In This Issue: Five Ideas to Rock November
1. Spicing Up Thanksgiving
2. Chatting Up the Big Cheese
3. Avoiding “Year-end Request” Regret
4. Standing in Prayer with Self-funded Friends
5. Making the List
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1. Spicing Up Thanksgiving
I love Thanksgiving. The American version of the holiday arrives in a couple of weeks and brings with it full hearts, savory smells, and warm embraces. It also bears some of the best opportunities for people who love Jesus to act like him on behalf of, and in front of, people who don’t know him.
Here’s the idea: Invite a Muslim family to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with your family. Really, it doesn’t have to be a Muslim family. It could be anyone that Jesus loves. Muslims just happen to be on my mind because they’ve lately moved to my town in a big way. Maybe yours too.
Could this be awkward? Yep. Maybe Uncle Earl won’t keep his racist mouth shut! Maybe you’ll forget that a standing rib roast might not be Hindu-friendly. Maybe you’ll blow through all the conversation topics you can think of in eight minutes. Here’s the answer: Pictionary. No, it won’t shut up Uncle Earl or make ham halal, but it might break through some relational barriers and actually end up being a lot of fun.
>> Do you plan to do this? Have you faced these problems? Do you have solutions? Let the rest of us hear about it.
2. Chatting Up the Big Cheese
If you’re reading this column in the U.S. on the day of its publication, your city may have just elected a new mayor. Or perhaps you decided to let the old one have another go at it!
Even if your town didn’t vote this year, I want to pass on a great idea. In a wonderful twist of prevenient grace, some buds and I had lunch last Saturday with Dr. Tim Tennent. Dr. Tennent is president of Asbury Seminary and one really smart guy. Among a dozen other gems, he told us about a church in Fort Myers, Florida, that arranged a meeting with their town’s mayor in which they asked him, “What keeps you up at night?” and “What can we do to help?” The mayor talked about the drug and prostitution crime in the city and invited them to respond to it. They started a number of ministries and efforts, and crime in Fort Myers drop measurably.
Now if God were to lead you and your church to imitate their example (as I think he’s leading ours), two things would be accomplished. (Three, if we count actually making a difference in your city!) You would help alter two perceptions that are sometimes scarily accurate:
A. Christians only complain about stuff; they don’t fix anything.
B. Missions-minded people are only concerned about ministry among strange people far away.
I love it when mission mobilizers initiate activity close to home; when they demonstrate an understanding of, and commitment to, God’s whole purpose.
>> What do you think? Can you imagine two months from today sitting down with your mayor and asking, “What can our church do for you?”
3. Avoiding “Year-end Request” Regret
If you raise money for your ministry, you may be aware that “end of the year” donations can be a big deal. Don’t do what I do, which is to spend Christmas afternoon stressed out, due not only to the too-late realization that a new shower curtain is not a killer present for a dear, loving wife, but also about the funding letters I haven’t written and the now growing certainty that if I do send some they will not get to people in time for year-end donations and that the panicky tone inclines the recipients to arrange an intervention rather than write a check.
Now is the time to plan for year-end giving. Well, maybe early October was the time. But things are not yet desperate. Stop reading this article and send an email to the people who make (or might make) year-end contributions to support your work. Then in two weeks, write and ask them for a year-end contribution. You can get some good (maybe hard-core) ideas for this here.
>> Who do you look to for fundraising advice? Let the rest of us know.
4. Standing in Prayer with Self-funded Friends
Maybe reading that last idea, you thought, “Dude, I’m glad I don’t have to raise money. Yuck.” While there are certainly worse ways to put food on your table, raising your own salary and expenses is a challenge for many. Few situations are as simple as “lack of funds,” but a tendency to toss out sayings such as “God’s work, done in God’s way, never lacks God’s supply” may not always be helpful. I hate hearing of friends and acquaintances leaving what appear to be great ministries for the kingdom because their support is not sufficient to continue, don’t you?
I’d like to invite you to rock November by praying for our fellow mobilizers who ask for donations in order to do the work they feel God has given them. Pray for submission to God, good ideas, tenacity, a wholesale defeat of the lizard brain, and for blessing to be poured out in such a way that kingdom work goes forward and both giver and recipient delight in their service to God.
>> If you’d be so bold as to share your prayer with the rest of us, below, many of us would be helped. And we’ll look forward to watching as God answers your prayer.
5. Making the List
Believe it or not, I’m not above using the season of our holy Lord’s birth to advance the cause of his kingdom among the nations. What about you? For example, if you have gift-giving on your mind, how about moving some hearts toward God’s purposes at the same time?
Next month’s Practical Mobilization will feature our (mostly) annual Mobilizer’s Christmas List. It’s a two-fold list consisting of (1) gifts that have mobilization value (think Operation World), and (2) gifts that mobilizers themselves might uniquely appreciate (an iPod Touch loaded with survival phrases from 18 different languages).
The lists are not written yet, though. I have ideas, but I’d love to hear yours.
