Can’t wait to attend Verge this week in Austin. I would love to connect and meet-up with anyone who is attending. I will be hosting the tweetup tomorrow night, serving on the social media team, speaking on the orphan care panel Saturday and HELP will have a booth set-up also. Below is a sample picture of the back-drop for the booth. We are getting close to launching our Garage Sale for Orphans initiative that will rescue homeless orphans!

Needless to say, it’s going to be a fun-filled, crazy few days, that includes much conversation about Jesus, missional living, and the church! Also, I can’t wait to see good friends, such as Jason Gore,Laurence Tom, Charles Lee, Brian Mayfield and a host of others.

I’m writing this post as I fly back from Philly to Austin. For a second I thought I was going to get stuck in Philly, due to some bad weather. Then, I was told I would have to sleep over night in Chicago. However, I mad a last second flight to San Antonio!

I had a great few days in Philly, here’s a brief rundown: Friday night I flew into Philly, and Todd drove me to LT’s church to connect with Tony from Ember. Here’s the view from LT’s church! LT and Tony had teamed up to do a cross-culture mission experience in Chinatown. They are a great group of dudes. One thing I noticed, the majority of them have already traveled globally, and they’re only in 10th grade!

After sharing with these cats, Todd took me to Tony Luke’s, which was my first authentic Philly chess steak experience, and it was AWESOME; Whiz please!

Sunday morning, I spoke at The Well. Very cool community, love what they are doing! I went a little long, but I thought the message was well received as I spoke on God’s heart for Justice. First time I spoke this message, so I was able to learn a lot, I hope to tweak it and make it better. You can listen here if you’d like.

After church, Todd took me one of his favorite local joints, man this place is awesome, built in 1750. Great time to hang, chat and chill in a legit man-cave.

Later that evening, we headed to Bristol, The Well is planting a church, Redemption Church in Bristol. Todd was ordaining Gary. Very cool to experience this. And I love how a smaller church, like The Well (150 ish) is already planting another church-freaking awesome!

Monday we headed to Chestnut Hill Coffee House, man, I could spend a lot of time in this joint. We met-up with LT and discuses a future trip to Haiti w/ LT’s church. Also, LT asked me to come and speak in March, which is cool.

Then we headed back to the city, eat lunch and chatted about leadership and other issues that HELP, The Well and Chinese Christian Church are dealing with. Encouraging conversations that will no doubt bear fruit. I gotta say this,

I LOVED how old and unique Philly is, so very cool. Old buildings, cobblestone streets, row homes, etc! I really enjoyed my time, Todd and The Well, thanks for investing in HELP. It means a lot to the HELP team! The biggest bummer, I did not get to meet JR, or hang with Tom Ward, Jr, or Sr. Hopefully, next time boys?

In less than an hour, I will head to the airport, and fly to Philly via Chicago Midway (please, no snow). I can’t wait to hang with Todd Hiestand, speak at The Well and connect with others such as Laurence, and Tom.

Hopefully, I’ll get to spend some time with students who are on a mission trip from the burbs to Downtown Philly, and share about God’s heart for the global poor!

These are some great dudes who have a heart for God, mission and the poor. I know I will be blessed to spend time with these dudes.

A few days ago we blogged about our desire to help the people of Haiti. After many hours of work by some amazing designers, and techies (more on those people soon), we’ve finally launched our online store with 2 designs, and three shirts.

Had to stop and breath for a moment. Life has been CRAZY, and it’s only going to get crazier in the next few weeks. Of course, when a disaster hits like what has happened in Haiti, it causes even more stress as we react with a simple way to help.

But, here’s the deal, if you’re to busy to stop and help the good folks of Haiti, than maybe your just to busy. Please take a moment, and consider helping!

I’m so grateful for all the people who are doing something to make a difference. You can really see the power of social media, especially when you have people who are ready to respond. We created a Haiti Emergency Relief Fund.

I received a phone call from a friend a few months ago. He was distraught, sad, and broken. This friend, began to tell me about some of the orphans he was trying to help in Cairo, Egypt. The local orphanage was so crowded, they had to let some of the 10 year old girls leave the orphanage. Apparently, four of them have disappeared into the underground world of human trafficking! Mangum and I spent time at this orphanage, filled with girls who’s parents have already abandoned them, or died.

And now they have to fear the unthinkable, being forced into a brothel, to have sex 10-20 times day. 10 year olds; this is simply not right!

Here is a picture of that orphanage, these could be those girls, and this is why we fight on their behalf.

