Reflection: Congratulations To Kiva For Ten Years Of Changing Lives

Recently I was contacted by a good friend, world changer, and former Nuru staff member and asked if I would be willing to help her get the word out about Kiva's latest video and their celebration of 10 years and a deep global impact from their efforts. For me, the response was all to easy. In a country that has more than 1.5 million nonprofits in existence, I believe it is critical to share the stories of those who are doing great work. Kiva is one of those organizations.

But it isn't just me saying so. Kiva has been fortunate enough in its early years to get a vote of confidence from former President Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey among others. And, back in 2009, Jamie received a Kiva loan gift card from my best friend in the whole world, Willie. Jamie has used the gift multiple times because every time the borrower repays their loan, she has been able to extend a new loan to a new borrower. I know Jamie has really enjoyed reading stories of how the loans would be used, and it has helped us both to grow in our understanding of what it is like to be an entrepreneur in different parts of the world.

And thanks to Willie's example, we have also bought Kiva loan gift cards for others who are lending and re-lending funds to people looking for a hand-up instead of a hand-out. Kiva finds entrepreneurs and connects them to lenders from around the globe who can help these entrepreneurs launch their dreams. Farmers are among those individuals Jamie has lent funds to--for folks familiar with Nuru, you know that having funds available to acquire high quality seed and fertilizer is a huge obstacle for farmers living in extreme poverty. But Kiva is not just helping farmers, they are helping people in a variety of contexts to begin turning a dream into a reality. Jamie has also helped invest in schools fees for a family in Lebanon, a businesswoman in Sierra Leone, and even invested in a medical clinic in Kenya.

If you have never set up a loan through Kiva, I highly recommend it. Regardless of other ways you may be investing your money to help others, extending a loan via Kiva is a great way to gain perspective with regard to the challenges of others around the word. Not only that, but it provides a great reminder that together, lasting change is possible!

I hope you will join me, Jamie, Willie, and others in congratulating Kiva for ten years of amazingness. You can share this blog, share the video above, or even Tweet with the hashtag #BeTheSpark to encourage and congratulate them.

Together, let's keep doing our part to make the world a better place, and take time to celebrate successes along the way! Congratulations Kiva! You inspire us, and remind us of the good work being done in our world!

Waiting

The brilliant video above is the latest promotional piece from an incredible advocacy organization called ONE. ONE was started by Bono, the lead singer of the band U2, in an effort to challenge governments and individuals to take action in the fight to end extreme poverty. Jamie and I have been members of ONE for several years, and just this summer, Jamie took a volunteer position with ONE as the Congressional District Leader for the state of West Virginia.

The video above illustrates a challenge we all encounter in our lives—the challenge of waiting. We live in a world where we expect immediate gratification in every arena. As a culture, we are becoming increasingly self-absorbed and we easily grow impatient with slowness in download times, traffic, food service, and you name it.

And yet, when it comes to bigger issues, we often sit by—watching. Meanwhile, there are people who are waiting and hoping for individuals like you to take action and use your voice and your time to make a difference.

Right now, the Ebola virus is devastating West Africa. For some, the problem is far away and out of mind, but we are no longer all that separated as a global community. Within hours, anyone on the planet can be anywhere on the planet. What affects one truly does affect us all.

Every day we wait to take action on issues like Ebola and extreme poverty, more people die. People die while waiting for funding to reach the ground, waiting for doctors and nurses to be deployed, and for shattered medical services to be rebuilt.

So what can you do? To start, sign ONE’s petition asking world leaders to step up and take action on Ebola. Beyond that, start spreading the word—tell people what THEY can do to address the issue. That’s why I wrote this post. I’ve signed the petition, and I want you to do so as well. Looking for more steps to take? Stop waiting and joinONE.

May we each take appropriate action as we are able so others can stop waiting for a response.

What percentage of the US budget gets spent on foreign aid?

I really love the efforts of groups like the ONE campaign to raise awareness and increase advocacy for our global neighbors who live in extreme poverty. ONE was started in 2004, and cofounded by Bono, lead singer of the band U2. Over the last few years, I have had the privilege of getting to know some of the staff at ONE and learn more about their efforts to increase awareness about global extreme poverty, and I have been thoroughly impressed. Back in 2004, approximately 2000 people attended their launch rally. Now they are a movement of over 2 million people. When a friend at ONE asked me to share one of their latest videos, I readily accepted. And I hope you might do the same.

As I travel the country sharing Nuru's story and inviting individuals and communities to join us in our efforts to end global extreme poverty, sometimes I hear objections similar to the ones reflected in this video. People wrongly assume that efforts to maintain or increase foreign aid is somehow hugely detrimental to our economy here. The fact is that an incredibly small percentage (less than 1%) of the US budget is dedicated to development efforts, and in many ways this budget allotment serves multiple good purposes. Not only does it help people globally in general, but it also decreases desperation and increases opportunities for our global neighbors. In many ways, everybody benefits when we help our neighbors who are suffering. Of course, looking out for others is also just the right thing to do.

