Category: Practical Mobilization

How to Inspire God’s People for Their Global Destiny

Part 1, First Inspire Yourself

Bevin Ginder, GlobalCAST Resources

If you see yourself as a mission advocate or mobilizer, you may sometimes feel as if people just don’t care about missions. And that all we can do is to really push and try to get them to care.

What about a more positive approach? I like to think of it as trying to inspire people: to help them feel they want to do something and can do it. Of inviting them into the process of finding God’s heart and engaging with it. Inspiring people is something we can do together with God. That idea guides my team in how we think and talk about mission and how we approach mission mobilization.

And perhaps that’s what’s happening in Habakkuk 1:5.

“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

I love that! Watch. Be inspired. God is preparing an amazing harvest. And that includes our days as well. There is so much we can learn right now to be poised and ready for the incredible fruitfulness that’s coming and is even happening right now!

The Ministry of Mobilization

Consider this definition from Wes Tullis:

“Mobilization is the process of envisioning and educating God’s people about his strategic plans for the world, and it is the means to keep people involved and moving forward until they find their specific place and role in world evangelization.”

I like this definition because it talks about mobilization as a process. Events are important, but people usually need to hear about something many times and have somebody coach them and mentor them to take the next step, and the next step, and the next step. They keep growing and understanding more and more as they keep taking steps. It’s a process.

And I also love this definition because it says, “find their specific place.” It’s not saying that everybody will be a cross-cultural missionary. God bless those who are called to that. We need them, and so many more. But every believer has a part to play in the Great Commission. We need the whole Church to bring the whole gospel to the whole world!

What Is a Mobilizer?

Mobilizers are those who channel key resources, training, or vision for world evangelization to the Body of Christ. Many people are called to give, go, pray, and welcome the nations that are coming to their cities. But the mobilizer is the leader who’s saying, “Hey, everybody has a part to play. What is your part? I will help you get there, get you training and resources.”

Mobilizers serve people in every other role in the Great Commission, so we want to see a lot more mobilizers. That includes mobilizers in the Global South, the non-Western world, including Asia, Africa, and Latin America. God is transforming places that only received missionaries into places that send missionaries!

First Inspire Yourself

If to mobilize is to inspire, we need to start with ourselves, because people don’t just listen to what we say, they watch our lives. What they catch from you is not just your teaching, it’s your passion. So you need that passion and enthusiasm strong and fresh because that’s what people catch even more than the words you say.

As mobilizers, we need to find ways to stoke the fires in our souls when we run out of passion. Here are a couple of practical ways to do that.

1. Connect With God

God is the source of everything we need. You could be thinking, oh yes, of course, I know this, it’s so basic! But brothers and sisters, we cannot grow beyond this. We cannot leave behind the essential foundational. We need to connect with God as our source of life. God will…

  • Re-stoke our fires: If we connect with God, He will be faithful to “re-stoke” our fires. The Bible says very clearly, “they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). This comes from spending time with God and waiting on him.
  • Give us his perspective: As we connect with God, he will give us his perspective on the Bride of Christ, on the Church. When we are frustrated or disappointed, we can come to Jesus and say, “I know you love your Bride. Can you please give me your perspective on her? Help me love her again.”
  • Give us his heart: God loves the lost more than we ever will. As we spend time with God, He will give us some of His heart, like a burden for an unreached people group that is natural and from Him and not just something we work up. There are also so many things we could and should be doing in missions. He can give us wisdom as to the next step we should take.
  • Remind us who we are: God will remind us of our identity in Jesus, which is so much deeper and more essential to who we are than being a missionary, a mobilizer, or any of the other roles we accept. When our identity in Christ is solid, we can run the long race.

2. Connect With Others

Another thing that keeps us inspired is to connect with people who have similar passions. Then we realize we are not alone. We can also share what’s working and what we’re struggling with. We can pray for each other and encourage each other. That coming together is so crucial, life-giving, and inspiring.

3. Get Coaching

Along the same lines, it helps to find a mentor or a coach. Often we don’t need to be told what to do. We don’t need more information. We just need somebody who can draw out the wisdom that is already in us and help us to figure out the next step, and then check in and say, “how did it go?” and keep us moving.

