Difference Maker: Shaun King

Ok let’s be honest, we hear all the time that one person can make a difference, but is that just something we say to encourage and motivate people, or do we really believe that?  I completely believe it and I can prove it.  I want to introduce you to Shaun King. He’s a 30 Year Old Husband, Father, Grad Student & Lead Pastor of The Courageous Church (www.Courageous.tv) in Downtown Atlanta, and he is making a difference.

I started to follow Shaun over a year ago as I heard he had planted a church in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Atlanta and I had a chance to meet and talk with him at Catalyst [although I am pretty sure he would have no remembrance of me].  The things that stood out about this man was his humility and his willingness to talk to  someone who is pretty insignificant in the global perspective of the church world.  One minute with him and you can tell his passion and excitement.  I highly recommend following him on his many social networks.  Below is a list of the tweets that he made last night about what is going on in Haiti.  Shaun is using Twitter to mobilize, impact and create an awareness in Haiti and it is incredibly impressive.

• Setting out my Soapbox. About to step on it for a few tweets. 1st my opinions then quotes from leaders on the ground in Haiti
• ALL OF THE EXPERTS ARE DEAD WRONG…..
• When the earthquake 1st hit, thousands of you immediately wanted to go and help BE the solution, be the hands & feet of God…
• But you were told by the experts NOT TO COME. You were told to wait until some magical time when things were much better…
• The experts were wrong. Some probably meant well because they didn’t want you to get hurt or be in the way, but let me tell you what…
• Is missing in Haiti -passionate, hard-working, unskilled, loving, non-experts. They are in SHORT SUPPLY. I mean RARE…
• Consequently, the MAJORITY of supplies are sitting unused & the teams of unskilled non-experts I am advising are regularly…
• 9 days later, regularly the first people to have ever visited orphanages and disaster sites. They ALL tell me that we should have…
• IGNORED the experts. Let me tell you a story that will kill you. The caretaker of the Notre Dame orphanage told @SpenceNix…
• She heard dozens of dying babies trapped in the rubble scream & cry for 5 whole days before they all died. 55 babies died. Nobody ever came…
• One more tweet from me then I want to type you a quote from our team on the ground…
• It is NOT TOO LATE. If you feel CALLED to go to Haiti GO. GO! GOOOO! It is tough work, but GO! I will help you…
• Next tweets are direct from our teams on the ground…
• “The growing feeling here in Haiti is that the BIG ORGS & government don’t really care. It’s like they are here b/c the world is…
• focused here. If they care, little passion is ever displayed. Seems like a job or obligation. Even my sponsoring organization…
• (name of large Christian org) pretty much just set up a tent, gave us a vest and stickers and said go. No support. No passion. No questions…
• Large amounts of supplies are just sitting in boxes everywhere. I have seen them there for days while hurting people & doctors…
• Need them. This has opened my eyes wider to the wastefulness of large charities and benefit of small, nimble, passionate groups…
• I have been in Haiti for 6 days and I still have not seen one large Red Cross presence. I honestly think social media has…
• Saved more lives since the earthquake than all but 3-4 great organizations here now. Passion. Relationships. Technology has changed…
• the game. We saved so many lives today and it was just us doing it bro.” <<<<<End of quote
• Thanks for listening.

Thought it was incredible to hear hands on what is going on in Haiti and see one person making a difference.  How can you make a difference in your circle of influence and in the world?

 

25 Days Of Christmas_Day 11

This post is taken directly from Twitip.com.  I think this is hilarious and fun for those of you who Twitter.

Spread Christmas Cheer, ‘Naughty or Nice’ Twitter App

Digital creative agency Collective has unveiled their ‘Naughty or nNce’ Twitter-driven app, featuring their very own Collective Santa. Users can find out whether they’ve made it onto Santa’s Naughty or Nice List before discovering what they deserve in return.

Visitors enter their Twitter username to wake Santa from his snooze. They can then watch as Santa checks their tweets for various naughty or nice key words while he boogies to the music. Once the results are in, Santa responds by telling the user if they are naughty or nice and what they deserve this Christmas (anything from a “ruddy good talking to” to “a little donkey”).

If the user has been naughty, they’ll be encouraged to add some Christmas cheer to their tweets and try again.

Results are shared on Collective Santa’s Twitter page and can also be shared on the user’s Twitter or other social networking pages. The user can also choose to add a new naughty or nice profile picture to show all their followers.

In case your wondering, Santa says I am nice and deserve the pipes of peace.  Not sure what that means but I am nice this year.

LIFT Summer Camp 09

Parents, friends and family check back here regularly for updates each night (probably late) about the days activities at camp. My goal is to get a video of pictures that are happening each day at camp as well as video shots from throughout the day.  Anything written will be under the blog tag and all video will be on the main tab located under the feature video.  I will do my best we have 47 total with leaders and students.

You can also follow me on Twitter for constant updates of the days adventures.

If your on facebook you can follow me or follow the Fellowship Student Ministry group page.

Flutter Is The New Twitter

Twittering?

By now you have probably at least heard of the social network called Twitter.  If you have ever updated your Facebook status, you can use Twitter. It simply asks the question, “What are you doing?“.   You can read more about it in this post from Greg, as well as check out this brief video which explains Twitter in Plain English.

Twitter is being used by some great church leaders and ministries across the world. One of the interesting things about technology is the way it tends to ‘flatten the earth’ when it comes to communications. You have unprecedented access to people who you never could have just a decade ago.  You can see why Mark Batterson, Lead Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., likes Twitter here, here, and here.

Fellowship Student Ministries now has a Twitter account as well.  We will be using this account for quick updates, announcements and other communications of interest to UNITED events and Life Groups.  I strongly encourage you to give Twitter a try. Even if you don’t want to sign up for Twitter yourself, you can still follow FSM by sending the following text message to 40404 ‘follow fsmunited‘  (only drop the quotes).  This will allow you to receive text messages about FSM without joining Twitter.

Here are some good resources to help you understand and get started with Twitter:

• Getting to Know Twitter FAQ’s
  
• Official Twitter Commands
• Using Twitter on your Phone
• Newbies Guide to Twitter

Oh yea, you can also follow Ryan on Twitter also!