Check out the new video for Displace Me. It brings back so many memories and reminds me of the fire that is burning in me.
I love it! Some Belmonters are shown as well, but only if you look hard for em. A new website is up as well, and it's pretty well done. Worth a look, if nothing more.
Showing posts with label Activism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Activism. Show all posts
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The 40 Day Fast
A few days ago, I read about an incredible idea. It was thought of and implemented by Kat. And I get to be a part of it.
It's the 40 Day Fast:
Who:
40 bloggers who will each fast for 1 day.
What:
They will blog about the experience as well as an area of need in the world (either a cause or a country) and an organization that strives to meet that need.
They will also link to the blogger who is fasting on each day of the fast and encourage their readers to join the fast on the 40th day.
Why:
The purpose behind it is to give people an opportunity to:
1. Experience a bit of need
2. Learn about the need in the world
3. Do something about it
When:
The fast starts on June 22, 2007 and ends on July 31, 2007
Where:
The blogosphere.
So, as you can tell, it starts today. For the next 40 days, I will be linking to the blogger that is fasting so you can read up on their organization or cause and their experience. What a tremendous thing this will be!
It's the 40 Day Fast:
Who:
40 bloggers who will each fast for 1 day.
What:
They will blog about the experience as well as an area of need in the world (either a cause or a country) and an organization that strives to meet that need.
They will also link to the blogger who is fasting on each day of the fast and encourage their readers to join the fast on the 40th day.
Why:
The purpose behind it is to give people an opportunity to:
1. Experience a bit of need
2. Learn about the need in the world
3. Do something about it
When:
The fast starts on June 22, 2007 and ends on July 31, 2007
Where:
The blogosphere.
So, as you can tell, it starts today. For the next 40 days, I will be linking to the blogger that is fasting so you can read up on their organization or cause and their experience. What a tremendous thing this will be!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Spinal Tap Together Again
Legendary filmmaker Rob Reiner has just brought a little more of heaven to earth... again. The director of This Is Spinal Tap has just released a new 15 minute short simply entitled Spinal Tap. And best of all, you can view the comedic genius here for free.
All this in preparation for an event that has even more monumental implications: the reunification of Spinal Tap for a live performance at Live Earth. They even are releasing a new song -- Warmer Than Hell -- specifically for the occasion.
Live Earth a great cause to bring attention to the problem of global climate change, and it will feature 24 straight hours of music from over 100 artists in concerts on all 7 continents. It's all happening on 7/7/07. 1 million people are expected to be in attendance at the concerts, with another 2 billion people having access on TV, radio, or internet. It should be good.
I may just have to turn my TV volume to 11.
All this in preparation for an event that has even more monumental implications: the reunification of Spinal Tap for a live performance at Live Earth. They even are releasing a new song -- Warmer Than Hell -- specifically for the occasion.
Live Earth a great cause to bring attention to the problem of global climate change, and it will feature 24 straight hours of music from over 100 artists in concerts on all 7 continents. It's all happening on 7/7/07. 1 million people are expected to be in attendance at the concerts, with another 2 billion people having access on TV, radio, or internet. It should be good.
I may just have to turn my TV volume to 11.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Jim Wallis at Georgetown University
The following is an adaptation of Jim Wallis' commencement speech at Georgetown University on May 20. It is here courtesy of God's Politics, where a full version of the speech and an audio recording are also available. This is really worth taking the time to read, and I am so grateful for Jim Wallis' words. Read and comment away.
Each new generation has a chance to alter two very basic definitions of reality in our world - what is acceptable and what is possible.
First, what is acceptable?
There are always great inhumanities that we inflict upon one another in this world, great injustices that cry out to God for redress, and great gaps in our moral recognition of them. When the really big offenses are finally corrected, finally changed, it is always and only because something has happened to change our perception of the moral issues at stake. The moral contradiction we have long lived with is no longer acceptable to us. What we accepted, or ignored, or denied, finally gets our attention and we decide that we just cannot, and will not, live with it any longer. But until that happens, the injustice and misery continue.
It often takes a new generation to make that decision - that something that people have long tolerated just won't be tolerated any more.
So the question to you as graduates, as ambassadors for a new generation, is this: what are you going to no longer accept in our world, what will you refuse to tolerate now that you will be making the decisions that matter?
