Acknowledged as one of today’s most dynamic serial entrepreneurs, Blake Mycoskie launched five successful companies before the age of 30. He is best known as the founder and “chief shoe giver” of TOMS shoes, a for-profit company with a unique social enterprise model that has drawn tremendous media attention. Providing a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair sold, they have distributed more than 400,000 pairs of shoes to children around the world to date. Darren Whitehead, teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, will interview Mycoskie on leading organizations with a cause and navigating the start-up phase of an organization.

Notes

• Why did you get into the shoe business?
  • I wasn’t trying to get into the shoe business. I was on vacation in Argentina, saw some volunteers doing a shoe drive. Thought it was unsustainable. Didn’t want to start a charity, wanted to start a business.
  • For every pair of shoes bought, they give away a pair.
• The word “give” is on just about every wall in the offices of TOMS. Why?
  • It feels good to give.
  • What I’ve learned is that giving not only feels good but it’s a good business strategy.
  • In a NYC airport, had never seen anyone wearing TOMS. Saw a girl wearing a pair, asked her about the shoes. Pulled Blake aside and told him all about TOMS.
  • If we focus on giving, our customers are going to do the marketing for us.
  • Have given away more than 600,000 pairs of shoes.
• What distinctive are a part of the TOMS culture?
  • We involve all our staff in the giving.
  • For every employee that’s been with the company at least 2 years they pay for a trip for them to do a shoe drop.
  • Not everyone can do a 1-for-1 strategy, but every company can incorporate giving and service.
• Why didn’t you just start a non-profit?
  • Invested money gained from sale of previous business into TOMS.
  • By doing TOMS as a for-profit, it has enabled it to be sustainable and grow.
• One Day Without Shoes
  • Video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlz3QKHJBac
  • First year 250,000 people participated.
  • Doesn’t cost anything to take off shoes, but enabled people to have conversations.
  • Didn’t spend a dollar to advertise, but had some amazing partners.
• What happened when you came up with the idea for TOMS?
  • Not a big deal when I had the idea.
  • Became big to me 6 months later when I did that first shoe drop.
  • Woman came up to him and told him that her 3 kids had been sharing 1 pair of shoes.
• TOMS has captured the attention of young people. Why?
  • Young people want to have a voice and want to do something that matters.  Can’t always afford to do something big, but they’re going to buy a pair of shoes.
  • We make it very easy for them to act.
  • It becomes a part of their identity.
• What have you learned about the importance of strategic partnerships?
  • Very blessed.
  • Not just corporate partners, but churches as well.
  • The reason why the ATT thing worked is because we gave them an authentic story that worked. I’m never in the office.  Their technology enabled me to do what I was doing.
• How important is asking people to accomplish your goal?
  • People really enjoy it because then they get to be a part of your vision and your journey.
  • You can’t be bashful if you want to make change.
• What part has your faith played in TOMS
  • Give your first fruits
  • They stayed true to that principle and didn’t deviate for the 1-for-1 principle even when they were losing money.
• What would you say to other young leaders?
  • Come work for us!
  • We need fantastic leaders to help us get from here to there.
  • Thought as a freshman in college that he would be a successful entrepreneur so that then he can give back when he’s retired.  But it’s never too early to start giving.
• How can churches get involved?
  • Go barefoot on One Day Without Shoes – April 5, 2011

The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay provides a compelling picture of what the Christian church can be in contrast to the typical traditional, attractional church that is failing to engage many people today.

100 years ago Christians and those who are not Christians shared many of the same values.  As a result it was easier to find common ground.   However, “the shift in society’s view of the church has resulted in the marginalization of the church and the secularization of society.”  Many people no longer look to Christianity or the Christian church for spiritual answers.  “The world sees evangelicals… fighting to keep marriage between heterosexual men and women, fighting against gay rights, fighting against Islam, fighting to keep prayer in schools and so on…. People see us struggling hard to keep our way of life.”

