the community of faith. Those who are reborn from above through baptism, and are called to live the life of sons and daughters of God, belong together as members of one spiritual family, the living body of Christ. When we baptise people, we welcome them into this family of God and offer them guidance, support, and formation, as they grow to the full maturity of the Christ-like life.” Henri Nouwen

This morning I had the privilege of participating in the baptisms for these four men. My friend Michael Browne, who is a part of our IKON Community, created an intense discipleship program to reach into and change the lives of the homeless here in San Francisco. Only six weeks into his first group, this happened… baptisms. I’m amazed and excited for the work Michael is doing in this city!

It was a tremendous joy to be there as 30 people surrounded these men, listened to their stories of pain and rejection that led to redemption and hope. It’s exciting to see these men, who have connected with our IKON Community, being surrounded by people who love and support them, are cheering them on, and watching their lives change on a daily basis. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these stories played out in our community, of seeing people’s lives renewed as together we push forward towards the renewal of all things!

Black Friday is such an interesting day of the year. It’s become almost a patriotic sort of holiday in the middle of this Great Recession we have placed ourselves in. “Buy to help the economy!” However, there seems to be more and more of a growing sense that we shouldn’t succumb to the materialistic endeavor of Black Friday and instead boycott the day altogether… Black Friday has become Buy Nothing Day.

However, what if that’s not really the answer? For many who participate in Buy Nothing Day, the purchases that would be made on Black Friday simply get strung out over the course of the month leading up to Christmas which makes Buy Nothing Day a purely symbolic act with no real teeth at all.

What if we began to think about Black Friday in a different way… what if we began to look at how we spend our money–where we spend our money? What if we began to educate ourselves on our spending habits…

(ht: Adam Lehman

Often times our buying power, our wealth as a nation is seen by many as a very bad thing… I believe that’s because of how we use our buying power. But what if we began to see our buying power as a positive thing… what if we began utilizing our financial resources and buying power in positive ways by educating ourselves on what it is that we are buying and where it is that we are buying from? I think we would see radical changes take place in business practices all over the globe, and through our buying choices be a voice for the voiceless.

(Before you press play, please note that if you’re easily offended, you will probably be offended by this video–you were warned.)

Sarah Silverman, the tremendously sarcastic provocateur has once again given us something profound to ponder as we continually stare at and shed tears but ultimately refuse to respond to the issue of extreme poverty and world hunger. Our refusal, I hope/believe, isn’t so much because we’re a heartless people but rather because of the enormity of the problem standing in front of us. The shear magnitude is enough to render us completely useless as we sit totally overwhelmed by the shadow it casts over us. With that said, I think she’s on to something… let’s sell the Vatican! It’s the perfect solution, isn’t it? It’s really rather useless in the grand scheme of things, so incredibly ornate and enormous in size that it puts everything else around it to shame. It’s the perfect solution to an instant gratification, someone-else-should-take-care-of-the-problem-because-I-have-enough-problems-of-my-own society that we’ve become.

And although therein lies the greatest problem, our “someone else will/should do it” mentality, there is also a large sliver of truth that we should pay careful attention to… as well as a big question for us to ask: Why hasn’t the church taken a greater responsibility in contributing to the end of this problem? Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of what the church has accomplished, the amazing acts of generosity that have gone on all around the world as communities have stepped up to make a difference with what they have, but this is more the exception rather than the rule. And even though I don’t think the point of Silverman’s genius is to get the church to do something, I think we should take it that way.

The shear magnitude of the epidemic of extreme poverty is so great that the “exception churches” won’t be able to make a sizable dent in the near future. That is why the entire church must begin to come together to eradicate poverty together. This should be a movement of unification, of churches far and wide coming together with the single mission to do something like never before. And through this, the greatest act of love, people will know that we are His disciples. But it all starts with unity… of one church coming together with another church, and working with a third and a fourth until a movement is birthed and villages, towns, cities, metropolises, regions, and countries are pulled from the depths of economic despair and senseless deaths from the ravages of extreme poverty are a thing of the past.

So, any churches want to partner with IKON to start something new?

She stood there with her head hung low and a scarf over her head as she held a sign in her hand. At first I couldn’t quite make out the words but then, almost instantly, they became clear: “Sick with cancer, no health insurance. Selling crafts for treatment.” She didn’t look homeless, in fact she was recently showered and clothed in a sun dress, but the frailness of her body showed the signs of a long bout with chemotherapy and a disease that was ravaging her life.

I walked on by.

I walked by trying not to make eye contact (an easy feat considering she was looking down at the ground), unsure of what to do, trying desperately to blend into the rest of the crowd that was walking along with me to get inside the church building for Sunday worship. Together we stood, we sang and we prayed, watched some baptisms and listened about the upcoming Compassion Sunday, we listened to a sermon and were challenged by the concept of Sabbath rest and prayed again for the poor and destitute in our society, sang another song and were dismissed. We walked out the doors and again, there she stood holding a basket, head hung low, looking even more frail than she did the first time I saw her. As we got a little bit closer, Tracy prodded me to take notice, seemingly asking me to do something… but what? I didn’t know.

I walked on by.

I walked by trying not to make eye contact, unsure of what to do, trying desperately to blend into the rest of the crowd as we walked away from church…

As I hang my head low and ponder my lack of action I can’t help but find it interesting that this woman came to the church for help. She may have stood at a distance, but she knew what she was doing–coming to the church for compassion, for mercy, for love, grace, help… and we walked by. (I didn’t see a single person stop.) She came to the people, not the structure, not the organization but to the people… but the people were unprepared to help.

(I could take this as an argument for why national health care is such an important issue, this woman who was sick and potentially dying from cancer couldn’t get the treatment necessary because she didn’t have health insurance.)

What can the church do in a situation like this? What can people do? How do you attempt to tackle a problem like this?

Immediately I think about small groups–inviting her into a community that can love and care for her, offer up financial help and opportunity to pay for her care by literally adopting her into their community. I see the potential of the small group to be an emotional support to her, walking her and guiding her, praying for her and loving on her during the difficult times of treatment. Such thoughts literally brings tears to my eyes because I see that as a beautiful expression of the gospel.

A small group, however, is unable to tackle a challenge like this unless they are prepared to act–and by act I mean taking the first step. How do you not only prepare a leader for something like this, but empower them and empower a member of a small group to take such a big leap of faith, compassion and love? How do you acknowledge their step of faith and encourage them along in the process… not to mention encouraging them to do it again?

I walked on by… and I’m left with nothing but questions…