I spent my morning at the Civil Forum on Global Health sponsored by Rick Warren and Saddleback Church. Thought I’d share a few reflections.
The event was held in the main theater at the newly opened Newseum. Sweet digs! And somehow my ticket was for the front row. I was seated a few feet from from the President. Couldn’t believe how many camera clicks I heard. There were dozens of photographers and every time the President gestured there were lots of clicks.
Really enjoyed the conversational tone of the event. Very interesting to hear Rick Warren and President Bush talking off the cuff. Made for some funny moments. The President interrupted the First Lady at one point and said, “Excuse me baby.” Then said, “That’s what I call her.” He also shared about a trip to Tanzania where the people were expressing thanks to him and the U.S. for our aid in the fight against AIDS. He said, “The people were waving.” And added this little caveat: “With all five fingers.”
The focus on the forum, in my estimation, was how we as churches can leverage our God-given resources and use them to fight what Rick Warren calls the five global Goliaths–spiritual emptiness, self-serving leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic diseases, and rampant illiteracy. Those five issues are the focus of Saddleback’s Peace Plan.
I’m not sure I can do this justice, but Rick shared three slides that made a profound point. The slides showed the western province of Rwanda, population 700,000. The first slide showed the locations of all hospitals. There are only 3 of them. The second slide showed the location of all the health clinics. There are 22 of them. And the third slide showed the location of all the churches in Rwanda. There are 728 of them. Then Rick made a simple observation: The church is the largest organization on earth. What if we viewed churches, especially in less-developed countries, as distribution channels for things like education and health care? The church already has the infrastructure. The church already has the workforce. The church already has the motivation. We just need to strategically mobilize to make a difference.
On a personal note, this event was timed so it coincided with World AIDS Day. We watched a video and one of the statistics was pretty alarming. 8000 people will die from AIDS today. And as you may know, its the #1 killer in Africa. And the video posed this question: are you ok with this?
Most of us are ok with that. And we’re ok with it because it’s just an issue without a name or a face. We’ve never held someone who is starving to death. No one in our family has needlessly died from contaminated water. We don’t know anybody who has been kidnapped and sold into slavery. But once the issue has a name and a face it changes everything doesn’t it? God knows each of those names and faces and that is why it breaks His heart.
I can’t get that question out of my spirit: are you ok with this?
