September 2010

September 30, 2010

2010 Podcast No. 8: Trent DeLoach and ministries to refugees

Today I’m on the phone with Trent DeLoach (H/T to my friend the uber-well-connected Angela Zimmerman, among other things a coordinator for Perspectives), who works with refugees in Lousville, Kentucky. I was very surprised in this interview to learn about how refugees are intentionally relocated to Louisville (and also a handful of other cities); apparently the US government has effectively outsourced some (or all) of the relocation functions to some charities that help these refugees get resettled. Louisville is bringing in over 1,000 refugees a year, from an incredible array of backgrounds ranging from North Africa to the Middle East [...]

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September 29, 2010

Malcolm Gladwell: be known for your vision, not your tools

In The New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell contributes an important piece analyzing the power of social networking in the context of revolutionary change. Gladwell describes several very real swarms. Here are some of the most important takeaways from the article, which is well worth reading in its entirety: Twitter revolutions are overrated – especially when people are tweeting in English but the majority language is something else (e.g. Farsi). Real “revolutions” or social movements happen when people are required to risk much. Dangerous activities are “strong-tie” effects, but platforms for social media are built around weak ties. There is a use for [...]

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September 29, 2010

Rewards & Incentives: The Game Layer for Missions?

This post might be a little different for some of you, but bear with me. I’ll try to keep this pretty short so you can digest it, and either walk away shaking your head or nodding and laughing. One of the newest trends in video games today is the idea of the “achievement.” Many (most?) computer games are no longer so much about “winning” the game as racking up “achievements.” Games ranging from Foursquare to Farmville to Call of Duty (or my personal favorite, Defense Grid) all feature achievements. For example, here are some of Call of Duty’s achievements (simply [...]

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September 29, 2010

Persecution Journal for September 2010

Exploring using Storify bundles to curate persecution stories for this month. Also see http://www.twitter.com/justindlong/persecution for “Persecution Live” – posts from people who blog persecution related issues.

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September 29, 2010

Are Transformational Church Planting Movements Real?

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September 28, 2010

Cape Town 2010 Interview: To Serve is to Suffer

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September 28, 2010

North Korean leader to announce successor

And in this post I am trying out a new technology for curating tweets about a story.

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September 27, 2010

How TEDx makes learning free (and appealing!)

via NYTimes.com. This great little article is actually exploring the swarmishness of TEDx – the decentralization, democratization, and franchising of TED. Here’s how people are holding TEDs of their own. I don’t think that holding a TEDx is necessarily something missions should do (although it might be appropriate for a network of churches?), but holding an event like TED is something I would like to explore (and am exploring a bit).

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September 26, 2010

The story behind Pastor Terry Jones’s change of heart

by Jim Wallis in the Washington Post. A very interesting piece with (at least some of) the “story behind what happened.” Also some pieces on Muslim reaction to Christians who loved on them rather than threatening.

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September 25, 2010

Illustrated 4-minute video: Why ideas come from connectedness

“Chance Favors the Connected Mind” – this video is from writer Steven Johnson and illustrates why it’s so important to have connections with other people if you want new innovations. New ideas come from the collision of existing hunches. Communities that serve as a platform for connectedness, for idea sharing, for together considering and experimenting, can thus become hotbeds of innovation. The video is wonderfully illustrated and lasts just 4 minutes. So if you were wondering why it’s a good idea to be a long-term missionary within a larger, stable organization, here’s one reason: because with time and experience you’ll [...]

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September 24, 2010

Our new role with Mission to Unreached Peoples

This year has been full of change for us. But I can now write publicly that after half a year exploring various organizations, we are now in the process of joining Mission to Unreached Peoples. (It’s not a “done” deal yet, but I don’t see any reason why it won’t be, and everything–I think!–should be wrapped up next week.) We’ll be helping MUP in the area of research, practically applying research to strategy and mobilization, and building swarmishness that has a little backbone. The process of choosing an agency, for those of you who are considering it, isn’t the easiest [...]

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September 24, 2010

Lessons from Coca Cola by Melinda Gates

via Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Missionaries have often studied Coca Cola. If Coke is everywhere, why isn’t the Gospel? Here, Melinda Gates does the same thing in terms of global health – if Coke is everyone, why aren’t vaccinations? Let’s learn from those who are studying the same cases we are! “Coke’s success kind of makes you stop and wonder. How is it that they can get Coca-Cola to these far flung places? If they can do that, why can’t governments and NGOs do the same thing? I’m not the first person to ask this question, but I think as [...]

