I know, I know, I’ve been super duper negligent on blogging here at Trying to Follow. I’ve been meaning to change that. I have however been tackling some more productive projects, online and off. You’ve obviously heard about Clean Water for Elirose from some of my previous posts this year. If you haven’t, it’s a children’s picture book I wrote last year about the lack of clean drinking water in the developing world. It’s been a fun and very successful project and I’d like your help in this last end of the year push to get the word out about the book. Here are some specific things you can promote about the book right now:

• A book-a-day giveaway! Follow us, retweet us, blog about Elirose and you could win a copy of the book Free. Details here.
• Pay What You Can pricing. I want everyone to get a book that wants one so you can order them for whatever you can afford, starting at $3 and Free Shipping
• Change the World 12-pack. Buy 12 books for $20 and use them as your tool to change the world, sell them (and donate the proceeds), donate them, gift them.

I just launched an exciting campaign to raise funds to do a large print run of Clean Water for Elirose and I NEED your help. Go here right now and pledge some cash or if you need more details keep reading.
So, about 7 months ago, I wrote and published a book called Clean Water for Elirose, a children’s picture book that helps kids see in a tangible way the plight other children face across the globe with a lack of access to clean drinking water. Since then I’ve sold many copies, including a presentation to an elementary school! It’s been a fun project, but I’d like to take it to the next level. It currently cost $3.65 to print a copy of Clean Water for Elirose (not including shipping costs), but I’d really like to get that price to around $1 for two obvious reasons:

1. It’ll be more affordable for classroom teachers and other groups to purchase at cost.
2. More dollars can go toward funding clean water wells and less to printing books.

To reach my goal I’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign, an all-or-nothing fundraising effort to raise $3500 to do a large print run. If I reach my goal I’ll be able to order 2500+ copies at around $1 each and will be able to distribute a lot of those as rewards to those who have backed the project. All the funds raised through Kickstarter will go toward printing books, but every penny of profit afterwards will go to funding clean water wells.
And here’s the cool thing about giving to this project: Every $1 you give allows 100% of book sales to go toward clean water projects. By giving $1 your covering the cost of printing a book. So one someone orders a copy for $15, all of their money can go to funding clean water projects. It’s like multiplying your gift 1500% or more! And at the same time, this educational and awareness-raising story will end up in the hands of a young kid who just might become a world changer themselves.
Even if you’ve bought a copy of the book, please consider going over to the Kickstarter page and making a small contribution. Every little bit helps and if you do it today you’ll help build momentum to carry the project through to the goal. Additionally, I would LOVE it if you’d share the link with your friends and family, post it on Facebook, your blog, twitter, everywhere. If you haven’t clicked over already let me also say there are some very adorable kids in the featured video you just have to see.

Occasionally, via some easy-to-throw-out-a-politically-charged-topic channel like Facebook, a discussion will come up amongst otherwise thoughtful friends that will digress into meaningless banter arguing political talking points and no real engagement on the issues. It seems like such a missed opportunity, especially since a slower (as opposed to in-person debate) online discussion provides the perfect format to actually share legit facts from legit sources with each other and try and come to meaningful conclusions that effectively show both parties where we have misperceptions and where we get it right.

Now, if you think I’m about to bring you some brilliant solution to this conundrum above, I hate to burst your bubble, I don’t have a great answer. It only sparked my interest again recently as a situation like the one above happened recently on Facebook and made me realize that I have the opportunity to engage in some of this dialog over a longer period of time that I hope would be effective in opening my mind as well as others.

Why is this sort of dialog so rare in the church? We are so willing to get together on a weekly basis for hours long Bible studies, often repeating lessons we’ve heard before several times over. Why isn’t thoughtful factual discussion of the societal landscape and our misperceptions more often a part of our dialog? As just one example, how we perceive the poor vastly affects how we tend to engage them. Though Jesus put no qualifiers on what kind of “Least of these” we should help, we have a tendency to. A discussion of Why are the Poor Poor? Is definitely in order and it will bring up all the tough subjects like race and oppression, critical looks at capitalism and perceived democracy. Is there a way for Christians to come together from opposite ends of the political spectrum and have constructive dialogs on these topics? I’d like to be a part of that conversation if it’s possible.

