Image by Brad Ruggles via Flickr
I was honored to interview Shaun Groves {he allowed three questions} to help spread the word about his new release, Third World Symphony.
I found Shaun’s blog when some of the bloggers I read regularly traveled to Kenya with Compassion International last year. Shaun is an award winning singer and songwriter and recently released a new album, called Third World Symphony. His passion is helping spread the word about poverty and what we should all be doing to fix it. He is authentic and funny {a nice combination}.
So, here are the three questions I came up with {and my comments in italics cause of course I have to talk too}:
1. Does your family ever accompany you on Compassion trips overseas?
Shaun: My wife went with me to India. She was already a believer in the effectiveness of Compassion International’s ministry to children around the world. She was already very supportive of all this crazy traveling I do on behalf of that ministry. But she hadn’t experienced it yet and, after five years of partnering with Compassion, I thought it was high time she did. Honestly, I was being changed by these trips so much that I was afraid of her someday waking up and wondering where the guy she married went to! I decided to be more intentional about us changing together as a family – sharing more of thee experiences as a team, growing at the same time. It was an incredible experience made even more wonderful because we did it together.
2. Is there one thing you feel every Christian should be doing to help eradicate poverty and spread the gospel?
Shaun: Hard to narrow it down to one action. At the very least we should pray and give. But for many of us time and money and attention are just so short that we can’t afford to. So, I guess – and I’m just thinking this through here – maybe the first action we should take is to simplify our lives a bit. Maybe we start by killing the cable and the caffeine. Maybe we sell all that stuff in storage. Maybe we stop buying new when we could buy used, and buy less, a lot less. Maybe we go crazy and dumb down our phone even. Maybe we eventually move to a smaller house.
I’m not saying God wants you or anyone else to do this, but maybe, just maybe.
And if we did this – if we consumed less stuff – our stuff would consume less of us, our time and attention. We wouldn’t have to work to pay off debt or buy things we don’t really need. We’d be free to think about a greater purpose for work. Maybe we could even work less. Maybe we’d have time to spend with family, get to know the neighbors, know their needs and have the resources to meet them – starting to eradicate some lesser forms of poverty right here in our own cul-de-sacs. And maybe we’d have time to pray, to offer God all this extra we’ve created, to ask God for next steps and hear Him when He speaks, to sponsor a child through Compassion International, to teach a kid to read, to stock shelves at the family assistance center down the street, to teach a Sunday school class at church, to baby sit for that single mom next door for free, to take her in when she can’t pay her rent, to adopt a child… Who knows? But maybe simplicity frees up the resources of time and money and attention we need to be the generous people we’ve always wanted to be but just couldn’t afford to be.
{Okay, God is so cool. Shaun doesn’t read my blog and certainly does not know that I am releasing an ebook on this very topic next month. Cutting through the clutter of what keeps us from God’s best is so important! I just LOVED this answer}
3. What is your favorite pizza topping?
Shaun: Seriously? I can honestly say I’ve never been asked this question in all my years of interviews. Nice surprise! Well, I love this pizza Papa Murphey’s makes with chicken, artichoke and this white sauce I’d like to take a bath in. It’s the best pizza you can get in our little town.
{Hey, food is important and you can tell a lot about a person by what they like on their pizza. And, white sauce? I think Shaun and I could be friends}
I encourage you to check out his
new album. And, if you want to be encouraged and challenged at the same time, consider subscribing to
Shaun’s blog as well.
I’m craving pizza with white sauce now
