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Most urban youth workers I know serve in a volunteer capacity, even the ones getting paid. The pay is usually so low they might as well be volunteering. Urban youth workers serve out of love, passion and conviction. So, for the first year or two they don’t worry too much about cash. After a while, though, you have to do something if you are going to be around for the long haul.

“Long haul” is critical for urban ministry because we often are working with young people who have lots of brokenness, lots of interruptions and lots of in-and-outs in their relationships. They don’t need a Gospel Playboy who will be their spiritual parent and then abandon them. They need to feel, see and experience faithfulness year after year.

So how do you get the funding you need to stay in the urban discipleship game for the long haul? You can be bivocational. Hey, it works for thousands of Hispanic, African-American and immigrant pastors; it could work for you.

You could do like I did for eight years and live in intentional Christian community, sharing a house, kitchen and bank account. (I guess that’s a surprise to those in America who know me as an outspoken “urban minister for free-market capitalism and globalization.”) There are other ways. I suggest you think of how to diversify your funding streams. Most youth workers think they should get a job or raise missionary support. The problem with missionary support is that it’s often hard for urban folks to raise cash from a relatively impoverished urban community. If you are raising missionary support, you are most likely bivocational, too.

Here’s what we do at Harambee Christian Family Center:

Donations – Solicit and receive individual donations. Give people a chance to participate in your ministry by supporting the work.

Foundation Grants – Seek out and apply for grants.

Tuition and Fees – Operate a private Christian school, preschool and summer day camp. Collect fees from parents and youth for these programs. There are even times when we collect fees for camping trips and turn a net profit.

Rent – At Harambee, we own six properties outright and collect at least $4,000 a month in rent. It may seem outside your focus on urban youth, but it’s not. Wouldn’t $4,000 a month well sustain your ministry? Even a couple hundred dollars a month would supplement the ministry budget.

Church Support – Though it might take a while to get placed on a church missions budget, once you do, a whole relationship full of diverse resources opens up. Invest in these relationships.

Consulting – Go out and speak on topics about which you have experience. Start small. Maybe the group you address can only pay $20—or provide a chicken dinner. After a while—if you genuinely have game and God is illuminating your ministry—you will be able to match your much-needed expertise with the resources you need for continued ministry.

Using the above methods, Harambee raised more than $800,000 last year. Granted, I’m not alone. We have 16 staff, plus board members, who are busily raising funds. You won’t get to this capacity overnight, but it is doable. If you are thinking about being there for urban youth over the long haul, these are things you seriously should consider.

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The problem is that few urban ministers or justice fighters are equipped to teach the second half of the workshop. We’ve got our protest speech down pat, but we have little data to offer when it comes to teaching how to lift people out of poverty. The typical justice fighter in urban America is often a person of relative or serious privilege who is captivated by a vision of justice. This is wonderful, but too often the focus remains on them and their experience, and they fail to understand — or accept — some basic truths.

Let me cite David Batstone’s defense of an instance of child labor, from a June 2003 issue of SojoMail, as an example. Batstone shows how, in the light of day, the concept of and need for “just child labor” emerges out of on-the-ground necessity. In his article, he writes about how a highly respected center for street kids in Lima, Peru, actually puts kids to work. Most American progressives would immediately decry the injustice of child labor, but Batstone wrote the following:

“The director of [the center] argues that work does more than put money in kids’ pockets — it gives them a discipline otherwise absent in their lives. Placing them in a school — even if that were a viable option — is untenable, says the director. There are no breadwinners at home…”

Batstone makes the case that this particular circumstance of child labor is a blessing. However, if progressives believe that child labor is always bad, they might be moved to protest against the center’s practices. Batstone’s conclusion is something every justice fighter in America should memorize and apply: “Political progressives need to be careful not to turn their own privilege into a road block for those who are not so lucky.”

Are there times when we unwittingly do likewise? When our particular view of justice gets in the way of accomplishing the justice that the poor actually need?

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

As a college student I took part in a small group Bible study. One night I shared that I was no longer interested in returning to my poor East Los Angeles neighborhood immediately after graduation (my long-professed goal). I had grown up with little in the way of resources, and I was feeling the need to make some money and establish myself first.

One woman in the group cautioned me about the temptations of money. I took her words seriously and questioned the wisdom of my thinking. Later, however, I learned that this woman was sitting on a large inheritance. She was struggling to make sure her financial concerns did not override her obedience to the gospel. She had grown up with investment thinking, and she was striving to learn protest thinking. In her zeal she looked at me but saw herself — and advised me accordingly. But I did not need the same speech she needed. I needed a speech tailored to my life’s experiences.

I was a person who knew a lot about justice, about God’s heart for the poor, about the need to sacrifice and commit all. My family had been poor, I understood what it was to be poor, and I understood how the poor are often locked out of our systems of prosperity. I didn’t need a reminder or admonishment about the protest. I needed to learn more about investment, about the things that would help me break the cycle of poverty in my own family, about how I could establish a financial base through which I might bless others.

Thank God that I did not follow this woman’s advice. If I had, I would have continued to close my eyes to the investment side of life. Instead, I continued forward with my hunch about ways that I needed to grow personally. Today, as I steward resources beyond what I ever imagined, I am grateful that I have 15 years of experience in studying and practicing investment principles.

I pray that this woman now understands how to look beyond her own issues to the true plight of other people, and then to practice justice in both spheres. But this caution goes for me as well. Once very poor, I am now, years later, a member of the middle class in the wealthiest nation the world has ever known. I have youth in my community who talk about getting rich and making money. I’m afraid they will lose their spiritual bearings if they overemphasize or glamorize money, if they believe that money can do for them what only God can do. It’s been easy for me to speak to these young men in the same way the young woman in college spoke to me, and I’ve heard their reaction on more than one occasion: “You can say that, but you’ve got money.”

What I believe I need to do instead is to match my words of biblical caution about wealth (protest) with teachings of the principles that will help them rise out of poverty (invest).

This balance of protesting and investing is critical, because the average teen in my community does not believe his life circumstances can change. For example, there are jobs available — tough and low-paying jobs that, when done well, can be springboards to better jobs — but many teens do not believe they can ever rise out of poverty by working hard, saving their money, keeping away from all sorts of trifling behaviors, and investing wisely.

