“Today the most remarkable young people are the social entrepreneurs, those who see a problem in society and roll up their sleeves to address it in new ways.” - Nicholas Kristof, New York Times

You know when you go to a buffet and you try a little bit of everything? That pretty much describes my Transformasphere journey.

Nicholas Kristof writes a beautiful op-ed piece on the role of social entrepreneur in today's society. I have been working in this space for the past year and agree with him entirely. Click Here.

On another note, I've been invited to be a staff writer for the World Resource Institute and will begin writing blog entries for NextBillion.net this week! I'm pretty excited about this! Check it out here.

There winter retreat has come to an end and many of us are now asking the question: now what? I had a conversation with an individual right after the retreat and he asked me, “This movement sounds interesting and all, but what do I do now?” Below are five practical steps that you can take to get more involved in this movement:

1. Serve the Church!

The winners of the first annual Transformasphere essay contest are Jackson Ye (Undergrad) and Rebecca Lee (Post-Undergrad).

All essays submissions were made anonymous and were judged by nine people along the following criteria:

Content: Does the essay provide in-depth insight into a subject matter? Does the essay convey a fresh idea or expound further on an existing concept?

I wanted to give a warm “Happy New Year” greeting to all of you.

It is always exciting to start a new year. There is something special about starting a fresh or from the beginning. We will have 365 days this 2008 year to live everyday with purpose and passion.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.

A low income family living in Detroit struggling to find affordable housing. An underprivileged community without access to medical care or education. Recent college graduates working in a new environment battling the “quarterlife crisis” and loneliness. A national government struggling to gain its footing on the world scene. The AIDS crisis ravishing millions in Africa

What do all of the above have in common? The burden of Jesus Christ.

On Saturday, Nov 17, 2007, 16 young adults from the Focus ministry volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit Christian ministry dedicated to building decent, affordable housing in partnership with those in need in the city of Detroit. We started the day early, fully aware that we would be missing the biggest GAME of the year (only to realize later that our time was probably much better spent building homes)!