>> Please email ideas for both lists to me, then tune in next month to get the full lists just in time for Christmas.
Shane Bennett has served in missions mobilization since 1987, much of his energy going to recruiting, training, and sending short-term teams. He’s been on research teams in Bangkok, Bombay, and Turkey. He coauthored Exploring the Land, a guide to researching unreached peoples, and has written numerous articles.
Shane now works as a public speaker for Frontiers and helps his church, Commonway, follow God to the nations. He and his wife, Ann, have five school-aged children. They live and work in Indiana.
I am currently going to Ferris State University(at the age of 38) as a full time student. Living on campus, God has filled my life with Muslims and I am thankful for the firm foundation of Christ in my life to give me the knowledge and strength to let His light shine. Although I am not having a Thanksgiving dinner, I do my best everyday to share, show & sow Gods love in every interaction. When the Holy Spirit lays it on my heart(which is pretty much all the time), I share my experiences of faith and belief in Christ as my Savior. We are all Gods children.
Planting seeds in Big Rapids Michigan,
John E Roberts
A Traveler
John: Awesome perspective. Thanks for sharing it and thanks for living your life with Jesus in front of your Muslim friends. Have you seen Carl Medearis’s book Speaking of Jesus? I think you’d like it.
John!!! I have some friends in Big Rapids (from Saudi Arabia, were studying English in my current city of residence). They moved to Big Rapids last December. They are incredibly fun…I’ve been praying for God to send them people in their home town that can bless them…how can we chat offline???
We have done this for several years now and there is much training material available for this from International Students, Inc. and other international student ministries such as IVCF (ISM) Cru (Bridges International) and the Association for Ministry Among Internationals (AMCI).
Asking for Prayer:
Thanks for asking for continued prayers for all mobilizers. As a mobilizer, we all know how difficult it can be to cast vision and raise support for “home side ministry.” And yet Ralph Winter said, “Anyone who can help 100 missionaries to the field is more important than one missionary on the field.” OMF Interntional (US) currently has 13 mobilizers and homeside Diaspora workers on focused partnership development at 7 new mobilizers raising support to join the team. Pray that they would all be fully funded in 2012, in God’s timing!
OMF International (US) has also recently taken a deeper look at the way we train, equip and encourage all our missionaries and mobilizers in their partnership development (fund-raising with an overall mobilization push). We rolled out this new program a couple weeks ago but one piece that is crucial to seeing this succeed is having people to walk alongside those raising support. If you have or do raise support, you know the emotional and spiritual rollercoaster it can be. Our new program is looking for 3 full-time talented and gifted Partnership Development Coaches to walk alongside our missionaries, mobilizes and missionary appointees during this season. It is truly multiplying yourself as a mobilizer by empowering others to communicate clearly and help them mobilize their audience towards purposeful involvement. Please pray for 3 such individuals to join our team! If you are interested please e-mail me at [email protected].
Howdy Alicia! I think you’re spot on – it is a rollercoaster, and people need some help to stay on it! We’ll pray with you for some gifted coaches to join your team.
Bill: Thanks for the info and for taking the time to pass it on to us.
Regarding Thanksgiving dinners – if we are travelling to visit family on Thanksgiving day, we will have at least one large dinner with international friends either the weekend before or after Thanksgiving. Last year we actually had two – a total of 30 friends from 10 countries – too much fun! So people can do this even if they’re travelling or aren’t sure whether their family is “ready” – just pick another day.
Cooking details: we make everything vegetarian except the Turkey and its gravy, but make vegetarian gravy as well for the stuffing and potatoes. Even our strictest vegetarian friends were fascinated with the large bird and wanted to get lots of pictures, so having it in sight wasn’t a problem. 🙂
And, of course, we explain the history of the holiday.
Sometimes we have a couple of games going on at once, which is helpful if there is a larger crowd.
Shana: Wow! You set the bar pretty high! Way to go. Sounds like great fun at your house.
You know, I think the talking to your mayor idea works. I loved how you promoted this in mobilizer, and I hope you do so again.
Mainly, because talking to these leaders works. My church, among others, responded awhile ago to our congressman’s (Frank Wolf- recently wrote a book too, I guess, prisoners of conscious) plea in the newspaper about human trafficking in our area. Since then, we’ve realized its been an issue and have actually been working together as a churches to help curb the issue. We’ve discovered that there are a lot of gaps in the local organizations and there is actually a lot we can do, and have already done a lot just by talking with different political leaders. And we are wanted! So surprising! Its kinda amazing.
So keep pumping this up. I think Christians get discouraged or complacent, because they don’t see how they can be involved or help. But if we are going to be a light, why not ask governmental leaders how we can help? Even if we don’t like them, they can’t keep justice by themselves, and they need all faith communities- including Christians, to help love people or do work. So keep encouraging your readers this way. It makes an impact!
Elisa, Thanks for the props and for fleshing out the idea. Let’s pray that God uses many of us to bless our local leaders and our cities.