Do You Have Cause Fatigue?

Marcus here. Over at New Breed of Advertisers, Sam Van Eman has confessed “I think I can’t, I think I can’t.”

Ouch, Sam. That’s bleak, man. That’s Cormac McCarthy bleak. I know what Sam means, though, and I appreciate his bold, if slightly shocking honesty.

Sam explores the idea in much greater depth in his MUST READ article at Catapult Magazine called Melinda Mae Missiology. The title of his article refers to a Shel Silverstein poem. (Click here and listen to Shel’s crazy reading.)

I’m no Melinda Mae. I lack focus. I lack patience. I lack perseverance. To be honest, I’m flat-out tired. In fact, I have had “cause fatigue” for sometime now. You know cause fatigue, right? Ten Facebook “friends” everyday tell me I should support their causes: “Spay Your Dog” and “Recycle Your Cans” and “Change the World This” and “Change the World That.”

Oh yeah. And this one. Join our Facebook Blog Network. (Actually, that’s not a cause. It’s a cool Facebook plugin that looks like it will aggregate all of our content on Facebook. Or else it will just be a fancy Facebook blog roll. I’m not sure.)

Even with the apologetic parentheses there, I feel bad about even asking people to join something else, click on one more link, stand up and digg or favorite or tag or participate in one more networking possibility or world improvement campaign.

There are just so many options that we start to shut down.

What else can we do except focus on the world in front of us? I don’t know where else to work on building the kingdom of God–whatever that means exactly. I’m still thinking about Sam’s article at Catapult when I make comments like that.

Here’s what I see in my life. I can be a good dad–and do things like watch a pickup softball game with my four-year-old son in the evenings. (We watched warm-up and ten minutes of the first inning last night.) I can be a good husband–and do things like encourage my wife after she has a tough rehearsal for Willy Wonka. (She’s Mrs. Gloop.) I can work hard at my job–connecting people online, editing articles, and doing my best to pay writers on time.

And I can write poetry. Which has no value in the free market sense, but it brings me joy. And for me, it is a kind of prayer.

Sure I do church and charity stuff too, but the real mission of my life is what I spend the bulk of my time on. Work and Family seamlessly (hopefully) integrated with my Faith in God.

None of those are very earth shattering causes. In fact, they seem almost cowardly in their simplicity. But they are what I do. Should I do more? I don’t know.

What do you do?

Meet Andre Yee the Wiki Moses

Marcus here.

Andre Yee has been a friend of HighCallingBlogs.com since the very beginning. His blog Every Square Inch nearly always has some specific bit of insight about faith and work. And we feature him here from time to time (like last week) because we just like what he has to say.

Which got me thinking. Andre is leading a really cool new project called Open Source Mission. I posted about it over at GoodWordEditing.com.

More important than my post, though, is the social media press release.

I think we have some pretty well connected people in this network, and it’s time for us to start serving our online neighbors as best we can. Here’s my suggestion.

Spend five minutes and watch the Gospel Translation Project video.

Then, if this is something you can get excited about…

• favorite the video on youtube
• share it on Facebook with just one click
• or blog about Open Source Mission with these tools

Here’s that video:

We’re Sponsoring GodBlogCon.com!

Marcus here.

And that’s not a typo. We’re sponsoring GodBlogCon.com 2008, the Christian track of Blog World in Las Vegas, September 20-21.

Your Mission if You Choose to Accept It

Remember the old Mission Impossible? If you’re serious about social media, you don’t want to miss this mission.  The contacts you’ll make and the things you’ll learn are truly invaluable.

(GodBlogCon.com is also a good excuse to hang out with other Christian bloggers in Las Vegas. Like me! I’ll be there! Come hang out with me and my Frau.)

Even if you can’t come, you can still help us with this mission. We need bloggers to promote the event by posting our affiliate link for your readers. The GodBlog folks have agreed to donate 10% of the proceeds generated through our links back to TheHighCalling.org and HighCallingBlogs.com. We’re pretty excited about seeing if that works, and we’d love your help.

There may even be a prize for the person with the highest number of referrals. (We’re not 100% sure we can track things like that, though.)

Listen, this is a really important experiment for us. For HighCallingBlogs.com to work, we’ll need it to become self-sustaining in the next few years. That means we’re running this site as non-profit entrepreneurs. Tracking click throughs, eyeballs, and now actual affliate income are all different strategies we’re taking.

