Voice Box

come along on Doma's first trip to Ukraine

Julie and I, along with our 3 month old beauty, Sadie, are heading to Ukraine on Thursday for Doma's first trip to Eastern Europe since we began our ministry last year.  Of course, Julie and I have been to that part of the world more than a dozen times in the past with other organizations. 

Please subscribe to this blog, Julie's blog, follow me on twitter, and keep your eyes and ears out for updates from the field.  Pass this along to friends and family who would enjoy joining the journey as well.  There's bound to be an adventure awaiting us (think Russian prisons, caviar, bathhouses, soccer, and the chance to see the light of God's love fill a room!)

Friends, or should I say comrades, of Doma are joining us.  The team is...

Jennifer Cameron is a vital part of the Doma team.  She started and operates a ministry called Into the Field, which provides marketing, logistics, and event planning services to ministries and non-profits.  She and Julie connected shortly after we moved to Columbus and they've been teaming up ever since (follow the link to check out Doma's charity running team?  Wanna run?)

Tiffany Crawford is a young and strong attorney who is known to get fashion compliments from judges.  She and Julie attended Regent Law together, she and her husband were in our young couples small group, Embrace, for a time.  She has two men in her life: one really tall, and one kinda short (he is only 2 yrs. old after all - give him time).

Matt Croskey is a new friend of ours.  We met him and his family, Georgeann, Grace and Jack before he knew that I was the new minister at his church.  Luckily after finding that out, they still agreed to be our friends.  He's a Captain in the Air Force, a Buckeyes fan, and inferior to me in the game of cornhole. 

Jerry Kaufman is Doma's board VP, and a high school friend of mine (we met when he was a jock and I was a hippie).  He met his wife at my wedding.  Jerry is a scholar and a gentleman... well... his better half is clearly...

Amber Kaufman is Doma's medical director, and a high school friend of mine who met her husband at my wedding.  Amber is a Nurse Practitioner and has served medical needs in India and Uganda, as well as in Orlando where she and Jerry live and regularly visit Mickey Mouse and his cronies.

Megan Lindsey is Doma's board secretary and also a Regent Law grad with Julie and Tiffany.  We have traveled the world with Megan - France in the summer of 2005, Russia in the spring of 2007, Uganda in the spring of 2009, and now Ukraine.  How does she find time to be an attorney and mediator in Michigan with all of this globe-trotting?

Tracy Miller is a Texan exiled in Chicago... or a Chicagoan who happens to be from Texas.  She lives in that great city with her very talented husband, an artist who is on exhibit now at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Kevin Palys and I met when we played on the same rec soccer team as undergrads at Valpo, Los Matadores.  He's married to an MD who happens to be Jerry's sister.  You can see that Doma is a family affair.  He is a broadcast engineer with CBS and owner and manager of PettingZoo Pictures, an independent film company based in LA.

Julie and I round out this rag-tag bunch.  We're looking forward to a great 10 days coming face to face with a beautiful culture and the children who inhabit it.

my son explains our trip's purpose

I was driving home from church last night with Judah in what he calls 'the blue Volvo car'.  I was telling him that he had 'two sleeps' (in Judah language, two days) until he went to see Grappa and Granny Tractor (Julie's parents).  I told him it's because Julie, Sadie, and I were going to Ukraine with Doma.  He said...

'You're taking the little clothes mama put in the big bags and giving them to the little orphans.  Are those my little clothes?  Are the orphans little kids like me?'

After this our conversation turned to a discussion of the size and color of the airplane that would take us there.  We agreed that the plane would be 'really big like this' (with arms stretched wide) and that it would probably be blue.

Doma's medical director is great at what she does!

Amber Kaufman is a vital member of Doma's team as she leads medical trips to Africa, and joins us in assessing the beginnings of our work in Eastern Europe.  She has been nominated as a finalist for the Orlando Business Journal's 2009 Health Care Heroes award.  It is a competition that seeks to select the best health care workers making a significant contribution in the industry in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties.  She will be featured in a special Health Care Heroes report in the Orlando Business Journal on Oct. 30.  Way to go, Amber!

enter life (sermon on Mark 9:38-50)

You can listen to my sermon from Sunday here:

Download Enter Life

a little story about our family

Check this out: An Ordinary Family Helping Families Around the World.

remember me

I've visited orphaned children in Russia, Ukraine, Honduras, El Salvador, Ghana, and Uganda.  Many moments quickly rush to the front of my memory when sparked by sights, scents, feelings.  Several children stand out as spectacular proofs of God's light present in a dark world.  But even with these amazing opportunities to see the unseen corners of the planet, I still easily forget.

