Currently having a great conversation via twitter that started with this initial question:

How would you answer? Before you do, here are some snippets of additional dialog that you may consider as well:

So, should one tithe to the church? Is a tithe 10%? Should giving be considered a tithe? Can one--in a biblical sense--give to those in need outside of the church and consider that their tithe…thereby not giving to the church as well? Your thoughts are appreciated.

A Child’s Right, the incredible water relief organization has issued a challenge: How much would someone have to pay you to drink a glass of dirty water? We are talking about water with fecal waste, dirt, and bacterial contamination 209 times the safe standard.

Two years. 150,000 children. One Mission: Clean water.

A Child’s Right is the only water relief organization whose sole focus is bringing aid to vulnerable children in urban centers. In two years they have brought clean, safe drinking water to over 150,000 children in cities around the world.

In 2009, They will bring aid to 75,000 more.

Please take a moment to check out their beautiful website, donate, and tweet about the challenge (hashtag #cwc):

http://cleanwaterchallenge.org

Have you heard of the Tent City in Sacramento? Seriously, after Oprah featured it on her show last February, it seems as if everyone knows about it. However, not everyone knows what has happened after the cameras left and the hype died down.

It’s a sad story really. Millions were pledged immediately following the airing of the Oprah show. So much hype about tackling the problem and bringing some compassion to the issue. In the end, once the dust settled, the problem is actually worse than it was before.

Money was committed to help with permanent housing for the homeless, yet several shelters have had to close their doors since the cameras left. The promise for new housing and shelters has resulted in the loss of beds. There are more homeless on the streets as a result, not less.

The sad thing in all of this is that our new mayor, Kevin Johnson, has just let the Sacramento Police Department cut the lock on a private citizen’s vacant lot and forcibly evict residents off the newest Tent City. Yes, it was the newest because shortly after the media hype died down after the Oprah show came to town, that Tent City was closed and the homeless there were scattered. It took an attorney named Mark Merin, rather than the city council to offer a place for the homeless to go. Mr. Merin opened up his lot and allowed the homeless to camp on his land. At first, the police publicly responded in saying that unless there were some complaints or public safety issues, they would monitor the new Tent City, but let the campers there live freely on the private lot.

Brewing behind the scenes was a political power struggle. Mayor Kevin Johnson said that Mr. Merin’s offer of letting the homeless sleep on his private land was undermining the efforts of the city council to come to a decision on how they would move forward in using the funds given to Sacramento to help with the issue of homelessness. In the political world, it’s okay to address an issue that has gained international media attention by offering ideas on how to spend money pledged 7 months ago to combat an immediate problem. In the political world, it’s then okay to take 16 more months to get action taken on said problem. Mayor Johnson has publicly said that just getting things done within 16 months of the announcement of their plans is something he has to push through as it is faster than what others would ordinarily do. So, in other words people are without a home or food in a city that has homeless shelters continually closing because of lack of funding and it should be viewed as hard work to expect some partial solution 23-24 months after the fact?

The worst part of it all is that even after a private citizen opens up his land to the homeless to give them a place to be safe and off the streets--because it takes attention away from Mayor Johnson’s forth-coming plan of how the city will spend millions of dollars of pledged federal money to erect some temporary housing--the local police were ordered to forcibly evict the homeless campers. Not only were the evicted from private property, but the police confiscated their tents and sleeping bags to be used as evidence of illegal camping! In politics, power has reared its ugly head once again and compassion has taken a back seat.

So, where are the cameras now? An article today in the local Sacramento Bee acknowledged that some cameras were at the eviction to cover the event. However, with the power of the political machine, I highly doubt that any negative national press will come from this incident. I do anticipate though, that once the city council and Mayor Johnson have concluded on how best to use the money to make a small dent in the issue of homelessness in Sacramento, that he will get national attention and praise for his actions. It’s sad that those who have less are being used as pawns in a game of politics. It doesn’t take months of city council meetings to start helping the homeless. It takes someone with compassion for their fellow man and a call to action. Unfortunately, in the end, political office usually seems to be about pushing one’s own agenda on his fellow man and having the power and authority (and charisma) to do so, rather than about what is really best for our fellow man.

Here is a link to the Sacramento Bee article referenced in this post: http://bit.ly/1a00PU

I’ve been thinking a lot about my friendships recently. No matter what I do from today forward, to know that I have such supportive friends is truly a blessing. They aren’t my friends because they think church planting is chic. They are my friends because of who I am, not what I’ve done.

When I think of my friends I am reminded of two things: 1) seminary; 2) The Idea Camp. Today I wanted to share a little bit about The Idea Camp. For the many of you that follow me on twitter or are my friends on facebook, you’ll know how much of an impact the very first The Idea Camp back in February 2009 has had on me. I can’t seem to say enough about it. Well, it’s time for The Idea Camp to spread its wings and travel to the east coast August 28th & 29th. Unfortunately, I won’t be attending this session which is being dubbed the ” justice edition,” but I am eagerly anticipating the updates from my friends that will be there. So many unexpectedly positive things come about when creativity and collaboration intersect and The Idea Camp is a perfect example of this.

Have you ever attended a Christian/leadership conference and gotten all hyped-up about all that the speakers proclaimed into your life and the crazy-good music that was performed? Then, even with the best intentions, you got home and everything sort of fizzled out a week later. As strange as this may sound, I have no idea what that is like as I have never gone to a ministry conference until my arrival at the first The Idea Camp back in February. That was six months ago and I still reflect back on that time and am amazed (and greatly humbled) at all of the relationships I am still actively involved in that came about from those two days back in February. As amazing as the interaction and discussions were at The Idea Camp last February, I experienced most of the meaningful aspects of the conference after I returned home.

creativity + collaboration = meaningful relationships

I have so many resources available as a result of The Idea Camp. Everyone that was there has made themselves available afterwards and have inspired and encouraged me to do my best and continue to be relational and relevant within this community. Most of my time on twitter is actually spent interacting with people I met during the first The Idea Camp. I’ve even since driven the 800+ miles round trip to the Los Angeles area three times since February to meetup with my The Idea Camp friends. I can only imagine what will happen as people converge in Washington DC in a couple of weeks to renew discussions and provide their insights into dialogs on compassion and justice.