While some people may have some positive view of church (perhaps from childhood experiences) and might consider coming to a traditional, attractional church.  Many people have distain for church and will never come to a church seeking God.  Halter and Smay argue that for them evangelism starts with changing assumptions.  The only way to do that is to leave our comfortable Christian bubbles, live and embrace the people around us, and love them as Jesus did.

Favorite Quotes

• If Christianity was only about finding a group of people to live life with, who shared openly their search for God and allowed anyone, regardless of behavior, to seek too, and who collectively lived by faith to make the world a little more like Heaven, would you be interested? (P 10)
• “Doing church differently is like rearranging chairs on the Titanic.” We must realize that slight tweaks, new music, creative lighting, wearing hula shirts, shorts, and flip-flops won’t make doing church any more attractive.  (P 130)
• Church must not be the goal of the gospel anymore…  Church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us, and be like us as we are following the way of Christ. (P 30)
• we specifically ask people not to try to be “evangelistic.” We suggest to them that if people aren’t asking about their lives, then we haven’t postured our faith well enough or long enough.  (P 42)
• To be an advocate means that when people are in need, they know that we’ll be on their team, and that we’ll be there whenever they need us, for just about anything. (P 43)
• The pressure [to meet the needs of consumeristic parishioners] is so strong, [pastors] find themselves frantically trying to update their presentation, increase programs to attract people, or lighten up the message of the gospel. (P 57)
• Helping them make a personal “preference” for Christ and his life will always be more powerful than bashing their values. (P 67)
• What causes exclusive community is fear.  What creates inclusive community is love. (P 71)
• What people want is an entirely new grid that encompasses every aspect of their lives.  Values like meaning, sacrifice, simplicity, risk, adventure, benevolence and justice will sell.  But they have to be modeled, not just talked about. (P 75)
• The convictions we need to rally around should be about life giving, community transformation, holistic personal growth, sacrifice, beauty, blessing and world renewal.  Who wouldn’t want to be a part of a people committed to something that brings personal meaning and makes the world a better place? (P 115)
• “If you want to help people, we have to dive into people, wade into the sea of humanity.” –Patch Adams (P 124)
• Whimsical holiness: Whimsy is the posture we take that allows people to be themselves.  Holiness is that quiet inner posture that shines through and subversively witnesses of an alternative way to live. (P 139)

Personal Thoughts

I was really blow away by The Tangible Kingdom.  As I read it, I kept thinking, “This is what Christianity is supposed look like.”

Somehow we’ve allowed Christianity to be mostly about going to church, when it should be about going out, engaging with the people around us, and becoming their advocates.

Church has become mostly about the pastors and staff feeding members good worship services and other programs, when it should be about celebrating what God is doing and apprenticing people to become missionaries in their own neighborhoods.

Christianity has become more about standing up for our values and protecting ourselves from the world, when it should be about sacrificing and opening ourselves up to the world.

I love the fact that as much as Hugh and Matt advocate churches change to a more missional approach to ministry, they don’t bash attractional churches.  In fact, they specifically say that if you lead or are a part of an attractional church, don’t bail.  Be the change.

That’s what I want to do, but…

I want to be a part of a community where people far from God are able to belong before they believe.  I want to hang out with my neighbors, invite them over for dinner.  I want to be the guy who will do anything for his friends, and proactively, not just when asked.

But to do that means I have to sacrifice my own comfort and convenience, and the truth is that as much as I think I’d like to live a missional lifestyle, over and over again I choose otherwise.  It’s not easy.  I have a job that never ends.  I’m married.  I have 3 kids.  I serve as an elder and small group leader at church.  Plus I’m an introvert, and when I carve out time in my schedule for myself I’d rather spend it reading or interacting with people on Facebook or Twitter.

Certainly it’s easier for some people than others, but ultimately those are just excuses.  I managed to carve out 2 weeks of vacation last month.  I’m spending 2 days at a leadership conference this week.  I found time to write this review, didn’t I?

Can you tell I’m wrestling with this big time?

