Urban Onramps

Anyone got experience using Kintera for nonprofit donor relations and stuff? Care to share that experience with me? Via the comments on this post or by email. Would be much appreciated.

dude, i’m going to call you today. probably from a starbucks.

Not me, jefe - Rudy Giuliani

Good stuff. You can subscribe to the podcast here: http://media.worldvision.org/rss/wvus_podcast.xml. You can also download regular MP3s of World Vision Radio here.

I’m listening to this episode:

Islamists are driven from power in Somalia, but what’s next for that troubled African nation is far from clear…motorized rickshaw drivers in Aceh, Indonesia work together to restore their lives and businesses after a devastating tsunami two-years ago…India closes its leper hospitals leaving hundreds without medical care…and, we spend a “day in the life” of a construction worker in Mexico.

…and a little cloudy. I’m grilling steak for dinner tonight. Just thinking about that. Mmm.

I have strong web filters at work (Harambee) and at home (mi casita). We use some powerhouse European deal called SurfControl at Harambee. It has to run on a server that wasn’t expensive but wasn’t cheap. Plus I needed a superstar tech working pro bono to get it running. But it’s been running solid for almost 12 months, and all I’ve done is turn it on and off. At home I got the Integrity Online system and even acquired a “not publicized” piece of tech that hardwires the Integrity proxy URL into the router’s ROM. This baby is locked down.

So here’s some stuff I’ve learned since I’ve had all this in place:

1. The youth at Harambee have not revolted just because MySpace and YouTube have been blocked at Harambee. Not a peep out of them.
2. I can live without YouTube.
3. There are YouTube alternatives out there. Whack-a-mole, man.
4. I can live without MySpace.
5. Apparently, everyone in my house can live without MySpace, too.
6. Though I think the adults who need MySpace access it elsewhere.
7. The filters block Xanga. I’ve got legit friends who are on Xanga, and I haven’t been able to see their stuff. They email me pertinent blog posts.
8. I figured out a Xanga workaround: I got a Bloglines account and it pulls all the Xanga posts from my buddy’s site.
9. I expect legislation within 2 years that requires wifi owners (basically, everyone) to put passwords on their systems. Lots of shady stuff happens on unsecured networks, and I think that will change soon.
10. I think it’s only been one time - ONE! - where I went for legitimate information and got blocked by my filter system. So filters can work without cramping one’s style.

Abner Ramos: Practical ways to deal with hopelessness. This works at East L.A. College, and I suspect it will work anywhere on the globe.

I’m getting questions from all sectors asking, “What’s the emerging church?” and “What’s so emerging about the emerging church?” Here’s a great place to start: Five Streams of the Emerging Church by Scot McKnight in Christianity Today. For blogs that discuss the emerging church in helpful ways, I’d suggest McKnight’s blog, Jesus Creed, and Andrew Jones’s self-titled TallSkinnyKiwi.

Greg Mankiw’s advice for new junior law school faculty is pretty interesting. Plenty applies to other fields and walks of life. A sample:

Attend conferences and give seminars at schools to publicize your work and yourself. The people in the audience may one day be in a position to hire you or write letters of evaluation about you.

This goes for any field. Treat everyone well, like the Bible says we should. You never know where that person will be in five years. Or where you will be. You treat people well, you do good work, and in their time of need or opportunity, they will remember you. They will also remember if you were a nice/decent person, how combative you are/were, and other not frivolous details. Think: Long Game.

Then there’s this:

Whatever you do, do not start a blog. That will only establish your lack of seriousness as a scholar.

Ha! There are other reasons to be careful about starting a blog. Chief among them is that you need to understand the speed, power, and long memory of the internet. The stuff you post will come back to help or hurt you, but it won’t be neutral.

My urban ministry peer, Dave in Grand Rapids, shares info from his son in Iraq. His son drives a Humvee around the Baghdad area (generally). Last week his buddy’s vehicle hit an IED. Three were killed, including a young guy that Don trained, one is burned badly, and they don’t know about the fifth. I’m praying for and thinking about you and your while unit, Don.

The Global Perspective has advice - a list of “Do Nots” - for Europeans when they are in America: EU faux pas in the USA

Just once I’d like to see a politican take a public stand on an important issue, then say, “We are going to address this through private means. No new law. Nothing for Congress to vote on. This issue requires individuals to step forward and do their/our part. I call all of us to step forward, and I stand here with you to take the lead.”

Someone give us an award (L-R): John Liotti, Jeremy Del Rio, Max Torres, yours truly, and Ryan Kellermeyer. We used the occasion to pray for Jeremy, who speaks at a Willow Creek youth conference next week.

Yeah! Whoo!

Political strategist Dick Morris has thoughts on Latino evangelicals and immigration reform:

Immigration reform calls for an earned path to citizenship that most Americans can and should support. If Latinos work, pay taxes, do not commit crimes, and learn English for several years, they should be able to become citizens. These requirements are not applied to any other immigrants and are due penance for illegal entry into the United States.

It’s time Republicans awakened to the political opportunities of Evangelical Hispanic conversions and got with the program.

To which I say: Morris, look below - where have you been?

The White House, May 2001