December 2007

12/31 ~ LOOKING AHEAD ~ Mission Event Calendars (Go Connect) Now's a great time to check and see what training events are available in 2008 for further equipping, encouraging and networking your church in missions. 12/30 ~ HIV/AIDS ~ Building Hope on the Foundation of Love by Dan Wooding (Assist News Service) "Two major Christian ministries have joined forces to launch the HIV/AIDS Cube, which is a clear, simple tool that presents the facts about HIV/AIDS and how to prevent the contraction and spread of the deadly virus." 12/29 ~ BAM ~ 100 Businesses Repurposed Over the Last Five Years (Business As Mission Network) "Recently back from Switzerland, England, Cape Town and Chennai, Brett Johnson and the team at Rep (www.repurposing.biz) reports that God is doing amazing things in and through the businesses that they are repurposing." 12/28 ~ LEADERSHIP TRAINING ~ January 2008 Webinars for Church Missions Leaders (The Mission Exchange) Jan. 10: Top Missions Challenges in the Changing U.S. Church — David Mays, Director of Learning Initiatives and Church Relations, The Mission Exchange Jan 17: Historical Mentoring: Engaging the Wisdom and Experience of Leaders from History — Steve Moore, President and CEO, The Mission Exchange Jan. 31: Leading During Chronic Crisis: Enhancing Leader and Mission Agendas — Brent Lindquist, President of Link Care Center 12/27 ~ CAMPUS REVIVAL ~ Young, Restless and Ready for Revival by Becky Tirabassi (Christianity Today) "Students tell me that spiritual mentors who are 'on fire for Jesus,' consistent in their walks with God, who remained sexually pure in their own dating and marriage relationships, and who lived full-of-the-Holy-Spirit lives in front of them are rare. But they are longing for, begging for, older Christians to be solid spiritual mentors and parents to them, to pray powerfully for and with them. They don't need more programs. They want prayer and revival for their generation." 12/26 ~ FOR MISSIONARIES ~ Missionary Communications by Ellen Livingood (Catalyst Services) "It’s often considered a chore to produce and sometimes ignored by recipients, yet it is a powerful tool that is undervalued and underutilized. What? The missionary prayer letter and its contemporary cousins—emails, websites, and blogs." 12/24 ~ HEART CHECK ~ WorldView: Silent night by Erich Bridges (imb.org) "What, exactly, is your rush? Where are you going that is so important? Do you really need to be hyper-connected while you’re getting there? Did you just speed past the Bethlehem exit on your urgent journey?" 12/22 ~ NET-GEN TRENDS ~ The Young are Wired for Social Media, is Your Non-Profit? (about.com) Staying relevent and in touch with the internet generations requires getting connected and staying connected to where and how they communicate, which is why Go Connect periodically posts links to "proding" articles like this one. 12/21 ~ GREAT CHRISTIANS ~ Thank God for John Newton by John Piper (Desiring God Blog) "Today is the 200th anniversary of John Newton’s death." 12/20 ~ TRAINING ~ Fusion College Initiative Expanded (Baptist Press) "Fusion provides a great emphasis on developing student leaders, and we look forward to expanding it to include a larger number of students in a wide variety of assignments worldwide," says Mike Lopez, who coordinates student enlistment and mobilization for the IMB." (Note: Fusion provide's a great strategy for proactively discipling students in leadership with a global focus. Question: Is your denomination or church-planting movement providing something similar?) 12/19 ~ ASIA WATCH ~ Rebuilding the Ancient Silk Road (backtojerusalem.com) The Chinese government has aggressive plans to cooperate with other nations in rebuilding the Silk Road as a gigantic "continental bridge" across Asia. For the Chinese Back to Jerusalem Movement, it's an encouraging sign of God's providence. 12/18 ~ THE MIDDLE EAST ~ Suffocating the Faithful, by David Aikman (Christianity Today) "No one knows precisely how many of the Middle East's 293 million people are Christians, but nearly everyone acknowledges that Middle Eastern Christianity has been in steady decline for decades. In some local areas, officials record declines of 75 percent or more." 12/17 ~ CHINA WATCH ~ Countdown To The Beijing Olympics 2008, (Youtube/Assist News Service) "In less than 250 days China will attempt to pull off the greatest show on earth as the Olympics 2008 opens in Beijing. At exactly 8.08 on August 8, 2008 the curtain will rise on a spectacular opening night ceremony. The emphasis on the numeral 8 is not a coincidence. In Chinese thinking the numeral 8 is associated with hope and prosperity- the two things China craves more than anything else in its bid to dominate the world as Number 1. The theme will be One World, One Dream which summarizes the century’s old concept of China as the middle kingdom and center of world influence." 