I stumbled across this post this morning, thanks to Google. More than the honesty the author writes with, I am impressed with the sincere desire that I perceive in his words – the desire to do good for the right reasons.

I strongly encourage you to read one man’s experience with us, even though his experience isn’t rah-rah.

I’m posting this because I am committed to creating a forum for authenticity and honest discussion

I’m also posting this because we, as an organization, have made these commitments.

Read Losing Compassion for Compassion International at the Protestant Blog Ethic.

Shaun Groves wrote this post. It’s been approved by the powers-that-be.

About Shaun Groves

About a year ago, I think it was, I started talking to the folks at Compassion about a crazy new idea. I wondered if they could spread the word about their ministry to children through bloggers the way the Compassion message has been spread through artists and speakers for decades. I proposed Compassion take bloggers on a trip to see the ministry for themselves and, of course, ask them to blog about what they see.

When the powers-that-be decided the idea was worth trying out, a small team went to work finding the right bloggers to travel to Uganda. Then we took a very long flight to Africa together back in February, deplaned and played with children, and learned about the needs of Ugandans and how Compassion and sponsors are partnering to meet them. And we blogged. With very slow connection speeds, we blogged.

We posted pictures, stories, videos and lots of links to compassion.com. Thousands read along daily. Hundreds of children were released from poverty and hundreds of Americans were released from wealth as a result. And the Web lit up with applause.

My favorite online compliment came from a fund-raising expert who wrote:

“Looked at with old economy eyes, Compassion is taking a huge risk, letting go of its marketing to 15 different near-strangers who might do anything. Looked at with modern eyes, Compassion is smart: willing to give up control in favor of being talked about by real people.”

In other words, some institutions would call this kind of idea crazy but it worked: People are talking about children, about loving them, about perspective and grace and kindness and Jesus.

Now, when I’m not singing or speaking (or blogging), I’m working part time these days for Compassion – developing more and better relationships with bloggers.

We just launched CompassionBloggers.com where anyone can read the best posts from our blogging trips, and where bloggers can go to grab widgets and banners, apply to go on a blogging trip with us, or sign up to receive a monthly blogging assignment from Compassion.

Our ranks are growing. There are now a few hundred bloggers scattered around the world blogging on behalf of Compassion every month.

What’s next? We’re taking a bunch of bloggers to the Dominican Republic Nov. 2-7, so read along that week and pray that we assemble the right gifted team for the trip, that we’re safe and healthy while overseas, that readers are inspired and mobilized to act, and that the blogosphere is filled with talk of children and Jesus once again.

Will you help us say thank you to Tammy Chalfant, who organized the first ever Compassion Sunday event at Farmland Friends Church (FFC)?

Please tell Tammy and her pastor, Kris Sorensen, how much you appreciate their work.

And Shaun Groves too. He spoke at the event, and he’s a TIRELESS advocate for children in poverty.

Then, take a hop over to SearchKindly.org and help us win $1,000!

SearchKindly is a non-profit organization that donates 100% of its ad revenue to charity. This month Compassion is competing against four other charities for the donation. And right now, we’re in SECOND place with $500 on the table. But the amount goes up every time someone visits the website.

Please visit, and please vote. The contest ends “sometime” on Sunday, April 27.

• Help us win!
• Vote every 8 hours.
• And help us set a record for how much SearchKindly donates.