What is Race Across America and why are we riding?

RAAM 2010: Day 1 with Team DurhamCares

RAAM 2010:  Day 2 with DurhamCares  

RAAM 2010:  Day 3 with Team DurhamCares

RAAM 2010:  Day 4 with Team DurhamCares 

RAAM 2010: Day 5 with Team DurhamCares

RAAM 2010:  Day 6 with Team DurhamCares

RAAM 2010:  Finishing the Race and Knowing What It’s All About!

Not that I ever do too much anyway, but today I’ve decided to worry less about sentence structure and just put my thoughts down.

I’m tired.  Tuesday night I went on shift at 4:30 and went the next 16 hours, got off for 8 hours (of fitful rest in 95 degree RV with no AC) and then on for another 14….6 hours of rest in moving, hot RV, and then back out for night shift.  I think that brings me to today.

I am awed and overwhelmed at how well our team is getting along.  There are typically 13 people in the RV at a time.  Its, hot, largely airless, and completely cramped, and yet no one really gets frustrated with each other….that might be the real story of the week.

We are going through the mountains of West Virginia right now.  They are beautiful, but relentless.  A few miles back we actually crossed through to Maryland for a bit.  That was a special feeling as I grew up here.

I can’t wait to see my family early tomorrow morning.

I’m also really looking forward to the party at Tylers on Tuesday.  I hope to see my friends there so that I can thank them for all of their support and encouragement.

Greetings from Illinois.  The ride is going great!  I am really enjoying the teammates and the crew who are absolutely incredible.  I have been on for 24 of the last 32 hours and I am getting ready to go back on in 6 hours and I think it is really setting in.  Its been amazing how many things we have seen and how beautfiful this country is.  I had thought that I wouldn’t need to go the caffine route to help me get through but that all went out the window last night as I went to redbull hard and I have a feeling I’ll be doing that until we get home.  It is really motivating to be in this race with this team and to see us continue to support each other and make changes to play to our strengths in each of the legs based on the stage.   It is incredibly encouraging from the road to hear about people in Durham giving more and more money and more and more volunteer hours.  It is great to see the scenery changing back to the way it looks in North Carolina, we feel like we are almost home.  Lord willing we will be home in the next 48 hours so we would love your thoughts and prayers. 

-Henry

One of the unique things, of course, about RAAM is that the race goes 24 hours a day, so 1/3 of our time is spent at night. Riding in solitude at night in the headlights of the support car is a soulful experience, and it surely is that way tonight as we make our way through Kansas on long straight roads.

Last night however, was high drama as we race with 5 other teams through the last of the mountains of Colorado and in to Kansas. It seems incredible to me that with more than 1,200 miles that 6 teams could be within 10 miles of each other. It seemed that riders and support vehicles were everywhere. I have never in my life had such a sustained run of adrenaline as we caught, passed and distanced these teams. We were flying. As we came in to Kim, Colorado we had vaulted from 10th to 5th in just 24 hours!!

We spent the next 6 hours in the RV, which has lost it’s generator, and the a/c….kind of tough with 12 sweaty folks with little sleep. But that’s where this team may be more amazing than what we’ve accomplished on the race. We are so committed to this event, to each other, and to the greater cause of Durham. But most importantly, God has taken care of us and to him we are most grateful. While we hear of other teams and their conflicts, we are gelling as a team with a surprising lack of conflict. I am so thankful for this team of 20 amazing folks on the road, and for the team (led by Heather and Haley) that have put on an amazing event at the American Tobacco Complex which has hosted riders 24 hours a day for the entirety of the time that we have been on the road.

Durham rocks!!

When you are at 6500 feet of elevation and headed to over 10,000 feet on the day, you have mixed feelings about going down hill.  Yes, the downhills are a welcome reprieve from the ascents, especially when the oxygen becomes more and more rarified, but you can’t help think that it just means more climbing…..because it does.

Good morning from Utah!!

We pulled in last night into Flagstaff after an absolutely epic ride through Prescott and Sedona. My goodness the climb up the canyon into Flagstaff was beautiful.  After 12 hours on the road (half hour on, 90 minutes off), the RV looked very welcoming.  Shift exchanges are absolutely nuts, I hope that Jesse gets one of them on film.  The vans have to be completely cleaned out and supplies: tires, tubes, drinks, food, a new driver and navigator, and new riders need to be added.

We had a chance to stop at a campground and get a shower.  I can’t describe properly how great that felt.  Next, sleep.  Yes it was on the floor of the RV, but sleep (at least sleep at RAAM) is sleep.  Sleep on RAAM comes in two flavors, about 2 hours of sleep in a parking lot when you try to get comfortable and wind down your heart rate, and then sleep in the RV maxing out the speed limit which trying to catch up to the other shift.

When we woke up this morning we were gifted with the scenery that rivaled, if not surpassed, Sedona.  Monument Valley in southern Utah is breathtaking, and at sunrise even more so.

Spirits are high, we are well out of last place (10th out of 13), and within an hour of three other teams.  Most importantly, we are proud to represent Durham as a whole and 18 awesome charities in particular.  Please give.  Please volunteer.  Please encourage your friends to do the same.  Thanks for reading!

When you are out on the road for a while you (or at least I) tend to get funny sayings in my head.  Mine, for now, is I’m in the desert on a horse with no name, it feels good to be in from the rain.  It’s bothering me slightly that I can’t remember what song that comes from.  At any rate, it’s what I keep thinking as I made my way on my first ride this morning accompanied by saguaro cacti here in Arizona.

Yesterday was epic.  Great fanfare and pageantry at the start by the pier in Oceanside, a team parade out of town, and then it began.  Dave Hofmann and I took the first shift together since the first 20 miles were unsupported.  It was so awesome to be on our way…and we were hammering, maybe too much though as the support vehicles weren’t there for the first switch and so I did the first big climb wondering if I had been punked .  The descent was gnarly.  Note to self: ” do not descend fast with cross winds and a disk wheel “.....wow, was that scary!

We recovered well and were treated to a beautiful ride with amazing tailwinds….. I literally ran out of gears on the flats….35mph sustained for one 25 minute pull.  Maybe the most exhilarating ride I’ve had.  The techno dance soundtrack didn’t hurt.

We got off the bike after our shift ( there are 4 of us per shift and we go) got unpacked, got a massage, some food and tried to unwind a bit.  Sleeping is very, very difficult in an rv going 40 on back roads.  don’t try that at home…..or on the road.  Going in I thought we’d get 5-6 hours of sleep a night.  I need to reset expectations a bit

It was so cool to get regular tweets via the #dcaresraam hashtag.  To know that there were folks on the bike at the ATC the whole time we were on the road is so encouraging and motivating!!

Good morning from Oceanside!  My goodness its hard to sleep when you’ve got something like this on your mind.  Yesterday was a blur of activity: team meetings, inspections and errands.  Sandy Condray, our team logistics director, was outstanding….......we passed inspection with flying colors.  I am so incredibly grateful for her leadership.  To consider that one month ago, we didn’t even have a team director (as our prior leader had to pull out).  She has stepped up HUGE.  This wouldn’t be possible without her.

Another person on my mind this morning is Michael Lemanski, a partner at GreenFire, the commercial development firm in Durham.  He trained for the race as an alternate to be ready in the event that something happened to one of us.  I think of servant commitment like that and I am just humbled.  He’s another one of those people in Durham that make our city so great…...there are lots and lots of them, at the DurhamCares’ 18 charities and so many other ones.

We watched the piece on DurhamCares on WRAL TV last night (check it out on the DurhamCares WRAL page) and was just completely struck by how awesome BigBrothersBigSisters is as a program and how grateful I am for people like Sean Radke who have gotten out there to love their neighbor by investing in their “little” brother’s lives.  BBBS is the real deal.  I do hope that folks never think, btw, that the 18 we have featured are the only great charities in Durham…........far from it.  I hope with time that we’ll be able to recognize more of those folks as they apply for our success grant program.  At last count, we have placed volunteers with 60 different organizations…..all very worth of our gratitude, investment and time.

I’m off to go get coffee and breakfast…..then lots more team meetings before the “Grand Depart” at 2:29pm.

Good Morning!  So, I check in last night in Oceanside after an afternoon of meetings at LAX and Saddleback, at the Wyndham resort here.  I notice off to the side of the check in counter what appears to be a bowl of candy…hmmm.  free candy…...I’ve been training, I deserve it (I’ve done this calculus a lot lately, most especially with ice cream…at all hours).  The only problem is that it’s not free candy.  It’s a large bowl of individually wrapped orange ear plugs.  Ear plugs?  Yes, ear plugs.  As I write this from my 2nd floor bedroom, I am about 100 yards away from what must be the most active railroad track on the West Coast…......and man oh man, do the engineers (or brakemen) out here love to pull on that whistle.  So much for a making some deposits into my sleep bank! : )

It’s hard to sleep anyway because there is so much to do today.  Team pictures, inspections, group meetings to go over the rules, equipment checks, calls with Heather to coordinate continued outreach to Durham businesses (know of any who might want to join us as sponsors : )) etc.

I’m also really keen on getting familiar with the first 21 miles of the course.  I’m leading off for the team, and all support vehicles aren’t allowed to join the race route until we are well out of town…...so the pressure will be on me to make sure that I don’t get lost.  Can you imagine that?? getting lost in the first 20 miles!? wow, that would be tough to live down.

Much talk this morning about the conditions for the ride.  Day time temps in the dessert are above 110 and their are reports on advisories to not do any exercise outside….: ).  And apparently Colorado is experiencing unusually cold temps….down in the 30s at night.  How awesomely appropriate that the daily Bible reading plan that I just got on, had the following for me this morning from Isaiah 42 v.2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

The buzz around the hotel (when the train horn isn’t blowing) is contagious.  The collective energy from the teams is nothing short of awesome!!  I am so thrilled to be here…here with my great friends from Durham, here with new friends from all over the world (teams from 20 countries on 5 continents).  Thanks for checking in.  Lord willing, I’ll be back later with more

Hello from 35,000 feet!  The pilot just called out that the Grand Canyon is on the right and that we’ll be touching down (at LAX) in an hour.  My goodness this country feels big, it feels like I’ve been traveling all day…..and most of that at 550mph!!

I’m struck suddenly at the magnitude of this thing.  I’ve had the great blessing to have had so many life experiences….but nothing can prepare me for this.  How will I do in the first of 40+ half hour time trials…..how about # 27?? Can I handle the sleep deprivation from sleeping in minivans and the RV?  What have I forgotten to pack?

I’m also struck by how this is a beginning, but also in many ways it’s also an end….. to the almost full year of training and prep.  It does feel both a bit stressful, but more liberating that there’s just about nothing left to do but get on the bike.

I’m so grateful for the team and 12 person crew…..all told 20 folks putting their life on hold, and the families that are supporting and encouraging them.  And then, of course, there’s Heather (an amazing woman!) and the volunteer staff that has prepped so hard and is staying behind to run the 24x7 event at the ATC.

I do so hope and pray that this event will inspire folks to love their neighbor by GIVING and VOLUNTEERING.  I’m heartened that area companies have already pledged over $60k… All of which will go to the awesome 18 charities that have listed their outcome related goals.  Now it’s the time for the rest of us…..I hope we get a thousand Durham residents to give over the next week.  I want to celebrate the $10 gift from the 10 year old…..and the pledging of 20 volunteer hours from someone who has never volunteered before.  Now THAT will get us over the Rockies in the cold of night!!

Love your neighbor….the one across the street and across town!  On behalf of the team, THANK YOU for your support and encouragement!

Meet Michael Holthouse of Lemonade Day and let us know if you would be interested in seeing this event in Durham?

Two recently published books examine the challenges and opportunities that Christ followers face when looking to alleviate financial AND spiritual poverty in the developing world. One of these authors, Peter Greer, the President of Hope International, will be in Durham on Nov 11 at 8:00pm at The Summit Church (2335 Presidential Dr.) to talk about his book, but most importantly to talk about Christ Centered Economic Development and how it is being used as a remarkably effective tool to help address poverty and the spread of the Gospel.

A little background and context:

There has been much talk recently about effective and sustainable international aid. Books like, "White Man's Burden" by William Easterly, and "Dead Aid" by Dambisa Moyo have railed against the decades of foreign aid and the poor results that they have to show for them. They describe systems that are full of corruption on with much money never reaching the poor, and that seems often to actually be the best case. The worst case seems to be when the money actually reaches the poor and how it so often builds a culture of dependency on foreign aid that provides perverse incentives for creativity, innovation and economic development. One can't help but read these critiques that each book takes pain to examine with stats and expert commentary and wonder if the continent of Africa would actually have been better off without receiving any money from Western Governments at all.

