Don’t Waste Your Christmas

2009 November 6
by mikesingletary

It’s that time of year again. Time for some awesome weather, great food, football, friends, and family. And with this change of season, we are rapidly approaching one of the most anticipated holidays of the year, Christmas. For many people, the anxiety or excitement of buying gifts has already started to set in. And the closer we get to December, the more the stress levels start to rise. But when we look at how we, as Americans, spend our Christmas holiday, it should bring about a few questions in regard to some of our traditions and what we are really celebrating. I’m not here to get all Scrooge on you, but I do want to raise a question that I believe to very serious. Why do we celebrate the birth of our Savior by spending money, lots of money, on things that people really don’t need? Is this how Jesus would have intended to celebrate the miracle of his incarnation? I mean, how many people go into debt during this season, just because they feel obligated to buy stuff? I know that people brought gifts to Jesus when he was born, but what does that have to do with us? They brought gifts for Jesus, not for each other. So what if we decided that our Christmas tradition was really not advancing the kingdom of God, but yet was hindering it with greed, and stress, and depression, and idolatry, and covetousness? What if, instead of buying people a bunch of stuff that they really dont need or things that really don’t affect anyone else’s lives, we sought ways to really have an impact on lives that are in true need? Don’t waste your Christmas.

What I wanted to do was to share some ways that you can use the money that you would otherwise waste on petty gifts and use it to really reach people and change lives and meet needs. There are so many organizations out there that make these efforts possible and this is not an exhaustive list by any means. These are just a few of the organizations that I like and would recommend. Some offer the ability to impact communities through your own purchases, some offer the chance to purchase necessities for others, and some offer the chance to help simply through charitable giving. Please don’t just stop here. I have included a link for each organization for you to find more information and resources about each one. I have also included a video for several of them that I would encourage you to watch.

Advent Conspiracy (www.adventconspiracy.org)
The video pretty much says it all, so pease check it out and I’ll let it do the explaining about this organization and their mission. Even if you don’t do anything through Advent Conspiracy, I hope this video will motivate you to do something. Check out their website for more info.


Kiva
(www.kiva.org)
Kiva allows you to directly provide micro-loans to people across the world seeking to either start or maintain their own small business. As they pay the money back, you then can start sending it to other people in need. It’s very cool. Check out their website to see how this works and check out the video below to get an idea of what this organization is making possible.


TOMS Shoes
(www.tomsshoes.com)
TOMS Shoes has a simple vision. For every pair of shoes they sale, they give a pair to a child in need. So you buy a pair and someone else gets a pair. Simple and very cool. And they are pretty dang comfortable too. Buy your family and friends a pair of TOMS for Christmas. Check out the website for more info and the video below.


Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee
(www.DrinkCoffeeDoGood.com)
Everyone loves coffee. Especially great coffee. Especially great coffee with a great ministry. When you brew coffee at your holiday parties, why not brew a pot that has a lasting effect across the globe? Land of a Thousand Hills is a coffee company based out of Atlanta, GA. They get all of their coffee from Rwanda and work through community trade to provide substantial living wages for coffee farmers in Rwanda and also promote economic sustainability through providing micro-loans to genocide widows and other entrepreneurs, as well as other projects. Not only does LOTH have an awesome mission, but they have some of the best coffee that you can get. The geographical and climate conditions in Rwanda are some of the most pristine conditions for growing coffee. Add to that the growing pride that farmers are taking in producing a quality crop as a result of the work LOTH is doing, and the fact that they roast everything fresh in small batches, and you will be hard pressed to find a better bean anywhere else. Check out the website for more info and how to order some coffee. Here’s a video of Tony Steward getting the scoop from my pal Robert Crow of LOTH at the Catalyst Conference.


Cards From Africa
(www.cardsfromafrica.com)
Cards From Africa is exactly what the name entails, cards from Africa. But its more than just that. These cards are handmade by orphaned youth from the Rwandan genocide and various diseases such as HIV/AIDS or malaria. This organization provides fair trade living wages and teaches their workers entrepreneurial, management, and practical business skills to help them lead a sustainable living and improve the economic conditions of their communities. The cards are very cool and well priced for being handmade and having an impact. Everyone buys cards during the holidays, so why not have an impact on lives in need at the same time? Check out the video below and go to their website for more info.



