Since we’ve been working on our ministry World Causes and with the start of our Free Chains campaign two weeks ago, many of you are asking how you can help and get involved. So, I thought I’d throw out some ideas.

1. Prayer.

Sounds cliche, but this is soooooooo important. We need prayer for direction and guidance for our team. We need prayer for provision for the resources to accomplish our vision. We need prayer for volunteers and 3-4 potential employees. We need prayer for Free Chains. For the message to spread and for the rescuing and restoring of those trapped in sex slavery. Finally, prayer for me to lead with all the diligence and passion that I can. Also pray for wisdom.

We really believe in the power of prayer and ask that you join us. We believe that greater things lie before us if we will prayerfully ask.

2. Spread the Word

Please tell your friends, neighbors, family, roommates, small group, youth group, all your online friends and even strangers on the street about Free Chains. There are 2.5 million people held as sex slaves around the world, including in the US and we need to speak for them. You can send them to our site, www.freechains.org. have them join our facebook group and cause.

3. Give Financially

We are looking for monthly supporters to help build a solid foundation for World Causes and the projects we want to do like Free Chains. We need resources to further build creative 1st step solutions to help end poverty, injustice and epidemic diseases.

If you would like to be a monthly supporter or give a one time gift, email me at greg.darley@gmail.com. You may also donate non cash goods like stocks, bonds, land, air miles.

All donations are tax deductible as World Causes is a 501(c)3 organization.

Here are some specific areas where funds will be used:

-Further expanding the Free Chains campaign, including visiting college campuses and churches in the fall

-Writing “Free Chains” small group curriculum to explore what the Bible says about issues of injustice and the gospel.

-Further development of the World Causes Link website. (This site is a collecting point for organizations working in the areas of poverty, injustice and epidemic diseases.)

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4. Your church and/or youth group

I am blessed with many friends that are in youth ministry. Many are asking what they can do. If you are interested in getting your group involved here are some ideas:

-Have everyone buy a Free Chain-key chain for $10. Proceeds go to support the 65 girls in our safe house. Take a group picture with the key chains, email it to me and we’ll highlight your group on the site.

-Wear the “all should be free” shirt and do the same group photo.

-Sponsor a specific child in our home. Its about $70/mo. That is only a couple of car washes on a Saturday!

-Have a Free Chains speaker come talk with your group. Learn about social justice, the gospel and how they fit together.

-Host a Q&A time about the issue.

-Find any creative way to raise funds to support the effort.

Today is a very special day for me.  4 years ago, I stepped into a dream.  The most amazing and beautiful girl in the world agreed to spend her life with me.  She walked down the aisle and looked so amazing.  She even said yes!  I can not believe it has been 4 years.  I am so blessed. She is a constant source of encouragement and strength in my life.  I can not wait to see what the next year reveals for us.  I love you Bets.  Happy Anniversary!

We’re closing up our second week of Free Chains and I want to thank everyone for helping. We are off to a great start. I’ll be posting some more ways to help in a few days, but for those asking, the best thing to do is to go to the site and get a Free Chain key chain and tell 5 friends to do the same. All proceeds are going to help our safe house!

Facebook group. 426 people have joined.  Join in!

Facebook cause.  115 people have joined in the past 13 days.  Join Us!

More updates to come.  Thanks for helping spread the word that “All Should Be Free!”

I saw an awesome billboard yesterday while driving down the interstate.  The message was clear, but the material could have been better.

The board read “Trees Trees Houses Trees“ in big bold letters.  It was for a new housing development. Instantly I knew what kind of neighborhood it would be.  It would be one with more trees than houses, rather than all houses and a couple of trees.  What a powerful picture. Espeically for new neighborhoods. Most new neighborhoods are cleared, cookie-cutter homes are stamped out, and a few “trees” are planted in the end. But this neighborhood was proclaiming a different message.  The status quo was changing.

I was thinking about what that message would look like for the church.  Here are some ideas:

Judge   Judge   Me   Judge

Fake   Rude   Everyone   Judgemental

Racist   Rich   Members   Selfish

What if they looked like this:

Love    Love You     Love

Acceptance   Forgiveness   Neighbor   Grace

Help   Help    Me    Help

Food   Shelter  Billions  Hope

You see, the status quo has got to change. The church has lived up to the expectations that society has set for us.  It is time to change that. My heart is to see the Church be the hands and feet of Jesus.  If people saw our churches and their mind went to the “billboard” like mentioned above, we’d have to knock the walls out to make more room.

This is a main goal of World Causes and our Free Chains campaign.  The Church should be leading the fight against issues like child sex slavery.  If we did, think about the impact we make.  Not only for the innocent girls, but also on those around that have missed the point.

Some friends of mine are making this very impact in the heart of Columbia, SC.  Midtown Fellowship is beginning to be known as the leader in the community when it comes to loving and helping the homeless. They are invited to city meetings about the issue.  This is monumental and I commend Dustin, Lee, Alan and the entire team.

As a side note, I’ve been thinking about what my billboard looks like to others and what I want it to look like. What would your’s say?

Do you think there is such thing as ultimate truth? Would you say that you could know truth? What about a definition of right and wrong?

At the end of the day will mark the first full week of our Free Chains campaign to end child sex trafficking. It has been a great week. Let me give you a few updates:

• 71 people have joined the Facebook Cause.
• 364 people have joined the Facebook Group.
• Numerous people have blogged about the campaign. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here.
• We’ve sold a dozen “All Should Be Free” t-shirts with proceeds benefiting our safe house in Nepal.
• We’ve sold 2 dozen Free Chain key chains with proceeds benefiting our safe house as well.

We’re off to a great start. Thank you to everyone who is playing a part. So everyone knows…our initial goal is to raise $65,000.  This is the amount needed to operate the safe house and all of their programs.  This will help upwards of 65 girls and children to have a safe place to sleep, a place to recover, to learn job skills, to receive education and a place to feel loved.

Please consider becoming a monthly donor to support them!

After months of work, it is awesome to see some fruits of our labor. The Free Chains Campaign to end child sex trafficking officially started today. Our goal is to raise awareness and money to help prevent and rescue those suffering from this evil.

Our goal is to raise $65,000 to full fund our safe house for a year. Everyone doing their part will enable this to happen fairly quickly.

I’d like to thank everyone who has helped with this, including and in no specific order: Kirk for the cards, Joel for help with t-shirts, Chris for design, Dan for help with so much, Andrew for help on site, Betsey for encouragement, Chris for huge support, Colette for connections, Jeff for photo help, Trey, Kristen, Sarah, Jeff, and Betsey for great pictures, Dickson for support, Christine for passion, all team captains for help, Aaaron for design help, and everyone who is spreading the word.

Love all of you.

ALL SHOULD BE FREE