Guy Kawasaki, a former Apple Bigwig and tech guru, said “Nobodies are the new somebodies.”  In this world of flat social media, anyone can make a big splash and significant difference.

Let’s put that to the test, shall we.

Take it as fact that I’m a relative nobody – I have a faithful cadre of 120 followers on Twitter and around 600 friends on Facebook.   But let’s face it, I don’t have Osteen-level influence.  The media are not clamoring for my sound bites.   My gleaming teeth smile is not beckoning from the cover of any bestselling books.   I’m just a simple pastor of a 200 member church.   In terms of today’s media landscape, I’m a nobody.

But I have a big dream.

For years, I’ve been lending to entrepreneurs around the world through Kiva, the microlending marketplace.  I don’t make any money off these loans.   When they come back to me, I simply re-lend the money to another entrepreneur.   I started in 2006 by making 2 loans of $200 dollars each.   As of this writing, that initial $400 loan has been repaid and re-lent 10 times over, so that now I’ve loaned $4,150.

It’s my own small scale version of foreign aid.

I like Kiva because you can loan as little as $25 – which is then pooled with other lenders to make a loan.   You can choose to work with different field partners who vet the loan recipients.   When you make a loan, you are loaning to an individual whose goals and aspirations are right there on the website.

I really like this because Kiva enables us to give a helping hand rather than a handout.  These people are responsible and repay their loans.   They are investing in the local economy of their developing country.

This sounds great.   So what’s the dream?

Kiva allows you to join “lending teams” – groups of like-minded people who work together to make an impact.   As of this writing, the Kiva Christians team has 10,423 members.  This makes it the third largest team – behind the Nerdfighters (at 32,432) and the Atheists, Agnostics, and Skeptics team (at 23,240).

My dream is that the Kiva Christians be the largest team of lenders on Kiva.    My dream is that we add 25,000 new members to the Kiva Christians team.

And that we do it by Easter.

Let’s glorify Christ by being salt and light in this watching world.  Remember that you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us (Ephesians 2:10).  Let’s join together to get Kiva Christians to 35,000 members.

UPDATE (10/5) – 10 Reasons for Christians to Lend Through Kiva

How you can help.

1)   Pray for this initiative.   Pray that God would stir in the hearts of Christians across the world to join the Kiva Christians group as a modest public witness to Christ’s work in their lives.

2)   Join Kiva and the Kiva Christians Group

3)   Tell people about this project on your social media accounts.  Use the hashtag #35kbyEaster

4)   Ask your church to promote the project

5)   Follow us here on Horizons of the Possible for updates

6)   Lend on Kiva, and keep on lending

Looking forward to seeing what God can do.

Soli Deo Gloria

Russell