I spend a lot of time trying to convince them to take the long, persevering road. My list of speeches sounds oh-so-square. Don’t spend your money. Start with an old, cheap car. Work two jobs, even three. Get some college. Start a business on the side. This is how people all over America, regardless of ethnicity, get ahead. But it’s a hard sell because these principles go against human comfort, and they are especially hard to embed in a young heart. So, extra time and attention are needed to convince poor urban youth that this is the way to go.

What I do not need to put extra time and energy into is teaching them about the existence of injustice. They already believe they have to fight for themselves against what they view as a cold, prejudiced system. They know that greedy capitalists often get away with massive, multi-million-dollar crimes, while many poor people are sent to prison for years for relatively minor offenses. This and other anecdotes about economic injustice are easy to come by on the streets of the city, and city youths’ hunger for them is great. Some kids have already participated in protests against police and educational administrations, lobbied city councils, marched in demonstrations against war, walked out, sat in, and held the line in union-led strikes.

But from the vantage point of my home, next to a corner store in a black and Latino neighborhood, what I see is a generation carrying picket signs in their hearts but running no businesses, owning no property, creating no wealth, tempted to commit crimes, and doomed to wallow in poverty. The very kids who should be disciplining themselves, saving money, working long hours, practicing how to write a business plan, and learning how to win investor confidence, are instead walking around complaining. They talk about what can’t happen and who is against them, preoccupy themselves with endless conspiracy theories, and otherwise squander their God-given time, talent, and opportunities.

Urban youth today know the protest side. They need to be taught — and practice — the investment side.

Let’s think about it another way: We go into the city and teach a poor kid how to fight for justice, but not how to invest for the future. A better-off kid gets trained to invest, then comes into the city and learns about injustice and how to fight it. The better-off kid is well-rounded because she knows both investment and protest and thus is able to take care of herself and her community as she seeks what is right. But no one stands up to teach the poor kid about investment, so that kid grows into an adult who does not know how to effectively take care of herself or her community. Is that just?

# # #

This article by Rodolpho Carrasco originally appeared in the Summer 2004 issue of PRISM Magazine.

(photo, right: view from the stage at CCDA 2011)

It’s been a month-plus since the 2011 Christian Community Development Association annual conference. I had a great time there, as did my wife and children. My wife taught a workshop entitled “Theology of Rest” that was well-received. I was a sidekick in Jane Vander Ploeg’s workshop in the Business as Ministry track. I also shared the main stage on opening night with Mary Nelson and focused on the need for CCDA to affirm to its members that business is an outstanding Christian calling.

A month out from the event I think back to these takeaways:

1. It was great to have a Business as Ministry track. This is the first year that CCDA hosted such a track. There has always been an Economic Development track. But the business emphasis has been spotty in the past. Here’s to more “business as ministry to end urban poverty” in the future.

2. The networking was great, as always. There are too many names to mention, but I appreciated the casual way one can run into key contacts. In this way I ran into Scott Truex, Brian Jenkins, and Al Tizon, just to name a few. If you don’t consider yourself a networker, I encourage you to go to a CCDA conference and JUST STAND IN A MAIN THOROUGHFARE. The people will come to you, or within feet of you. Trust me on this.

3. It was great to follow the conference on Twitter via the official event hashtag, #ccda2011. I couldn’t be there for the Arthur Brooks – Jim Wallis morning plenary, but got a taste of it from the tweets. It’s oh so fascinating to observe what people “hear” in any given session. Richard Twiss sure got a lot of interesting tweets, just to name one “twitterable” speaker.

Finally, I’m grateful for the CCDA team providing a child care option every year. I was able to bring my entire family including four children. The three youngest were in child care nearly every session it was offered. (The oldest, 11-year-old Samuel, roamed with us adults a few times.)

Finally, finally… I’m grateful to God that my son could watch his father speak in front of 3,000 people. He was in the audience as I spoke, and he watched me on the two giant video screens with everyone else. Later in life he will have the confidence to address large groups of people, and he probably won’t remember where he gained that confidence. In that way he is privileged. I just pray that someday he recognizes his privilege and uses it as a tool to do the things God “prepared in advance” for him to do. (Eph. 2:10)

1. An instituational commitment to racial equity, clearly stated…congregations go beyond stating they will be multiracial by also stating their commitment to equity.

2. Leaders who are personally deeply committed to racial equity…without this personal commitment, multiracial congregations will fall short.

3. A common purpose that supercedes racial equity…their statements do not say, “Be multiracial” or “Obtain racial equity,” but rather they say they will be multiracial communities to live our their faith.

4. Structures to ensure racial equity…a key goal of these structures is to ensure that outsiders come to be and feel like insiders, that they belong and have a voice.

5. Internal forums, education, and groups…there must be a space where issues can be talked about, people can learn about race issues, and misuses of power can be discussed.

6. Be a DJ…adjustments are normal, made often, and with a larger purpose in mind.

7. Recognize that people are at different places, and help them move forward one step at a time.

via New Culture Monthly Newsletter

From time immemorial, M. sur M. had had for its special industry the imitation of English jet and the black glass trinkets of Germany. This industry had always vegetated, on account of the high price of the raw material, which reacted on the manufacture. At the moment when Fantine returned to M. sur M., an unheard-of transformation had taken place in the production of “black goods.” Towards the close of 1815 a man, a stranger, had established himself in the town, and had been inspired with the idea of substituting, in this manufacture, gum-lac for resin, and, for bracelets in particular, slides of sheet-iron simply laid together, for slides of soldered sheet-iron.

This very small change had effected a revolution.

This very small change had, in fact, prodigiously reduced the cost of the raw material, which had rendered it possible in the first place, to raise the price of manufacture, a benefit to the country; in the second place, to improve the workmanship, an advantage to the consumer; in the third place, to sell at a lower price, while trebling the profit, which was a benefit to the manufacturer.

Thus three results ensued from one idea.

In less than three years the inventor of this process had become rich, which is good, and had made every one about him rich, which is better. He was a stranger in the Department. Of his origin, nothing was known; of the beginning of his career, very little. It was rumored that he had come to town with very little money, a few hundred francs at the most.

It was from this slender capital, enlisted in the service of an ingenious idea, developed by method and thought, that he had drawn his own fortune, and the fortune of the whole countryside.

On his arrival at M. sur M. he had only the garments, the appearance, and the language of a workingman.

