Naivete at The Mission

When I went to work at Union Mission back in January, everyone sort of chuckled at my inexperience in Mission work (some might call it naivete...and they would be right.)


Their source of merriment was my contention that I was excited for the fall, when pretty much every day is critical to the success of our food giveaways, coat giveaways, benefit concerts, holiday mailings, etc. A lot of that stuff is generated from the development and marketing department where I work. My attitude was "bring it on."


"Be careful what you pray for," the saying goes. No kidding. The pace is picking up here at The Mission, and that means a lot of work ahead.


But you know what? It also means a lot of opportunity. And for that, I'm excited.


Here's a rundown of things coming up this weekend:


Saturday: Coat Giveaway
This has become our first big event at The Mission each year. We collect coats starting in August, then sort them, hang them and give them away to our guests. Our guys at Union Mission Crossroads and the Union Mission Foundations program, along with the women and children at Brookside Family Life Center get first crack, then we invite our guests from Union Mission Family Services to get what they and their children need to stay warm this winter.


Saturday: Blessed Sacrament's annual Cardboard City
A special shout-out to Michelle Patterson, who works with the youth at Blessed Sacrament in South Charleston. She invited us back in the summer to participate in their event, which helps educate their young people about extreme poverty and homelessness. I'll be speaking at the event and participating in a Q&A afterward.


Sunday: Brown paper bag inserts
Do you get the Sunday Gazette-Mail? If so, keep an eye out for brown paper bags with our signature wefeedpeople.com logo; inside, you'll find some information about our Thanksgiving dinner and how you can help.


Sunday: Jeremy Camp's "Speaking Louder Than Before"
Christian recording artist Jeremy Camp is in town, along with Natalie Grant and Bebo Norman, to put on a concert at the Municipal Auditorium. Tickets are going fast, so get 'em now! Oh, and make sure you bring a canned good with you...we'll have a collection site just outside the entrance as well as a booth set up inside to share The Mission with you. We've also been invited to come onstage and tell the audience a little about what we do here at Union Mission.


Sunday: Bethany Baptist Church's Missions Conference
Bethany Baptist has been a wonderful partner to Union Mission over the years, and we're excited to participate in their upcoming Missions Conference. Union Mission President and CEO, Rex Whiteman, is the keynote speaker for their Sunday festitivies.


(I'll say this much: I'm no longer naive at how busy Mission work can be.)

Evangelical Attitudes Survey

I posted one of these polls back in May, and I was so pleased with the response and the fact that it fostered dialogue I'm planning to do it at least twice a month, maybe even weekly. Thursday needs a theme, after all. I have (in theory, at least) themes for most days--Multi-media Mondays, Wednesday Link Day, News of the Week (on Sundays). Polls on Thursdays? Needs a catchier name...


So, fill out the survey below. The first three are "serious" questions, the final one just for fun. Please bear in mind: just as important as taking the survey is sharing your thoughts on the questions. Don't let your opinions float around in the ether. Nature abhors a vaccum almost as much as Web 2.0 does. So, let's get some back-and-forth going.

Multi-Media Monday (on a Tuesday)

Hey folks. I appreciate your patience over these past two weeks. If you're a regular visitor, you might be a little confused. Heck, I am, and I'm the guy behind the curtain.

To recap, when Blogger upgraded its blog service and added some new bells a whistles about a year ago, people with "classic" templates didn't have to switch over to the new system. So, I decided to stick with what I already knew. I'd taught myself some rudimentary HTML with my template, and I could make whatever style changes I wanted with minimal effort. Problem was, when Blogger switched things over, it messed with the comment moderation feature. Long story short, my classic template couldn't accept comments which is, of course, a cardinal sin in the social web. I mean, that's the whole point, right? To foster conversation? Sure it is, and I would sumbit that it's even more important on this site, the purpose of which is to tell people about Jesus. And to tell people about Jesus, I must be willing to engage readers in a conversation about Jesus.

So I bit the bullet and switched over to Blogger's new system. I can receive comments now, which is great, but I can't stick with a design. Each one I've tried just doesn't look good to me, or has some flaws that render it useless for my purposes.

Bear with me, will you? I'll probably be tinkering with the site for the next week or so until I get something I'm at least moderately happy with. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on various designs. Heck, if you run across a blog that you like, share it with me. I'm certainly not above jail-breaking someone else's design--provided it's under Creative Commons, of course.

Long intro, I know. But if you've read this site for any length of time, you'll know I was raised in an old country church, because I blog longer than a Southern Baptist preacher preaches.


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So, what do you think? How have we, as The Church, failed in delivering social justice? How important is social justice anyway? Do you, personally, do enough? What more can you do? I'd love to have your input as I'm preparing a post on this very topic, which I hope will convict us all--and myself, especially--to take Jesus seriously when it comes to serving the poor.

Union Mission

I had a great chance to stop by and tour Union Mission of West Virginia's campus near Kanawha City Friday. While it was a great blessing to do so, they're a little low on food right now. Prices are high, donations are down...but people still need help.

Visit Union Mission's Web site to find out how you can help.

I welcome all comments. Feel free to comment on-page, or e-mail feedback to CandidChristian@gmail.com.