A few years ago, I heard that a guy named Tom Davis was going to be in Charlotte for some kind of celebrity sports event, a fundraiser for the organization he led called Children’s HopeChest. I knew we had a number of friends in common at the time (193 at the latest count, according to Facebook), so I hit him up for a meeting, and he agreed to meet me for coffee in the restaurant of the hotel he was staying in downtown (or uptown, as we say here in the Queen City).

I think we hit it off, because on one of his next trips through Charlotte, he invited me to a small, private dinner in the basement wine cellar room of Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House — paid for by our host (well, to be accurate, Tom’s host – Tom just invited me along for the ride!), the CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated. It was a beautiful night, just getting to hear Tom share in that intimate setting his story and his heart for orphans around the world.

Novels on the Edge of the World

Tom quickly became a hero of mine. Not only for his tremendous work on the behalf of the poor across the globe, but also because he’s managed to do one of the things I’d most love to do: publish a novel.

His first novel, Scared, opens a window onto the HIV&AIDS epidemic in the country of Swaziland — a place Tom has spent a good deal of time and where Children’s HopeChest is doing remarkable work. By the end of chapter two, I was in tears. It’s just a fantastic book.

Now Tom has a new novel coming out called Priceless. This book promises to shine a light on the tragedy of sex trafficking and human slavery in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Tom was recently in Moldova—where I had the opportunity to travel with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 2005—with a group that included blogger Anne Jackson (aka Flowerdust). Anne wrote a riveting blog post called “The Sex Cafe” that instantly transported me back to Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova. I was excited to learn that Tom had connected with my Moldovan friends Oleg and Vitali Turlac, whom I met in 2005.

This issue of human trafficking—or, let’s call it what it really is, modern-day slavery—was really driven home for me when I read David Batstone’s groundbreaking book Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade—And How We Can Fight It. Batstone’s book sparked the Not For Sale Campaign that is one of a growing number of organizations, including Children’s HopeChest, that are part of the movement to end slavery in our day and time.

Just as Not For Sale opened eyes through its non-fiction stories of pain and suffering, I hope that Tom’s new novel Priceless will reach an even wider audience and open more eyes to the tragedy unfolding on the world stage.

By the way, Tom is now blogging about social justice over at Beliefnet — just another thing to make me envious but really just appreciate him more.

Sex Trafficking in the U.S.

On a related note, Halogen is getting set to air a new TV series later this year on the subject of sex trafficking, called Tainted Love. The same tragedy that’s happening in Russia and Eastern Europe and Asia is happening right here at home, as well, and Tainted Love will be telling that story to raise awareness and prompt people to take action.

You can watch a full episode of Tainted Love over at HalogenTV.com, if you like, but here’s a preview to get you started:

I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the Theology After Google conference last week at Claremont School of Theology.

As one of the presenters, I was challenged to follow the TED Commandments and present something original and entertaining and funny and succinct (I had 10-12 minutes). With at least one TED fellow in the audience, the pressure was pretty intense to deliver. Well, let’s just say I had fun despite having to work through some technical difficulties (I could’ve definitely planned better than I did). You can see the results by watching my presentation:

Philip Clayton is the main proponent behind Theology After Google and the broader Transforming Theology project at Claremont, which I’m tremendously excited about. Philip interviewed me following my presentation to dig deeper into the question of whether online community is “real community” and what practices we can bring to our online interaction that can lead to a better world. Here are my responses:

Highlights from Theology After Google (#tag10 on Twitter) for me include the brilliance of Callid Keefe-Perry, Monica Coleman, Dwight Friesen, Jeff Jarvis, and Barry Taylor; the fun of competitive cornhole; the rare opportunity to sit in conversation with John Cobb and Glen Stassen; and most of all the joy of new connections and friendships.

And from now on, I can say I spoke at the same conference as Jeff Jarvis. That’s a dream come true.