It appears that on the very day when he made his obscure entry into the little town of M. sur M., just at nightfall, on a December evening, knapsack on back and thorn club in hand, a large fire had broken out in the town-hall. This man had rushed into the flames and saved, at the risk of his own life, two children who belonged to the captain of the gendarmerie; this is why they had forgotten to ask him for his passport. Afterwards they had learned his name. He was called Father Madeleine.

CHAPTER II–MADELEINE

He was a man about fifty years of age, who had a preoccupied air, and who was good. That was all that could be said about him.

Thanks to the rapid progress of the industry which he had so admirably re-constructed, M. sur M. had become a rather important centre of trade. Spain, which consumes a good deal of black jet, made enormous purchases there each year. M. sur M. almost rivalled London and Berlin in this branch of commerce. Father Madeleine’s profits were such, that at the end of the second year he was able to erect a large factory, in which there were two vast workrooms, one for the men, and the other for women. Any one who was hungry could present himself there, and was sure of finding employment and bread. Father Madeleine required of the men good will, of the women pure morals, and of all, probity. He had separated the work-rooms in order to separate the sexes, and so that the women and girls might remain discreet. On this point he was inflexible. It was the only thing in which he was in a manner intolerant. He was all the more firmly set on this severity, since M. sur M., being a garrison town, opportunities for corruption abounded. However, his coming had been a boon, and his presence was a godsend. Before Father Madeleine’s arrival, everything had languished in the country; now everything lived with a healthy life of toil. A strong circulation warmed everything and penetrated everywhere. Slack seasons and wretchedness were unknown. There was no pocket so obscure that it had not a little money in it; no dwelling so lowly that there was not some little joy within it.

Father Madeleine gave employment to every one. He exacted but one thing: Be an honest man. Be an honest woman.

As we have said, in the midst of this activity of which he was the cause and the pivot, Father Madeleine made his fortune; but a singular thing in a simple man of business, it did not seem as though that were his chief care. He appeared to be thinking much of others, and little of himself.

I was working on some old files tonight and came across the Latino Heritage Bible. It’s from 2002. Man, this takes me back. I contributed a few articles for this Bible (they appear sprinkled throughout the Scripture) and recommended a few other Latino Christian writers for this English-language project. I’m glad this is available at Amazon. There were a few years there when this Bible was actually in limbo. The original publisher, Livingstone Corporation, either dropped the project, merged, went out of business – something. I toyed with the idea of buying all the printed versions for cents on the dollar but could never reach anyone. Anyway… I think I’ll order a few more of these.

BY ANDRES TAPIA

When Kafi and Rudy Carrasco fill out forms, they often have to answer with “none of the above.” They can handle questions about age and education. Rudy’s a 29-year-old social worker and a graduate of Stanford. Kafi (pronounced KAH-fee) is a 24-year-old second-grade school teacher with a master’s degree. Beyond that, they don’t fit the standard categories.

Kafi and Rudy live in a Southern California community where Latino and black tensions are rising as the growing Latino population threatens to displace black families and workers. The Carrascos’ cross-cultural marriage makes a strong public statement of black/brown harmony in a neighborhood where that message is sorely needed.

Last year, Rudy became associate director of the Harambee Christian Family Center, where the community’s children and youth are developed for leadership through discipleship and education. Kafi is also investing her life in young people. At the Cleveland Elementary School, which is made up mostly of African-American and Latino students, she affirms both cultures in her classroom.

Neighbors and friends often are curious about the Carrascos’ marriage. “The first thing we tell them is that we are intercultural, not interracial,” explains Kafi. Rudy goes on, “Which usually leads to a discussion about the concept of race and how Latinos are an interracial population to begin with. Latinos and African-Americans have many cultural similarities, such as a view of life that is much more communal than it is individualistic. When people see the common bonds rather than the differences, it goes a long way toward getting beyond the ethnic barriers.”

But sometimes those barriers are easier to see than the common bonds. “There’s a Mexican family on our block who told their kids they couldn’t speak with Rudy because he is ‘too American,’” recalls Kafi. “When we asked the kids what they meant, they explained it was because ‘Rudy is married to a black woman.’”

But that doesn’t keep the couple from reaching out to other black and Mexican families, with Kafi speaking to them in Spanish and Rudy participating in Afrocultural events.

“I see my marriage as a model,” Kafi says. “Not as a prescription, but as a sign that cross-cultural relationships are possible.”

Even their home life reflects the Carrascos’ commitment to community. In an effort to redeem urban blight into urban sanctuary, they recently remodeled what was formerly a crack house in an inner-city Pasadena neighborhood. Kafi and Rudy share the home—and their vision for racial and economic reconciliation—with their friends and Harambee coworkers Derek Perkins and Karyn Farrar-Perkins.

“When people see middle-class, college-educated families moving into the neighborhood, it has an incredibly positive effect on how people view their ‘hood,” says Rudy. Adds Kafi, “It helps create an expectation among our neighbors that it is not impossible to create a safer, more nurturing environment for the children.”

And they say having two couples share the same house brings added benefits. “When you share cooking, cleaning and childcare among four adults,” Rudy says, “it makes day-to-day living much easier. It leaves energy to respond to the needs around us.”

A Meeting of Minds
Rudy and Kafi began their relationship as they have continued it—by sharing dreams of urban renewal and racial reconciliation. Five years ago, Rudy was working as managing editor of Urban Family magazine at the Harambee Center, when Kafi—still a college student—came by to find out about the center’s work. Rudy gave her an article he had written about institutionalized injustice, and the next time she visited Harambee the two discussed the article for so long that Rudy asked Kafi to “keep talking over dinner.” She calls that conversation their first date.

Now that they’ve been married three years, the Carrascos still talk over dinner. And lunch. And breakfast. Friends say they talk about every intellectual, cultural and spiritual issue imaginable—which shows how similar they are. But the contrast between them is also intense.

Rudy grew up in east L.A. without a father in the home. His standard of living improved when his older sister, Yolanda, took him and his siblings in after their mother died. Yolanda was a Christian, so she took her family to church. That little neighborhood church became their extended family.

On the opposite coast in black- and Latino-heavy Brooklyn, Kafi grew up the second of nine children in a strong, middle-class African-American family. As a result of her parents’ fervent push for black pride, and the close friendship of several Latina schoolmates, Kafi gained a strong sense of both personal identity and cultural respect. When she became a Christian in college, her burden for reaching urban youth gained added purpose.