If you’re a Christian and feel like you don’t have a mission, you’ve simply ignored or are not willing to fight the evils of this world. We all have a mission, and human trafficking is on the top of that list.

Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. It’s a day that we can stand-up and say, “Enough already,” to this evil that exists in our world.

As I was processing what HELP is going to do as an organization; asking questions such as, “What is our mission?” trafficking was front and center. It’s hard to fathom, but it’s true, modern-day slavery is alive and well, thriving as an underground business model. I wanted to start an organization that would help fight this evil.

This is why we desire to rescue orphans, restore their hope and renew their community. Because orphans are some of the most vulnerable opportunities available to those who traffic.

If these kids are rescued from streets, fields, parks, and dumps, and are placed in a loving community, led by spiritual leaders, their chances of being trafficked are much less. This is how HELP fights trafficking.

Also, if your church is doing nothing to fight these issues, I would suggest you deeply repent, seek forgiveness and get involved. The church should be leading the fight to seek justice and rescue those trapped in this industry, PLEASE do not ignore this call!

For those who are looking for more information, I would suggest the following resources:

Movie-Trade: A legit movie that deals with the real-life issues of human slavery.
Rockumentry-Call & Response: A great way to begin to comprehend the human trafficking industry.

Organizations:

International Justice Mission: They’ve been fighting these issues for years.
Not For Sale: Another organization working on the front-lines.
One Voice to End Slavery: A community of activists who are trying to make a difference.

I sent this email out to a few friends today, thought I would share it here also.

Hey everyone, It’s been a crazy few weeks for us. HELP is doing well, we have a lot of opportunities that we are trying to take hold-of.

I wanted to fill you in on what is going on: We’ve recently received a letter from the bank, in 2009 we had a escrow shortfall, and in 2010 our county has raised taxes big time. What this means is simple, we now have to pay $750 more each month on our mortgage in Austin. Needless to say, we can’t do that with what Necole makes in Raleigh. So, for the time being, we are in Austin, and Necole is working here, thankfully we have a lot of clients in Austin, and a free to place to live.

We will be back on Raleigh later this month, to load our stuff in a storage in Raleigh. Lucky for us, we had a month-to-month contract on our house in Raleigh. God is in control, HELP is doing really well, and God is blessing the ministry…God is sovereign, and we’re trying to understand what this means for us. We don’t want to lose the house, we can’t afford to keep it rented, and we can’t sell it right now.

Pray for wisdom, love you all! — Chris & Necole

Heading to Raleigh this morning, gotta love being at the airport at 5:30. *sarcasm of course* Not staying in Raleigh long, getting the car and pup and heading back to Austin to work for HELP, and Necole will be doing hair in Jan.

Our family is doing our best to become mobile, and global. I hope to share more on that later. The short version, we should be on the road this summer touring for HELP, and next summer we are hoping to live in Cape Town for a few months, and possibly launch a global leadership program for interns, and short-term/long-term missionaries!

We’re also very proud of our Austin team, they rock! Ton’s of momentum for HELP at this point, we are excited and grateful.

This Wed, Thurs, and Friday, I will be driving through Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Shreveport, if you wanna do coffee, let me know, would love to hang, chat, and connect.

I’ve recently read a few posts that I think are important and should be read by the masses, therefore I’m doing my part to pass on the links.

Tony Morgan shares his thoughts on the new “traditional church.” I think EVERY pastor should take Tony’s words to heart. We HAVE to be willing to do something different in the church world if we want to reverse the negative trends in the West.

My friend, Austin church planter and HELP advisory board member Jonathan Dodson shares a great post on Syncretistic Missional Ecclesiology. Great thoughts!

I read Donald Miller’s book, and it encouraged me to live a better life, by living a better story. This article is a great example of how to use story instead of goals only, in 2010, extremely helpful.

A little over a month ago, I heard the news that our kids in Zimbabwe were only getting meat in their diet one time per month. At that time, we didn’t have any plans on doing a Christmas Fundraiser as an organization. However, I at least wanted to do something simple and tangible to help our kids in Zimbabwe.

I asked for help, and you responded. My first plea was $1000. Then, I asked for $1500. Then, I was told we could fund a Chicken Project and feed the kids meat on a long-term basis if we raised $5200.

I upped-the-ante and you stepped-up and made it happen. The Help End Local Poverty tribe raised close to $6000, yes we funded the project 100% plus.

In 2010 the kids in Zimbabwe will be blessed, loved and fed, because of your generosity! The H.E.L.P. team is so thankful.

Also, I (Chris) literally prayed over EVERY donation. Thank you deeply!