Category Archives: Community

MLK’s “I Have A Dream” Speech

MLK’s “I Have A Dream” Speech

It is difficult to say about any of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches, “This one is his best.”  The depth of content and delivery of his messages is so consistent every time he spoke.  However, there are messages that are more well known and more influential in the thinking, conscience, and behavior in the history of our nation.  One of those messages is his speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., delivered to over 250,000 who had gathered for the March on Washington in the summer of 1963. Continue reading

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Ryan Abernathy and Todd Littleton on Food Stamps, Welfare, Poverty, and the Church

Ryan Abernathy and Todd Littleton on Food Stamps, Welfare, Poverty, and the Church

My friend Todd Littleton posted a great interview (as well as some of his own thoughts) with Ryan Abernathy, Senior Director of Programs and Nutrition at the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, concerning government services such as food stamps (SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), other services, and the church’s role with those in poverty.  Todd’s post also links to another two part  interview with Ryan entitled “Facts About American Poverty” (part 1 and part 2) over at Marty Duren’s Kingdom in the Midst blog.

I highly encourage you to read all three of those posts and listen to the podcast.  Here are some snippets of the latter:

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The Crowd Is Untruth

There is a view of life which holds that where the crowd is, the truth is also, that it is a need in truth itself, that it must have the crowd on its side.  There is another view of life; which holds that wherever the crowd is, there is untruth…

—Søren Kierkegaard
“The Crowd Is Untruth”
(available here in it’s entirety)

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For those of you who really know me…

You know that I have a difficult time inviting people to things that are of an “official” nature related to myself.  Somewhere along the way I developed this knee-jerk, over-response to anything that might appear less than genuine. Sometimes, as a church worker, I’ve wondered if in the back of people’s heads there’s this idea of that somehow an invitation by a church worker comes across as “working” my relationships for the benefit of the institution or having a mixed agenda (the success of the program vs. really caring for people).

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