If you’re a part of a attractional church (traditional or modern) I dare you to read The Tangible Kingdom.  It will rock your world if you’re open to it.  If you’re left the church or sworn off “organized religion” because it bears little resemblance to Jesus or what you think Christianity should be, reading TK may give you hope.

EDIT 8/10/2010: If you have questions about what incarnational community looks like and how to do it, check out this Incarnational Community FAQs page.

Discussion

1. Do you think Christians (and churches) need to change and focus more on going out and engage with people who are not Christians rather than waiting for them to show up at our churches?
2. What do you think about living a missional lifestyle yourself?  One where you sacrifice your comfort, invite people with different values into your life, and accept them without pretense?
3. Where do you struggle most with living a missional lifestyle?

Sorry, no book to give away.  But I hope you’ll join me in discussing the book by posting a comment, and invite others to join the conversation by sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook.

It’s been almost 6 months since the major earthquake devastated the people of what was already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The reporters have gone home. The concerts and celebrity fundraisers have ended. Much of the world’s interest has faded.

But things are not back to “normal” for the people of Haiti. (Not that what was previously “normal” would be acceptable either.)

So, what’s happening in Haiti now?

Fortunately, not everyone has forgotten about Haiti. Here are some great examples of what some people are still doing now in Haiti, and how you can get involved.

1) Cypress Meadows Community Church

A group of 14 people from my church are down in Haiti right now. They’ve been helping to rebuild a home and an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. We at Cypress Meadows have been supporting a church and school in northern Haiti (St. Louis Da Nord) for about 5 years now. The team that’s in Haiti now is trying to work out the logistics to get a water filtration system in St. Louis da Nord so people in that area will have clean water to drink, instead of the bacteria-filled water they drink now. You can read trip updates on their blog and pray for them and the people they’re helping.

2) Bridge 410

My church’s trip to Haiti was coordinated with the help of the wonderful people at 410 Bridge. If you would like to go to Haiti to serve or if you would like to send an entire team to Haiti, they can help you do that. If you can’t go, donate. Details are on their website.

3) A Home In Haiti

Shaun King, pastor of Courageous Church in Atlanta, has been out front leading efforts to provide tents to people in Haiti who lost their homes in the earthquake. aHomeInHait.org recently shipped 3,000 tents to Haiti. Now they’re moving on from Phase 1 which was providing temporary housing, to Phase 2 which is to provide permanent, sustainable homes, schools, orphanages, and more!

4) Fellowship of Believers

My friend, Dan King, is helping to lead a team of 48 people – most of them students – from Fellowship of Believers church in Sarasota, FL. They are heading down to Port-au-Prince in August where they’ll be doing a VBS with the children, interacting with local teens, painting an orphanage, distributing food to the poor, and doing other outreach and local ministry activities. You can read more about their trip and help support it here in The Haiti Diaries.

Do you have any more stories to tell of what’s happening now in Haiti? Share them here.

What are you doing to help the people of Haiti? If nothing, consider supporting those who are on the ground server.

This is one of the craziest ideas I’ve ever had, but here goes…

I want to serve people in need somewhere between July 11 and July 18.

Here’s the back story…

Originally, my wife and I were going to lead a team of people on a trip to Nakuru, Kenya that week to serve with our friends at the Springs of Hope Kenya orphanage.  But due to the cost and difficulty arraigning flights the trip is off.

I’ve already arraigned for my parents to watch our kids for that week, and I don’t want to squander that opportunity.

Yeah, we could just relax and take a vacation.  That would be the “normal” thing to do.  But I think the week would be more meaningful if we were serving others.

Searching for Acts 2 Community

Along with that, I really want to see and experience communities that resemble that described in Acts 2:42-47.

I’ve blogged before about how the lifestyle of most American Christians looks nothing like Acts 2.  Most people who call themselves Christians in America go to church on Sunday and never see those people again during the week.  That’s not community.  Others do something at church almost every day and rarely interact in a meaningful way with anyone who is not a Christian.  To be honest, my life often resembles one of those two descriptions.

