A Special Letter of Thanks to Texas Baptists

Dear Texas Baptists (yes, that’s you!),

As I look forward to another wonderful year working with Good News Goods, I think it only appropriate to reflect back upon 2011 and remember what an inspiring year it truly was for the team, as well as for the men and women around the globe who were supported by your fair trade purchases.

Because of your desire to shop with a heart for missions in 2011, 4,334 hours of dignified employment were created through missional businesses for women, men and children living in extreme poverty all over the world.

And, thanks to your dedication to live out Micah 6:8 and “do justice” in this world through Good News Goods this year, $2,167.21 to the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering by our partner, Trade as One!

Think of the impact each of you made: by buying coffee you fought for peace in Uganda. You helped a young Pakistani woman pay for her medical bills simply by purchasing a soccer ball. You gave a former sex slave a new lease on life, when she thought she had none. And you did it all by giving a hand up, not a hand out.

If you’d like to learn more about the impact your purchases have on our brothers and sisters around the world, please visit the Good News Goods website. And as always, if you’d like to get involved, please contact me at anne.olson@texasbaptists.org.

I look forward to working with you all again this year. Let’s make 2012 the most special yet!

Peace in Christ,

Anne Olson

Dare to be Different with Good News Goods

This time of year, I grow weary of the deafening advertisements and discounts! discounts! discounts!      I am saddened by the dilution of the true meaning of Christmas in the hustle and bustle– the joy of the coming of Christ. I’ve come to find that alternative giving is one way to celebrate the holiday season in a meaningful way. There are dozens of fair trade and donation-based organizations to choose from, including two extremely special ones within Texas Baptists: Good News Goods and the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering.

Take a look at Good News Goods’ website, and find something special for your loved one this year. Ten percent of each purchase you make is donated back into the World Hunger Offering, and you can be assured that your purchase is giving a hand up, not a hand out, to an artist in a developing country. Check out their stories, and let the power of each one, not the low price and percentage discount, move you to give as a gift this year,.

So let’s do dare to be different this Christmas season, and give the gift of Christ’s love by supporting our brothers and sisters around the world.

Merry Christmas!

Good News Goods Purchases Give Hope for the Holidays

This holiday season, I ask you to make a commitment to buy a fair trade gift for someone on your list. Even JUST ONE fair trade purchase makes a world of difference in someone’s life. And in fact, if every church-going Christian made JUST ONE fair trade purchase this year, it would be enough to see that one million families are lifted out of poverty for one full year. Can you imagine? What a joy it is to know that Texas Baptists can be leaders in spreading God’s love by shopping with a heart for missions.

Not sure where to begin? Here are some great gift ideas from Good News Goods.

If you have a coffee drinker in your family, I suggest giving them of some absolutely scrumptious Peace Blend coffee.

Buying Peace Blend coffee through Good News Goods will help farmers like Khainza Jane, a member of Peace Kawomera, the cooperative supplier who creates the Peace Blend.

Peace Kawomera has taught her how to care for her coffee so that yields have increased while also earning a fair price for her coffee. Nine children live in her home, and she says she is able to educate her children, provide clothing and even purchase small animals like goats because of her work through Peace Kawomera.

Or maybe you have a tradition of lighting candles during this special season.

Lighting candles nestled in these holders from Green Sahara Gifts symbolizes hope for our brothers and sisters around the world who face adversity every day. Green Sahara Gifts gives Moroccan artisans dignified employment with a particular focus on building cultural bridges through art between Morocco and the West. We are reminded of God’s love for the “least of these” when we read of Green Sahara, for this group employs disabled and the extremely impoverished artisans, when others choose not to hire them.

There are plenty of other gift ideas, and stories of hope and love, on our website. I hope you will shop with a heart for missions this Christmas season, and share the powerful love of Christ around the world with your friends and family.

Good News Goods to Offer Market Fee Discount

Good News Goods has some great news for churches interested in hosting a live catalog market this holiday season!

If you book a date for your market before September 30th, we will take $50 off the market fee. We hope you will consider holding a market this Christmas to support development projects across the globe, through our supplier, Trade as One and through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

Please contact Anne Olson at 512-473-2288 or anne.olson@texasbaptists.org to reserve a market date for your church.

The Heart of Good News Goods

I’ve been working as the Good News Goods Coordinator for a little over two months now, and each day I am reminded that Good News Goods is incredibly unique. And while indeed, the products themselves are beautiful and distinctive, the individuality I speak of here really reaches much deeper than bracelets and bowls. To illustrate what I mean, let me first state our mission also found here. (pdf)

“Good News Goods is a ministry of the Christian Life Commission, designed to give churches a fun, mission-driven way to shop in a global market. Good News Goods products fund international development projects, and every sale supports the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.”