So, what does this mean for us Western Christians that are moved by the pictures we see of abject poverty AND who are also driven by a desire to honor the Great Commission as we make disciples of Christ? Well, two recently published books provide great commentaries on the opportunities for Christ followers to make a meaningful, Kingdom impact in the countries ravaged by war, famine, and yes by poorly
conceived aid programs, both secular and Christian. "When Helping Hurts", by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett spends equal time on examining how easy it is do do harm with giving, and what programs lift people up. I recommend the book unreservedly, and we are hopeful to have Brian Fikkert come to the Triangle area in late February, early March to tell us more.

Peter's book, "The Poor Will Be Glad" examines the unique ministry model of Christ Centered Economic Development (CCED). It's suprising to me, sometimes, how few of us Christ followers actually know about CCED and particularly about it's use as a discipleship and evangelism tool. Sure, we have heard about Muhammad Yunnus of Grameen Bank (the Nobel Prize, of course, did wonders for public awareness for the microfinance industry--MFI). We get the concept that MFI delivers the working poor from usurious money lenders who typically charge 10-20% interest PER DAY and secures these loans through a concept called "social collateral" - effectively each borrower in a group co-signs each others loan - a concept effective enough to deliver repayment rates industry wide at better than 97%.

But, using it is a ministry tool? Of course! I Peter 3:15 says, ".....Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." The caseworker who develops a relationship with the poor in multiple borrowing groups is in a perfect position to do just that by either sharing the Gospel message with the folks that they've partnered with, or to introduce them to a local church. The caseworkers is working to extend the Kingdom by addressing financial poverty AND spiritual poverty, and doing it in a way that extends dignity RATHER than dependency.

I could go on and on, about how impressive Hope International and Peter Greer are, but if a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a YouTube video is worth 10,000. This is one of the best videos I've ever seen, regardless of genre.......it's very worth watching it to the end:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrKQZeoAzyI

I hope that you get a chance to come and hear Peter, and that you bring a friend. This could be the best ministry presentation you hear this year.

Henry

Meet Rich Halvorson Founder and Director of Global Fast.  He's a Christian inspired by the passage in Isaiah 58 that's all about loving his neighbor in a unique way!  Watch this video to meet Rich, hear more and then check out their site at www.globalfast.org.

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.

I've been back for a couple of days from my trip to Nicaragua, and I've now absorbed enough to be able to share some thoughts, including my biggest takeaway.

First, some background. David (my business partner, great friend and co-founder of DurhamCares) and I had wanted to get away to celebrate his 40th birthday. The original plan was to go see the Tour de France for a few days as we've done in the past (we're both avid cyclists). Lance Armstrong was back and in a 3 day trip we could take in the individual Time Trial in Annecy, which for my money is the prettiest town in Europe, and see the epic stage 2 days later at the top of Mont Ventoux. It sounded cool and we were ready to go. It occurred to us, though, that this might not be the best thing to do. You see for years we've been talking at the company about how our personal and company values are: Faith, Family, Work and Fitness (in that order). Shouldn't we celebrate his birthday in a way that was more in line with that? Don't get me wrong, quick R&R trips to go skiing and/or cycling are great and we'll do more of them, but this occasion was really special and we wanted to memorialize it in a way that was something that we'd never forget. So, we decided on a 4 day trip to Nicaragua with our sons (Daniel age 9, and Benjamin age 7). We also asked along our great friend Scott Toal, who went to ORU with David and the Chairman of the Mailbox Club and his son Seamus (age 8).

Our trip was AWESOME! The first two days were in Managua principally to visit ministries and a Micro Finance Institution. The next two days were in San Juan del Sur down on the coast for fishing and surfing. Pictures from the trip and captions describing what we did are at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136611&id=573895140

I won't tell you all of the details of the trip as there is much that we've put in the captions on fbook, but I do want to share some highlights:

1. Visiting the Lirio de Las Valles, a church that sits 200 passionate believers that couldn't have cost more than $1,000 to build. As I tweeted from the visit, "now this is a capital campaign that I can support."
2. Normally quiet and reserved Benjamin standing up in front of the crowd sharing his love of the Lord...it blew me away that he said one word, let alone what amounted to a full blown testimonial. All things are possible with the Holy Spirit!
3. Seeing lacrosse and hope in the slums of La Chureca, a slum at the Managua city dump. (For an awesome 14 minute video on how it got there, check out the video at: http://lacrossethenations.org/)
4. Touring the dump and the ministries inside it with our new friends Brad Corrigan (of the band Dispatch) and Daniel Bain.
5. Other surfers at the Remonsa beach clapping for Benjamin as he surfed. There IS something soulful about surfing. Btw, check out the movie "Walking on Water" if you haven't already.
6. The many, many unsolicited hugs that I got from Benjamin. I bet that I've gotten 10-15 from him up until the trip. I got more than 20 on it. AWESOME.
7. Great bonding with the other dad-son combinations.
8. Benjamin leading us through a slide show upon our return, getting to the picture of the church with all of the kids in it, and JoeJoe (our 5 year old son) exclaiming, "Wow, that's a beautiful church!".....AND IT WAS! Not for the building, but for the balloons hanging from the rafters and the beautiful children inside of it. It was Matthew 18:3 applied better than I've ever known.
9. Hundreds of other things that I won't throw at you now...I'll just wrap them all into an encouragement for you to do the same. It wasn't too expensive, about $2,000 for 5 days incl. airfare, and it was wonderful to see other ministries that we might get involved with, and it's a life experience that we'll all NEVER forget!

Now, for the application to Durham:

The second part of our trip was to a town on the coast named San Juan del Sur. It has a population of about 3,000 people and is beautifully located along some of the most dramatic coastline I've ever seen. But that's not what impressed us. What impressed us was the incredible sense of community that we felt while we were there. I've been to other surf towns in Central America and elsewhere around the world. Unfortunately, they're typically known for their night clubs, public consumption of alcohol, men trying to sell you pot, and women trying to sell something else. NOT HERE. At night, the entire town came out to walk as families around the town and to visit each other on porch stoops. Children played in the streets without a fear in the world; neither them NOR their parents. The sense of it all was overwhelming. We couldn't help but feel that this is the way that every town should be...the way that we envision towns long ago were in America before television and the Wii.

Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in Latin America, and yet for my money it is the richest I've ever seen. Happiness in San Juan del Sur is not measured by financial success, material belongings or academic credentials (they don't have any). What they do have is a love for family, a commitment to engagement and relationship and faith. I would go so far as to say that the average person in San Juan del Sur is significantly happier than the average person in Hope Valley, Chancellor's Ridge, NE Central Durham or any other community here in Durham.

Here's my hope for Durham: that we put down the computer, the TV and the video games long enough to discover our neighbors, engage with them, learn about them, build relationally with them, and yes to love them. If you want to see what it might look like some day, go check out San Juan del Sur and tell me if you've got anything of real substance on them; are they citizens of the 2nd poorest country in the world, or are they actually residents of the richest town in the world? And you can get in some great surfing and fishing while you're at it.

I've come across an article from the New York Times that I think is of great importance to the world of helping people.   For to truly help lots of people, you need to first HELP lots of people HELP lots of people.

Here's what I mean:  people in Durham will continue to give less than 1% of their income to local charities until they are engaged in real personal stories.  The best way to do this, is of course, to get them engaged with real people.  Ideally this happens during an committed, sustained volunteering relationship.......one in which the volunteer finds that it's been THEIR life that's been transformed by the experience.  That is, of course, what we at DurhamCares are committed to helping people discover with placements with great local and international organizations.  Just short of these real world experiences are the individual stories that can be told via multi-media.

You see, people are moved by stories about other people.....not statistics.   Durham's (and the world's) charities need to fully appreciate and embrace that fact and have it evident in their communication strategy if they want to play the role that they can in dramatically moving the needle (up to 2,3 or even 4%).

I've probably gone on about this already too much, particularly when this author nails it.....please read on, and then help the organizations that you are involved with to apply what is in this article.  Durham and it's donors and donees will both be transformed by it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/opinion/09kristof.html?_r=2

I don't talk about politics very much, and that's probably a good thing.  For one: I'm not as educated as I'd like despite a PoliSci degree, and two: I love all of Durham and every one in it, and I'm not interested in alienating folks even I was informed enough to do so. But, there's one topic that has been on my mind for quite a while and it's probably time to get it off my chest. And of course, I'd love to get other people's take on this as it's possible I'm missing something, either obvious or subtle.

I pay the federal goverment taxes and then someone in Washington determines how to best spend that money with a chunk of it coming back to Durham in the form of federal aid and investment.

Here's my issue: I think that I know how better to spend and invest in Durham than some analyst up in Washington DC, and I think you do too. I think that the excellent charities in Durham are infinitely more effective and efficient than government agencies. Why? Well aside from a general belief that smaller organizations are more nimble and effective with the decision makers much closer to the people that they seek to serve, there's the matter of incentive. The folks that run Durham charities (most of whom receive no federal aid) are paid by incentive and the analysts and career government employees are not. There is no such thing as a Success Grant (http://www.durhamcares.org/index.php/grant/) for career federal employees. Even without the Success Grant initiative there is plenty of incentive as these charities must prove to their donors that they are effective if they want to raise money.

So what would I propose?:
Well say I owed $30,000 in federal tax. I'd like to pay $20,000 to Uncle Sam and then show evidence of $10,000 invested in some of Durham's best charities. For that matter, I'd be fine if I could get out of the final $10,000 if I could show double that amount invested in Durham charities. If someone wasn't sure which charities were best and wanted Uncle Sam to choose then they could pay the whole $30,000. Doesn't that make sense? In effect, it's not too different from the charter school initiative which allows the consumer to vote with the government's money who is best to educate our kids. Can't we do that with who is best to serve the poor, put kids in mentoring relationships, and shelter the homeless?

I believe that we as individuals know better how federal money should be spent in Durham than the government and that this knowledge coupled with inherent efficiencies from decreased overhead will allow for lower taxes and better care. Do you agree?

As many of you know, Durham played host to the NY Times best-selling (62 weeks and counting) authors of the increasingly famous book, "Same Kind of Different as Me" two weeks ago at the Marriott Convention Center.

Theirs is an incredible story of the most unlikely of best friends: a rich, white art dealer from Ft. Worth Texas, and a poor, black, sharecropping hobo from Red River Parish, Louisiana. The story shatters myths about relationships between white and black, what it means to be homeless, and has a great tale of sin, forgiveness and redemption too.

Ron is handsome, articulate and has a great comfort in interacting with his audience, and his time in Durham was no exception. Denver, however, is the star of the show. He speaks of truth and wisdom with an incredible efficiency of words, and when he tires of telling stories or making his point, he breaks out in song in one of the most amazing voices that I have ever heard.

The story that the title of this blog refers to comes from the early days of their book's release (as with so many best selling books, seemingly no publisher wanted to have anything to do with it at first) when they tried to gain exposure for their book, often by talking about it with very small groups. Some of these groups were men from Bible Studies. After going to a few of them, Denver asked Ron why white people seemed to be so interested in just sitting around and studying the Bible. In his words "I've had enough of these white men talking about the Bible. When you show me a group of white men that are having a 'Bible Doing', then I'll go and talk with them."

How incredibly convicting. Don't get me wrong or Denver for that matter. He is a great man of Christian faith. There is clearly much need in our lives for quiet, contemplative study of Scripture, both alone and with small groups. But when we are doing Bible studies at the expense of actively engaging others in our city, particularly those that we might be able to really bless then I think we are often missing much of what God wants us to hear, learn and know as we seek to faithfully obey his commandments to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Is your ratio of bible doing and bible studying in the right place? I know mine isn't. I thank Denver for giving me a perspective and lesson in a few short sentences that Ron couldn't in 20 minutes.

I spent much of last Thursday and Friday at the DPAC attending the Advance 09 conference. The Advance 09 Conference brought together some of America's best Christian pastors (Driscoll, Chandler, Piper and our own JD Greear among others) to speak on the resurgence of the Church in America. It was absolutely amazing. More than 2,700 folks from all over the country came to Durham to hear what God was doing in the world and what he calls us all to do.