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September 23, 2010

Book Notes: Living Mission by Scott A. Bessenecker

Intervarsity Press just sent me a copy of Living Mission: The Vision and Voices of New Friars (I love getting copies of books in the mail, completely unlooked for, even if it is for review–it’s like Christmas in October.) Anyway, Scott’s passion is for the urban poor. He apparently wrote an earlier book, The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World’s Poor, which is all about his passion for networks or communities or movements which incarnate (live among) the urban poor and both preach and demonstrate the Gospel to them. Living Mission is a collection of essays by people [...]

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September 23, 2010

2010 Podcast No. 7: David Shive & ACMC

Today I got to speak with David Shive, who is with ACMC. This is a great org that recently merged into Pioneers. They do consulting with churches in various parts of the country to help coach church missions committees and mobilize whole churches (not just individual missionaries). I know a lot of people at ACMC and they are really good at what they do (and kudos to Pioneers for bringing their org in, letting them do what they’ve always done, and just providing the admin support to “lift up their arms”). David credits Perspectives with his turn around in vision–as [...]

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September 21, 2010

2010 Podcast No. 6: David Sills, Reaching & Teaching in Ecuador; or, how Latin America serves the unreached.

I am an advocate of reaching the unreached. The passionate side of me really resonates with the cry, “Why should anyone hear the Gospel twice until everyone has heard it once?” But let’s be clear: that passionate statement, while it shows how God has shaped my heart, is a bit of an exaggeration. If taken to an extreme, what it says is: let’s stop all missionary efforts in the Americas, Europe, or subsaharan Africa, and concentrate solely on the 10/40 Window. And that would be a very bad idea. In today’s interview I talk with David Sills, who served (and [...]

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September 20, 2010

2010 Podcast No. 5: Fouad Masri and the Crescent Project

Today I talked with Fouad Masri of The Crescent Project. He was born and raised in the Middle East, but after he came to faith in Christ his entire outlook changed. Today his ministry helps to build bridges between Christians and Muslims: his main passion is helping Christians to reach out and love their Muslim neighbors. In this interview you’ll hear a bit about his life story, how the Crescent Project works in America, and how you can be part.

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September 17, 2010

Chris Anderson: How web video powers global innovation | Video on TED.com

via TED.com. This is a powerful 20 minute video on how humans are poised to “launch the greatest learning cycle in human history.” It’s all about how the ability to post what we have done and learned to the web in video, and thereby join a broader community (e.g. dancers, cooks, inventors, scientists) who share our passion, unleashes a learning cycle in which we learn from each other and get better. The video is especially powerful at its close. Interestingly, Chris is a missionary kid. He grew up in Pakistan, the son of a missionary eye doctor.The impact that missionaries, former [...]

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September 17, 2010

2010 Podcast No. 4: Greg Livingstone: “Little Sowing, Little Reaping.”

Today’s interview is with Greg Livingstone, who is passionate about reaching Muslims. Greg tells the story of how he was called to Muslims at an all night prayer event (“what in the world do you have to pray for that takes all night?”), and goes on to share some powerful thoughts about reaching the Muslim world (“little sowing means little reaping”–among many others), insider movements, and the importance of praying less about where you should go and more about who you should go with. Greg was with Operation Mobilization for many years, eventually founded Frontiers, and today still works with [...]

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September 16, 2010

2010 Podcast No. 3: Robyn in Russia: Illusions lead to truth

Today I talk with Robyn, who’s enthusiastic about evangelism, discipleship, and the impact of short-term missions trips in other countries. She talks about bringing her daughters to Guatemala and Russia, some of the trials along the way, and some of the magic tricks they use to illuminate theological truths.

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September 15, 2010

Violence in [Japanese] schools hits new high

via The Japan Times Online. Violent incidents in Japanese schools have been increasing nationwide for four years, and hit 60,913 incidents in 2009. Incidents at junior high schools accounted for 72% of the total. Perhaps Japan needs the prince of peace. The Japanese are one of the top 2 largest unreached people groups in the world. There are some 3,000 missionaries from over 200 agencies working among Japan’s 126 million people: which makes for 42,000 people per missionary. In 2000 there were about 2 million Christians, and 88 million Buddhists and 31 million who practiced an Asian religion of some variety. [...]

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