Will it be acceptable to you that 3 billion people in our world today - half of God's children - live on less that $2 per day, that more than 1 billion live on less than $1 per day, that the gap between the life expectancy in the rich places and the poor places in the world is now 40 years, and that 30,000 children globally will die today - on the day of your graduation - from needless, senseless, and utterly preventable poverty and disease? It's what Bono calls "stupid poverty."
Many people don't really know that, or sort of do but have never really focused on the reality or given it a second thought. And that's the way it usually is. We don't know, or we have the easy explanations about why poverty or some other calamity exists and why it can't really be changed - all of which makes us feel better about ourselves - or we are just more concerned with lots of other things. We really don't have to care. So we tolerate it and keep looking the other way.
But then something changes. Something gets our attention, something goes deeper than it has before and hooks us in the places we call the heart, the soul, the spirit. And once we've crossed over into really seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting the injustice we can never really look back again. It is now unacceptable to us.
What we see now offends us, offends our understanding of the sanctity and dignity of life, offends our notions of fairness and justice, offends our most basic values; violates our idea of the common good, and starts to tug at our deepest places. We cross the line of unacceptability. We become intolerant of the injustice.
But just changing our notion of what is unacceptable isn't enough, however. We must also change our perception of what is possible.
In that regard, I would encourage each of you to think about your vocation more than just your career. And there is a difference. From the outside, those two tracks may look very much alike, but asking the vocational question rather than just considering the career options will take you much deeper. The key is to ask why you might take one path instead of another - the real reasons you would do something, more than just because you can. The key is to ask who you really are and what you want to become. It is to ask what you believe you are supposed to do.
You do have great potential, but that potential will be most fulfilled if you follow the leanings of conscience and the language of the heart more than just the dictates of the market, whether economic or political. They want smart people like you to just manage the systems of the world. But rather than managing or merely fitting into systems, ask how you can change them. You're both smart enough and talented enough to do that. That's your greatest potential.
Ask where your gifts intersect with the groaning needs of the world - there is your vocation.
The antidote to cynicism is not optimism but action. And action is finally born out of hope. Try to remember that. At college, you often believe you can think your way into a new way of living, but that's actually not the way it works. Out in the world, it's more likely that you will live your way into a new way of thinking.
The key is to believe that the world can be changed, because it is only that belief that ever changes the world. And if not us, who will believe? If not you, who?
Each new generation has a chance to alter two very basic definitions of reality in our world - what is acceptable and what is possible.First, what is acceptable?
There are always great inhumanities that we inflict upon one another in this world, great injustices that cry out to God for redress, and great gaps in our moral recognition of them. When the really big offenses are finally corrected, finally changed, it is always and only because something has happened to change our perception of the moral issues at stake. The moral contradiction we have long lived with is no longer acceptable to us. What we accepted, or ignored, or denied, finally gets our attention and we decide that we just cannot, and will not, live with it any longer. But until that happens, the injustice and misery continue.
It often takes a new generation to make that decision - that something that people have long tolerated just won't be tolerated any more.
So the question to you as graduates, as ambassadors for a new generation, is this: what are you going to no longer accept in our world, what will you refuse to tolerate now that you will be making the decisions that matter?
Will it be acceptable to you that 3 billion people in our world today - half of God's children - live on less that $2 per day, that more than 1 billion live on less than $1 per day, that the gap between the life expectancy in the rich places and the poor places in the world is now 40 years, and that 30,000 children globally will die today - on the day of your graduation - from needless, senseless, and utterly preventable poverty and disease? It's what Bono calls "stupid poverty."
Many people don't really know that, or sort of do but have never really focused on the reality or given it a second thought. And that's the way it usually is. We don't know, or we have the easy explanations about why poverty or some other calamity exists and why it can't really be changed - all of which makes us feel better about ourselves - or we are just more concerned with lots of other things. We really don't have to care. So we tolerate it and keep looking the other way.
But then something changes. Something gets our attention, something goes deeper than it has before and hooks us in the places we call the heart, the soul, the spirit. And once we've crossed over into really seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting the injustice we can never really look back again. It is now unacceptable to us.
What we see now offends us, offends our understanding of the sanctity and dignity of life, offends our notions of fairness and justice, offends our most basic values; violates our idea of the common good, and starts to tug at our deepest places. We cross the line of unacceptability. We become intolerant of the injustice.
But just changing our notion of what is unacceptable isn't enough, however. We must also change our perception of what is possible.
