It seems that some of the best websites that I come across are sites that I do not intentionally look for. There are two websites that I will highlight:
#1. GoodNewsNetwork.org
This is a very good site concept as its main purpose is to highlight good news (something that most media outlets tend to leave out). The only problem that I have with this site is that much the news is dated (like Clinton-era dated). Maybe they grew tired of updating the site. Oh well, it is still a very good concept.
Here is a sample story found on this site:
Homeless Donate $3,000 to Cop Who Refused to Arrest Them
New York City Police Officer, Eduardo Delacruz, 37, was ordered to arrest a homeless man for sleeping in a parking garage. He refused, saying, he would not arrest people who had nowhere else to go. One month before Christmas, and with 5 kids and a wife to support, Delacruz was suspended without pay for 30 days.
Homeless groups were so touched, they set up a fund to raise money to help the officer and his family deal with the loss of $3,600 in net pay.
On Christmas Eve, the homeless and their friends gathered on the steps of city hall to present a check for $3,000 made out to Delacruz’s wife.
Some gave money they earned from recycling cans and bottles, or portions of their welfare checks. “A lot of us gave quarters, nickels and dimes,” said Joe Bostic, one of 30 former and current homeless men and women in attendance. “We just wanted to thank him by contributing however we could.”
The officer was “very moved” by what the homeless did and though he could not attend, sent a message: “God bless everyone, especially the homeless.”
—-
#2. WhatHaveWeDone.org
This is a very interesting website that serves as a slap in the face of “church as usual”. One of the things that I noticed when all that child molestation junk began to surface from the Catholic church, many of those that are Protestant looked at that situation as though the problem only existed “over there”. There is a lot of “stuff” that goes on the the Protestant world that goes on all the time. Unfortunately it goes unreported.
Many churches today have moved away from the simple message of the Bible to a more flamboyant and surfacy show. In fact, most churches today are very similar to civic organizations: you go to a weekly meeting, have a some type of pledge that you abide by, both have membership, and most importantly, both require financial contributions once you become a member. Shouldn’t there be some difference?
Anyway, the webmaster of this site has put forth a very good effort “exposing” the ills of the church here in America in the area of finances. He provides a lot of stats that further supports his claim of bad financial management in the church. Because the stats that he uses are from William Carey University (The college of choice among most evangelical missionaries ), I tend to take them as pretty accurate. This is not a “rant” site against the church. Instead, it serves as a plea to the church to return to the simple message of the Bible.
Here are some excerpts from his site:
*Annual church embezzlements by top custodians exceed the entire cost of all foreign missions worldwide. Emboldened by lax procedures, trusted church treasurers are embezzling from the Church $5,500,000 PER DAY. That’s $16,000,000,000 per YEAR! That’s Billion – with a “B”! {For reference: TOTAL Christian spending on foreign missions – $15 Billion. God forgive us!}
*Criminal penalties against clergy in sexual abuse cases now exceed $1 billion,causing a number of churches,dioceses,and denominations to be forced into bankruptcy.
*95% of all church budgets in the US are spent on our own comforts and programs. Less than 1% is spent on evangelism to the most unreached.
*40% of the church’s entire global foreign mission resources are being deployed to just 10 oversaturated countries already possessing strong citizen-run home ministries.
*More than 90% of all Christian materials are in English, but only 8% of the world speaks English.
*It is estimated that Christians worldwide spend around $8 BILLION dollars PER YEAR going to the more than 500 conferences to TALK about missions. That’s more than TWICE the total spent DOING missions.
*Currently there are over 33,000 Christian denominations in the United States.
