twenty-three

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is the story of a child from Sierra Leone who is displaced from his family by war and who finds himself caught up in the fighting as a 15 year old. Ishmael’s memoir focuses on his life of violence and his rehabilitation from the psychological damage and drug [...]

I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it here before, but this quarter I’m involved in a small group with some good friends from church and our pastor. We’re going through Renovare’s six aspects of a balanced vision for faith. We’ve talked about the Contemplative (meditation, lectio devina), Holiness (pietistic), Charismatic (Holy Spirit-empowered), and Social Justice (umm…social [...]

Here’s a great article from the Seattle Weekly on World Vision. It’s awesome to hear more details about this amazing group, especially when my good friend Sean works there.
This article and the organization they speak of are both very encouraging as we think of the seemingly overwhelming fight against AIDS in Africa and around [...]

Every year, right about this time in Fall quarter, there’s a little announcement that gets made at the INN which sparks excitement and anticipation in the entire community. Last night, we announced the destinations for our 5 spring break mission trips.
Would you like to know where we’re going?

Another very exciting thing is happening with this blog: My good friend Sean Baird is heading off to the country of Niger on September 10th. While he’s away, he has asked to be a "guest blogger" here at Twenty-three, sharing his thoughts on his work in Africa as well as his insight into the greater [...]

My good friend Seth has been kind enough to create a space for me to share my thoughts and experiences with each of you on his blog rather than start a new one up or put a ton of time into maintaining my old one.  I hope that you will feel free to comment and [...]