In Robert Lupton's book, Toxic Charity, Lupton has strong things to say to materially rich ‪#‎Christians‬ about ‪#‎money‬, ‪#‎power‬, and ‪#‎dependency‬. Two statistics from his book include:

* ‪#‎Africa‬

has received $1 trillion in benevolent aid in the last 50 years, and

per capita income is now lower, life expectancy has stagnated, and adult

literacy is lower.

* U.S. missions teams who rushed to ‪#‎Honduras‬ to help rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Mitch spent on average $30,000 per home—homes locals could have built for $3,000 each.

No one wants to think their generosity hurts people, but books like

Dead Aid and When Helping Hurts have alerted us to the problem. So what

is going on? The answer is complex and involves issues of basic

economics, power, dependency, and bad motives.

In the Season 2 penultimate episode of the Here & There Podcast, I sit down with Mark Crocker of STMLeader.com to talk ‪#‎relief‬, ‪#‎development‬, ‪#‎ownership‬, ‪#‎partnership‬, ‪#‎simplesolutions‬ and ‪#‎doingnoharm‬. Comments and discussion is both welcomed and encouraged!

As a Global Worker, you probably feel like you're having an out-of-money experience at times. My pro bono financial advisor (AKA my father-in-law) told me that the quickest way to double my money is to fold it over and put it back in my pocket! ‪#‎Money‬. Jesus talked a lot about it in the B-I-B-L-E, and this is our second Here & There Podcast on the subject...so it likely matters on some level to many of you. During ‪#‎Segue‬ I had the chance to sit down with a new GW to the ‪#‎RAN‬ family who's been coaching people on handling their money for a living. Her full identity is being withheld for her security, but her free advice is here for the taking. Remember, when you have too much month at the end of your money, you still might be richer than you think. ‪#‎momoney‬ ‪#‎moproblems‬ ‪#‎PAOCpensionfund‬ ‪#‎Godsupply‬ ‪#‎RANitized‬

Turns out, breaking up is easy to do...at least when it comes to Global

Workers and supporting churches! In the latest edition of the HnT

Podcast and the long-awaited reunion of pod partners, I join Šel and Ännå and talk about the touchy subject of getting ‪#‎dumped‬ by a ‪#‎partner‬ church. If you're a GW who's been fed the proverbial, "It's not you, it's me" line by a ‪#‎supporter‬ before, you might want to tune in with an empathetic box of Kleenex and a notepad to take notes on how to "take it like a ‪#‎Eurasian‬ missionary" from the Armitages. In the end maybe it's not me, it's you!

The Urban Dictionary describes a person named ‪#‎Kaleb‬ this way: "A Kaleb will make you laugh, when nothing else can. A Kaleb will make your face hurt from the amount of smiling you'll do. A Kaleb is the best kind of guy you'll ever come across, so if you're lucky enough to meet a Kaleb don't let him slip through your fingers...you probably won't find another one. They are like an endangered species in the world of men." In the latest edition of the HnT Podcast, I sat down and squirmed around with this young ‪#‎Canethiopian‬, who's name means "devotion to God", and asked him some tough (for a 4 year old) and not-so-tough questions about being ‪#‎adopted‬, eating ‪#‎injera‬, being an answer to prayer, if it was #1 or #2, and becoming a ‪#‎missionary‬. As you listen, I think you'll agree: this kid is going to do great things in this world!

Kelvin and Laura May Chan are having a baby! According to Kelvin, "when two people love each other, and __________________, then the ‪#‎Burmese‬

fairy comes and delivers the baby!" I'm not sure which web site he

learned his birds and bees from but I think Laura will let him know if

the fairy is any help during the delivery. Due in about 4 weeks, this is

the Chan's first baby and they've returned from ‪#‎Thailand‬ to Canada to make her a Canuck! While at ‪#‎Segue2016‬, the Chans

agreed to chat with me about all things baby: how she was made, when

they found out she was a she, interesting Thai and Burmese cultural

pregnancy observations, their uncertainty about juggling life with a

newborn and ministry, and how they ensured they wouldn't have ‪#‎stateless‬ grandchildren. As former ‪#‎midtermers‬, they might just be 3 of my favourite people.

