Dr. Peter Cha on Social Justice

Dr. Peter Cha (Ph.D., Northwestern University/Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary) is a friend of mine and has had a huge influence on me. He is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Here is a portion of a message he gave to an Intervarsity group in which he describes the historical split of the Christian church over social justice. You can watch his entire message on youtube.

Bill Gates on Aid to the Poor

The NY Times posted a video today of an interview by Nicholas Kristof with Bill Gates. Gates explains why aid to the poor is more important now than ever. He suggests you pick a cause and get more in depth knowledge about it, and that you visit great nonprofit organizations that are successfully making a difference. Seeing what is going on will draw you in to action. May I suggest Breakthrough?

Carl Ellis at Breakthrough Tomorrow Morning

You can still get in on the Breakthrough Breakfast Symposium with Carl Ellis. It's tomorrow morning at 9:30 until noon at 402 N. St. Louis in Chicago. See you in the morning!

ALIVE!!

Last Sunday, our pastor, Daniel Hill, of the River City Community Church, started a new series called Alive, so the worship team led us in this rousing song by Rebecca St. James. Love it! You can purchase it on iTunes here.

The Sheep and the Goats Revisited

Heather Wax wrote an article for the Ooze that I am pondering.

Jesus answered, "In as much as you were not a brother to your sister, you were not a friend to me either. However, since this is the revised story, and I'm just a caricature of the real Jesus, I'm not going to sentence you to fire or anything. But I am going to sentence you to think long and hard about the heart of both sheep and goats - when you lay in bed at night, when you're in the shower,and driving to work...and ask you to read the real story over again. That way, when you meet the real Jesus, you'll hopefully be a little more ready. Watch and pray."

Homelessness on the rise

It is not surprising in light of the current economic climate in the US that the latest survey by the US Conference of Mayors shows that homelessness is on the rise. Most US cities are reporting double digit increases in the demand for homeless services and emergency food assistance. This trend is reflected in the requests for assistance that we are seeing at Breakthrough. We have always had waiting lists for people who are seeking to enter our shelters, but now we have a waiting list to get on the waiting list. At a time when some donors do not have the ability to give at the capacity they once did, we are experiencing an increasing demand for our services. Those of us who can will need to step up to even higher levels of compassionate care.