Be Hope To Her 2010
I wanted to let you know about something that a good friend of mine has been working with for several years. The organization is called Nuru International. Nuru is the Kiswhahili word for “light,” and Kiswahili is the language of the Kuria people of Kenya. My friend, Billy Williams, has devoted himself to this very interesting and innovative organization that is committed to pioneering holistic and sustainable solutions to end extreme poverty in partnership with the poor. As the national grassroots director, he has the opportunity to see the hope of Nuru spread. This year, Virginia Tech is hosting a “Be hope to her” fundraiser. I guarantee it isn’t like any you have been to before, so if you are in the area, please consider coming out and very much becoming a hope to her. Billy, take it away!
Last year, Nuru International hosted its first nationwide extreme poverty awareness event and campaign. It was an experiential event designed to raise awareness and empathy for the daily routine of hundreds of women and girls in the developing world. We called it “Be Hope To Her.” The event had nearly 1000 people participate on 11 college campuses, and raised over $36,000 that led to the drilling of four deep water wells in Kuria, Kenya and thousands of changed lives.
This year, we are pleased to announce that there are twenty four colleges who are participating in the event (including one in Florence, Italy). We also have three city-wide events happening in SoCal, Seattle, and Pittsburgh.
So what is it all about? In essence, it’s an event about being hope. Over 2.4 billion people go daily without nearby access to safe, clean, drinking water. Women and girls in these communities are usually charged with the task of gathering the water for their families as a daily practice. Imagine spending three hours of your day gathering water so you and your family can have it to drink, to bathe, to do laundry, to wash dishes. Imagine if that water were contaminated and needed boiled before anyone could drink it. Imagine not being able to attend school because you had been charged with this task for the sake of your family’s survival. It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, you can be part of the generation that stands up and says enough is enough, and chooses to make a difference.
Recently, I was reading a blog from our water and sanitation program manager, Nicole Scott, that talked about how life
has changed in Kuria since the drilling of wells in the community. One of the stories told was about kids at one of the schools where the wells were drilled. The teachers said that the kids are playing now instead of running into the bush to try to find water during recess. This statement really hit me personally. I started thinking back to elementary school and recess. I can remember running, playing football, tag, and kickball, and just all around having a good time with friends. I remember running myself into a frenzy knowing that at the end of recess, everyone in my class would line up at a water fountain (I think the fountain was in my classroom too), and get a drink of water before settling back into class. What would it have been like if there were no drinking fountains in my school. What if my recess was spent looking for ANY water source near the school? What would my concentration level have been like in the classroom? It seems utterly unthinkable that anyone in the modern era would have to deal with this on a daily basis. (more…)
Christopher Hitchens and I don’t agree on a great deal. He has written a number of books, God is not Great, Why Orwell Matters, and The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, among many others. I like his writing style but I disagree with almost every position he takes. But I saw an article he wrote on Slate, and have to say that I agree with an awful lot of it. He is dealing with the repeated reports of covering up child sex abuse by priests in the Catholic Church. If you haven’t read Hitchens before, you will notice his characteristic overstatements, but, his argument is a very fair one. Let me know what you think. Is he being fair or not?
Take it away Christopher…
I know that I am very fortunate. Throughout this entire book process I have been blessed to have many people that are very well connected really like the book and want to help me out. As a result I am getting offers for interviews left and right, magazines, blogs, and offers to speak at churches to get the word out. I have been humbled by all of it.
It has been a struggle too. I have a longstanding struggle with success. Sometimes I like and want it too much, other times things are fine. I definitely swing back and forth on that one. One way that struggle shows itself is that I have felt very strange telling people about the different interview opportunities, speaking engagements, you name it, that have come with this process of releasing the book.
I have been challenged by good friends to get over myself and to just let people know what is happening. I have been told that everyone is perfectly capable of checking out the links or skipping right over them. Proverbs tells us that “wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” I have very good friends who are willing to care about me enough to help me to get over myself.
If this is the last book I ever write, I am perfectly fine with that. Well, almost perfectly fine with that. 
If this is the start of a writing gig that becomes a part of my ministry here that would be great too. Either way, here I am. Getting over myself. For at least a while.
One of the more recent interviews was with Russell Trunk who is the Director and Editor in Chief of ExclusiveMagazine.com. Russell has interviewed Guy Ritchie, Peter Jackson, Nicolas Cage, and Sarah Silverman; among many others. I know, I know, “which one of these is not like the other?” running through your head too? He also has interviewed some authors I respect quite a bit, and… drum roll please… Air Supply! For real, Air Supply!