Bonus: Watch more presentations from Theology After Google »

Action: Leave a comment with your thoughts on “theology after Google” »

Last week, I had the privilege of speaking, via Skype, with the “Theology After Google” class at Claremont School of Theology. Tripp Fuller, who is co-leading the class with Phillip Clayton, recorded my abbreviated talk on “The Theology of Twitter,” and I’m grateful to him for posting it online:

I’m extremely excited to be speaking at the “Theology After Google” conference, March 10-12, at Claremont. I’ll be joining Tony Jones, Adam Walker Cleaveland, Spencer Burke, John Franke, Dwight Friesen, Jon Irvine, and others. If you’re interested in learning more about using social media in communicating ideas (especially folks on the West Coast), I hope you’ll consider coming out to this unique conference!

My Take on the Apple iPad
The big news last week was the launch of Apple’s much-anticipated iPad tablet computer. I wrote up the story for the Halogen TV website with my prediction: “It’s not the device itself that’s magical. It’s the innovation that the device now allows—the new interactive games/applications and multimedia ebooks/e-publications (magazines and newspapers) that are going to be developed—which will make the iPad a ‘revolutionary,’ must-have device.”

“Theology After Google” student Wesley Menke nicely synthesized the iPad news with my presentation in his blog post “Apple’s ‘Magical Realism.’” His take on the “magical” language employed by Apple in its marketing of the iPad and contrasting it with the “liturgical” (“work of the people”) concept of Web 2.0/new media is a great observation. This is, in fact, one of the big criticisms of the iPad—that it is a device for consuming media rather than creating media.

I don’t think this is in any way an “accident.” Apple is, no doubt, banking on the market being ready for a consumer device for reading/experiencing multimedia e-books and e-publications (magazines and newspapers). Other companies are quickly joining the e-reader/tablet PC race, but their offerings will now have to stack up against the iPad. And, besides, Apple’s computers are built for creating, while their other mobile devices (iPod, iPhone) are not. In that sense, iPad fits perfectly with Apple’s other mobile devices, and this makes perfect sense now that Steve Jobs is calling Apple “a mobile devices company.”

On Wednesday, I had the privilege of speaking with Luke Renner, the founder and president of Fireside International, a non-profit media company based in Haiti. He’s been in Port-au-Prince since the day after the massive earthquake there, reporting on the situation and sending back photos and videos telling the stories of what’s going on.

Luke was actually one of the first people to report the Haiti earthquake on Twitter. Since he began sending regular tweet updates from Haiti, his Twitter account has grown from a handful of followers to over 3,000.

Ann Curry of NBC News connected with Luke via Twitter and later met and interviewed him in person, calling him a “Twitter rock star.” Luke tells me that he and Curry are now scheduled to appear together at the 140 Characters conference in New York in April to discuss the role of social media in the Haiti earthquake response!

This was also my first article for the Halogen TV website. A number of my friends here in Charlotte are now working with Halogen, which produces “socially-conscious empowering entertainment.” The four major themes of Halogen programming (inspired in part, I’m told, by the writings of N.T. Wright) are justice, purpose, connection, and beauty—now, those are themes that resonate with me!

If you haven’t heard of Halogen, please check out the website, curated beautifully by Cara Davis, and find where you can get Halogen in your area.

Photos courtesy of www.FiresideInternational.org

I have a guest post up today at CatalystSpace.com. It’s called “Community Is Crucial, Especially Around the Holidays,” and, as you can imagine, I wrote it last month, reflecting on the suicide of my online friend Gideon Addington.

I talk a little about the “weakness” of social networking in creating the kind of community that can address deep emotional and psychological pain.

I’d love to get comments and feedback on the article, especially if you are challenged/encouraged to reach out to anyone you may know who is hurting or struggling with depression. Don’t hesitate to show your love to those around you—reach out to someone today!

Thanks to Jesse Phillips, the editor of the Catalyst blog, for posting my article.

