Diverse perspectives influence Jim Belcher as he plants churches. This clip explores how he navigates those perspectives, especially those in which he disagrees.

Ken and Janis Baney count the costs of being good neighbors.

A quarrel over a barking dog changed drastically after Mark Thomson learned that his neighbor had cancer.

Sherman Bradley seems to be swimming upstream as he prioritizes relationships at the homeless shelter.

Bart Campolo thinks inner city programs create mediating barriers that are ultimately detrimental to relationships. His fix? Skip the program and focus entirely on relationships.

Hugh Hollowell began to value the ministry of presence after offering to sit in the dark with a friend.

This week’s post is a double feature. In the first clip, Adam Taylor suggests that the word “activism” often feels like a bad word in our culture, yet we still celebrate some of the most profound activists in our history. In the second clip, Adam tells a story about how he helped start a campaign during college that put pressure on The Coca-Cola Company to provide AIDS anti-viral treatment to their entire African workforce.

This story, told by Mark Scandrette, illustrates the question: “Is an act of love only significant because of the change it produces in another person or can the meaning be in the act itself?”

Improv comedy taught Susan Isaacs a better way to respond to her friends with different religious backgrounds. Instead of denying their experiences, she began to participate in their story.

Strip Church in Las Vegas offers “home makeovers” for Nevada brothels. While brightening up living conditions, they hope to show God’s love through their actions.

Darin grew tired of trying to convince others to believe the way he did. His realization: What if God looks differently to different people?

Why is it that evangelical pastors never talk about the environment from their pulpit? Tri Robinson, pastor of Vineyard Boise, tells the story of why he changed his mind about environmentalism.

Jesus said to “love your neighbor as yourself”, but what if your neighbor is different than you? In this clip, Tim and Jenny Turner talk about how they’ve responded to two couples in their neighborhood; one couple is gay, the other couple has beliefs very different than their own.

What does it look like to “love your neighbor” when your neighbor is hard to love? This clip tells the story of a young couple whose next door neighbor has a messy yard. They decided to look beyond appearances and in the process found a friend.

Vince Antonucci, author of the book Guerrilla Lovers, doesn’t think shock and awe tactics work anymore in Evangelism. His solution: wear them out with love.

Tri wanted his church to start taking better care of the environment, so he asked them to start taking more hikes. This clip tells the story of a church that takes environmentalism seriously.

Dave’s love for Mormons wasn’t very well received until he learned to communicate on the same wavelength. This required him to become a little less analytical and a little more romantic.

SAME Café is not what you’d expect from a non-profit focused on feeding the hungry. It’s run like a restaurant. It has a menu, a great urban location and the food is amazing. The only difference is that instead of having fixed prices customers pay what they can afford. The result? A place where people having a hard time making ends meet can come get a healthy meal in a comfortable setting and leave with their dignity intact.

When Leah Pauline was 19 she spent 3 months in Uganda with her sister and a friend. After seeing horrible living conditions at one of the orphanages they decided to do something about it. They started their own orphanage and rescued the kids.

Being involved in your local community sounds like a great idea, but few actually put that idea into action. It can feel quite overwhelming. This clip tells the story of someone who found existing organizations in his neighborhood and started participating with them rather than starting his own organization.