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| Along the Way 03/12/10 |
 (REMEMBER TO SET YOUR CLOCKS FORWARD ONE HOUR THIS SATURDAY NIGHT!)I’d never heard of Tom Siebel, but now know that he is the multi-millionaire author of 3 books who made his fortune in the software industry. If you Google him, you will discover story after story about how he was recently attacked by an elephant. Interesting story, but not my topic. What is far more interesting to me is that Tom Siebel gives away lots of money. One $20 million act of generosity happened after he bought a ranch in Montana and discovered that methamphetamine use was the scourge of that state, wasting and ruining lives of thousands of Montanans, clogging up their social services system and destroying a whole generation of Americans. Siebel created a foundation to combat this deadly, destructive scourge, fighting it on many levels, including producing and airing attention-grabbing advertisements about avoiding or abandoning meth. Siebel became the largest advertiser in the entire state and as a result of his generosity Montana dropped from 5th in the nation to 39th in methamphetamine abuse. One man made a difference. One determined, generous man with conviction made a dramatic difference for Montana. Our Take 2010 calls each of us to that same kind of world-changing commitment. What we are about with this renovation is changing the world, tilting its axis more in the direction of the Kingdom of God. Last year Americans gave $300 billion to charity, almost twice what we spent on consumer electronic equipment, including cell phones, iPods and DVD players. We gave ten times more to charity than we spent on professional sports. One third of that annual charitable giving - $100 billion a year – goes to religion. We know how to be generous. On Sunday, March 21st we will receive 3 year commitments from our congregation to renovate our entire ground floor for ministry with children, youth and adults. We’ll have one festive service of worship at 10:30 a.m. followed by a delicious, catered meal on Calhoun Square. I am praying that every person will come prepared to make a generous commitment to this important ministry. If you cannot attend that service, please drop by the office to receive your commitment card. |
