October 2011 Entries
It takes time and effort to find grantmakers that are truly good prospects, but the results can be worth the research efforts you expend. Keep your expectations realistic. Foundations and other grantmakers will not likely meet even a majority of your financial needs. Individual donations still account for the great majority of the funds given to nonprofit organizations. Currently, foundations and corporations combined only provide about 17 percent of philanthropic gifts, and only a portion of this is given for Christian projects. However, these funds can make all the difference for your project!
Do not focus all your efforts on one...
posted @ Monday, October 24, 2011 12:51 PM |
Over the past weeks, there’s been much written about the attacks on the World Trade Center. Richard Swenson, however, writes about a different aspect of those attacks.
On the 103rd floor as the workers were beginning their day, they were at first unaware of the commotion on the floors below. But as the shock and horror unfolded, some were able to make last minute phone calls. Some of those phones were recovered. What did the rescuers find in those last minute phone calls?
They weren’t calls to their broker to sell their stock. No phone calls were made to purchase...
posted @ Thursday, October 20, 2011 9:57 AM |
I don’t know about you but there’s a lot of noise in my life. Not long ago, I sought to eliminate much of the advertisement related email in my inbox. I set out faithfully to unsubscribe to everything I could.
I’m not sure what happened. My email multiplied. So much for simplicity. Particularly in this day and age, the idea of simplicity is a foreign one. This week I attended a breakout session at a conference called Soul Care for leaders. One statement particularly stood out:
Our iPhones, iPads and constant exposure to technology is killing our souls.
Think about it. ...
posted @ Thursday, October 20, 2011 9:54 AM |
My daughter Jessica turned 20 yesterday—no longer a teenager. She came home from college to celebrate her birthday.
The weekend passed by in a blur. We had soccer games, and she had friends to see, but in the midst of the hustle and bustle, she ran out.
Well, let me clarify that. In the bright afternoon sun, she dressed up in one of her purple little dresses, camera in hand and headed to the park. She had a grin on her face, her step lively and said she was off on an adventure.
An hour later she was back. She...
posted @ Thursday, October 20, 2011 9:40 AM |
Who buys real estate in a land already conquered by the enemy? Foolish.
But that’s what the prophet Jeremiah did. In Jeremiah 32, the Lord tells Jeremiah that his uncle is coming to sell him land. (By the way, what does this say about the uncle—he’s doing Jeremiah no favors by selling land already trod upon by the enemy!) In any event, the Lord tells Jeremiah to buy the land.
So Jeremiah does. And he makes quite a show of it. He counts out 17 shekels of silver. He has the purchase witnessed by a crowd of elders. He wants...
posted @ Thursday, October 20, 2011 9:32 AM |
Across Europe, we’ve seen many great and historic churches close. Some now are owned by businesses. Some are converted to mosques.
For many, the response to these closures is shock, dismay. For those wondering why, the answer is often the apparent decline of faith in these countries. But few are as quick to point to another cause: population decline.
For years now, European countries have faced dwindling birth rates. On average, it takes at least 2.1 births per woman for most industrialized countries. In many European countries the birth rate is well below this—1.6. Put it bluntly, the churches...
posted @ Thursday, October 20, 2011 9:22 AM |
I’ve got the bug. I wake up early usually. That means I’m not deterred by early morning flights. And it works out that when I get those flights, well, I drive right into the sunrise.
If you drive too early, its just blackness other than the shadows that emerge from the streetlights. But if you time it just right, you can see the sun just begin to peak up at the horizon. The colorful twinge begins with streaks of orange and grey. And as the light seems to move outward, it’s like a backlight for the clouds. It’s a...
posted @ Thursday, October 20, 2011 9:16 AM |