Here are the specifics:

• I will take five participants (the pockets are only so deep). In the event that we have more then five interested, my wife will decide whose in and whose out. This is intended for people I know personally, but anyone is welcome to inquire.
• I will pay for the difference between what you would normally purchase in conventional chocolate and the cost of switching to a fair trade option (up to $20 a month). For example, let’s say you typically by 3 chocolate bars a week at $1 a piece (total $12 a month). Instead you commit to buying fair trade chocolate bars at $2 a piece (total $24 a month). I will give you the difference, $12, to make that switch.
• This will mean doing less impulse buying (vending machines or checkout lines) and planning ahead a little (ordering online or visiting a local co-op to stock up).
• I’ll check in each month to discuss how much you spent. I will ask for you to track it. The goal isn’t to abuse my generosity, but to provide an incentive for others to make the switch to Fair-trade.
• I plan on continuing the experiment for 6 months.
• If you participate you will need to commit to purchasing and eating/drinking only fair-trade chocolate during the 6 months.

So, how does that sound? Interested in joining me in this little experiment?

Fill out the form.

Need more info on the Chocolate industry?

• I enjoyed this creative kid friendly book called:
  Chaga and the Chocolate Factory
• Global Exchange, Valentines Day Action
• A Children’s sermon on the topic of chocolate.
• Everyday Justice is a great book and has a wonderful section on Chocolate which you can read most of online at Google books (and then buy a copy, right Julie ;).

Felt like keeping it light hearted today.

Q: When’s the last time you had a snowball fight?

“It offers people something to pay attention to, that’s of no importance. That keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about.”

Now, I’ll be the first to say, I’m not immune to the draw, the entertainment and excitement involved in watching, or playing, a good game. I just finished reading a biography about Major Taylor, a black cyclist in 1900, and the most interesting thing about it was this competitive drive and spectacle of the race. I say all that to say, I don’t make this statement from the other side pointing my finger, rather I’m asking you to think through this with me.

Q: Does the media, professional sports and entertainment news, distract us from the important issues?

In all my time of attending church and listening to sermons (about 1997 till today), I’ve rarely heard a sermon that really lays out practical thoughts or ideas about money. It always boils down to being a “heart issue”, that is, it’s basically between you and God and that your heart is in the right place. Even if there is mention of the “tithe 10%” scriptures, it’s never issued as a command or standard in the church. Pastors rarely say “if your a Christian you should be giving away ten percent or more of your income,” and if they do it’s balanced or padded with “heart” talk

What I’m getting at is that it just doesn’t seem like there is much straight talk about finances in the church at all. I would love for a pastor to get up and say, even with qualifiers that it’s a “heart issue”, exactly how much their family’s cost of living is, and why they chose that amount and what financial stewardship looks like in their life. I’m wondering if others have heard sermons at all like that, or even close to that. (The close example I can think of is Ron Sider discussing the graduated tithe his family does at the end of Rich Christian’s in an Age of Hunger).

It reminds me of part of one of the finance sermons I heard last March. It was really good, I love the kind of stuff the pastor says. He went off about how big corporations have ripped off the grassroots origins of Hip Hop and used it just to make money. He’s tearing into how gangsta rap has affected both the urban centers and suburbs and a lot of “wickedness” is going down as those big corporations make money off the rap and the blame is placed on the artist and the urban culture. And then he says this:

“Nobody saying to Sony, “I’m not buying a PS3 because thae same company that makes PS3 is also pimping these kids and having them sign these contracts and making money off the stereotypes of black people. Now, I have a PS2 at home, which makes this kind of a complex statement. Just cause I failed at it don’t mean it’s not right!

Somebody has to set a standard, somebody has to set an example of what this righteousness with resources looks like.”

Now I missed the other sermons after that, and I don’t know him personally, so I’m not sure what he’s decided to do with his PS2. But, I do appreciate him being honest about it. And the point isn’t really to call out the pastor on this, but to say I really wish I’d see two things: 1) That kind of honesty and practical application of faith as it relates to finances/resources and 2) pastors, churches and communities that were going a step further and making collective decisions (or at least discussing them) regarding resources and choices in supporting brands, etc.

Q: Have you heard sermon’s or had mentors that laid out practical thoughts and application of faith regarding finances and resources?

[photo credit]

(P.S. Take the one minute survey to help me pick topics for 2010!)

