craigslist for churches

I came across a program that was described as a craigslist for churches. People in your church have stuff to give and people in your church need stuff. This would be a efficient, painless way to bring the two together.

It sounded good until I opened an actual craigslist account.

I listed my item at what I thought was a good price and the responses came in- pretty early and often.

It looked really promising.

Then I noticed a pattern of people with heart warming stories about how this person or that person has been wanting to give an item like the one I listed to a niece or a daughter in a far away land. They'll even me more than my asking price if I'll ship it somewhere.

And a lot of people wanted to know about the item and that they were interested and then they got my hopes up and I never heard from them again.

And in all honesty, I wasn't very considerate to get back with people when I didn't want to deal with them or thought I had a better offer from somewhere else.

Craigslist works, I'm pretty sure. But it takes a lot of the "friction" out of selling stuff. And it seems to take some of the integrity out of the buyer-seller relationship.

A disclaimer that comes through with every offer from a potential buyer reads:

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

And so I wondered what the craigslist for churches advisory would look like:

** CRAIGSLIST FOR CHURCHES ADVISORY --- AVOID MANIPULATION BY DEALING HEART TO HEART
** Avoid: doing something out of an empty sense of obligation, signing up out of guilt, making up for your unhappiness by trying to "give something back", develop giver-receiver relationships, fail to develop deep, trusting relationships, "Sunday school answers", worshipping a God that allows himself to be fully understood by you.
** Beware: people who are trying to put butts in seats, people who are interested in only giving and not receiving or only receiving and not giving, having to have everything in place and understood before you strike a course, indisputable answers.
** More Info: Your core understanding of truth and beauty (prayer)

Anyway: here's to discovering your true self, your faith in God, and connection with others as inefficiently as possible.

Bring on the friction.