4. Do First, Then Teach

The reason I keep fighting for mobilizers to inspire themselves, first, is because of this principle: do first, then teach. Whatever we are doing and living, that’s what people are going to pick up on, in the same way that a child watches their parents.

What Do You Want to See Happen?

Now think about your community, your family, team, church, or organization. What might it look like if they were more fully engaged in God’s mission? What would you like to see in them? Here are a few ideas.

  • Praying fervently: I don’t know about you, but I would like to see people pray fervently and specifically for the unreached. How about me? How am I doing with that? Am I praying, fervently and specifically? If I’m not living it, modeling it, I have little to no authority to challenge and inspire others to do that. We have to live it first.
  • Giving generously: I want to see people give generously and even sacrificially to frontier mission efforts. So how are you doing with that? How am I doing with that? If we are not tithing, if we are not giving sacrificially, we have little or no authority to challenge others to give in those ways.
  • Living as learners: We want to see people who are open to new ideas—life-long learners. How are we doing? Can we inspire others in this area? Be a learner. If we want to see people recognize what God is doing in the world, understanding his mission and the task remaining, we, too, should be growing in our understanding of the world and passing on what we learn.
  • Willing to go: We would love to see in our communities a willingness to go and serve locally and globally. That may mean that we need to regularly ask ourselves, am I willing to go? Am I serving those God is calling me to serve?
  • Spending time with the lost: And of course, we want to see people who have a love for the lost and are willing to spend time with people who don’t know Jesus. So, let’s check our own lives and say, how am I doing with that? To whatever degree I am living that out, I have more authority to invite and inspire others to do the same.

The Story of Jen and Joe

Jen and Joe are a Latin American couple who came to a mobilization workshop and really got it. They went home and got their whole church starting to pray for and give to an unreached people group in Africa. Things were going so well! It was super encouraging!

Then there was a misunderstanding that really set them back and disappointed them.

I was so encouraged to see them go back to God and say, “God, help us love our community and forgive and release them.” They also had access to other mission mobilizers who were able to encourage and mentor them. And that allowed them to keep going.

Recently, Joe was able to go to that unreached people group in Africa with resources and bring back fresh stories about what God is doing there. After that, more communities in their country started to pray and give and go.

Going Further

Could you use some training (or inspiration) as a mission advocate or mobilizer? GlobalCAST Resources will be offering an eight-week, online missions advocacy course from September 5 to October 28.

Learn more or register through YWAM’s University of the Nations.

This article was adapted from a video presentation you can find on the GlobalCAST Resources website. See Inspire Yourself First!

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash.

What Mission Mobilizers Want to Know

Spreading Vision, Keeping Pace, Staying the Course, and Praying Well

Read or share the email edition.

Last month we asked what topics you’d most like to see us cover in Practical Mobilization. What would you find most interesting and helpful in these monthly pieces and maybe in the Missions Catalyst newsletter as a whole?

Thanks to everyone who chimed in. Admittedly, the number was a little small. More of a focus group. But it gave us enough to go on. Often, the earliest data is a pretty good indicator of what will or could come later, right?

If you want to prove me wrong about that, you can still complete the survey. It should only take a couple of minutes.

Here’s what we asked:

  • What topics would you most like to see us cover (from a list of about a dozen themes)
  • What are one or two areas in which could you use some insight or encouragement?
  • What big questions or challenges are you grappling with?
  • Are there specific people or types of people you’d like to hear from?
  • Do you have any other suggestions for Missions Catalyst?

Here’s what we heard from you.

Top Topics from Missions Catalyst Readers


1. Spreading mission vision in the local church (76.9%)

Of the 13 categories we suggested, this one got the most votes. It’s something we’ve addressed in many ways over the years but we’ll plan to lean into it more and more.

In the meantime, be sure you’re getting the monthly publication Postings from Catalyst Services. You can also find gems in their carefully organized archives.

Readers mentioned a few specific issues. They are currently struggling with how to get and keep their pastors and church staff involved in missions, how to help their churches become more mission-focused, and how to create meaningful connections between the congregation and their mission partners (some of whom work in sensitive regions).

2. Current events and ministry trends (73.1%)

Following close behind that, most readers would like to see us continue covering current events and ministry trends. Will do. Your interest gives me a great excuse to keep up with reading, listening to webinars, and going to conferences. Thanks!