Blood:Water Mission
(www.bloodwatermission.com)
Blood:Water Mission is an organization that is seeking to provide aid for HIV/AIDS and water crises throughout Africa. This organization was founded by the members of Jars of Clay in order to bring about awareness of the crisis that exists in Africa with poor water problems and lack of clean water and with the spread of HIV/AIDS. They seek to provide sources of clean blood and clean water. Check out the video below with members of Jars of Clay and go to their website for more info.


Rice Bowls
(www.ricebowls.org)
Rice Bowls are an easy way to support Christian orphanages around the world. Its easy. You receive a rice bowl, which is essentially a piggy bank that looks like a bowl of rice, and you fill it with loose change. Once the bowl is full, you send it back to them and the money goes towards purchasing food for the orphanages. Check out the video below and visit their website for more info.


Samaritan’s Purse
(www.SamaritansPurse.org)
You may have heard of Samaritan’s Purse through their Christmas initiative, Operation Christmas Child. This is a project where churches get involved and fill shoes boxes with toys, school supplies, and hygiene products for children in need around the world. Another cool part of Samaritan’s Purse is their Gift Catalog. Through this catalog, you can purchase items such as agricultural supplies, livestock, and more. This is something that kids can easily get into with picking out the different animals to purchase for families in need. You can also volunteer at a packaging center near you. Visit the website for info and to browse the catalog, and check out the video below.


Compassion International
and World Vision (www.compassion.com)(www.worldvision.org)
I put these two organizations together because they are much alike. Both of these offer the chance to financially “adopt” a child to whom you can donate a regular amount to support their various needs, such as hygiene supplies, clothing, school support, and more. You can check out their websites for more information about adopting a child. Both organizations also offer other ways to support than adopting a child. World Vision has a gift catalog that is very similar that of Samaritan’s Purse, where you can order various agricultural and living needs for those in need.

Prison Fellowship (www.forgivedontforget.com)(www.prisonfellowship.org)
Prison Fellowship has started a program that is very similar to the concept of TOMS Shoes. It is their Forgive, Don’t Forget initiative and for every t-shirt you buy, they give a dress shirt and tie to a newly released prison inmate. Each year, more than 700,000 inmates are released from prison. Most of them leave with no more than a few bucks and an old pair of clothes, making it difficult to find a job and start a life outside of prison. About 50% of them end up back in prison. Prison Fellowship also has a program where you can send gifts for children whose parents are incarcerated. Check out the Forgive, Don’t Forget website and the Prison Fellowship website for more info on these projects.

Gift Card Giver (www.giftcardgiver.com)
How many gift cards do you have laying around or in your wallet that still need to be used up? How often do you receive gift cards as a gift that you never find time to use? Gift Card Giver is an organization that collects new and used gift cards that are then used to help those in need. A $5 gift card might not seem like much, but 10 people giving $5 gift cards can mean a new coat for someone who would otherwise go cold this winter. Very cool idea. So, do you have any laying around? Check out their website for more info.

Your Community (down the street)
Seriously. There are needs within your direct community. What are they? How about throwing an awesome party where everyone brainstorms ideas for reaching out to the people around you during the holiday season. Bake cookies for people. Chop firewood for people. Make quilts for people. Do something. This is a time of celebration for the miraculous birth of our Savior. So lets celebrate it by serving people, and helping people, and meeting needs, and demonstrating grace, and communicating the gospel in word and deed. We have the hope of the world and as we celebrate the day when that hope touched down on earth, let’s do it in a way that brings him all the glory and honor that he so rightly deserves. Don’t waste your Christmas.

