A Few Conference Pictures

I went to a great one day conference on Saturday and have posted a few pictures.


Ron Sider was the first keynote speaker at the Evolving Church Conference last Saturday. If the name sounds familiar, it should be. He wrote " Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger." He made a number of disturbing comments. In particular a couple jumped out at me. The first one was that 35,000 children under the age of 12 will die today because of starvation or of preventable diseases. The cost of one fighter jet would be enough to provide the food and medicine for one year to help these children. The second comment that he made was that Michael Jordan made more money in one year promoting Nike shoes than all of the 18,000 Indonesian factory workers combined who actually made the shoes.

Shane Claiborne was a hoot. He lives in Christian community in North Philadelphia among the poor there. He made a number of memorable comments. Refering to the Live 8 concerts to help bring awareness to poverty, Jesus said "If the Christians remain silent the rocks will cry out ... or maybe the rock stars!"

Jim Wallis heads up Sojourners in Washington DC and has written a book with a very interesting title: God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It. After discussing the book with Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) Wallis got thousands of emails. Many wrote him saying "I didn't know you could be a Christian and care for the poor." The other comment he made that struck me was that "We will not see a restoration of Justice in our land without a revival of faith."