Cold Hubs: One Innovator’s Simple Solution with a Big Impact!

“The clock is ticking for this tomato,” stated Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, a social entrepreneur from Nigeria, holding up a single red tomato. This was the opening line to a very imaginative social enterprise proposal called ColdHubs1 that he presented during the Fledge Session at Impact Hub Seattle on July 6, 2015. He described an inventive new refrigerated food storage unit—essentially, a shipping container with solar-powered refrigeration for produce in communities where no electricity is available. Then Nnaemeka demonstrated how these refrigerated storage units could be located in public markets throughout Nigeria, dramatically expanding the life of that tomato from two days to twenty-one days for a modest storage fee. This would mean a dramatic increase in the fresh food supply for consumers, greater income for farmers and vendors, and an enormous reduction in agricultural waste. Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu plans to scale ColdHubs up to serve public markets all over Nigeria and then expand this social enterprise to other countries in Africa. His simple, scalable invention illustrates the power of social enterprise to impact millions of people. The clock is ticking, and not only for produce but also for people and the planet.

ColdHubs food storage system

ColdHubs food storage system

I have some very good news—and some really bad news. The good news first. God seems to be at work not only through people of faith but also people of compassion who are bringing welcome change to our world in what some are calling an “innovation revolution.” In the last ten years there has been a veritable explosion of new forms of social innovations, like the Cold Hub, all over the planet.

The good news just gets better. Much of this new changemaking celebration is being led by young innovators from Gen Y (those born between 1981 and 1997) and Gen Z (those born between 1998 and 2014). Since Gen Y and Gen Z are the first digital generations, they seem to be more aware of the daunting social, economic, and environmental challenges facing our world. Most importantly, a surprising number of them are determined to do something about it.

Even though research also shows that some in Gen Y and Gen Z do feel more entitled, I want to join, support, and learn from those who want to use their lives to have an impact on the lives of others. I think what we are witnessing, however, is a changemaking celebration more than an “innovation revolution.” I suspect you will also celebrate the sense of satisfaction and significance changemakers often seem to experience as they create and discover in ways that make a real difference in the lives of others.

I believe the Spirit of God may well be using the lives of these young social innovators, who are largely outside the church, to entice and challenge those of us in the churches to become much more a part of this remarkable new movement that is making such a difference in the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors. Why would any follower of the servant Jesus want to settle for less and miss the best— discovering how God can more fully use our lives to make a little difference in our troubled world?”

How is God using the lives of young innovators in your community to do serious changemaking and what are creative ways we can join this celebration? 

*excerpt from Live Like You Give a Damn: Join the Changemaking Celebration! 

Interview with Shane Claiborne

Shane Claiborne is a good friend and an encouragement to all of us who want to see God’s new world bring hope to all who are in peril, restoration of God’s good creation and peace to all peoples. In this brief interview you will meet Shane and learn not only about young changemakers that he celebrates but Shane is always inviting us to also become changemakers in the radical way of Jesus. Do write and let us know your response to Shane’s interview and any ways in which you are becoming more a part of this new changemaking celebration.

Shane Claiborne is a best-selling author, renowned activist, sought-after speaker, and self-proclaimed “recovering sinner.” Shane writes and speaks around the world about peacemaking, social justice, and Jesus, and is the author of numerous books including The Irresistible Revolution, Jesus for President, and his newest book Executing Grace (February 2016). He is the visionary leader of The Simple Way in Philadelphia, and co-director of Red Letter Christians. His work has been featured in Fox News, Esquire, SPIN, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and CNN.

On this 46th Earth Day

THAT 1ST EARTH DAY 1970 WAS MY SECOND CONVERSION EXPERIENCE… AS I REPORT IN LIVE LIKE YOU GIVE A DAMN! JOIN THE CHANGEMAKING CELEBRATION

“For those who say we can’t power our future let them come to the Bullitt Center!” declared Governor Jay Inslee on a brilliant Seattle Earth Day, April 22, 2013. As a crowd of several hundred gathered to listen to the governor and other speakers, we learned that many people consider the new six-story Bullitt Center to be “the greenest office building on the planet.”

