The first comment on my earlier blog post about the Red Envelopes for Life campaign was left by Christ Otto, who said there that he had sent out the first email, the one that got it all started. I just spent a half hour on the phone with Christ (he pronounces it to rhyme with “wrist”), and while I have no independent way to prove it, I have complete confidence that he was the one. Our conversation was not a formal interview—I was driving as we spoke—and I told him that I would not write it up as one, but that I would mention it on the blog. He was very happy to have me do so.
The first email, he says, was sent three weeks ago today. Just this Wednesday, as far as he was able to tell, it was not yet what one would call a “movement;” today it is. He has lost count of the number of blogs that have mentioned it, and there are at least three websites completely dedicated to it (see also SendaRedEnvelope.org and The Red Envelope Project). (Update 2/20: We’ve united all our websites to point to The Red Envelope Project Page.)
Of course he had no idea it would go viral, as it seems to be doing. For him it was a matter of doing what he has regularly done as his life’s habit: asking God at the start of the day, “What do you have for me today?” Praying that prayer on that day, he saw a mental picture of loads of red envelopes arriving at the White House, urging the President not to advance the practice of abortion. I did not ask him how many people he sent the suggestion to, but obviously it has grown way beyond his own reach.
In Campus Crusade for Christ, where I work as a strategist, our goal is spiritual movements. One definition of a “movement” is a work that grows beyond what we can “make happen” ourselves, where it takes on a life of its own, and where (since we’re seeking spiritual movements) it’s clearly based on God’s leading, and becomes a work of God in many people’s lives. Clearly this is a movement by that definition, not one that was initiated by Campus Crusade, but one that was initiated by God working through one person who listens to him daily.
Christ Otto has written a book on his listening-to-God way of life: The Glory of a Wasted Life: An Adventure With God. Having just heard about it on our phone call, I have obviously not read it yet, but it’s certainly intriguing. (The title reminds me of a column I wrote once for our local paper—pdf file.) What’s good about a wasted life? Well, I’ll have to read the book to find out! Based on the conversation I just had with the author, though, I would say that maybe if it’s a life spent listening to God and doing what he says—maybe if in the process one kick-starts a movement that reaches many thousands and helps to influence public policy—then maybe it’s not such a bad thing at all.
You can read his blog at belonginghouse.org.
Please see also a strategy that runs beneath this strategy: Deep Social Change: Four Essential Priorities for 2009.
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