So the bottom line is quite simple, really. But if we concentrate on each portion of the mission separately, we can reach to the heart of Good News Goods and find what makes it so exceptional.

1. Good News Goods is a ministry. As a part of the Christian Life Commission, the work of GNG is a wonderful example of putting our Christian ethics in action, founded primarily in the words of Luke 4:18.
2. Good News Goods is designed to give churches a fun, mission-driven way to shop. Live catalog markets are a fantastic opportunity for churches to come together in fellowship to shop and learn about the lives of the artisans who make the products for GNG.
3. Good News Goods is part of a global market. GNG products are culturally distinct from one another and allow church-goers a way to see beautiful work made by people around the world.
4. Good News Goods funds international development projects. The artisans who make Good News Goods products are often former victims of human trafficking or are extremely impoverished. By supporting their work through our purchases, we are able to bring their families and villages out of poverty and support better lives for them.
5. Every sale of Good News Goods products supports the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. Ten percent of every sale is given to the TBOWH. Last year alone, nearly $5,000 was raised to assist in projects in Texas, the United States and worldwide. (And this year we hope to raise even more!)

Good News Goods allows you to discover, celebrate and contribute to the hard work of our brothers and sisters around the world because each purchase you make through GNG comes with a personal story of success and love. So this year, I encourage you to give your church the opportunity to shop with a heart for missions. Schedule a live catalog market for the Advent season before September 15 and we will take $50 off the market fee.

Email me at anne.olson@texasbaptists.org to schedule a market, or visit http://goodnewsgoods.com for more information.

A Transition for Good News Goods

After two extremely successful years for Good News Goods, Charlotte Bumbulis is transitioning out of her position as Specialist. The Christian Life Commission would like to thank Charlotte for all of her wonderful work, her incredible enthusiasm, and her devotion to God’s creation.

A note from Charlotte:

A new and invigorating chapter in my vocational life began in May of 2011. I began transitioning out of the position of Good News Goods Specialist into a new role as the Development Associate for DiscoverHope (www.lendhope.org), an Austin-based international development non-profit that promotes abundance and entrepreneurship for impoverished women in Cajamarca, Peru through microcredit, education and training.  In addition, I am pursuing further education in the areas of business and international development.  I am confident of the calling God has placed within the fabric of my being as doors of new opportunity and growth have been, and are continuing to be, flung wide open.

Because of the past two years of formational work as a Fair Trade advocate, educator, and abolitionist with the Christian Life Commission, I am ready and capable of fulfilling my new role with DiscoverHope. I feel truly blessed to have been granted the opportunity to learn from and be shaped by Suzii Paynter, Stephen Reeves, Julie Valentine, Anne Olson, and numerous interns at the Christian Life Commission. A special Thank You to Suzii Paynter, to whom I am forever grateful for taking a chance on me, investing in my potential, challenging me, encouraging me, and blessing me with the freedom to take this next step in my life. Thanks be to God for using the voices of others to speak into our lives and then giving us the courage to follow that voice.

Assuming the responsibility of Good News Goods Specialist will be Anne Olson, who has been with the Christian Life Commission for a year and a half as Public Policy Specialist.

A note from Anne:

I am honored to add Good News Goods Specialist to my position at the Christian Life Commission. Good News Goods is a wonderful and powerful ministry, as its operations affect countless lives around the world. It is truly a ministry that puts our ethics into action.

During the 82^nd legislative session, I worked hard to fight human trafficking in our state. I am motivated to continue to fight human trafficking, and am excited to integrate that passion with the fair trade movement. Fair trade is extremely important in the lives of former trafficking victims, as it gives them an opportunity to heal and sustain themselves through honorable work. What a wonder that we can help give a hand up to these victims, simply by choosing to make ethical purchases!

I am grateful to have worked with Charlotte over the last year and a half, and I know the CLC is truly blessed to have had her leadership for Good News Goods. I look forward to continuing to help our ministry expand as we look to raise more money for our Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

…And, as always, if you’re interested in hosting a market at your church, please feel free to contact me.

“Did you ever stop to think that you can’t leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? You get up in the morning and…you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning, and that’s poured into your cup by a South American.  And maybe you want tea, that’s poured into your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you’re desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that’s poured into your cup by a West African… This is the way our universe is structured; this is its interrelated quality. We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.”

-Martin Luther King Jr., A Christmas Sermon on Peace, 1967

This quote by MLK Jr. reminds me that stories are a powerful tool to awaken us to our interrelated world because stories have the capacity to penetrate the deepest places of our hearts and minds, thrust open the doors of our present worldview, and usher in a new reality—a Kingdom of God reality that offers peace, compassion, love, reconciliation, and justice for all people and the whole of creation.   Perhaps this is why Jesus so often chose parables to speak the truth.  Read on to find out about chocolate, coffee and teas.

