I have been following (via twitter) pastor Shaun King, of Courageous Church in Atlanta, for a few months now.  I am inspired by his story, his call, and his passion to empower others to live the courageous life.  If anyone thinks a life with Christ is supposed to be calm, tranquil, with no conflict, they have another thing coming.

In fact, I wonder sometimes, if we send the world we are evangelizing to, the wrong message. We tell people, “…oh are you hurting? …life feeling hopeless? Try Jesus, and He’ll make all your pain go away, and you’ll live happily ever after.”  No wonder many new believers feel like they’ve been bamboozled by this bait and switch theology.

Shaun is a pastor of a multi-ethnic church who’s mission is “Love God, Love People, Prove it!”  That statement is what characterizes Courageous Church.  Everyone knows about the devastation in Haiti from the earthquakes.  But it’s one thing to know about devastation; it’s another thing to decide to do what you can, with what you have, right where you are to “be” the difference in devastating circumstances.  Shaun King has taken this to a whole new level.  Leveraging the power of social networks (i.e. twitter) Shaun has done more to mobile his network than anyone I know.  Check out how he used Twitter to help Dr. Sanjay Gupta (medical journalist for CNN) get 5 neurosurgeons into Haiti when political red tape left Haiti with zero neurosurgeons available to help the people of Haiti.  Cool stuff!

Any how, that’s not what this post is about.  What I wanted to highlight here is how Courageous Church is dedicated to not just “being the church” abroad, but is just as dedicated to helping those in need, in a relational way, right where they are.  Take a look at the video above (…like you haven’t already).

What will you come up with next to mobilize your church, and your network to BE the church? Please share your stories here!