Two most important things I have read this week:
NYT: Death, the Prosperity Gospel, and me. Link.
Kirk Bowman. TEDxPeachtree: The world doesn’t need another new non-profit. Link.
Current Events / Trendlines / Articles
Africa: drought may affect 49 million. Link.
Asia: Requiem for a river: the slow death of the Mekong. Link.
Life as a female refugee: ‘you don’t know who to trust.’ Link.
Afghanistan: who’s on the verge of defeat? ISIS? The government?
Afghanistan: Taliban controls the drug trade, becomes a cartel. Link.
China: The Golden Generation–why China’s super rich send their children abroad. Link.
China: how it became a country of suburbs (“Chinese Dream”=outskirts of major cities). Link.
Jordan: struggles under a wave of Syrian refugees. Link.
Mexico: 45% of Catholics regularly engage with traditional religious beliefs, practices. Link.
Nigeria: booming film industry redefines African life (‘Nollywood’). Link.
Saudi Arabia: young see cushy jobs vanish along with nation’s oil wealth. Link.
… oil used to be $100/barrel, now $30/barrel, equates to 60% drop in govt budget …
Syria: officer gave a view of war. ISIS came, and Silence Followed. A sad tale. Link.
Syria: why Russia and the West can’t win in Syria (a look at the religious dynamics). Link.
Uganda Election: social media (Facebook, Whatsapp) blocked. Prayers requested. Link.
Yemen: 21 million need aid, ‘human catastrophe’ unfolding. Link.
N Korea
South Korean leader warns of north’s collapse (if it persists in nuclear development). Link.
S Korea ambassador urges ‘extraordinary’ new sanctions on the North. Link.
China talks up prospect of N Korea sanctions that ‘bite.’ Link.
… mostly to avoid US deployment of THAAD missile defense system, unlikely they will actually do it …
CIA watching for Iranian nuclear collaboration with rogue states like N Korea. Link.
… if evidence of this were ever found, it could have significant repercussions …
Studies / Charts / Graphs / Reports / Statistics / Resources
Earth sets 9th straight monthly record for heat: global average 55.5, 1.1C above normal. Link.
Missiographic: 7 Stats you need to know to serve the King (2016 ed). Link.
Female genital mutilation: the numbers keep rising, up (at least) by 70 million. Link.
Does where you’re from affect your leadership style (globally)? Link.
Which cities have grown the most since 1955? Link.
Syrian Refugee Data: UN Inter-agency Information Sharing Portal. Dashboard, reports. Link.
Syria: quantifying carnage: how many people has Syria’s civil war killed? Charts. Link.
Long Reads / Mission Industry News
9 myths Christians believe about pain, suffering and evil. Link.
Martin Lee. As the Father sent me: mission is not an activity of the church, but an attribute of God. Link.
‘Generation Z’ described (uses Fourth Turning language for part), impacts recruitment. Link.
NYT: Death, the Prosperity Gospel, and me. Link.
Missional thinking / Lifehacking / Tactics / Individual Skills
Persons of Peace. (One view. In another, PoPs don’t always believe, but they do open doors.) Link.
Single missionaries and burnout. Link.
Building habits: how, and the long-term consequences. Link. Also: The Power of Habit, Duhigg.
10 things missionaries wished their churches new. Link.
Pioneer Mission Startups / Startup Thinking / Strategic Concepts
Kirk Bowman. TEDxPeachtree: The world doesn’t need another new non-profit. Link.
… instead of investing in ‘idea startups’ provide expansion capital for existing successes …
… instead of investing in ‘the next great idea’ invest in long-term relationships with effective leaders …
… instead of starting our own ripples, invest in existing ripples, and amplify them into waves …
Manifest Conference: Growth is a system, not a bag of tricks. Link.
… tons of applications here, especially around viral growth. Check out 20 minute video. …
… Growth is not tactical (tips+tricks). Growth is an organic model, a system, interlinking parts.
… Growth is about involving one batch of users to invite another batch of users, optimizing loop
UPG Profiles
Iran: the desolate, apocalyptic landscape of Lake Urmia. Link.
A teen rescued from Boko Haram captivity still pines for her militant husband. Link.
34 incredibly beautiful reasons to visit Iran. Link.
Futuristics / Tech
By 2020, more people will have mobile phones than electricity or sanitation. Link.
… and 75% of world’s mobile data traffic will be video …
2016 trends: video in business (slide show). Link.
Some Syrian refugees can now pay for food just by scanning their eyes. Link.
Military robots: lethal, but how dangerous? US DOD bans autonomous weapons until 2020s. Link.
Quotable
“It is possible to be orthodox and irrelevant.” And we will be “if we exegete scripture and fail to exegete culture” ~Steve Moore
“The formulation of the problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of…skill.” ~Albert Einstein
“It takes more than clicking like for a good cause to change the world.” ~Michael Oh
“I’ve never seen a problem that was solved by only complaining about it.” ~Steve Keating
“Just because we’re being ‘obedient’ doesn’t mean we’re being ‘legalistic.’” ~Nathan Rittenhouse
“In the midst of change we often discover wings we never knew we had.” ~Ekaterina Walter
“Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” ~John F. Kennedy
“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” ~Warren Buffett
“One of the hardest things in life to learn are which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn.” ~Oprah
“Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work out for the rabbit.” ~R. E. Shay