This Must Change

28 posted on August 28, 2009

POSTED IN: Blog Posts, Social Justice

My friend and fellow church-planter, Jason Salamun, recently launched a new web site called ThisMustChange.org based on a recent message he gave at his church.

After preaching on Matthew 25:35-40 and sharing how our simple acts of service and sacrifice for others is just like serving Jesus himself. As Jason further reflected on that passage, he thought, “There’s gotta be more I can do.” He also realized he needed to lose some weight.

And so the idea was born to link his weight loss to a challenge to raise dollar for pound for six life-changing causes: LOVE146.org, Blood:Water Mission, Soles4Souls, Action Against Hunger, a local United Way shelter, and Doctors Without Borders.

I love out-of-the-box ideas like this that rally people behind a simple challenge to make a profound difference. When millions go to bed hungry every night and over 3.5 million die from water-related diseases every year, like Jason, I agree that this must change.

Please consider donating dollar for pound in Jason’s challenge or start one of your own. Ask God to open your eyes to everyday opportunities that are all around you every day.

You can be that person that Jesus is talking to when he said, “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

What cause or social justice need weighs heaviest on your heart right now? What are you doing about it? How can we help?

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 8:44 am and is filed under Blog Posts, Social Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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August 28, 2009

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1 Greg Simmons said:

I’ve been reading Jason’s blog and following his work with Project Church for a while now – even though I live in SC.

I saw his project thismustchange.org and took him up on the challenge to join him in it – http://gsimmonssc.blogspot.com/2009/08/less-of-me-and-thismustchangeorg.html Although I started a week behind, I’m excited about what God will teach me through this process.

This past Wednesday, I was able to talk with our Youth at church about action versus words. In that, perhaps people don’t want to have anything to do with God b/c of us. They see our “political” talk (lots of promises and little delivery) and write us off as hypocrites. The challenge to them was to pick a project for the fall or sponsor my efforts with thismustchange.org and let their actions do the talking.

Several are trying to decide what they want to do. One came up to me afterwards and said, “I’ll donate 3 lbs of food to one of the local missions for each lb you lose.”

The humbling part? There’s the psychological impact. I began to think: Who won’t have shoes b/c I didn’t lose a few more pounds? Who won’t escape slavery or an abusive relationship b/c I didn’t commit to losing the weight? Who will have to drink dirty, polluted water for another day b/c I drank a sugary soft drink?

This project really is about “less of me”.
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August 29, 2009

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2 Brunettekoala said:

that’s an easy question.

Pregnancy crisis and pregnancy loss.

I think most of us would be hard pushed to find someone who doesn’t know anyone who has experienced the shock and anxiety of unplanned pregnancy or experienced pregnancy loss through abortion, miscarriage or still birth.

I work for an organisation that helps support people by listening, allowing them to explore all their options and standing by them by loving them and their families….even if the choices they have made aren’t ones we necessarily think are ‘right’.

Because didn’t Jesus show compassion and love to those who had done ‘wrong’ in the eyes of God?

The other thing is seeing better sexual health and relationships education talked of, lived out in church and in the world. And seeing women healed and restored from abuse – whether that be sexual abuse, poor maternity care, rape, violence….

I work for a pregnancy crisis centre in Scotland (have done since I was 22) Check out http://www.careconfidential.com and my heart is very much in charities showing Jesus love in action in these areas of need across the world (particularly in Africa).