Russell was actually very gracious and asked some very in-depth questions. I love it when the interviews get into the guts of these tough issues, Russell very deftly did just that.
Here is the interview with me. In the interest of being someone who is over themselves, I will be posting more of my interviews and whatnot here. Probably not all of them, but then, getting completely over myself takes time right?
Thanks for all your support through this. Remember, April 8 is just around the corner! In gratitude for your prayer and help in all this… I give you a very special gift. Just drink it all in. Let it waft over you…. ahhhh….
Your welcome, Jim
Jim not know this. Makum sense to Jim tho. Jim greatful for chance to lern… 
(Yes, for those of you who are old enough, I am going old school… 1966 Tarzan series-esque, Ron Ely… )
Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on these behaviors with IQ from a large national U.S. sample and found that, on average, people who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs. This applied also to sexual exclusivity in men, but not in women. The findings will be published in the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly. — Elizabeth Landau CNN
Take a look at the rest of the study here.
It takes just a couple of minutes to see how skewed the interpretations on this study are. You cannot be sure that it was intended to slam those with a belief in God. But, we can be sure that the data was analyzed by someone who didn’t understand Christians. Some of the quotes in the article are just silly. Fun, fun, fun…
Should We Fire God? – Trailer from Robbie Poff | Highland Films on Vimeo.
Maybe our world is violently spinning out of control and those of us with faith in God are just the last ones to get the memo. Maybe there really is no one in charge. Maybe we are like kids in the back of a car careening down the highway with no one at the wheel, frustrated at all the swerving but confidently telling ourselves that someone must really be up there. How could there not be? Maybe April 16, 2007, is and should be the final nail in a coffin full of them already: the final example of a God who either doesn’t exist or is so impotent at his job, he’s hardly worth following. — Excerpted from Should We Fire God?
Please feel free (and encouraged) to share this video with anyone that you think might resonate with the above quote. Whether they, or you, are like me; an apprentice of Jesus who has questions about the amount of suffering in our world, or are someone that is not a follower of Jesus but is curious about those answers. Anyone that you think reflects on these issues…share away!
BTW – I forgot to ask Robbie to include the fact that the book will be out April 8, but is available for pre-orders on Amazon.com and other sites right now, is being offered for the Kindle and will be available as an audio book as well. Could you mention that when you share it?
If you are willing to post the video to your blog, facebook page…you name it. Help a brother out, eh?
Many, many thanks, props and spirit fingers to Robbie Poff at Highland Films for doing a fantastic job on the trailer. If you need, or would benefit, from video work but don’t have the capacity to do so…cannot recommend him highly enough.
On Sunday, one of my closest friends in the world, Matt Rogers, told [nlcf] about an issue that he doesn’t want in his life – he told [nlcf] about his struggle with homosexuality. It was a very brave thing to do, as there are people in [nlcf] that will be frustrated at him for struggling with homosexuality while being on staff with a church, especially in the role of pastor. And they will share that frustration with Matt.
There are also people in [nlcf] that will be frustrated by Matt’s belief that homosexuality isn’t something that lines up with God’s plan for us, and as such, he is working to shift to a heterosexual orientation. They would see that plan as unwise and the issue of his sexuality to be a neutral one. And they will share that frustration with Matt as well.
Those of you that have been following the thread about my friend who struggles with his homosexuality… this is the friend. Those that have been reading the blog will notice I changed the title of this thread. Both Matt and (I believe) Curtis made the point I should change it. So…viola…
I thought Matt spoke about his life in a very open, honest and thoughtful way.
I asked if I could share his story.
He graciously agreed.
Matt? Take it away…
A friend from Va. Tech responded to my post last night. He shared a personal experience that I think speaks to the challenge of this issue. He spoke so well, I think the wisest thing I can do is just let him say it… So, Peter?
Jim, I really think you should find some more controversial topics to cover on this blog. You’ve really been playing it safe here.
I’m also torn on this topic, Jim. We went through a time of not having enough money to handle health care costs for our family even though we both have college degrees and I was teaching full time (being a teacher was pretty much the main reason we couldn’t afford it!) so I have a little personal experience on “the other side of things.” Most of the people who are making the decisions and the people that are most upset about it have never had to make the decision whether or not to visit the doctor or get the medicine because of money or insurance coverage. Not everyone that struggles financially and has inadequate health care is a lazy bum taking advantage of welfare and government services. On a teacher’s salary in NC, our family qualified for medicaid services for our kids! I know the government is not the answer to all of our woes, but I think that many people screaming for no health care reform are a bit out of touch with reality in some ways.
