My first job was painting miniature wooden ducks for a mail order duck of the month business. Seriously. I was fourteen and just sat around watching game shows and Oprah that summer with a paintbrush in hand.
Then there was Chick-fil-A. Because, well, I love Christian chicken and having Sundays off and Jennifer worked there and Jennifer somehow looked like a supermodel in navy blue slacks and a maroon visor. Also, I got all the chicken I wanted. And did I mention there was chicken?
In college I handed out samples of crab cakes, lasagna, chicken pot pies and whatnot to the shoppers of Sam’s Wholesale. The grandmothers I worked with “accidentally” cooked too much and gave me the leftovers. I don’t think I bought groceries once that year.
For the last decade I’ve been a soft rock star. (If you’re new here, I say this out of equal parts self-deprecation and self-loathing.) I get to travel around the world (aka Florida & North Carolina) singing about God, “working” for only 90 minutes, staying in hotels where someone else makes the bed, and meeting thousands of fascinating people.
I’ve had some great jobs with amazing perks. Then there’s leading Compassion Bloggers.
This job requires me to be organized – and that fits me about as well as an XXL. When recruiting bloggers for these trips I’m rejected again and again. I work with a brilliant group of internet marketers at Compassion who routinely, unintentionally, make me feel like a five year-old at the adult table. When I’m on these trips I miss my wife and my three kids deeply.
There’s a lot about this job – like any job – that’s difficult for me. But the perks? Well, I get to see children released from poverty. And Americans released from wealth.
And have-it-togetherness.
And a God with borders.
And the mountain-from-molehill cares of life.
I get to witness God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. The miraculous. The hellos and the goodbyes of family made from strangers.
The first world colliding with the third world, bringing release to both.
And that beats Oprah and free crab cakes any day. And rivals Christian chicken too.
I love this job.
thegypsymama says:
“Children released from poverty. And Americans released from wealth.” – one of the most powerful mission statements I’ve ever heard.
Reading here is like seeing the illustrated version of that statement.
Thank you.
oh amanda says:
Released from wealth.
Wow.
Thank you for doing these Compassion blogging trips. They are life-changing for more than just the kids or the bloggers…but to us, the readers!
Rebecca says:
Your posts are changing the lives of readers as well. I too am slowly being released from wealth. This Kenya trip has been truly inspiring!
I am headed to Zimbabwe in a few weeks, hoping to be further “released”!
Go bless your team.
Jill Foley says:
I have to agree that I love that statement…
“Children released from poverty and Americans released from wealth”
…it is powerful and convicting.
And it is my prayer.
Robert Easter says:
Wonderful pictures, Shaun. Not sure what good I can offer you as an over-aged, penniless, monolingual seminarian, but God bless you in this wonderful enterprise!
Jill Wade says:
Uh. Love it!
Debbi says:
These blogger trips are such a powerful tool for advocates. We can use your pictures, stories and experiences to bring our “tables and presentations” to life. I was blessed to go on the advocates tour to Guatemala this past summer, see the work of Compassion first hand and meet my sponsored child. Sharing my own experience has been amazing. However, when I have someone who is considering sponsoring in India, El Salvador or Kenya, for example, I feel like I can speak with a LITTLE more insight…having followed the bloggers. Giving them a more specific idea of what sponsorship might mean to a child in the country they are considering is soooo helpful.
So, thank you. You labor of love brings fruit far beyond the week you are traveling. I am praying that God’s harvest is plentiful, far reaching and long lasting. God bless all of you as you prepare for “re-entry”.
Debbi,
jen says:
I love, love, love these trips. They are such a good reminder to me – of so many things: of why we sponsor, of where my children come from, of what the true meaning of the word “neighbor” is, of what God would have us do with our wealth. Thank you for speaking truth boldly.
Thank you also for using phrases like Christian chicken and pentecostal hair.
Jody says:
LOVE to follow these trips and see it in pictures!! We met one of our 4 sponsored children last year in Ethiopia and it was a great day!
Tom Emmons says:
Shaun – You are the Michael Jordan of leading bloggers on trips. Keep up the great work!
Amber says:
Wow. I am relatively new to the blogging world but have followed along on two Compassion Blogger trips (India and Kenya). Absolutely amazing. Wow. I’m trying to figure out how to tell my husband that I seriously want to sponsor a Compassion child and figure out where the money will come from. And I’m wishing I were a great blogger so that I could go love on the kiddos in person!
We are THAT family says:
And you do this job SO well.
(said in a small voice: I’d like to hear more about the Christian chicken though)
Rebekah says:
I have been following your trip because my sponsored child lives in Kenya. I look forward to following even more closely as you head to Mathare Valley slum. That is where she lives. She attends KE-355. I have been her sponsor for 7 years. Last Spring, her mother died from breast cancer. My heart broke for her but she continues strong in faith and determined to help those around her. If you happen to meet this inspiring 17 year old, named Anne Benta Awino, please give her a very big hug for me. And thank you for bringing her world into mine.
Amys blah, blah, blogging says:
Wow, that is better than Christian Chicken and painted ducks in my book, anyday!! Amazing!
tara pollard pakosta says:
You are an amazing person! I am loving to see all you have done to help these children!
tara pakosta
Shaun Groves says:
Tara, I so appreciate those kind words at almost midnight Kenya time at the end of a very grueling day but…
I’m not an amazing person. I’m quite ordinary. A dad with a minivan. OK, I have a pretty rad haircut, I admit it ; )
I was sideswiped by the kids of Compassion five years ago. They crawled into my heart and my home and eventually my bank account and all the “should do’s” became “want to’s”. GOD is amazing, isn’t he?
Praying some more of us get sideswiped because of this trip.
Thank you so much for reading.
-Shaun
Laura Huene says:
“Children released from poverty and Americans released from wealth” That takes my breath away…thank you for missing your wife and kids so our eyes can be opened to those who God loves. I am changed…
Tammy says:
I can tell you I don’t love my job as much as you love this one. I do think my job is great and I get to serve others (as a nurse), but not like this. Not like this at all.
Yours and the other blogger’s stories have moved me, and I would totally be sideswiped by these kids in less than a minute.
Christina says:
Love the expression on the kid’s face in the Ferris wheel pic.. made me LOL.
Elaina says:
“I get to see children released from poverty. And Americans released from wealth.”
That quote is going to stick with me forever. I’ve been challenged by what all of you have shared this trip. And I’m thankful for that.