Peter K Greer

Leaders – What Is Your Achilles’ Heel?

Peter Greer — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:36:57 +0000

Dr. Howard Hendricks, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, carried out a study of 246 ministry leaders. Each had been caught committing significant immorality within a two-year period. What they had in common: all had believed they were immune to their failing. In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, the demon Wormwood mentors his nephew, Screwtape, to [...]

Life as a “Roller Coaster” Is The Wrong Analogy

Peter Greer — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:14:23 +0000

We’ve all heard it said that life is like a roller coaster, a series of highs and lows. It gives the impression of regularly spaced mountaintop experiences followed by corresponding lows. That’s not an accurate image. In my experience, life is much more like train tracks with highs and lows in close proximity. Pain [...]

Five Lessons from the Greatest Philanthropists

Peter Greer — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:57:19 +0000

Andrew Carnegie once said, “The man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” His belief fueled a passion for philanthropy that spread among some of the titans of industry of the last century. Carnegie was joined by John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, J. Paul Getty, J. Howard Pew, and many others who created massive wealth – and [...]

Poetry and Potty Talk

Peter Greer — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:00:26 +0000

A few weeks ago, a friend sent me a link to a poem, “The Affliction,” by George Herbert: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173622. I opened it at work but between new emails popping up and my “to do” checklist, I couldn’t comprehend it. I just didn’t have the space necessary to soak in the poetry. It wasn’t until the [...]

Open Source Everything

Peter Greer — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:10:32 +0000

Not long ago, I saw a HOPE photo used in the fundraising campaign of another organization. A different ministry was employing our tagline of “investing in the dreams of the poor” in one of their brochures. An additional organization had created field manuals that looked strikingly similar to some of ours. It didn’t look like [...]

Why I’m Passionate about HOPE

Peter Greer — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:43:15 +0000

A friend recently asked me, “There are so many great organizations out there. What really is the difference with HOPE?” I paused before responding. I didn’t like his question because it felt like he was looking for me to talk about HOPE’s competitive advantage in relation to other organizations. When comparing ourselves with other causes [...]

Debt Bondage – The Forgotten Cause of Human Trafficking

Peter Greer — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:10:03 +0000

Payday lending – it’s everywhere but especially in communities with lower per capita incomes. It’s just one way lenders prey upon cash-strapped individuals: “In a typical payday loan transaction, a borrower writes a postdated check to the lender for the amount of the loan plus a fee – usually $20 for each $100 borrowed. The [...]

Rethinking Mission Trips

Peter Greer — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:30:59 +0000

Short-term mission trips are an incredible experience. This year, 1.5 million people will travel overseas to serve. Personally, several cross-cultural trips opened my eyes to the reality of life outside of North America. I hope to involve my children in cross-cultural experiences as well. But may I humbly suggest short-term trips have a much greater [...]

The Most Frightening Words of Jesus

Peter Greer — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:30:47 +0000

A few years ago, everything seemed to be going right. HOPE was growing—rapidly. Opportunities were opening up to share our message. Even my family was in a good spot. Life was wonderfully busy. Surely God was blessing us, right? But doing good can actually be a spiritually dangerous pursuit. In fact, Jesus says many service-oriented, [...]

Only Couples Allowed? The Need to Celebrate Singleness in the Church.

Peter Greer — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:30:42 +0000

Over the past few weeks, we have had three HOPE staff members get engaged. I am absolutely thrilled for them. They each met a special person. They each have a fantastic engagement story. They each are about to enter an incredible lifelong journey and learn about mutual service. But I think it’s time to also [...]