We hope you’ll consider joining our experiment. If you’re up for the mission, here are some badges and code you can grab. But be quick. This post will self-destruct in three… two… one…

The Badges

To get this: GodBlogCon.com
Use this:

<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=122384&u=279627&m=17264&urllink=&afftrack=">GodBlogCon.com</a>

To get this:

Use this:

<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=127751&u=279627&m=17264&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.shareasale.com/image/THC_godblog.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a>

To get this:

Use this:

<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=125477&u=279627&m=17264&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.shareasale.com/image/gbc135.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a>

To get this:

Use this:

<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=125478&u=279627&m=17264&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.shareasale.com/image/gbc4701.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a>

To get this:

Use this:

<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=127515&u=279627&m=17264&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.shareasale.com/image/130x130_rev.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />

To get this:

Use this:

<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=127516&u=279627&m=17264&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.shareasale.com/image/160x160_rev.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>

To get this:

Use this:

<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=127517&u=279627&m=17264&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.shareasale.com/image/250x250_rev.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />

To get this:

Use this:

<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=127613&u=279627&m=17264&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.shareasale.com/image/468x15_us.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a>

To get this:

Use this:

<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=125479&u=279627&m=17264&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.shareasale.com/image/gbc500.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a>

From Around the Network

There is a lot of cool stuff around the network right now. Here’s a few posts that I’ve found and enjoyed.

Coffee with Drew writes about Old Ironsides, the oldest commissioned warship in the Navy. That brings up thoughts about preservation of what is old and valuable.

New Breed of Advertisers asks an interesting question: “Why have church people traditionally placed more value on foreign missionaries than on people who serve God locally?”

Red Letter Believers calls us to a classic discipline: Make sure your life matches your words.

Spaghettipie saw a video that got her wondering about how we live comfortably with such abundance in a world that lacks so much.

Love Notes to Yahweh has written a lovely poem that puts me in mind of Gerard Manley Hopkins:

The raspberries are full and red, hung with
the coolness of last night’s rain.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
His love endures forever…. Read More

And finally,

L’Chaim puts forth and impassioned and Shakespearean call for Dallas bakers delis, and supplies of groceries to learn some lessons from the food in New Jersey.

Real Live Preacher

The High Calling of Advertising

Marcus here.

Happy Fourth of July! I really shouldn’t be posting today, but I couldn’t resist linking to this great interview on Sam Van Eman’s blog New Breed of Advertisers. Especially since the interviewee, Scott K. Powell is a professor of marketing and addresses the question we posed earlier in the week on How Are You Dealing with the Cost of Groceries?

(That’s not Dr. Powell there in the picture, it’s a link to an ad that he says fits the bill for having a high calling.)

Dr. Powell really understands what it means to live out the high calling of our daily work. In one answer he says,

Every profession (even pastoral ministry) is subject to misuse, and advertising certainly has its share of questionable practitioners. Much of the advertising with which we are bombarded is inappropriate in terms of product, presentation or both. While I am a critic of advertising’s excesses (e.g., appealing to base instincts, encouraging materialism), it is my personal and professional opinion that there are many legitimate uses of advertising. Read More.

He’s talking about much more than just business ethics of marketing, I think. He’s talking about how ads can be a service to our neighbors–and maybe even an act of love toward God. (I’m thinking of the two greatest commandments here.)

Head over to Sam’s blog New Breed of Advertisers and read the whole thing. It’s great.

Have You Visited Some of These New(ish) Blogs?

Marcus here.

I was cleaning up the feeds this morning, adding a new pastor blog with a fun title–Strong Coffee by Ken Coffee.  Thinking how fun it is that Ken and his son Church Whisperer are both in the network. That sort of thing. (Welcome Ken and son!)

Then I decided it was time to feature some of the folks who have joined in the last few months. Since our only attempt at advertising are those little badges you have on your sites, I’m always surprised at some of the amazing folks that join our network! Here are the newbies from April, May, and June of this year.

Be sure to click through and read some of these folks!

New High Calling Bloggers from April

• BernardShuford.com
• Blessings from Above
• Christian Striver
• Daunesmith’s Xanga
• Faith From 9 to 5
• Fresh Wind Ministries, Int´l
• GODsurfer.com
• Jim Lange
• Reading, Writing and… What Else is There?
• ReadingThru
• Tea With Tiffany

New High Calling Bloggers from May

• Christa Allan
• coffee with Drew
• FICTIONARY: Blog Tours, Book Reviews, and Author Interviews
• Middle Zone Musings
• New Breed of Advertisers
• Paper Bridges

New High Calling Bloggers from June

• A Life of Benevolence
• Because I said so
• Christ’s Ambassador
• Church Whisperer
• Countless Imperfections
• Espresso Shots
• Fei-lippines to Fei-ji
• Garlands of Hosannas
• KRELLFISH
• LaurieLH’s Xanga
• Pastor Chad
• Reylo
• soupablog
• theologer
• wide-eyed fiction

What if You Don’t Like Your Job?

