In This Issue: Predictions for Persia, activities for language learning, and Mondays in the Middle East
- REPORT: Predictions for the Persian World
- VIDEOS: Mission Trip Music
- BOOK: Activities and Strategies for Everyday Language Learners
- BOOK: Mondays in the Middle East
- EVENTS: Missions Catalyst Calendar
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!
REPORT: Predictions for the Persian World
Source: Justin Long
Mission researcher Justin Long has been conducting interviews and compiling and analyzing data to produce the Persian Cluster Forecast, a 43-page document describing 21 specific forecasts related to Iran and the world’s Persian peoples, especially in connection with church planting and church growth. The report is based on numerous interviews with some of the most experienced field workers and includes maps, charts, a district-by-district survey, and a comprehensive bibliography of sources.
» Learn more or purchase your copy of the whole report for $US9.99. Available for immediate download.
» See also Turkish Cluster Forecast and the Cushitic Cluster Forecast (Horn of Africa).
VIDEOS: Mission Trip Music
Source: Brigada Today, February 24, 2013
Did you catch Brigada’s Missions Music Video edition? It featured some contemporary and outward-looking worship songs to bring along on your next mission trip. Can you think of others (or other ways you could use this music?)
Live Like That, by Sidewalk Prophets
Give Me Your Eyes, by Brandon Heath
Hands & Feet, by Audio Adrenaline
I Refuse, by Josh Wilson
All in the Serve, by Michael W. Smith
My Own Little World, by Matthew West
Until the Whole World Hears, by Casting Crowns
» Visit the Brigada website. While you’re there, consider subscribing to Brigada Today by email.
BOOK: Activities and Strategies for Everyday Language Learners
Source: The Everyday Language Learner
Activities and Strategies for Everyday Language Learners, by Aaron G. Myers. 2013. 243 pages.
Are you an ordinary, everyday person – maybe living in another culture – and trying to learn a new language? Maybe you’re just getting started, or maybe you’ve been working at it for a long time and need some variety, fresh ideas, or inspiration.
This e-book compiles 56 of the best articles from The Everyday Language Learner website, organized for easy use. You’ll find activities you can use in your personal study time, others to use one-on-one with a language helper, and ideas to take out on the street and into the community.
» Purchase from The Everyday Language Learner for US$4.99.
BOOK: Mondays in the Middle East
Source: David Cross
Mondays in the Middle East: The Lighter Side of Arabian Nights, by David Cross. Xulon, 2006. 93 pages.
“What happens when you put an ordinary Midwestern guy smack dab in the middle of an Arabic-speaking region? Sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it? Instead, author David Cross cooks up something ingenious with his comical account of the differences between the Middle East and the Midwest in Mondays in the Middle East: The Lighter Side of Arabian Nights.”
Readers will find this a pleasant and positive look at Middle Eastern practices and perspectives. Cross wrote these winsome and enlightening pieces while living in the Middle East.
» Learn more or get a copy from Amazon (or elsewhere). US$9.59 for the paperback, or US$2.99 for the Kindle edition.
EVENTS: Missions Catalyst Calendar
Source: Missions Catalyst Calendar
Items from our calendar for March 2013:
March 1-2 – Verge conference (Austin, TX, USA). A gathering of and for missional communities “for the gospel, for the cities, for the nations.”
March 7 – Aliens, Animals, and Orphans: Keys to Transforming your Organization to Face a Changing World (online). Webinar provided by Missio Nexus, this one hosted by Scott Wilcher.
March 12-14 – Church Partner Forum (Orlando, FL, USA). A Pioneers event for sending and supporting churches.
March 13 – Kingdom Expansion 101 (online). Start of a flexible six-week “intro to missions” course. Provided by Bruce Camp of DualReach.
March 15-17 – The Journey Deepens retreat (Portland area, OR, USA). Sense God is calling you into missions, but need help in discerning your direction? Next two retreats scheduled for Kansas City and Philadelphia.
March 16 – Bridges Seminar (Seattle, WA, USA). Building bridges to reach Muslims. Provided by Crescent Project. More seminars planned for other cities throughout the year.
March 22-24 – Jesus to the Nations (Halifax, NS, Canada). Free, annual, community-based missions conference in the Missions Fest tradition.
March 25 to June 16 – Encountering the World of Islam (online). Twelve-week course will help you discover God’s heart for Muslims. Additional classes begin throughout the year.
March 28 – Achieving Balance in Ministry (online). Webinar provided by Missio Nexus, this one hosted by Tony Headley.
» View the whole calendar or tell us about a mission event.
Marti 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.