“A man who taught himself rock climbing and acrobatics to escape poverty in India as become so accomplished he’s been given the title “The Monkey King.” -Reuters

See Reuters video (couldn’t embed) for more details on the story

• Open Thread: Why Is This Image So Popular? (Note to self: apparently open threads and Titles that are questions are welcome invitations to conversation.)
• A Sermon Discussion: Did Christ Die For Us Or For God? (Note to self: “Discussion” invites conversation too)
• Further Thoughts On Church (This and the Church post below where some of my ramblings about what church is and what I wish it was)
• Please Don’t Buy Chocolate This Easter (A rather simple straightforward appeal regarding chocolate)
• Stories of Creative Nonviolence (An intro to a regular series that I dropped off on. Maybe I can pick it up again in 2010)
• Why Do You Go To Church? (see above)
• Compassion Ad Get’s It Wrong (Critique of an ad in a magazine)
• The Flawed Experiment: A Reflection on the Fourth of July (Something I repost fairly regularly around July 4th)
• So, What Do You Do? (Thoughts on being a Dad)
• A Simple Bike Project (Start of the Northside Bike Project)
• Driscoll: Who Would Jesus Dehumanize? (Critique of some of Mark Driscoll’s outlandish comments)
• How Much Is Enough? (Thoughts on money and what I might preach on if I ever had the chance)
• Child Marketers: Exploiting Children Like It’s Their Job (Critique of marketing to children)
• Odds and Ends (Just what it says, odds and ends)
• This Is Not A Political Post (A rather political post apparently)

The blog also saw the launch and ruminations of many of the different things I’ve been doing this year:

• InsideNorthside.org
• Northside Bike Project (and update)
• Letter to Wheaton College
• My published articles (in Geez and Conspire)
• Being a dad
• Open letter to Mayor Rybak (mentioned in Star Tribune)

Finally, here are some interesting stats about the year, and compared to previous years on the blog:

I wrote just 121 posts this year, significantly less then previous years (most of those before June).

There was also less commenting (940 comments), though on a post:comment ratio it was the best year,  averaging 7.7 comments per post (you .7 commenters know who you are).

Looking Toward 2010

So, what do you have to look forward to in 2010? Regular posting at least. I’m shooting for one thoughtful post a week (less thoughtful ones on an “as needed” basis). I’m also hoping to read 30 books this year, a more modest goal then 52 books in 2008, but also more practical with two toddlers running the house.

Your 2010 Resolution

The only thing I’d ask in return is that one of your 2010 resolutions be to stop by and comment more. If I only post once a week or so, can you resolve to stop by and add your thoughts a couple times a month? It’ll be a growing experience for both of us. I’d love to hear what your other 2010 Resolutions are, so stop by and leave a comment.

That said, I figured I’d give a brief update about what’s been happening around here. I have been fairly productive the last couple months, here’s a rundown in no particular order:

• Got our bike shop up and running.
• Petitioned Wheaton College (my alma mater)  to think seriously about it’s choice for it’s next president, particularly as it relates to diversity.
• Was published a few places.
• Worked on a handful of website projects.
• Ran a “Best of the Northside” contest on InsideNorthside (800 Fans on Facebook)
• Was hired as a “community reporter” working with northside non-profit organizations (details still being worked out, but I’ll let you know more when I know).
• Got a YW membership, enjoying the pool.
• Got a piano, so glad we did because my wife is an amazing piano player.

I’m sure there’s more just can’t think of it at the moment. This has been a bit of a rambling post, so I’ll stop now. Enjoy.

September

At the beginning of September, Eli (my bike partner-in-crime) and I went to a small grassroots conference called BikeBike. It’s a very cool eclectic bunch of folks from all over the country who come together to talk about running community bike shops. We had a couple of guys from Nebraska sleep in a tent in our backyard. At the conference we learned a bit and hooked up with a guy named Jason from Sibley Bike Depot. Jason was excited about what we were doing and encouraged us along and promised the support of Sibley. A week or so later we check out Sibley to see what a real professional community bike shop looks like, it’s sweet. Sibley has a board meeting and agrees to support us by allowing us to order tools and supplies through their wholesale account. We put in a $550 order (from a neighborhood block grant) for locks, tires, tubes, patches, and more. At the end of the month we host a small “bike safety” gathering to connect with a few neighborhood kids and give away some bike locks (along with an elaborate system to help track whose lock and bike each is).

