A Very Merry Conspiracy

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Of course, the malls and Wal-Mart will be very disappointed if you say no.

This year at our church here in Texas we've started talking about Christmas early too. But it's a good thing because this season our church is participating in the Advent Conspiracy. Have you heard of it? It's basically a challenge to Christians to spend less on buying gifts for people who already have everything and give the money they saved to people who have nothing. Very sneaky. Wal-Mart and our urges to buy, buy, buy may frown upon the idea. But, such is the nature of conspiracies!

Our church is challenging us all to cut our Christmas spending in half and give the other half to bless the world's hungry, hurting and neglected.

One way the church is helping the needy is by building several Jesus Wells through Gospel for Asia. There is a huge need for fresh drinking water in many parts of the world.

Another cool program Gospel for Asia has is its Christmas Gift Catalog. With the catalog, we can give gifts that will actually produce an income for some of the poorest of the world's poor - the Dalits in India.

The Dalits are an impoverished people group who are frequently denied any education, have few rights and are often treated as worthless by higher castes. You can imagine the impact the gift of a pair of chickens, a dairy cow or a sewing machine would be for a destitute family in Asia.

Casey and I have enjoyed picking out gifts from the GFA Christmas catalog the last couple years and knowing that somebody on the other side of the world is going to be able to make a living for their family from it!

Here's a little video on Gospel for Asia's Christmas Gift program.