Love>Poverty: A Compassion Podcast

In the season finale of Love>Poverty, Joe sits down with President Elect of Compassion Canada, Allison Alley. They converse about about the general landscape of International Development and the steps that we can take to towards having eyes to see God’s mission in our lives.   We would greatly appreciate your feedback! You can completed the Love>Poverty Podcast Survey following this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KJ2BDPK

Amber Van Schooneveld joins Joe to answer some Frequently Asked Questions. Amber is an author (Hope Lives: A Journey of Restoration 2008) and she leads the Communication department of Compassion Canada.   Please fill out the Love>Poverty podcast survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KJ2BDPK

Brian Fikkert, President of Chalmers Center, joins Joe to talk about his book When Helping Hurts, which came out in 2009. He talks about how the church has changed since that time and how the church has stayed the same. Brian also talks briefly about his upcoming book Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn't the American Dream. You can preorder Becoming Whole on Amazon.ca!

In this episode, Jonathan Almonte shares his story about being a sponsored child and growing up to work for Compassion Dominican Republic as a Youth Development Strategist. Prior to his current role Jonathan worked in the Compassion Dominican Republic Trips and Visits department, Joe and Jonathan chat about what people might see when they come to see Compassion’s work in the Dominican Republic.

Joe travelled to the Barrie, Ontario to chat with Carey Nieuwhof, Founding Pastor of Connexus Church. Carey and Joe discussed a wide array of topics including leadership, poverty and Carey’s upcoming book titled Didn't See It Coming: Overcoming the Seven Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences. For more information about the book please check out didntseeitcomingbook.com

Pastor Rick Boyes is the guest this week on Love>Poverty! Rick is the lead pastor at Gateway Church in London, Ontario. Rick and Joe chat about Gateway’s culture of community, serving and generosity. Rick explains a phrase that he often uses, being “Jesus, with skin on”.

   In this episode, we speak with Brooke Hempell. Brooke is the Senior Vice President of Research for the Barna Group. Barna provides spiritual influencers with credible knowledge and clear thinking, enabling them to navigate a complex and changing culture.    Brooke speaks about a recent study that Barna produced called “The Good News about Global Poverty”. She shares the findings of the study and some implications that come from that.

This week we tried to have a bit of a lighter episode with Mike deBoer. Episodes 1-4 were kind of “content heavy” and we wanted to lighten the load as we traversed into the next grouping of episodes. Mike is Compassion Canada’s Artists and Events Representative, the role of his team is to support the artists who love what Compassion stands for, and wants to spread that message.  Mike is also a comedian that specializes in improv comedy. Listen in as Joe and Mike have a conversation about how Mike became passionate for serving the poor, and for serving others in sharing their stories and passions.

This week we share a conversation with James Tebyasa. James is a Program Support Specialist for Compassion Uganda who specializes in their WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) initiatives. James also shares his story of being released from poverty. If you are interested in giving to the water initiatives like the ones James described, you can go to Compassion.ca/water We have a transcript of this week’s episode – you can find it at https://www.compassion.ca/blog/love-is-greater-than-poverty-compassion-podcast/  

In this week’s episode Joe speaks with Mark Wollenberg. Mark is the National Director of Church Mobilization for International Justice Mission Canada (IJM). They discuss slavery and violence and how these issues affect those in poverty. Mark shares stories about the work that IJM does to release people from the bondage of slavery, and how other organizations (like Compassion) are able to assist them in doing their work.   For more information about International Justice Mission, visit IJM.ca

President and CEO of Compassion Canada, Dr. Barry Slauenwhite, joins Joe in the studio as they talk about Barry’s 35 years of experience in the sphere of International Development. Barry shares about his new book Strategic Compassion: Reuniting The Good News and Good Works in the fight against Poverty, and recounts his experience in Haiti during the 2010 Earthquake.

In the first official episode of Love>Poverty, Joe sits down with Alyssa Esparaz—Writer and Communicator at Compassion Canada and International Development student at the University of Toronto. Alyssa and Joe get back to the basics of poverty, discussing trends in the International Development industry, and sharing about some of the most inspiring people they’ve met in the anti-poverty movement!

Welcome to Love > poverty: A Compassion podcast, where we will explore the creative ways that Christians around the globe are joining in the movement of fighting poverty with love. Hosted by Joe Long of Compassion Canada, Love > Poverty features interviews with a diverse collection of Christian professionals from all spheres of the workplace, on topics from child protection and slavery to social movements and the role of the Church. Roll down the windows. Put the car in drive. Love is on the move.