Hey, our friends from TOMS are having their 3rd annual One Day Without Shoes, Thursday April 8th. One Day Without Shoes is an annual barefoot holiday to spread awareness of the fact that most children in developing countries grow up without shoes.

They invite you to pledge to join or start your own barefoot walk. It might be cold, it could be uncomfortable, and your feet will certainly get dirty, but you will help raise awareness of the impact a simple pair of shoes can bring to a child’s life (and we always have a good time too).

The facts:
· In many developing nations, children must walk for miles to school, clean water and to seek medical help.

· Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.

· Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.

· In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.

· Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene and wearing shoes.

You're also welcome to walk for 5 minutes or a 1/2 mile, anything you can accommodate.  RSVP to join us at OneDayWithoutShoes.com.

Pass the word to your office, church community, friends, family, and neighbors. Get out and take a walk with us on April 8th. Global change always starts with a passionate group of locals!

"We need to talk." When someone says that to us, it's an indication that circumstances have changed. A relationship needs to be redefined; a job needs to be adjusted; a commitment needs to be examined. When "we need to talk" is said by our spouse we wonder. When it’s said by our boss we worry. But no matter who says it, the phrase is an omen that change is around the corner and may already be upon us.

Christian leaders around the country have agreed that it's time for us to talk. Circumstances in our world have changed dramatically in recent years. Globalization has accelerated thanks to digital communication technologies. New political realities have made fundamentalist forms of Islam and Hinduism a rising danger. The number of children orphaned by HIV/Aids is expected to reach 20 million this year. And a poor African woman represents the new face of Christianity as the church continues to expand rapidly in the global south and shrink in Europe and North America.

But we are not just seeing a new world emerge; we're also witnessing the rise of a new church here in the US. A new generation of evangelical leaders is extolling values considered peripheral by earlier generations—justice, compassion, and environmental stewardship. Are these values a threat to the proclamation of the gospel, or simply a deeper understanding of it? These under-40 leaders are also the first to have had access to cheap intercontinental travel during their formative years (I call them the "Jumbo Jet Generation"). They’ve experienced the dehumanizing impact of poverty first hand, and they carry a clearer vision for the global impact of the gospel. And they are the first generation to wrestle with how to advance Christ’s mission in a truly post-Christian, secular, and consumerist North America.

These two realities, a new world and a new church, carry significant implications for our mission. For this reason it's time to have a new conversation. It's time to talk.

Over the next six months our team will be coordinating and hosting 12 conversations in 12 cities where you will be able to interact with some of the church's best thinkers and leaders about the future. These panels will include voices that span the generations as we seek wisdom from those who have led faithfully in the past, and hear what innovations are being incubated by those coming on the scene.

The conversation will culminate in October when delegates from the American church join 4,000 other leaders from 200 countries in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010 to address the global challenges facing the church and our mission.

This blog will by the hub of the conversation until Cape Town. Here you will find articles on the topics, videos from the panelists, and updates on the 12 gatherings. I hope you'll join us by contributing your thoughts and prayers to this important work.

You may have noticed, there's no Wednesday Winners today. That's because we were going to giveaway Catalyst West tickets, but it's basically sold out, so we can't. But, we are doing our March Madness contest again this year!

Just go here & fill-out a bracket www.marchmaniac.com/catalyst/ - Hurry & fill-it-out before Thursday, March 18th, 12pm EST.

The Prizes are pretty awesome this year:

• 1st Place - An All-Expense Paid Trip to Catalyst East. (Includes 1 Conference Ticket, 1 Lab Ticket, Hotel for 2 Nights, and Airfare)
• 2nd Place - Gold iPod Nano
• 3rd Place - Complimentary Ticket to Catalyst One Day - Seattle, WA (Does Not Include Travel)
• 4th Place - Experience Pack - includes '09 DVD Set, '09 Audio Set, & 5-Pack of Groupzines
• 5th Place - 1 Year Free Catalyst Filter Membership
• 6th Place - "Best of Andy Stanley" Complete CD Talks from Catalyst, and Andy's Book The Principle of the Path
• 7th Place - Andy Stanley "Systems" DVD Set and a Free Catalyst T-Shirt
• 8th Place - Catalyst X Hoodie - Grey
• 9th Place - Music - Catalyst Music Project; Fee - Hope Rising
• 10th Place - A Catalyst Team Surprise Gift

Best part of the contest: you can compete against individual Catalyst team members, find our names on there (mine is "Catalyst - Jesse Phillips").

What does it mean to teach something to someone? If they don't know how to do it, or they don't do it, after you've "taught" them, did you really teach them?

Is it possible to talk at someone on a high level, sharing principles & concepts, but never really help them to change? If so, whose fault is it if they don't change? The teacher whose teaching was ineffective or the person who doesn't change?

Although most Christians are taught every week--many of us have attended 100s of sermons--most of us don't seem to be much like Christ. We don't really pick-up our cross & follow Jesus, live sacrificially, love our neighbor or exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. Why is this?

Here are some possible reasons:

1) Maybe we don't care? All we measure is attendance & giving. Perhaps whether people are really living what we are teaching is not our responsibility?

2) There is little follow-up. When a teaching relationship is an anonymous, one-to-many transaction, with no accountability, there will be no change. Imagine if there was no homework in school? Would anyone know how to do math? Or if a dance instructor only danced in front of the class, but the students never had to perform?

3) Our church culture allows this behavior. If it didn't then the behavior wouldn't exist. But as it is, something about what we're doing makes it okay to attend for years & not be changed. Perhaps this is because it feels judgemental to expect change. Or it's uncomfortable to confront our brothers & sisters? Maybe we don't know them well enough to confront them? Maybe we never know each other on a personal level to know if change is happening? Maybe we never expose ourselves to one another to allow that depth of knowing.

Should we change this? Maybe I'm wrong & we really are like Christ. Or maybe it's not the church's responsibility to make sure attendees are growing mature, able to teach others.

If we should change, how could we do it? Or what have you found to be an effective method of helping church attendees mature? Is there any way to measure it?

Pastor Craig Groeschel has a new book, The Christian Atheist. It comes out next week, today we're giving away 10 copies on the blog

Craig defines a Christian Atheist as "believing in God, but living as if He doesn't exist." Craig confesses that he is a recovering Christian Atheist and is very authentic in pulling several examples from his own struggles with Christian atheism and how to overcome it.

Andy Stanley said "In The Christian Atheist, Craig leverages transparency to force the rest of us to take an honest look at the contrast between how we live and what we claim to believe. Craig's vulnerability, coupled with his fresh insights, will move you to begin realigning behavior with beliefs."

Here's a brief excerpt:

"As if on cue, when I was twenty-three, God opened a door for me to work at a historic downtown church. My dream-come-true slowly turned into a spiritual nightmare. What started out as a good thing quickly became an obsession. My service was never enough. And as my love for ministry burned hotter, my passion for Christ cooled.

My mission had become a job. Instead of studying God's Word out of personal devotion, I studied only to preach. Instead of preaching messages to bring glory to God, I preached to bring people to church. I promised hurting people I would pray for them, but I usually didn't follow through."

This is a great book! We're giving away 10 copies today!

Here's how to win:

1) Tweet this: Win Craig Groeschel's new book, The Christian Atheist. 10 copies. RT & comment here: http://bit.ly/cKbGgb

2) Comment below with your twitter name (to verify step 1) & what church you go to (just for fun!)

3) at 4pm EST, we'll choose 10 random winners from the comments below!