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"What can I do about world poverty?" Greer and Smith point out different ways to stop the downward spiral---from microloans to self-employment---so that the poor can once again regain dignity and provide for their families. Easy-to-do, practical ideas for small groups and churches. Photos by award-winner Jeremy Cowart. A free study guide is available for download. See "Study Guide" link above.

This eminently practical book challenges the church to shift tactics in the battle against spiritual and physical poverty and equips ordinary Christians to translate their compassion into thoughtful action. Authors Peter Greer and Phil Smith examine the pitfalls of traditional approaches to reducing poverty. Then, through real-life stories and insight born of personal experience in serving the poor, they outline a new model of economic development based on proven solutions for effectively reducing poverty. They demonstrate how microfinance and employment-based solutions free people from the cycle of dependency, helping them regain their dignity and provide for their families. Blending passion with practicality, they show readers who share God's heart for the poor how to reorient their efforts from giving handouts to offering a hand up, paving the way for local initiative and ownership. By highlighting poverty-fighting methods for small groups and churches along with workable steps for individuals to pursue, The Poor Will Be Glad sounds a compelling call to carry God's justice, mercy, and compassion to the hurting people of this world.

Peter Greer holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School and a BS from Messiah College. He is the president of HOPE International, a global faith-based microfinance organization serving hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs in fourteen countries. A frequent lecturer and a featured panelist at Harvard's International Development Conference, Peter and his wife, Laurel, live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with their three children. Phil Smith, who holds an M.B.A. from the University of Tulsa and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, is a philanthropist and private investor who sits on the boards of publicly-traded Eagle Rock Energy Partners, L.P. and three private companies. He is the coauthor with Eric Thurman of A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and the Business Solution for Ending Poverty. Phil and his wife, Shannon, live in Tulsa, OK, with their four children.

It’s unusual to discover an engaging, detailed and affecting manual delineating a Christian approach to alleviating global poverty. That’s what Greer and Smith have given readers in this resource-rich guide to how individuals, businesses, churches and denominational groups can use the basics of microfinance—the provision of financial services to the poor—to partner with communities and find “employment-based solutions with proven results for effectively reducing poverty and extending the kingdom of God.” Greer, president of the Christian relief organization HOPE International, and Smith, a retired businessman and philanthropist, are enthusiastic realists, aware of the challenges facing those who are severely poor; the difficulties, new skills and patience required in churches that want to be catalysts for change; and the complexities of partnering with corporations that may have other, sometimes conflicting, agendas. The book works in large part because of the real-life experience, passion and dedication that both men, who write different chapters, bring to the table. Their biggest achievement may be helping to push skeptical readers off the fence about the potential of religiously funded microfinance—and giving interested parties plenty of practical tools to get started. (Nov.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

http://www.christianbook.com/joining-revolution-lift-world-poverty-ebook/peter-greer/9780310563594/pd/3274EB

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