alrighty. that quote send by brad is so good! i love that book. it's so short, it should be required reading in all small groups once a year. let me strike the hornet's nest with a (somewhat large) stick. read the following: http://www.maketradefair.com/stylesheet.asp?file=05032002111332&cat=2&subcat=2&select=6 and then follow these simple questions. or really, just this one multi-part question: if any/all of the 1 billion people who live in poverty were lifted out of poverty, then what? would they be lifted out of poverty permenantly? would anyone else (say 1 billion other people) need to fill in that poverty gap--shifting the poverty to another part of the world? will lifting one sixth of the world population out of poverty only create an even larger number of people who will descend into poverty later (when they have children?) not necessarily good or fair questions... unkle screwtape asks all....