Downtown Nampa: Shalom Diggity

There’s a new movement sweeping the nation. (Okay, maybe only Nampa, ID. And sweeping might be a tad exaggerative. But’s it’s a worthy new movement.) That movement can be summed up in two words (one isn’t exactly a word)–Shalom Diggity.

To explain to us what shalom diggity represents and how it pertains to downtown Nampa, here is the co-founder and director of the Shal-dig revolution, James Austin. The Green Porch is honored to host him, so pull up a chair.

Thank you David/Redneck Granola for giving me a few characters worth of world wide web to natter a bit. I’ll start by explaining the grand vision of Shalom Diggity, and funnel it down to what it means to all of us on a local level.

It’s all in the name. Two very loaded words. The first, shalom, is most often recognized as the Hebrew word for peace. This is true, however peace only scratches the surface of the ancient meaning of the word. Shalom would have been understood as more along the lines of complete welfare. It would have spoken to the whole person; inside and out. Second, diggity. The combination of words really started as a joke, but when we stepped back to think about it, diggity added that extra umph that shalom needed. Just as you might call that really, really cool thing the bomb diggity, so too shalom diggity is like really really, great peace.

Now, let’s take that linguistics lesson and apply it to the real world. When we stepped back to really think about the meaning of such a comic phrase, we were moved to want to make it a reality. It was my brother that suggested putting this on a tee shirt, which forced us to ask, “What if something as simple as a tee shirt sale could help promote world peace?” This began a series of events which lead us to where we are now (only a few small steps from where we left off) promoting such holistic peace -or- Shalom Diggity. Visit ShalomDiggity.com to see the whole shebang.

There is an underlying ethic driving this vision that is not necessarily worldwide. From where I sit, I see millions of people all over the world who are oppressed, abused, mistreated, and underprivilaged. However, right here in Nampa, Idaho, I also see scores or people who are underprivileged, mistreated, abused, and oppressed. The idea is that Shalom Diggity is not only for “the rest” of the world, but it is actually worth working for on behalf of every single person on the planet.

To my dear Nampa, may your businesses thrive, may your leaders lead boldly, may your churches do great work in Jesus’ name, may your schools develop outstanding young people, may your farms flourish, and may each one of your citizens do something now to share Shalom Diggity.

There you have it. Can we all bare the bold banner of Shalom Diggity as we interact locally? in order to promote peace and wholeness here and beyond? Maybe indeed a tee shirt can help. What bold plans do you, dear reader, dream of at night?