In that regard, I would encourage each of you to think about your vocation more than just your career. And there is a difference. From the outside, those two tracks may look very much alike, but asking the vocational question rather than just considering the career options will take you much deeper. The key is to ask why you might take one path instead of another - the real reasons you would do something, more than just because you can. The key is to ask who you really are and what you want to become. It is to ask what you believe you are supposed to do.
You do have great potential, but that potential will be most fulfilled if you follow the leanings of conscience and the language of the heart more than just the dictates of the market, whether economic or political. They want smart people like you to just manage the systems of the world. But rather than managing or merely fitting into systems, ask how you can change them. You're both smart enough and talented enough to do that. That's your greatest potential.
Ask where your gifts intersect with the groaning needs of the world - there is your vocation.
The antidote to cynicism is not optimism but action. And action is finally born out of hope. Try to remember that. At college, you often believe you can think your way into a new way of living, but that's actually not the way it works. Out in the world, it's more likely that you will live your way into a new way of thinking.
The key is to believe that the world can be changed, because it is only that belief that ever changes the world. And if not us, who will believe? If not you, who?
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Displace Me 2007
Exhausted, burnt, and more sleep deprived in the last 72 hours than I've ever been in my life.
But I have fought the fight.
More to come...
But I have fought the fight.
More to come...
Friday, April 27, 2007
Displace Me Promotion at Belmont
Why You Should Be DISPLACED
1) Above all else, click here and check out the newest media on the front page. The video is shocking and heartbreaking.
"If the U.S. Government desires that this conflict is ended and they desire it at breakfast, by dinner time it wouldn't be there."
2) The solution to the conflict is a REALITY! The ceasefire with the LRA was just reinstated less than two weeks ago. Peace talks began this Wednesday, April 25th. How powerful of a message would it be for the people making decisions in Uganda to wake up on the 29th and read in their newspapers that 100,000 Americans rallied all for the cause of peace in Uganda?
3) A year ago, I witnessed the power of our generation for the first time. People were moved to action upon seeing this video. I saw so many people I never would have thought get so passionate about this movement nearly explode with excitement and energy. I saw the look in people's eyes as they prepared for the Global Night Commute. I stood among the 3,000 in Franklin who marched for 3 miles as one, a single unit in solidarity to bring awareness and peace to this atrocity. I ask you to experience this for yourself. I dare you. It will be life changing. It will give you hope for the future of our world.
4) Because it will be fun. Africa doesn't have to be about triggering emotional responses by showing manipulative pictures and putting somber music behind it. There is an adventure to it.
5) Pete Wence tells you that you should...
6) We need to be reminded that America is not the standard. Not by a long shot. God is with the poor. He hears their cries. Maybe it's time we start as well.
LEAVE YOUR HOME TO BRING THEM HOME
www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceme
"If the U.S. Government desires that this conflict is ended and they desire it at breakfast, by dinner time it wouldn't be there."
2) The solution to the conflict is a REALITY! The ceasefire with the LRA was just reinstated less than two weeks ago. Peace talks began this Wednesday, April 25th. How powerful of a message would it be for the people making decisions in Uganda to wake up on the 29th and read in their newspapers that 100,000 Americans rallied all for the cause of peace in Uganda?
3) A year ago, I witnessed the power of our generation for the first time. People were moved to action upon seeing this video. I saw so many people I never would have thought get so passionate about this movement nearly explode with excitement and energy. I saw the look in people's eyes as they prepared for the Global Night Commute. I stood among the 3,000 in Franklin who marched for 3 miles as one, a single unit in solidarity to bring awareness and peace to this atrocity. I ask you to experience this for yourself. I dare you. It will be life changing. It will give you hope for the future of our world.
4) Because it will be fun. Africa doesn't have to be about triggering emotional responses by showing manipulative pictures and putting somber music behind it. There is an adventure to it.
5) Pete Wence tells you that you should...
6) We need to be reminded that America is not the standard. Not by a long shot. God is with the poor. He hears their cries. Maybe it's time we start as well.
www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceme
Monday, April 23, 2007
GREETINGS OFFICIAL WAR STOPPERS
First of all, if you have not yet done so yet, sign up for DISPLACE ME at www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceme. Invite your mom. Invite your dog. This event will change your life.