Last Friday, I had the good pleasure of talking to 400 elementary school students about the topic of water and the fact that 1.1 billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water. I came as a ‘guest author’ and read from my book Clean Water for Elirose as well as used several hands-on activities to try and make the subject matter concrete to the youth. I’ve never spoken to a group of elementary school kids that large, so it was a fun experience and a great opportunity.

Many of the kids went home with a copy of my book. With all the profit from book sales going to clean water projects, the event raised over $600 for clean water wells. It also, hopefully, instilled a knowledgeable and giving spirit in many of the youth that will have an impact on them and their families.

I might have a few more opportunities to speak to groups about the topic and the book, but what I’d like to focus on now is giving churches and other groups the opportunity to use the book as a fundraising tool for missions work related to well building. Hopefully, I’ll have some exciting stories to report back in a few months.

Clean Water for Elirose website

Despite my critiques of professional sports, I did watch a bit of the Super Bowl yesterday. And, despite being a born and raised Wisconsinite, I was more cheering for the Steelers, specifically Roethlisberger, to lose than I was for the Packers to win. But, the best part for me was one song during the halftime show that my daughter and I dubbed the “Dance Party.” Black Eyed Peas song, “Where is the Love” is a sermon and call to action, not just a good dance beat. Tucked between overspent commercials and overpaid athletes at least a good chunk of the some hundred million plus viewers heard:

People killin’, people dyin’
Children hurt and you hear them cryin’
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send us some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
Where is the love

And mixed in the lyrics are critiques of war, the media, gangs and selfishness.  I guess I just felt like sharing this cause I wanted to dream for a minute what it might have looked like if for a moment we stopped our overeating, rampant consumerism and mindless viewership and actually asked the question “Where is the Love?” And then we all stepped out our doors and actually answered the question through our actions.

Occasionally, when I share with someone about something I’m passionate about, like Fair-Trade chocolate, I’m met with a response that can be bluntly summarized as “That’s nice that you care about that issue, I care about this issue,” as if these were hobbies like crocheting or racquetball. Unfortunately, I feel like that’s probably closer to the truth, that they are merely self-gratifying hobbies, for many and not necessarily an attempt or commitment to pursue lasting change. Disclaimer: I do not mean this as a judgment on anyone, you be the judge of your own motivations. This is as much for me as it is for anyone else.

We live in a very individualistic society where it is almost taboo to actually make an authoritative statement to another person about an issue (“You shouldn’t eat Hershey’s chocolate”). We might talk about our personal decisions, but we rarely demand the same of others. Thus, even those who want to be more evangelistic about their cause (whether it’s fair-trade chocolate or organic produce) find it difficult to do. It’s also difficult because any diversion from the status quo is often met with blind defensiveness and resistance. Rejection is tough.

The result we end up with are ‘pet’ causes. I care about the chocolate I eat, my neighbor only eats organic, a friend tries to reduce their carbon footprint and my cousin advocates against sex trafficking. And, while we each do our small part, this approach is largely ineffective for any of these issues. My personal chocolate choice might make me feel less guilty, but it certainly won’t shift the chocolate industry from using child slaves. My friends reducing their carbon footprint to zero with solar panels and a hybrid car won’t stop the ice caps from melting. or even stop our nations dependence of oil. And unfortunately, we seem to be rather okay with that, addressing our personal guilt on the subject, but not truly affecting massive change for any one cause.

We need to work together. That doesn’t mean you have to ditch your personal cause for mine. Rather, it means we should become passionate and committed to systemic change, not just change that makes us feel less guilt or like personal do-gooders. What does this look like in practice? I’m not totally sure yet. Maybe it means you become more evangelistic for the cause, maybe we become more strategic in how we demand change. What it does mean is that we stop being content with just our own ‘pet’ causes and we get serious about seeing real and systemic change in our neighborhoods, our society and our world.