In a time when in the US we are being compelled to take a hard look at where we are spending money and we are looking for places to cut, I personally believe that efforts to care for those living on less than the buying power of $1.25 a day should be among the last to be cut. In my limited travels internationally, I have personally witnessed that desperation that one in six people on our planet live in. And living here, it is hard to comprehend that anyone would live in the conditions that I have seen. Make no mistake, we need our leaders to make cuts in our budget. We need to learn to limit our spending. I am not going to make suggestions of what needs to be cut, but rather make one suggestion of an area I hope we do not cut until conditions change so that this small percentage of our budget is no longer needed.

Thanks for reading, and may we as individuals, and as a country, never yield in our commitment to serve the most vulnerable members of our world through life saving initiatives around the globe.

Kid President Pep Talk and Back Story

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine posted a link to the video above on his Facebook profile. With it, he included a statement about it being a long week, and that he hoped that if others had experienced a long week that this little “Pep Talk” might encourage folks to keep going.

So I watched it. I laughed. And I was reminded that the road less traveled hurts. I was reminded “'Don’t Stop Believin’ Unless Your Dream Is Stupid”~Journey as quoted by Kid President. I was reminded that there is something wonderful about stopping to dance amid what can feel like overwhelming circumstances.

I was tempted to write a post around the inspiration I found in watching Kid President’s Pep Talk, and then, when he and his brother-in-law released this video telling his back story, it inspired me further.

Rather than writing a long post, I simply pray that we may find the discipline and the courage to keep pushing, keep dancing, and keep bringing awesomeness into the world. Boring is easy. Let’s not be boring, but let’s change the world together!

Help Nuru Expand To 1750 New Families Now And Get Your Donation Matched

Earlier this year, my wife and I visited our work in Kenya and received update after update from individuals who for the first time ever were able to feed their families, and were also learning to save for the future. Their children were going to school, and they were learning about preventative health and sanitation interventions that were reducing the incidence of illness in their homes. So much has happened since this was just an idea being talked about. In 2012, nearly 3000 families were benefitting from Nuru’s programs, and we even began laying groundwork for starting an initiative in a second country.

I’m deeply grateful for what we have been able to do together over these last few years, and I’m excited by the prospect of accomplishing even more together in the future. It has been inspiring for me to have so many friends join us in this work by donating, sharing Nuru’s story, and inviting others to get involved with this work.

In 2013, Nuru is preparing to expand programs to 1750 new families which will mean even more people in southwestern Kenya being equipped with the tools and knowledge to lead their communities out of extreme poverty for good. As 2012 approaches its end, a very generous donor has stepped up to match dollar-for-dollar every donation that is received during the month of December, up to $100,000.  There are less than 96 hours left to take advantage of the opportunity, will you help us hit our goal?

Thanks so much for being Nuru!

E4 Fantastic Theological Content In A Portable Format

In 2003-2004 I had the privilege of participating in a series of intensive lectures featuring some of the great theologians of our generation. The intensives were part of a project called ‘e4’ and they varied in length from one to five days. Each class featured both lecture and impromptu Q & A sessions and was professionally recorded. And just recently, this content was made available in an affordable iPhone app format.

This app features a series of in-app purchases that enable the user to be able to learn from some of the most influential and thoughtful theologians and religious scholars of the modern era. Each module is reasonably priced as they contain several hours of video content of teachers like Dallas Willard, Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, Alister McGrath, Graham Tomlin, Gordon Pennington, and many others.

As an example, for $4.99, a user can purchase 19 hours of lectures from Dallas Willard sharing thoughts about spiritual formation, the nature of truth and a number of other subjects.

The app allows users to switch from watching video to reading while listening to a transcription of the lecture, and even has a feature which allows quotes to be tweeted directly from the app with the hashtag #e4app.

The lectures are divided into individual sessions of approximately one hour each so one does not need to download the entirety of the content at once, but can enjoy the lectures within a course section by section.

The app was created by a friend of mine named Pavi Thomas and features all of the content created during the series of e4 lectures in 2003-2004. He had a pretty incredible team of people working on the initial project with him, and as a participant in the classes and a user of the app, I am extremely thankful for the efforts of his team to bring together such a high quality tool, and to make it readily accessible to many for a low cost.

Overall, I highly recommend this app for its quality of content and its extremely affordable and portable platform. If you have an interest in theology, spiritual formation, media, science & faith, stewardship and/or apologetics these classes are an incredible tool  for learning.

A Little Encouragement For Your Health And Wellness Goals: Twenty Three And A Half Hours

My good friends Luke & Diane Harriman recommended this video to me while I was in Florida as an extra incentive to pursue some of my health and wellness goals for 2012. I was just able to watch the video for the first time this weekend, and I did so with my wife and her parents, and we all found it insightful, engaging and inspiring for pursuing improved health and fitness.

What I love most about this video is the different tact taken to describe how to pursue a fitness goal. We’ve heard that 20-30 minutes of exercise(walking, cardio, hiking, biking) per day can do the body a world of good, but to ‘couch’ it in a different way is pure brilliance.

Dr Mike Evans encourages us to limit our sitting and lying down to 23.5 hours per day to enjoy some pretty amazing health benefits. There’s something about looking at it in this way that I find extremely motivating.

I hope you enjoy the video as much as we did, and that it can provide additional motivation toward your own health and wellness goals this year.