I want to be a part of people living in community serving their community, even if it’s just for a couple of days.

More Details

• The ministry needs to have a well documented reputation.  For safety and other reasons, I need to be able to verify your ministry through reputable sources.  I’ll need you to point me towards other organziations and media reports that can vouch for what you’re doing.
• The closer you are to Tampa the better.  I don’t want to close the door to driving half-way across the country or jumping on a plane, but I would prefer to spend more time serving and less time traveling.
• We don’t have to spend the entire week with you.  In fact, it might be cool to serve in 2 or 3 different communities.
• I’d prefer to stay with you rather than go to a hotel. That’s community.

If that sounds like a ministry you’re a part of, and if you’d be willing to give my wife and I the opportunity to serve along side you for a couple days or a week, please post a comment telling me about it.  Or if you know of a community where we could serve, post a comment about it and point me towards the contact info of the person I should get in touch with.

That provocative statement is made by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola in their new book Jesus Manifesto. (Read on to see how you can save 40% or even win a free copy.)

Think about it.

If you’re a Christian, do you want the homeless guy who sleeps in your park to know Jesus, find his purpose, and get off the street because you love him? Or is it because having a homeless person sleeping in your park scares you?

Do you want the murder to find Jesus in prison because you love him?  Or is it because you don’t want another bad dude out on the streets when his sentence is up?

Do you want to reduce poverty because you really love people who are poor?  Or is it because you hate the world economic system that allows for such disparity in wealth?  Or is it because you resent your tax money going to government programs?

We can even look within the church…

For those of us who champion discipleship and spiritual growth, is it because we genuinely love immature believers and want to see Jesus formed in them more completely?  Or is it because we hate the people who just show up on Sunday and never serve, never put more than a couple bucks in the plate, act irresponsibly, smoke, drink, swear, screw around, and really don’t get it like we do?

Upon further reflection, all I can say is…

Ouch!

I’m guilty.

How about you?  When you examine your motives for wanting to change the world, is it because you really love people?  Or is it because you hate the unsafe, unpredictable, unfair world we live in full of unsafe, unpredictable, unfair people?

Jesus Manifesto is available on Amazon for 40% off today. Also find out how you can get a free copy of Jesus Manifesto by @LenSweet @FrankViola

[image by lab2112]

Today I’m reviewing, discussing, and giving away a copy of Addition by Adoption by Kevin Hendricks.  Keep reading to learn how you can win a free copy.

In Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 Characters, Kevin Hendricks shares the story of the adoption of his son, Milo, from Ethiopia.  The story is interwoven with 140 character Twitter posts (aka “tweets”) that give a glimpse into Kevin’s life as a work-at-home dad preparing for and then adjusting to the addition of Milo to the Hendricks household.

If you’re one who is still wondering, “What’s the point of Twitter?” or you have people asking you that question, Addition by Adoption goes a long way… not to explaining the answer but to exemplifying an answer.

Most of the content of the book is made up of Kevin’s tweets over a 2 year period.  It’s filled with funny little one-line stories anyone whose every parented a 3 year old can relate to.  It’s got emotional tweets about adoption & the conditions in Ethiopia.  Some of the tweets also tell the stories of how Kevin raised money to help the homeless and for clean water using Twitter.

Sampling of Tweets

Here’s a sampling of some of tweets included in Addition by Adoption…

Up to #14 on unofficial adoption waiting list. Excited, but trying not to get too excited. Phone rang today and made me wonder, is this it? No.
October 9, 2008

Me: “OK, Lexi, five more minutes and it’s going to be naptime.” Lexi: “No! Two more minutes!” Me: “Er… OK.”
January 22, 2009

Potty training continues in the Hendricks household. Today’s lesson: The boy who cried wolf retold as the girl who cried poop.
February 4, 2009

We met our wide-eyed little boy today. He’s very tiny and loves to watch everything going on. Quiet and cute. Made up for bewildering arrival.
March 20, 2009