With that said, I wish to share with you three stories about our global partners, specifically those producing food and drink items such as coffee, chocolate, and tea.   Although we will still most likely be dependent upon most of the world for these daily luxuries, by hearing their stories of struggle and hope combined with the startling fact that billions of people around the world lack access to food, basic healthcare, clean water, and education, we may yet give pause to the true cost of our daily routines and, with God’s grace and mercy, learn to be peacemakers and bearers of “good news to the poor” (Lk. 4:18) in “deed and truth” (1 Jn 3:18).

Divine Chocolate

Divine Chocolate is the first farmer-owned chocolate company in the world. They serve as a stark contrast to the slavery and injustice that dominate most of the world’s chocolate production. The cocoa beans that make up this chocolate are fairly traded, sustainably farmed, and irresistibly tasty.

The chocolate industry in West Africa is marred by violence, child labor, unfair business and accounting practices, and even slavery. The low prices we see here in America get lower on the backs of overworked, underpaid, and sometimes underage farmers in countries like Ghana and The Ivory Coast. These two countries farm about 2/3 of the world’s cocoa beans, and yet still face crippling poverty every single day. The farmers of Kuapa Kokoo believe that there has to be a better way.

Like all of our partners, Divine Chocolate combines an amazing product with a compelling story. In the early 1990s, a group of farmers frustrated with being cheated at every turn, pooled their resources and formed the Kuapa Kokoo Cooperative. These farmers based their cooperative on fair trade principles, transparency, democracy, efficiency, and equality for women.

Thanksgiving Coffee Company- Peace Blend

In 2003, Ugandan farmer JJ Keki walked door-to-door asking his Muslim, Christian, and Jewish neighbors to leave behind a history of conflict, and unite to face their struggle against poverty caused by low coffee prices. The farmers came together, and founded a cooperative to build peace and prosperity in their community.

Since its founding in 2003, the coffee cooperative has grown to include over 1,000 members. JJ is 48 years old and has 25 children, more than half of whom he adopted after they lost their parents to AIDS. Thanks to Fair Trade, and his relationship with Thanksgiving Coffee Company, JJ has been able to increase the value of his organic, shade-grown coffee, expand his farm, and pay school tuition fees for all of his children.  His neighbors are also thriving and hopes for peace are high.

“…They have created a tangible expression of their unity—a fair trade/organic coffee that wakes our bodies and souls and fuels their vision of shalom.” –Lynne Hybels, author & activist

Choice Teas

In 2000 Choice Organic Teas became the first tea crafter to adopt Fair Trade Certified tea in the United States. Today, more than half of Choice Organic Teas’ offerings (and 100% of the teas sold through Good News Goods) are Fair Trade Certified, far surpassing the numbers of any other tea company in the United States.

On many traditional estates, tea workers live on the estate and toil long, hard hours for extremely low wages. The development of Fair Trade Certified tea standards guarantees fair wages, respectable living and working conditions, and a worker-managed premium. This premium represents additional funds, which are paid by Fair Trade registered importers like Choice Organic Teas directly to tea workers. It empowers them to improve their own lives because the workers collectively decide how they wish to manage and disperse the Fair Trade funds.

Want to host a Fair Trade market at your church, school, or organization?  Visit GoodNewsGoods.com to learn more or contact Charlotte Bumbulis

For Christians, the Christmas season held more than just parties, gifts, food, and shopping.  It was the season of Advent—the time of waiting in anticipation of the Messiah, the incarnate miracle who brings the hope of heaven to earth.   Our hope and redemption in Christ continues into the New Year, and what an appropriate time to take inventory of our lives and habits, humble ourselves to change the things that do not honor God, and lean on his understanding to shape us into people of love, peace, reconciliation, and justice.

Perhaps a first step would be to commit to making at least ONE Fair Trade purchase each month from goodnewsgoods.com so that our neighbors around the world may experience the hope and love of Emmanuel—God with us—through simply having dignified work that restores not only their material poverty, but their spiritual poverty and poverty of self-worth.  Better yet, you could sign up for Hungry for Change and receive a monthly basket of Fair Trade goodies delivered right to your door step.  It’s convenient, tasty, and can change a life or an entire community in the developing world.

After hosting a Fair Trade Market at his church, Mike Fanning, Associate Pastor of The Fellowship of San Antonio said “I love the fact that by doing this Fair Trade market we are putting what we say and believe into practice.”

In 2010, 12 churches and 5 Baptist universities throughout Texas partnered with Good News Goods through a Fair Trade market, the JUST ONE card program, and/or an on-going Trading Post as a means of living out the gospel way as a congregation, and extending the hope of the Incarnated Christ.

