50 Leaders of the Evangelical Generation: #40 Russ Reid. Fundraiser

[I am working on a project that may become a book on the most influential evangelicals leaders of our generation, since 1976, and the impact they've had on the church and their times. I will introduce them briefly on this blog from time to time. Who should be on this list?]

#40.Russ Reid. Fundraiser b.1935

Follow the money. When you do in the evangelical sector over the last generation, following the money that it took to launch and support many of the great ministries and missions and projects of the time, the trail would take you to and through the offices of a fast-talking Californian with a sparkle in his eyes and many new ideas for funding mission: Russ Reid.


For many today, Russ Reid is the name of the firm, with little notice that it is also the man who launched the firm and remains a fascinating study. Russ Reid is the founder and leader of the first of the large fund development agencies that became partners with Christian organizations, using direct response fundraising to find support for their work. Russ said: “There is no shortage of money, only a shortage of well-articulated causes.”

Russ Reid has helped articulate a lot of causes.

Originally he had trained for the ministry, but finally realized that he was more of a marketing guy than a pastor. In the late 1950s he went to work for Word Publishing in Waco, Texas. There he learned all about direct response through book-of-the-month clubs and by marketing books through direct mail. Along the way, he noticed some wonderful organizations doing great work to help others, but they didn’t know how to tell their own stories, or how to raise money.

Russ had a vision—to start a company that would help nonprofit organizations make a bigger difference in the world. He founded the Russ Reid Company in 1964, and Word Publishing became his first client. Later he moved the company to Park Ridge, Illinois, and worked with small ministries as he got up and running. In 1966, Russ was able to get a project from World Vision. At that time, World Vision was conducting projects around the world on an annual budget of about $5 million (today they’re approaching $2 billion in annual revenue).

In 1972, as his work with World Vision increased, Russ decided to move from Chicago to Arcadia, California, near World Vision’s Monrovia headquarters. At that time, the way World Vision acquired sponsors was by speaking at churches and showing a film about the plight of children in the developing world.

Russ had an idea. He approached World Vision EVP Ted Engstrom and proposed that they film Art Linkletter traveling around the world and meeting these children in need, bring that film back, and instead of going from church to church, put it on television.

Ted Engstrom got approval from the board for this expensive, risky project, and reportedly said to Russ afterwards, “What will we do if this doesn’t work?” Russ laughed and said, “Ted, we’ll have the most expensive church film in history.”

It did work, beyond expectations, and the World Vision television specials were born--the first major television fundraising of their kind. Many of followed, and Russ Reid has been involved with many of them.

Over the last 40 years, Russ Reid’s little company has grown from one guy with an idea about helping people who help people, to what is now the largest agency in the world exclusively devoted to helping nonprofit organizations grow.

Russ says: “Giving life and health and hope to children in poverty, to the homeless, to people with cancer is significant work. It’s life-changing work. For me, it’s part of what gets me up in the morning, excited about coming to work.”

50 Leaders of the Evangelical Generation: #46 Philip Yancey. Literary Plumb Line

[I am working on a project that may become a book on the most influential evangelicals leaders of our generation, since 1976, and the impact they've had on the church and their times. I will introduce them briefly on this blog from time to time. Who should be on this list?]

#46 Philip Yancey. Literary Plumb Line b.

One of the most popular evangelical writers of modern times, Philip Yancey is the product and victim of a hyper-fundamentalist upbringing. He considers himself a survivor of the church, and today he is a literary plumb line for believers being dragged to the abyss of legalism.

Yancey tackles the difficult questions of the Christian life and explores the richness of deep faith through his many books and as editor-at-large and regular contributor to Christianity Today magazine. Yancey’s books have won 12 Gold Medallion Awards from the Evangelical Christian Publishers’ Association and two Christian Book of the Year Awards--for The Jesus I Never Knew in 1996 and What's So Amazing About Grace in 1998.

