Thanks for your support. Only together – literally – can we ensure the end of extreme poverty. I know there are so many worthwhile causes.
Let’s celebrate, support, and cheer on these efforts and the people behind them.
We’re not here to compete w/ others. We want to celebrate the work and efforts of so many different causes and the people and communities behind them. And so with that, I hope you can help support, cheer on, and even celebrate the work of One Day’s Wages.
The compelling aspect of ODW is that100% of your donations (minus transaction costs) go to projects on the ground YOU CHOOSEto fight extreme global poverty. While we may not be able to fix the world, our investments can help change the life of a child, a mother, a father, a family, and even a village.
If you read my blog, you know the situation that brewed this past week regarding the marketing of a book entitled Deadly Vipers. This past week, a few of us including Soong Chan Rah and Kathy Khang shared a conference call with both authors of the book and on a separate day, w/ some of the executives of Zondervan Publishing.
I’m always surprised (even now) how people respond to these sort of circumstances. Honestly, I wished people can see that we’re not trying to stir trouble, seek attention, or get extra blog traffic – because we have nothing else to do. There is genuine need to address these situations. The fact that people have NO CLUE that something can be offensive or hurtful is proof in itself that we still have a long way to go despite a caustic email I received this week:
“…But we have a black President.”
Right… (rolling my beautiful Asian eyes…)
Anyway, thought I’d share some portions from one correspondence and two comments I left on other blogs to give you something to chew on.
I’ve been really encouraged by our correspondence with Mike and Jud. It’s only re-affirmed the positive feelings I have had of them and their ministry. They are good people and I’m looking forward to growing our relationship from an acquaintance to a friendship. In a post-conference letter, I shared this with them: Read the rest of this entry »
We’ve received our share of criticism about our public pledge to donate our 2009 salary to fight extreme poverty. Everything ranging from “Stop boasting” to “You’re lying” and
How about Matthew 6:3 and “…when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”
For the record, I have no good response to people rebuking me with that scripture. I know some of you are sick of me mentioning it but this will be the last time I mention it (although I know that this is what most of the media and bloggers will focus on as we get started).
I need to share it because there were many (mostly anonymous Facebookers) that doubted our pledge. While we weren’t able to honor the pledge by the October 20, 2009 launch date as we had hoped, I went to the bank yesterday and walked out with a cashier’s check for $68,000.
When we made our pledge, we had a plan to make it work but the year proved to be much more difficult than we had anticipated. But after this past year+ of saving, scrimping, subletting, saving, borrowing, and other creative things, we were finally able to make the donation.
And while it was a difficult year, we learned much; great more in love and respect for my wife; experienced many teaching moments with our children, and are excited for all that is in store…
Read this story of Sa-Soon Cha, a 68 year old woman who finally passed her written driver’s test on the 950th attempt.
At first, I was laughing but then when you consider how much work, time, commitment,heart, and even finances she invested, it’s an incredible story of perseverance. Actually, i’ts pretty inspiring.
My favorite quote:
“I believe you can achieve your goal if you persistently pursue it…So don’t give up your dream, like me. Be strong and do your best.”
Read the story of this woman. What do you think of this story?
I can’t tell you how much this story encourages me. I met Dr. Josephine Kim, a Harvard professor in their graduate school of education, this past summer when we spoke at a leadership conference.
I had some good dialogue with Mike Foster yesterday and then a conference call later in the afternoon with Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite (Authors), Chris Heurtz (Director, Word Made Flesh), Soong-Chan Rah (Prof., North Park), Kathy Khang (InterVarsity Multi-Ethnic Ministries Director), and Eugene Cho (Pastor, Quest Church). The conversation was facilitated by Nikki Toyama-Szeto (Urbana 09 Program Director).While I had to click out about 40 minutes into the hour conversation, I was encouraged by the honest conversations from everyone involved and the shared conviction that we did not want this to be a one hit (one chat & out) wonder a la Men at Work (remember them?).
As I shared in the post yesterday, I know there’s no ill intent and this is often the case but folks just don’t know how this kind of stuff indirectly and even directly perpetuates stuff that can be harmful and painful.
I know that what I am about to share is not directly linked to DV but I want to share a glimpse of my heart.