I want to celebrate my 30th birthday with clean water for 30 people. If we do it I’ll shave my head: Bald Birthday Benefit.
May 15, 2009

We hit $600 so on June 13 I’m bald, but who says we can’t hit $5,000? Insane? Yes. So what? Now we’re up to $640.
May 22, 2009

Lexi, pushing Milo on the riding toy: “You want to go for a ride, Milo? Hold on, I have to get all the crap out of the way.”
October 9, 2009

In addition to being funny & interesting, I recommend Addition by Adoption for three reasons.

1. It puts a spotlight on the importance of adoption.
2. It demonstrates the power of social media.  The book is derived from tweets & is being promoted exclusively through blogs and social media.
3. Kevin is giving a portion of the proceeds from every book purchased to charity:water, a wonderful non-profit that brings clean drinking water to people in developing nations. Kevin’s goal is to raise $5,000.

Discussion

Which of these 3 aspects of the story resonates most with you?  The importance of adoption?  The power of social media to help others?  Or bringing clean drinking water to developing nations?  Why?

Get a Free Book

If you’d like a free copy of Addition by Adoption, all you have to do is

1. Retweet this post or share it on Facebook, and
2. Post a meaningful comment to this post that contributes to the conversation (include your Facebook or Twitter usename in your comment so I can connect your comment to your share/tweet).

One person will be randomly selected the afternoon of Tuesday 4/20 to receive a free copy.

Pre-Order Now

Right now you can pre-order Addition by Adoption.  If you do…

• you’ll save a buck
• twice as much money will go to charity:water
• you’ll get the book a couple of weeks early
• Kevin & his daughter, Lexi, will sign your copy.

But you must pre-order by Tuesday April 20.

Today is One Day Without Shoes.

Millions of children around the world have no shoes.  They often have to walk for miles barefoot to get food, water, go to school, or to the market.  This often leads to sores, infections, and other debilitating injuries.  According to the One Day Without Shoes website:

We are asking people to go the day, part of the day or even just a few minutes barefoot, to experience a life without shoes first-hand, and to hep spread awareness of the impact a simple pair of shoes can bring to a child’s life.

The One Day Without Shoes event was started by TOMS Shoes.

If you haven’t heard about TOMS Shoes, they don’t just talk the talk they, um, walk the walk:

TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need.

They’ve given away more than 100,000 pairs of shoes. Here’s an awesome video that shows the impact they’re having:

I’m in!  How about you? Will you go today without shoes?

If you do, people offline will notice your bare feet and ask you what you doing.

But how about online?  Here’s a fun way to spread the word:

Twitpic your feet.

Post a picture of your bare feet to Twitter and Facebook.  Post a link to the pic in the comments here.  You might even Twitpic yourself barefoot throughout the day.

Here are my ugly feet.

Monday morning, I surpassed 5,000 Twitter followers.  Woohoo!  A huge, heart-felt “Thank you” to all of you!

I don’t think the number of the number of Twitter followers is really all that important.  But 5,000 is a nice, round, shiny milestone.  And I’m always looking for a reason to celebrate.

I could giveaway an iPod, an iPad, or some other gadget, ask you to comment & retweet, blah, blah, blah.  But that’s been done a thousand times.  Bor-ing.

I’d like to celebrate this milestone by doing something completely unconventional.  Something in line with true spirit Twitter.

Twitter is all about building relationships, right?  It’s about adding value to those who follow you.  It’s about giving and serving others.

So, I’m going to celebrate this milestone by giving away myself.

Throughout the entire day I want to serve you by giving you my time, my energy, my knowledge, and anything else you can think of.  So…

• How can I serve you today?
• What question can I answer for you?
• What favor can I do for you?
• What can I give to you?
• What can I do to make this day better or brighter for you?

Post a comment and let me know.  I will try my best to respond to every request posted.  If you think it’s too big an ask, try me and find out.