I met lots of folks from places as far away as Seattle and including West Virginia, Louisville, Little Rock, and Grand Rapids Michigan to name a few. One of the folks, that left the greatest impression though, was a missons pastor from Redeemer church in Winston Salem named Francis Smith.

I met him briefly yesterday when he stopped by the DurhamCares table. He talked about how he had grown up in Durham in Braggtown and then moved north to Bahama. He then went on to tell me the origin of the name of this area north of Durham (named by combining the last names of the 3 families who first settled there) and why it wasn't pronounced like the islands off the coast of Florida. When I asked him if he would participate in a new 30-second-video project that we are doing that asks people why they love Durham (he was born here and does love it, so he'd qualify) and what it means for them to love their neighbor, he politely declined. Well, he came back today telling me that he would like to participate after all. It seems that he had told the story last night to his wife who urged him to seize this opportunity during which he might share something with others. And so, he did do the interview. (it and many others like it will be brought online in our new video section which should hopefully make it's debut before the end of the month).

I had told him, of course, all about DurhamCares and how we are working to encourage people in Durham to become engaged in their city through volunteer matching, trips to Durham and Succcess Grants. He definitely got it, and was encouraged by our inspiration from the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I was very impressed with his wisdom, born from many years in the mission field abroad and right here in North Carolina. He had many things to say about engagement, and I'll only list a few here.

I hope that you find them as encouraging and challenging as I did, but I fear that I may not do them justice, and it sure was great to hear them from his mouth, and not my feeble typing:

1. Don't buy a new shovel. I know that sounds a bit strange, but it makes all the sense in the world if you think about it, and no, it has nothing to do with the recession and a desire to cut back on new purchases. Francis said that someone had once told him that it's a good idea to borrow a shovel (or other tool) even if you have one. Why? Well, because that gives you an opportunity to engage with your neighbor. Ask him or her how they are doing and what's going on in their life. Mostly conversations will be short and pleasant, but sometimes your neighbor might even bring up issues that you might help them sort out or encourage them on. Either way, you'll both be better for it. Such conversations might never happen if you have the most complete tool collection out there. By the way, I tried that tonight out of a genuine need for milk, and a strong desire not to go to the store. He's right, I very much enjoyed my brief visit with my neighbor and I think that he felt the same.
2. Is it safe? I know, this sounds like some sort of plug for the movie Marathon Man. No, this isn't about the famous interchange between Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman, it's about confronting your fears as you seek to help your neighbor in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Francis shared with me a story of a woman who he got to know at his church. He had encouraged her to volunteer at a mission in an unfamiliar part of town. She asked, "Is it safe?" His response: "No, but then again in this world now, nothing is completely." Several months later she saw him again in church and she came up to him to tell him that she was indeed volunteering and helping with kids in this impoverished area of town. Francis asked her, "Well, did you find out that it's safe?" Her answer: "No, but I love working with the kids." I found this story to be strikingly honest and consistent with my limited experience. God calls us to honor him in all sorts of ways and stretches us beyond our comfort level, as he did with this woman, but he blesses us (and those we seek to serve) when we do so.
3. Don't just drive through.  Over the course of his career he has been strongly influenced by John Perkins who told him that it's not just enough for us to drive into challenged neighborhoods each day and assist our brothers on the other side of town, but that it's far better to move in alongside them and to live amongst them. (And then to resist the urge to spend a lot in up-fitting the house to our old standards.) For then, true barriers will come down. I found this last part very challenging to internalize and candidly (as if I'd be anything but), I don't see moving our family any time soon. BUT, I found a lot of wisdom in what he said and it's going to encourage me to do more when I visit these neighborhoods. Lest I feel too pleased with myself about the lengths that I'm going, I'll be inspired on knowing that there is yet far more that I can do. I do wish, though, that I had the courage to do exactly what Perkins suggests. Maybe there will be a time for that in my life.

Francis, THANK YOU for coming back to Durham for the conference. Thank you for stopping by the DurhamCares booth today, and thank you for sharing this encouragement with me. Thank you for loving your neighbor!

As you may recall, I promised to write a series of blogs about entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur, I am remarkably biased about entrepreneurship, but I do think that the creativity, innovation and hard work that it requires can be a big part of Durham's economic development and resurgence. As entrepreneurs develop plans to engage in the community through volunteerism programs for their companies and employees (see bandwidthcares.org for an example), I think that entrepreneurship will bring much more to Durham than just the creation of wealth and jobs (though those are good goals as well, of course....particularly when that new found wealth is reinvested back in the community).

I firmly believe that the seeds for entrepreneurship can be sown very early in life. LemonadeDay (please see the blog on this from last week) hits on this concept, and so do video games. Video Games? Yes, video games. The folks from the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurship have created a series of compelling video games to engage youth in learning the basics of entrepreneurship. http://www.actonsims.com/

If your kids are like my kids, video games are a huge draw. Kimberley and I don't have video games at the house but do allow our boys (we have 3, ages 3,5,7) to play games on my iphone when we are travelling. This has worked great for us, as it takes away some of the tedium of long wait in the airport, even if we just limit it to 30 minutes. The draw, though, of video games is so great that it's enough to tell them that they can play them later in the trip to keep them well behaved and excited. I'm not sure if video games had the same control over me while growing up, but the games (pong, then space invaders and pacman) weren't nearly as good as the ones that are out now. Ok, so far I'm not telling you anything that you didn't already know. So here goes:
You'll see from the actonsims website that there are several different games to play.

There are single player games like Galactic Zappers that teach kids how to overcome operations bottlenecks, and multiplayer games like Price Point. One of Acton's games that has been reviewed by gamesforchange.org that seems to have gotten some traction:
From: http://www.gamesforchange.org/main/gameprof/731

RoboRush! is meant to teach students how to build a business from the ground up. Students will start a small robot-manufacturing business through grassroots methods: pursuing sales, running efficient operations, and learning to say ‘no' to less-profitable customer requests. As the student progresses they will have the opportunity to scale up the business by making sound decisions and taking risks. In growing the business the student has the opportunity to hire staff, open a storefront, and even open a factory. As they do, they will find that the game play becomes more challenging as they find that managing staff, monitoring demand, and balancing profitability are not as easy as they may have originally imagined.

Another game associated with helping youth get interested in entrepreneurship is from the NFIB Young Entrepreneur Foundation is Johnny Money: www.NFIB.com/jmog. This looks to be worth checking out as well. Undoubtedly there are more online games as well, and I hope that folks add to this list in the comment section.

I still think that the best way to teach kids about entrepreneurship is through LemonadeDay.org, but as that program is designed to run once a year (though there's nothing holding kids back, of course, from doing it more frequently), these video games may present part of the solution for planting the seeds of entrepreneurship in Durham's kids from an early age...seeds that will hopefully sprout, grow and flourish to Durham's benefit for many years to come.

Pardon the interruption from the series on domestic entrepreneurship issues for a quick blog on international entrepreneurship.

I write this with a bit of caution, as the last thing that I want to do is to dampen anyone's interest in microfinance. Microfinance is now, and for my money, always will be, a remarkably effective way to alleviate worldwide poverty.

BUT, I think that it's important that donors/funders/investors understand the current climate for microfinance so that they can be very smart with their giving and as always, (but more difficult to do than you'd think) do no harm.

When we were on the DurhamCares trip to India we visited several different economic development programs. It was during one such visit, in Chennai, that I actually started to think that a microfinance bubble might be imminent, at least one that would impact many urban environments where microfinance institutions (MFI) have become quite popular. The Director of the program we visited lamented the loss of some of their best borrowing groups to competing MFIs. In some cases, he had trained and nurtured savings groups for more than 2 years, steadily increasing the amounts that these women borrowed from him as they proved through their business models and repayment history that they could service larger amounts. These women (this MFI, as most do, lent primarily to women) had received important training on subjects from extending credit to customers to the basics of marketing. Now, in one day, a new loan officer from a new organization would come in and offer the women double the amount that they had previously borrowed.

These women often jumped at the chance to double the amount of money that they could borrow as they eyed more and more things that they might do with an increased sum of money. In some cases this money was spent on their business, in some cases for weddings and in others the purchase of consumer goods. Studies have also shown that there is a disturbing increase in the number of poor who have multiple loans to different MFIs, in some cases taking the proceeds from one loan to pay off another. In other words, these women are subject to the same temptations and challenges that MANY OF US have experienced with easy credit, not any different from what so many American have witnessed and experienced with credit card debt, and yes, with easy-to-come-by mortgages. The question, of course, is what will be the long term impact of this "easy credit" as each dollar borrowed more than the one before has a lower incremental benefit, of course, and with it a lower chance of being able to produce the income needed to pay it back.

Now if it was just a US-based telecom guy throwing out some concern, I'd likely take all of this with a grain of salt, but these concerns have been shared by others that I've talked to in the MFI industry as well. Most also have particular concerns with cities like Chennai where MFI saturation has reached such a point that the vast majority of the poor are served, often times with multiple loans.

Ok, so what to do with this information/opinion? The most important thing is to NOT stop investing in MFIs (pardon the double negative here, it just makes the point better). The key is to invest a bit more smartly, and as with any investment (as all of our charitable giving/investing should be) research the organizations and ask the right questions.

Some questions you should ask include: are MFIs operating in environments underserved or is current demand met by existing supply? what percentage of the MFI's customers have multiple loans? What percentage are in urban areas? Does the charity permit direct funding to rural initiatives? What type of training programs does the MFI run and how frequently? Of course, it's also great to visit these institutions in the field. While this seems daunting, DurhamCares trips (http://www.durhamcares.org/index.php/trips) cost less than $1,500 and only involve 3 days out of the country and focus on some great MFIs.

Remember, 80% of the world's poor DO NOT YET have access to microfinance funds and desperately need it. That is 400 million entrepreneurs!

The rural poor generally and many selective pockets of the urban poor [consider HUGE urban centers like Brazzaville, Bangui, etc.] are vastly underserved by this amazing program that provides dignity rather than dependency, and a hand up rather than a hand out. However, serving the rural poor is often less attractive due to political and economic instability and are often not as profitable as serving the urban poor in more stable economies. The reason for this has much to do with the operating expenses of fielding a caseworker. For instance, a rural caseworker might visit a small fraction of borrowing groups during the day as in urban areas. This obviously drives up the operating costs of distributing and administrating the loans and conducting trainings.

Many MFIs targeting rural or less "attractive" urban pockets may not be profitable now or ever and as a result don't receive much money from the international "for profit" private equity funding sources, and therefore are very much in need of outside donations (to an operating fund) or investments (to a loan fund typically returning 3-5% net to the investor). In fact, while urban MFIs might make 10-20% to the bottom line (part of the reason that money is now chasing them), many rural MFIs might lose 20%. BUT, another way of looking at a loss of 20% is to think that such an operation is 80% sustainable. Compare 80% sustainability with the 0% sustainability that so much of our international giving and aid has gotten, and even poorly performing microfinance (if administered correctly in the field characterized by serviceable loan amounts and good training) looks like a Godsend.

So PLEASE consider microfinance as a part of your overseas funding! It's very much needed and can be amazingly effective for all the reasons listed above. But, go in armed with questions that you should ask, with eyes wide open, and with a prayerful heart.

..........................

Note:
Noticeably absent from this short piece is any information related to another component of microfinance: SCA (Savings and Credit Associations) promote savings among groups of poor people, facilitating interest rate savings (as groups of savings often meet bank minimums for initial deposit) and lending to each other out of their shared pool. These groups are not susceptible to the same bubble and are a very worthy recipient of your attention and investment. For the best that I've seen check out the Chalmers Center www.chalmers.org), as a great institution dedicated exclusively to the training of lay workers in the field in SCA. Also Hope International, (www.hopeinternational.org) is a MFI that strongly advocates SCAs in addition to the more traditional lending practices that they do. Since their approach addresses both financial AND spiritual poverty as a Christ led organization, they work more relationally with clients in mostly underserved countries like the Congo and, in my opinion, are better suited to weather any correction that takes MFIs to something less than 100% sustainability.

We hope you'll be able to join us to Celebrate Durham - tonight 6pm at the American Tobacco Campus downtown Durham!

Last week I was asked to moderate a panel as a part of a conference on entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City. With so much that I learned top of mind, and as this topic is of great interest to David and I, and something we think that Durham very much needs more of I'm going to dedicate the next 5 blogs to the topic of entrepreneurship.