October

Sibley offers to give us some bikes. I was thinking maybe 10, but they say they’ve got plenty more. We take two pick-up trucks and put 67 bikes in the back! The bikes fill up half our basement.

A week later, Eli is given a big trailer from another bike group that’s disbanded. The trailer used to be for a traveling bike circus (tall bikes, strong man, etc). It has a wild mural painted on it, the side opens up to a stage and it’s seven feet tall. Not sure exactly what we’ll do with it yet, but it’s sweet. And it’s parked in my backyard.

We buy a few more tools too and start setting up shop at the end of the month.

November

It’s just me and Eli, but we’ve had our first two ‘open shop’ times where we mostly hung bikes up, set up a work bench and organized tools, but we’ve started messing with a couple bikes. We also scored a couch for the downstairs and as soon as I get the radio working we’ll be ready to make the shop public.

The plan is to have open shop hours every other week for other volunteers to come and help fix up bikes. Come spring time we’ll potentially have over 50 bikes to give out to neighborhood kids. I’m still planning on keeping things very low-key on my end, just giving bikes to kids who I know, but we’ve talked about partnering with other neighborhood groups to give out bikes through their programs.

Here are some photos:

And to finish things off, if your on facebook, consider becoming a Fan of the project there as I’ll be posting more regular updates and pictures as things progress.

Mr. Fine — thank you for sending this official listing to the Presidential Selection Committee with the information on the “signers” of the open letter.  The information has been forwarded to the Presidential Selection Committee for their review.

We appreciate your interest and especially your continued prayers for this very important process.

Sincerely,

Presidential Selection Committee

Wheaton College

presidentialselection@wheaton.edu

Mimi Barnard, CCCU’s vice president for professional development and research, provided Her.meneutics more recent statistics. As of fall 2008, the gender ratio among all senior administrators at CCCU schools was 86 percent male, 14 percent female, compared with a 55/45 percent ratio among all U.S. colleges and universities.

Further, 5 percent of CCCU schools are now led by women…

Dear Wheaton Presidential Selection Committee,

As an academic institution and as a Christian community, Wheaton recognizes the importance of diversity and has acted successfully on it. The selection committee, chosen to help select the next Wheaton president, also recognizes the importance of diversity and includes this as part of its “Commitment” section in the concise “qualifications desired”:

To champion ethnic, economic, and gender diversityCompared to other academic institutions, the percentage of white and male Christian college presidents in the CCCU is much higher than in their secular counterparts (currently there are no minority CCCU presidents and only 2% female, compared to 12.8% and 21.1% respectively in all national institutions). Wheaton College has had seven presidents over the course of its 150 year history and Litfin began his tenure as Wheaton College’s seventh white male president in 1993. We should acknowledge that our historical prejudices would probably not have allowed it otherwise, but a lot has changed in the 17 years since Wheaton last had the chance to select a president.

We strongly encourage the committee to search diligently for a female or minority candidate to be in the final pool of candidates. It is not enough to hope that qualified women and minorities will present themselves. Wheaton should make diversity of primary importance in considering the leader of this great academic institution for Christ and His Kingdom.

The Selection Committees deadline for applications is next week (Nov. 1st) and so we are trying to gather signatures as quickly as possible. The hope is that this letter will serve as an accountability check on the process, recognizing that diversity isn’t something we just pay lip service to, but that we actively have to work against some of the systemic discrimination that exist in the system.

After posting this letter on my own facebook page and sending a note out to all my fellow Wheaton alum, I received a rather negative comment about this sort of “affirmative action” being “racist” and discriminatory. It was a pretty harsh critique, but seeing as the letter had already garnered several signatures in a couple hours, I felt I wasn’t alone in my beliefs. Before I had time to respond to the comment another friend, Indie, gave this brilliant response that I’ll include below. I think this comment is a great summary as to why a letter like the above is so important to keeping our “christian” institutions accountable.

That depends on your definition of qualified. “Qualified” has traditionally been defined in a way that excludes the experience of women and minorities. For example, if unpaid volunteer experience is considered to be less than paid experience then by and large women are being excluded because they tend to spend a large amount of their time not working in order to serve others. As a Christian institution, Wheaton should be recruiting leaders based on Christian values. Giving up your income to serve others is very Christlike, but it seldom wins you any fans on the types of boards that choose presidents of universities.

Another thing that might be looked at is where a candidate did his or her course work. Will the committee take into consideration that some candidates were excluded from even attending many schools in the past (including many Christian schools) due to their race?

