I’m not going to lie. I am very excited right now. Why? Because World Next Door is hiring again!

This time, we’re looking for a full-time Office Manager. This person is going to handle all of the day-to-day administrative tasks necessary to keep our organization afloat.

Finances, travel admin, event planning, donor tracking, internship admin… You name it.

We’re going to need someone who absolutely loves the little details, but who can also think big-picture. We need someone who is very flexible, but also dedicated to excellence. We need someone who actually gets energized by checking things off a to-do list.

Could that person be you? Could it be someone you know?  You can find the complete job description at www.worldnextdoor.org/jobs.  Feel free to pass the link along to friends or family you think might be a good fit.

We’ll be accepting resumes until April 26, and will have interviews the following week. To apply or find out more, shoot us an email at jobs@worldnexdoor.org.

Like I said, I am absolutely thrilled about this hire. It may seem insignificant to some, but having someone dedicated to the administrative backbone of our organization is going to help us do what we do even better.

We can’t wait to see who God will bring us!

Big news, everyone. The first full issue of World Next Door Magazine is here!!!

If you haven’t heard, WND is going mobile.  We are now releasing monthly issues on tablets and smartphones (details and FAQs here).  And now you can download our first full issue to get a taste of where things are headed.

All you have to do is install our app on your mobile device and download the latest issue (iPhone and iPad users, click here!).  Android and Kindle users, please hold on just a little while longer… we’re working hard to get a working app to you ASAP!

All that to say, we came, we saw, we conquered. World Next Door Magazine is real…

Changing Blog

“But Barry,” you might be asking, “What will happen to the blog now that WND’s content is going mobile?”

Great question!  As it turns out, we’re still keeping the blog, but it’s going to change its character quite a bit.

Instead of posting articles and photo galleries from our travels, the blog will become much more of a behind the scenes look at what it’s like writing for World Next Door Magazine.

One post might be about how we captured a particularly amazing photograph in Cambodia, or what it took to get a decent internet connection in South Sudan, or maybe even what day-to-day life is like around the World Next Door office in Indianapolis.

In other words, the blog will act as “bonus” content for those intrigued by our adventures and as a compelling build-up to upcoming magazine issues. It will be a companion to our magazine.

And I promise we’ll make it interesting for those of you who want to dig deeper with WND!

Stay With Us

Now, this new format might take a bit of time to pick up steam.  As we plow through the many headaches, unknowns and technical difficulties in launching a new app and a new magazine (not to mention hiring several new staff members!), we’re going to hit a few bumps.

But if you stay with us, if you keep on reading and joining with us on our adventures, then I guarantee your perspective of the world will be changed.  Through our magazine, through the blog, or even through a thought-provoking post on social media, we will take you to the world that exists right next door to ours.

That’s why we do what we do, and I can’t wait to see where God will take us next!

You don’t want to miss this event.

No, I’m serious. You don’t want to miss it.  This one is going to be big. Really big. Blow-your-minds big.

You see, on February 1, 2013, we will be celebrating World Next Door’s birthday with our Fourth Annual Celebration and Fundraiser, and we are making some announcements that will be awesome!

As always, you can expect a fun, laid-back night full of live music, great food and some fantastic stories of where God has taken us in 2012.

But this year, we have some HUGE new announcements to share about where World Next Door is headed.  I guarantee you will leave the night totally pumped up.

So will you join us?

Here are the details:

Date: February 1, 2013

Time: 7:00pm-9:30pm (7-8 will be an open house with the formal program starting at 8)

Location: Shoup Hall, Indiana War Memorial
431 North Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Food: Delicious soup, bread, desserts and hot chocolate.

Attire: Casual dress please! No need for black ties here.

For full details and to RSVP, please click here or on the button above.

I can’t wait to see you all there!

Well, this will be a first for me.

In two and a half weeks, I will get up in front of thousands of people and talk about being beaten by a soaking wet tree branch in a 200 degree sauna by a half-naked Ukrainian man.

Haha… Of course, I’ll be sharing a bit more than that, but hey… Good sermons always start with attention grabbing stories!

That’s right.  I’m going to be preaching at my home church (Grace Community Church in Noblesville, Indiana) on October 13 and 14, and you are all invited.

I’m going to be sharing about a topic I’ve become familiar with because of World Next Door: systemic injustice.

The Background

For the last few years, my church has been working to clearly define what it believes about the kingdom of God and the world in which we live.

I may or may not be sharing what tarantula tastes like.

One aspect of this is in defining six “evidences of the kingdom,” such as authentic, loving relationships, peace and reconciliation, justice for the poor and marginalized, etc.

On the flip side of this are the “six broken places of the world” to which the kingdom brings healing, and GCC is launching a sermon series in October to cover each of them.