Installment #1: How Lemonade can transform Durham. A study of lemonadeday and why we need to bring it to Durham

Installment #2: Video Games, and why they may be the answer to youth entrepreneurship in Durham

Installment #3: Virgin Money - how friends and families can invest more safely with those they know

Installment #4: HotShotBusiness.com

Installment #5: The new entrepreneurship initiative in Durham Public Schools

How Lemonade Can Transform Durham
A study of LemonadeDay and why we need to bring it to Durham

Michael Holthouse is a remarkably inspiring man. When you click on the video link that follows this post you'll see exactly what I mean. His enthusiasm is infectious and you know that he's a man that won't be denied. He was a very successful entrepreneur selling his company for a good sum of money to Sprint in 1997 and committed his life to working with disadvantaged youth. We were talking about our faith and how God can speak to us through our vocations. When he went to illustrate the point I heard the story of lemonadeday.

3 years ago his 10 year old daughter woke him up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning after he had come in late from a Friday night gala event. He had promised her that he'd help her with a lemonade stand as she was set on buying a new iPod, one that he had told her she'd need to earn, even though he could obviously afford to buy it for her. So blurry eyed he set out to do just that. Together they got the materials from the pantry and began to make batches of lemonade while he talked and asked questions of her relating to price, sales pitch, and inventory and later in the morning they went out to sell her wares. She did very well. At first she thought that all of the money was hers, but her Dad then told her that she needed to repay for the materials that she had used, and that some of the money left over needed to go to people less fortunate than they.

The experience was so rewarding for both of them that Michael set out to encourage other families in Houston to do the same. One year later, he set up the first lemonade day in Houston by working with schools and community partners. In one day 2,500 lemonade stands were set up all over the city! A year later, they did it again. This time 11,000! Just 2 weeks ago on May 3 there were 17,450 stands selling 2.4 million glasses of lemonade! At a rate of a few glasses per customer, he estimates that more than 1million people in Houston were touched by this initiative and many more in first year events in Austin, Detroit and his small hometown in Indiana.

The success and the scale of lemonadeday isn't what's most impressive about this project. What is most impressive is how such a simple concept that we are all familiar with can teach so many valuable lessons and provide so much benefit to the children of Durham and ultimately to the city at large.

0. FAMILIES. This is an activity that brings families together. Michael talks warmly about how much he enjoyed working on this project with his daughter and to see her excitement. She undoubtedly thought the same. The same can be said, I'm sure, of brothers/sisters/mothers/cousins and even grandparents that participated in other lemonade stands.
0. ECON 101. The entrepreneurial lessons are many. Basic lessons regarding pricing/competition/raw materials/gross margin/profit/cash flow and inventory are all taught in easily applied lessons. One more that might not be so obvious: owner's equity. Usually friends will stop by to help. At the end of the day many will think they're entitled to an equal share of the till. Watch the look on your child's face as they explain that it was they that set it all up, found the spot to sell, and ultimately took the risk. They've just learned a great lesson on ownership, risk and profit sharing.
0. CHARITY. Parents have a great opportunity to encourage kids to take some of the money earned and invest in local charities. In Houston, kids gave away more than $250,000 to local charities. Lemonade stands are effectively teaching entrepreneurship AND philanthropy.
0. TITHING. Think that your explanations to your children on why you put money in the offering plate each Sunday (and how much) ring a bit hollow? This will help them understand how to return the tithe back to God.
0. ACCOMPLISHMENT. It's a beautiful thing to see your child rewarded from their hard work and then enjoy the fruits of their labors. Their new iPod, trip to the movies, or new pair of Crocs will give them a sense of fulfillment and appreciation not attributed to anything else they own.

Now, please watch the attached video and let us know if you'd like to be involved with us at DurhamCares in bringing this to Durham!

I write this entry as I try to assimilate a Sunday school lesson that I received yesterday. The teacher, an elder in my Church, was going through the 4th chapter of James along with the help of past sermons by our senior pastor, old writing by Jonathan Edwards from 1747 and even some Tim Keller, for good measure. I found all that he shared inspiring and convicting at the same time, but it is one specific subject that has stuck with me since.

In it is the admonition to not be "of this world." The one application in my life that is often times most "worldly", is the way that I judge success or failure. This is important to me as we contemplate the success or failure of the rollout of the Success Grant, and the "worldly" target of an arbitrary number of people to help seed the concept of this program, (http://www.durhamcares.org/index.php/grant/). Candidly, I've been slightly discouraged at the rate of pick up, for what we think is a very unique and effective way to give to charities. I've been confused by how easy it was to get 350 folks to register for the ESPN DurhamCares pool, yet so challenging to get the word out about the Success Grant program.

In an effort to boost awareness of the Success Grant program, we've offered up my hair and a party with a live band at the American Tobacco Complex (on the terrace next to Tyler's) this coming Thursday. I think that both are fine promotions and I do look forward to seeing so many friends and folks very interested in caring about Durham on Thursday.

Sometimes it is absolutely wonderful and awesome to see how God humbles us, and I am particularly grateful for being reminded of this so early in DurhamCares history. For what we work toward should not be about the Success Grant, the success and popularity of DurhamCares, me nor my hair, or frankly even about Durham. It SHOULD be about glorifying God. For it is the desire to glorify him with our time, talents and treasure that led David and I to start DurhamCares.

So, we may very well hit our goal of 350 individuals pledging through the Success Grant program, and my hair may very well come off with hoots and hollers on Thursday. That in and of itself though, will not be success; however, it should make for some good entertainment. Success will come from the Kindgdom of God being ushered in to Durham where our citizens will band together, lift up the name of God, celebrate in unison the Good News and love our neighbor as ourselves. We've got quite a long way to go and I'm thrilled to be on the journey with all of you.

From time to time, I'd like to profile different folks that are active participants in the Durham Community. Jeff Lloyd is a very good friend of mine, on the board of Trinity School in Durham and Chapel Hill, elder at the Church of the Good Shepherd on Garrett Road, and in charge of Apple's Computer sales to the Education field in the Southeast. He started at Apple in 1987, and I don't know of anyone (who doesn't work at Bandwidth.com!) that is more excited about the company he works for and believes more in its business mission. Most importantly, Jeff is an awesome man who has done much for me and so many here in Durham as we have come to faith and seek to grow in it. Growing up the son of a missionary in West Africa will give a man a maturity and a remarkable perspective.

This blog isn't however about Jeff (though I could go on), it's about the company that he works for, its new CEO, and a succinct and powerful address that he gave to shareholders on a call this past January. I know about it because Jeff handmade a laminated copy that is in his wallet. (I told you he was excited about the company!) When you read it below, I think you'll know why. And here is the lesson for Durham and all the organizations in it: charities, not-for-profits, and yes, of course, commercial companies as well.

In this time of hundreds of inputs from the internet/tv/facebook and twitter, we must at all times be ready to tell our employees, our funders, our partners and those that we seek to serve what it is that we do, what we value and what we believe. We need to do this crisply and succinctly to an audience that has an increasingly short attention span. With respect to that fact, and without further adieu:

Tim Cook's address to Apple shareholders on January 22, 2009:

We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that's not changing.

We are constantly focusing on innovating.

We believe in the simple not the complex.

We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.

We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us.

We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot.

And frankly, we don't settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self honesty to admit when we're wrong and the courage to change.

And I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so imbedded in the company that Apple will do extremely well. I strongly believe that Apple is doing the best work in its history

Tim Cook, January 22, 2009

There has been much made recently of the Success Grant* initiative and we've had more emphasis on this than other programs in the early going since the relaunch of the site, BUT long term the program that I'd like us to be most known for isn't the Success Grant or the DurhamCares trips program it's Volunteer Matching.

You've probably heard from us before that we've been inspired to create DurhamCares due to the two applications that we take away from the Parable of the Good Samaritan** : the broader definition of neighbor AND the physical love that the Samaritan provided for the Jewish traveller on the side of the road.

But, for a more contemporary take on the importance of being engaged in a community and the offering up of physical love, we take some inspiration from Marvin Olasky's book, "The Tragedy of American Compassion" too. This book and its author are well known as being the basis for George Bush's "Compassionate Conservatism."  Whether you liked George Bush or not (and if late opinion polls are an indicator, you probably didn't), Olasky's work should be interesting to us all for his ability, as an historian, to chronicle the application of caring for those in need by looking back over 400 years of history. I found this history to be absolutely fascinating. He argues, and I'm inclined to agree, that the time in our history in which we did the best job of caring for the poor and the sick was when we took them in to our homes. From families in Upstate New York taking in orphans, to neighbors going door to door to take care of the hungry and sick, we were experts in providing mercy ministry. Our predecessors didn't require any translation or illustration on applying Christ's commands to take care of the least of these from the pulpit on Sunday.  They knew it, practiced it and lived it. Some quick thoughts that struck me:

1. They were much more in tune with the needs of those worse off because they saw their troubles first hand. They knew which initiatives should be funded and which ones shouldn't......with this type of intimate buy-in, they undoubtedly gave more than 1% of their incomes to charity (as our DurhamCares survey shows that we do).
2. Mercy limited mercy. There wasn't welfare free-loading (or living off the system). When the person being helped was equipped to take care of themselves, they were sent off to do so.
3. They learned first hand that it is truly more blessed to give than receive.
4. In being physically involved with those they helped (as opposed to a government agency or charity intermediary) they more fully lived out commands of Christ to take care of those in need.

So, with all of this said, and knowing that we do really think that the Success Grant IS a good way to help fund charities, we'd MUCH RATHER help those in Durham to be actively engaged in Durham with their TIME, not just their MONEY. Please help us to help you through the Volunteer Match service on the website. Tell us what special talents or interests that you have. Let us work with you to find a sustained, committed volunteering relationship. It doesn't cost you a thing, but it just might change your life and your city.

Thank you for loving (not just funding) your neighbor!

*The reason for this is primarily due to the more public way in which we inventory results of those pledging to the Success Grant and that we want to create a sense of momentum and "critical mass" as we seek to offer up a way to reward charities for planning and making their goals.

**for a 3rd click here for Mike Schneider's blog.

A series of events have made a big impression on me recently about the value of being able to tell a story well.

Last Monday night I attended a presentation by Scott Harrison of Charity: Water. It was the best presentation I've ever sat through regardless of venue or subject matter. For those of you who don't know, Charity Water raises money to drill wells around the world so that people have clean water to drink. It only takes a few videos of kids/moms/hospitals using and drinking muddy water to let you know that it's a worthy cause, but Scott has a gift of making you feel compelled to get involved and then to tell everyone you know. He has enlisted Oscar winning actresses to donate their time to the cause, convinced Saks 5th Avenue to donate their window space along 5th avenue, and convinced people of all ages across the country to donate their September birthdays to raising money for clean water. I bet he's done more for raising awareness and money for clean water in the 3 years that he's been doing this, than anyone else combined in the prior 30 years. Charity: Water is that good. You've got to check them out: www.charitywater.org.

Now, for my money, I'd rather give money directly to one of Charity: Water's partners, LivingWater (www.water.cc), as I think that they do a great job in spreading the Gospel message while they deliver fresh water, but that's not the point of this blog.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have a group like the Mailbox Club. We visited one of their installations in India during our recent DurhamCares trip to Chennai. The Mailbox Club is amazingly effective at spreading the Gospel message to kids all around the world. They do so through a series of lessons that they give to kids who then take them back to their villages and returning with them completed in one month's time. The lessons are often the only printed material that these kids have. Most importantly, they've reached millions of kids by working strategically with local churches and volunteers rallying indigenous support for this incredibly effective (less than $1 per kid per year) ministry. The problem, VERY few people know about them. Want to know why? Look no further than their website (www.mailboxclub.org). They don't have a Facebook group or a Twitter account.....they don't know how to tell their story.

In a day and age when there are thousands of charities vying for the public's attention and the general noise has resulted in a donor base that is confused, overwhelmed and disinterested (note the mention of a previous blog of giving level of households making more than $100,000 of less than 1% to Durham charities) not for profits need to be better than ever at telling their stories and engaging their donors and public.

In our experience at DurhamCares, we've found that those charities most effective at delivering service to the needy are those that are the worst at fundraising and telling their story. That's part of the reason that we were founded as we aim to help charities like PSS and the Durham Eagles get the word out. There's no one better than Mimi Every at counseling a young woman who is newly pregnant, and there is no one better than Don Jones at teaching at-risk kids how to play football and excel at school.......but they are downright lousy at building community through marketing (websites, facebook, twitter, blogs, videos etc.)

