Social Media & Influx
(Don't see the video above, go here to view it on YouTube.com)
Social Media:
We’ve all heard it said that information is power. We’ve just recently seen that played out in the multiple uprisings in North Africa. We’ve seen where the power of information, communicated via social networking websites and mobile phone technologies, empowered the people so much so that the governments felt the need to turn off the conduits of information – the Internet and mobile phones networks – to put a stop to it. We can see first hand how the Internet and technology has the ability to move the power from the traditional heads now to the common people.
This isn’t a new concept – the Printing Press. Before the printing press, information was kept to the elite few who knew how to read and had access to the parchments/scrolls. When the printing press came about, information contained only in one or two places was replicated and sent out to a multitude of locations. The printing press enabled more and more people to learn how to read and write so not only were more and more people gaining access to information but they could actually use it.
Now today we’re seeing the Internet as the new version of the printing press. The “common” people are now able to communicate with people outside their normal spheres and learn about new ideas and concepts. They are then able to use the various technologies within the Internet to be able to examine and think through these concepts with those in their everyday lives and determine for themselves how they want to act on them. Movements that are changing their whole paradigms are happening as the power (information) is now shifting to the people. Think what could happen if the Gospel were introduced to them in this way? What movements could happen then?
Influx:
Here in Greater Europe Mission, we’ve been preparing and we continue to prepare (at a faster rate now) for the influx of refugees that will be coming from North Africa into Europe. Some estimates say that 3/4 of a million people will arrive in Europe from Libya alone. Millions more from other area of North Africa and the Middle East as they seek places of peace and stability for their families.
This is a huge opportunity for relationships to be built and for the Gospel to be LIVED out (notice not preached or told but LIVED). These immigrants and refugees will need help both physically and socially as they move into the European cultures. In the above video of GEM’s president, Henry Deneen, he talks about the preparations we’ve been making and continue to do to be ready to meet the needs that are now coming upon us. To read more and maybe even see how you can be a part of this – check out the North Africa Crisis Response.
Internet Cafe fighting Alcoholism?
The WHO released a report this last week that shows how much alcohol the world drinks. As one interpretation of the report said, “Europeans drink a lot of booze, and the Arab-Islamic world does not.” Also, according to the report, Moldovans drink the most with over 18 liters person per year with a majority of that being “home brews” which is scary since many of these brews can be damaging to people’s health. It’s estimated that this leads to 2.5 million deaths per year world wide. It’s estimated that 1 in 5 male deaths in Russia and the former satellite states is caused by alcohol.
With eDOT, I got the privilege of spending some time in Moldova, the small country nestled between Ukraine and Romania. Moldova, a former Soviet state, is the poorest country in Europe with 4.3 million people. We worked on a project to increase the abilities of a small internet cafe in a village called Antoneşti. (You can check out more at their website – Communitas.md)
So how does an Internet Cafe fight alcoholism? Well, I have to say, it wasn’t something that we were intentional about. To improve this internet cafe, we purchased more computers and then I went to help install some Internet Cafe software along with Internet filtering and some other things to raise the bar of how the Internet cafe was being run. Before I showed up, the Internet Cafe worked by the process of when a person came in to use a computer, the Cafe operator would mark on a piece of paper what time the person began using the computer and when they were done. Then they would go to the operator who then figured out how much time they used and would charge them for the time at a hourly rate. It’s called a post-pay method and is fairly standard in Eastern Europe. With the Internet Cafe software we installed, it made it so that people would have accounts and the system would handle monitoring how much time people spent on the computers and would automatically deduct it from their accounts. This is called a pre-pay method and is used in the Western world a lot as a way to increase business and customer retention. It was this pre-pay that changed how people were spending their money in the community.
So up until this point, people would receive their paychecks and spend it on what they want/needed at the time – food, clothes, alcohol, etc. There are no banks and with inflation like it is, you don’t just save money for later – you spend it. However, the people of this village would end up needing to go to the Internet Cafe so that they could create things for their businesses, check on weather reports and crop prices, etc but would find themselves without the money to do so. Now with the pre-pay system, people started thinking ahead with their paychecks. They knew that they would need to visit the Internet cafe later but that they had the money now so they would go in and put money on their accounts. Some even started putting extra money in their accounts that they knew they would need as cash later but storing their money at the Internet Cafe was safer (due to the security and safe the Internet Cafe had) than keeping it in their homes. One of the directors of Communitas announced to me that he felt like the banker for the community.
So how does this relate to lower alcoholism? Well, because people were starting to plan out what their paychecks would pay for and had a way to save for it safely, they slowed their impulse buying of liquors (and materials to make “home brews”) effectively reducing their alcohol consumption according to Igor, executive director of Communitas. While we haven’t done a study or anything to determine how much reduction has happened, any dent to getting people to move from a dependence on alcohol and to seeing their need for a relationship with God is a positive.
Being one in a million
For those of us with a western mind set, individualism is a huge value. Star Trek (and many other social inputs) pushed into our minds that “the good of one, outweighed the good of the many” even though it’s not the logical viewpoint. We thrive on being individuals who have unique talents, traits, personalities or even just our hair that are different from everyone else. When I was in high school, I would wear a tuxedo shirt, bow tie and tails jacket along with pants and my black Chuck Taylors (no socks mind you) to church. Why? To be an individual – I wanted to be set apart from everyone else in a very visible way (I also wanted to see where my parent’s boundaries were). We all want that feeling of being special.
Then there are times that we just want to be a part of the crowd. We just want to fit in and not be different. We don’t want any of the things that come with being unique. Now is one of those times for me. As I was in the pre-op meetings this last week and the doctors told me (as they have to do) the various chances for different side-effects and possible outcomes of my impending surgery, they were using terms of “1 in 5000″ and “1 in a million” along with vomiting, red marks, loss of feeling, paralysis, etc. Now is not the time for me to find out I’m unique in one of these ways.
This last week, we watched as a crowd moved past the confines of an individual. No matter what you think of what happened in Egypt, we watched a historic event as individuals sacrificed time, income, and, for some, their lives to be a part of a crowd that has sparked the beginning of something different for their country & their area of the world. This will affect us all in some way or another. It was the crowd that made the change happen but the crowd is made up of unique individuals each doing their part.
God made us unique. We are each a very special individual but God also put us together to be a part of something more. We are drawn to being a part of crowds (yes, even us introverts). We want to be something more than what we can do on our own. But what is it that God has designed us to be a part of given our uniquenesses? What has God designed you with all your specialness to be a part of that is greater than yourself?
This is not rhetorical – please let us know!
What is love?
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4-8 year olds, “What does love mean?” The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore so my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Rebecca – age 8.
“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy – age 4
“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl – age 5
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy – age 6
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Terri – age 4
“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is okay.” Danny – age 7
“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.” Emily – age 8
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby – age 7
“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.” Nikka – age 6
“There are two kinds of love, Our love. God’s love. But God makes both kinds of them.” Jenny – age 8
“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.” Noelle – age 7
“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy – age 6
“During my piano recital I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.” Cindy – age 8
“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.” Clare – age 6
“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” Elaine – age 5
“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.” Chris – age 7
“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” Lauren – age 5
“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” Karen – age 7
“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica – age
today’sTHOT============================
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
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