I’ve talked to a number of mission committee members about the missionaries their church supports financially. Many committees are not happy. Why? Reason #3, some missionaries are too independent. As it turns out a missionary’s strength is often his weakness. What I mean is that the p

Recently I was talking with someone on a mission’s team at a church who was considering a menu of requests for the church’s financial support. As we analyzed the requests we saw two categories: missions and charity. Of course, technically both of these categories are a form of c

Globalization Begins Charles C. Mann’s 1493 took over from where his 1491 left off. In 1491, Mann’s research altered common perceptions of the world before Columbus arrived in America. 1493 explores the cultural and environmental transformation caused by the exchange of people, plants

I’ve talked to a number of mission committee members about the missionaries their church supports financially. Many committees are not happy. Why? Reason #2, some missionaries have inadequate training. Many missionaries who are available to go and work cross-culturally also have littl

Met with another denominational representative yesterday who was talking about his church planting strategy for Iowa. His first idea was to get people from nearby states to come to Iowa for a week or so, and do something to find a “person of peace” who would then start a Bible study t

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of unknown men (Proverbs 22:29). What if you aren’t born with the right skills? Research shows that skills are more developed from practice than from being born with the rig

I’ve talked to a number of mission committee members about the missionaries their church supports financially. Many committees are not happy. Why? Reason #1, some missionaries are too inexperienced. Most missionaries who are preparing to work cross-culturally have little experience in

Colors are only to separate countries and regions.

Problems can be specifically identified and specific responses can be applied to solve the problem. The book illustrated that when churches are made up of people who are in poor spiritual health, it affects the whole body. Working to be aware that these spiritual maladies may exist in

There are many great ministry priorities for believers, why focus on church planting? Because it is the best method of evangelism: New churches’ members are more active in sharing their faith and newer churches have higher rates of baptisms than older churches. Because it is the best

by Jonathan Dodson Missional is not an event we tack onto our already busy lives. It is our life. Mission should be the way we live, not something we add onto life: “As you go, make disciples….”; “Walk wisely towards outsiders”; “Let your speech always be seasoned with salt”; “be prep

Recently when I was in a room full of pastors, we did an exercise where we were asked to develop a church planting strategy for a specific neighborhood. The objective was to learn to customize the church planting strategy to the specific neighborhood’s profile. One pastor suggested th

Recently when I was in a room full of pastors, we did an exercise where we were asked to develop a church planting strategy for a specific neighborhood. The objective was to learn to customize the church planting strategy to the specific neighborhood’s profile. One pastor suggested th

Recently when I was in a room full of pastors, we did an exercise where we were asked to develop a church planting strategy for a specific neighborhood. The objective was to learn to customize the church planting strategy to the specific neighborhood’s profile. One pastor suggested th