At least twice a week I answer the question, “Where can I serve with my children?”  Most of the time that question is coming from a desire parents have for their children to understand the value and importance of service, and at DurhamCares, we love that.  With that in mind, we thought it would be helpful to offer both some opportunities for family service as well as some context for thinking about the impact of your service as a family.

First and foremost, it’s important to make sure we’re teaching our kids what serving our neighbors really means - let’s set an example of crossing boundaries and connecting relationally.  Let’s lead them to practice service that’s consistent, committed and on-going, so that they’ll grow up to give back in ways that are consistent, committed, and on-going.  Let’s show them that loving your neighbor means knowing your neighbor, which doesn’t happen once every three months for two hours.

It’s going to be harder than showing up on project day to paint a wall or sort cloths, no doubt about it.  (And to be fair, painting and sorting are often big needs, but they are needs best addressed in the context of holistic involvement.)  If you have young children, an appropriate on-going opportunity may be even more difficult to find.  But it can be done!

I know parents that regularly volunteer their time with a local non-profit, and then find appropriate opportunities like community events to bring their children along.  There are also parents who’ve set up babysitting exchanges with other parents who want to volunteer so they can each have time to donate their time & skill.  The kids may not have been physically performing a task, but they certainly understand how important serving is through their parents’ example!

It is important to teach our kids to serve - and it’s important enough to get it right.  If it sounds overwhelming, we’d be happy to help you brainstorm what that might look like for your family.  You can also check out these ideas that you and your family could get involved with right now:

• Serve as a “resettlement team” with organizations like Church World Service or World Relief that work to re-settle refugee families arriving in Durham.  If you have children, you’re perfect for this opportunity - these families need help learning to live in the United States, including things like setting up appointments for their kids, and their children may need other kids who help them learn the ropes.
• Organize a fun activity like a skit, musical performance, or magic show at places like the Caring House or Croasdaile Retirement Village.  Organizations like these work hard to provide an enjoyable atmosphere for their residents, and it’s a great opportunity to serve the folks there.
• Cook & serve meals for families at the Ronald McDonald House here in Durham, who are dealing with treatments for their children at Duke Hospital.  Depending on the age of your kids, this is a great opportunity to provide peace of mind for families under stress.
• Join a support team with Project Compassion, an organization specifically aimed at creating community around people with serious illness and their families.  You and your kids could be part of a team that helps participate in their community and serve their caregivers.
• Take your kids to “Kid’s Day” at the Food Bank to help them fight hunger locally.  The Food Bank in Durham has regular days with projects designed specifically for kids, which may be perfect for children too young for some of the other opportunities.

What are ways that you and your family are currently serving? How have you creatively incorporated serving into your family? Share your story in the comments below.

This time of year is full of anticipation - anticipation of celebration, of time with family and friends, of gifts and of renewed hope. However, if you are like me, you also feel the tension of consumerism, of an overly full schedule and of relationships that don't always live up to expectations. And I need an antidote to the stress.

That's when I again reflect on what it means to Love Your Neighbor. I'm utterly convinced that it is more fun, energizing, exciting, and yes, blessed to give than it is to receive.

I hope that you too are convinced of this. It is in that spirit and understanding I would ask that you consider making a year-end gift to the DurhamCares Success Fund. 100% of money given through this platform will go to 29 local non-profits. DurhamCares does not keep any of the money. It all goes back to the local non-profits who are daily living out the call to Love Your Neighbor and who are courageous enough to publish their goals and results.

The Success Fund is a tool to encourage and reward local organizations that want to be accountable to their own mission and vision. The Success Fund allows more kids to get mentors, more refugees to find safety, more homeless to find shelter and more sick and hurting to find relief - and that's just the beginning. The Success Fund is a tool that allows you as a donor to reinforce the success of a wide range but select group of local non-profits.

It's easy to make a gift. You can give online or via mail with a check made out to DurhamCares and mailed to 801 Gilbert Street, Suite 213, Durham, NC 27701. Would you take a few minutes to make a gift that will encourage our neighbors in Durham who are daily laboring to care for those in need?

May you experience this joy with may your New Year be filled with hope!