We can help out these charities, but they are in desperate need of more help. Do you have any marketing skills? Do you know branding and positioning? Do you know how to set up a Facebook Group? Can you help a charity tell it's story? Do you want to help these charities scale and engage their community? Well, please let us know! Through our volunteering matching service, we'll hook you up with an opportunity either locally or internationally that can greatly use your help.

I went on a vision trip to South Africa two and a half years ago. It was an incredible experience in several ways. First, it's absolutely amazing to get on a plane here in the States at the end of Fall when the leaves are falling off the trees and it's getting dark at 5:30 at night and then arrive 20 hours later in a land where Spring in full bloom with jacaranda trees and their beautiful purple colors decorating a scenery where it doesn't get dark until 8:30 or so. I've travelled all over the world, but that seasonal change was the closest thing I've ever felt to time travel. Second, the trip was full of visits to incredible missions. We saw an AIDS clinic, orphanages, two seminaries, a school and met with local entrepreneurs in 3 different areas of the country, mostly with the accompaniment of Michael Cassidy (a man who has been referred to as the South African Billy Graham). It's in the third way that the trip impacted me though, that is the inspiration for this blog.

South Africa is a land of incredible contrasts, mountains and oceans, lush beauty and dry deserts, but no where is the contrast stronger than in the differences between rich and poor. When I mean rich, I mean very, very rich. Johannesburg has the nicest residential neighborhoods that I've seen anywhere. Huge mansions look like they've been plucked from the English countryside and put into a lush garden that unlike Britain, in in bloom 9 months out of the year. We stayed in one of these incredible homes during several nights from our trip. During the day we went into the townships and saw squalor that would shock most and deplorable living conditions that have only since been matched by what we saw in India recently. At night we'd come back to our host families and have dinner.

I'll never forget one of the hosts asking me what we had done during the day and I replied by telling them that we had been to Alex Township. They replied "oh, and what's it like there" I couldn't believe that they had never been. They shared the same faith as I, and I had thought were moved to take care of the poor, but they had never been to a township which was two miles away from where there own house stood, and I had travelled across the world just to see it! I didn't say anything at the time, but I couldn't believe it.

Fast forward to 1 year later. I'm in Durham and someone says to me something about a new project at the corner of Angier and Driver. Where's that I ask?  Then boom, just like that I'm hit with a bolt of sudden awareness of my own hypocrisy. The only thing worse, of course, would have been being told this from visitors from half a world away who had come to serve in my own backyard. Alas, this has, of course, happened. Ever see that great brick fence around the Good Samaritan Inn? It was built by a church that sent a group from Michigan -- a group that now knows what some of our downtrodden neighborhoods look like and how to serve them and frankly in some (and many) cases more so than we do.

At DurhamCares, we're hoping that the new DurhamCares trips initiative will help to serve as a way for Durham residents to learn about how they might serve together in the world through 12 trips going to places like Guatemala, India, Uganda, and yes, South Africa, as we think it's very important to live out the broader definition of neighbor as taught to us in the Parable of the Good Samaritan where a stranger from a foreign (and hated) land came to the aid of the wounded traveller, but it's the initiative to take DurhamCares trips to DURHAM that has us most excited. We'd ultimately like to scale these up to 1 a week and give Durham citizens an opportunity to learn more about the city in their backyard. Through these trips led by local leaders like Elaine Bushfan (Durham's Chief District Court Judge), we'll see what's going great in our neighborhoods, who's transforming the city, and what still needs fixing. Most of all, we're hoping that this trip might serve as a catalyst for groups of folks to get involved in encouraging and supporting the initiatives that are building momentum, and working hard to start yet new movements to come alongside other people to fix what hasn't yet been tackled.

Please check out the Trips section of the site at: http://www.durhamcares.org/index.php/trips and please tell a friend.

Thank you for loving your neighbor!

Check out the first DurhamCares videoblog that asks the question, "Should Henry shave his head for Success Grants?"  Hit us in the comments with your thoughts.

Today marks the relaunch of the website and the official launch of the new Success Grant initiative. 

For those of you who don't know about what the Success Grant is, here's a quick overview: 

The Success Grant program is a unique way to reward our not for profit partners to focus on planning and achievement of success based outcomes. We've worked over the past year with each organization to best understand what would constitute true success for their programs and those they seek to serve. They have come back to us with a list of goals that they've set for themselves. We've committed to grant each of these organizations $10,000 of DurhamCares money if and when they attain these goals, and have provided a platform for you to join alongside us as well to increase that number - a number that we'll all be able to grant at the end of the year ONLY upon successful attainment of THEIR goals. We hope that you'll read each program's goals and pledge generously to this innovative program that rewards, planning, outcomes, and success. 

We're hopeful that this concept will change the way that charities think about planning and focusing on outcomes and that it will change the way that donors think about giving. 

In addition, we're after significantly moving the needle with the state of giving in Durham. We'll be providing a full report on this in a later blog, but we recently commissioned a survey with FGI Research (thank you by the way to the entire staff there who gave of their time to this exercise) of 425 households to learn about the current condition of giving. We found that households making more than $100,000 in Durham give LESS than 1% away to local charities (of those who are church members, 2.4% went to tithing....of a Biblically based 10%). We think that there are two opportunities to make a major change in that number. 

First, there is a great opportunity for pastors to talk about Christ's commands to take care of the least of these (Mt 25:40) and for us as their congregants and parishioners to heed the lessons of our pastors and the commands of Scripture. Aside from that, which might seem more or less obvious, we think that there is an opportunity, maybe even an obligation, for charities to make it easier for donors to give to their organizations. We think that they might accomplish this by talking the language of their audience. 

Take this example: A businessman/doctor/attorney/professional sits in on an investment opportunity meeting in the morning and throughout a 2 hour presentation is presented with an overview of how he might make money. He/she's presented with information on the addressable market, the competitive landscape, the background of the principals in charge of the investment, forecasts based on past performance and a summation on what his/her return on the ivestment might be. They write a check for $50,000. 

This same individual then goes to a fundraising luncheon at the invitation of a friend. The Executive Director talks about the organization, shows some slides of their programs and has a number of testimonies of those that have been helped by the organization. A member of the Board of Directors then closes things out with "an ask". The presentation moved the individual. They write a check for $250. 

I'm convinced that this example happens in real life all the time in Durham. How do I know this? This person most likely makes more than $100,000 and the aforementioned survey says that they'll give less than 1% of that to local charities. What's the difference between the "ask" that got the check for the $50,000 and the one that got the check for $250?? Almost everything, but it didn't need to be. By and large the person who makes that sum of money thinks with their head about an opportunity as much as they think with their heart. The first presentation spoke to their intelligence, their mind. It answered their questions about the opportunity that allowed them to understand what their return on investment was. The first presentation spoke to their "love language" if you will. 

One might say, return on investment doesn't apply to the world of charities. Those people are partially right. A widget is not a kid. But, all charities can and do focus on outcomes. The impact of their work can be measured across the homeless, kids, students, those in need of job skills, etc. When charities and not-for-profits focus on these outcomes and look to communicate them effectively to the public through the Success Grant program or on their website, we think that they'll be much more effective at showing the return on their investment and getting a much bigger share of the Durham's citizens wallet. 

It's our hope that you, the citizen and donor in Durham, will resonate with this message. That you'll participate in our success grant program. That you'll endeavor to understand the impact that these (and other....this doesn't need to be just about DurhamCares charities but all charities that you give to) charities in Durham and reward excellence when it's planned for and realized. And yes, we hope that as these charities learn to talk your language that you'll reward them, and us all, by giving more of your income........because now, maybe for the first time, you'll better understand the return that these great organizations can get with your investment. Yes, not your donation, but your investment.

Welcome to the new and improved DurhamCares site and blog!
 
In this space over the coming months and years, we (Henry, David, Mike and Heather) are going to look to share some of our ideas and thoughts on Durham and the concept of caring.   We're far from authoritative, but are excited about the things that we see going on around us and want to share them along with some thoughts about what we might all do to play an active role in transforming this city that we work in, call home and have come to love.
 
From time to time, we're going to ask others to write as well……and that others includes you!! (cue the old picture of Uncle Sam).  We surely don't have a monopoly on the good ideas and perspectives and we want to provide you with a platform to get your ideas out on how we all might care as well.
 
You'll see that we already have several folks, from several walks of life that have already written and we'd very much like to have you do the same.  If interested, please e-mail us at care@bandwidthcares.org .
 
We have a good idea of some of the things that we'd like to talk about over the coming weeks, and so here's a quick preview:

1. Challenge grants……our application of the idea that folks will give more money if they can see the return they get and if their money is used to reward excellent performance just as they see in their jobs.
2. Volunteering…..as you hopefully know by now, we take our inspiration from the Parable of the Good Samaritan and it's lesson on the broader definition of neighbor.  Well, there's another application of this parable as well…..one of the example of physical love shown by the Samaritan (he just didn't leave a bag of money with the guy on the road, or pay someone to take him to the inn)….in this blog we'll look more at the call for volunteers and our program to lead to more successful volunteering

We hope that you'll stay posted (no pun intended) on what we're up to, that you will tell a friend, and that you (and your friend) will take us up on our offer to share your viewpoints, experiences and perspectives as well.
 
Your neighbor,
 
Henry

What did Peter tell Paul in Galations 2 before they set out to go abroad to reach their chosen people groups (Jews/Gentiles)?

"Remember the Poor"

Paul's response was that is was the very thing that he was eager to do.

There are countless references to taking care of the poor in scripture...by some counts, as many as 2,000.

That we need to take care of the poor is probably pretty clear to most of us reading this. What's less clear is how we should go about it...particularly when looking overseas.

For my money, it's MicroFinance, and more particularly Christian Microfinance.

All of that has been made all the more clearer to me after hearing Peter Greer, President of Hope International who spoke 3 times over the past 24 hours in Durham and Raleigh.

Why is Microfinance such a good answer? Well because microfinance gives the poor dignity.....a hand up, rather than a hand out. They borrow and then pay back the loan that allows them to become an entrepreneur. In an environmnent where many money lenders give out money at 20% interest PER DAY!, reasonable interest rates (typically 20% per annum) allow new entrepreneurs to buy the raw materials that they need to make a living and provide for their family............they do so using their hard work.

They repay their loans at a rate of better than 95%. Why?, because while they don't have traditional collateral with items of monetary value, they do have social collateral. Social collateral means that entrepreneurs in a small town each co-sign each other's loan with the result being a powerful joint accountability.
Microfinance is not new, but it's pace of growth has picked up dramatically.

What is newer, is the concept of CHRISTIAN MICRO FINANCE. It's effectively giving out the cup of cold water in the name of Christ. The best example I've seen of this yet comes from Hope International. www.hopeinternational.org (though their are others that are Christian based, but a bit less overt like Opportunity International) Their president, Peter Greer, sums it up by saying that Hope acts with the understanding that SPIRITUAL poverty is just as pervasive, if not more so, than FINANCIAL poverty.

Hope has grown quickly since 2005 and now has more than $25 million in loans outstanding in 13 countries. Their average loan is $92, and their repayment rate is 99.6%.........more importantly, during a recent survey they found that fully 60,000 of their clients had first heard of Christ from their interaction with Hope International!!!

Say I have $10,000 that I'd ordinarily look to give to overseas charities.

That $10,000 would make a material difference in the lives of 105 entrepreneurs, they'd hear about Christ and then after 5 months (the term of the average loan).....I'd get my money back.

That's scale....that's leverage.....that's results....that's witnessing....that's heeding the lesson of the Parable of the Talents while honoring the 2,000 passages on poverty.

All while delivering DIGNITY not DEPENDENCY.

and all to the Glory of God!

Last week I attended a conference in Naples which featured a number of terrific speakers on philanthropy in America. The highlight for me was meeting S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-Fil-A. What an amazing man! He has made it clear throughout all his success that he is just seeking to honor God. His statement to close on Sundays is a testament to values and honoring God first and making a buck second. But he's shown that there is still plenty of room to make a buck. I felt like an 8th grade basketball player going up to meet Michael Jordan. Mr. Cathy couldn't have been more gracious. I feel fortunate to have met him. My interaction with him has made me feel more resolute about patronizing his restaurant at the expense of McDonald's. This, of course, was made all the much easier by the new campaign from McDonald's with billboards saying "Open on Sundays".

