Books books books!

(This image is a pictorial illustration of what my life looks like now)

I'll be honest, I really don't like writing support letters or calling supporters who haven't sent their monthly commitment. 20 out of 10 missionaries agree that raising support for the ministry can be an uncomfortable thing for many reasons. I don't like asking for money, especially from people who might not ever see what I do for themselves. I believe I have found one small piece of the solution.

If you look to the right side of this blog, you should see a widget titled "I Recommend." This widget will direct you to books that have helped me in my journey. If you buy any of these books with this widget, I will get a small percentage of the sale. This is just one stream of income that I am positioning myself to receive.

Another stream is an online book store with Amazon.com. I continually work hard to locate books of various values that I can sell on Amazon. If you buy a book from my book store (Kingdom Co-Op), a bigger percentage of the sales will go directly to funding the ministry I have here in Los Angeles. I am also in the process of training people in my neighborhood to build their own book stores so that they can find their place in terms of industry. Please browse through Kingdom Co-Op and see if anything interests you. I will also gladly take any books that could be cluttering your home. Please comment on this post or send me a private message if you would like to set up a book donation with me. Thank you!

The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff is really the story of most U.S. citizen's budgets- mine included. Of course the following movie isn't unique to just my city of Los Angeles, California, but it's not unique to just the U.S. either. No matter where you're located I invite you to watch the following video, and ask yourself some hard questions about your personal part in the tragic story of stuff. Maybe you're hands aren't as red as mine-if so, encourage the rest of us to take action on the issues below...



Let us remind ourselves that where we spend our dollar and how we spend our time is a much larger vote for either change or destruction. There's a lot at stake here because we cast that vote multiple times a day. Please vote wisely.

O' Little Town of L.A. by: Danielle Bennett

O' Little Town of Los Angeles - Spoken Word from UYWI on Vimeo.

Pico Union on BBC Mundo

BBC Mundo made a small segment about my neighborhood in Los Angeles. It was cool that they showcased the Graff Lab, but I don't think they did it justice. There's a lot of art to see on any given week, and it might take something like a documentary to portray what goes on in the Graff Lab let alone all of Pico Union. If someone wants to provide funds I'll be glad to make that documentary happen.

Buy A Song For Skid Row

The weakest sector in our society is an indicator of how we are doing as a whole. In Los Angeles we aren't doing so well. Skid Row is an area downtown where the homeless population is swept under the rug not just by our city government, but by our residents too. The church must respond to this. We have a divine mandate to love our neighbors because whatever we have done unto even the least of these we have done unto Christ.

One simple thing that we can do at our computers is buy a song to give financial support to organizations who are trying to uplift humanity in LA. (Another simple thing we can do is look in the eyes of the homeless as we pass by and say hello or shake their hands. Be honest with them, and treat them like the human beings they are. Invite someone to lunch and have a conversation with them. Volunteer time at a mission. Get to know the people in the homeless community. Learn from them.)

Check out the video below...