I finally saw Blood Diamond last saturday. Still reeling from it. Trying to digest everything and think coherently about it.
I am kind of disturbed that all of this has become a little trendy...a little Hollywood. Not that creating a movie or a song or whatever form of media is wrong. It's not that you can't have celebrity's endorsing a cause but it saddens me that this is what makes us take action. It's like the human heart has got a serious malfunction. Our consciences are messed up so bad that just knowing about it is not good enough. Some celebrity's gotta say "We need to take a stand on this." then we all go running. What happens when it's not trendy anymore?

Check out the Africa shoes!!! They are dangerous(in a good way). I want to get some but they are a little expensive but at least the money goes to World Vision. Africa represent!!!

Lately Somalia has been associated with war and we hardly ever hear of the poetry. The focus on saying just the right words, where everyday speech almost become a verse reminds me of hip hop. Read more about it here

" Facility with language is highly valued in Somali society; the capability of a suitor, a warrior, or a political or religious leader is judged in part by his verbal adroitness. In such a society, oral poetry becomes an art, and one's ability to compose verse in one or more of its several forms enhances one's status. Speakers in political or religious assemblies and litigants in courts traditionally were expected to use poetry or poetic proverbs. Even everyday talk tended to have a terse, vivid, poetic style, characterized by carefully chosen words, condensed meaning, and alliteration."

It's similar to the contrast of the urban inner city. Most of the time you only here about the killing and the poverty. You rarely contemplate on the art and the poetry.

It is funny how even our good actions have negative consequences. America's stance against the situation in Darfur is costing Ethiopia some major petroleum. This doesn't just affect the primary countries involved: it turns the world upside down! Check this story out from AllAfrica.com

As the West is putting heavy pressure on the government of Sudan, in protest to the violence in Darfur, a small transaction of 2.5 million dollars between Ethiopian and Sudanese companies has been kept on hold since November 2006, due to sanctions by the United States' Treasury Department against Sudanese Petroleum Corporation (SPC).
More here

Think Context

Africa is one continent. A continent that consists of 61 territories. A continent that consists of well over 2,000 languages and a variety of cultures. There are christians as well as muslims. Atheists and Jews. It is urban as well as rural. There are nomads as well as farmers. Some people were colonized by France. Others by England. Still others by the Portuguese. Ethiopia hasn't been colonized at all. Some countries have a big AIDS problem. Some are very westernized. Some do not want anything to do with Western culture.

Now with that being said "Why go in attempting to do ministry with one method?"

Different contexts require a different approach. For years I've heard people say to me when I came back from Ethiopia "How was Africa?" With a dazed look on my face I reply "I just went to Ethiopia" Inside I'm thinking "I don't know. How was North America?" It's easy to look at a news event, a movie, or read an article in the encyclopedia and make assumptions. It's much harder to clean our slates and ask the right questions and think context.

The Ministry of Jesus is humbling and encouraging.

This is one of the most truest statements in history. It is very humbling to think that we have been swept up into what Jesus has been doing in Ethiopia. It is also very humbling to think that we are doing is just a drop in the bucket. There are so many issues that need to be tackled. There are so many lives that are ravaged by drought, by AIDS, by war, by poverty and injustice. What can we do in our human ability? Nothing. At the same time it is encouraging to know that Jesus has been working in this country before we could even pronounce the name of it. Ethiopia is one of the oldest places where Christianity in some form has been embraced. The people are ripe and ready to hear the gospel of Christ.

I think about the time we were there to do a concert in the Merkato (the largest open air market in africa) and preach the gospel to the community. We had been forbidden to do so because it would have not gone well for the ngo we were partnering with. My first gut reaction was to go ahead and preach the gospel and deal with the ramifications later. I wanted to show that we weren't ashamed-if we had to be martyrs-so be it. After about an hour of heated discussion... we chose not to preach. We did not want to destroy the work that was going on for so many orphans and streetkids. It would not have been a good thing for the organization or the gospel. It was very humbling but it was what needed to be done. It was also encouraging to know that our very presence there emboldened the christians who worked with the organization to share their faith. We hadn't done anything great but at the end of the trip about sixty kids made a decision to follow Christ. No there wasn't any glory clouds or fire from heaven but some kids and some teachers experienced God's love for them. Very humbling. Very encouraging.

Here are five points that Peter Twycross the overseer of the AVC Eastern and Central Africa talked about at the Vineyard African Alliance Conference in Cape Coral, Florida:

1. The Ministry of Jesus is humbling and encouraging

2. Think Context

3. We can play or we can fight

4. Seek to be incarnational

5. Think icebergs

Since our church's work and my experience of Africa have been in Ethiopia I will go over what these mean for Ethiopia as time goes on. Stay tuned!

Here are five points that Peter Twycross the overseer of the AVC Eastern and Central Africa talked about at the Vineyard African Alliance Conference in Cape Coral, Florida:

1. The Ministry of Jesus is humbling and encouraging

2. Think Context

3. We can play or we can fight

4. Seek to be incarnational

5. Think icebergs

Since our church's work and my experience of Africa have been in Ethiopia I will go over what these mean for Ethiopia as time goes on. Stay tuned!

In the Bible Jesus says the "poor you will always have with you" (John 12:1-8) How do we reconcile that with our campaigns to eradicate poverty? Particularly the One Campaign? Is it humanistic pride and arrogance to say that we are out to eradicate poverty when Jesus says you will always have the poor?

Amandla! means power in Amazulu. It is also the name of a movie about the role of song in the South African resistance to apartheid. It is a great movie filled with great music. My favorite is the one about "the train" from Hugh Masekela. If you haven't seen it you should check it out