Do you want to be inspired by creative models for social impact, hone your leadership skills and use your talents for the good of the community? Apply today for 2012 internship opportunities with DurhamCares, Ministry Spotlight, Global Generosity Movement and Christian Technology Initiative. These positions offer the opportunity to obtain hands-on experience in a results-focused, fun and team-based environment!

DurhamCares offers internships at our location on 801 Gilbert Street near downtown Durham, NC. Interns are unpaid, but we would be willing to work with you to arrange course credit. Our intern program is open to college students, recent graduates and members of the community. Intern candidates must be available for a minimum of 10 hours per week during daytime business hours.

DurhamCares is looking for the following interns for the Spring 2012 semester:

• Marketing and Communications Intern
• Online Curator
• Reporter
• Verticals Analyst
• Video Storyteller
• Volunteer Match Specialist

To be considered for an internship, you must complete this online application form and submit your resume and cover letter to internship@durhamcares.org by December 31, 2011.

Thank you for your interest!

VERTICALS ANALYST

As a Verticals Analyst, you will work the project manager to understand the scope of particular issues facing Durham, including mapping available assets and service providers working on the issue. You'll research answers to key questions about the size of the issue, underlying factors and trends, as well as causes and correlations. Then you'll help the project team synthesize the research with the perspective of local experts in a way that motivates people to strategic action.

Successful applicants will demonstrate attention to detail and excellent research skills, as well as the desire to think strategically about how best to understand issues of poverty, education, homelessness, etc. in a local context. This position requires someone who is passionate about helping others understand and respond to issues in their community.

VIDEO STORYTELLER

In this position, you will have the opportunity to produce short videos telling the story of DurhamCares' non-profit partners, the families and individuals they serve, and the volunteers who are involved in loving their neighbors. You'll be assigned to an event or organization and will be responsible for scheduling interviews/filming sessions, editing the footage and producing a short completed video to be distributed through our YouTube channel and social media outlets and shared with partner organizations. The stories told through the videos will play a crucial part in DurhamCares' larger effort to engage those not yet involved in the community.

Successful applicants will have the ability to produce high-quality videos from start to finish, including both shooting and editing footage. Applicants must have their own transportation, but do not need to own their own camera or editing software (video camera and iMac with Final Cut software available for use in DurhamCares office). Applicants must be able to provide portfolio of previous work!

VOLUNTEER MATCH SPECIALIST

As a Volunteer Matching Specialist intern you'll work with the matching team at DurhamCares to consult with individuals looking to serve their community, and connect them to opportunities that match their skills and interests. You will be able to gain an in-depth understanding of the organizations and programs working in the non-profit sector in Durham, and think creatively about how to position volunteer candidates to serve - the backbone of what we do here at DurhamCares!

Applicants must be comfortable, friendly, and engaging both over the phone and email, and must be able to clearly communicate expectations to volunteers and keep scheduled appointments. Interview with the Match Program Manager is required.

ONLINE CURATOR

This position will allow you the opportunity to both manage content for an existing nascent website. As the curator for The Office List (a site highlighting one Christian ministry video per day), you will watch, catalog and prioritize positing the existing videos in the database, as well as source new videos to feature. You'll be responsible for regularly scheduling posts within the WordPress platform and promoting daily posts through social media outlets and managing comments/responses. Additional responsibilities include researching additional distribution channels and networking with relevant organizations on Twitter/Facebook.

Successful applicants must have an interest in Christian ministry both in the US and internationally and a love for watching videos. Applicants must be familiar with the WordPress platform and use of social media and should be able to work in a self-directed manner.

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS INTERN

As the Marketing and Communication Intern for the Global Generosity Movement, you will help to craft and execute the movement's social-media marketing plan. With a huge emphasis on social media and SEO, you will help to connect and support organizations and individuals focused on the biblical message of generosity. In addition, you will be responsible for content distribution and messaging as well as building a following by posting relevant content.

Successful applicants will have the ability to manage multiple media channels and be comfortable interacting with customers and partner organizations around Christian topics. This position requires someone with excellent communication skills who is comfortable with WordPress CMS. Junior, senior or graduate Journalism majors preferred.

