I am a Christian and I am dedicated to Christ’s charge that is found in what is commonly referred to as The Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). I am to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the people in my neighborhood, community, and those that I come in contact with daily. However, the charge doesn’t end there…Christ’s words include “all nations.” That’s a bit more inclusive than Hawk’s Nest Development, Coeur d’Alene, ID and North Idaho. So, how do I accomplish such a great task? Well, there are several ways. One obvious way is to physically GO  and engage in ministry to folks in need. Another way is to support ministries and organizations that are involved in work throughout the world. There are many, many great organizations out there making a positive impact for the Kingdom of God.

One such organization that I have the privilege of working with that is loaded with great potential impact for the cause of Christ is Purposeful Africa. This organization is taking a unique approach to introducing people to missions and humanitarian efforts taking place in West Africa. I am excited about the way God is knitting this work together. I’m honored and grateful to be a part of the team working on this project. Below is a little bit more about Purposeful Africa. Please feel free to visit Purposeful Africa’s website, subscribe to the blog, follow us on twitter or Facebook. Please pray for us as this journey continues to be defined and developed.

About Purposeful Africa
We’re a global community passionate about proclaiming the Word of God to distant coastlands (Jer. 31:10). We seek to facilitate and connect wealth with poverty, travel with hope, and compassion with despair. We are starting with a journey to 7 countries in Sub Saharan Africa by ship. We hope and pray that the people who are moved to join us will help break poverty’s hold. But we’re not stopping there: Lord willing we will move forward to engage, inspire, and release compassion all over the nations of the earth.

Purposeful Africa is a catalyst for people to do something about the plight of poverty. We desire to connect the world of much with the world of little to create change and offer hope through Jesus Christ. Both the giver and receiver of compassion will be changed.

“Don’t fail to do something just because you can’t do everything.” -Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision

What are you doing to positively impact your community or the world around you? I encourage you to find a way to give back…

The following link is to the Purposeful Africa blog. I encourage you to go there and read it. Hopefully it will stir your heart to find a way to get involved in helping those who are less fortunate in our world.

I read this article today written by Chuck Colson and found it very appropriate for the state of our nation today. Mr. Colson certainly writes from experience and is passionate about his beliefs. I appreciate the way he has seized the opportunity to share the love of Christ and the hope he has in Him. When you have a chance, please take a moment to read the article. Thanks!

I love gift cards. I love receiving them. My theory is that a gift card is always a welcomed gift. It’s much better than getting stuff that I don’t need or, to be honest, don’t really want. While that may sound somewhat cocky, it’s true. I don’t need another flannel shirt or a paperclip, coin, and ultimately dustbunny collecting item to put on my desk. So, I am an embracer (hey, I’m making up my own words now) of gift cards.

What is amazing about those silly little plastic things though is that, after a little time, you forget about them. Sure, you use the card shortly after receiving it to purchase something useful or indulgent. But then, you’ve got a card that only has some odd little amount left on it. I have one card that has $1.18 on it for Lowe’s. That won’t buy much. So, what happens to that card? It sits there.

It’s estimated that 10% of the $45 billion gift card industry goes unused each year. That’s $4.5 billion! Let me see here, wait a second…yep, that’s a tad bit more than my annual income, haha.

Well now there’s good news for all of those neglected, unused gift cards! GiftCardGiver.com is a team of people that exists to help you and thousands of other people gather millions of gift cards and give them to people that can truly benefit from them.

As described at www.giftcardgiver.com, “five bucks in a gift card will buy you a pair of socks…but 10 people giving 5 bucks will buy a kid a winter coat or 100 giving $5 from Home Depot will give that same kid a warm bedroom to sleep through the night.” The possibilities of how this can positively impact people’s lives seem to be endless here…

Please go to GiftCardGiver.com and learn more about how their system works! Thanks!