This is where I come in.  One of the six broken places is systemic injustice, something I’ve been writing about here for years.

The Details

So yeah! It’s going to be a really cool opportunity.  If you don’t go to Grace, you should totally consider coming for a visit that weekend.  It would be a great chance to meet if we haven’t already.

There are four services.  4:30pm and 6:15pm on Saturday, October 13 and 9:00am and 11:00am on Sunday, October 14.  They are all identical.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a line (barry@worldnextdoor.org).

Otherwise, I hope to see you there!

Well hello there!  How is it going?  Man… I just wrapped up a two-week vacation and I am fired up to be back in the saddle.

Now that the summer is over, the World Next Door team is strapping in for an exciting fall.  For starters, Kelly, our Communications Coordinator, is having a baby!  Who knows? Maybe he’ll be a World Next Door summer intern some day…

But that’s not all.  I’m getting the chance to do a lot more teaching.  In fact, I was asked to preach about systemic injustice at Grace Community Church on October 13 & 14.  You should come!

On top of that, we are excited to announce our next international “assignment.”  We’ll be heading back to Zhytomyr, Ukraine in mid-October to embed once more with WND’s very first partner, Mission to Ukraine!

However, one of the most exciting things happening around here right now is our new and improved year-long fellowship program.

Let me tell you a bit about it…

Our New Fellow!

The first (and probably coolest) update to our fellowship program is our brand new year-long fellow, Brad Miller!

You probably know Brad from the articles he wrote as one of our summer interns.  Brad has a uniquely insightful perspective on injustice and the kingdom of God and I am pumped to see what he discovers over the next 12 months.

Brad Miller, our newest year-long fellow, in South Africa with Jonathan, the principal of Lily of the Valley’s primary school.

At the moment, Brad is raising funds to make his fellowship possible.  He needs people willing to partner with him through monthly donations and prayer support.  If he is able to meet his financial goals soon, his fellowship will begin as early as the middle of September!

If you want to invest in him this year through finances or prayer, or even just want to get in touch with Brad, please send him an email and let him know.

A Few Major Updates

But apart from having a new fellow on our team, we’ve made a few tweaks, updates and changes to our fellowship program that I think are really cool (all of these updates can be found on www.worldnextdoor.org/fellowships).

First of all, our year-long fellows no longer need to be summer interns first!  We are now accepting applications on a rolling basis throughout the year.  If you know of any fantastic writers with solo travel experience who would be a great fit for our team, send them our way!

Second, we’ve restructured how our fellows’ international trips look.  The first one will be a trip in which they shadow a WND staff member. On the second, they will travel alone, but to a location/ministry that we have assigned.

Brad taking photos of a few kids in South Africa.

But on the third trip, the fellow will get to choose where they would like to go and which ministry they’d like to partner with.  What other program gives you the opportunity to go just about anywhere you want in the world???

Choosing a Track

The final major change to our fellowship program is the addition of “tracks.”  Now, our fellows can choose to focus on one of three specific tracks over the course of their year.

On the Creative Media Track, a fellow will work throughout the year to create a piece of special media.  This could be a video documentary, a photo book, a radio piece… the sky’s the limit!

On the Leadership Track, a fellow will get to brush shoulders with ministry leaders all across Indianapolis and receive training in effective leadership.  Then they will either lead a WND short term trip or co-lead the summer internship with me!

Finally, on the Teaching Track (which Brad has chosen), a fellow will be trained in sermon preparation, storytelling and public speaking.  Then, he/she will have the opportunity to teach at 3-4 different venues throughout the year.

A picture of a monkey in South Africa. Why am I posting it here?
No idea. I just thought it was hilarious.
Oh, I know! If you join our fellowship, you might see monkeys?

Having tracks adds a whole new layer of intensity to the fellowship, and I’m excited to see what comes of them!

Spreading the Word

So those are the major changes that have happened to the year-long fellowship program. I am pumped.

But just tweaking some things on a piece of paper is not enough.  I need your help to make sure that we’ve got the right people participating in our fellowship.

Would you be willing to help spread the word?  Send the Fellowship page to friends, family and co-workers.  Keep your eyes peeled for phenomenal writers and influencers.

You never know.  It might be your connection that leads to our next year-long fellow joining the team!

Thanks for reading, guys.  And stay tuned… I think it’s going to be another phenomenal fall!!!

The moment is finally here! Our pilot episode of “In Motion” is LIVE, and we can’t wait for you to see it!

(Heck, if you are as pumped as we are, feel free to scroll down to watch it now and skip all the chit-chat…)

We hope this episode is the first of many this season to share with you, in a new way, the wonderful world next door that awaits us. Our hope is to take social justice to a new and exciting level – igniting passion and change through an online travel show!

