Micah on tour in Pennsylvania and Ohio

Over the weekend, Bishop Paul Mususu of the Evangelical Church in Zambia and I travelled in the Midwest touring with The ONE Campaign about the importance of our upcoming presidential elections as we seek to achieve the Millennium Development Goals - and effort that will get us on track to make poverty history.

In western Pennsylvania, Bishop and I met with two energized groups of students at Geneva College and Grove City College. While at Geneva, Bishop Mususu gave an overview of how effective aid programs such as PEPFAR and the Global Fund to fight AIDs, along with debt cancellation, have meant progress throughout Zambia. As Bishop of his denomination and head of the Evangelical Alliance, he would know -
over a thousand churches are in contact with him weekly on the needs,
dreams, and mission for God's health and wholeness. The Bishop's words
at the colleges have stuck with me over these last few days,
especially when he said that we must seek "the kingdom
life" (referring to Matthew 10) and that while he is doing his part in
Zambia, we must do our part in the United States. "As evangelicals, we
see ourselves in the prophet Micah... the relevance of our life on
earth is in the impact we make for positive change."

We travelled from Pennsylvania to Columbus, Ohio where we had a good
couple days with Blake Waggoner, ONE Vote '08's organizer in Ohio.
Over lunch with Dan Franz, a pastor on staff at Vineyard Columbus, we
reflected on how God has moved many around the globe to have a renewed
care and concern for poor and hungry people. Pastor Dan has been
active in Zambi with the Vineyard for nearly ten years and he and
Bishop shared many stories. At the end of our time together I was
especially moved at how we had just lived out Millennium Development
Goal #8 - a global partnership. It is my hope that Bishop Mususu and
Pastor Dan can continue developing this partnership in the years ahead.

We ended our time in Ohio at the John McCain / Sarah Palin rally at
Capital University in Columbus. There was an energetic crowd there out
to cheer on their candidates of choice. We were simply hoping to have
a moment with the candidates to encourage them to show leadership on
concern for the world's poor, especially in the Global South (we do
this at Obama/Biden rallies, too, when we can). It was largely a pep
rally for the McCain/Palin faithful in Ohio but we were able to talk
briefly with Governor Sarah Palin and her daughter Willow, giving them
each a ONE Campaign white band - to which they promptly put on and
exited stage left.

It was a busy few days in the Midwest - we even ran into CBS's Katie
Couric while waiting on our flight! We're in Colorado for the next few
days. Pray that we can be faithful and make an impression on folks out
here for a deeper commitment to ending extreme poverty.

Join us in our efforts to challenge the presidential candidates - sign "Micah's Challenge to the Future President"