Have you ever calculated the percentage your church spends on those outside its walls? For the first time, I researched giving at several churches. What I found surprised me. Churches I examined were giving 1-2% of their budgets to benevolence, outreach, missions, and ministry partnerships. I believe individual church members are giving more, but...
Why We Need to Listen to the Poor: HOPE’s Untold Story
HOPE’s mission is to invest in the dreams of the poor. But it wasn’t always that way. Before HOPE’s founding, we overlooked the simplest part of providing a service—asking our customers what they wanted. “No More Handouts” HOPE was founded out of unsuccessful charity. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, people in Ukraine...
Rice ‘n’ Beans for HOPE
Skip the eggnog. This Christmas season I invite you to join me and my family to enjoy rice and beans every Wednesday evening in December. Besides avoiding a couple extra holiday pounds, this “fast” allows us to give of ourselves prayerfully and financially and focus our minds on the needs of the world. A meal...