My dad said work built character, especially hard word, and most especially hard, unpleasant work. And he was probably right. Most people need the experience of having to work hard to earn their living by the sweat of their brow. Not all work is fun, but most work needs to be done by someone. And if that is true, why not you?

But then you grow older and you spend more of your life working, and it becomes clear that having a meaningful job that you appreciate and perhaps even enjoy is also a good thing. Finding the balance between those two is tricky. I tend to think that teen-age boys ought to split rails, mow yards, and drive spikes with a sledgehammer. 46 year-old-men, it seems to me, ought to supervise. I will admit that my view is heavily biased.

But what do you do if you don’t like your job but you have to keep it? What do you do if your Christian faith calls you to be grateful, but you just don’t like what you do for a living?

Andre Yee posted a piece at his blog, Every Square Inch, that addresses just this issue. He has a lengthy quote from another writer and some practical suggestions that I thought were pretty great. Check it out.

I’ve enjoyed every job I’ve held but I know that isn’t the case for everyone. Some find themselves working in jobs that are less than satisfying…some even hate their jobs. Many Christians regard job satisfaction as a God given right and find themselves questioning why God hasn’t blessed them in this way. Sam Shin asks these thought provoking questions on his excellent Gospel Prism blog -

“Does God want us to love our jobs?”
“Does God ultimately care what kind of job we hold?”… Read More

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How Are You Dealing with the Cost of Groceries?

Sam Van Eman works for CCO Campus Ministry and blogs about faith in the discipline of advertisting at New Breed of Advertisers. Sam really gets what we’re trying to do here at HighCallingBlogs.com.

In an email recently, he told me, “I enjoy speaking about work and faith in a distinct manner (maybe that’s the influence of the CCO on me)… All of what we do IS a high calling, but I am most interested in helping folks understand the 9-5 portion of their lives in light of faith. Again, I don’t think this area is most important; it’s just where I am most interested.”

I share that interest, Sam. So I popped over to his blog again and found that I was still moved by his post Ad folk, help the suffering rich. He points out, “16% of people making more than $100,000 per year ‘have trouble affording the groceries they need’?! Are you serious?”

Then he asks a question of advertisers specifically. How might your work improve the way people view need and want? Well, I’m no advertiser, but I figure regular consumers can still think about how advertising affects the way we view what we need and want.

Certainly, the video Tina Howard posted at Spaghettipie has got me thinking about what I want and what I need and what other things can be done with that money. Whatever you think of The Eight Dollar Hot Dog, it doesn’t offer any easy answers.

These two posts left me wondering this morning. Have you seen any ads that glorified God lately? I’m not talking about ads for church or black billboards with God asking if you can come over before the game. I mean, have you seen any business ads, doing what ads do normally, and still glorifying God at the same time?

(As way of example, consider this ad for Honda that concludes, “Isn’t it nice when things work?” It is nice. And it’s by the grace of God and a tremendous amount of good design and diligence when things work. That’s an edifying thought, isn’t it?)

Conversational Parenting from Mary DeMuth

Marcus here. As HighCallingBlogs.com gradually learns to walk, we’ve been connecting with some of our bloggers in particularly unique ways. Mary DeMuth is one of those. She blogs at Relevant Blog about writing, parenting, faith, work, and a myriad of things. Best of all, Mary is a really, really good writer.

I had lunch with her in New York City a year ago at the Book Expo America when she was promoting her new book Authentic Parenting. Good book. In fact, I just checked Amazon. Would you believe EVERY SINGLE reviewer gives the book five stars? It really is an amazing book.

Even though she’s currently in Africa on a mission trip, she’s letting us run an excerpt over at TheHighCalling.org this week. (The wonders of the internet!) Her article definitely worth a read. It starts out like this:

Conversational parenting is both spontaneous and purposeful. Life and connection do happen in the margins of life, where little planning occurs, but being purposeful also helps communication immensely. Consider these two scenarios: Read More.

(On a side note, Mary is also one of the featured speakers at a week long session of Laity Lodge Family Camp this August. Visit LLFamilyCamp.org to learn more about our program there, or click here to register online.)

In the Shadow of the Man

Drew Hill is a new blogger to our network. He has an easygoing and honest writing voice. Recently he told us the story of how his first son was born the same year his father died. 19 years later, he still lives, joyfully, in the shadow of his father.

Nineteen years ago my world changed. Nineteen years ago my son was born, my father died. “Goodbye, Dad.” “Well, hello, Little Guy.” Nineteen Father’s Days have come and gone since I stopped reaching up and started reaching down, and nothing matters more to me than being a dad, being there for our three children.

I went by the cemetery in Kansas City the other day. I hadn’t been there for quite awhile. The big tree near Dad’s grave has been removed. It took me a minute to find it. It’s been a long time since we laid his body down to rest there. Lots of summers and winters have warmed and chilled that spot.… Read More

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