As much as I admire Mr. Cathy, this blog is not about him or Chick-Fil-A. It's about a debate that I watched at the same conference between Paul Brest, the CEO of the Hewlett Foundation and Bill Schambra, Director of the Bradley Foundation. I invite you to read Paul's blog and my reply to the tension between the two camps one advocating deep strategic analysis before giving and the other advocating a practice of "write the darn check" is as follows:

I was at the debate in Florida and profited from hearing both views. It's hard to argue with having a strategic approach to philanthropy....though Bill gave it a good shot. I am a firm believer in what I think applied strategic philanthropy requires: strong measurement of the outcome......ROI in other words.

I am also a believer though, that it's often the smaller, indigenous groups without a well formulated strategy and access to grant writers, that are most effective at reaching target populations. I think of the DurhamEagles a youth football program in Durham that reaches 220 kids, 90% of whom live under the poverty line, but who with the help of the Eagles have 2x the graduation rate. They do all of this with just $25,000 in operating budget. That's $113 per kid! They get to that level because they are small, nimble and staffed by caring/motivated volunteers without staffers or overhead. They need to be better at planning, no doubt (and that's what we at durhamcares.org aim to do). But they also need someone who will (as in Bill's words) "write the darn check"

So for me, the answer is somewhere in the middle of both views, though admittedly closer to Paul's. The challenge we have though is to shepherd smaller, effective organizations along a path towards strategic planning in a way that doesn't compromise their effectiveness or their return.

I was recently invited to a local church planting strategy session. I believe (like many of you) that real transformation happens when the Gospel is spread AND when the commands of Christ are lived out through mercy ministry. So, while DurhamCares focuses on deed ministries, we are just one half of the equation, and I'd argue the lesser half. So with that in mind, I went to the meeting eager to learn.

I came away from the meeting excited at the opportunties in front of us to plant churches in Durham, but rather unsure what do do about it, and if/how much to donate to the cause. So I then drafted a letter to the meeting organizer with a perspective and some questions with the hopes that I might have him think about the project in a new way, and to give me some data points from which I could make a decision on how much to give. I offer this letter up to a more public audience with the hopes that it might be helpful to others as well:

Dear Church Planting Meeting Organizer (name kept out as I don't think it's important in this context):

Thank you for inviting me to the meeting this morning. I was glad to be there and learned a lot. It is always very encouraging for me to be around Godly men who have a passion and commitment to advance the Kingdom. It makes for some great brainstorming....the best kind (so much more rewarding than talking about driving costs out of a telecom network....the writer's day job, ed!)

As I offered up in Q&A, I find it most helpful to think of this potential "investment" in Kingdom work like I might think of the decision involved in making an investment in the more worldly sense.....that of an investment in financial securities with a portfolio comprised of different asset classes and their own corresponding expected returns and expected volatility.

With a financial portfolio the asset classes might include: stocks, bonds,cash, commodities and real estate (each of those, of course, can be further broken down by domestic, international, duration, credit rating etc.) With a "Kingdom portfolio" the asset classes might include: tithing, mercy ministries, missionary support, Christian education, Christian microfinance and church planting (these, like financial asset classes, can be broken down much further, of course to include domestic and international). Tithing is kind of like cash....you have to have positions in both types of portfolios. Whether to have investments in other classes, and if so, how much is less certain.

Those decisions seem to be made based on investment guidelines/principles and expected return. For my wife and I, our guidelines and principles are driven by Matthew 22, 36-40: We want to help people to Love the Lord their God with all their soul and all their mind......that's where church planting and giving to places like Trinity come in for us. We also want to love our neighbor as ourself, and help others to do the same......that's where mercy ministry comes in.

Just after guidelines/principles in our decision making comes potential return. This is undoubtedly easier, of course, with financial investments, but I think that a real effort needs to go into understanding what it looks like in Kingdom work as well.

Questions regarding return would look like:

1. What has $1million invested by an external source (in other words not due to the fruits of the new pastor raising their own support or from giving from new congregants) of other in suburban church plants of your denomination typically yielded after 5 years in terms of membership and regular attenders? 10 years? Surely some of the churches funded by that $1million grow to be successful, and yet others fail, but what is the aggregate return?

2. How does that rate of return differ for more urban chuch plants, or those that aim to have mixed membership which might be more strategic in nature?

3. How does this rate of return compare to other Bible believing church plants?

The answers to these questions need to then be compared against the return that we might expect from giving to other ministries, both ministries focused on word and those focused on deed. For instance, what might $1myn yield if invested in a more established church? How many more folks might come to Christ in those instances? How many people might come to know Christ if the same was invested in overseas missions? This breaks down a bit, of course, when you look at the increased giving to missions and mercy ministries that come from those brought to faith in churches that are already established, but it's still a helpful part of the decision process.

I think that it's important to note that there isn't a perfect answer that's likeley to come from a financial model that will provide the recipe here, and that my wife and I (and others like us) need to keep in mind that Biblical teaching and prayer need to guide us more than more worldly learning and analysis. I remember hearing a story about Billy Graham whose most disappointing revival was at an event with fewer than 10 altar calls out of the thousands that attended. He had counted that event as a huge failure for 20 years until he came across another evangelist (whose name I can't recall) that had been one of those 10, and had subsequently been used to bring hundreds of thousands to Christ. So much for the ROI analysis on that event! I still, though, think that there's a good place for good planning and analysis. I don't think that the Parable of the Talents is thought of as Scriptural foundation for ROI investing, but it's the passage that guides me in this.

Another area that you touched on briefly today that I'm fascinated to know more about is best practices. What's worked well in other areas of the country? What didn't? What lessons would that have for us here? This information would seem invaluable and a big part toward our ability to deliver the best type of ROI.

Lastly, I have come to be very excited about what I see the larger body of Christ doing in Durham. I'm excited about church planting from your denomination, AND from other denominations. I've spent some time talking with another area pastor about his church planting strategy and I'm sure that other Christ centered, Scipturally grounded churches are looking to do the same here. All interest and excite me, as I think they do others. I'd love to see denominations share best practices and strategic plans wherever possible. There will be limits to how far that might guide a particular denomination...... for instance, I wouldn't suggest that just because the Southern Baptists are planning a church plant in Brier Creek would mean that the PCA can't, but that that should be one of many data points that would be used in making a decision about where to look to bring the Gospel.

I'd love to get your thoughts here.

(this last line was addressed to the meeting organizer, but could just as well be addressed to you, the reader as I'd love to get other perspectives)

The value for me of this exercise was in a continued, lively discussion on how we really want to transform Durham in a way that truly glorifies God.

Here is what really resonated:

1. "Love Thy Neighbor". That statement is right on, and for good reason. As we know, the greatest command is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your Mind, and the second one is like it: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself" We know that we want to use these 3 words in our vision. More importantly, we know that we want the vision and mission of DurhamCares to be completly in sync with this concept.

We want to help folks, all of whom have almost, without fail, heard this commandment, to understand it, make it easy for them to apply it, and just as importantly to work hard to make sure that living out this commandment is a joyful one.

2. It is better to give than to receive. We all agreed that we want to articulate the feeling of the mutual blessing that occurs when someone loves their neighbor. In effect the giver receives, and the person who receives gives. This point was driven home for me last night when I attended the Durham Rescue Mission fundraiser that featured a number of testimonies...one from a volunteer who talked about how much he had been blessed by Alonzo, the person that he was teaching how to read. I think that God wants us to be happy, and that it truly is "better to give than to receive". We at DurhamCares want to work tirelessly to ensure that the donors and volunteers are indeed blessed, just as those who they help are.

3. We want to be Bold. When David and I got together to launch Bandwidth.com almost 8 years ago and I asked him what our mission was...he told me it was to "change the world". Wow, I thought at the time, this guy is over the top. But you know what, I've never forgotten it, and it's challenged us to make sure that Bandwidth.com is indeed something very special and successsful. We want to work our hardest to make sure that DurhamCares is just the same.

4. We want our vision statement to give someone a powerful mental picture of what Durham is like when DurhamCares acting in accordance with God's plan is successful in transforming Durham. We want people to hear the vision statement and get it AND want it.

5. We care. We've wrestled a bit in the past with the word "care" and what it means to our mission and to our name. After much dialog, we've decided that it stays. Why? Because it means two things: a. We care....as opposed to we don't care, or apathy b. We care in the sense of the word where care is an active doing word. So, if we are married to Care as a part of our name and getting folks to care, in both senses of the word, is our goal, then we have to use "care" in our vision statement.

Lastly, we all agreed to ask our friends, neighbors and pastors about what "Love Thy Neighbor" meant to them so that it might help refine our thinking about how to best articulate this concept as a part of our vision statement.

We're just out of a lunch session to further refine our vision statement. We've each come away with the task of summarizing our thoughts in a blog format so that we can share it with whoever reads this blog and have it for posterity, but also knowing that the exercise of summarizing all our thoughts will be good for the process and the organization. We actually thought that by the close of today's session that we would have breezed right through the vision and mission statements and made our way through the drivers, strategic objectives and functional imperatives that make up the nuts and bolts of a plan, but........ we were wrong. What ensued instead was a lively conversation for 2 hours about just the vision statement! None of us felt that the current one,

"To transform Durham into a community of people who truly live the value of "Love Thy Neigbor," meaning that they generously give of their time and resources to helping each other"

really cut it. It isn't/wasn't edgy enough for all of us and the words didn't seem to inspire anyone. Not that it was bad, but we all knew that we didn't want just another vision statement full of platitudes that would make folks gloss over.

The strange thing is that after 2 hours we're actually further away from having a vision statement than when we walked in, BUT that we all feel that we've made great progress in understanding what our organization will do and how we all feel about it. We'll be interested to get your take. What follows next is my take of that, and in the following blogs you'll see the take of Heather, Mike and Chris...............David may even weigh in with some of this thoughts as well)

As readers (or reader...thanks Mom) undoubtedly know by now, we're working on our business plan so that we're always at the ready to describe succinctly our vision/mission, our strategic objectives and the functional imperatives that come from them here at DurhamCares. Chris Chuang, Bandwidth.com's VP of Strategy, has been very gracious in donating his time through this process, and it truly has been a great one. We've been around for a year, and have always had a good sense for what we wanted to do, but the process of getting the 4 of us around a table to work on a formal plan....the kind that Bandwidth.com has, has been illuminating and much more thought provoking and in the end beneficial than I ever thought it would be.

There have been times that I thought the wrangling over the use of one word or words has been a bit overdone until I heard a story during breakfast from Lee Wheeler-Berliner, a Fuqua student who shared an experience that he had while working with a Habitat for Humanity Chpater that he used to volunteer with. As you'll see this story proved helpful for my perspective on the power of word choice AND in how we wear our Christian badge (mentioned in past blogs).

He talked about how the group discussed for more than an hour whether to use the word "but" or "and." You see, this chapter had previously stated that they were a Christian inspired organization BUT they also worked with non-Christians. After this wrangling process they made a significant change when they replaced the "BUT" with "AND"........if you do the same, you'll see that it makes all the difference in the world.

And that is exactly how we want to present DurhamCares. We are a Christian organization and we should feel great about telling folks that AND that we DO help non-Christians too. The word "BUT" amounts to an apology or covers up something that we're signalling that we're embarassed about. Here is to lots more "ANDs" in all of our collective dialogs when we talk about our faith, and no more "BUTs"!

We've made some great progress around here in thinking through our mission and vision. At one level, we've always known what we wanted to set out and do, and had a mission statement as well. But it never was as formalized as it should have been and as I've mentioned before, we've set out as a group to commit DurhamCares to the same type of rigorous business planning exercise that we expect from the charities we work with. I'll talk in future entries about the latter stages and completion of the business planning process but for now I'd like to answer the question posed in the title as it's become apparent during our discussions internally.

We haven't completely wordsmithed this yet, but the vision that we have for DurhamCares is as follows:

To transform Durham into a community of people who truly live the value of "Love Thy Neighbor" meaning they generously give of their time and resources to helping each other.

To do this we seek to:

1. Encourage and Challenge Durham's CITIZENS to give of their time and their money to causes that better the human condition in Durham

AND

2. Encourage and Challenge Durham's CHARITIES to excel in their core missions at the same time they would become more attractive to potential donors and volunteers.