Yancey was born in Atlanta and grew up in a strict, fundamentalist church. He viewed God as an abusive parent-—rigid, legalistic, angry, ready to bring the gavel down for one wrong misstep. His only window to a larger world as a young man was reading. So, he devoured books that opened his mind and challenged to teachings of his church, books such as 1984, Animal Farm, and To Kill a Mockingbird. The more he read, the more frustrated he became.

"I was an angry, wounded person emerging from a toxic church, and I've been in recovery ever since," says Yancey. "I went through a period of reacting against everything I was taught and even throwing my faith completely away at one point. I began my journey back to faith mainly by encountering a world that was quite different than I had been taught about; a world of beauty and goodness. As I experienced that, I realized maybe God had been misrepresented to me. So, I went back, warily circling around the faith."

"I write books to resolve things that are bothering me, things I don't have answers to,” Yancey says. “For those who struggle with my books, I just say, ‘Then you really shouldn't be reading them.' But some people do need the kinds of books I write. They've been burned by the church or they’re very upset about certain aspects of Christianity. I feel called to speak to those living in the borderlands of faith."

--Jim Jewell

Making Good Coffee Good for Everyone

My name is Jim and I am a coffeeholic. Yes I do love coffee, and although I enjoy the various combination drinks at Starbucks, I regularly enjoy a good, rich, dark roast.

Since I've begun working in environmental stewardship, I've been learning more about not just what makes good coffee, but what makes coffee good--as in fair and just, a positive impact on those who grow it, and gentle on the environment. But all of the labels--such as shade-grown, fair-trade, and bird-friendly--have been confusing to me, as they may be to you.

A post on coffee and community at the Flourish Blog is very helpful in sorting out how individuals and churches can make coffee hour a truly redemptive time.

On the church coffee hour, it reads:

The church coffee hour is already a ministry—a time of fellowship, connection, and service for people who need the love of God and the love of our brothers and sisters. Drinking conscientiously-produced coffee and tea simply extends that ministry to brothers and sisters we may not be able to meet and greet, but who are no less deserving of love and justice. When this service is viewed as a ministry, and not just a perk or an expectation, options open up for making it work

.

Check it out.

--Jim Jewell

50 Leaders of the Evangelical Generation: #29 Ron Sider. The Liberal

[I am working on a project that may become a book on the most influential evangelicals leaders of our generation, since 1976, and the impact they've had on the church and their times. I will introduce them briefly on this blog from time to time. Who should be on this list?]

Ron Sider. b. 1939

Since Ron Sider published Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger in 1977, he has provided direction and support for evangelicals focusing on poverty, social justice, pacifism, and the environment. Sider, both personally and through the small and lightly funded organizations he founded, has represented the northstar of the small group of evangelical liberals that from time to time prod the right-leaning community with a necessary nudge to include the last, least, and lost in the outreach of the church. One thing Sider has never done is deviate from both the core doctrines and the central cultural issues of the movement; he demonstrated this by signing the Manhattan Declaration in 2009. This was consistent with his lifelong pro-life stance. In fact, Sider’s Completely Pro-Life, published in the mid-1980s, calls on Christians to take a consistent stand opposing abortion, capital punishment, nuclear weapons, hunger, and other conditions that Sider sees as anti-life.

As Tim Stafford wrote in Christianity Today:

Ron Sider doesn't seem the type to upset people. A short, balding seminary professor with a quick smile and thick glasses, he talks in a relaxed, low-voltage way. Professionally he is a hybrid, a historian who teaches theology and talks and writes about politics and economics. His academic credentials are exemplary: a Ph.D. in Reformation history Yale; articles published in prestigious journals. Theologically he is a heartland evangelical, deeply committed to an inspired Bible, to a passionate communication of the gospel and to a transforming personal faith. Politically he is mainstream Democratic party except for conservative stances on homosexuality and abortion. In short, Sider is no flaming radical. Yet it would be hard to think of another evangelical who has been more ardently criticized for being "radical." In reality, Sider takes flak from both the Left and the Right, particularly when he upholds evangelical positions at ecumenical meetings. "I've been picketed twice," he says, "by theonomists [who believe in applying Old Testament law today] in Australia, and in Minnesota by gay-rights [advocates]."