We also recommend Justin Long’s weekly roundup and a new eight-episode podcast exploring the changing face of global missions called MissionShift, from Cru City Global.

Just knowing what’s going on is not enough. How do we apply what we hear about mission shifts and changing cultural trends to our mission and mobilization efforts? In particular, what do we need to know and do to work well with international partners and see more funding for mission efforts from the global south? Those are the kind of questions readers are asking.

3. Staying motivated as a mission mobilizer (57.6%)

My hope is that just by hearing from us, you’re a bit encouraged and inspired to keep going and not give up. But motivation is something we could address more. Check out Shane Bennett’s 7 Joys of Mobilizers.

I’ve started a conversation with Bevin Ginder at GlobalCast Resources about creating some articles related to this and other topics on our list. Watch for that.

Of course, in-person and/or interactive is best for many of us. Scope out the Missions Catalyst events calendar for options that may work for you. And if you’re a mission mobilizer in the US, get yourself connected to a Mobilization Ideation group or event in your region.

One reader wrote to confess, “The biggest challenge I’ve been wrestling with as a mobilizer is that I spend a majority of my time encouraging and mobilizing others in the area of disciple-making, while not fully living that out in my own life. I think as mobilizers, we often have resources that help us know how to mobilize others better, but I think many (if not most) of us are really struggling to implement the very things we’re trying to help other people do. At least that’s been my struggle.” Can you relate?

4. Ways to pray and raise up prayer for the nations & missions (57.5%)

The saying’s been around for a while. “When we work, we work. When we pray, God works.” He can accomplish in a day what we might labor over for years. We’ll continue to share ways to pray and tools to help others pray. Nothing we can do or say will convince someone the gospel is true or mobilize them for global missions like hearing from God for themselves.

We also hope Missions Catalyst encourages you to pray on your own and with others. One reader said, “My life as a mom of a young child is full. [I need] to be fueled with prayer ideas to do alongside my daughter.” Another wrote, “I love the mission stories, even the hard ones because they cause me to pray more for the situation.”

I’d love to hear what you think, though, about all the days or weeks of prayer for different places, people groups, etc. that we promote. There are so many of them, and none of us can care about everything. It’s easy enough to put them on the calendar, though. Do you want more of this sort of thing? Or maybe less?

5. Obstacles to global and local mission involvement (53.8%)

This topic is a discouraging one, but being out of touch with the obstacles and challenges we and others face does us no good either. Many of the books I think of as “missions apologetics” address obstacles and misconceptions. Some hurdles have been around for generations, while others seem new or growing in strength. See articles from The Traveling Team on obstacles to mission. You might have something to add to the list.

Several readers wrote about the struggle to motivate the younger generation and pass the mission mobilization vision on to them. How do we recruit and motivate more young adults, including young professionals? How do we integrate professionals into teams of traditional Bible-school types and see both become fruitful disciple-makers? Those are good questions.

6. Making mission trips better (50%)

Before the pandemic came along, this was a regular topic for us. Not so much lately. See some from our archives:

I’m going to try to get some fresh content on this topic from friends at Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission. Making mission trips better is what they’re all about.

7. Mission training and education (50%)

This topic could go in many different directions. Aside from frequent shout-outs to things like Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, we’ve funneled most of our content about training opportunities and resources to our Resource Review editions. But maybe some of it would fit well in Practical Mobilization. How about revisiting immersive training opportunities like those mentioned in our 2013 article about mission internships? The options have changed.

Meanwhile, get yourself over to Global Frontier Missions for mission education opportunities in varying levels of immersion and complexity. They do good stuff.

What didn’t make the cut?

Evangelism, crossing cultures, missionary care, fundraising, and other nuts-and-bolts issues came in lower on our list. I was surprised by some of these. Perhaps our readers don’t need practical help in these areas. Or maybe you know you can find it elsewhere. Fair enough. We won’t ignore these topics altogether but may limit our comments to pointing you to other ministries, tools, and training opportunities you can pursue or recommend to others.

We appreciate you!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this survey and to everyone who reads Missions Catalyst. Some of you have been with us for decades. Others come with fresh eyes. We need both. May the Lord continue to bless you and make you a blessing.