12/15 ~ UNREACHED PEOPLES ~ A Message from Joshua Project's Dan Scribner, (Don't Waste Your Life) "Joshua Project was created in the 90's as a key tool for the AD2000 movement to provide a central database for the unreached and least reached peoples. With the task far from being completed, JP's director, Dan Scribner, appeals to the Church to not lose focus on seeing every last people group on earth reached with the Gospel." 12/14 ~ PRAYER ~ Prayer Driving, by Peter (Asian Access) "Seven to eight hours each day, for 6,800 miles, they drove the small coastal roads praying for an outpouring of the Lord's spirit, that the eyes of the Japanese people may be open to the love of Christ." 12/13 ~ E-MAGAZINE ~ Practical Mobilization - December 12, 2007 by Shane Bennett (Missions Catalyst) » A Message of Integrity: Readers Respond » Strategic Engagement » Talking Turkey with Kids » What's Most Worth Writing? » Subversive Mobilization: Mobilizer of Merit 12/12 ~ LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE ~ Jennifer's Language Page Whether you're going to another country, or your connecting with immigrants or international students in your own country, key phrases like, 'hello, welcome, goodbye, good morning, how are you', etc., can be great ice-breakers and heart warmers in relationship building. Jennifer's Language Page is loaded with these phrases (and more) in hundreds of languages, and improving with time as users add to the number of languages and phrases compiled here. (Found on tonysheng.blogspot.com ) 12/11 ~ COLORADO ~ Youth With A Mission Leaders Speak Out on the Killings in Colorado by Dan Wooding (Assist News Service) "Two of the leaders of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) have spoken out about the terrible shootings in Colorado, on Sunday which took the lives of two staff members at the YWAM base in Arvada and two sisters at New Life Church in Colorado Springs and resulted in the death of the gunman." 12/11 ~ TECH TRENDS ~ One Laptop Per Child: The world is getting smaller by Mike Todd (wreckedfortheordinary.com) "I was struck by one of those thoughts the other day. You know the kind, where there's an audible "crack", and the ground beneath your feet shifts suddenly, throwing you off balance. I'll tell you about it, and you can let me know how it strikes you." 12/10 ~ NETWORKING ~ Who’s In Your Network? by Greg Atkinson (churchvideoideas.com) "Be proactive. 95% of the time, people that I’ve had breakfast, lunch or coffee with were people that I called up or emailed and took the initiative to introduce myself to. (T)his ... may be out of your comfort zone, but it will be well worth your while." 12/08 ~ TECH NEWS ~ Creative Commons Developing Nations License (ywamdigitalmission.blogspot.com) "The Developing Nations license allows you to invite a wide range of royalty-free uses of your work in developing nations while retaining your full copyright in the developed world." 12/07 ~ BOOKNOTES ~ Habitudes: Images that Form Leadership Habits & Attitudes by Tim Elmore (davidmays.org) "This is the first in a series of books that communicate important truth through the power of visual images. Each picture contains layers of reality. The book is deceptively short, easy to understand, and the discussion questions will direct groups or indivduals deeper into application." —David Mays 12/06 ~ STRATEGIC MISSION ~ Broadcaster to Counter Anti-Christian Kids TV in Arab World by Peter B. Beita (Christian Post) "SAT-7 is launching special channel for kids this month to send message of hope to kids in the Arab world who are watching other channels that are thought to be propagating anti-Christian messages." 12/05 ~ WORSHIP & MISSION ~ Declare His Glory! Worship, Evangelism and Mission by Rose Dowsett (Lausanne World Pulse) "When our expression of worship is truly worship, unbelievers hear and see the reality and dynamic life of God, who is no longer a three-letter word or an abstract philosophical concept. He is a living presence among his people." 12/04 ~ SHORT-TERM MISSIONS ~ Unexpected Global Lessons by Andy Crouch (Christianity Today) "It's not just full-time missionaries who are becoming learners and unlearners. The more we learn to make short-term missions two-way experiences, the more we all will learn about God's work in the world—and in us." 12/03 ~ DALIT UPDATE ~ Supreme Court Again Delays Dalit Ruling (Assist News Service) "Once again, I am asking that Christians around the world to pray for the outcome of this case,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder and president of Gospel for Asia. “It grieves our hearts to know that these precious people lose their civil rights when they choose to follow Christ. We must intercede on their behalf." 12/01 ~ PERSECUTED CHURCH ~ The Chinese House Church Song (Persecution Blog) "Read this song and compare it to the songs you sing in church. November October September August July June May April March