We also learned that this innovative structure provides its own energy from solar panels on its roof. Its water supply consists solely of rainwater, stored in tanks in the basement. City ordinances were actually changed to make it possible to add the first self-composting toilets in any office building in Seattle. And it even has a garage . . . for bikes.

The Bullitt Center houses the Bullitt Foundation, a leading environmental foundation that provides grants for urban environmental projects in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. Denis Hayes, the head of the foundation, is one of the leading environmental voices in the United States. A college dropout, he organized the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, and can now witness its celebration in over 180 different countries. As I was heading to sixth floor, on the final tour, Denis came up behind me. I turned and said to him, “That first Earth Day radically changed my life.” He responded, “I hope for the better.” “It did,” I replied, “and I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

Three weeks later Denis was kind enough to invite me back to the sixth floor for a cup of coffee. As we sat down, I sipped my coffee and began to relate my story of that first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. “I was thirty-four and Dean of Students at Maui Community College,” I began. “I prided myself on keeping up on what we used to call ‘current events.’ However, frankly, like many in 1970, I had no idea that our world was rapidly changing and we were going to face a specter of daunting new environmental, economic, and social challenges as we careened toward the twenty-first century.

“My most vivid memories of that first Earth Day in Hawaii was the presentation by Dr. James Dator, from the University of Hawaii. He declared, ‘We are putting the future of our planet and its people at extreme risk with the thoughtless ways we dump our garbage into the atmosphere, the land and the water!’ He shared, in convincing detail, the destruction we are inflicting on the rain forests, reefs surrounding the Hawaiian Islands, and the atmosphere that supports all life.”

I told Denis, “That first Earth Day was not only a wake-up call for me but also became an unexpected vocational call. I sensed God calling me to learn more about tomorrow’s new challenges and opportunities to enable people of faith to create new ways to live and make a difference in response to these waves of change.” In fact, after much prayer and many discussions with family and friends, I moved to Seattle three months later to embark on a doctoral program at the University of Washington… It was one of the best decisions of my life.”

On this Earth Day April 22, 2016…45 years after that first Earth Day I am still trying to find creative ways to join a new generation to create a more sustainable future for God’s good creation and all those who come after us. What are you doing to renew God’s creation?

Join us for the Live Like You Give a Damn Book Launch Party!

Come to our Live Like You Give A Damn! Join the Changemaking Celebration book launch party.
For friends in the Seattle area we invite you to join us for a book launch party at 6:30 to 8:00 after the first day of the Inhabit Conference on April 15. Celebrating with drinks, snacks, books and a lot of fascinating people. Email us if you can join us or just come! [email protected]


We will be partying at the Bell Town Cottage Garden at 2512 Elliot Seattle 98121…across the street from the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology at 2501 Elliot. Cascade Books will provide an ample supply of books for Inhabit and our party!

The good news we are celebrating is that millennials {18 to 35 year olds} are much more aware of the issues of economic, racial and environmental justice than older generations because they are the first digital generation. The good news gets even better. A higher percentage of millennials want to invest their lives in serious changemaking than older generations. In fact they are leading this changemaking celebration creating new forms of social entrepreneurship and local community empowerment that it is having a lasting impact on our neighbors locally and globally.

I suspect God could be using this generation of social innovators, largely outside the church, to wake up those of in the church to this opportunity to join them in having a much greater impact in the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors. Why would anyone would anyone want to settle for less and miss the best?

Come join the party 6:30 to 8:00 Friday night April 15 at the Bell Town Cottage Garden 2512 Elliot, Seattle 98121

**Pre-order Live Like You Give a Damn: Join the Changemaking Celebration here. Special price only available until 4/16!

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Meet a Changemaker: Interview with Marissa Garcia

Today we are excited to introduce you to Marissa Garcia, the Executive Director of Huerto de la Familia, and the inspiring work she does!