I forget that there are those who are hungry, those who are exploited, those who are detached.  I forget that if I make $30,000 per year I am in the richest 5% in the world.  I forget that I have a loving family, a secure home, a good job.  I forget that I (more or less) have hope and identity.

I've returned from many of my trips with tokens and gifts: stuffed animals, pictures and drawings, wristbands, fresh-picked wildflowers.  One such item was given years ago with the words, 'This is so you remember me.'

Unfortunately, institutionalized children and children living in abject poverty are forgettable.  Sure, their eyes, the sound of their voices, the different languages and food make for a memorable experience.  But somehow, the merciless tendencies of our everyday lives choke out this memory.  We suffer from a sort of compassion amnesia.

As I prepare with Julie, Sadie, and 8 other travelers to leave for Ukraine in one week with Doma, my memory is being sparked.  I'm remembering that if and how we welcome orphans, widows, strangers, and foreigners has a lot to do with if and how we welcome God's covenant in our lives.  I'm remembering that whatever I have done to 'the least of these' I've done to Christ.  I'm remembering that true and acceptable religion is visiting widows and orphans and being unspoiled by a spoiled world.  My mnemonic devices?  The children I've met in orphanages and poor villages.  These are my unforgettable friends.

together we can change the lives of Ukrainian orphans

Doma means ‘home’ in several Eastern and Central European languages. Julie and I started Doma last year to embrace and empower vulnerable children and families around the world through prevention, intervention, and long-term care.

We are working to provide vulnerable and orphaned children with primary education in Uganda, as well as establishing prenatal and early childhood care centers there to combat the high infant and maternal mortality rates. We are working with young mothers in Russia, orphaned girls who themselves have become pregnant. We are working with homeless teenagers in Columbus, Ohio, helping them avoid the pitfalls of forced prostitution and human trafficking. We do all of this because we believe that the love and grace of God, the care and compassion of Christ, and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit calls the homeless home. If you’d like to know more about Doma, you can visit the website at domaconnection.org. 

I’m writing today about a specific ministry effort. Julie and I are going to Ukraine together next Thursday.

We will be leading a team of 12 people, distributing about $20,000 in aid and supplies to more than 10 babyhouses and orphanages

We will be establishing long-term relationships for more ministry in the years to come.

And we will be documenting all of this with a filmmaker to share the story of abandoned children in Ukraine and draw more awareness and attention to this global issue.

Every year, 2,000 babies are abandoned in Ukraine’s maternity hospitals. These children grow up with little opportunity for social, emotional, physical, and spiritual development. We want to change that! And we want you to be a part of it because we believe that God is a Father to the fatherless (Psalm 68:5-6), and that when we visit the orphan in their distress, we are in fact worshiping God through that act (James 1:27).

Please consider making a tax-deductible gift to Doma. In order for this trip to be successful, DOMA NEEDS TO RAISE AN ADDITIONAL $1000 THIS WEEK!!!

Please consider making a gift of $25, $50, $100, or even $500 toward this mission. You can make checks payable to Doma, and mail to PO Box 21987, Columbus, OH 43221. If you prefer to give online, click here.

I am committed to this because I believe that care and compassion is more contagious than disease and despair.  Be contagious.  Visit the orphan in his or her distress.

friday listening party: a culture maker's reflections on the U2 concert

Check out Andy Crouch's article on what he saw and experienced with U2 at Soldier Field last week.  Read it here: The Pinnacle of Power: What I Saw at the U2 Concert.

riots and miracles - a doma update

Check out my wife's blog about what's going on in Uganda and Ukraine - and how you and Doma can be connected to some exciting opportunities to give hope and help to vulnerable children.  Read here.  (I love my wife!)

what hip (and/or nerdy) Christians in their 20s and 30s like...

Some hip and/or nerdy Christian friends sent me this article in Patrol, an independent daily magazine where young post-evangelical writers explore their interactions with art, culture, politics, and technology.  It nails it.  I'm guilty.  I would list U2 as one of my favorite bands, and Franny & Zooey as one of my favorite books.  I smoke a pipe, have a subscription to Paste magazine, and did a lot of swing dancing while in college in the 90s.  Check it out: One Island Under God.