Sider has published over 22 books and has written over 100 articles in both religious and secular magazines on a variety of topics including the importance of caring for creation as part of biblical discipleship. Sider's Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger was published In 1977. Hailed by Christianity Today as one of the one hundred most influential books in religion in the twentieth century, it went on to sell 350,000 copies. He is often identified by others with the Christian left, though he personally disclaims any political inclination. He is the founder of Evangelicals for Social Action, a think-tank which seeks to develop biblical solutions to social and economic problems.. He is also the Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry and Public Policy at Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

House of Democrats Passes Health Bill

The U.S. Congress did not pass the bill realigning the health care system: the Democratic caucus did.

As the NY times opines, until yesterday:

Never in modern memory has a major piece of legislation passed without a single Republican vote. Even President Lyndon B. Johnson got just shy of half of Republicans in the House to vote for Medicare in 1965, a piece of legislation that was denounced with many of the same words used to oppose this one. That may be the true measure of how much has changed in Washington in the ensuing 45 years, and how Mr. Obama’s own strategy is changing with the discovery that the approach to governing he had in mind simply will not work.

Partisanship is today the only game in town, but this is not at all surprising. We are a deeply polarized nation of opposed echo chambers diving deeper into ideological extremes, with little dialogue that advances compromise, cvility, or balanced policy. Our politicians are downstream from this cultural crisis, using it and feeding it, rather than providing moderation and statemanship.

--Jim Jewell

Brand Is What Brand Does

Fascinating article on brand and brand consistency by Edward Boches at Creativity Unbound.

Boches writes:

"I’m not sure consistency – at least in terms of messages and a look – even matters anymore. It’s more important to be present, visible, searchable and useful. But what does matter is this: making sure that customers and prospects have a clear sense of a brand’s promise and what they can expect from it. Think Apple (elegant and creative), Target (affordable design), Volvo (safety), Zappos (service), Panera (breadness).*

The brands that prosper in a world of abundance all have something in common. They are not defined by their messages, but rather by their behavior and actions. On the other hand, brands whose actions fail to reinforce a singular promise (Comcast, United Airlines, Dominos) are all subject to being defined by content created by others. I think of Comcast as a cable giant that’s notorious for bad service; United as an airline with a hub in Chicago and a tendency to break guitars; and Dominos as an unhealthy fast food chain trying to improve the quality of its pizza after customers complained and disgusting employees did rude things to the pizza. Perhaps if they delivered consistently positive products, service, behavior and content we might think differently."

"A brand isn’t what a brand says; a brand is what a brand does," Boches says

--Jim Jewell

Leaders of the Evangelical Generation #32. Congressman Frank Wolf

[I am working on a project that may become a book on the most influential evangelical leaders of our generation, since 1976, and the impact they've had on the church and their times. I will introduce them briefly on this blog from time to time. Who should be on this list?]

Frank Wolf. Gentle Congressman b.1939

When the topic of Christian politicians comes up in conversation, almost no one mentions Representative Frank Wolf of northern Virginia. That is not because his actions or words run contrary to Christian principles. It may be for just the opposite reason: Wolf is a humble 15-term Congressman who has worked unflaggingly but quietly on some of the most difficult issues for people of faith around the world. Wolf is a restrained and effective Christian statesman.

An unassuming champion of international human rights and religious liberty, Wolf won the first William Wilberforce Award in 1992, presented to Christians in public service by Chuck Colson and Prison Fellowship. Wilberforce is the driving force behind a group of congressmen from both sides of the aisle, including Wolf, who meet periodically to make their faith part of their politics. The most recent recipient of the award is former Democratic congressman Tony Hall of Ohio.

Wolf said: "There are only 435 members of the House of Representatives and only 100 members of the Senate. If we can get the word out about Wilberforce's life and legacy, we can change this country."

Wolf is not much at glad-handing, he shies away from the limelight, and he’s a bland public speaker. For his serene optimism, critics have labeled him naive. His travels are not the typical junkets to posh resorts or embassy parties but risky excursions to outposts ravaged by war and famine—especially to places where fellow Christians are persecuted for their faith.

