Who:J. Mark Brinkmoeller (ONE), Kadita “A.T.” Tshibaka (Opportunity International), Armando Fullwood (Global Need), Dave Gibbons (Yangdang)

J. Mark Brinkmoeller: In the United States we have the gift of citizenship which means that we have the ability to speak out. God asks everyone who walks the earth to take care of our planet… it’s not just a call for the Christians. When dealing with legislators it is important to communicate your own story and why an issue is important to you. You should also understand what is important to your legislator, so that you know what motivates them (moral issues, national security, etc.). Churches should work with what already works well in their communities… if you have a strong small group ministry, then work activism into your small groups.

bibledude: It seems that the overriding message here is that personalization of issues is key. The more that we can get people to connect personally with the issues, the more successful we are likely to be with our activism.

Kadita “A.T.” Tshibaka: Born in Democratic Republic of Congo, grew up through most difficult of circumstances. Stands here now completely by the Grace of God. After getting an MBA in Economic Development, he had a heart to go back and help educate people to help them. Now with Opportunity International they first serve God by helping the poor by using microfinance solutions, and by creating banks for the poor to make banking accessible. If there is one thing that people can do it is to know the importance of caring for the poor.

[youtube InUcGXj05d4 Opportunity International]

bibledude: Microfinance is a great solution to help people pull themselves out of poverty. I made a mission trip to Kenya and Uganda earlier this year with another Christian microfinance organization called Five Talents. The purpose of our trip was to teach basic Christian business skills to clients of the savings and credit programs. I’m actually sharing the journals from this trip here in a series called [the africa diaries]. Cool stuff!

[vimeo 6304969 Nuru EP 6: Harvest]

Armando Fullwood and Dave Gibbons: When God gives you a vision for something you need to write it down and do something about it. Christians have walked away from God’s command to steward the whole planet, which is why so many people have picked up the call even though they don’t believe that God created it in the first place. Collaboration is important to sparking innovation. But innovation should not be slowed by pride (people wanting credit for the new ideas). There are business strategies that are creating the potential of unleashing opportunity like never before.

bibledude: Dude… this really challenged me as it pertains to stepping up to the call. Wow… there’s lots of work to do, but it is amazing how God pulls so many of the pieces together through other parts of the Body! There are some amazing tools (like globalneed and yangdang) that are supporting people who desire to interact with the world in a beautiful way. Amen!

More from ICDC: live blogging @theideacamp conference