Missions Catalyst 01.11.12 – Practical Mobilization

In This Issue: Lessons from the life of a learner

• FEATURE: Farewell, David Mays
• SUBVERSIVE MOBILIZATION: Better than Winning an Argument

Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!

FEATURE: Farewell, David Mays

Remembering and Learning from the Life of a Consummate Learner

By Shane Bennett

My friend David Mays died last week. We weren’t friends like we borrowed tools from each other or went out for tacos every two weeks. But we bumped into each other occasionally at meetings and conferences. We shared ideas from time to time. We even worked at the same organization for a few months five years ago. And I admired and respected him hugely.

David was a mobilizer and darn good at it; a first-round inductee into the Mobilizer Hall of Fame. His success in ministry was undergirded by his walk with Christ. God’s grace worked out through David’s life was evidenced at his funeral when hundreds of friends and family gathered to celebrate his life and mourn his death. It’s also evidenced in his marriage of 47 years. (Although that may say more about Marcy’s persistence, patience, and grace!)

To honor his legacy and edify us, let me share with you four things that I like about David and think we – or at least I – would certainly do well to emulate.

1. He served others

Sometimes mobilizers can come across to churches like this: “Hey, I’ve got a great idea and I’d like you guys to staff and fund it! How cool is that?!?” In my opinion that can be way cool and there is a place for it. But what David was often able to do for churches was more like this: “I see you have a burden to do something in the world. Here’s a wealth of resources I’ve pulled together to help you on that journey. Oh, and having been down this road with a bazillion other churches, I’d be happy to share my experience with you.” Many churches took him up on this offer and grew hugely in their effectiveness.

2. He read like a fiend

David’s son Trent says his father personally read more than 4,000 books! If you’ve never imbibed of David Mays’ Book Notes, now would be a good time to dive in. David did a brilliant job of ransacking hundreds of books, pulling out the salient lessons, highlighting key chapters and illustrations, and generally helping us know if we should buy a book or not. Or maybe saving us from needing to buy it?! I wonder how many of us have claimed to have read a book, but if pressed on it, would admit, “Well, I didn’t actually read it, but I got Mays’ take on it in Book Notes.”

I wonder who will take up this mantle. It would be a labor of love and helpful to many of us.

3. He adapted to and maximized new technology

I once regrettably used David as an example of one of the “cool, old white guys” of mobilization. He took it amiably. In spite of being old enough to know what a carriage return is and presumably how to use a slide rule (he earned a PhD from Purdue after all!), Dave helped lead the way to the web for many mobilizers. He was blogging when Mark Zuckerberg was still in high school!

In recent years, David successfully figured out how to make webinars worth logging in for. In the process he brought global-level instruction and vision to guys like me, sitting in my church office in little old Muncie, Indiana. (David also had a respectable 418 friends on Facebook, but the rumors that he maintained a MySpace page where he served up his own blend of eclectic folk/new-wave music are simply not true!)

4. He empowered me

Although 23 years my senior (and wiser to the point of straining measurability), David always gave a clear sense that he cared about what I said. I’ve got to say that made a difference for me. In addition to regularly reading Missions Catalyst, at key points he encouraged me, asked what I thought, and commented on what I wrote. George Jensen, a friend of Dave’s who sang at his memorial service, referred to a Henry Cloud statement as one of Dave’s favorites: “If you want to leave the best wake possible, leave behind a trail of people who have experienced your being ‘for them.'” I am gratefully among the many who can say this in regard to David Mays.

These last few years we lived in the same state, just a couple hours’ drive apart. Every few months we would talk about getting together, but we never did. I regret that. I missed the opportunity. Now, in a couple of months I’ll take David’s place at several Perspectives courses he was scheduled to teach in Indiana. I’ll fill in for him, but I will not fill his shoes. None of us will. Of course on a certain level we’re not called to, but I will learn from David.

I’ll think of him when I’m choosing between reading an important book or playing Angry Birds! I’ll continue to rely on his expertise when a church asks about a sticky missions issue and I think, “I bet that’s on a Mays ‘Stuff’ CD.” And I hope and pray his example looms in my mind when I ask myself, “Am I giving it my all? Am I mobilizing with intent, empathy, wisdom, and humor? Is Jesus working through me as I work in his harvest?”

David Mays did these things. And Jesus worked through him.

SUBVERSIVE MOBILIZATION: Better than Winning an Argument

I got pretty annoyed last night, so I blasted off a cathartic but ill-advised email and probably terminated a friendship in the process. Wanna hear the brief version of the story?

This photo dropped into my email box last night with the subject line, “Why is one more acceptable than the other???????” (The question marks should have been a warning bell!)

(For a crash course on Tim Tebow, the American football player featured in the photo, and the controversy surrounding him, check out this link from Fox News and this one from the Boston Globe.)

That was it. No further explanation. No comment. No signature.

So I got all high and mighty and crashed out this reply:

“With all due respect, please do your homework. There is far more complaint, outcry, fear, and anger over Muslims in the US than over Tim Tebow. I think Tebow is entitled to practice his faith in any way he sees fit and most complaints about it are silly. However for Christians to make a fuss like this photo comparison is pretty silly too. Really, what do we expect this to accomplish?”

As you might imagine, that response did not open the door to grace-filled, Jesus-honoring dialogue. Go figure.

After apologizing, I wondered if maybe there was a better way. There are probably a few. Here’s one of them: If you get annoyed when Muslims get kicked around in the US, or anywhere else, and you want to take a smack at the person doing it, try this instead: invite six or ten people to go through a Bridges study with you. It will take longer and you’ll have to defer the pleasure you’d get from a “Take that! Whack!” email, but in the long run it will be more productive.

In the interest of full disclosure, I love Crescent Project, the makers of Bridges. I serve on their board and would be happy to talk with you further about this study. I’d also like to hear how you’d respond to an email like the one I described.

>> Comment on our website.

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.