When Rudy and Kafi became engaged, friends and family members wondered if they’d be able to withstand the racism they would face. Would their cultural differences be a source of conflict?

“I never considered not marrying Kafi because she was African-American,” says Rudy. “I always had a real connection with the black community. I joined the Gospel choir at Stanford, read a lot of civil rights history in high school and had been immersed in the black community two years before Kafi came here.” Their families approved Rudy’s and Kafi’s decision to marry. Still, both families made sure the couple understood and could withstand the social pressures that interracial couples face.

“I didn’t think twice about marrying a Latino man, though I’d always imagined I would marry a black man,” says Kafi. “I knew I’d have to give up some thoughts I’d had about how to raise kids. I’d envisioned raising my children black and proud. Now I’ll have to balance both cultures. When we have kids, they’ll be raised Christian first.”

Rudy, too, meditates on what life will be like for their kids. Early in their engagement, he woke up one morning and realized, “My kids are going to be considered black. What if my kid came home one day and said someone called him a ‘nigger’? How would I respond? I can deal with racism as a Latino, but suddenly the African-American experience in this country was becoming profoundly personal.”

Kafi and Rudy regularly speak to church and college groups about their intercultural relationship. At school meetings whenever racial issues come up, they speak up in the name of cultural harmony. Before black groups, Kafi encourages African-Americans to learn Spanish and identify with Latino history. At the same time, Rudy urges Latinos to learn African-American history and fight their biases against blacks.

“Not long ago I was hanging out with a group of Latinos when they started bad-mouthing blacks,” Rudy says. “There was no way I wasn’t going to speak up. And they couldn’t believe it. Few are used to hearing someone from one ethnic group defending another.”

But this is precisely why the Carrascos’ message is so powerful and why people listen. “We are ambassadors,” says Kafi. “Our lives are open books.

“I think people see us as having credibility in the other’s culture,” she adds. “I have an authentic concern for my Mexican students because my husband’s Mexican. It also gives me credibility when I say the world is not color blind, that culture does matter. We want to show Christians that we can be uniquely ourselves and still be committed to Christ.”

And so it began.

I learned later that a relative had seen the second plane crash from her office at Salomon Smith Barney in lower Manhattan. She was among the thousands who walked home across the Brooklyn Bridge that day after the twin towers collapsed.

A friend in DC told me she was driving near the Pentagon when the plane crashed there.

A few days later I wrote “Religion Matters” for Re:generation Quarterly. I reflected on the media’s unwillingness to probe Islamic faith and belief in light of these attacks. A portion of the article is here (the rest is behind the Christianity Today paywall).

I remember being angry that the U.S. English language media refused to show footage of people falling from the World Trade Center heights to their deaths. (Some Spanish-language outlets were showing such footage.) I didn’t mean to be macabre. But the full horror of the attack is symbolized by these 9/11 victims, and I felt – and continue to feel – that they must not be hidden. Here is the Wikipedia entry on The Falling Man.

Meanwhile, here is the new 4×100 world record by the Jamaican team at this year’s World Championships (final leg anchored by the man with one of the great names in sporting history, Usain BOLT).

How are BAM and Bolt connected? Just by my mind. Enjoy both.

I recently met a fellow BAMer who has a background in franchising in the US. Now based in the Middle East, he told me about a recent gathering in that Region that consisted mostly of aspiring BAMers. They were enthusiastic, but had little or no prospect of succeeding.

Are we missing something in BAM because we are assuming everybody can start from scratch? Are we missing an opportunity to tap into this pool of committed people because we don’t have a ‘BAM in a Box’ to offer? Could these people become good BAMers if there were franchising options? Many people are medium-level entrepreneurs, medium risk takers and good managers. These are good qualifications for franchise operators.

BAM in a Box is also worth exploring and pursuing as we deal with human trafficking. Regions with high unemployment are high risk areas for human trafficking and unemployment makes people vulnerable to traffickers’ cunning schemes.

Rescuing people out of trafficking and prostitution is insufficient unless there is a job with dignity at the other end. Thus BAM in a Box can be one answer to scalable job creation measures both in prevention of human trafficking and restoration of its victims.

The spiritual, social, demographic and economic challenges of the Arab world and Asia are enormous and growing. How can we begin to meet the many needs there?

BAM in a Box could potentially engage more people in applying BAM. That would mean more opportunities to serve people and nations by providing employment and good services and products, and so on.

Global conversations are underway on business as mission and franchising. We need to move further. Are you an entrepreneur who can help develop BAM in a Box?

via BAM in a Box: Accelerating the Impact of Business as Mission | Mats Tunehag.

What is the NSLI?

As a part of CCDA’s National Conference, the National Student Leadership Intensive (NSLI) is a two-day event designed specifically for student leaders. This Intensive promises to engage, equip and encourage youth to have a deeper understanding of what Christian Community Development is all about…and leave ready to take action!

This year’s NSLI will focus on two of CCDA’s Eight Key Components: Relocation and Redistribution.

The conference will include:

• Intimate and energetic worship sessions
• Dynamic Bible Studies
• Practical teachings from seasoned CCDA leaders
• Dialogue and connection with CCDA’s Emerging Leaders
• Hands-on opportunities in various Indianapolis communities
• Knowledge and wisdom from John Perkins and other CCD pioneers
• Crazy fun evening activities

Visit the NSLI for costs and registration details.

Kristyn Komarnicki of Evangelicals for Social Action writes:

Business sometimes gets a bad name in the justice world, but we need businesses, both large and small, in order to for people to have jobs, move out of poverty and dependence, have a sense of dignity and purpose, and bless the world. Below is a selection articles that show how businesses can benefit the public good.

Partners Worldwide recently hosted a one-day event bringing together Haitian businesses with NGOs and nonprofits, with the purpose of boosting the Haitian economy by encouraging groups with significant relief funds to source from local Haitian businesses.

By its very nature, business serves a social justice function by Anthony Bradley

The PRISM archives contains six great pieces on business (logging onto PRISM archives requires free and easy one-time registration), including “Protest & Invest” by Rudy Carrasco and “Beyond Profit” by Al Tizon, Ron Sider, John Perkins, and Wayne Gordon.

