Conspiracy of the Season :)

from ThinkChristian.Net :)

WHO DOESN'T LOVE A CONSPIRACY?

Found an article this morning on Ethics Daily about the Advent Conspiracy .
Sounds mysterious.

"We celebrate Jesus' birthday by giving ourselves presents," McKinley says. "We don't give him anything." McKinley is pastor of the Imago Dei Community…

[Last year] McKinley and a few pastor friends from around the country hatched what they called the Advent Conspiracy. They challenged their congregations: Spend less on Christmas, give relational gifts and donate the money saved to the poor."
Three congregations collected $430,000—Imago Dei collected $110,000 on a single Sunday—and gave most of that to Living Water International, a nonprofit project that digs wells in the Third World…
This year, about 491 churches from 10 nations have joined the conspiracy…World Relief, an evangelical mission group, has recruited 500 more churches to participate. About 1,700 individuals have joined on the Internet
And the obvious benefit:

And there was another gift that neither Blakeman nor McKinley anticipated. Families spend more time together as they plan and make gifts. It all becomes relational if people resist consumerism.

"We're not asking that you don't spend money on Christmas," McKinley says, "just that you do it with the poor in mind."
I'm seriously considering joining the conspiracy.
Anyone attend a church that's participating in the Advent Conspiracy? Anybody wish they could get their family to agree to this?
HT: A Guy In The Pew