On one journey took him to Tibet, where he posed as a tourist, eluded the tour guide by pretending to be ill, and then sneaked out to talk to Tibetans on the street for the real story of Chinese repression. Another expedition took him to Sudan, a nation that was waging a self-described religious war against its own citizens who are Christians or other non-Muslims through a campaign of torture, starvation, and murder. Sudanese soldiers were literally snatching children from their mothers' arms and selling them into slavery for the price of a few head of cattle. Girls were sold as concubines.

He has dodged bombs in Nagorno Karabakh. He has investigated conditions in El Salvador, Bosnia, and Ethiopia. Instead of enjoying the plush accommodations he could command as a government official, Wolf toughs it out with ordinary people for a first-hand sense of their plight.

Before the fall of the Iron Curtain, Wolf tramped throughout Eastern Europe championing for freedom. He was the first American official to bulldog his way into the notorious Perm Camp 35 in the Siberian gulag, where leading dissidents were imprisoned. Upon returning, he publicized the religious and political abuses they reported and arranged for me to join a second group visiting the camp. Due to Wolf's tenacity, the Soviets released many prisoners even before the USSR collapsed.

After the trial of the leadership of the Bahá'í community of Iran was announced in February 2009, Wolf was deeply disturbed over the "systematic persecution" of the Bahá'ís. He offered a resolution on the subject of the trial of the Iranian Bahá'í leadership co-sponsored by seven others--"Condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights.”

For his indefatigable efforts, Wolf has won respect even from people on the opposite side of his conservative politics. Former Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory called him "a watchman on the rampart of world freedom." Former Democratic congressman Lionel Van Deerlin described Wolf as one of "a special breed," who "seem attracted to public office to fulfill more than personal or political ends." Men like Wolf, he added, "sustain a flicker of hope in the elective process."

When Chuck Colson presented the first Wilberforce Award to Wolf, we prepared large red, white and blue vertical banners with Wilberforce’s picture to decorate the outdoor proceedings. Wolf asked if he could have one of the banners and we complied. The next time I visited Wolf’s congressional office, he had it hanging on the inside of the door to his personal office. The banner took up the entire door; a Wilberforce-like legacy seems to have consumed his entire life.

--Jim Jewell

7 Branding Mistakes to Avoid

Here are some good tips from Mickie Kennedy at eReleases on seven branding mistakes to avoid:

1. Trying to be all things to all people
2. Not giving the brand time to develop
3. Restricting your potential for growth
4. Not separating yourself from the competition
5. Being different just to be different
6. Ignoring attacks on your brand
7. Basing your brand on price

Found our Irish Roots in Time for St. Patrick's Day

Just heard from my sister Pamela, who is our family historian/genealogist, on this St. Patrick's Day, to establish our Irish roots.

On my mother's (Harriet Louise Speer Jewell) side, we can trace the lineage back to Thomas Speer, Irish, born 1681 Stewartstown, Co., Tyrone, Ulster, Northern Ireland; died 1779 in Stewartstown, Co., Tyrone, Ulster, Northern Ireland.

Two generations later, James Black Speer was born, married Frances Metzgar and came to America. James Black Speer was a blacksmith! Their son, James Metzgar Speer (married Mary Kirker--whose parents were Scottish, living in Ireland) had James Kirker Speer (my maternal grandfather) (married Alice Fulmer--Scottish) (my maternal grandmother).

And now 2 generations later, as Pamela puts it: "the Irish blood is thin, but the green eyes, a touch of red hair, and a fair bit of fiestiness still remains . . ."

--Jim Jewell

As Colson, Mohler and Others Release Video Series on Social Justice (Yes, Social Justice), It’s Time for Glenn Beck to Apologize to Christians

It really is past time for Glen Beck to apologize to Christians for his equating the church’s work in social justice with Nazism and Communism. He’s not just enraging liberals; he’s become an embarrassment to conservatives. And on this point he’s just wrong in the most offensive way.