Video: Love and Entrepreneurship: Alfa Demmellash, co-founder of Rising Tide Capital in Jersey City, NJ, shares her vision and heart for grassroots economics (22 minutes, and very much worth the time).

via The Sider Center at Eastern University.

This photo with Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard is from a couple of years back. I think it was the day we celebrated the installation of solar panels on one of the houses at Harambee Ministries. Mayor Bogaard has been a friend of Harambee and many Pasadena-area community groups.

Here’s a PDF of the Pasadena Star-News article about the solar panels (from July 2008).

This talk was part of the 2010 Redeemer Entrepreneurship Forum. Check out the Entrepreneurship Initiative.

I preached on this topic this past weekend at the Michigan Men’s Weekend.

Definitions of Social Entrepreneurship:

• Muhammad Yunus says: “Social Entrepreneurship relates to a person. It describes an initiative of social consequences for a social purpose. This initiative may be a non-economic initiative, a charity initiative, or a business initiative with or without personal profit. Some social entrepreneurs house their projects within traditional nongovernmental organizations while others are involved in for-profit activities.”
• Ashoka says: “Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.”
• Rudy says a social entrepreneur is a person using business skills and community building methods to make social impact by achieving a specific goal.

So let’s consider Nehemiah.

Social Impact: The wall around the city of Jerusalem lies in ruins. Rebuilding the wall will remove the disgrace of the Jewish people.  (Neh. 2:17)

Process:

1. Nehemiah identified the need (Neh. 1:3)
2. Nehemiah affirmed a vision (Neh. 2:4-5)
3. Nehemiah sought partners (Neh. 2:16-18)
4. Nehemiah approached regulators and funders for support (Neh. 2:1-9)
5. Nehemiah secured resources (timber for the walls and buildings) (Neh. 2:8)
6. Nehemiah won the support of the authorities/officials (the King) (Neh. 2:6)
7. More resources (escort, security, legitimacy from army and cavalry) (Neh. 2:9)
8. Developed a plan with a timetable (Neh. 2:6)
9. “Exegeted the community,” i.e. made personal assessment of the need (Neh. 2:12-15)
10. Gathered community leaders, won community buy-in, and secured project partners (Neh. 2:16-18)
11. Project management: Divided up the work among partners (Neh. 3, all)
12. Project management: Addressed external threats (enemies) (Neh. 4, all)
13. Project management: Addressed internal challenges (usury) (Neh. 5, all)
14. Was brave and courageous when faced with a threat to his person (Neh. 6:10-13)
15. Completed the project in 52 days (Neh. 6:15)
16. Addressed sustainability of the wall by addressing root causes: The root cause was the disobedience of the Israelites and their failure to follow the Law of Moses (Neh. 1:5-11)
17. Held a public reading of the new (old) contract (Neh. 8, all)
18. Secured a public agreement from the people to follow the contract (Neh. 9-10, both, all)
19. Set up leadership to follow through on the new agreement (Neh. 7:2; ch.s 11-12)
20. Returned to his previous work, leaving the indigenous leadership in charge (Neh. 13:6)
21. Came back to Jerusalem to assess the progress of the “root causes” section of the overall project (Neh. 13:6-7)
22. Got the project “back on the track” by addressing sustainability (Neh. 13, all)
23. Back on track: throws out Tobiah from the Temple (Neh. 13:7-9)
24. Back on track: gets the tithe to the Levites (paying the priests/clergy) (Neh. 13:10-13)
25. Back on track: reboot on honoring the Sabbath (Neh. 13: 15-22)
26. Back on track: dealing with intermarriage (Neh. 13: 23-28)

The entire book reads like a report on a grant. But the report is not to some foundation, nor to the King, but to God.

Dig it.

Anyway, it reminded me that a friend of mine and ally in the urban ministry trenches is also a rocket scientist. This Latino brother (Central American) has a masters degree in Aerospace Engineering (Astronautics & Planetary Studies) and has worked on space exploration projects with NASA – all while doing urban ministry. So I’ve had my joke all these years. My joke is that it’s not rocket science, but just in case it becomes rocket science, we happen to have a rocket scientist on our team (so all bases are covered). Ok, that doesn’t read as funny as I make it in real life. But you get my gist.

It’s good to have a rocket scientist in your corner….

Remembrance: I remember the day one of their NASA missions was successful. He sent me a photo of the scientists in the room as they celebrated. BUNCH of Latino scientists had worked on that project….

Read the list and then get back to Jim with suggestions for other businesses and/or social enterprises to add to the list. Twitter him at @jamesreiner.

Here goes:

I wish I had known that quantity of worship is as important as quality.

Twenty minutes of worship at City Hope Ministries in Grand Rapids, Michigan had just ended. I felt like that twenty minutes alone could carry me for the next week or even month. I felt so good that I got to thinking about what would happen if I worshiped for a full hour, or even a couple of hours. Many of my anxieties had been transformed by engaged focus on God’s character. What else in my life could be fixed by more worship?

At that moment I remembered The Ten Thousand Hour Rule. This concept was popularized by writer Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers: The Story of Success. The idea is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery that is associated with being a world class expert – in anything. (Here’s a succinct overview of the concept.)

How many hours have I given to worship – focused, formal, with a body of believers praise of God and Christ – in my lifetime? I did some back of the envelope, English-major math: Twenty minutes per Sunday. I’ll give myself 45 Sundays of the year being in church. That’s 900 minutes a year, or 15 hours. I’ve been a Christian since I was ten, and I’m 43 as I write this. So… scribble, scribble… I’ve worshiped God for a total of 495 hours during my lifetime. I only have 9,505 hours to go before I’m a world-class expert at worshiping the eternal, loving God.

That’s disconcerting. Not because I’m falling short of some rule. God’s not an ATM that you punch with the right keystrokes to generate the desired result – he meets us and transforms us especially when we fall short. But I’m thinking about what I’m missing, because I need so much. How would my life be better if I were to actively combine these two concepts: Worshiping God and worshiping Him A LOT?

One indication of what might be missing involves David from the Old Testament. David and Goliath, King David, Star of David – that David. He was a skilled musician, wrote many psalms, and led his entire nation in formal worship. He also devoted great quantities of time to worshiping God. The entire 25th chapter of the Book of First Chronicles is an account of the music ministry division that David set up as official kingdom business. He didn’t just direct the program and appoint three brothers as leaders. The text says he directly supervised those three leaders (v. 6). Dude was in it to win it.

