Just wanted to pass along two organizations that do good work:
Milton Stanley, longtime friend of this blog and blogger, links to some of the best Christian blog excerpts on the Web over at Transforming Sermons. He has a new publishing company called Transforming Publishing. Milton says, “This new venture has the potential to be a vehicle both for bringing some of the best Christian blogging voices to print and making high-quality Bible studies and commentaries widely available for preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Word.” If you’ve ever considered publishing your Christian writing, contact Milton through his blog.
Sara Wilson of the Fresh Air Fund reminds us that it’s not too late to be a host family for inner-city kids looking to get away to the countryside. As the site explains:
THE FRESH AIR FUND, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Nearly 10,000 New York City children enjoy free Fresh Air Fund programs annually. In 2008, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada. 3,000 children also attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300-acre site in Fishkill, New York. The Fund’s year-round camping program serves an additional 2,000 young people each year.
As a rural denizen who worked in camping ministry for many years, I think this is a worthy cause. If you want to know more about hosting, please see the Fresh Air Fund Host page.
And I would be remiss if I fail to mention books by two friends of mine:
Joe Lacy’s Mountain Reign, the fictional account of the ascent of a ’50s-era Kentucky high school basketball team, captures the feel of the coal mines and the court like nothing I’ve read before. Joe has a way with a phrase that I envy, and for anyone who loves sports, this would be a fine read.
Wayne Holmes teams with Patsyann Maloney in The Making of a Madam, the true story of Patsyann’s descent into the world of prostitution and her subsequent conversion to Christ. If you’re a fan of a bio well told, it’s a gripping tale.