Ministry Monday: Shoes 2 Share

Shoes 2 Share (formerly Soles 2 Share) was formed when one special family starting spending time in Haiti. This family was bringing two Haitian children into their home but they weren't prepared to stop giving to children in need.

Every time they would visit Haiti, they would take along suitcases full of "like new" and "gently used" shoes to distribute to children that they came into contact with in the orphanages and on the streets. But it was very clear to them that their own personal efforts weren't nearly enough to meet the needs of these kids. And so the ministry began. They started approaching businesses, churches and schools for help and things have begun to grow from there. In fact, they currently have so many shoes in their warehouse in Wilmington, Deleware, that they are now asking for help to sort, clean, categorize and repack the shoes.

If you'd like to donate shoes, there are currently drop off sites in Maryland and there is currently a shoe drive going on in Exton, Pennsylvania. Click here to learn more information

You can also contact Rhonda via email info@shoes2share.com with any questions you have, to volunteer your time or to collect their information so that you can send them a donation.

Always wanted to read the entire bible in a year?

I know this is often a goal set by many individuals when they give their life to Christ, or when a new year rolls around. This is probably one of the most common goals set by Christians and perhaps also the most failed goal. But if you have this goal in mind and have not yet found a way that meets your needs to read every day, perhaps you can stop looking.

The One Year Bible Blog is written to help you get through your daily readings and puts everything you need just one mouse click away. Mike, the author, first gives you the passages you should be reading for the day and offers you a link which will pull up the passages from an online bible. Then he discusses the verses and gives his own personal insights into the scriptures. He also provides many illustrations throughout the blog to keep your creative side interested.

If all this reading still seems too daunting for you, how about listening to the verses via Windows Media Player, MP3 or subscribing via a Podcast? The One Year Bible On Radio website allows you to do just that. Listen on your way to work, to class or at the beach.

Now you've got no more excuses!!

Tune Filled Tuesdays Vol. 1

This week will be a week of several firsts. In addition to starting Ministry Mondays, we are also going to be starting Tune Filled Tuesdays, Wednesday's Written Words and Featured Flashbacks Fridays. We'll write more about what each of these is on their first blog posts. At some point we will also be featuring the searches that led to this blog in hopes that anything we may have missed in the first post, we can clarify a bit better.

On Tune Filled Tuesdays we will feature a musical artist or band which we have recently come across. They may be bands just starting out without even a full demo or they may have their feet on solid ground already with a very well known following. Either way we hope you will enjoy these little showcases!

First up:
Malachi3

Genre: Christian Soul, R&B, Lyrical
Website: http://www.malachi3music.com/
MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/malachi3music

All I can say is what a great trio of voices. These three have so much talent and they have a huge future ahead of them. They initially started off on their own paths, working on their own careers but God brought them all together to form Malachi3 and the union is really powerful. Shauna has a fantastic hip-hop/R&B flavor much like Mary J. Blige and I really love the songs that feature her such as "Didn't Imagine Me" and "Breathe 2.0." And Tori and Q Rock are clearly talented as well. Tori has a really nice R&B/Soul sound and he has a wonderful, dreamy voice. And Q Rock - well let's just say he definitely rocks. This guy has some great flow and I think he easily could have used God's gifts to have a large mainstream career as well.

One of the really great things about this group and their newself-titled CD is that they sing about things that other people can relate to. They bring words of encouragement for teenage mothers, those who grew up without a father figure and have just not lived the easiest of lives in general. For example in "My Story" each member of this trio really showcases their skills and brings their own personal lessons out in the open so others in their situation might see the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel."

Hear snippets of all their new songs on their website or just go buy their new CD. We'll be reviewing their entire album soon so be sure to look out for it!!

Ministry Monday: Backpacks for Pine Ridge

There are so many ministries out there that need and deserve attention so I thought I would start a new blogging series on this post called Ministry Monday. Every Monday I will feature another ministry which has caught my eye.

This week:

Backpacks for Pine Ridge
MySpace page

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota is one of the most beautiful places in America. It is also one of the poorest. The median income on the reservation is just $2,600 a year. The unemployment rate is a shocking 85%. Sadly, it is the children and teenagers who are the most vulnerable victims of such poverty. Among schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the drop-out rate is 70%.

Since 2004, a group from Winton Rd. Church of God in Fairfield, Ohio, has been going to the reservation and giving out backpacks filled with school supplies to the children in the village of Allen. Their goal is to expand this backpack project so that they can provide a backpack filled with school supplies to every child on the reservation. Giving a child a backpack of school supplies does two things: It provides much needed school supplies and it encourages children to stay in school and get an education.

Just $15.00 can provide one child on the reservation with a backpack and school supplies.

If you'd like to help you can do so in the following ways:

• Pray! Pray for the ministry, the leaders of this ministry, those donating their money and time and the children and families receiving these backpacks
• Donate money for backpacks and school supplies.
• Sponsor a team member
• Go on a trip (see the requirements)
  

Learn more about their specific trips on their other blog Pine Ridge Mission Trips.

Promote yourself & your website

We have recently added a resource directory on our website to provide our readers with additional great websites and information. If you have a website you'd like to promote, please come on over and submit your link.

It is a reciprocal linking directory and we appreciate your link back to us. You can even do it on your myspace page if you want!

Current categories include:

Bands & Musicians
Bible Resources
Churches
Concerts, Festivals & Events
Online Communities
Family Life
Ministries & Organizations
News Portals
Portals & Search Engines
Self-Help
Shopping
Young Adult & Youth Groups

If there isn't a category that suits your site, let me know and I will add one in. Or put it in the closest fitting category you find and I'll move it later if it doesn't fit.

Questions? Contact me!!

Christian Music Festivals in June

In our June/July issue of Lifted Magazine, we posted a list of upcoming Christian music festivals. We don't want anyone to miss out so here are the June festivals again!! Hope you can enjoy at least one festival near you this year.

June 7-9, 2007
Collide
Bells, TX, USA
http://www.collidefestival.com/

June 7-9, 2008
Crossover Music Festival
Lake of the Ozarks, MO, USA
http://www.crossoverfestival.org/

June 12-14, 2007
Sonshine Festival
Wilmar, MN, USA
http://www.sonshinefestival.com/

June 14, 2007
Atlanta Fest
Six Flags over Georgia, GA, USA
http://www.atlantafest.com/

June 14-16, 2007
Ichthus 2007
Wilmore, KY, USA
http://www.ichthusfestival.org/

June 20-23, 2007
Alive 07
Canal Fulton, OH, USA
http://www.alive.org/

June 22-24, 2007
Mountain of Praise Festival
Wautoma, WI, USA
www.myspace.com/mountainofpraise

June 25-30, 2007
Cornerstone Festival
Bushnell, IL, USA
http://www.cornerstonefestival.com/

June 27-30, 2007
Creation Northeast
Mt. Union, PA, USA
http://www.creationfest.com/

June 29-30, 2007
Celebrate Freedom with Luis Palau
Dallas, TX, USA
www.klty.com/celebratefreedom/index.htm

Our website gets some attention as well

We made some changes to the website in the last few days and would love for you to come have a look. They're not massive changes but we hope that they will improve your browsing experience. :-)

Have ideas you'd like to see implemented? Let me know!!