REPORTER

As a reporter for the Global Generosity Movement, you will help to tell the stories of individuals and organizations exemplifying biblical generosity around the world. You will work to design and produce a series of news stories for print, web and podcast that align with the organization's strategy.

Successful applicants will have excellent communication skills, as well as experience with AP style and in reporting stories for publication. This position requires someone who is comfortable communicating Christian messaging and thrives in a start-up environment. Junior, senior or graduate Journalism majors preferred.

With the holiday season right around the corner, you may be looking for a new way you can love your neighbor in Durham this time of year. Here are a couple of helpful suggestions to get you started in the right direction. Of course, the best way for you to love your neighbor is to start during the holiday season and continue to be engaged all year long. Our volunteer matching team would be happy to talk with you about how you can use the holiday season as an opportunity to get involved. Let us know how we can help you!

Hold A Winter Coat & Blanket Drive For Refugees
Refugees arrive in the US with what they can carry...literally. In most cases, that means they don't have the coats or blankets they need for the cold weather. Organizations like World Relief and Church World Service who help these new families settle in rely on donated items to supplement what the family brings with them. Get your kids or your friends together to collect coats, blankets, comforters, socks, hats, scarves, gloves or space heaters to help these families stay warm this winter.

Get Involved

Throw A Holiday Party or Holiday Themed Activity Night at the Caring House
The Caring House is a comfortable and affordable place for adult cancer patients to stay while receiving treatment at Duke. Get your family & friends together to provide a fun social activity for these folks who are far from their own homes during the holidays. This could be anything from cooking a nice meal or deserts to holding a game or craft night to providing a little holiday music!

Get Involved

Wrap Christmas Gifts for Housing For New Hope
This year on December 8th from 10am-6pm, Housing For New Hope will be wrapping presents at the Barnes & Noble at Southpoint Mall to raise money for the services they provide to the homeless in Durham. Cheerful volunteers are needed to wrap gifts with a little holiday cheer: all the tips received benefit the folks Housing For New Hope serves!

Get Involved

Adopt A Family For Christmas
Both the Genesis Home and the Department of Social Services will help you partner with local families who are homeless or economically disadvantaged, or even elderly or disabled neighbors in Durham to share your Christmas by providing gifts off of a wish list. After shopping for gifts for the family you're matched to, you have the option of delivering the gift directly to Genesis Home or the family, or back to DSS to deliver.

*All Genesis Home families have been adopted but DSS still has families waiting for adoption!

Get Involved

Staff the "Share Our Christmas" Helpline
After you sign up to sponsor a family, consider helping DSS take calls from other volunteers who want to love their neighbors - they need volunteers to help answer phones!

Get Involved

Purchase your Holiday Cards through Urban Ministries' Holiday Honor Card Program
Are you looking for your family's Christmas card for the season? Why not purchase Urban Ministries Holiday Honor Cards, available for a minimum donation of $5 each. Individuals who purchase Honor Cards send them to friends and family, indicating that they have been honored by a donation to a local outreach agency.

Get Involved

Staff the Urban Ministries Angel Tree Drop-Off Table

Urban Ministries needs volunteers from November 25 through December 18th for 2-hour shifts at Northgate Mall to accept Angel Tree present donations from shoppers. The Angel Tree is open for 10 hours each day, and daytime shifts are especially needed.

Get Involved

OCTOBER 7 AT 7PM

CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD

3741 GARRETT ROAD, DURHAM

Join your neighbors in Durham for a concert with Grammy nominated artist Paul Colman to support great non-profits in Durham!

This will be a fun time with a great musician and thoughtful music. But more than that it's an opportunity for you and your friends and neighbors to come out to support the GREAT work that is being done in our city to impact lives of at-risk youth, homelessness, addiction, job training and creation, health care, elder care and many other areas!

Through the evening you will have the opportunity to give to the Success Fund where 100% of donations go directly back out into the community to support the great work of courageous non-profits who publish outcome related goals and their results.

So, mark your calendars, grab your friends and meet us for a fun night of great music, inspiration and a chance to LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR!

Learn more about Paul at www.paulcolman.com, and for those of you who remember his days as the guitarist for the Newsboys or who enjoy the Paul Colman trio then tell your friends that he's in town on October 7!

