August 2010

August 31, 2010

Operation World Resources Now Available For Order

Order Your Operation WORLD Resources Today! (Receive an extra 5% discount if you order before September 1) Order by Phone: 1-800-569-6312 ext. 576 Order Online: www.gmi.org/operationworld Email: jhirst@gmi.org Facebook: Search for “Leaders Using Operation World” Twitter: www.twitter.com/OWTips What is Operation WORLD? A global resource that provides a simple and straight-forward way to pray for every nation Over 800 pages of well-researched prayer materials Key information on each country that equips you to pray effectively Prayer needs and answers to prayer in an approachable format Operation WORLD Enhanced eBook Personal CD-ROM Edition– $24.95 (To be released in late October, 2010) The [...]

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August 31, 2010

Doctors, Death, Ethics, Religion & Soundbites

Faith & Reason highlights how media spin can really color a topic in this age of headlines and soundbites. Which headline should someone use: “Nonreligious physicians let their severely ill patients die early” or “Religious physicians may prolong dying patients’ pain.” I don’t really count this as an illustration of persecution, but rather of the quintessential conflict between the culture of the Kingdom and the culture of the World, not to mention some basic misunderstandings along the way. Unfortunately we’re a bit quick these days to push “publish” on our blogs and Twitter feeds.

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August 29, 2010

Get out of debt: Patience and Persistence Pay Off

Reader Story: Patience and Persistence Pay Off is the very practical story of one person’s journey out of debt. Leftover college debt has been remarked on as a major barrier to missionary service. This article has some excellent tools well worth sharing.

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August 29, 2010

5 Leadership Lessons: The Wisdom of Bees

Leading Blog: A Leadership Blog: 5 Leadership Lessons: The Wisdom of Bees is an incredibly useful short article for anyone interested in leadership, decentralized organizations, and swarms. How can you apply this in your own micro-mission?

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August 29, 2010

Looks aren’t everything: integrated strategy is primary

The article As the reborn Kindle proves, looks dont count for everything in the Observer examines the role of an integrated strategy in Amazon’s continued dominance of the ebook market, despite Apple’s splashy iPad. Some estimates suggest Amazon ebooks on the Kindle are  outselling iBooks by 60-to-1. You don’t have to have the best looking or most popular micro-mission or mission agency. But here’s the question: do you have an integrated strategy to accomplish your vision? And here are some questions to ask: what does God want? what do the missionaries you are recruiting want? and what does the customer/consumer who [...]

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August 27, 2010

Seth Godin: Promises not meant to be kept = Lies.

Seth’s Blog: Little lies and small promises. “Not a true statement because it’s a promise not meant to be kept.” Plausible promises are meant to be kept–they are not goals meant to be broken. Are you keeping your promises? Did you ever intend to? What specific steps are you taking so that your good intentions aren’t paving a road to a very hot place?

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August 27, 2010

Afghanistan aid workers’ deaths highlights delicate position of Christian-affiliated groups – CSMonitor.com

“The killing of 10 aid workers with the International Assistance Mission in Afghanistan underscores the suspicion Christian-affiliated groups can face from some Afghans and government opponents. Such groups point to codes of conduct they follow in the country.” via Afghanistan aid workers’ deaths highlights delicate position of Christian-affiliated groups – CSMonitor.com.

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August 27, 2010

Swarm – ACT Alliance

Here is another swarm, transcribed into English: Over a hundred relief and development organizations with a religious background now form one of the world’s largest aid alliances, the ACT alliance. The whole world, the Swedish Church’s international work is one of the members. – Almost everywhere in the world where there are churches, there is also the ACT Alliance. We’re big and we are making a difference in poor people’s lives around the world, “said John Nduna, ACT alliance’s Secretary General. Valuable local knowledge Churches and church aid organizations are behind much of what has made the world both in [...]

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August 27, 2010

Caritas – a swarm

Translated from the Caritas Sweden website, here is an interesting description of a (potential) international swarm most of my readers probably haven’t heard about – the Roman Catholic aid agency Caritas International: “Caritas Internationalized with headquarters in Rome unites Caritas organizations in 201 countries. It is an international network with unique opportunities for rapid information exchange and cooperation across borders. Virtually every Catholic diocese – there are currently more than 2500 worldwide – has its own organization within the Caritas network. All Caritas Swedens development and disaster relief efforts are in partnership with cooperating organizations in place that has knowledge [...]

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August 24, 2010

Needed: Missions Incubators?

