Had an excellent breakfast meeting this morning with the visionary leader of Central Dallas Ministries, Larry James, and Jeremy Gregg who does fundraising for the ministry. We spoke of wealth and poverty and how poorly those two terms correlate with true wealth and true poverty. How can we create a community in which each person is valued for what that person is, the wealthy no less than the poor? How can we create a conversation about love and justice, about giving and giftedness, that includes us all as (for want of a better term) God's children and as neighbors? That dream did not die with Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. It is alive in the city in which JFK was shot, and won't die. As a practical step, we talked about convening a reading group of social justice funders around certain texts, Biblical, literary, philosophical. From that would come a clearer vision of what the funder wished to accomplish for self, family and community. The funder would be prepared, indeed prepped, to advisors with an elevated vision, and to partner with advisors and with nonprofits for optimal outcomes. For me personally, the meeting was immensely gratifying because Larry immediately appreciated the key point: paideia. Soul formation. The rich family no less than the poor family hang in the balance and are no less in need of faith, hope and community if they are to thrive. "Building community one person at a time" is the tag line for CDM.
On an interesting side note, I met Larry through Jeremy who had been reading Gifthub. Jeremy pointed me to his blog and to Larry's. We have been reading each other on and off. It made it much easier for us today face to face to enter into a deeper conversation. Perhaps blogging will be a way in which we can create a more enlightened community of communities. If others of you are lurking, and find the conversation here congenial or conducive, please comment, link, email, and connect.
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