I love my kids dearly (now ages 11, 8, and 6) but when they come home and are occasionally distraught over “stuff” Read the rest of this entry »
Until recently, I had never met Bob & Eunice or their kids. Eunice was a blog stalker, heard about the vision of One Day’s Wages, and wanted to show her support. She also happens to be a local independent fashion designer. When she first emailed me, I thought she needed me to model her clothes since I have an impressive resume in modeling.
But no, that was not the case.
She had a brilliant idea of hosting a “My Closet for One Day’s Wages” and then got others to invest in the project. Here’s also some info from their FB event. You can help in two ways: 1) Contact her (eunicedo (at) gmail.com) if you want to contribute clothes to the sale and/or 2) Come and buy what she promises to be incredible stuff. She’s said that she’s been offered bribes for the early bird entrance!
Here’s the cool thing: 100% of all sales go to fund our current partnerships with Heal Africa, Charity: Water, and Not For Sale. Perhaps you can host something similar or maybe, you have another brilliant idea?
I love the thinking behind One Day’s Wages. Even ordinary people can help out in extraordinary ways. I think it is easy to forget about the hardships others go through when we get stuck in our own routines of life. It got me to thinking how I could help… Read the rest of this entry »
We launched a new teaching series at Quest this past Sunday entitled “Relationships: ___________.” We’ll likely spend the next 4-5 months on all things relationships: God, Jesus, Spirit, self, parents, children, enemies, marriage, dating, and so on.
One of our other pastors was supposed to launch the series but had to bail last minute with a good excuse: emergency surgery on his eye to avoid the possibility of permanent blindness. Glad Pastor Ray is doing much better.
Anyway, here’s the sermon from last Sunday. Not to over-hype the importance of this message but our relationship with God and the Trinity is so pivotal as it has the ability to inform and transform all our other relationships.
I don’t know if I have the energy or bandwidth to write this but it’s important so here goes…
Some of you may have already been aware of the controversy over the marketing behind a book called Deadly Vipers. The full title happens to be: Deadly Viper Character Assassins: A Kung Fu Survival Guide for Life and Leadership. The book was supposedly published in 2007 (didn’t hear about it then) but I think their team have recently been making a more concerted effort to grow the vision & community known as Deadly Vipers. The book is written by Mike Foster & Jud Wilhite – two Caucasian brothers. And I am intentionally choosing to use the word brothers because they are indeed brothers in Christ.
Let me first say this: I have not yet had a chance to meet Jud and I’m sure that at some point or another, we’ll cross paths and I’ll very much enjoy our fellowship. I only hear wonderful things about him and his ministry/leadership. As for Mike, I have actually had the pleasure of meeting him Read the rest of this entry »
Thanks for reading my blog and for your support in so many various ways. It has been a huge blessing in my life. Thank you.
As some of you know, my family and I recently started a non-profit organization called One Day’s Wages. In short, ODW aspires to be a grassroots movement dedicated to ending extreme global poverty. We want to inspire people to simply donate one day’s wages (equivalent to about 0.4% of one’s annual salary) to the fight against extreme global poverty and to renew that investment – monthly, quarterly, and at the least, yearly (on their birthdays).
The compelling aspect of ODW is that100% of your donations (minus transaction costs) go to projects on the ground YOU CHOOSE to fight extreme global poverty. While we may not be able to fix the world, our investments can help change the life of a child, a mother, a father, a family, and even a village.
Even if you are unable to give or choose to donate later,you can help us immensely by simply taking 3 minutes and registering/creating a profile on our website. This is an encouragement to us because it shows that you support our cause and movement.
Thanks again and feel free to forward this on…
With gratitude,
Eugene & Minhee Cho (Founders of One Day’s Wages)
What did you dress up as for your respective costume gatherings?
I came to our church’s “Truck or Treat” party for the kids without a costume and got boo’ed so I went into my office and put on my clubs in the back to dress up as a ‘caddie.’ I thought it was a good idea until I was walking around and hit a couple little kids with my irons. Not good.
Anyways, here’s the best & worst costumes: Mr. ShawWow salesman and some dude at Quest dressing up as “Pastor Eugene.” Read the rest of this entry »
As most of you know, Minhee and I had the joy and gift of soaking in the U2 concert this past week.
After hearing all the hype and elevation of U2 and blah blah blah, I became a believer this past week. I’ve always enjoyed their music but I became a fan this week – even despite Bono blowing kisses at my wife. Jerk.
