If truth be told (and why shouldn’t it??) I had mixed feelings about going on the most recent DurhamCares trip to the Dominican Republic.  It marked my third trip in as many weeks and I was behind.  Behind at work, behind at DurhamCares.  I’ve done a lousy job of following up with the pastors from last weeks’ pastors lunch.  I’m behind on the launch of our new international ministry site, and I’m definitely behind on sleep.  Also, I had seen many of the ministries we were to visit . . . albeit in different countries.

As it turned out, I was very pleasantly suprised in finding that it was one of my best trips.  Part of the success from the trip came from how great the fellow travellers were on the trip, part of it came from our two leaders, Jason Bryan and Scott Steele (former Young Life Director in the DR, and now Executive Director of Cherokee Gives Back), but most of it came from the people on the ground that were doing ministry.  I suppose I’ll never grow tired of hearing from people that give up their lives to minister to the financially and spiritually poor, particularly those that do it with the passion of the folks that we met with.  It’s also absolutely awesome to talk to the people whose lives these ministries touch (wait until you see the posting of video on the new Dominican entrepreneur whose business was made possible by a loan from Hope International).  Lastly, it was very rewarding to see folks from Durham see the same thing and see their lives transformed as they experienced ministries from microfinance, to teen evangelism, to sustainable Christian medical clinics to leadership development/pastoral training.

I think/hope and pray that these 3 day trip formats will be a major success in blessing those that we visit in-country, and those that travel along with us.  The cost is modest (about $1,400 incl. airfare….as we look to just break even) and the time away from work and family is minimal, and as mentioned above, the trips get exposure to the culture (we had a great dinner with the YoungLife and Youth for Christ folks in the historic section of Santo Domingo).

We have a 3 day trip coming up to Guatemala in November and we will be announcing our Spring Trip schedule soon.  We hope that you can join us!!

I’ll post pictures and videos of the trip over the next few days along with a little more in depth commentary. Have a great week!!

Hello from 35,000 feet! I'm en route to the Dominican Republic on our 3rd DurhamCares international trip, and so I have international missions on the mind.

As most of you know now, DurhamCares was founded with inspiration from the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Parable has two lessons for us that we seek to apply every day: 1. the concept of the broader definition of neighbor, 2. the example of physical love (as opposed to just financial contributions) that the Samaritan provided to the Jew in the ditch. It's the broader definition of neighbor that serves as the foundation for what I want to write on today.

The Samaritan, was of course, from a different nation than the man in the ditch that he served. As an extension of that, we'd like to think that our neighbor is not just in Durham, but across the world, in Nicaragua....in Africa....in India. Not, of course, that we need to ignore the needs in your back yard, but we have a real opportunity to bless those in other countries as well, and I believe that we're called by God to do so. It's out of this realization that we've started the international trips concept of course with vision trips for folks from Durham to see how they might serve other nations together.

As we've spent more and more time looking into international ministries (we focus primarily on Christ centered word and deed ministries with our international work) and organizations that we might visit, we found that there isn't a good resource that inventories and/or reviews these organizations. Yes, there is charity navigator or the ECFA, but they primarily review financial metrics and accountability as opposed to true outcomes and other than a quick summary of the organization's efforts, it's hard to understand what the organization really does or how well it does it. Sure, some of the large Christian foundations have done some great research on the effectiveness of various word and deed ministries, but by and large, they don't share that with the general public, or oftentimes not even with other foundations like themselves. So, the rest of us are left to do our own research. Most of us tend to give to folks that we might have seen when they visited our church or an organization recommended by a friend. I'm pretty sure that that isn't the most effective way to invest in the lives of folks abroad. For this reason it's thought that there are more than 3,000 ministries in Haiti alone! Surely, they can't all be just as effective. But which ones are really making an impact? We're left to do our own research, and that, for most of us is a very daunting task.

