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Exciting News from Tanzania!

I got more exciting news about the Called Out curriculum that I wrote today! Eliya and Consoler, who serve in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, shared that Called Out, CBE’s youth curriculum, is being considered for public secondary schools… Tanzania’s Youth Patron, who supervises children’s Christian education, recommended Called Out to their multi-denominational Christian Council. Soon, they will vote […]

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When God is Not Your Enemy

Sometimes, when there’s a lot to be done and life seems overwhelming, I wonder if the work I am putting in is worth the cost (which, I will not lie, is high at times). And then, by the grace of God, I get emails quoting teenage girls from East Africa: “Ever since, I knew that […]

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Who is Standing Up for Women? An Exercise in Looking for the Helpers.

Last night was one of those nights when it feels hard to breathe; when you want to rage and cry and fight and scream and sob. Nothing was wrong in my little circle, but make no mistake, things were, and are, very, very wrong. For the past week my newsfeeds have been lit up with […]

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Married by 14, mother by 15, abandoned by 16, back in 7th grade at 19

After three days of teaching a group of thoughtful, well-spoken teachers and church leaders in Bondo, Kenya, I was impressed. Where was the oppression I thought was supposed to be so prevalent in rural Africa? The women who stood up to talk during the training would have made the average American woman look mousy and […]

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Slavery, Colonialism, and Using the Bible to Keep Women Down.

For me, one of the most disturbing parts of the EFOGE training on gender equality in Bondo, Kenya, was hearing the stereotypes commonly used about women (not that they were using them, but they were discussing them). Women are like animals. Women simply aren't as intelligent or capable as men. Because women are lesser beings, […]

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Opposition to Gender Equality, East and West.

It's interesting, the questions people ask when you start talking about gender equality in a Christian context. Of course, there are the theological questions, important conversations that need to be had about biblical interpretation, ancient cultures, translation and projection, and God's heart for humankind. But then, you crash headlong into people's native culture, where belief […]

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Video: Fuzzy Socks and Airplane Lit for my Flight to Kenya

Hey friends! I'm hoping to do some vlogging while I'm in Kenya to introduce you to some of the folks I meet while I'm there, and figured I'd better test out my technology. My discovery so far? My iPad doesn't like fluorescent lighting, so it's probably best NOT to record while it's pitch black outside. […]

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Want to help out a Kenyan Christian worker, and a couple thousand youths?

Here is a truism: the most necessary ministries, the most innovative, grassroots ones, are often the least funded. It is also an unfortunate truth that Western Christians, who hold the purse strings of much of the world’s wealth, are more likely to support Western missionaries than local Christian workers in places like Africa, Asia, and […]

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“The missionaries brought the Bread of Life, but we choked on the packaging.”

“When the missionaries came, they brought the Bread of Life. But alas, we choked on the cellophane it was wrapped in.” Those were words I heard over and over as a child, my missionary father thoughtfully quoting a Liberian radio preacher. I could tell my father took them very seriously, so I did too, branding […]

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Half the Sky on PBS Tonight!

PBS will be airing a documentary based on Half the Sky: Turning Oppression to Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn tonight and tomorrow at 8 pm CST. I am SO excited that PBS is airing this! Be sure to tune in tonight and tomorrow!

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The Dichotomy of Discipleship

I’m sharing My Hazardous Faith Story as part of a synchroblog connected with the release of Ed Cyzewski and Derek Cooper’s new book Hazardous: Committing to the Cost of Following Jesus. I’m a big fan of books about radical discipleship. “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne had me sobbing, and “Radical” by David Platt had […]

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What’s a Nice Evangelical Girl Like You Doing With a Rosary Like That?

I have a confession to make. I’ve always been jealous of my Roman Catholic friend’s rosaries. Actually, it didn’t start with rosaries–it started with a Muslim friend’s prayer staff. He had come to our apartment in Liberia for dinner, and unrolled his prayer mat on our porch during the call to prayer. Afterward, he saw […]

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Orphans, AIDS, and Education: How Underwear Could Save the World

Pop Quiz: What’s one of the most effective ways to turn the tide on the African AIDS epidemic? A. Fund public health and family planning initiatives. B. Develop better curriculums promoting abstinence and monogamy. C. Provide better medical care, lowering mother-to-infant pass-along rates. D. Send African girls to high school. Ding ding ding! If you […]

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Fearless Femininity: Missionaries, Mommies, and Old Ladies on Motorcycles

It’s funny how these things come full circle in our lives. While working on the message about the need for women to find their identity in Christ, instead of in their relationships with others, I’ve been thinking a lot about the women I know who have embodied this, particularly the single missionary women I knew […]

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Adoption, Women, and BFFs: More Jumbled Thoughts

Writing isn’t supposed to be therapy–at least not the kind that happens outside your journal. But sometimes it is. This was certainly the case with my recent post about adoption. I was always a little bit conflicted about it, aware that it didn’t express my whole heart on the matter and could easily be taken […]

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