Anyways, the venue wasn’t as packed when the Black Eyed Peas opened for U2. It’s not fair to compare these two but the BEP just seemed off or that I’m not familiar with their music. In fact, I’ve only heard one of their songs prior to the show. But then again, maybe it’s because they weren’t playing “their” show to their primary audience. What was fascinating was to be so close to stage and to able to see the precision of everything they were doing – or at least attempting to do.
Thanks to everyone who came out to the ODW launch party this past Saturday (October 24). It was great to have a few strangers join the party who heard about it through friends or Facebook.
Minhee and I – representing One Day’s Wages – made our way to Vancouver, BC to soak in the U2 concert. We were there as guests of ONE and have very much enjoyed learning from them when we visited ONE’s headquarters over the summer in Washington DC and are excited about some possibilities of collaboration in the future. For those that are don’t know much about ONE:
ONE is a grassroots campaign and advocacy organization backed by more than 2 million people who are committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Cofounded by Bono and other campaigners, ONE is nonpartisan and works closely with African policy makers and activists.
Minhee’s never been to a stadium sized concert and I’ve only been to two in my life and the 2nd was couple months ago in Chicago when U2 kicked off their tour.
But wow. I don’t know if we’ll ever get these kind of backstage seats again in our lifetime. Hey, fighting extreme global poverty has some perks! Join One Day’s Wages now!
Sex, gossip, and entertainment sells but stuff like compassion and justice often seems like a hard sell. Feels like pushing a big boulder up a big hill. Even on this blog, I’m often disappointed at the lack of response to posts that aren’t “pop [christian] culture.”
Sometimes, I wonder if one of the reasons why certain topics don’t get addressed from the pulpit isn’t because of the lack of awareness of important issues but actually the awareness of the lack of response from the congregants which translates into lower attendance and lower income.
I know. Too simplistic and too cynical but worth thinking about.
Thank you for journeying with my family and I. When we hosted our first meeting 8+ years ago in December 2000, we were uncertain who or if anyone would should up to our house. Thankfully, seven other crazy foolish folks showed up for some cheap Costco pizza.
That night I shared our vision for Quest and the following month in January 2001, Quest Church started with a handful of people with a simple vision to BE the church. It moved from our living room, to the University District, then to Interbay (when we officially “launched” our church on October 21, and then “the blue warehouse” on 15th and Dravus (just south of the Ballard Bridge) as its church and non-profit community cafe. In June 2007, Read the rest of this entry »
We spent about 40 minutes shooting this video a few Saturdays ago. Shot it in our basement in front of our green wall and wow, I was again blown away by the creative work of Mr. Justin Pae. [He really needs to make a website to show off his professional work]. The music was done Cinecue and Honorary Emmy Award Winning Joshua Myers. Thanks guys!
If you haven’t seen it, here it is below (and also available at vimeo):
One Day’s Wages = 0.4% of our annual salary -> Impact against Extreme Poverty
* $20 can help build a well to provide clean water for one person for 20 years.
* $10 can purchase a bed net to help prevent malaria.
* $45 can pay annual school tuition for one child.
If you can, give us a lift with your support. Here’s 5 things you can do:
1. Visit the website and create an account. Just creating an account is a simple great way to support us.
2. Make a donation. Calculate your day’s wages on the website or make another donation. You can choose to invest in one of the 3 incredible organizations/projects highlighted on the website. 100% of your donations (minus transaction costs) go directly to these projects.
3. Be a FAN on Facebook. Stop by and show some love. There’s a lot of mean people out there!
4. Spread the word. Use the tools on our website (like Twitter), share the video on your FB profile, email this link, or use the SHARE button below.
Living in the backyard of a small local business called Microsoft, I run into my share of the Microsoft workforce. I have no particular affinity for one company or the other, but I do think competition is a good thing.
But the past couple years have not been fun with the debacle known to most people as Vista so I was particularly pleased to read some of the positive reviews of Windows 7.
So, who’s upgrading to Windows 7?
Anyone using Win 7 now? What are your reviews?
But does Apple people sure don’t hold back their punches in their commercials. Have you seen this one? Read the rest of this entry »
Read this story of Sa-Soon Cha, a 68 year old woman who finally passed her written driver’s test on the 
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