Four Opportunities Young People Deserve

By Seth Barnes

We Christians wonder why so many young people are leaving the faith and struggling. We point our finger at media and other villains. But perhaps we should look at ourselves first. What does the Bible say that believers need? After spending much of my life seeking to impart faith to young people, here are four things that I’ve found work.

1. Experience

All young people should have the opportunity to walk as Jesus and his disciples walked.

“Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.” (1 John 2:6)

Where does faith come from? It may be grounded in good theology, but it comes from the heart. It comes from experiences that impact the heart. The faith Jesus and his disciples walked out was radical. Young people deserve the opportunity to see if that model Jesus gave us still works.

2. Initiation

Young people deserve a particular kind of experience—an initiation. We see Jesus initiating his disciples in Matthew 10. The church should send out its young people on mission as a part of their training, free of charge, to see if he shows up as promised.

“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” (Matthew 10)

All over the world we see in other cultures that as young people move to adulthood, an initiation is normal. The transition is hard and thoughtful parents will help their kids prepare for it. But not in America. No wonder 54% of young people are deeply anxious and even wonder if they are mentally ill. Where are the adults helping them make the transition to adulthood? Young people deserve better from their elders.

3. True Religion

All young people should be given the opportunity to practice true religion caring for widows and orphans—serving God’s vulnerable children.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” (James 1:27 and Luke 4:18-19)

We need to align ourselves with God’s priorities. When I connect with those who are in distress, I stop thinking about myself. Their pain elicits my compassion. And when I help them, something in me feels better. Why is that? I believe it’s the Spirit of God that blesses those who care for his kids who have no one else—widows and orphans.

4. Healthy Church

All young people should be given the opportunity to experience the body of Christ functioning as intended.

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12)

God made us with a need to deeply connect with one another and with him. Churches where that doesn’t happen feel stale and unhealthy. But there are plenty of churches where it does happen. And if our leaders will lead with more authenticity and vulnerability, their congregations will follow. I’ve seen this process works even in our cynical culture.

We need to give young people the opportunities to see that, as bad as the world may seem, God is still present and active. Getting outside the walls of our church buildings and into places where he has promised to meet us makes all the difference.

Reprinted with permission from Seth’s blog, Radical Living. Thanks, Seth!

About Seth Barnes

Seth Barnes is the founder and president of Adventures in Missions, a discipleship and missions ministry that has taken more than 125,000 people on mission projects. One of their initiatives, The World Race, provides trained teams of young adults the opportunity to engage in 11 international mission contexts in 11 months using an experiential, missional discipleship model. Adventures emphasizes listening prayer, relationships, and servanthood in their work among the poor. In addition to overseeing Adventures in Missions, Seth is a speaker, author, and prolific blogger. His blog, Radical Living, can be found at www.sethbarnes.com.

Joining with Jesus in the Way He’s Made You to Bring Heaven Here

By Shane Bennett

So many fish! image of a catch of fish

I’m an amazing kayaker. In my mind, that is. In the physical realm, not so much! I once picked up a beautiful, hand-made wooden kayak at a garage sale. The first time I tried it out, I managed to balance and very gently paddle it… on a pond. For my second effort, I took it to a way-back cove in our local reservoir. I had managed to gain a semblance of control amid the slight lake ripples when a nearby DWAB (dad with a boat), decided to pack up the family beach picnic and roar out of the cove full throttle.
 
As I hopelessly watched the tsunami roll my way, I remembered with distress a snake I’d seen swim by—and realized I hadn’t seen it get to the edge. After dumping into the water, I slowly headed to the shore, one arm swimming, the other holding onto the upturned boat. Only then did I muse, “Maybe kayaking is not for me.” 

What about you? What do you wish you were better at? On the other hand, what is one thing you do better than the average person? These are fun and universal questions to kick around. I ask them today because I want to share how Jesus met Peter in the midst of what he could do and what he was going to get really good at doing. 

Who’s The Better Fisherman?

Luke records for us in chapter five that Jesus was teaching the crowd God’s Word. Oh, how I wish that phrase was in blue, underlined, and linked to a full transcript of the talk! 

Whatever he was saying must have been pretty good, because the crowd kept closing in until Jesus asked Peter if he could hop up on his boat. Peter agreed, but it turned out Jesus was starting an epic version of “if you give a mouse a cookie!” 

