Missions Catalyst 09.26.12 – Resource Reviews

In This Issue: Biographies, big prayers, and upcoming events

  • BIOGRAPHY: Reckless Abandon
  • BOOKS: Trends and Topics in Missions Today
  • CURRICULUM: Free Small-group Study for Students
  • VIDEO: Big Prayers
  • EVENTS: Training and Conferences

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 share it freely!

Quotable

“Risk assumes the possibility of loss and is always determined by the value of the mission. The gospel is so valuable that no risk is unreasonable.” » David Sitton, Reckless Abandon

BIOGRAPHY: Reckless Abandon

» Source: To Every Tribe

Reckless Abandon: A Modern-day Gospel Pioneer’s Exploits among the Most Difficult to Reach Peoples, by David Sitton. Ambassador International, 2011. 208 pages.

Description from the publisher:

“David Sitton was barely a man when he left surfing and partying to live in Papua New Guinea, a faraway, perilous land. Leaving Texas with a Bible and a suitcase (and a surfboard), he took the gospel into cannibalistic areas to people who had never heard the name of Jesus. For 34 years God has used him to help train missionaries, spread the gospel, and establish dozens of churches in remote regions. Through this book, experience the amazing things God did as David recklessly abandoned his will to the will of God.”

» Purchase for US$10 from To Every Tribe’s bookstore (or elsewhere). To read an excerpt or learn more, see the book’s website and a thoughtful review from Tim Challies.

» We’ve compiled a list of biographies reviewed or mentioned in Missions Catalyst in recent years.

BOOKS: Trends and Topics in Missions Today

» Sources: various

Several new books dealing with trends and issues in missions today will be coming out over the next few months:

Finish the Mission: Bringing the Gospel to the Unreached and Unengaged, edited by John Piper and David Mathis. Contributions by David Platt, Ed Stetzer, Louie Giglio, Michael Oh, and Michael Ramsden. Crossway, 192 pages. Expected release: September 30, 2012.

Western Christians in Global Mission: What’s the Role of the North American Church? by Paul Borthwick. InterVarsity Press, 208 pages. Expected release: December 2012 (to be featured at Urbana 12).

Pressure Points: Twelve Global Issues Shaping the Face of the Church, by J. D. Payne. Thomas Nelson. Expected release: 2013. Link will take you to a post on the author’s blog which lists and describes the issues.

Also, a new, expanded edition of Steve Corbin and Brian Fikkert’s When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself was published in April 2012, and, late last year, a second edition of Bryant Myers’ Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development.

» If you are aware of recent or upcoming books that might interest others readers, can you let us know? We’d especially like to hear about works we might have missed that are coming from non-Americans. Leave a comment below or write me directly. Thanks!

CURRICULUM: Free Small-group Study for Students

» Source: Every Ethne

Every Ethne has designed a free, small-group curriculum for American university students committed to long-term cross-cultural ministry. Materials for GOer Groups are based on videos and discussion questions, all offered free online.

Seven one-hour lessons explore choosing a field and agency, questions related to finance, relationships, choices, on-field realities, and perseverance in the journey.

» View or download resources.

» Looking for more of a Bible study? We’ve seen quite a few. Free ones include Werner Mischke’s Tell of His Glory among the Nations and The Blessing: God’s Promise, Our Purpose from the U.S. Center for World Mission.

VIDEO: Big Prayers

» Source: Wycliffe Bible Translators USA

In less than two minutes, a Wycliffe leader motivates viewers to pray bigger prayers – to pray for the most miraculous things.

» Watch Pray Bigger Prayers. Other short and stirring videos from the same source which you might find useful include Language Is Tied to Identity and Determining Truth.

» Seen or shown an inspiring video lately? Tell us about it (leave a comment below).

EVENTS: Training and Conferences

» Source: Missions Catalyst Calendar

Here’s a partial list of events planned for October.

October 1-5: Bible Storying Training (Orlando, FL, USA).

October 4-6, 11-13: Open Expo (Simi Valley, CA, USA, and Bogota, Colombia). Business as mission events.

October 9-11: Eurochurch Network Conference (Koln, Germany).

October 11-13: North American Central Asia Forum (Columbia, SC, USA). Annual networking event.

October 12-13: Missions Fest Seattle (Bellevue, WA, USA). Free, community-based mission conference. Similar events planned for Spokane in November, and Portland and Vancouver in January.

October 12-13: Help! We’re Going on a Short-term Trip (Alpharetta, GA, USA). Seminar by CULTURELink. Another one is planned for Pennsylvania in November.

October 16-17: Personal Support Raising Boot Camp (Frederick, MD, USA). Additional events from Support Raising Solutions planned for California in November and Pennsylvania in December.

October 14-17, 18-21: Women of Compassion Retreats (Tallinn, Estonia). A get-away for North American women serving cross-culturally. Similar events in different regions each year.

October 16-19: Discipleship Multiplication Training (Prague, Czech Republic). Organized by Greater Europe Mission.

October 17: Sending New Missionaries – What Role Will You Play? (Atlanta, GA, USA). Church mission committee workshop from Catalyst Services. Similar events planned for Colorado and Pennsylvania in November.

October 17-20: The Fellowship of Short-Term Mission Leaders (Green Lake, WI, USA). Annual networking event.

October 19-21: The Journey Deepens (Orlando, FL, USA). Retreat to help you discern your direction in missions. Similar event planned for mid-November in the Atlanta area.

October 28 to November 1: Finish the Task (Cincinnati, OH, USA). Conference provided by Youth with a Mission.

October 29-31: Mission America Coalition: Annual Leadership Consultation (Denver, CO, USA).

» We have almost as many listings for November. View the complete calendar and/or let us know about events. We could use your help with the list of events for 2013!

 

Marti WadeMarti Wade is a writer, speaker, and project manager for the Church Partnerships Team at Pioneers. As a mission mobilizer, she has also trained and sent out many short-term teams to do relationship-based research to serve among the world’s least-reached peoples.

Marti has managed and published Missions Catalyst since 2004 and is the author of Through Her Eyes, a book about the lives of women serving cross-culturally in the Muslim world. She and her husband Chris live in Oregon.

 

4 thoughts on “Missions Catalyst 09.26.12 – Resource Reviews”

    1. Tony, that sounds like a good book! Thanks for sending us a link. I’d be interested in hearing if it lives up to expectations.

  1. Marti, I know this is NOT “missionally correct,” to leave a personal comment on here, but I just had to tell you that Rachael showed me your wedding pictures on fb and it made me SO happy and lonely for you and Sarah. I appreciate you and all of the work you do with Missions Catalyst- maybe someday I will get around to “that” email telling you about life in China. Better yet, you and Chris should just come! Love to you, Dina

  2. Oh, you’re welcome to communicate in any way you like, Dina! It’s great to hear from you. And while I’d love to know more about how life is going in China, I expect you have a lot of things to juggle besides personal correspondence. Maybe we will make it to China one of these days – who knows? I was supposed to go and bring in an STM team back in 2003, but we were foiled by the SARS epidemic. I’m waiting for the doors to open again!

    Periodically it amazes me that I can connect with the world without leaving my little corner of it. This morning I heard from good friends in Tu’sia, Y’men, and N. India as well.

    Wishing you guys the best!

    Love,
    Marti

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