If the request is too personal to post publicly, you can  DM me.

I would love for you to retweet this post and help get the word out, but you don’t have to.  This is my gift to you and it wouldn’t be a gift if I required something from you in return.

I would love nothing more than to celebrate 5,000 Twitter followers by doing 50 acts of kindness today for people like you.

[image by wwworks]

To be honest, when I first received a copy of The Search for God and Guinness I was not all that excited about it.  I love God and I like beer, but I am not a big reader of biographies, preferring “more practical” books on leadership, spiritual issues, or social media.  So, it sat on my bookshelf for several months.

When in finally cracked it open I was sorry I waited so long to read it.

In the Search for God and Guinness, Stephen Mansfield tells the story of the Guinness family starting with Arthur Guinness, founder of the famed brewery, and continuing through the Guinnesses of today.  While the book recounts the amazing rise of one of the must successful breweries in the world, what makes the book and the Guinness family fascinating is the accounts of their character, faith, and generosity.

Because of their commitment to excellence and innovation in brewing the Guinnesses became exceptionally wealthy and influential.  But rather than selfishly squander it on themselves, they were exceptionally generous with the pay and benefits they gave their workers and they demonstrated an unusual commitment to improving the conditions of the poor in Ireland and Great Britain.

Favorite Quotes

• Clearly, this was the understanding at the time: gin destroys lives while beer is healthy and safe, enhancing rather than eroding good society.
• “We must exhort all Christians to gain all they can and to save all they can; that is in effect to grow rich… to give all he can to those in need.” John Wesley
• Arthur Guinness was the founder of the first Sunday schools in Ireland.
• October 25, 1886, the stock offering sold out within an hour.
• A Guinness worker during the 1920s enjoyed full medical and dental care, massage services, reading rooms, subsidized meals, a company- funded pension, subsidies for funeral expenses, educational benefits, sports facilities, free concerts, lectures, and entertainment, and a guaranteed two pints of Guinness beer a day.
• In 2005 the British people voted the widget (the small plastic capsule that allows a can of Guinness to be properly nitrogenated) the greatest invention in the previous forty years.
• A company should be measured by the culture it creates… what is encouraged to grow, the behavior and ways of thinking that are inspired.
• Guinness demonstrated the good that righteous wealth can do.
• A man’s profession was where he demonstrated to the world who he was.
• Don’t just sell your product – sell your product’s culture.
• “Gentlemen, find out the will of God for your day and generation, and then, as quickly as possible, get into line.” Prince Albert
• Whatever else you do, do at least one thing very well.

Personal thoughts

Stephen Mansfield concludes the narrative portion of The Search for God and Guinness with this line.

That part of the heritage will only live when men absorb it from the Guinness story and embed it in fertile fields of their own.

Clearly, he wrote this book not just to tell a fascinating story but to inspire leaders today to follow in the Guinness tradition.  These two sentences sum up that tradition.

What distinguishes [the first Arthur Guinness’s] story is that he understood his success as forming a kind of mandate, a kind of calling to a purpose of God beyond just himself and his family to the broader good he could do in the world.

[The Guinnesses] knew how to brew beer, yes, but they also knew how to care for their employees, how to invest wealth for social good, and how to create corporate cultures that would change the course of nations.

In an era where there is immense distrust and cynicism towards corporations and wealth – to the extent where a significant portion of the population considers them inherently evil – I found this account of success and generosity inspiring.

I highly recommend The Search for God and Guinness, especially if you lead or own a business.

Action Steps

As the CEO of a small business and a person of faith, I came away from God and Guinness with a renewed passion to do 4 things.

1. Do what we do exceptionally well.
2. Create a culture of excellence, innovation, faith and generosity.
3. Be more generous with our employees.
4. Be more generous with in our community and the world.

Discussion

Do you believe wealth is inherently evil?  Or do you believe in “the good that righteous wealth can do?”  Do you believe companies have a responsibility to invest in their employees and make their communities better?  If so, how?