Because of Christians throughout Texas making Fair Trade purchases in 2010, an estimated 8,434 hours of dignified employment was created through missional businesses for women, men and children living in extreme poverty and oppressive conditions all over the world.  Moreover, an estimated $4,217 will be contributed by our partner, Trade as One, to the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger, which supports numerous relief and development ministries throughout Texas, the United States of America, and the uttermost parts of the world.

Read what other ministers and church members have to say about Good News Goods:

“Good News Goods is a ministry of Highland Park in a number of ways, and it links our community to other communities around the world through Fair Trade practices that benefit people groups who are vulnerable and poor.   It addresses our inclination of over-consumption, allows us to make purchases that reflect our faith values and reminds us to actually think about what we purchase and why we buy it.”

-Marcus McFaul, Senior Minister, Highland Park Baptist Church, Austin

“It has been a great program for our children at Highland Park to be educated in the ways that their purchases make a difference around the world.  They have been able to personally learn about the artisans that create each of the products and they have been a part of re-telling the artisan’s stories and selling their products to church members at our monthly Good News Goods Trading Post, and so it has been a really important learning process for our children.”

-Cheryl Kimble, Associate Pastor for Children & Family Life, Highland Park Baptist Church, Austin

“One reason why The Fellowship decided to host a Good News Goods Fair Trade market this year is because I felt it was a win-win for our community here and the people who made the products.  People are already buying gifts for the holiday and they can buy high-quality goods here, and yet at the same time with their purchase, they can help someone else around the world pull themselves out of poverty.  I love the fact that by doing this market we are putting what we say and believe into practice.  We are trying to help people—not give them a hand out, but a hand up—and it works for us as well, so we’re going to do this every year!”

-Mike Fanning, Associate Pastor, The Fellowship of San Antonio

“This is a brilliant business model and mission.  It is not asking folks to give more money away, it is just about redirecting our dollars on what we were already spending to help people in need.  I love it!”

-Member & Business Development Consultant, The Fellowship of San Antonio

Go to http://goodnewsgoods.com for more information and to get involved in one of our Fair Trade ministries, or contact charlotte.bumbulis@texasbaptists.org.

Other Related Articles:

• Choose Wisely: Fair Trade Has Christian Roots
• Choose Wisely: Experts Say Financial Decisions Have Moral Implications

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That is why the Christian Life Commission is working so diligently through its World Hunger Offering, The Texas Hunger Initiative, Bike Out Hunger, Good News Goods (affiliate of World Hunger Offering), and many other ministries in order to make sure people are being fed—physically, emotional, and spiritually.

So this year during the holiday season, as we sit down with our family and friends, may we remember the blessing of food that fills us, nourishes us, and reminds us to not only pray for those who are hungry, thirsty, broken, and poor, but also to love the “least of these” (Matt 25:31-46) in “deed and truth”
(1 John 3:17-18).

One easy way to do this is through the new Good News Goods program called Hungry for Change, which is designed to give you a simple way to redirect your normal spending dollars to fairly traded food products on a monthly basis.  This way, you receive delicious, high quality food items while also engaging in the redemptive practice of buying and eating food grown by people who are treated with dignity and paid a fair wage, so that they too may have food on their table, provide for their family, send their children to school, invest into their community’s development, and experience the love of God in a holistic manner.

SIGN UP to get involved in Hungry for Change and change the world with every bite!

Interested in hosting a Fair Trade market at your church, school, or organization?  Contact Us

Good News Goods is one of those initiatives, and will soon celebrate its second anniversary in January 2011. In fact, looking back we have several accomplishments to highlight and celebrate. To date, 15 churches and 5 universities have partnered with Good News Goods and in turn, created over 10,000 hours of dignified, safe, and fair-paying employment for small scale farmers and artisans in the developing world. Because of the revenue created by ministry partners in 2009, $2600 dollars was deposited in the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger to fund their relief and development ministries, and we expect the revenue from 2010 to surpass that amount. In April 2010, we launched our brand new website goodnewsgoods.com where you can read producer stories, our mission, various ways to get involved, access downloadable and free resources, subscribe to our blog, watch videos, and shop online. This month, we created our first Good News Goods videos, which will soon be posted and accessible from our website for our ministry partners to utilize. And in October 2010, we will launch our newest Fair Trade program called Hungry for Change: Creating a Just World With Every Bite.

From traveling the state and meeting ministers, speaking in university chapels and church services, teaching workshops, presenting in Sunday Schools, networking and exhibiting at conferences, and helping churches and universities facilitate our Fair Trade ministries, Texas Baptists has enthusiastically supported, promoted, and breathed life into this initiative. Together, we really can do more for the Kingdom.

Now that calls for a celebration!

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