"I'm what the world considers to be a phenomenally successful man. And I've failed much more than I've succeeded.
And each time I fail, I get my people together, and I say, "Where are we going?" And it starts to get better." - Calvin Trager

With Ya, my Ga tutor in Mallam
The Rev. Mike Kinman
Executive Director
Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation
Age: 38



Check out Forsyth School ...
where Robin teaches and
the boys attend.

Since you're already blowing time surfing,
why not do some cool stuff

  • Watch the Make Poverty History videos
  • Watch Sara McLachlan's "World on Fire" video
  • Take a seat at Oxfam America's Hunger Banquet
  • Look at the "Eight Ways to Change The World" photo exhibition
  • See how rich you are on the Global Rich List
  • Make a promise to do something cool -- and get people to do it with you
  • Use your computer to fight HIV/AIDS and other diseases

    While you're at it, do these things
  • Join the ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History
  • Join the Episcopal Public Policy Network
  • Join Amnesty International
  • Subscribe to Sojourners Online newsletter about faith, politics and culture
  • Sign the Micah Call and join other Christians in the fight against poverty
  • Subscribe to a great new magazine about women and children transforming our world

    People who show us What One Person Can Do
  • Liza Koerner (Teaching soccer and doing mission work in Costa Rica)
  • Erica Trapps (Raising money so Tanzanian children can go to school -- check out her photo gallery)

    What's happening in Sudan might
    surprise (and shock) you

  • Episcopal Diocese of Lui
  • South Sudanese Friends International
  • The Sudan Tribune
  • SudanReeves -- research, analysis and advocacy
  • Save Darfur
  • Darfur: a genocide we can stop

    For your daily fix on the irreverent...
  • Jesus of the Week
  • The Onion

    Interesting People Who Are Great To Read
  • Beth Maynard's excellent U2 sermons blog
  • Global Voices Online
  • Neha Viswanathan - poetry, commentary, humor, reflections

    Some interesting organizations and programs
  • Borgen Project - poverty reduction through political accountability
  • CARE
  • Center of Concern
  • DATA: Debt, AIDS and Trade in Africa (Bono's site)
  • El Circulo de Mujeres/Circle of Women
  • Engineering Ministries International
  • Episcopal Peace Fellowship
  • Episcopal Relief and Development
  • FreshMinistries
  • Global Campaign Against Poverty
  • Global Ministries
  • Global Work Ethic Fund -- Promoting philanthropy and fundraising in developing and transition countries.
  • Karen Emergency Relief Fund
  • Magdalene House
  • The M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
  • Natural Capitalism
  • NetMarkAid - Humanitarian Entrepreneurs
  • North American Association for the Diaconate
  • Peace Child International
  • People Building Peace
  • Project Honduras
  • Results - Creating political will to end hunger
  • St. Paul's Institute
  • Stop Global AIDS
  • TakingITGlobal -- connecting youth for action in local and global communities
  • Tanzania Educational AIDS Mission
  • TEAR (Transformation, Empowerment, Advocacy, Relief) - An Australian Christian anti-poverty movement
  • Working For Change
  • Xigi.net -- an open-source tool to aid discovery in the capital markets that fund good.

    Some Episcopal churches and dioceses doing cool things
  • Companions of Swaziland - Diocese of Iowa's Companion Relationship
  • International Development Missions -- St. Paul's Church, Sparks, NV
  • The Malaria Villages Project - St. Paul's Church, West Whiteland, PA

    Must-read books and websites about them
  • What Can One Person Do: faith to heal a broken world -- Sabina Alkire & Edmund Newell
  • The End of Poverty -- Jeffrey Sachs

    Learn more about things you really should know more about
  • UN Millenium Development Goals
  • The Millennium Campaign
  • AIDS Matters - a resource for global AIDS professionals
  • Christian Aid's in-depth report: "Millennium Lottery: Who lives and who dies in an age of third world debt?"
  • Foreign Policy In Focus
  • Poverty Mapping
  • Solutions for a water-short world
  • Transparency International: The global coalition against corruption
  • UNICEF's State of The World's Children report 2005

    General cool and/or goofy stuff
  • Alicebot chat robot
  • Bono Quotes -- but what's really wild is that it's from a page on Boycottliberalism.com!
  • Buffy Slanguage
  • Big Bunny

    Useful web tools
  • Gcast - make your own podcast
  • Podzinger - podcast search engine
  • Orb - streaming digital media


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    Listed on Blogwise
  • Wednesday, January 11, 2006
    It's a Transition Stage

    For the past two months as I was wrapping things up with ECM, stuff would come up for EGR and I would have to say about a lot of it "I'll get to that in January when I'm full-time."

