Micro-Lending and Missions

I have been studying microbanking recently to see what role it might play in foreign and domestic missions. I went to the opening of the movie To Catch A Dollar (http://www.tocatchadollar.com/), a documentary about bringing the Grameen Bank micro-lending structure to the US. One of the panelists on the movie was the head of www.kiva.org, which is a non-profit designed to link concerned people to worthy poor people to fund loans in increments of $25. The head of Kiva is a very young tech-savy person, and Kiva has really grown fast. “Since Kiva was founded in 2005: 571,457 Kiva lenders; $205 million in loans; 98.65% Repayment rate - We work with: 131 Field Partners; 450 volunteers around the world; 59 different countries” (http://www.kiva.org/about). From a missional viewpoint, it seems that this has application in meeting a very immediate tangible needs of the people ministered to, immediate and natural connections to locals (with weekly meeting requirements between the lending organization and the borrowers according to the Grameen model), and entry into otherwise closed countries. A missionary could look into either becoming a field partner so that people they interact with could become loan recipients (http://www.kiva.org/partners/info), or assist their people to get whatever they need together to work with another field partner (http://www.kiva.org/partners). Either of these could be a low-cost entry into a field which could really benefit people and open doors for the Gospel. Please contact me if you're interested in this.
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Virtual Notary - NOT IN CA

See the following release from the California Secretary of State before paying for an online notary.

http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/notary/customer-alert.htm

Notaries are pretty accessible. Until there is a clear safe harbor for this kind of notarization, don't risk it.
Required Disclaimer: This is Attorney Advertising. This web site is designed for general information only. The information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.  An attorney licensed to practice in the jurisdiction where the matter occurs must interpret the facts of any specific case and advise as to whether and how any of these concepts may apply to a particular case.