McArthur Ridge

This is a 360* view from the top of Tam McArthur ridge where us interns hiked to on Friday. The view is epic which you may be able to tell. The first mountain you see is Mt. Bachelor and then Broken Top and the Three Sisters soon follow :)

I can't even begin to describe to you the awesome and wonder of hiking this thing... God is SO SO evident in His creation. Here are some words that I wrote in my journal during solitude upon this glorious mountain.

"I'm sitting here on top of this ridge, looking at Bachelor, the 3 sisters, Tumalo...all these mountains! I just read Psalm 29 about how powerful the voice of the Lord is. Well, He spoke the earth into creation and made these majestic mountains with just His voice. God is all powerful but so so good. One thing Cora shared with us today is that we sometimes think that nature is God's best creation and we marvel at His glory, but God tells us that we are His handiwork, made in His image, and He loves and cares about us. He gives us creation to enjoy and see a different aspect of Himself. How can I look at this and see anything BUT God's glory, it's almost to the point that I don't know what to do because I'm in such awe. The voice of the Lord is powerful and majestic! The last verse of Psalm 29 is so so crazy! God is this God who thunders and speaks with flashes of lightning. He gives strength to us and blesses us with peace. So undeserving we are, but God is so good."


I am convinced there isn't a more gorgeous place than Central Oregon. Takes your breath away amazing.

Snowiness :) IN JULY.

The Three Sisters

Mt. Bachelor!

Yeah that's right.. I climbed this high.

Toxic Charity: A Book Review

Title: Toxic Charity: How churches and charities hurt those they help (and how to reverse it)
Author: Robert D. Lupton


I just finished this book and it was a complete gem of a book, so I'm sharing it... It was given to me by Larry Sharp who is the Director of Partnerships for IBEC Ventures and the Vice President of CrossWorld and he's a ministry leader for the internship I'm doing here in Bend, OR.

Toxic Charity is all about mistakes that we've made (usually in the church) when we try to do good things for other people but the long-term effects of our actions are actually negative. Lupton gives us inside stories of many pastors and leaders "who attempt to nagivate their churches or organizations away from traditional 'doing for' the poor towards a 'doing with' paradigm." So many times our youth groups and volunteer groups want to make a difference so they spend one day painting a building or handing out food which totally makes us feel good...but diminishes the dignity and creates dependency of the people in the community we're trying to help. Lupton says, "For all our efforts to eliminate poverty - our entitlements, our programs, our charities - we have succeeded only in creating a permanent underclass, dismantling their family structures, and eroding their ethic of work. And our poor continue to become poorer."

The solution that Lupton proves as effective throughout the book is community development and raising up indigenous leadership to help create better city programs, eliminate crime, increase safety, better the education and better the economy. He has as ton of hands-on experience, as he started Focused Community Strategies which is an urban ministry organization based in Atlanta, GA that does community development one suburb at a time. He gives examples of communities in Atlanta and also abroad in countries like Nicaragua that  have been transformed through the process of development.

If you want a convicting, powerful, yet hopeful book about giving away your time and efforts to help other people, this is the book for you. Really anyone should use it so that they have a better understanding of how to get involved in charities and really what to stop doing. I personally was convicted many times when I thought back to the "projects" my youth group and schools have done in the past and I'm sure you will be too.

I would say more, but you should just read it for yourself. If you decide to purchase this book (which you should), you can do so here :)