The Idea Camp has presentations from some great minds and creative geniuses (of which I put Charles Lee--the facilitator & initiator of The Idea Camp--at the top of this list), but where it thrives is in the breakout sessions where leaders are asked to speak no more than a few minutes to introduce a subject and then open it up to free-flowing discussions from those in attendance. In essence, it’s not about the speakers--it’s all about you. Here’s how The Idea Camp is being officially described:

The Idea Camp is a collaborative movement of idea-makers who facilitate free hybrid conferences and develop resources for people who desire to move ideas toward implementation. Facilitated by a growing collective of innovative thinkers and practitioners from numerous disciplines, participants gather around topics of interest to encourage and inspire one another, share practical wisdom from the field, and develop intentional networks for idea-making.

What’s it take to be a part of this amazing open source collaboration? Just find a way to get there and then be prepared to listen, think, take notes, make (lots) of new friends, and jump into the conversations. The Idea Camp is provided to you free of charge. They just ask that you register in advance, which you can do by going to: http://theideacamp.com and clicking on the “upcoming events” tab. If you’re anywhere within driving distance, make time for this conference! If you can afford to fly out, your time there on August 28th & 29th will repay itself many times over. I can’t convey how valuable my time was in February and how important the relationships I made while I was there have been to me. I hope you’ll find a way to be there in Washington DC to learn more and offer input in regards to compassion & justice ministries and take away some powerful words of wisdom, time of worship, and potentially life-long relationships. This is even before knowing the list of speakers scheduled to present, which will include some high-level talent eager to share what has been placed in their hearts with you! Which reminds me. Know why The Idea Camp is free for you? Mostly, it’s because the speakers (past presenters include: Erwin McManus, Dave Gibbons, David Ruis, Matthew Barnett) agree to come out at their own expense…they pay for their flights, hotel, food, etc and take no honorarium because they believe in giving back to you.

Thanks to Charles Lee and everyone that has invested their time, money, and effort to see this event continue!

Event: The Idea Camp: Justice Edition DC

Dates: August 28-29, 2009

Location: Mt. Olivet Methodist Church, 1500 N. Glebe Rd., Arlington, VA 22207

Number of organizations participating: 40+ (complete list at http://theideacamp.com)

For more information: http://theideacamp.com & http://theideacamp.ning.com

Main contact: Charles Lee -- charles@theideacamp.com or 310-995-1445

If after reading this you find that you can’t make it to The Idea Camp this time, would you please consider joining me in praying over the event, leaders, speakers, attenders, location, etc? There’s a lot going on to get ready beforehand and a ton of things happening during the event.

After returning home from The Idea Camp I was overwhelmed with a lot of thoughts. I felt compelled to share my ideas in a blog post since so many people asked me how it went and what I got out of it. However, so much came about that is going to shape my future that I felt it was best to make multiple posts and share in small snippets.

My first takeaway from The Idea Camp is that when pastors in my generation look at the world and evaluate ministry, I don’t think we quite get it. Collectively we have lots of theological training, hands-in missionary work, and tons of ministry experience. However, we seem to always scratch our heads (some publicly, but mostly privately) and wonder about our effectiveness. We believe there must be more than this.

I am one of those people that know there must be more than this, yet I know that it isn’t up to my generation to find the answers. I believe it is up to my generation to build up and encourage future generations and empower them to go out into the world and share their anger at social injustice and their passion for their fellow man. The transition of power from Generation X to Generation Y is going to be a truly amazing sight to see! This new generation truly gets it, but just needs a hand in finding their voice.  The Idea Camp was a way for some Gen Y kids to have that voice heard.

Taking the stage on Saturday morning were two guys: Zach Hunter of Loose Change to Loosen Chains and Conner Cress of Dry Tears. These two teenagers shared their hearts and passions for social injustices and were living examples that things can get done even without having resources, experienced leadership, or an office, or even a car. That at the age of 15, someone such as Zach Hunter can be so stirred to take a small action that grew into a huge organic movement of changed lives.

Want to know the most powerful word I received from The Idea Camp? It’s when I heard Zach Hunter say that he believed he would see the end of human slavery in the world during his lifetime.  That is the biggest vision I have ever heard of, yet a vision that already has been put into action by a 15 year old teen that after two years (Zach is now 17) is still being cast to us seasoned older people that didn’t quite get it. It’s a dream that hasn’t died and one that reveals the beautiful hope we can have as we entrust and empower the younger generations to rise up and take a stand in the name of Christ. It is so powerful that I threw out my notes for a message I was giving to a youth group the day after returning from The Idea Camp. At 9:00am Sunday morning I tossed out my notes, prayed for a scripture that would illuminate the cause of social injustice and inspire the teens to take action, and at 10:30am shared my newly-changed heart with a group that has the keys to the future in their hands. I share the video of the message with you below in the hopes that it may speak into your life and give you the hope that the world will be a better place through all that God is doing to raise up a new generation of his people to destroy the works of the enemy and take back what is his.

Dave Ingland shares a message on social justice to a youth group from Dave Ingland on Vimeo.

Note: Even though the video screen is blank, the video is working correctly. It takes a moment to queue up once you hit play, so please be patient.