I don’t have a solid opinion, but I fall somewhere in the middle wanting a balance of government intervention combined with accountability combined with private charitable help combined with good old-fashioned get out there and work to provide for your family. I guess that means I would be a lousy politician since I want a little slice of everything.
But seriously, Jim, let’s hit some serious topics soon…like puppies vs. kittens. Hope you’re enjoying the snow!
The experience of Tracy and I our first five-ish years of marriage was very similar. I had a college degree and was working with a church, and for at least a few of those years, was WELL under the poverty line. Please know that my wife and I are hard workers and responsible, I even did a stint as medical test subject for extra money, that is dedication eh? That is where we were.
I don’t believe it is the government’s responsibility to step in because the job I felt God was leading my into wasn’t supplying enough income. But I do still very much feel for those that are in the position that I no longer am in.
What are your thoughts on this?
I am torn when it comes to the health care debate. This report about a prominent and wealthy Canadian politician not utilizing Canada’s health care system and instead coming to the US for heart surgery, tears me more.
Now, I have friends that say that they are confused just so they don’t have to take a side. You know who you are.
This isn’t that. I really feel torn.
As a follower of Jesus and someone that believes in the guidance and illumination provided by the scriptures, I go to them to help me understand both the events that are occurring in our world today, and how I can increasingly reflect the heart and intent of Christ.
There is a sentence in the letter that James wrote to a large number of Christians that had been spread out, primarily through the persecution they had been receiving. They had received this persecution because they were followers of Jesus and they would have had a large number among them that would have needed help. People would have needed housing, food, and shelter. The basics. James wrote his letter in a very clear, very challenging manner to a group that need both clarity and challenge.
Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us. James 1.27
“We must care for orphans and widows in their troubles…” That isn’t the only way that we demonstrate our trust in the way of Christ, but it is an important one. God seems to care a great deal for those who are disadvantaged in our world.
When I line those words up against the reality that we have a lot of people that don’t seem to have adequate health care, I can
start to see the value of expanding the health care system to accommodate as many of those people as we can. Even if it is at a personal cost to me, I am willing to look at that.
There are also numerous, equally valid, scriptures in the book of Proverbs that would state that it is foolish to walk into a dangerous situation as if it were not so. Seeing that Danny Williams, who would have the ability to truly assess his options, would opt to leave for care is disturbing. Knowing that he chose to do so in spite of the outcry it would cause makes it even more so.
What am I missing in this?
Overall, I don’t get into a lot of the debate about big business pro’s and con’s. It is a valuable discussion to have, but there are many that can offer more meaningful and thought-provoking information than I could. So, I ordinarily leave it to them. But this is awful. I cannot even fathom why it could happen. In New York City, about one third of the population falls below the poverty line. How could this ever be approved by anyone as a good decision? It breaks my heart…warm socks for kids, intentionally cut up, shoes, coats, pants and sweaters. This just shouldn’t be.
Here is the link for the New York Times article, and the photo is courtesy of Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times.
I talk to a lot of people. I mean A LOT of people.
Partially because I am a people guy. I really like them. I believe that each person I meet is a very important and individual creation of God. That makes each of them far more important than they or I can imagine. So…I am a big fan.
But I also am in ministry. I am a pastor of an amazing and flawed church everyone calls [nlcf]. Granted, it isn’t a very traditional church and I may not be the most traditional pastor, but one thing that being a pastor predicatably brings is you talk with a lot of people. 
I mean A LOT of people.
This is not a problem, because I am a fan, remember?
One of the things I talk with a lot of people about, whether they are followers of Jesus or not, is God. Again, predictable. When I talk with people about God obviously there is a range of things we discuss, but one thing comes up more than most.
The list.
Now almost no one uses that term, but that is what it is. It is the list of the things that make getting closer to God harder. The times that we tried to trust him and it didn’t work out, the times that we asked for something and it didn’t happen. Various relationships that might have fallen apart even though we desperately didn’t want them to. The people in our family or beyond them, that suffer from debilitating illness or have lost the fight to that illness. Jobs that have been lost or cannot be found. Unfairness that seems to be everywhere. So often, those that don’t deserve to win do, and those that could really have used that win, don’t.
Here is what can happen. I say can because it doesn’t happen all the time to everyone, but in my experience it does happen to almost all of us at some point. What can happen is that we take those times where we feel that God didn’t step in as he should and we add many of them to our list. The times God has not been predictable or has not handled things the way we would want him to. We take them, remember them…and when the times comes to really step out in trust with God again, we don’t.
Questions and stories – these are some of the honest ways we humans grapple with God and faith. By this count, Jim Pace is a very honest writer, a storyteller with the courage to help us face our deepest questions.
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