Although he wasn’t directing his comments at the Heritage Foundation video series, Beck’s comments were made just after the release by Heritage of the series on social justice with Chuck Colson of BreakPoint, Al Mohler of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Sean Litton of the International Justice Mission, and other evangelical leaders speaking on the meaning and importance of social justice.

Beck’s comments are not an issue of left and right but of false representation of the teachings of Jesus on care for the poor and the suffering, and a broadside against those who live out the Gospel in our society.

The criticism of Beck is strong and diverse, from all parts of the religious spectrum

Jim Wallis, Sojourners


James Martin, S.J., Catholic priest


Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission


Joe Carter, evangelical editor, First Things


The Rev. Canon Peg Chemberlin, president of the National Council of Churches of Christ USA


David Gushee, evangelical, professor of Christian ethics, Mercer University



Marty Duren, Southern Baptist pastor


It’s time for Beck to make amends, or for Fox News to censure him or drop his show.

--Jim Jewell

Leaders of the Evangelical Generation #1: Carl F. H. Henry

[I am working on a project that may become a book on the most influential evangelicals leaders of our generation, since 1976, and the impact they've had on the church and their times. I will introduce them briefly on this blog from time to time. Who should be on this list?]

#1 Carl F. H. Henry. Senior theologian 1913-2003

Formidable evangelical theologian and founding editor of Christianity Today magazine Carl F. H. Henry stole his first Bible from a church. Later, when God opened his heart and convicted him of his sins (not just the Bible stealing), Henry knelt down by his car on Long Island and prayed the Lord’s Prayer, the only way he knew how to speak to God. His actions and his communication improved dramatically. In 1947 he contended in The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism for evangelical positions against the prevailing liberalism of the mainline church, and pushed his conservative brethren for more cultural engagement than prescribed by the fundamentalists of the day, led by Carl McIntyre, a writer, radio preacher, and rabble-rousing symbol of Presbyterian fundamentalism.

It was Henry and his contemporaries Harold J. Ockenga and Billy Graham who propelled the modern evangelical movement as a vital societal force and set the stage for it to soar past theological liberalism as the prominent Protestant force of the time. From the beginning of his academic career Henry aspired to lead Protestant fundamentalism to greater intellectual and social engagement with the larger American culture.

Henry was born to German immigrant parents just before the outbreak of World War I. Raised on Long Island, Henry became interested in journalism, and by age 19 he edited a weekly newspaper in New York's Nassau county. After his conversion to Christianity, Henry attended Wheaton College, obtaining his bachelor's and master's degrees.

Bent on pursuing an academic career in theology, he completed doctoral studies at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (1942) and later at Boston University (1949). He was ordained in the Northern Baptist Convention,and taught theology and philosophy of religion at Northern Baptist Seminary. In 1947, he accepted Ockenga’s call to become the first professor of theology at the new Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

In 1955, Henry became the first editor of Christianity Today, a publication conceived by Billy Graham and L. Nelson Bell and financed by Sun Oil magnate, J. Howard Pew, as an evangelical alternative to the Christian Century. Under Henry's guidance, Christianity Today became the leading journalistic mouthpiece for evangelicalism and provided the movement intellectual respectability. He resigned his position at Christianity Today in 1968, after conflicts with Pew and Bell over editorial issues and criticism from evangelicalism’s fundamentalist wing.

After a year of studies at Cambridge University, Henry became professor of theology at Eastern Baptist Seminary (1969-74) and visiting professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1971). After 1974, he served stints as lecturer-at-large for World Vision International (1974-87) and Prison Fellowship Ministries (1990-).

Henry’s six-volume theological tome God, Revelation and Authority is one of the most important evangelical theological works of the twentieth century. Published between 1976 and 1983, it shaped the evangelical movement in countless ways and is still widely read, studied as a clear statement of evangelical beliefs contra liberalism and neo-orthodoxy. The New York Times called it "The most important work of evangelical theology in modern times."

