Category: misc

Bringing light to Africa

Well, I’ve decided Nigeria is not the place for me this year.
I don’t know why (or why not) but I just haven’t had a peace about going back this year with the “Crazy Texas Team” and the CWF.
Maybe God has something else lined up for me – school, another ministry, I don’t know.
But while I was in Nigeria last year, I kept asking myself, “Why is there not more solar power being used.”
Africa is prime for renewable energy sources. We were constantly fighting with the power going out throughout the day or evening and so many others don’t even have the option for electricity.
But now a guy in Houston has put together a new light for Africa, BoGo.
It’s a solar powered flashlight. Seriously. Watch the video:

The flashlights run for 5 hours on a 10 hour charge. What a way to change a continent.
For $25 you can get your own flashlight and Mark Bent will send one of the flashlights to the African charity of your choice or a member of the US Military serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
I’d like to challenge everyone to buy the flashlight and give it to the “Crazy Texas Team” to take with them at the end of September. I’ve sent an email to a couple people on the team, so hopefully they can sign up and be a partner as well, so everyone that is purchased can get another one sent to the group but until then you can pick another African charity to give your second light to as well.
If you’d like more information, let me know.

Falwell vs. Warren

The NY Times has an interesting piece today comparing the late Rev. Jerry Falwell with Rev. Rick Warren.

The evangelical Christian movement, which has been pivotal in reshaping the country’s political landscape since the 1980s, has shifted in potentially momentous ways in recent years, broadening its agenda and exposing new fissures.
The death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell last week highlighted the fact that many of the movement’s fiery old guard who helped lead conservative Christians into the embrace of the Republican Party are aging and slowly receding from the scene. In their stead, a new generation of leaders who have mostly avoided the openly partisan and confrontational approach of their forebears have become increasingly influential….
Gabe Lyons, 32, is emblematic of the transformation among many younger evangelicals. He grew up in Lynchburg, Va., attending Mr. Falwell’s church. But he has shied away from politics. Instead, he heads the Fermi Project, a loose “collective” dedicated to teaching evangelicals to shape culture through other means, including media and the arts.
“I believe politics just isn’t as important to younger evangelicals as it has been for the older generations because we recognize from experience that politics does not shape the morality of a culture,” he said. “It simply reflects what the larger culture wants.”

And here’s an interesting article I found by Rick Warren on his personal website…

The Church – the greatest force on Earth
The Church is everywhere in the world.
There are villages that have little else,
but they do have a church.
Rick Warren
The Church is the most magnificent concept ever created. It has survived persistent abuse, horrifying persecution, and widespread neglect. Yet despite its faults (due to our sinfulness), it is still God’s chosen instrument of blessing and has been for 2,000 years.
The Church will last for eternity, and because it is God’s instrument for ministry here on Earth, it is truly the greatest force on the face of the Earth. That’s why I believe tackling the world’s biggest problems – the giants of spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance – can only be done through the Church.
The Church has eight distinct advantages over the efforts of business and government:

  • 1. The Church provides for the largest participation.
  • 2. The Church provides for the widest distribution.
  • 3. The Church provides the longest continuation.
  • 4. The Church provides the fastest expansion.
  • 5. The Church provides the highest motivation.
  • 6. The Church provides the strongest authorization
  • 7. The Church provides the simplest administration.
  • 8. The Church provides for God’s conclusion.


Read more
This article gets me fired up for ministry. It makes me want to get involved full-time. Yet shouldn’t I be doing that regardless? Whether I’m working at a church, para-church organization or the city dump?

Branch Davidians believe TTC new government conspiracy

The famed Branch Davidians, known for their 1993 standoff with the Feds outside Waco, are taking up a new battle against the Texas Department of Transportation.
The Davidians see the Trans Texas Highway as a governmental conspiracy, with the planned super-highway running right over the middle of their Mount Caramel.
The property is right in the middle of the TTC 10-mile study area.

“It’ll go right through our buildings, where we live, right through this place I am standing – going to be a swath right through on this corner that runs right through our wellness center, our museum and even our cemetery,” Charlie Pace, the groups new leader said. “It is going to miss that neighbor’s house over here and that neighbor’s house over there. I think that is pretty strategic.”
“This is where the Lord puts the end to it,” he said. “God is going to judge this nation once and for all. And this is where the judgment begins, right here. We were judged here; the government is going to be judged here. That’s what God is saying.”

Listen to the story from NPR’s All Things Considered.

Democrats and Republicans shady about war spending

ChristianConservative has thoughts on how both parties are using war funding to play politics.

Democrats offered President George W. Bush a deal Friday which would have set a non-mandatory deadline for withdrawal from Iraq. He shot it down…
Now, maybe I’m misreading this. I *hope* I’m reading it wrong. But did our top majority leaders in the House and Senate just offer to set a deadline for troop withdrawals, then use voluntary non-compliance as a bargaining chip for getting something else they wanted?
This makes no sense. What are they playing at?…
This seems like a purely political move — the Democrats finally setting a timetable, then saying, “Well, we have some other things we want, and if we get them you don’t have to actually follow this timetable.”
The goal, of course, is to turn around later and say, “We set a timeline, and you didn’t follow it.”…
Unfortunately, the Republicans are engaged in, well, doing the exact same thing:
“The White House chief of staff said Republicans had offered a proposal that was essentially what received 52 votes in the Senate this week. It would establish a series of standards for the Iraqi government to meet, and condition the flow of reconstruction funds on progress toward achieving the goals…
One side of the aisle is doing the right thing. Both are acting for poor motives, and both are going about it in the wrong way.
Democracy at its finest, right?