From TechCrunch: AngelPad: Seven Ex-Googlers Are About To Launch A New Incubator. One interesting comment, “The problem is obvious: it’s hard to launch a startup. But one potential solution, great mentorship and support, isn’t so easy to come by. With their own startup of sorts, seven ex-Googlers are going to attempt to solve that.” Do we need missions incubators? Ministry incubators? Missionary incubators? What do you think?

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August 24, 2010

Interviewed on Missionary Talks

David Peach interviewed me for his excellent Missionary Talks. You can listen to the 20 minute chat, and also check out the other talks and chats he’s had.

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August 18, 2010

London’s brothels: migrants coerced into trade

The Press Association: London has the most brothels of any city in UK, says report. 6,000 brothels in England/Wales. 2,100 brothels in London. 30,000 women in the trade. 17,000 of them are are migrants, mostly from China, Thailand, and Eastern Europe, coerced or forced in. Ministry to UPGs in England will likely involve ministry to prostitutes. How can your mission agency engage? YWAM’s Thailand team can likely teach some lessons on this. Related: Press Release from Association of Chief Police Officers PDF copy of the report

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August 16, 2010

Cult of less: Living out of a hard drive

BBC News look at people who have literally gotten rid of everything – except their digital equipment. This trend has ongoing implications for missions. (H/T Michael Jaffarian).

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August 10, 2010

Belief is not enough to be saved

Today John Piper responds to the question, What Do I Have to Believe to Be Saved? I absolutely agree with the response, insofar as it goes. But the one thing we have to keep in mind: it’s not enough to believe in Jesus and be saved. The entire text is, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Obviously, I don’t believe in a works-based gospel. I certainly believe in faith. The belief part exercises our faith. We have to believe in the seeming [...]

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August 10, 2010

If there’s no price, are you carrying your cross?

(This deserved additional comment:) “THE American clergy is suffering from burnout, several new studies show. And part of the problem, as researchers have observed, is that pastors work too much. Many of them need vacations, it’s true. But there’s a more fundamental problem that no amount of rest and relaxation can help solve: congregational pressure to forsake one’s highest calling. The pastoral vocation is to help people grow spiritually, resist their lowest impulses and adopt higher, more compassionate ways. But churchgoers increasingly want pastors to soothe and entertain them. It’s apparent in the theater-style seating and giant projection screens in churches [...]

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August 9, 2010

Latin America

This week we begin a six week series focused on the 46 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This region of the world is home to some 600 million people–about 8% of the world–and is projected to rise to about 700 million by 2025. Racial intermingling has made an exact determination of ethnic groups virtually impossible, but can be generally categorized as Amerindian, Asian, Blacks (descended from African slaves brought to the region during the 16th century), Whites, and mixes these various groups. Asians are primarily found in Brazil and Peru; African descendants are mostly in the Caribbean and [...]

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August 6, 2010

Fear and Loathing in Nairobi

via Fear and Loathing in Nairobi | Foreign Affairs. “Kenya was once Africa’s poster child for stability and growth. Then, in late 2007, it descended into ethnic violence. The current coalition government has not solved the underlying problems of corruption and inequality, and ethnic resentments are likely to remain until Kenyans elect a clean and inclusive government.” The church should be playing a role in reconciliation. There are well over 100 mission agencies that I know of active in Kenya (175 listed in Operation World), and that doesn’t count Roman Catholics or Orthodox.

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August 6, 2010

The greatest difference between China and the US

Churches and the market economy. “Then where does the greatest difference between the US and China ultimately lie? My personal opinion: churches. Only in this area is the difference between China and the US not a question of numbers, but rather an essential difference between presence and absence. In the US, the spires of churches are more numerous than China’s banks and rice shops.” A very insightful article by Zhao Xiao, a Chinese government economist, after a several-month-long sojourn in the United States. (H/T Nate Cheeseman).

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August 5, 2010

When to Give Up: Google gives a case study via Wave

via Wave cancellation: Google gives up on next-gen messaging platform. Google has decided that there hasn’t been enough adoption of Wave, so it’s suspending all further work on it. It will be kept open through the end of the year but then may be shuttered. This is an excellent case study in when to give up. For related reading, Seth Godin wrote an interesting little book along this topic, called The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). Note that Google is not giving up on its core mission and vision! Rather, it’s giving up [...]

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August 4, 2010

Florida church plans Burn a Quran day on 9/11

via Mission Network News. Evangelicals are standing against this plan. This idea of burning a Quran is very uncharitable and I think absolutely disobedient to Christ’s call to love everyone esp. enemies. I don’t really understand how a church of all things could even espouse such an idea.

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