Operation: Neighbor

2009 October 18
by mikesingletary

This morning at Murray Hill Baptist was awesome. Just to bring you up to speed in case you haven’t read my last blog or dont follow me on Twitter of Facebook… Our church recently started a project called Operation: Neighbor. A handful of people were chosen to lead a team and come up with a unique way to reach out to unmet needs in our local community. We had 4 weeks to plan and complete our projects, and this morning each group presented theirs to the church and gave a report of the event. We had teams who put together an outreach event for foster children, providing them with free haircuts, hygiene kits, food, and simply loved on them; teams who held car clinics for single moms; teams who cleaned up foreclosure properties in the area that had become eyesores for surrounding neighbors and businesses; and more.

Our team was led by Charis Axtell, who may be one the most mature 15-year-old girls that I have met. Our group consisted of mostly teens from our youth group, and so we decided to search for a need that is commonly unmet within our local teens. The project we came up with was to reach out to local pregnant teenage girls and hold a baby shower for them. We wanted to show them love and mercy, and provide many of the necessities for raising a newborn child that they may often have trouble affording. We sought donations and were greatly blessed with what we received over the three weeks of development. We held the shower for 5 girls, ranging from age 15 to 18. Each girl received everything from car seats, to diapers, to clothes, playpens, wipes, toys, and more. Each girl was so sweet and genuinely grateful and it was such a blessing to demonstrate the grace of God to them and show them that they are still worthy of our love and care.

I put together a recap video of the event that we shared with the church this morning, and I wanted to share it here with everyone else. God is doing some awesome things through the church family at Murray Hill Baptist, and I am so honored and excited to be a part of it.

Reaching out to the unreached

2009 September 22
by mikesingletary

“To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing.” – Craig Groeschel

Our church (Murray Hill Baptist) has begun an outreach project called “OPERATION: Neighbor.” This operation consists of several teams, each developing their own outreach project to be completed over the next few weeks. Our team, the orange team, is being led by one of the students in our youth group, and is comprised of several other students and a handful of adults, including Katrina and myself. It took us some time to come up with a project idea, but we finally settled on one. And I am pumped up about it. Mainly because it is something that I have never seen done before with a church and it is such a great need and opportunity that is often overlooked. So what are we doing?

We are holding a baby shower for pregnant teenagers in a local high school. Yes, pregnant teenage girls. We are inviting them into our church for a baby shower. Why? Because these girls are so often frowned upon by church communities. They might as well wear a scarlet letter across their forehead. And these girls are headed down a very tough path and are in such great need for support, compassion, grace, and redemption. And that is what we want to bring them. The hope of redemption. This is not a celebration of the choices and actions that brought them to this point, but it is an opportunity to show them that they are still worthy of love and mercy, regardless of what they have done. This is an opportunity to show them that there is a church community that truly cares about them, instead of turning their nose up and spouting gossip about them.

Because of the burden of carrying and supporting a child while in school, many girls simply drop out. And many never really recover from this rough situation, as their life becomes a constant uphill battle. Most of them will be in a position to receive health benefits through Florida Medicaid and help with formula and milk through WIC, but there is not much help available for getting diapers, wipes, clothes, and other essentials for supporting a baby.

And so we are looking to provide all that we can for them. And we are asking for help. We need diapers, wipes, bottles, baby clothes, car seats, swings, and anything else that a young mother would need to care for her baby. If you are able to donate anything, please either Email me here, Facebook me here, Twitter me here, or if you live in Jacksonville, you can drop any items off at Murray Hill Baptist Church 4300 Post St. Jacksonville, FL 32205. You can also mail any items to that address if you do not live in the Jacksonville area.

Another way you can help out is by posting a link to this blog on your own blog, or Tweet it and ask people to re-Tweet it, or post a link on Facebook, or FriendFeed, or Tumblr, or Posterous, or email it. Whatever. Basically, just get the word out. Here is a shortened url that you can use to direct people here: http://bit.ly/hDchD.

I am so excited about the opportunity to minister to these girls, and I give my greatest thanks to anyone who can help.

