Serving Bread

What a busy week in the world! We started the week with Paris in jail and end the week with her out of jail. We started the week with an immigration bill that everyone hated but seemed the “best” of how congress does compromise and we end the week with another failure for President Bush’s domestic policy agenda.

I was taken aback by Time Magazine’s article this past week titled, “How The World Eats.” They compared the expenditures of several families across the globe. For example, the Melanders in Germany spend $500.07 a week on food. That’s a stark contrast to the Aboubakars of Chad who spend $1.23. The article also displayed pictures of each family with its weekly food allotment in front of them. It makes you think about the access we have to food in the west and how it’s not the norm around the world. (Actually, millions of Americans continue to go hungry and those on food stamps live on only $21 a week)

Another article that struck me as interesting and perhaps relevant to church outreach was found in Fast Company. It’s not the most ministry related magazine, but authors Chip and Dan Heath wrote a column off their book, Made to Stick: Why some ideas survive and others die. They try to figure out how a business or product sparks conversations. They seem to think that a product needs to promote chatter and buzz. This got me thinking on how to think about our ministry outreach in terms of promoting buzz. Stay tuned for my ideas.

In the blogosphere, one of the things that is worth noting is the candidacy of Ron Paul for the Repulican nomination for president. Most people are probably thinking, “Ron who???” That’s right.  The guy is a virtual unknown for those who get their news and information from traditional media outlets, but believe it or not, Ron Paul is the most (or in the top 3) searched item on Technorati (that’s right, more than Paris Hilton). And it’s not a recent thing, he’s been there for a couple months. His campaign managers are doing something right.

I also stumbled upon Tim Schmoyer’s blog, Life in Student Ministry. I don’t remember how I found him, but I was impressed by the design and resources he provides on his blog. It’s always nice to be inspired.