View the video of our Celebrate Durham Event: An Evening with Tim Keller or download the audio to listen on the go. 

Editor's Note: This article first appeared at www.thegathering.com and is reprinted here with permission.

In my early twenties I was living in New York City, working for a very hip arts organization, going to grad school at Columbia University, and attending tons of parties with fabulous people at places that were even more fabulous. I couldn't get enough splashy Fabulous with a capital F in my life. I stopped going to church because it wasn't exactly relevant anymore. I still loved Jesus, and I knew I was a child of God, I just became a total church snob. That was easy. I hated the hokey way pastors would try to relate to people my age in their sermons. I rolled my eyes at the illustrations they used from popular television shows to make scripture meaningful to me. Sorry, Joe Pastor, that reference to The Gilmore Girls flew right past me. I didn't watch tv. I went to parties at the MoMA and opening night performances on Broadway, for free, during "primetime" network hours. I couldn't get enough of that life for a few years. But, like I mentioned, I was a child of God. And he wasn't about to let me slip away, regardless of what I thought seemed like the perfect life.

I started going to church again when my nagging, wonderful parents hundreds of miles south wouldn't stop bugging me about a church on the Upper East Side called Redeemer Presbyterian. My dad, a former Bible smuggler, had attended a missionary conference with Tim Keller years earlier and never forgot him. FINE, I thought. I'll go, I'll go! I'll go to make my parents happy and get them to pipe down about this Tim Keller guy.
He didn't reference Gilmore Girls, or old Far Side one-liner cartoons, or silly commercials for cheap beer on television. In that first sermon I heard, he referenced Nietzsche and an article I just read in The New Yorker. Oh. I wasn't prepared to open up my ears to hear what this guy was saying, let alone my heart. He talked about the practical ways my life should be changing if I meant business about God, and how God's love was transforming New York City. Honest, but not confrontational messages that challenge Christians to be loving, patient disciples that actively work together to live Christ's message of love, hope, and mercy.

The way I understand and love God has changed because of Tim Keller's teaching, and as a result of that, the way I love and serve the people in my community has changed as well. I moved down to this area in October 2008, and I see so many commonalities between the New York that God is changing and the Durham that God is changing. God has blessed Durham with a staggeringly high level of creative capital and brain power. Durham overflows with resources, financial and human, that are being strategically organized to serve people right here. In this city filled with nationally recognized chefs, activists, scientists, mothers, educators, caregivers, philanthropists, authors, and concerned citizens, we have a talent pool ready to be mobilized for Christ.

Tim's message this Wednesday will explore how to love your neighbor as demonstrated in the Bible. Go to learn what it means to love Durham in a way that will deepen your relationship with God. Go to learn what it means to change and serve this community, one Fabulous Christian at a time.

Needless to say, I think you should, and here’s why. 

Anyone who has heard Tim speak recently RE: ministry to the city knows that God has given him unique eyes, a unique heart and a unique message, calling for powerful Christian presence and action in the city.  Recently our staff team heard Tim address urban ministers and church planters at a conference in Dallas – three terrific presentations.  The insights and instructions were inspiring and practical: they continue to inform our efforts to plant All Saints as a church that stands faithfully and lovingly at the intersection of needs and issues in our community.  Call it prophetic clarity, call it integrity rooted in action, call it the logical outworking of someone who really gets the necessary balance of truth and love in Christ – call it what you will: Keller has a message that Christians committed to authentic impact need to hear.

Beyond that, the impetus behind this event – DurhamCares – is seeding “holistic collaborative Christian mission” into our community.  Praise God!  When people, or a ministry, plant something that captures God’s heart, in prayer and sacrifice, they insert “yeast that leavens the whole loaf.”  Who knows what God may do with us as the Church in Durham as a result of the presence and vision of DurhamCares?

That “yeasting” has happened recently with a group in our church that has been reading Tim Keller’s Generous Justice together.  Like DurhamCares, Keller’s book seeds a vision for mercy and justice ministries, coupled with a strong commitment to the Gospel.   He does a terrific job of communicating a biblical vision for justice and mercy ministries; and because “justice-mercy-Jesus” captures the heart and will of God for the city, God is using Generous Justice to stir people at All Saints to action.  Our commitment and collaborative work with 3+ other churches and agencies to minister to our high-need neighborhood is deepening substantially.  This mission is not just impacting people “out there” either: unity, love and joy are growing in All Saints as people pray and sacrificially serve together in the Name and power of Christ.