Catalyst and Coffee

2009 September 11
by mikesingletary

I am pretty stoked about the Catalyst conference next month. I dont know what ticket sales are like this year in comparison to the past two years, but there seems to be a ton of buzz about the conference this year. Buzz that is to be expected when you have a line-up that includes Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Rob Bell, Francis Chan, Chuck Swindoll, Tony Dungy, Matt Chandler, Malcolm Gladwell, Dave Ramsey, and more; plus labs with Ed Stetzer, Perry Noble, Andy Crouch, Dave Gibbons, Chris Seay, Mark Batterson, Nancy Ortberg, Reggie McNeal, Carlos Whittaker, Anne Jackson, Margaret Feinberg, Aaron Keyes, and many more. How could there not be buzz about that sort of line-up on top of the incredible Catalyst experience, worship, and networking that everyone is looking forward to. Needless to say, I pumped. And I hope you are to (that is if you’re going, if not, you can be pumped for those of us who are).

Now here is the second thing to be pumped about. While you are at Catalyst, you will have the amazing luxury of enjoying the best cup of coffee you have ever tasted, for FREE… and ALL YOU WANT! Myself, along with the Land of a Thousand Hills team will be serving you a perfect cup of coffee throughout the entire conference. If you don’t know about Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee, then surely this must be your first time attending Catalyst. If you have attended and still don’t know what Land of a Thousand Hills is, then I will pray for you. You can check out their website at DrinkCoffeeDoGood.com. Along with serving you premium, small-batch, hand roasted, Rwandan specialty coffee, we will also be there to answer any questions you may have about the company, their ministry in Rwanda, and how you can start a coffee ministry in your church or organization that will have a lasting impact on the Rwandan farmers and communities that Land of a Thousand Hills works with. Come by and see us, and please, please, avoid the temptation to swing by that certain corner shop on the way to the arena. We’ll provide you with something so much better.

Also, just so you know, the official Catalyst hashtag for Twitter is #CAT09. Follow Land of a Thousand Hills on Twitter at @1000HillsCoffee. We’ll be updating live from the conference, so keep up with what’s going on.

Drink Coffee. Do Good.

Barclays Mannequin Commercial

2009 August 30
by mikesingletary

I saw this commercial during the Barclays Golf Tournament. This has got to be one of the best commercials from concept to production that I have seen in a long time.

Where are you going?

2009 August 11
by mikesingletary

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison

Florence Chadwick was a competitive swimmer during the 1950’s.  She was the first person in history to successfully swim across the English channel both ways.  On July 4, 1952, Chadwick attempted to become to first woman to swim across the 21 mile wide Catalina Channel, from Catalina Island to Palos Verde on the California coast. This would be an amazing feat, as the weather conditions were hardly suitable for this kind of swim. The water was ice cold and the fog was so heavy that she could hardly see the boats with family and friends that followed her. She even had support boats shooting off sharks that came near. After 15 hours and 55 minutes of swimming, Chadwick asked to be pulled into the boat. She felt that she would not be able to successfully finish the swim. After giving up, she found out that she was only about half a mile from the finish point. Chadwick later made this comment to a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.” The fog had made her unable to see her goal, and it had felt to her like she was getting nowhere. Two months later, Chadwick returned to attempt the swim across the Catalina Channel once again. This time, she made it, in 13 hours, 47 minutes, and 55 seconds.

You may have heard this true story before, but I bring this up to ask the question, “Where are you going?” What is your mission? What is your goal? What is the end that you are working towards?

In leadership, vision is everything. Without the right vision, it becomes so easy to lose focus of where you are going and to start feeling like you are just treading water. It becomes so easy to burn out and give up. Know where you are going, what you are doing to get there, and why you are doing it. Reduce the fog the clouds the end goal that you are working towards by keeping the vision out in front of everyone. Encourage your people, reward hard work, and celebrate the wins.