This is a guest post by Dennis Teall-Fleming:

There’s no denying it, by the year 2050, there will not be a racial/ethnic majority in the U.S. In the next decade, that will become true of people under 18, very quickly. Yes, it seems that the U.S. is finally going to live up to its message of freedom for all—by not killing and suppressing any “Other”s, en masse, for the past 50 years or so, those Others have been able to thrive! And now will help to make our country what it should have been from the beginning—a place so diverse and full of difference, that each person, race, ethnicity, and nationality nurtures, enhances, and strengthens the other.

You can see many of these demographic changes tracked very well at the Pew Hispanic Center, and at more specific resources, like its population tracker by county. These changes have already affected our political landscape, and will continue to do so very dramatically in the next decade. The Census predictions are that, at the end of the 2010 count, Texas will gain three electoral votes, and AZ, FL, GA, NV, SC, UT, and WA will each gain one. OH will lose two, and IL, IA, LA, MA, MI, NJ, NY and PA will each lose one (“South sees new pull via Census”). This is population growth driven primarily by Hispanic population growth—immigrants legal or illegal, and native-born Hispanics—not by us “Yankees” moving South and West. The future is Brown, Southern, and Western!

This is not something to be feared, but welcomed. Each influx of Others has always made our country ever greater. Jews, Germans, Africans, Italians, Irish, Eastern Europeans, Asians, Hispanics … it’s this that makes our country great, that we can all become an US (U.S.) together.

Action Item: Listen to a great analysis of the Pew Hispanic study on young Hispanics at the Dec. 14 “Talk of the Nation” show. If you’re not able to listen to the show, there’s a transcript of it at the page linked. A large group of young Americans that are going to make a big difference. Enjoy!

Dennis Teall-Fleming is Director of Faith Formation at Queen of the Apostles Catholic Church, Belmont, NC, and part-time Religion Instructor at Gaston College, Dallas, NC.

Related: Read Dr. Jay Gary’s thoughts on Multichurch (multicultural church)

Photo: CCIR

It’s that time of the year again—year-end lists are abounding and, by all accounts, year-end giving is going to be the boon for many non-profits that it has been in years past.

A number of people I know have non-profit ventures that are worthy of support. I would support all of them if I could, but since I can’t, I want to highlight just a few of them:

Tom Davis at Children’s HopeChest has received a $20,000 grant to stop sex trafficking in Russia if it can be matched by midnight, December 31. Tom writes, “When you give, you are helping stop sex trafficking in Russia before it starts. You’re helping HopeChest stay ahead of the prostitution rings that are targeting vulnerable orphans.”

Bowie Snodgrass at Faith House Manhattan is seeking $58,000 to continue its operations in 2010. Faith House founder and Christian co-leader Samir Selmanovic writes, “The world is hurt not only by the actions of religious extremist minorities but by the religious ignorance and indifference of the majority. Tolerance and appreciation between religions is simply not enough. We all must dig further into our texts, traditions, and practices to help us experience, understand and actually learn to need one another.” Faith House is an “urban laboratory of interdependence” where this is happening, and it’s exciting to see.

Christine and Tom Sine at Mustard Seed Associates continue to do innovative and important work that benefits the broader church. Christine writes, “Looking back on 2009 … we were on the creative edge of providing resources and hosting events that stimulated innovative responses to the economic downturn. Peoples’ faith has been strengthened as they have been equipped to live into God’s future and be God’s compassionate witnesses in these turbulent times.”

Troy Bronsink is the abbot of Neighbor’s Abbey in southwest Atlanta. He’s put together a nifty “Big Small Near Far” campaign to ask 200 people to support the Abbey $10 per month in 2010. Watch the video to get the picture:

Of course, I’m working with a new network called TransFORM that I’m looking forward to getting off the ground in 2010, and donations are being accepted for that as well. If anyone is so inclined to support TransFORM financially, please be sure to select “TransFORM” from the “Budget” dropdown. I’d be very grateful.