    Well, that day has come ... and man is there a lot to do!

    The first and most obvious would seem to be setting up my office. I really hope it is in a transition phase right now -- because I really hope it doesn't stay in this state permanently! It's a hybrid of Rockwell House office/old home office -- only to make everything fit, I had to pack up a whole bunch of stuff into boxes and put it in the basement (much to Robin's chagrin when she was looking for a book of hers tonight) and haven't put all the new stuff away yet. But, that's OK ... it's in a transition phase.

    My biggest job right now is fundraising. I'm excited because fundraising really is giving people a chance to do something with their money that is really going to make a difference in the world and in the church. The people who have given to us are really excited about EGR and excited about being a part of it. That said, if we don't get gifts, we close up shop. We've only got enough cash in the bank to cover about 6-8 weeks of expenses, and though we have more than that in pledges that total only covers about six months. Our budget is less than $200K a year (which is really small for an organization like ours), and I want to raise 3 years worth of operating pretty quickly so I don't have to spend all my time fundraising. That's big task one right now!

    Next is the EGR website ... which is in pretty big need of updating/redesign. We've found a really good webdesigner and I just turned in a site plan that I hope isn't way too ambitious. We'll see. The target is having the basic framework of the new site up in three weeks. If that happens it will be fantastic.

    Then there is General Convention -- that every three years gathering of all things Episcopal. EGR is going to have a huge presence there ... mostly because it is the one time that people from all over the church are gathered and are (almost literally) a captive audience. We've got a great group gathering to work on that, so it's exciting work ... but it's a big job.

    Finally, there is mobilizing the board so that I'm not the only one doing the work. Great thing is that we've got a great board that is eager to roll up their sleeves. Had a great conversation today with Lallie Lloyd, who is the head of our Communications/Education/Advocacy committee and she's ready to roll and has already started mobilizing the troops. Last week a really cool younger priest from Lubbock, Texas (sorry, Katy, he doesn't know you) emailed me excited about EGR. He's got publications and web experience (AND he's a Mizzou grad!) so he's joining the C/E/A team, too.

    Things are starting to fall together ... but it still seems really overwhelming. Just got back from six days in New York. Next week, it's 3 days in Atlanta meeting with board member Debbie Shew, a colleague of hers who is going to give us input (and maybe more) on logo/branding stuff, and hopefully the Bishop of Atlanta and some people who might want to write checks to us!

    In the meantime, I'm still doing the stuff I really love. Looking at traveling back to Yale Divinity School in February to work with students on the MDGs. Setting up a time to help a woman in Alexandria, VA who is leading a congregational forum on the MDGs in a couple weeks. That kind of stuff.

    It's after 10 -- time to head to bed and the Daily Show. More later.
    |
    Mike at 1/11/2006 09:56:00 PM

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    Episcopalians for
    Global Reconciliation

    EGR is an organization resourcing a grassroots movement of spiritual transformation in the Episcopal Church to end extreme poverty on this planet.

    The structure for this movement is the Millennium Development Goals -- 8 goals committed to by all member nations of the UN and a unique partnership of governments and civil society to:

    *End extreme poverty
    *Achieve universal
    primary education

    *Promote gender equalty
    *Improve maternal health
    *Reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
    *Promote environmental sustainability
    *Build a global partnership for development

    EGR resources and connects the church to embrace what one person, one congregation, one diocese and one church can do to make this mission of global reconciliation happen.

    Want to find out more ... check our our website at www.e4gr.org.

    "Christ's example is being demeaned by the church if they ignore the new leprosy, which is AIDS. The church is the sleeping giant here. If it wakes up to what's really going on in the rest of the world, it has a real role to play. If it doesn't, it will be irrelevant."
    - Bono








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    What I'm Reading
    Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
    by Doris Kearns Goodwin