Top 10 PR Secrets for Non-Profits: #10 Never Give Up

When you engage in public relations as a non-profit organization, every move must be strategic and thoughtful. The road to visibility can be long and arduous, and there is nothing more important than your integrity and your reputation. For more than three decades, we have been providing counsel and service to organizations and public figures in the Christian and non-profit sectors. We’ll unfold ten things we’ve learned.


#10 Never Give Up

Many organizations treat contact with media and other public relations actions like to a trip to the dentist. An unpleasant necessity they turn to when something dramatic happens. Unfortunately, those rare forays to media aren’t an effective public relations program any more than a rare trip to the dentist is a complete oral hygiene program. Both require regular and ongoing care.

Often, groups think of contact with the media when they have a new program, are celebrating an anniversary, or have new personnel who see the need for new external initiatives. When media don’t respond to their overtures because it’s the first time they’ve ever heard of the group or have no other history with them, organizations throw their corporate hands up in disgust and write off public relations as a waste of time and money.

Others meet the media for the first time when crisis strikes.

You can’t go to the media with good news in January, avoid them for months or years as some bad news hits, then expect them to print your story when things turn around. There’s not relationship there.

Start communicating long before you have a major story to tell, and before you’re forced to tell your story. And don’t stop communicating when the band stops playing. The single worst thing your company can do is to stop communicating with your external publics, beginning with media.

You need to have a consistent, solid presence in the media. Although you can blow your reputation in a day, it takes a long time to build one.

--Jim Jewell

Top Ten PR Secrets for Non-profit Organizations: #9 Work Like You Know It’s the 21st Century

When you engage in public relations as a non-profit organization, every move must be strategic and thoughtful. The road to visibility can be long and arduous, and there is nothing more important than your integrity and your reputation. For more than three decades, we have been providing counsel and service to organizations and public figures in the Christian and non-profit sectors. We’ll unfold ten things we’ve learned.

#9 Work Like You Know It's the 21st Century

As we begin the second decade of the 21st Century it is clear that communications is different than the last century. I’m not so sure it is changing for the positive, but regardless of what I think, a campaign that is “oh, so last century“ is not likely to succeed. 10% of the 21st Century is already history.

Like anyone else in public relations work, we have been trying to determine what about the new media will change the way we spend our time, about what part will simply waste our time in the guise of social networking.

Here’s what we’re learning

1. Website: You need to have a decent website with a moving part—something that changes regularly and provide current information. Ours is www.rooftop.biz.

2. Blog: You need a blog, either as part of the website or continuously connected. Positive new information can be presented through blogging, and an organization can respond to pretty much anything through blogging, especially negative rumors or negative public reaction to anything the organization does. Since blogs are supposed to be updated incredibly frequently (usually every day or at the very least once a week) an organization can respond to the public in real time. Also, since blogs allow comments, an organization can see the public response to the public relations campaigns themselves. Our blog is www.therooftopblog.blogspot.com.


3. Optimize: Websites and blogs don’t do you any good if no one visits. There are lots of tips for search engine optimization (SEO), which can help maximize your Internet based work. None of this can be static and successfully. Working the blogs and networks will have to be part of nearly every day to be successful.

4. Social networks: You need to find the combination of social networks that work for you. I use Twitter (RooftopJewell), Facebook, and LinkedIn; perhaps you’ll find something that works better for you. Social networks want you to be social; people that simply are selling their wares using a social apparatus are looked down on.

5. Write for the Internet: You have ten seconds for the first impression. Save your depth for those who chose to dig in. Give the simple facts in 150 words or less? Who? What? Where? When? Why? Journalism's five "W's." Or the short-sentence, three-paragraph email pitch letter? It's not easy to write tight. Mark Twain summed it up best when he said: "If I had more time I would have written less." Writing is about re-writing. Writing well takes time. Respect today's reality: take the time to write less and make it mean more. Want to win coverage? Start by throwing out the tattered old print press release. Write like you have 10 seconds to make a point. Because online, you do.

I’m learning along with everyone else--not just about how to use the tools, but how the tools can realistically maximize the message. There is something new to learn every day.

--Jim Jewell