It's in this second point that lies the answer to the question posed above. That's not to say that the way we approach working with Durham's citizens will also have some unique characteristics.....for instance the way in which we do high touch volunteer matching and follow up, the way in which we do promotion and outreach etc........BUT what is very unique is the way in which we are working with charities to help them communicate that they are WORTHY RECIPIENTS of Durham's citizens time and money.

You see, we think that folks will feel compelled to get involved not just because their neighbor encourages them, a co-worker challenges them or the Bible tells them to do so, BUT because they can (much more clearly than they can today) see the impact that the charity makes in the community AND does so in the language that donors and volunteers understand.

Here's how we're going to do this:

We're going to ask each charity that we work with to submit a plan for 2009 that includes operating metrics......measurable goals that they seek to achieve in the coming year. In turn, we're going to publish those goals both subjective (roll out a new program, increase training for our volunteers, etc.) and objective (serve x# of kids, shelter y# of homeless, etc.) on a new tab on the site called "Projections" that will be placed right along side the current tabs entitled "Investment" and "Return".....see we're trying to talk in the language that donors expecting a return will best understand.

When a charity is successful in achieving these goals we're going to do the following:

1. Sing their praises from the rooftops. PROMOTION is, of course, one of the key benefits that we bring to citizens and charities alike. Our general thought is that fewer than 2% of Durham's citizens have ever heard of organizations like the Durham Eagles and that less than 1/10 of 1% have ever given money to them. We seek to change that.

2. Give them MONEY. We will be setting aside a minimum of $5,000 for each charity (and in several instances, $10,000) to serve as a DurhamCares challenge grant. They achieve their goals, they get the money.

3. Enlist others to match and/or add to DurhamCares challenge grants. We'll have a feature on each "Projections" tab that will allow donors to pledge either MONEY or VOLUNTEERing time if the charity hits their projections.

We're hopeful, though, that the chief benefit for these organizations will be the INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS that they'll see as they go through the planning process. We've already received great feedback from BigBrothers/BigSisters and others that this process has been a good one for them...something that's very encouraging for us.

So in conclusion, while there is and will be much that is unique about DurhamCares, it's in the way that we work with charities to be worthy recipients of Durham's citizens time and money that is most unique, and more importantly, will be most effective as we seek to transform Durham into a community that gives freely of their time and money as they "Love Thy Neighbor"

As DurhamCares, and other organizations, work diligently to encourage and challenge Durham's citizens to give of their money and their time, a fair question arises: Is Durham ready for a marked increase in volunteers? As with questions about a topic as large as volunteerism in an entire city, the answer is "it depends". I'll suggest the unpacking of this frustrating answer in 3 parts: 1. the challenging 2. what's good 3. the work ahead.

First the challenging:

I have heard of several folks that have showed up for volunteer opportunities in Durham that have been less than rewarding. Some times the charity personnel hadn't been told to expect them from the "volunteer coordinator," in another instance a family showed up to deliver an ice cream party to 15 residents of a homeless shelter, only to find that not only were they not expecting them, but that there were 45 folks there...........some creative ice cream rationing ensued. Stories like these, albethem anecdotes, cause us to have concern.....fortunately I think that it's concern that can be mitigated, more on that later

what's good.....I want to make sure that folks understand that there are a number of great charities, many of them listed on this site that ARE ready for volunteers and have the systems and processes in place to support them. Most importantly, of course, is the need among the population that they are trying to support. There are several examples of this, but I'll list the most compelling: BigBrothers/BigSisters of the Triangle has a waiting list of more than 100 boys and girls that are waiting to be matched with "Bigs". BBBST has a great track record, as many of you know, and their CEO Kim Breeden was named CEO of the Year. They are ready for more volunteers at several different commitment levels and you can be assured that they will work hard for both the "littles" and "bigs" in their program.

The work ahead....Durham charities need to welcome volunteers and share with them the structure and purpose behind their volunteering efforts to make sure that the experience is rewarding for the charity AND the volunteer. If they don't, the charity stands to lose that volunteer forever, and forget about any chance to convert the volunteer into a donor. This would be a bad thing for that charity, but an awful thing for Durham. I can't help about thinking about a prototypical 24 year old, who has been finally convinced to volunteer with a promise that it can help the community (which it does) and that it will change their life for the better (as it most assuredly can and should), having a poor experience and saying no to volunteer opportunities in the future.....opportunities that could have lived up to the promise that the first one should have delivered.

To avoid this, I think that we need to work with the charities to make sure that they have:

1. A volunteer coordinator. Someone who knows the charity and the population it serves inside and out. Someone who is just as comfortable saying "no" to volunteers as "yes".........not every volunteer opportunity is perfect for every volunteer.

2. A process to welcome the volunteer.....be waiting for them to come, give them a tour of the facility, an overview of the operations, and a brief history

3. The ability to communicate a contract of sorts with the volunteer: what is expected of them, and what the volunteer can expect of the charity. As with so much in life, it's all about communication and management of expectations.

4. Wherever possible: pair up a new volunteer with an experienced one.

5. Follow up. It's rare to hear of a charity following up with volunteers to thank them or to ask them about how their volunteer experience was or how it could be better.

I'm confident that we Durham charities CAN and WILL be ready to handle a major uptick in volunteers.....for Durham's underserved SURELY NEED them.

After spending some time this  with Chris Chuang (Bandwidth.com VP of Strategy, Heather and Mike), I think that I have a little bit of a clearer idea on how to answer the question raised in the blog of the other day. I think that it comes down to our sense of mission within the greater context of transforming Durham. 

About 6 months ago, I spent some time brainstorming about DurhamCares with JD Greear and Brad O’Brien about how we might all be involved in God’s plan in Durham. We agreed we’d like to see a complete transformation of Durham and that would include mercy ministries and the spread of the Gospel. So that under the wider umbrella of Transforming Durham there would be 2 sections, 1 would focus on ministries of the word, and the other would be focused on ministries of the deed. DurhamCares would focus on the latter. There would need to be close affiliation and cross pollination of the two, but that they would be separate, and that it was right that they were.

So, in this context, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Reality, Young Life, Church planting groups and other ministries would be best handled by the Ministry of the Word segment of a larger group of folks that would transform Durham. This articulation and focus might best serve the wider Christian Community leaving matters of ministry best to the theological and doctrinal experts while charity outreach would focus on not for profit organizations.

I think that it will be good to articulate this in our written materials. I think that it’s also good to keep the Christian focus in the About Us Section. What to do, though, about the logo, bible verses and tag line?

Let me see if I can frame this quandary that I find myself in as I try to understand how to best position my (our) faith within the context of DurhamCares.

Maybe it's best if I take this back to how this all got started. The idea was to apply the lessons learned at Bandwidth.com to more directly glorify His Kingdom. These lessons included: 

1. using the web to promote selection and accountability/transparency among different suppliers,

2. using operations metrics to measure success within our company,

3. charting out a business mission/vision/strategy to best accomplish our goals to more directly glorify his Kingdom.

4. using the web to scale an organization

What to do with this calling came just about as clearly as the calling itself. From what I could see having been a Durham resident for several years was that people as a whole didn't give money to local charities and rarely volunteered their time. Adding to the problem, or possibly creating it, there seemed to be hundreds of charities all vying for the same donor dollar and it wasn't clear which of them, if any, were deserving of it.

So, DurhamCares was created to be a part of the solution to dual problems of a citizenry that appeared to be on the sidelines and a largesse of organizations, most of whom weren't run with the types of sound business principles that allowed them to be very effective with their core missions and in attracting donors and volunteers.

Maybe it's easy to understand DurhamCares through the lens of a sample person that DurhamCares hoped to serve. I thought of folks that had moved to Durham, had a heart to give of their time and money, but didn't know where to start. Absent some clear direction and information on what were the best charities, they'd be inclined to continue to give their money to national charities and to do other things (golf is really good around here) with their time.

DurhamCares would then exist effectively to ENCOURAGE and CHALLENGE Durham CITIZENS to give of their time and money to needy causes

On the other side of the equation, DurhamCares would seek to find EXCELLENT CHARITIES.........or at the very least good charities that were on their way (potentially with our help) to become great charities. These charities would have a well established track record, strong leadership, an independent Board of Directors, an understanding of the key operating metrics that drove success in their organization, and perhaps most importantly, a plan on where they were going and how they would get there.......a plan that would be laid out in line with targets on further improvements on the key operating metrics.

So, to summarize DurhamCares would seek to:

ENCOURAGE and CHALLENGE Durham CITIZENS to give of their time and money to causes that better the human condition in Durham, and

ENCOURAGE and CHALLENGE Durham CHARITIES to excel in such a way that would cause them to better at their core missions at the same time they would become more attractive to potential donors and volunteers.

There are some other goals too, including establishing a template that can be replicated in other markets, but lest I distract the reader any more, I'll save those for later.

Now here's the challenge: How best to represent the Christian badge in our work?

So, a bit of perspective.......I feel CALLED to do this work, I'm not saying that I actually heard the word of God on this, but something very strong inside me (that I attribute to a Divine calling) has compelled me to get it going.

It's the Parable of The Good Samaritan (expanding the definition of neighbor) that I see as the clearest mandate for us to get involved. On the flip side of the CITIZEN/CHARITY scale: it's the Parable of the Talents that I see as a mandate for charities to be excellent stewards of the resources given them.

So Calling and Scripture are already essential parts to this organization. Furthermore, I feel that it's essential for Christians to live out their faith. Not that we're saved by good works, but that a faith without taking care of those in need around is an empty faith. The Bible commands us to take care of the poor with our time and money; it's as simple as that. I'd like to think that DurhamCares can play a role in helping Christians to act on their faith.

What does this all mean? Well, here are some questions that have come up recently that illustrate the struggle about how best to honor God in all of this while staying focused on our mission of increasing volunteering and donations while we help charities go from good to great.

There are 4 different levels of question about how we live out our faith through the context of this organization:

We make it clear in the About Us section about the inspiration for DurhamCares

We currently have a Bible Verse on our home page, a halo as a part of our logo, and "Serving Him as we Serve our Community" as our tagline

We have been approached by some Christian ministries (who unlike organizations such as the DurhamRescue Mission whose mission is to end homelessness, or PSS whose mission is to counsel pregnant single mothers....both of which are seen as mercy ministries by the broader population, are focused principally on the spread of the Gospel)

We currently have a halo as a part of our logo, and "Serving Him as we Serve our Community" as our tagline. Does this interfere with our mission? One camp within the organization prefers to leave the Christian inspiration as a part of our About Us Section.

When I think about how the forces of evil might attack any success of DurhamCares, would he undermine its efforts to increase volunteerism and donation, or would he seek to dilute the recognition that the Holy Spirit would receive from any success?

According to David Aikman, in order to get into Harvard from 1637 to 1837 you had to have a credible profession of the Gospel and Harvard actively sought to glorify the Christian God........they then abandoned this need, and in less than half the time have seemed to move to the opposite end of the spectrum. Similar examples could come from the YMCA and maybe even Habitat for Humanity. Is God glorified in these organizations? I suppose that on one level all good things (both secular and Christian) come from God, but what pleases him the most: 10 units of good done in the name of a secularized institution or 5 units of good done in the name of an overtly Christian one?

Here's how this quandary has come up with DurhamCares. I'll title this section: 2 Different Christian Approaches, Both Good, or is One Better for DurhamCares?

1. Change the logo and tagline and go for a broader appeal. Keep the Christian faith in the About Us Section, Be ready to talk to all in one on one conversations, and press interviews about our Christian inspiration. Have only evangelicals on the Board and among all full time employees Say no to Christian (or other faith based ministries) where the spread of a religious doctrine is the primary focus of the group. Change the logo and tagline and go for a broader appeal.

2. Keep the logo and tagline, welcome in Christian ministries like CEF, Young Life and Reality.....continue workplace outreach but be cognizant that we'll have better success with Churches. Workplace outreach that failed in its Christian message could be focused more on replicating the BandwidthCares concept (where Bible verses don't show up).

Heather, Mike and I met with the key full time leadership of the Durham Public School Systems today. At our lunch were Carl Harris (Superintendent), Terri Mozingo (Chief Academic Officer), Deborah Pittman(Assistant Superintendent, Student Services), Kay Williams (Executive Director, Public Affairs), Steve Toler (Consultant to DPS) and Sheila Miglarese (Volunteer Services Coordinator).

