Here’s a reminder for you that our upcoming Justice Seminar, Journey Towards Justice, is happening this Saturday, April 17 from 9:00am-12:00pm.
Here are my top 10 reasons for coming:
10. Do the words “interactive webinar” mean anything to you? If so, let us know, and we’ll try to make it one of those.
9. Hear exciting stories from around the world that don’t involve a slide projector. Next slide.
8. It’s only $5. You can’t go to a 3-hour movie for that much.
7. It will give you a chance to get inside…this weather is a little too nice, if you ask me.
6. Barry does not have his own channel on Hulu. You won’t be able to DVR it (or tape it, like my mom says…hi mom) or watch it later. This is a one-time gig.
5. We promise to share fewer than 10 depressing facts about poverty.
4. Saturdays are the perfect day to get wrecked. You’ll have the rest of the weekend to recover before going back to work on Monday.
3. This guy. –>(and a few of his fellow travelers)
2. Jesus (this is for everyone who went to Sunday School growing up…Jesus is always the right answer).
1. Through stories of hope in the midst of despair, God wants to reveal the next steps in your journey towards justice.
If you’re not convinced by now to click here and register, I’m not sure we’re going to win you over. We hope to see you on Saturday morning. Feel free to contact me with any questions… curtish(at)gracecc.org.
So, many of you probably wonder what a typical day looks like in the world of outreach…I’ll be glad to answer. In outreach at Grace, there is no normal day. In one day you may find yourself moving heavy equipment, learning HTML, and driving around an unmarked van. Allow me to tell you about another non-typical day I had last week.
Daryl, from production, invited all the staff members on the mezzanine at Grace, which includes outreach, production, and worship arts, to a tour of the Endangered Species Chocolate factory on the north side of Indianapolis. I would have to be insane to say no to an opportunity like this!
As we arrived, we all got to sport lovely hair nets…no hair in my chocolate, thank you very much.
The tour began. It was kind of like Willy Wonka minus all the magic and crazy tour guide. Our tour guide was remarkably normal.
We got to make our own chocolate and take it home with us. This was a blast for everyone except for Trey, the worship arts intern. He is allergic to chocolate. Can you imagine? I briefly considered a career change when I sampled my chocolate.
At the end of the tour, we learned all about Endangered Species’ commitment to ethical business practices, green energy, and responsibility. Endangered Species chocolate isn’t merely fair trade–it’s ethically traded. This goes far beyond the requirements of fair trade. They give away 10% of their profits to benefit all sorts of good causes. At the factory, Endangered Species employees are always looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. In fact, the people from the energy company recently paid them a visit because Endangered Species found a way to drastically decrease their energy usage by something like 40% over the past year.
I appreciate a company that delivers a great product and practices social justice. Many companies merely give lip service to helping others or the environment, but Endangered Species actually lives it out. In fact, we learned that their CEO doesn’t take a salary.
On Saturday, September 26, we are holding our next Justice Seminar. We are excited to have the privilege of hosting Will and Lisa Samson, co-authors of Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live. We’re excited because we believe the message of the book will really resonate with people in our community.
After you watch Will and Lisa’s video (see below) discussing their motivation to write Justice in the Burbs, consider purchasing the book. It is available at Grace’s bookstore, Lightsource, or you can find it on Amazon. I think if you read the book before they come, we’ll have a much more in depth conversation about how to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
September 26…
Registration is not live yet (cost will be $5/person), but if you’re interested in attending, please mark your calendars from 9:00am-12:00pm on Saturday, September 26. Then, consider telling anyone else who may be interested and bring a whole group of friends with you. Awesome. Hope to see you there.
(and a few of his fellow travelers)
