Why three:twelve?

A couple of hundred years ago a few young men sat around a table and decided to expose the buying and selling of people for was it was: a horrific crime against humanity driven by a narrative of superiority, security, and greed...the "we versus them" mentality that still plagues our world today. I once heard it said that the equivalent would be a few people today discussing over coffee how to dismantle the modern automotive industry. Slavery was not only tolerated, but accepted and driven by every major political, social, and religious power of their day. A true David and Goliath story. William Wilberforce and others would, through much persecution and perseverance, see slavery “legally” abolished only 20 years later.

Just because something is illegal does not make it cease to exist. Human trafficking is the third most profitable and prevalent global crime network next the arms trade and drugs. Human beings have been reduced to commodities, bought and sold to service the demands of global consumers (us)…from the sugar we drink in our coffee to the shirt on our back to the steel in our cars (steel comes from coal which is harvested by slaves in Brazil which comes from burning trees furthering the horrific degradation of our environment).

The root causes behind slavery are vast and complicated, but most of them can be traced back to poverty; meaning the lack of resources to provide for a sustainable and purposeful life including education, health care, employment, access to credit, infrastructure, etc. But poverty does not make someone a slave, violence does. And it’s not like people just enslave other people because they like to be mean, they do it because it’s profitable.

For too long economic growth and prosperity has been an end to which we in the West have pursued blindly and stupidly; rarely did we challenge or even consider the means by which we continue to obtain such an end. Environmental sustainability and social equity have been afterthoughts at best; a small price to pay for a life of affluence and security. We at three:twelve believe a different way is possible. We believe sustainability and social equity can bring new life to our beautiful planet and hope to our fellow humans who have suffered in the wake of our apathy.

In the heart of Margaret Mead who said "a small group of committed people can change the world, in fact, it is the only thing that has," let us continue the courageous fight against slavery our abolitionist fathers started, let our generation be the first in human history to be truly free...we have 27 million of our fellow humans counting on us.

DTS Update!

So last week we had a good friend of ours, Jason Solari, come up from the YWAM Brisbane base to speak on Hearing God’s Voice. The students connected with him so well straight away and as it was the first “lecture” week of our school they also began to connect with each other. As Jason told testimonies of his experience and went through examples in the Word many of the students began to recognize the still small voice of the Lord for the first time. Jason really emphasized RELATIONSHIP above everything else. Its not about us coming to God in order to get something from him or just hear him speak to us for the sake of speaking, but God longs to communicate with us intimately on a daily basis…and we all know that relationships, whether it be with friends, a spouse, or a co-worker, come down to communication.

This week our Base Manager, Dan Pennington, is speaking on the kingdom of God…something very close to our hearts. We’re not all the way through but the students and staff are being equally challenged on what Jesus’ essential message was and how we can live it out today.

Thanks so much for your prayers and for reading our blog…we really feel this is an amazing connection point for us and you who support us and believe in us.

Much love until next time.

three:twelve

about two years ago a friend from LA and I were sitting around contemplating life in our apartment...as 20 somethings in university do. We asked ourselves a few questions along the lines of "what am I good at/what gives me joy?" and "how could God use that to make a difference in the world?" After weeks of talking and dreaming and talking and dreaming we finally came up with a fairly simple idea: let's start an apparel company and give the profits to people in need.

needless to say "real life" got the best of us and the dream died...somewhat. It wasn't until a few months ago we began to rececitate it. Over the past year God really began to lay the issues of slavery and trafficking on kelly and I's hearts. We really weren't sure what to do with it, but after a while we realized we couldn't shake it and this could possibly (probably) be an area God is leading us to work in more long-term. We began reading anything and everything about modern-day slavery, including finding out what the Bible had to say about it (to our surprise there was a lot). After many a nights of talking and dreaming and praying and talking and dreaming (you get the idea, a lot of thinking went into this) kelly finally said "let's stop dreaming about this and just do it."And with a few international phone calls home to my friend Eric three:twelve began to breathe again. Since then, we have started the journey of forming a 501c3 nonprofit, which is more confusing than it sounds.

three:twelve exists to create sustainable livelihoods for victims of slavery and injustice throughout world. It is our hope that throught the sale of Fair Trade organic apperal we can raise awareness on issues of justice and equity, empower ex-slaves through creative ventures and sustainable employment opportunities as well as invest in community initiatives - from education and clean water to skills training and aftercare support.

yes, its a big dream, far beyond our abilities and resources; but faith is creating with our lives what only our hearts can conceive...and three:twelve is the impossible we would like to make possible. To be a part of creating a world where the kingdom of God meets the needs of those on the outside, the forgotten and marginalized. We realize its only a small part, but a bunch of small parts, like yeast in a batch of dough or a mustard seed in a garden, eventually spread throughout the whole. more later.

you don't see this everyday!

Justin running to the beach

The crowd...

all smiles because....

That's right...it's whale season folks!!!