Reach your people, not a target

2009 July 21
by mikesingletary

Too many churches are forsaking their uniqueness in order to imitate the ministry of another church of whom their leaders adore. This is a shame. The product of such movement is a melting pot of mediocrity. Everyone is trying to do the same thing and reach the same people. The problem is that not everyone is leading a church in the same region with the same demographics. So how can we all expect to incorporate ministry models from churches who are reaching an entirely different group of people than the ones that God has placed us right in the middle of? In the end, it really boils down to style and status preferences resulting from pride and ego, instead of examining who is actually in our immediate community and how we can reach them. I see a lot of church plants and church transformations today that are geared towards reaching one particular group of people, and it’s mainly middle to upper class suburban white families. Which isn’t all bad because they need Jesus as much as anyone else. But the problem comes when churches extend their reach past the trailer parks, and past the projects, and past the ghettos, and past the lower class families in their immediate community, to reach the suburbs and developments full of people who can help make their church trendy, and nice, and cool, and rich.

Here’s an example. I’m an advocate of family ministry. I buy in to the concept of partnership with parents and equipping them to be godly leaders in their homes. However, right now I am working in a youth ministry that is comprised of teenagers that mostly come from broken homes and screwed up parenting environments. It would be absurd for me to bring the family ministry tactics that I have learned into this environment and just focus on going in that direction with the ministry. Single parent homes, parents on drugs, alcoholics, broken families, etc. That’s some of what exists in the immediate community of our church. Now, at the same time a few more miles away, there are extremely wealthy families that live in multi-million dollar homes who home-school their kids and make them listen to Bach during homework time. We could pretend that much of what exists in our immediate community isn’t there and only try to reach the wealthy and trendy family community that exists just beyond our immediate community.

Or we, and YOU, could examine where God has placed us, and the people he has placed us in the middle of and we could do whatever it takes to reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God, regardless of their social status, or income, or family situation, or sinfulness, or living habits, or whatever.

Stop reaching a target, and start reaching the people whom God has placed you in the middle of. Don’t settle for the mediocrity that exists within every other church that is doing the same thing as everyone else to try to reach the same group of people who aren’t even within their immediate reach. Embrace uniqueness.

Comfortable

2009 July 13
by mikesingletary

There wasn’t much that Jesus said that really made everyone comfortable, so why do we try to do the opposite?

Life change is rarely birthed from a place of comfort. So if life change is what we are leading people towards, what good does it do to foster a state of comfort.

Let’s get uncomfortable. Let’s get real.

Jesus did.

Guard Your Heart

2009 July 10
by mikesingletary

For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. – 1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)

In ministry, it can become all too easy to put so much effort into building one’s outward appearance that you neglect the condition of your own heart.

Recommended Listening

2009 July 2
by mikesingletary

I remember the first time I ever saw Anathallo perform live. They opened up for Underoath at the Murray Hill Theatre here in Jacksonville several years back. This was back when Dallas was still a member of Underoath. Anathallo had recently recorded their “Sparrows” album. Now you may or may not be able to picture this, but you had all these hardcore kids at this show and Anathallo takes the stage. Lead singer, Matt Joynt, takes stage in a pair of capri’s and no shoes. The rest of the guys looked like some kids you would find on a university campus somewhere. There were various horns and random percussion instruments and objects on stage. All I remember is the intro to “A Song For Christine” where the band begins by clapping in rhythm and each member phases from claps into hitting drumsticks or triangles or something else made to bang on,  I cant remember it all too well. I just remember thinking, “this is the weirdest thing I have ever seen or heard.” It was indie/emo with horns and xylophones and a whole bunch of other stuff, being played by the oddest mix of guys you could expect to find in a band like this. But I was hooked. I couldn’t stop watching. I couldn’t stop listening. These guys were really good. Needless to say, I left with the “Sparrows” album and I have been a fan ever since.

Anathallo’s latest release, “Canopy Glow“, which came out at the end of last year, is in my opinion their best work yet. They have grown and changed since the early days. This album seems to back off from the multitude of instruments approach and is more focused on playing fewer instruments and playing them well. Even the horns that they have been so well known for have been really toned down. If you think you may be disappointed because of this, you won’t be. Trust me. This is a superbly written and produced album that gives no down time for the listener from start to finish. This is a truly recommended listening.