The biblical precedent for this sort of thing is jubilee. Those who had failed and missed out in the past (due to injustice or their parents or whatever) were given another chance, an equal playing ground. We need to really clearly understand that women and minorities have not been given an equal playing ground and take that into consideration.

The letter simply asks that a minority or woman be in the final pool of candidates. That is not too much to ask. If 50 percent of the final pool is not female, the leaders at Wheaton should be asking themselves long hard questions about the fairness of the system to begin with. Unless they truly believe that women are inferior. In that case they should be upfront about it. Likewise, minorities should be represented in proportion at least to their existence within the Christian community. The fact that we have to be so intentional to make this so points to the systemic unfairness of the system in the first place rather than the unfairness of the request for equal representation.

Please consider signing the letter and passing it on to your friends and fellow Wheaton grads and students to sign as well.

Order Here.

Read about child labor in the chocolate Industry here. and here. and here.

The one thing I think about each year when my birthday rolls around is whether or not my life (and the past year) has had a positive impact on those around me. If I’ve had a positive impact on you let me know and consider doing something intentional …Read More

The one thing I think about each year when my birthday rolls around is whether or not my life (and the past year) has had a positive impact on those around me.
If I’ve had a positive impact on you let me know and consider doing something intentional to have a positive impact on others. I’ve listed 5 things that make up my birthday wishlist for this year. Consider doing one of them and then let me know about it (or not).

1. Become a mentor ( http://www.bbbs.org , Kinship, Bolder Options)
2. Eat Fair Trade chocolate or give up chocolate for a year. http://bit.ly/lqC1R
3. Sponsor a child ( http://www.worldvision.org/ http://www.compassion.com )
4. Take a person in need out to a nice dinner or hold a banquet for a larger group http://bit.ly/2ytjsX
5. Loan money to someone through http://kiva.org

And if your not comfortable doing any of the things I listed pick something else: bike to work, donate blood, volunteer at a domestic abuse shelter, pay for the persons toll behind you, give all your money away, become an organ donor, adopt a child, give away your nicest coat and don’t buy a new one, smile.

(Via my Birthday Wishlist on Facebook Causes)

And for other random birthday fun, become a fan of these Facebook Pages below:

(And become a Friend on Google Connect)

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

The idea of our “satisfaction” being central to life’s purpose, to ‘worship’ and to God was apparently counter to what most religious people believed. Me, personally, being early in my faith and walk, soaked it up. It seemed to make perfect sense to me, we were created to have pleasure (think: taste buds).  And that quickly, I became a Christian hedonist.

Now, you can read Piper’s summaries of Christian Hedonism, but for the purpose of this discussion I’ll try and summarize it in my own words.

Basically, the idea is that following and seeking our intended purpose will lead to the most fulfilling life. Piper believes that our purpose is to glorify God and we do that through following the scripture and mandates laid out in the Bible. So, we are ultimately seeking our own happiness and satisfaction through Biblical calls to “deny yourself” and “love one another” and give to those in need and so on and so forth.

I think one of the things I connected with so strongly with this view is it is, again, something that most people, regardless of religious background can relate to. We all want to be happy. We all want purpose in life and to fulfill that purpose.  I had discovered this and then sought after it within the context of the Christian faith. And so far, despite faith struggles, I haven’t found the need or desire to seek it elsewhere.

One of the reason I think I’ve carried this doctrine or view with me for so long is that I think it had a huge impact on my turning many of my convictions in my early college years. As I read the Bible and began to see with my own eyes so much of this radical love you enemies and care for the poor sorts of commands, I did not hesitate as much as I might have without this Christian Hedonism view. For me, I’d come to believe following those mandates would lead to the most fulfilling life and so if there was clear and obvious commands like “love your enemies” then it was best to follow those.

And that’s where it leaves me. I know others might find this semi-heretical and still others might find it makes a great argument for ditching Christianity and seeking many other hedonistic routes. I’d like to hear opinions from all sides. What I wrote above is some reflection on where I have been, I’m comfortable holding loosely to those views and open to hearing others.

So when we pass the big yellow bird at the Children’s hospital next week, we might say hello but he’s not going to get any special treatment.

(This article was published in the summer issue of Geez Magazine, a rough draft had previously been posted on this site, but I realized I had not posted the final version for your viewing pleasure. Hope you enjoyed.)