I look forward to gathering with others who share a commitment to Durham, believing that God may plant or nurture seeds of his heart into a movement. 

I hope to see you there.

Steve Breedlove

Rector, All Saints Church

The first time I heard Tim Keller was on bootlegged cassette tapes of sermons he preached on Ephesians 5. If you don’t know, Ephesians 5 is one of the most nuclear texts in the Bible, especially in our current culture. Keller managed to stay true to the text, to say something really profound, to be relevant to sceptics, and to preach the good news in the process. Who was this guy?

Twenty years later, Keller’s church has grown into a network of several churches, he is a popular published author, and I don’t have to bootleg tapes any more—you download sermons for free, or get a subscription from Redeemer (http://sermons.redeemer.com/store/).

When I heard that he was coming to Durham, I immediately wanted to share my enthusiasm for his preaching with everyone I could. I think he is, flat out, one of the best preacher-teachers at work today. Why?

Because he just talks to us. He never devolves into that preacher’s tone that is almost unavoidable in the pulpit. He is plainspoken and straightforward. I love the way he just launches into the text—no long or clever introductions from Tim Keller. He pays his congregation the compliment of assuming that they are interested and want to hear the truth. He knows that the truth is interesting. It doesn’t need adornment so much as it needs, simply, explaining.

Because he is relevant. God did the Christian world a great good when he called Tim Keller to New York City. The City keeps him on his toes, and on his toes Keller stands pretty tall. He reads and interacts with cultural elites and thought leaders. He never shows off his learning, but it’s clear that he anticipates and understands the most serious objections and questions that modern people have to the ideas of the Christian faith. Keller has been amazingly effective at engaging Christianity’s cultured despisers. A Keller sermon is relevant to believers and unbelievers alike.

Because he is planted. Keller came to New York City, somewhat reluctantly at first, in 1989. He is in some ways an unlikely church-planter for NYC—he is Midwestern to the core. But he had been deeply impacted by the missiology of Harvie Conn, who taught him to see the incredible potential of a city. And so the Kellers settled into New York and learned to make it their home. Their church has become a great center for good for the city, both in its own ministries and in the many satellite ministries and organizations that have been spawned by Hope for New York. When he is asked to speak about how Christians can be a blessing to their city, Keller has a lot to share.

Because he believes in the power of truth. All you have to do with the truth is to tell it. Keller knows how to do that. Ideas are powerful things, and Keller has the capacity to unpack an idea in a way that makes it shine. You know you’ve been in the presence of someone who paints the beauty of truth when you find yourself repeating and rehearsing that truth to yourself after he has stopped talking. A Keller sermon stays with me for a good while after I listen to it. One of my favorite rhythms is to listen to a forty minute sermon on my iPod at the beginning of my bike ride and then spend the rest of the ride ruminating on what I’ve heard. Good stuff.

Because he is balanced. Keller manages to hold together in a creative tension several things that are so easily torn asunder: word and deed, soul and body, justice and mercy, to name a few. His church is justly renowned for combining a radically evangelical message with a full commitment to social justice—a combination not often or easily maintained. And in the process, he has transcended some of the typical categories that Christians have gotten mired in. Without denigrating politics, he has refused to allow his teaching about justice to devolve into an argument about how one should vote. The Gospel, and only the Gospel, is the center; all else is held in balance on the periphery.

And because he always gets down to the Gospel. Keller is a miner of the deep veins of the Gospel strata. No matter what the text, what the subject, he can always find his way down deep into the Gospel. His summary of that Gospel is so famous that I hear many quoting him who probably don’t know the source: "In the gospel we discover that we are far more wicked than we ever dared believe, yet more loved than we ever dared hope." 

I need to hear that, over and over, and I'll be sure to be at DPAC on May 4 at 7:30 to hear it from the man himself.

Chip Denton
Headmaster, Trinity School of Durham Chapel Hill