I’d like to say I volunteer because I am altruistic. The truth is volunteering gives me an opportunity to learn more about organizations and the people who work there. Today I volunteered to wash cars for families with loved ones at our local hospice. It only makes sense that getting your car washed while your father is in his last few days is not at the top of your “to do” list. You learn a good deal about people’s lives cleaning out their cars. While scrubbing wheels and rinsing I started thinking about how we’ve traditionally motivated volunteers. We tell them they will feel better about themselves or repeat the…

“How much is enough?” is a question we often hear asked about personal wealth. I have heard it very few times asked about foundation assets. The assumption seems to be the accumulation of assets is a good thing and that will only mean more to give.  Now and then I will hear from a friend struggling with the growth of foundation assets. That’s the case in this recent letter. “Dear Fred: My critical issue and question at this moment in time is “How to deal with excess financial capacity without building a bigger barn.” The barn to which I speak is really two barns. One ‘barn’ houses our personal assets.…

Like everyone else I’ve tossed around the words “call” and “anointing” to mean discovering the right place in life. Of course the implication is always this is the place where you will be the most fulfilled, satisfied and genuinely engaged. Campus Crusade used to call it “God’s wonderful plan for your life”. Over the years I’ve helped any number of young people find their calling and there are countless books on the subject. In my mind those people who are anointed are those who have found the perfect fit between the way they are designed and the work they have been called to do. Again the implication is usually that…

While in Portland for the latest Q conference in April I had a few minutes with one of the participants who has also been a speaker at many Christian conferences around the country. We had not seen each other in a couple of years and I wanted to catch up – and hoped he did as well. As we talked he made a funny comment about being one of the “carnies” that move around from show to show on the circuit. While they all travel separately (unlike the circus) they all seem to end up at the same conferences together. Carnies call it running a “joint” (a booth), a “grab…

I don’t make many statements or give quotes but sometimes I do when I think the issue is interesting and my perspective will help. That was the case in an article by Christine Scheller  titled “Who Gets The Money?”. The premise is Christian donors are less likely to write checks to minority-run ministries and there is possibly a race-based disparity. A minority ministry leader, Leroy Barber from Mission Year, wrote a response: “I was incredibly saddened earlier this week as I read an article by Christine A. Scheller titled “Who Gets The Money?” on urbanfaith.com. Although I have lived with this reality swirling around me for over twenty years in ministry…

I spent an hour on the phone this morning with Dave Hillis the relatively new President of Leadership Foundations. I was first introduced to LF many years ago through Reid Carpenter – a genuine cowboy and former Young Life leader.  As everyone says semi-seriously “If you were in Urban Young Life you moved to Leadership Foundations when you got older.  If you were in regular Young Life you moved to the Fellowship.” There is probably a good deal of truth in that.  Anyway, for years the Leadership Foundations were local city initiatives with a wide variety of missions that often started with hosting prayer breakfasts and working with city leadership, pastors…

Greg Murtha and his wife Tracey were in Tyler on Saturday picking up their nine year old son Jackson from his week at Pine Cove camp. They drove over from Nashville where Greg heads up Half-Time. Bob Buford and I were working together years ago when he wrote “Half-Time”. It was a great success and the response created the opportunity to form an organization to work with all the men and women who were working their way through the “success to significance” transition.  That’s been quite a while ago and Greg has done an extraordinary job of growing it from a concept to an organization. I had lost touch with what…

One of my treasures is a framed picture of Peter Drucker, Bob Buford, Tom Luce and myself outside Peter’s house in Estes Park in the early 1990s. Underneath it Bob wrote, “The Beginning of the Social Entrepreneur Network.”  It was an idea we had been working on for several years and one that was close to Peter’s heart as it combined two of his basic concepts – the value of the entrepreneur as a creative force and the social responsibility that entailed.  I’ve been thinking about this recently because like the word philanthropy the phrase “social entrepreneur” has morphed over the years. When we began thinking about it we meant…

This is the first entry on a new blog for The Gathering so I’ve given some thought to what we want to do that is unique to us. I remember a particular experience from several years ago. Carol and I spent time in San Francisco and took a day to hike around the John Muir Woods. We were fortunate to have picked a morning when very few people were there and with no lines or noise. If you’ve been in the redwood forest you’ll know it is like entering Notre Dame or another of the great European churches. The people are reverent in their respect for these living giants of…