I want to be like David. It’s hard for me to set aside time for worship, mostly because it requires a lot of faith. When I’m worshiping I regularly think about other “more productive” things I could be doing. I know, I know, from a spiritual view worship is the most productive thing a Christian can do. But it’s still a struggle – even though it’s so very, very good.

I wish I had understood this when I was younger. If I had, I think I would be farther along in my quest for ten thousand hours of God-worship and the benefits that come with it.

I dig this clip. Marquis is on staff at Harambee Ministries.

My research during the past five years has convinced me that a modern-day parallel to the episode described in Acts 6:1-7 is being played out in barrios in Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia and San Antonio. With the rapid growth of the Hispanic evangelical church during the past three decades, problems have arisen. One of the most significant is that U.S.-born English-dominant Latinos are unintentionally being overlooked in the distribution of the church’s attention and resources. U.S.-born English-dominant Latinos, the modern-day Hellenists, are grumbling against foreign-born Spanish-dominant Latinos, the modern-day Hebrews. The complaint of the former is that many Spanish-dominant Latinos still equate “Hispanic ministry” with ministry conducted almost exclusively in Spanish. Under this assumption and historic paradigm, generations of U.S.-born English-dominant Latinos are subsequently “being overlooked in the daily distribution” of spiritual food.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to call together “the whole comunidad de discípulos” to become aware of and address the challenges facing the Hispanic evangelical church in the early twenty- first century. Instead, I have tried to listen carefully to Latino evangelical leaders from across the country in an effort to understand the nature of the challenges facing our communities and the churches that serve them. I have also had the privilege of meeting wise and prayerful modern- day “apostles” among foreign-born Spanish-dominant Latinos, men and women who have been appointed by God to distribute the Bread of Life to the growing number of native-born Latinos in the United States. In the process I have also become familiar with creative proposals to meet the challenges facing the diverse Hispanic communities in the United States. This book seeks to better inform the Hispanic church of one particular set of challenges and the proposals being advanced to meet them.

The book will be out this summer. It’s right on time. I’ve written an endorsement blurb for it. Check it out: A Future for the Latino Church: Models for Multilingual, Multigenerational Hispanic Congregations

Grand Rapids Press
A BLACK HISTORY LESSON IN SAVING
Friday, February 25, 2011
by Rodolpho Carrasco

Commentaries on black history tend to emphasize achievements by black Americans as well as the historical injustices blacks have endured for nearly 400 years. Often overlooked, however, are ways that black historical figures can instruct Americans of all ethnicities in mundane virtues.

As an example, take personal savings. The current state of the economy calls for every individual to increase one’s level of savings to survive retirement as well as meet current needs. Exemplifying the virtue of savings are two characters in black history who saved in notable ways.

First, the context. A recent Wall Street Journal article reports that the median household headed by a person aged 60 to 62 with a 401(k) account has less than one-quarter of what is needed in that account to maintain its standard of living in retirement.

Amplifying the Journal’s message, economist Megan McArdle points out that people “counting on 8-10 percent annual returns on their investment portfolios to salvage their retirements are headed for trouble.” She recommends to all her readers a target savings rate of 20 percent to 25 percent of income.

McArdle’s sober suggestion may seem fanciful. Increased savings will mean an adjustment of level of consumption that most Americans expect. In addition, many are preoccupied with merely staying afloat due to debt and underemployment.

But consider the examples of Free Frank McWhorter and Osceola McCarty.

Born a slave in 1777, McWhorter’s owner often hired him out to other settlers. Employers liked the arrangement because they paid the slave less than they would free laborers. According to a National Park Service account, the slave was sometimes allowed to keep some of these earnings. McWhorter had a plan for what he earned and saved: To buy freedom for himself and his family.

First he purchased his wife Lucy’s freedom in 1817, when he was 32. Two years later he purchased his own freedom. As a freed man, McWhorter used his savings to purchase property in Kentucky. He also produced saltpeter and later developed a farm in Illinois. He sold the saltpeter operation in 1829 to purchase the freedom of his son, Frank, Jr. In 1835, he bought his son Solomon, out of slavery.

By his death at age 67, McWhorter had purchased freedom for all four of his seven children born in slavery, his daughter-in-law, and two enslaved grandchildren. His descendants purchased the freedom of additional relatives after his death. All told, McWhorter’s earnings and savings bought the freedom of 16 slaves at a cost of $14,000, equal to hundreds of thousands of dollars today.

McCarty dropped out of school during sixth grade, never to return. Born in 1908, she made a living washing and ironing clothes in Mississippi. She lived quietly and frugally, never owning a car, and never marrying. In 1995, after 75 years as a laundrywoman, she contacted the University of Southern Mississippi to donate $150,000 to scholarships for needy students. That amount was 60 percent of her savings, meaning she had accumulated more than $250,000.

Officials at the bank where she saved recall that she was adamant about 60 percent going to the university. The scholarships were a way to help others. McCarty told writer Sharon Wertz, “I can’t do everything, but I can do something to help somebody. And what I can do I will do. I wish I could do more.”

Of the lessons we can draw from these two remarkable savers, two are timely.

First, the savings of a single person can impact more than just that person’s immediate family. Beyond the people he freed, McWhorter became the first black person to found a municipality in the United States, New Philadelphia, created to fulfill the vision of America as a land of liberty and justice for all. McCarty’s scholarship gift was matched by donors and provided scholarships for more students than she originally planned.

Second, any person in any circumstance can save large amounts. It’s hard to imagine tougher starting blocks than McWhorter’s. Buried in 1854, he died when slavery was still legal. And yet he saved and accumulated his entire life. His example could be used to put the average American to shame. But let’s use it instead as an encouragement to save more.