This is the 2nd time that we've met with Dr. Harris. The first time was back in August when we discussed two things:

0. funding and sponsoring an initiative along with www.donorschoose.org to encourage private funding of individual DPS teacher initiatives; we committed at that time to fund $20,000 for a matching program to encourage public participation - and I'll talk more about that in another post later
0. the needs and opportunities for volunteers in DPS so that we we can work hard to promote awareness of volunteering programs from among the 5 outreaches of DurhamCares (website, workplace, churches, schools and neighborhoods).

Today was the follow up meeting to this initial conversation. Dr. Harris arranged to meet with us and the folks listed above, and it was a productive conversation.

It's our hope that we can ramp to a target of 1,000 new volunteers in DPS by next Fall. That sounds like a lofty goal, but it's a function of getting the word out. The stakes are incredibly high. DPS teaches our kids, the leaders of tomorrow. The question is whether they will be future gang leaders or future Durham community leaders. Which side will win? Well, we're hoping that we ALL get a chance to stack the odds in favor of the second. Stay tuned to the website to find out how about RIL and AVID and other great volunteering programs with DPS.

Have ideas/thoughts yourselves? We'd love to hear them.

As many of you know, DurhamCares, got it's start this year. We've been remarkably heartened at the response that we've gotten from the community and are doubly committed to continuing our work as we all seek to serve and transform Durham. Recently we've gotten together to talk about further defining and refining our mission, vision, values and strategic objectives. It's of course very important that we, who insist on this from the organizations that we promote on this website, practice what we preach. I should note before I go much further that we're still a relatively small group.......There's Henry and David (co-founders of DurhamCares and of Bandwidth.com), Heather Jones (Senior Program Manager for Workplace Outreach) and Mike Schneider who fills many roles but principally focuses on content along with our web developer Pete, and on college outreach.

As we've gotten together to talk about long term planning, resource allocation and the mission/vision/strategy mentioned above, we thought that it might be helpful to document this process, and in fact much of what happens at DurhamCares in a blog. The hope here is that others from the community will weigh in on what we're discussing in our internal meetings and what we are seeing and hearing in our external meetings. We haven't yet really turned on the promotion engine so our expectations on how many folks will contribute is in check, but we're hopeful that as folks spend time on the site that they'll let us know what they are thinking, seeing, hearing and doing in Durham. What's working and what's not, etc. etc. So without further adieu.....welcome to the new, much more frequent, and hopefully very interactive blog!!! Please let us know what you think!

Durham has it's challenges, but the number of non profits doesn't seem to be one of them. A trip to your mailbox or some basic internet research will tell you that there are hundreds of organizations in our city that are all looking to address some need as they vie for our checkbook. Most, if not all, of them are run with people with great hearts. Are they all being run with great minds, though? God tells us to love him with all of our hearts AND our minds. The Parable of the Talents talks about how a sound mind helps us to make the most of the opportunities that God has given us. This lesson seems to be missed too often, but those who try to apply it/teach it are met with understandable resistance. Criticism of folks that give their lives to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and educate our youth, of course, is never popular.

I had breakfast this morning with Barker French, a man who epitomizes active civic engagement. He clearly has a great mind and encourages those around him to use theirs. He is one of the most connected men that I have ever come across regardless of domain. He has turned his back on passive retirement and made it his mission to serve this city by alternately encouraging and challenging some of the best not for profits in the city. What impressed me though, wasn't his prolific schedule or who he knows, but what he does and how he is using his MIND to get the most out of the minds of those with the best HEARTS in the city. You see, he understands that there are tremendous opportunities to increase the impact of not for profits in this city when they work TOGETHER.

Here's how it works. Barker has a particular conviction to impact the 14-21 age group. He knows that there are a number of programs set up to address this situation from RIL, a summer leadership development hosted at Southern High School, to Yo Durham (a jobs program), to PROUD (an afterschool program) and several others. - The only missing piece in my view would be a faith based organization like Reality or YoungLife, but maybe that's to come - Barker has brought them all together in what he calls a "collaborative" The collaborative brings together program managers to share best practices, information and resources. More importantly, though, they collaborate on their shared mission (serving the 14-21 age program) with the result that they now take care of these kids with programs that provide real guidance and impact over all 12 months and through a variety of disciplines......something that they hadn't done on their own. Rather than competing against each other for the same donor base, they can now present a shared solution that is more compelling to the donor, leading the same group to give more, and broadening out the base to new donors who are only interested in a comprehensive solution. More efficiency, more funding, more results, more kids actively enagaged in making Durham a better place versus the alternative.

Now that's a good idea whose time has come. Here's to more collaboratives across the non profit sectors and here's to more Barker French's!

John Perkins is in town for an event hosted by the New Beginnings Outreach.     For those of you who don’t know Dr. Perkins, he is a famous Christian veteran   of the Civil Rights Movement and the author of the famous book, “Let Justice  Roll Down.”  He is widely considered to be an expert in the realm of racial  reconciliation and urban communities.  He was born in 1930 and grew up on a plantation as a sharecropper in Mississippi.  The man is inspiring.  He is humble and most of all, he is wise.

He talked about Durham’s great past…a past he implored us all to derive inspiration from and to work hard to resurrect.  I asked him what he thought it would take to restore the level of civic pride that Durham once had.  His answer surprised me in its simplicity and in its delivery, as he replied without hesitation.  

He said that the return of civic pride, particularly from economic resurgence would come from a work ethic instilled in Durham’s youth from a very early age.  Just so that we got the point, he quoted a famous nursery rhyme and did so in a way that only a 78 year old man can really pull off.  In his deep, resonant voice with a distinctive Mississippi accent weathered by a life time of struggle and conquest, he said, “Early to Bed, Early to Rise.  Makes a Person Healthy, Happy and Wise”

That’s not all that John said on the subject.  He also commented on the responsibility we have of teaching principles within the community from the pulpit and outside of church and the importance of home ownership.  But, it was his simple message of hard work that resounded.  We need to work hard to instill the value of hard work in our young, but just as importantly we need to nurture it and encourage it.  On one hand, we need to model that behavior ourselves, on the other we need to make investments in basic job skills, vocational training and entrepreneurial development so that we can make it rewarding for our young folks to enjoy the fruits of “the hard work” that John espouses.   With these programs in place, and with a general shift back to the work ethic that was embodied in the success of the Duke, Carr, Watts AND Merrick, Moore and Spaulding, we will be much, much closer to the time when Durham was an economic juggernaut and when all aspects of community life flourished.  

Can it be as simple as “hard work”?  Maybe not, but it’s a great start.

I recently met a great woman. I know how that sounds, so I'll be clear....Not the GREAT woman that I met 14 years ago that's become my wife, but a great woman nonetheless. Her name is Lydia Baker and she works for Durham's Parks and Recreation Department in Gang Outreach and for Reality Ministries at their new Community Center across the street from the Durham School for the Arts.

Lydia is an African American woman who grew up in Durham, has overcome serious financial hardship during her growing up years and knows the "hood" very, very well. She put herself through NCCU and is equally comfortable talking to a "Blood" or a "Crip," as she is a resident of Forest Hills. She's confident, intelligent and engaging. If some one person is going to be able to make a real impact on gangs in Durham, it's her.

Half way through my conversation with her, it occurred to me: "Lydia," I said, "I think that I might be able to relate to some of these gang members." She gave me a strange look. "You see," I said, "I was in a gang myself." Her look got even more strange. But it was true. I went on to explain that when I was in my late teens and early twenties I had, indeed, been a member of a gang. We had a complex and secretive initiation process, we had each other's backs, and we got into a fair amount of mischief with activities that were against the law. You could tell a member of our gang from sight alone. No, we didn't have the handkerchiefs or shoes that set us apart, but sweatshirts with 3 Greek letters across the front.....Alpha, Tau, Omega. Of course, and as you may have surmised by now, we never called it a gang, we called it a fraternity. The laws we broke were underage drinking, sound ordinances, and occasionally a bit of petty larceny (usually other fraternity's mascots).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning the sometimes very bad crimes that gangs have been known to commit, BUT I think that I understand gangs much better and I can't help but to think: "There but for the grace of God go I."

This revelation helped me to understand gangs much, much better. I don't pretend that the gang members I'd like to meet would welcome me as a kindred member, and I fear that they'll see me as patronizing. But I really would like to engage and counsel these young men. That is why several area fund managers, David (Bandwidth.com business partner) and I are starting Talent Capital for Durham, a group that supports young entrepreneurs with the capital, training, and network they need to start their businesses...look for more on our official launch soon. You can get involved too. Rather than asking you to go find the gangs, however, I want to encourage you to join Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Triangle so you can point children away from gangs. Together we can turn Durham's youth from the illegal ventures and violence of gangs to entrepreneurial ventures that will enable them to give back to the city we all live in together.

I am just back from a trip to the Holy Land. David and I took our fathers for a week tour of Israel and Jordan; an absolutely incredible adventure. I can’t properly describe (and it’s not just because I’m a novice writer) what it felt like to see and be in the places (Capernaum, Nazareth, Canaa, Jerusalem among others) that Jesus walked in. It made me have a much greater appreciation for the humanity of Jesus. One thing I now know absolutely is that he must have been in shape with some great quads…the hillside surrounding Galilee and Jerusalem is remarkably steep…think San Francisco steep.

I recommend a trip like this to anyone, and while the biggest impact made on me was to see the places that figured prominently in the Bible, I can say that there is so much more to see from the beautiful beaches of Caesarea to the dynamic city of Haifa. Add in some great secular history in Petra and Beth Shean and surprisingly good food, and the region could stand on it’s own as a great travel destination even if God hadn’t chosen that area to inspire us as the setting for his Word. Happily, though, for us last week, he did.

I could go on and on about the trip, and would be happy to do so off-line, but it’s time to get to the point that I’m trying to make here, and to share what I learned in Jerusalem that has inspired me for what our future might be in Durham.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is the supposed site of Christ’s death and burial. It’s been a pilgrimage since the 300s AD. It’s been jointly administered by many orthodox churches, the Armenians, the Greeks, the Syrians, the Ethiopians, the Copts and the Catholics among others. It’s a strange sight to see the various groups lead church services at the same time as they vie for the attention of various parishioners.

And here’s the challenge: the different sects don’t often play well in the sandbox together. In fact, within the last month the tensions between the groups have resulted in fistfights that have been reported on CNN. Things are so bad and have been for a long time, that a group of Muslim families actually have to manage the church and unlock it every day.

Imagine that! What kind of message does that send to seekers and non-believers about Christianity? What would Jesus say!?!?

Fortunately, we have a great opportunity to do things much better here and there are signs that area pastors are increasingly willing to work together on joint projects. There are many different congregations in Durham, but we are one body in Christ. Let us all work together as one Church to serve our community as we serve him. Let us be a beacon and a light to all around us, together as one. This opportunity is clearly missed in modern day Jerusalem, let it not be beyond our grasp in Durham.

It’s our hope that today, Opening Day, April 11, 2008 will mark the date for an inflection point in the heart and spirit of our wonderful city. We don’t think for a second that we’re going to be able to make this difference on our own, but together with YOU we very much think we can. We’ve got great aspirations for DurhamCares, but many of those hopes ultimately come from our belief that we’re all a part of something much greater. We believe that God is moving in our great city and that we have an incredible opportunity to honor Him by heralding some of Durham’s great charities and encouraging our citizens to give of their time and money in a way that stretches them AND rewards them.

There are many ways that you can help the cause of DurhamCares, but none of them include donating any money to us! We want to have you focus your charitable giving and your time directly on the organizations themselves.

Here’s what we would like you to do:

Register with us. Let us know what special skills you have that you can lend to some of our excellent organizations. Contribute your thoughts and experiences in the community forum. Consider hosting a DurhamCares event in your neighborhood (where several Executive Directors of charities will give a 5-10 minute overview of what they do). Challenge your employer to encourage employee community volunteering. And lastly tell your friends (at church, work and recreation) about DurhamCares and the organizations that you’ve learned about.

Before I go much further, I want to thank the Goodmon family, the DurhamBulls, and in particular George Habel, their General Manager. Our opening day today coincides with the opening day of the DurhamBulls and their donation of the billboard in right center field. Their commitment to honor excellent charities in Durham is remarkably encouraging.

Here’s to Durham Caring in a bigger way than it ever has before.

Get Involved. Get Informed. Get Inspired!!