If this episode is a hit, we hope to provide you with an entire season of In Motion – bringing you stories from our upcoming travels this year.

So take a few minutes to watch WND: In Motion, share it with your friends and let us know what you think in the comment section below!

Pilot Episode – South Africa

With so many adults dying of HIV/AIDS, what is happening to their children? We headed to Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa to find the answer.

Take an inside look at the AIDS epicenter of the world to learn about what is happening to the children in the wake of HIV and the hope that shines through the people of this community at our partner organization, Lily of the Valley!

As we continue the countdown for South Africa – currently down to 12 days if you haven’t been keeping track – I wanted to make sure all our wonderful, talented and amazing WND readers marked their calendars for the upcoming Intern Commissioning event on Sunday, June 3.

So now that I have you all buttered up with compliments (did I mention that outfit looks great on you today?), here’s the scoop. The Intern Commissioning is not only a chance to mingle and eat some tasty snacks, but an opportunity to personally meet our three interns before they head off to the southern hemisphere for the summer.

There will be a short program and official “commissioning” – praying for them and standing with them as they set off on an adventure of a lifetime!

Perhaps you have been wondering, “What brought them to this place in their life journey?” or “How do they plan to handle the African heat?” (Trick question…it’s winter there, so we will be the ones sweating it out here in the U.S.) Well, now is your chance.

The event is casual and kicks off at 1:00 p.m. at Grace Community Church in Room 111. Whether you are a new reader wanting to learn more about what to expect this summer or a long-time follower stopping in to say hello and send encouragement – we hope to see you!

And if you would like to volunteer to help coordinate some of the details of the event (translated to: interest in baking or bringing snacks), shoot me an email!

I have a confession: I’m not a fact-based person. Especially when it comes to numbers. I often blunder statistics or phrases in conversations and have been known to tell people the U.S. soccer star, Landon Donovan, is 5’2”. In fact, I only get statistics right 42% of the time…

That’s why I love stories. Personal stories can’t be wrong. I can’t misspeak my own experiences and perceptions. No one can argue my perspective of what I have gone through or how it has impacted my life. Stories may be ignored, but the personal experience can’t be mistaken. Stories are real. They are raw and often life-changing.

This is what drew me to work here at World Next Door – the opportunity to be a part of compelling, honest and, let’s face it, sometimes hard-to-read story telling.

Working in social media over the last few years taught me the incredible impact of “sharing” stories. Information spreads quickly – from your friend, to a friend of a friend, to a stranger. All it takes is one voice – my voice, your voice, our voice – to bring attention to the things that stir our hearts.

WND shares first-hand stories from our travels and hopes you then continue to spread the word and share them as well. So in the spirit of sharing, we found a few stories from around the web we thought you’d enjoy.

Take a few minutes to check out these videos – one is a pretty powerful trailer for a documentary set to release this fall, and the other provides comedic truth to things we strive to bring light to in all our stories – opportunity and hope for those all over the world.

Do you have other videos or articles worth sharing? Tweet them to us (@WorldNextDoor) or post them on our Facebook page!

It’s time! After years of conversations, research, prayer and planning, ZanaAfrica is moving forward in their plan to help empower the girls of Kibera slum in Nairobi and beyond. The Pad Project is underway!

Girls living in Kibera slum deserve the opportunity to go to school and benefit from an education, but the obstacles associated with poverty sometimes get in the way. For hundreds of thousands of young women in Kenya, their monthly period causes them to miss more than six weeks of school a year because they don’t have pads. Research shows that sanitary pads and health education can reduce absenteeism by 75%.

So what’s being done about it?

Last summer, I headed into Kibera on the heels of the ZanaA staff to learn about their efforts firsthand. The ZanaA team works to educate and empower girls in several schools in Kibera, teaching them important lessons about health, self-esteem and sex education. They also receive monthly supplies of pads so they can attend as much school as possible.

But ZanaA’s vision stretches beyond Kibera and beyond Kenya—they want to make sanitary pads accessible for girls throughout East Africa. For years, ZanaA has been developing an eco-friendly, affordable pad that can be manufactured locally. They’ve received help from business and marketing professionals, scientists and the girls of Kibera themselves, and now—after years of work—they’re ready to launch the Pad Project.

Are you ready to be a part of empowering the young women of East Africa? The time is now! ZanaA needs your help to set their plan in motion. ZanaA needs $25,000 by April 15^th to test their sanitary pad – which includes production, distribution and evaluation costs.

If you’re interested in supporting a long-term, sustainable solution to injustice that hinders millions of bright young girls in East Africa, the Pad Project can use your support. Please help the Pad Project…and ask your friends to help as well!