So, in the coming months you'll see the launch of ministryspotlight.org. It will be separate from DurhamCares, but we'll likely have a link between the two. We'll share with you some of the ministries that we have found to be most effective, and ask you for those that you think are doing a great job. We'll have a function that encourages a discussion on the issue of effectiveness, and what place if any return on investment has in the field of ministry (after all, a kid's education isn't a widget......and qualitative measures are oftentimes difficult to measure). The format will be partially inspired by the current partner section on the DurhamCares site, where we inventory 9 different organizations in a common template that helps folks quickly understand what an organization does and how it measures its outcomes. We'll also have a multimedia function which will allow visitors to see videos and photos that we hope will engage them into the ministry in a way that text, facts and figures misses. Lastly, we'll have a submission function that will allow folks to submit information on ministries that they think are worth promoting as well.

Our goal is threefold:

1. By sharing research we hope to increase the effectiveness of the current giving of Christians internationally.
2. By telling information in a way that gives the donor increased confidence in the outcomes/accountability of their investment, we hope to increase the aggregate amount of giving
3. We want to play a role in the transformation and blessing of the donor, and believe that we can do so as we relate the stories of how fellow Christ followers are doing amazing things overseas.

The site might look something like this image - ministryspotlight.org.jpg.  Think this is a good idea? Have some ministries that you think we should be looking at? Please let us know.

Frachele Scott, Site Manager at Historic Stagville, talks about their work to connect Durham's history with its current generation.

We had a great time today heading out to Market Street in Downtown Durham and handing out some very tasty Locopops to about 125 neighbors!!  If you haven't tried them yet you should, and even more you should know that Summer and Connie who own the place are all about Durham.

We'll plan more events like this so you can meet your neighbors in Durham, check out a cool local business that loves Durham, and meet us here at DurhamCares and learn a bit more about what we do.  Fan us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on the 4-1-1.

What should be next? Free taco from Guajillo's? Free pastry from Daisy Cakes? Free Only Burger? Send your favorite suggestions our way! Thanks Connie and Summer and Locopops for a great afternoon!

Greetings people. I am Lauren Wishon, the volunteer Volunteer Corrdinator this summer with DurhamCares. For most of my life I have lived with my family of Mom, Dad, older brother and sister, in North Raleigh. I went to Broughton High school and when it came time to chose a college I was determined to get out and spread my wings. Naturally I attended NC State University : ) I was not so happy about that decision at first, although it made sense, but God has challenged me and stretched me right here at home, and I have loved it! I have grown to love the triangle area and their ain't no shame in staying close to home (as long as you travel sometimes because the rest of the country...world, is pretty amazing too!)

I just graduated from NCSU in May with a BA in Political Science-International Politics and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. Now I know this doesn't initially make sense considering I am currently a volunteer coordinator for a local Durham organization helping the community here. And to that I would have to say that focusing on international (especially Middle Eastern) issues during college has helped me understand that while I have a passion to serve the Middle East my community has many of the same issues, struggles, and needs. I was confused at first too: what would my purpose be in Durham? Being at DurhamCares and around the amazing people here I have come to love the simple commandment: Love Your Neighbor. And it isn't less gratifying, less interesting, or less important to serve the person in your back yard vs. the one over seas. They are all our neighbors!

I am grateful that I ended up at DurhamCares after seeking a job at a few places. Heather mentioned that I could volunteer and I thought why not- this place sounds pretty amazing. Needless to say, I plan on being here as long as possible! I grow more and more obsessed with what I do here every day. I work with the volunteer matching program that matches people's skills, passions, and interests to the communities needs in the form of long-term volunteer opportunities. That means there are two pieces to my job. First, I get to communicate with people that are willing and excited about volunteering in the community. They (you?) fill out the registration online and then we get to talk on the phone and I hear more about them. Then I go and search for a perfect match for their preferences, availability, passions, talents, etc. That leads me to the second part: networking with local not for profits to find out, and sometimes help them define, their needs. Many times they are used to talking about short-term opportunities that they are surprised when we ask: "If you had all the money in the world to hire staff members, what would those jobs look like". It is awesome to see a light go off when we say that and suddenly they give an eager description of volunteer opportunities that can strategically help them run and improve the organization! These jobs are SO varying for the many organizations we have built with relationships thus far. It has been difficult at times to meet and get to know all these amazing organizations and not be able to help them then and there myself, or find them all the volunteers they need, right away! So I say all this to hopefully help you blog readers to see that this isn't your typical volunteering and you have a chance to make a huge difference for your neighbor and see your impact : ) Do it! Love your neighbor! Volunteer!