Fred's Blog
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An Open Letter to Books & Culture
When I read Sarah Pulliam Bailey’s post last week about the funding crisis at Books & Culture I had two immediate and opposite reactions. First was the saying I keep on the wall over my desk “When The Horse Is Dead Dismount.” Second was “Too Good To Fail.” I’ve bounced back and forth between them all weekend. It’s not quite like the tension of conflicting opinions about whether or not to bomb Syria but in my mind it is an important moment. While I might agree in part with Gregory Wolfe’s analysis that “the religious culture of North America is playing a role in the current financial challenges faced by…
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Gothic Giving
I wrote last year on the transition from Gothic architecture to Baroque and how that change reflected a larger and more theological shift in society. Gothic was focused on the hereafter and Baroque was shaped by the desire to make this life better instead of thinking only of the hereafter. “So the emphasis was not spires ‘reaching toward heaven’ and the ‘ordered nature of structure’ but light color ” texture and art intended to draw people in – a kind of celebration of”. It was not change in a vacuum or an innovation for the sake of innovation. It was an alteration in worldview. In the same way, you can follow the trends…
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Guest Blog with Peter Greer
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Fred, It’s Jeff Bezos. Got A Minute?
The phone rang this morning and I saw a number I did not recognize. “Fred, it’s Jeff Bezos. Got a minute?” “Jeff, good to hear from you. I’ve been wondering about what you are thinking in buying the Washington Post. I heard George Will say it was probably an intellectual challenge. Others have said this is what rich people do. Something like your own ‘Jurassic Park’ except you buy dinosaurs instead of creating them. Everyone down here is talking about it.” “I know, and I’m a little surprised myself. I thought I was just another bidder for buying lunch with Warren Buffett but it went another way. So, I’m on my way…
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Less Philanthropy and More Charity
For some time now I have been wondering if philanthropy is one of those words that has either lost its traditional definition (love of mankind) or never should have been used to describe giving in the first place. In fact, I wonder if our use of “love of mankind” actually is possible or even desirable. Yes, there are numerous examples where giving springs from sincere feelings about the poor or a genuine desire to alleviate suffering, spread the Gospel, deliver health care, rescue young girls and boys from the bondage of trafficking, and restore dignity to people. No doubt these are good things – but are they really philanthropy? Are…
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Guest Blogger Bill Hendricks: What My Cat Has Taught Me About Philanthropy
Lickity’s name. After she arrived” ” we always wondered why the tip of her tail was perennially wet. We never could figure it out. Then one day I found her curled up on my daughter’s bed—and I heard a sucking sound. Yes” ” the kitten was sucking her tail! Just like a baby sucks its thumb. Great! Turns out the kitten had/has abandonment issues” so the vet said. Sucking her tail is her way of comforting calming and reassuring herself. For that reason ” we named her Lickity-Split (she’s also very fast). For 12 years I have observed this odd licking behavior. My theological conclusion: to every creature God has…
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Billy Graham
It’s not often I ask someone to pray for me before going into a museum or library. But this past week I did ask that of my brother-in-law because going into the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte N.C. was a test of my skeptical nature. Growing up in the middle of the post-WWII evangelical culture, I was exposed to some of the giants of that era: Bill Bright, Elton Trueblood, Billy Graham, Ray Stedman, and others. They were men and women of great faith and vision living in a time of extraordinary expansion of the parachurch movement, seminaries, megachurches, and global ministries. Sadly, many of us carried along in that stream were all…
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Why Doesn’t George Will Read My Blog?
Every week I ask myself why one of my favorite columnists, George Will, is not reading my blog. Maybe I should use words like “obfuscate” or “bloviating” or toss in more references to baseball? It’s pride. A growing family of reading friends cannot make up for my being so exiguous to George. For anyone writing a blog there are a number of analytical tools available to tell you how many people open click through and forward what you write. I’m not interested in that. I scroll through now to see who is reading – not how many. I want to know if the right people are taking the time to…
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Five Challenges For Christian Philanthropy
Last night I was invited to talk about the challenges of Christian philanthropy to a group of Gathering participants and friends from around the Bay Area in California. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog “Friends Not Trends ” I’ve pretty much stopped thinking about trends in giving but taking a few minutes to share what makes Christian giving challenging is different. There are many similarities that foundations and individual donors share with all givers. Structure, tax laws and governance – as well as basic giving disciplines – are common to all. However, there are some issues we address as Christians that are unique and important. Theology matters. For some,…
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Keller Tweets and IV Press
Growing up in the South there was a refrain we would sing not having any idea what it meant – but it was memorable: “My hope is built on nothing less than Scofield notes and Moody Press.” While simplistic, it was certainly a succinct way of defining our theology when accompanied by millennial charts and dispensations. Today we might be singing “My hope is built on nothing less than Keller tweets and IV Press.” Times have changed…but it took years. Last week I wrote about the powerful combination of dispensational theology and parachurch organizations that produced the historic surge of post-WWII American missions. A generation later, we are seeing a…
