Support Blood:Water Mission

This afternoon I was graced with the opportunity to join a small gathering in Chicago with the members of the multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning band Jars of Clay to talk about Blood:Water mission, the non-profit organization they founded to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. We were also treated to a screening of the new documentary Sons of Lwala, a film everyone should see. Blood:Water mission is certainly an amazing group of people that deserve support.

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Materialism Photo Campaign by Cordaid

I found this photo campaign to be well done and very convicting:

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Forum on Faith and Politics

On August 16^th Rick Warren hosted presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain in a forum on faith and politics at Saddleback church in Lake Forest, California. Watch the entire forum online here at CNN, review the transcript below, then voice your reactions and opinions through commenting.

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…and so we begin…

It was amazing to see such an outstanding turn-out Wednesday night for the very first meeting of The Just Life @ Park.  This is certainly a community that desires to pursue lives of love and justice and I am excited to begin this journey at Park Community Church.

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Hands and Feet

Matt Chandler of the Village Church in Dallas Texas recently gave an outstanding message on what it might look like to be the hands and feet of Jesus – complete with a solid theological foundation and practical application for his community’s specific opportunities to live lives of love and justice.

You can link to the podcast here:
www.thevillagechurch.net/podcast/index.html

Or read the entire transcript below…

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Local meet-up groups

The Just Life will resume local monthly meetings beginning at Park Community Church in Chicago.

Live in a different city? Go to a different church? Great! Start up The Just Life at your church and build into the common conversation here.

Under the meet-up category you can stay updated on the conversation and add to dialog through commenting. Meeting notes and answers to questions will be posted regularly.

Stay Tuned!

Why many Americans prefer their Sundays segregated

CNN has an insightful article on the reality that Sunday morning church is still the most segregated hour in America. Read the original article here, or for convenience the entire article is copied below:

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“Demographic Inversion”

An article in The New Republic outlines the dramatic demographic inversion of the American city. This shift has profound implications for issues of race, poverty, and gentrification. Read the original article here, or for convenience the entire article is copied below:

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Call + Response

“…never forget, justice is what love looks like in public…”

Call+Response is a first of its kind feature documentary film that reveals a terrifying secret: there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. In 2007, slave traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined. Call+Response goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving. First hand accounts from luminaries like Cornel West, Julia Ormond, Madeleine Albright, Daryl Hannah, Ashley Judd, and Nicholas Kristof provide the backdrop of for this 21st century nightmare. Grammy-winning and critically acclaimed artists including Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, Imogen Heap, Talib Kweli, Five For Fighting, Switchfoot, members of Nickel Creek, Rocco Deluca, move this information into inspiration offering this century its first abolitionist songs.

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Child Sex Slavery: Law Combating Rape of Children for Profit

Here is a great resource on Human Trafficking and Child Sex Slavery from Loyola University Chicago’s Calling to Justice Conference in 2006. It gives excellent data about the nature of the crime and the extent of the law. Chicago has been designated by the FBI as one of thirteen locations of High Intensity Child Prostitution and is considered a major sex trafficking hub...