###

Long version: No matter how tight the budget is, a ministry will tend to find resources for the above mentioned activities. Most Christian ministries desire godly leaders who can teach and exemplify the ways of Christ. You tend to find people who are willing to volunteer this type of service, so it’s questionable whether filling this role alone will equate to a salaried position. Most ministries need grant writing accomplished. Either you have someone on the paid staff who does it or you contract with a consultant on an hourly basis. It’s rare that a volunteer grant writer will deliver the results that the ministry needs. So some resources – not sure how much, but some – will be expended on grant writing. Tech support is always needed. Many ministries rely on volunteers, but volunteer commitment is spotty at best. Computers and networks might be maintained so that basics like email and web surfing are reliable. But any computer-based work or reporting that is mission-critical requires dedicated and knowledgeable people. And when the system goes down at mid-day, and the volunteer cannot be reached, the ministry leader may opt to actually pay someone to fix the problem. Now – imagine rolling all three functions into one. A person who is a spiritual leader and effective with children, youth and adults; an effective grant writer; and an on-call tech support person who can accomplish your goals – that package is very attractive to a ministry that needs all those services and has demonstrated that they will occasionally pay for those services. Keeping the position to thirty hours a week may pose a challenge to the individual, since that is the threshhold for part-time work and therefore does not require the ministry to pay for health care, but for the ministry it’s another cost-managing reason to consider this type of position.

Think about it. In this day and age, in America, every urban ministry needs discipleship leaders, grant writers and tech support people. You would not be unwise to invest in developing yourself in all three areas. And be nice while you’re at it. Few want to work with grumps or high-maintenance folks. Word to the wise: People don’t remember what you said or did, they remember how they felt while you were saying it or doing it.

This shot was taken on Thursday. We were at the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative training for new cohorts (Los Angeles and New York were represented, among other cities in the 2010 group). That’s me in the center. Gabe Veas is on the left and Michael Mata on the right. Those two were part of the gathering. I had meetings that day in Holland, Michigan (this event was held at Hope College) so I thought I’d stop by and greet people. So the three of us were standing there, talking during a break, when it hit me. I wanted a photo. I wanted it because the three of us represent three generations of Hispanic Christian leadership in the U.S. Michael Mata was on the board of the John M. Perkins Foundation (located at the time at Harambee Ministries in Pasadena) when I met him in the fall of 1990. I was so glad to meet him. He was an established Hispanic Christian leader operating at a national level, and I simply didn’t know many like him. He was a second generation Latino/Tejano; English-dominant; out of Texas; had attended UC Berkeley; and was involved in multiethnic urban ministry. I was a second generation Latino/Chicano; English-dominant; from LA; had just graduated from Stanford; and had a heart for multiethnic urban ministry. John Perkins linked us. Michael has been instrumental at key points in my development. He officiated my wedding to the beautiful Kafi back in 1994 (on the hottest day of the year – 107 degrees and all we had was a swamp cooler in the church) alongside Derek Perkins (Michael and Derek did our wedding jointly). Michael connected me to the Christian Leaders Empowering for Reconciliation with Justice (CERJ) training that transformed how I engage and transform cross-cultural situations. These are just two of our connections. Then there’s Gabe. I don’t recall when exactly I met Gabe. It was about three years ago. He had just finished his Ph.D. at USC and yet was 100% focused on urban youth ministry. He went to Azusa Pacific University for undergrad, and I spent two years at Biola before transferring to Stanford; he went to Fuller Seminary for his M.Div. and I lived two blocks from there – ha!; plus we are both Mexican-Americans from the SGV (San Gabriel Valley). Gabe and I have connected in a number of ways, and I’m proud to say I’ve had at least a 1% influence on his life (Gabe has done some great things already at the age of 30, including pastor a house church and speak on a national scale). I think we met at an Urban Youth Workers Institute event where I was speaking in a breakout tent on Black-Brown Issues or somesuch. Gabe was on the Harambee board for a little while and also mentored one of our young indigenous leaders, Ventura, for two years (meeting once a week for over 100 weeks in a row).

I just dig this photo. It’s an example to me of a Scripture that says by following Christ we gain 100 times the “brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, fields…” These two brothers in the Lord are part of what the Lord has given me. I’m grateful for them.

Go. Shout it out. Rise up. Escape yourself. And gravity. Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak. Shush now. Force quit. Move to Trash.

Re-start and re-boot yourself. You’re free to go.

That’s my personal background in recommending this event to you:

Acton Institute’s 2010 Toward a Free and Virtuous City conference will take place September 23-25 in New York City. This conference is specific to leaders in urban ministry – pastors, non-profit leaders, urban ministry volunteers and community organizers working and serving in America’s inner cities. Event details are here: www.acton.org/cityfavs. Meals, lodging and conference costs are included in the $125 registration fee. I’ll be there as one of the faculty presenters.

At Acton we have this tagline that I love:

Connecting Good Intentions with Sound Economics

This conference may be thought of as:

Connecting Good Intentions with Sound Economics in Urban Ministry

Timothy Jokkene is irrefutable proof that even in the most inhospitable economic climate there is hope. That economic climate is northern Uganda, where anecdotal estimates place unemployment near 80 percent. Through a variety of business ventures, Timothy enables start-ups, creates jobs, provides cattle and plows for the impoverished, and cares for hundreds of orphans.

The road to becoming a financier to the poor, however, was far from easy.

Read the whole thing.

A note about My Business, My Mission: The book is now available in electronic format (eBook, ePub).

Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from them
Love them
Start with what they know
Build on what they have
But of the best leaders
When their work is done
The people will say
“We have done it ourselves.”

Ask yourself this question: If you or your urban ministry ceased to exist, would the people in the community – the people you purport to serve – say, “We have done it ourselves?”

My son, Samuel, and I will participate tomorrow in the Fifth Third River Bank Run here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We will do the 5k Walk as a tandem for a special cause: the Haiti Business Recovery Initiative. Our goal is to raise $1,000 that will go toward job creation as a response to earthquake recovery – and overall development – in Haiti.

This event has special significance for my family. At the age of 9, Sam is already a cancer survivor (see his story here: What Happened). He was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2004, when he was four years old. With the support of family and friends, Sam bravely endured three and a half years of chemotherapy. He has finished chemo and been declared a “survivor” (in cancer treatment, doctors no longer say a patient is “cured,” but rather say the patient has “survived.”) Sam is a fourth grader at The Potter’s House here in Grand Rapids. He loves soccer and basketball, and is loving life as any 9-year-old does.

Out of gratitude for the blessings Sam received during his treatment, our family is participating in the River Bank Run to give to others as we have received.