Get a Free Book

If you’d like a free copy of God and Guinness, all you have to do is

1. Retweet this post or share it on Facebook, and
2. Post a meaningful comment to this post that contributes to the conversation (include your Facebook or Twitter usename in your comment so I can connect your comment to your share/tweet).

One person will be randomly selected the morning of Wednesday 3/10 to receive a free copy of God and Guinness.

A lot of people have been talking about going to Haiti to help with the relief effort.  The response that I’ve heard from a lot of people sounds a lot this reply Anne Jackson received on her blog after she announced she is going to Haiti:

I love your heart, but I have a question: What value will you add to the effort? What particular skills do you have to offer? From what I’ve heard from aid workers already there, what they need is people skilled especially in specialized health care. With already overcrowded air/sea ports, how will it effect legitimate aid efforts if all of us with soft hearts but no skills came pouring in the country?

Just asking.

It might be better to take the money you need to raise for the trip and donate it all to a medical relief effort already on the ground, or someone with hard skills like Compassion or Samaritan’s purse. Or for rebuilding efforts by organizations like Habitat for Humanity.

That’s a very reasonable response.  Good questions.  In fact, that’s the that’s the general consensus I’ve been hearing from the government officials & big charities who are leading relief effort.

But, I’d like to share with you a series of tweet from Shaun King, lead pastor of Courageous Church in Atlanta, who has been very involved in coordinating help to the people of Haiti.  These were posted Thursday.

Setting out my SoapBox. About to step on it for a few tweets. 1st my opinions then quotes from leaders on the ground in Haiti

ALL OF THE EXPERTS ARE DEAD WRONG…..

When the earthquake 1st hit, thousands of you immediately wanted to go and help BE the solution, be the hands & feet of God…

But you were told by the experts NOT TO COME. You were told to wait until some magical time when things were much better…

The experts were wrong. Some probably meant well because they didn’t want you to get hurt or be in the way, but let me tell you what…

Is missing in Haiti -passionate, hard-working, unskilled, loving, non-experts. They are in SHORT SUPPLY. I mean RARE.

Consequently, the MAJORITY of supplies are sitting unused & the teams of unskilled non-experts I am advising are regularly…

9 days later, regularly the first people to have ever visited orphanages and disaster sites. They ALL tell me that we should have…

# IGNORED the experts. Let me tell you a story that will kill you. The caretaker of the Notre Dame orphanage told @SpenceNix …

She heard dozens of dying babies trapped in the rubble scream & cry for 5 whole days before they all died. 55 babies died. Nobody ever came.

One more tweet from me then I want to type you a quote from our team on the ground…

It is NOT TOO LATE. If you feel CALLED to go to Haiti GO. GO! GOOOO! It is tough work, but GO! I will help you.

Next tweets are direct from our teams on the ground….

“The growing feeling here in Haiti is that the BIG ORGS & government don’t really care. It’s like they are here b/c the world is…

“focused here. If they care, little passion is ever displayed. Seems like a job or obligation. Even my sponsoring organization….

“(name of large Christian org) pretty much just set up a tent, gave us a vest and stickers and said go. No support. No passion. No questions

“Large amounts of supplies are just sitting in boxes everywhere. I have seen them there for days while hurting people & doctors …

“Need them. This has opened my eyes wider to the wastefulness of large charities and benefit of small, nimble, passionate groups..

“I have been in Haiti for 6 days and I still have not seen one large Red Cross presence. I honestly think social media has….

“Saved more lives since the earthquake than all but 3-4 great organizations here now. Passion. Relationships. Technology has changed …

“the game. We saved so many lives today and it was just us doing it bro.” <<<<<End of quote.

Now Shaun is just one guy.  What his contacts have experienced may not be true everywhere, but it’s a perspective more people need to hear.

Passionate, hard-working, unskilled, loving, non-experts are making a huge difference in Haiti.

You can too.

If you believe God is calling you to go to Haiti like Anne, I hope you too will listen to God not the “experts.”