Bono

I remember talking to Andrew Jones one time and he suggested that Bono was the Pope of the emerging/missional movement. Not sure Bono would see himself that way but his personal commitment to see the AIDS crises met and unjust debt cancelled in Africa is challenging the church to be who they say they are. And what's more, many are listening. All this from a rock star? Bono said in an interview that it's simply a sign of how bad things are in Africa that it takes a silly rock star to bring our attention to them. He noted that we shouldn't be listening to him, we should be listening to the professionals but in this crazy world that values celebrity he's willing to leverage whatever fame he has as currency to get people interested in Africa and to get them to get their governments interested in Africa.

I mention Bono because he spoke at the leadership summit a few of us attended from a little over a week ago (well he didn't exactly speak - he did an exclusive interview with Billy Hybels and we watched the video but since the whole thing was in video for us at the Belfast satellite, it didn't really matter. This is all besides the point). The interview was excellent. There's a rumour going around that we may get a copy but until then I thought I'd let you all hear Bono in his own words:

USA National Prayer Meeting, 2006

Bono Interview in Africa, 2006