- Jon Acuff of StuffChristiansLike.net is inspired by his 6 year old daughter’s sense of injustice that there are hungry children around the world;
- Jon, still reeling from how many people have come to enjoy and support SCL gets an idea: leverage the power of the community to do something big for a charity;
- Jon reaches out to the community for inspiration as to what charity to work with;
- Jon settles on Samaritan’s Purse and works with them to coordinate the building of a kindergarten in rural Vietnam… all Jon needs is to raise $30,000.
Which brings us to today. This morning Jon shares his idea, asks the readers to support the project and raise the $30,000. Jon sets a goal of raising the funds by December 31 of this year.
Throughout the day, we watched as the donations came pouring in. No one expected to raise this much money so quickly.
This evening, sometime around 10:30 pm Eastern timezone, the total donations given in support of this project surpassed $30,000.
The Stuff Christians Like blog community raised over $30,000 for charity in 18 hours.
The StuffChristiansLike.net online community raises over $30,000 for charity in one day!
I’m am so excited to process this, synthesize what happened and share any insights. But for right now, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the power of what Christ has done and how God has been and will continue to be glorified through it.
[Update:] We’re not done. The tremendous momentum built up yesterday can’t be just cut off, so Jon and Samaritan’s Purse are asking everyone to continue their support and raise another $30,000! That’s right, the goal is now to build two kindergartens for the people of Vietnam. Let’s do it!
Read the updated post here: http://stuffchristianslike.net/2009/11/lets-build-a-2nd-kindergarten/
Click here to donate: https://www.firstgiving.com/scl
And be sure to follow the #SCLVIETNAM conversations on Twitter.
]]>1. Profit is good.
During the settling of accounts, the master responds positively to the servants who had earned profit by:
- Saying “Well done!” – the master views their efforts as good.
- Calling the servants “good” and “trustworthy” – the master expected his servants to pursue profit.
2. Profit is not the motivation.
The servants’ reward for their efforts in earning a profit is their master’s praise and increased responsibilities. It can be assumed that increased responsibilities carries with it monetary gain. However, this should be viewed as an additional benefit. It is clear in the parable that the power to give and take away financial resources belongs solely to the master (as evident in the command to take the one mina away from the wicked servant and give it to the servant who earned ten).
3. Ability to earn profit is not universal.
As Christians, we cannot assume we all are equally capable of achieving the same results.
- The two good servants do not earn the same amount: one earns ten times what he was entrusted with; the other earns five times what he was entrusted with.
- The wicked servant is chided for not transferring his mina to bankers; allowing them to use the financial resources while earning interest for the master.
4. We have an obligation to earn a profit.
At the beginning of the parable the master says, “Put this money to work.” Wicked servants disobey this command out of rebellious fear. Good servants seek to multiply what they have been given thereby multiplying the work that can be done.
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Money is a resource provided by the Lord to facilitate Christian work in the world. We are obliged to use it wisely and morally, seeking its increase in order to extend our effectiveness in fulfilling our calling.
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