Taxes, Women and Other Good Things

Oh man, it’s everybody’s favorite holiday: Tax Day Eve.  Before I get to my day of shuffling money to pay for said holiday, here’s a couple positives to look for as you prepare your latest gift to Uncle Sam.

• You may have picked up from my eight gazillion posts on the subject, that I’m fixated on community and collaboration.
• The blog category is called “Brotherhood”, but that includes women-to-women relationships too. And along these lines, I’m excited to be launching a series of honest interviews where some influential women will weigh in on “women issues”.  Look for the first one Monday.
• You’ll hear from Jenni Catron, Lauren Chandler, Rachel Held Evans, Bianca Juarez, Sarah Markley, Shauna Niequist, Lindsey Nobles, Leeana Tankersley, Heather Whittaker, Lori Wilhite and more…
• In other news, I’m FINALLY developing a resource for people who want to live their faith beyond the four walls of a church. This is the practical stuff behind the stories told in Dear Church and Picking Dandelions that some of you have been asking about for a few years now.
• And here’s the really cool part: as the book comes together, we’re going to be offering a series of FREE exercises for people or groups who want to study and respond to their local communities better. (One exercise, for example, helps you take a self-guided tour through your community.)
• The exercises can be done at any time, as an individual or a group. And, as we develop the book, we’re inviting people to participate for FREE! :)
• Four churches have already signed on to do the exercises and feedback information for the final product. If your church, organization, small group–or, even your family–want to get these free resources in the mail, let me know: sarahraymondcunningham [at] gmail [dot] com.
• Thanks to the creative momentum behind STORY, being the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the organization has turned out to be one of the easiest things I’ve ever done.=) We’re already out of sponsor exhibit space for this year’s event and are now focusing on a few key experiential sponsorships.
• These sponsorships will add some great dimension and personality to the event too. Fellowship Technologies, for example, is going to host a mystery dining experience and Bittersweet Zine is hosting a live t-shirt screenprinting party. Talk about fun, right?
• If your organization would like to find a creative platform at STORY this year, please drop Ben a line at barment [at] gmail [dot] com and we’ll get back to you.
• One more thing: some leading influencers in the humanitarian and non-profit world have agreed to drop some ideas about collaboration on myself and my beautiful readers too. So stay tuned. They’re coming. And it’s gonna be good.