By Laura Jacobs From Kenya: “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income, this also is vanity.” -Ecclesiastes 5:10 As we have walked around Kibera, sharing the Gospel and encouraging the believers, we’ve run into one central problem – money. No one has enough; everyone [...]
By Ginger Larson The way they grab for food with their grubby hands, dirt under their fingernails, it aggravates me. I was squeezing a package of black refried beans into the pan - kind of like how one rolls up the tube of toothpaste to ensure every ounce is used. Pleased with my thorough squeezing [...]
By Kevin Hendricks Th following is an excerpt from the book Open Our Eyes by Kevin Hendricks, which is an effort to support Mark Horvath and the work that he does at InvisiblePeople.tv, where he tells real stories of American homelessness. All proceeds from the book go directly to Mark and Invisible People. *** All [...]
By Jeff Goins, Editor “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus has a hidden blessing for those who come to grips with their own spiritual bankruptcy and desperation. I’ve learned not to superimpose my expectations of myself onto other people, to not give in to the temptation of [...]
By Karen Swank I remembered Tina* this morning (*not her real name) and I cried. Reading an article by someone who ministers in a marginalized neighborhood, I was swept by a single phrase back to the day I looked into her eyes and watched her disappear. Tina was a resident at the domestic violence shelter [...]
By Laura McLester We live in a nice suburb of Washington DC amongst unnamed buildings related to national security and tall engineering/computer organizations that many would easily recognize (Boeing sound familiar?), all in the shadow of the five sided headquarters. However, if you look carefully, you’ll also see a few one-man organizations hidden away in [...]
By Hannah Neumann I recently read a very thought-provoking article titled “Slumdog Tourism“. Basically, it’s the thoughts of an African man (who grew up in a Nairobi slum) on the phenomenon of “slum tourism”. He explains that there has been a recent increase in the numbers of American and European “tourists” (I think that this [...]
By Josh Casper Friendship at the Margins is the kind of book I’ve been waiting for in the midst of my own spiritual crossroads (tumbleweed and all). There are models of missionary life that I’ve come to terms with – the word itself “missionary” being a hesitancy in my messy evangelical conscious. The missionaries I [...]
By Lesley Paparone My husband, Joe, has been reading a bit about monastic tradition and spiritual disciplines lately. I think this is what brought on the $2 a day idea. But sometimes he just suggests crazy things that turn out to be great, so it could have been that as well. For example: moving into [...]
By Carole Turner Casey first came around the Baton Rouge Dream Center over three years ago when she was homeless, 15 years old and pregnant. At the time all we really had to offer her was referrals to shelters and unwed mothers homes, some free clothes, groceries, a few free meals and some toiletries… and [...]
