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The Storm Surge of Cash
Millions of Americans and a fair number of Gathering participants are going to respond to the immediate needs of the Philippines through Twitter, Facebook, text donations, appeals from scores of well-known relief organizations, and more than a few scams that proliferate after every disaster. Years from now even many of the better-known organizations (like the American Red Cross) will be either holding millions of dollars in unspent money or, worse, will have used the money on projects completely unrelated to the original appeal. Months after Superstorm Sandy, a third of the $303 million the Red Cross raised specifically for storm victims will be either unspent or misspent. Years after the…
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The Shade of a Father
When I was young people would say to me "It must be difficult growing up in the shadow of your father." Yes it was. It was not until years later that I understood there is a difference between the "shade" of a father and the shadow. While there were struggles that were painful to us both about my being "Jr. ” the advantages gradually eclipsed the difficulties ” and today I am grateful for the shade of wisdom my father provided. Years ago I asked him to reflect on giving. While he had practiced giving all his life” I had never seen anything in writing. On one of our several…
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Introduction for Dr. Sasha Vukelja – Cancer Foundation for Life
It is not often I have the opportunity to introduce someone for whom I care as much as I do Sasha. I can think of few people who years ago were less likely to be honored here tonight than Sasha. It’s not the honor that surprises me because by the arc of her life from an early age you would know she would lead a life worth honoring. It’s not the honor but our good fortune in her being here to receive it. What are the odds that a young girl speaking no English moving from place to place would find her way to this community in America so many…
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Starting Fires
I spent part of a weekend with 95 young “social entrepreneurs” at a conference in Austin Texas. They were all part of Echoing Green an organization funded by General Atlantic founder Charles Feeney. Through a two-year fellowship program Echoing Green identifies individuals with ideas for social change and provides them with seed money and strategic support to help them launch new organizations. Since 1987 ” Echoing Green has invested $33 million to help nearly 600 social entrepreneurs create positive change in more than 40 countries. Their graduates have raised more than $1 billion in additional funding. As I sat in on conversations – they favor peers over outside experts –…
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Isaiah 30:20-21
Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 1. The Lord makes and takes us through hard times. Not just as punishment – although hard times are sometimes His way of getting our attention – but often times as preparation. It is easy to forget that there is a life after this one for which we are being prepared. It is easy to…
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Jacob Wrestles With God
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Teachers and Friends
"Troy went into debt and bought his new equipment because he didn't want to be held back by demanding circumstances…He was young and strong and ambitious. He wanted to be a star…When it came time to plan for next year wishing them to be friends and eventual partners before Athey would die and Troy would become the farm's farmer Athey walked Troy over the sod ground that was to be broken for row crops showing him the outlines of the plowlands and where the backfurrows were to run…Such knowledge ought to have passed from Athey to Troy as a matter of course in the process of daily work and talk. And…
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What’s Below the Waterline?
The author pastor and speaker Gordon MacDonald was in Tyler this weekend but I didn’t get to see him because we were both busy. He was leading a retreat and I was helping out with a session on the topic of ethics for a local civic group of young professionals. However we had an email exchange to catch up with our lives since the last time we saw each other ” and I reminded him of the powerful influence his book The Life God Blesses had on me years ago. One thing almost always leads to another” ” and our conversation made a connection in my mind between his opening…
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What's Below the Waterline?
The author pastor and speaker Gordon MacDonald was in Tyler this weekend but I didn’t get to see him because we were both busy. He was leading a retreat and I was helping out with a session on the topic of ethics for a local civic group of young professionals. However we had an email exchange to catch up with our lives since the last time we saw each other ” and I reminded him of the powerful influence his book The Life God Blesses had on me years ago. One thing almost always leads to another” ” and our conversation made a connection in my mind between his opening…
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Jesus Is Divine
1. Colossians 1:15-20: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile…
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Jacob Wrestles With God
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What Does a Board Do?
The new executive director of the Veritas Forum David Hobbet came by the office this week and I had a chance to get to know him. In the course of the conversation we talked about the role of the board for a nonprofit and I shared with him the expectations and design of the board of The Gathering. Our board is a bit unusual in that the board is composed of seven couples – not just men and women but families. I described to David what we call the Four F’s of board membership. These are the four characteristics of our board I proposed in 1996 when the original board chair Jack…