Second, it is up to us to PROMOTE (the mom and dog part):
At Belmont, we are all teaming together to wear our WHITE SHIRTS WITH RED X'S on campus WEDNESDAY. Basically, the entire campus should be blanketed with these shirts, and anyone not wearing them will be too overwhelmed that they will have to ask. And then they will come. You need to make the shirt anyway to take a picture with you wearing it for the event, so why not use it as a sign of solidarity on campus?
Also, you might have noticed a nice new decoration on the quad. As long as weather and BePo permits, a cardboard tent will be present as a constant advertisement for DISPLACE ME. It was constructed earlier tonight, and it has already received a lot of attention and caused a lot of attention. Make sure to stop by it and hang out at it when you can this week. We will be there with flyers. Anything we can do to create an enormous buzz is very beneficial.
Get excited, and get involved! The numbers for Nashville have gone up 1,000 in under a week! Let's add another 1,000 by Saturday!!!!
Check out www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceme for all the updated information on the Nashville location.
Remember, no one else is doing anything at all like this to raise attention to the situation in Uganda. NO ONE ELSE IS RALLYING TO END THIS WAR. IF WE DON'T DO IT, NO ONE ELSE WILL!
Thanks
Second, it is up to us to PROMOTE (the mom and dog part):
At Belmont, we are all teaming together to wear our WHITE SHIRTS WITH RED X'S on campus WEDNESDAY. Basically, the entire campus should be blanketed with these shirts, and anyone not wearing them will be too overwhelmed that they will have to ask. And then they will come. You need to make the shirt anyway to take a picture with you wearing it for the event, so why not use it as a sign of solidarity on campus?
Also, you might have noticed a nice new decoration on the quad. As long as weather and BePo permits, a cardboard tent will be present as a constant advertisement for DISPLACE ME. It was constructed earlier tonight, and it has already received a lot of attention and caused a lot of attention. Make sure to stop by it and hang out at it when you can this week. We will be there with flyers. Anything we can do to create an enormous buzz is very beneficial.
Get excited, and get involved! The numbers for Nashville have gone up 1,000 in under a week! Let's add another 1,000 by Saturday!!!!
Check out www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceme for all the updated information on the Nashville location.
Remember, no one else is doing anything at all like this to raise attention to the situation in Uganda. NO ONE ELSE IS RALLYING TO END THIS WAR. IF WE DON'T DO IT, NO ONE ELSE WILL!
Thanks
Monday, April 16, 2007
DISPLACE ME
You may have heard about Invisible Children and Displace Me, but please don't do yourselvs the disservice of not really considering what it means. Last year, a group of my friends and I helped to organize a rally for Invisible Children in Franklin called the Global Night Commute. Of the 130 cities across the world participating, Franklin was the third largest location by the number of people who participated. It was incredible. And as incredible as that was, Displace Me (April 28-29) is going to be even better. It will allow the participants to put themselves in the shoes of the people in Uganda that have been living in the terrible conditions of the displacement camps for the last ten years. Everything will be experiential. If you thought the GNC was good, wait till you get to Displace Me. In Nashville alone, we are expecting over 10,000 to gather together to support this cause. It will be absolutely unreal. I promise you, you will not regret participating in this event.
The reality is, no one else in the world is lobbying for the people of Northern Uganda like Invisible Children is. No one else is organizing rallies of over 80,000 people in cities across the globe. No one else is lifting up the voices of the oppressed in this country in Africa. WE ARE UGANDA'S ONLY SHOT AT JUSTICE. WE ARE UGANDA'S ONLY SHOT AT FREEDOM. If we don't stand up and bring awareness to this issue, NO ONE ELSE WILL. Please stand with me. Join me in Nashville (or in any other city) and let your voice be heard for the Invisible Children.
Please go to www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceme to SIGN UP and to receive more information!
I'm helping coordinate Belmont's efforts for Invisible Children, so if you have any questions, please let me know. This blog will probably be IC heavy for the next couple of weeks, but it'll definately be worth it!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Tired of It All?
I'm trying to save myself....
from APATHY"
--Rob Bell's wife
I've talked to several people lately and find that they share a truth that I have buried deep inside myself. Sometimes it's really hard to get passionate about something and sustain that passion, to want to love the poor, to want to serve the weak, to want to know those in need. The danger is not that they will not be taken care of...God's got that one. The danger is that we will not get the opportunity to be a part of it. Apathy is the enemy. Don't sleep through a revolution.
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