While Stewart Paul Shaw was in Toronto last week making ‪#‎partners‬ and influencing ‪#‎donors‬, I had the chance to hang out with and get to know his and Monique Shaw's daughter, Hope Shaw. The youngest of 3 Shaw kids, Hope has had an illustrious career as an MK/TCK! We talked about being dragged to ‪#‎India‬ at 2 years of age by a ‪#‎leash‬, running away from home at 14 to go to ‪#‎boarding‬ school in ‪#‎Thailand‬, whether or not her parents properly prepared her for ‪#‎adult‬ life, moving to ‪#‎Redding‬, California, ‪#‎USA‬ to work on her ‪#‎process‬, and her potential future in ‪#‎Kolkata‬, India. The world is her ‪#‎oyster‬, and she wants the world to know ‪#‎hope‬. ‪#‎hopeforthehopeless‬ ‪#‎livingontheedge‬ ‪#‎lifeofmission‬ ‪#‎missionisliving‬ ‪#‎MK‬ ‪#‎TCK‬ ‪#‎Canadindian‬

This past week, Stewart Paul Shaw and his daughter Hope Shaw stayed in the ‪#‎missionaryguesthouse‬ while meeting with supporters in the ‪#‎Toronto‬ area and preparing to return to ‪#‎India‬. Stew is one of a kind. An original. The real McCoy. A genuine Indian article. An ‪#‎Irish‬

anomaly. A legendary oddity. I was excited when he agreed to be on the

Here & There Podcast, but wasn't sure where it would lead because of

our shared ‪#‎ADD‬.

We wandered around his childhood, talked musical tastes, addictions,

his family, their call to India, the Teen Challenge dream, and his

greatest accomplishment so far in life. ‪#‎Hope‬ you enjoy this bowl of nontraditional Irish Stew!

Murray Cornelius joins us again for a great conversation on how the Majority World church is doing things differently and maybe even better than we are. Matt and Shel have the privilege to grill their boss about his claims, ask him about turning 60 and try to get him to go "full angry prophet" on the Canadian church. If you work for PAOC IM then you have to listen or else we'll dock your pay. At least that's what Murray said. It's a great use of your time and a good way to honour Murray before he takes the fateful step into senior status. Happy Birthday big cheese!

This past week, right after ‪#‎PAOC‬ ‪#‎gencon2016‬ in ‪#‎Montreal‬, an Ethiopian Eunich came to stay in the ‪#‎missionaryguesthouse‬ in Pickering, ON. We ate all low-carb food, drank a ton of good coffee, and did plenty of talking...and neither of us know any short sentences! Between high fat meals, we dropped a discussion about ‪#‎churchplanting‬ in Ethiopia and beyond in the podcatcher. My guest opens up about ‪#‎gencon‬, ‪#‎family‬, ‪#‎fogmachines‬, ‪#‎coffee‬, ‪#‎apostles‬, ‪#‎diapers‬, ‪#‎traplesschurches‬, ‪#‎northafrica‬, ‪#‎bigladies‬, ‪#‎ownership‬ and world domination. Be careful when you listen - you may just find yourself inspired and moving to Africa to join his team as they continue planting coffee churches across the continent!

Heigh ho, heigh ho it's off to camp we go! How many of you were saved, baptized and kissed for the first time at Christian camp? How many of you love Christian holidays and the safe environment they provide. How many of you think both of these notions are crazier than By-Law 10.6.2.2.3 of the PAOC constitution? 

Wait, that's for another podcast...

Whatever side of the fence you might be on, we guarantee this podcast will have something for you. Matt, Shel and Anna talk Christian camps, romance, missional marketplaces and even give a shout out to Vanuatu. Summer is almost here which means you can listen to the podcast as you garden, jog, do yoga outside or enjoy Montreal while you are at General Conference.