“Huerto de la Familia offers Latino families a place to connect to our roots and the earth by growing our own food, as well as training and peer education in organic gardening, small scale farming and small business creation. We build wide-ranging partnerships to achieve our goals of cultural identity, community integration and economic self-sufficiency in the Latino community.”

Click here  to preorder Live Like You Give a Damn: Join the Changemaking Celebration! Special price of $14.99 until 4/16 only!

The Future of the Church an Interview with Tom Sine

What do you believe the future of the church is if we do not start living like we give a damn?

 

**Live Like You Give a Damn: Join the Changemaking Celebration now available for pre-order here!

Does the Future Have a Church?

“Does the future have a church???” is the first question I ask at the beginning of my new book Live Like You Give A Damn! Join the Changemaking Celebration.

In the early 80s I worked as a futures/research consultant attempting to enable leaders of mainline denominations, like Presbyterians, Lutherans and American Baptists, to pay attention to their changing attendance patterns. For the first time, many mainline denominations were experiencing not only a decline in membership and attendance but rapidly aging populations. Even though many leaders acknowledged the declining trends, they assured me that it was nothing to be concerned about.

As we rapidly approach the second decade of the 21st century, mainline denominations are declining at 1% to 4% a year and the rate of change is going to start accelerating. This means that church member’s investments of both time and money in local and global missions are also declining…which undermines their ability to be the compassion of Christ in these increasingly turbulent times.

Today, I believe many of the leaders of evangelical denominations are now the ones in denial about the declining numbers and graying congregations. I suspect many of them will be alarmed when they too see their investment of time and money to be the compassion of Christ to their neighbors locally and globally will also decline.

What are your responses to both declining attendance and graying congregations in both mainline and evangelical denominations? What are your ideas of ways to turn these trends around? What are your ideas to influence those that are still in our churches to invest more of their time and resources to being the compassion of Jesus in times like these? How do you plan to live like you give a damn?

Let us hear from you this week!

Does the Church Have a GenNext Future?

This is an urgently important question raised by Pew Center for Research that predicts that over a third of the millennial generation {18 to 35 year olds} are choosing not to affiliate with the church. There is a growing conviction that unlike the boomer generation they will not return when they are married with kids.

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Josh Packard in important research in his book Church Refugees reinforces the very real possibility that the church may not have a gen next future. Listen to this concerning report from Holy Soup:

“At Group’s recent Future of the Church conference, sociologist Josh Packard shared some of his groundbreaking research on the Dones. He explained these de-churched were among the most dedicated and active people in their congregations. To an increasing degree, the church is losing its best.

For the church, this phenomenon sets up a growing danger. The very people on whom a church relies for lay leadership, service and financial support, are going away. And the problem is compounded by the fact that younger people in the next generation, the Millennials, are not lining up to refill the emptying pews.

Why are the Dones done? Packard describes several factors in his upcoming book, Church Refugees (Group). Among the reasons: After sitting through countless sermons and Bible studies, they feel they’ve heard it all. One of Packard’s interviewees said, “I’m tired of being lectured to. I’m just done with having some guy tell me what to do.”

The Dones are fatigued with the Sunday routine of plop, pray and pay. They want to play. They want to participate. But they feel spurned at every turn.

Will the Dones return? Not likely, according to the research. They’re done. Packard says it would be more fruitful if churches would focus on not losing these people in the first place. Preventing an exodus is far easier than attempting to convince refugees to return.”

WHAT ARE YOUR IDEAS ABOUT NOT ONLY HOW TO SLOW THE EXODUS OF THE YOUNG…. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY HOW TO REINVENT OUR CHURCHES THEY MORE AUTHENTICALLY REFLECT THE WAY OF JESUS THE YOUNG WILL HAVE A REASON TO STAY??? SEND ME YOUR IDEAS

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