Join with me and Sam to bless the people of Haiti by supporting job creation through the Haiti Business Recovery Initiative. The team at Partners Worldwide developed this initiative as a long-term response to the January 12 earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince, left 200,000 dead, and the country devastated. The focus of the initiative is walking alongside businesses in Haiti as they re-start their operations. One job, on average, provides for five people. Immediately after the earthquake, relief and donations and temporary measures were needed. Over the long-term, the people of Haiti need what Americans need: Jobs that allow people to provided for their families and communities.

I’m not sure I understood the importance of jobs when I was 9. But Sam does. At our dinner table, when it’s his turn to pray, he often gives thanks for the food and then continues with thanks for our home (shelter) and Dad’s job (provision for our family).

My family and I are grateful to God for the gift of our son, Samuel. Our goal in participating in the the River Bank Run is to raise $1,000 for the Haiti Business Recovery Initiative. Please consider sponsoring us. Contributions in any amount are tax-deductible and will be appreciated. You may contribute online here (in the subject line type “Sam-Haiti Business Recovery”). Instructions on mailing a check are here.

Thanks!

Rudy & Sam

“Have you ever done anything to hurt poor people?” asks Dr. John Perkins in the foreword to the timely book When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor… and Yourself. Evangelical America is awash in books calling for greater engagement in ministry to the poor via direct help and social justice advocacy. Much of the material in these books is introductory, focusing on the theological case for holistic gospel engagement and then providing starting points for ministry. But not many approach the topic with a narrative thread that constantly returns to the core premise that not all help is helpful.

How can help not help? Here’s how: In the introduction, co-author Brian Fikkert tells of “helping” a suffering woman in Kampala, Uganda, by ponying up $8 so she could purchase penicillin. The penicillin was needed — long story short — to fight an infection she had developed after asking her neighbor (who complied) to treat her tonsillitis by cutting out her tonsils with a kitchen knife.

Fikkert felt great about it at the time, but the realization eventually dawned on him that his help had undermined the local believers with whom the woman related. The purpose of this book is to explain how his help (and similar efforts) didn’t — in the long run – help. But I’ll give you a little spoiler here. Fikkert writes that he “failed to consider that local assets that already existed in this slum, assets that included small amounts of money, a church, a pastor, and the social bonds of the 100 refugees attending the small-business class” that he had journeyed to Uganda to teach over a two-week period. “The truth is that there was more than enough time to walk back to the church… and ask people there to help. While the refugees were extremely poor, they could have mustered the eight cents per person to pay for the penicillin,” thus deepening a bond of relationship among people who would continue to live together long after he left the scene.

Applying long-term solutions in times of short-term crisis — that’s the challenge for believers who desire to be used effectively by God. From this starting point, Fikkert and co-author Steve Corbett provide background, theology, and practical experience that will help churches, small groups, and individuals to grasp concepts that appear basic but are difficult to implement in practice.

Their definition of poverty as broken relationships in four spheres (with God, self, others, and creation) will help readers assess the effectiveness of their own ministries and outreach efforts. Asset-based development, do’s and don’ts of short-term missions, and overviews of current practices in wealth generation and poverty alleviation are right on target.

The practical experience of the authors is bedrock to this approach. I’ve been in the poverty-fighting trenches for decades. Some things you understand only as you do them. This book will not replace experience. But inasmuch as concepts for effective poverty alleviation can be taught didactically, When Helping Hurts does the trick. In the words of Dr. Amy Sherman, “While accessible to beginners, [this book] is rich with insights for veterans, too.” I concur.

Nevertheless (famous last words), here’s what was on my mind when I woke up this morning:

Love Glenn Beck as you would love yourself.

That’s a take-off from Matthew 22:36-40. If you are a Christian, you are supposed to love people first. Not agree with them first. Or disagree with them first. Or speak truth to their power first. You are supposed to love them first. This is an equal opportunity, ahem, encouragement. On both the center-left and the center-right I hear ugly caricatures of the opposition-du-jour. So a question to the wise: “What does it mean to love Glenn Beck as you would love yourself?”

As for Beck himself, he seems to have really stepped in it this time (did he mean to? that’s always the question with show hosts), because it isn’t just so-called left wingers who affirm social justice efforts in churches. As an example, The Heritage Foundation created and just released a DVD series for use in churches entitled – wait for it – “Seek Social Justice.” (Disclosure: Yours truly appears in the video and study guide.)

By the way, here’s some bonus sermon illustration material. You can substitute all sorts of people, and groups of people, for “Glenn Beck” or “your neighbor.” To wit:

Love illegal immigrants as you would love yourself.

Love oil industry executives as you would love yourself.

Love President Barack Obama as you would love yourself.

Love President George W. Bush as you would love yourself.

John Cowperthwaite: “… in the long run the aggregate of decisions of individual businessmen, exercising individual judgment in a free economy, even if it is often mistaken, is less likely to do harm than the centralized decisions of a government; and certainly the harm is likely to be counteracted faster.”

The wikipedia entry on Cowperthwaite says, “his free market economic policies are widely credited with turning postwar Hong Kong into a thriving global financial centre.”

Aggressive young orphaned elephants are reported to have killed 36 rhinos, including rare black ones, in a game park in eastern South Africa.

According to conservationists, the young elephants have been provoking confrontations with the rhinos since they were introduced to Hluhluwe-Umofolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal.

The elephants were orphaned when their parents were culled in the early 1990s in an effort to control the elephant population in Kruger National Park.

As they have matured, so they have become more aggressive….

Conservation vet Dave Cooper said: “There was a spate of killings, and it was as if they were purposeful. The rhinos were ripped to pieces.”

He said that elephant and rhino routinely clash in nature “but this sort of behaviour, when elephant actively go out and chase rhino, is totally abnormal”.

Fellow conservationist Tony Conway said similarly aggressive behaviour had also been seen in Pilanesberg National Park in Northwest Province – another home for the Kruger Park orphaned elephants.

However, the killings at Pilanesberg stopped when six adult elephant bulls were introduced to the park. The young ones’ behaviour patterns returned to normal under their influence.

Officials at Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park have asked Kruger Park to send it 10 adult bulls in the hope that their presence will have the same effect on the young elephants there.

How much of a parallel is it safe to draw between the animal kingdom and the human realm? What does this say about the crisis of fatherless boys in American society?

…round the way…

Who writes Linux? Big business.

Andrew Rugasira made some waves at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. Rugasira is right.

Next book on my list: Social Entrepreneurship by Arthur Brooks.