Jesus finished his teaching and asked Peter to row out a bit and let down the nets. Torn between knowing how (and when) to fish and thinking Jesus was pretty cool and maybe not wanting to wash the nets again, Peter obliges. 

The resulting catch began to break the nets, even threatened to sink the boats. Ponder this for a minute: Did Jesus cause the fish to gather in Peter’s nets? Or did he create fish that hadn’t been there just moments before? And if so, when they landed on dining tables the next evening, were they not the best-tasting fish anyone in Capernaum had ever had?

Peter, for his part, read the room, dropped to Jesus’s knees, and begged him to depart, explaining, “I am a sinful man.” Peter realized this wasn’t a matter of trying a little harder, maybe losing a few pounds and he’d measure up. No, Jesus had just double-trumped him at the very thing he was good at! Jesus was on a whole other level. Best to face the music honestly. 

Seeing Jesus in action should naturally make us wonder how far we fall. It’s scary to feel afresh how amazing Jesus is and then realize what a train wreck we may be. I believe we need this occasionally, but the weight can be devastating. May we move quickly from “amazing Jesus” to “I’m a train wreck” to the realization that Jesus lifts our face, our eyes, to his and says, “You are forgiven. I choose you.” 
 
And he does choose us, like he chose Peter, “Don’t be afraid. You’re going to be a fisher of men.” 

(Parenthetically, good thing Peter’s job was fishing and not selling cars or working as a short-order cook!)

Five Styles of Contagious Faith

As a reader of Missions Catalyst, I would guess you’re a fan of the idea that disciples of Jesus are still called by him to gather people into the kingdom of God. Although I’ve not been the best example, I couldn’t agree with you more. I love it when Paul says we’re ambassadors of Christ. I believe when Jesus tells us to pray “Father… let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” we’re agreeing to do our part in that. 

But sharing our faith can be hard, confusing, frustrating, and fraught with guilt and shame. Here’s something that has encouraged and energized me lately:

Mark Mittelberg, author, academic, and partner-in-crime with Lee Stroebel, writes about five styles of contagious faith. He says when we think about sharing our faith, we feel most natural in one of these five approaches. 

  • Truth Telling: Someone with this style is more direct and hard-hitting. They might like knocking on doors of strangers or walking up to people and doing surveys in the shopping mall or meeting new people that just moved in. This type of person is bold about getting to the point, talking about spiritual matters, and so forth.
  • Reason Giving: Someone with this style tends to share evidence and answer questions. They may help with more of the cognitive side, the intellectual side, of Christianity and help people realize Christianity is true and it makes sense. Some people can open the doors and build friendships; others answer questions.
  • Story Sharing: This person likes to tell their testimony and share their story. They talk about their experience with Christ in a way that can influence and affect the experience of the other person.
  • Selfless Serving: This person helps others and makes a difference in people’s lives in tangible ways. That helps open doors to also share about the love and truth of Christ.
  • Friendship Building: This approach is seen in someone who’s more relational and connects with people in natural ways, but through those relationships then begins to share their faith. 

Which of these styles most resonates with you? Definitely friendship-building and story-sharing for me. Hearing that Jesus wants me to share him in ways that emanate from who I am is freeing for me and makes me want to give it a fresh go. I don’t anticipate bringing in nets full of people like Peter did (3,000 in one day!), but I want to do my part. There’s a lot of pain and fear swirling around these days. Jesus would like to replace that with abundant life.

A Quick Heads Up: Taking a Break

After almost 20 years of writing Practical Mobilization columns, I’m going to take a six-month hiatus. Our intrepid publisher, Marti Wade, will make sure you get a monthly dose of great content. She’s the best.

To help us to stay in touch, please click this link to get my super short weekly email about loving Muslims. I’d be honored if you do so and I think you might find it practically helpful and maybe a little funny. 

Anniversary Special: 30 Years of Encountering the World of Islam

If you’ve been waiting for the right time to take the 12-lesson Encountering the World of Islam course, this is it. To celebrate their 30th anniversary, our friends at EWI are offering their online course for just $99 (regularly $249). This only applies to the summer online class, but that’s just around the corner: May 2 to July 31. Join us in celebrating EWI and inviting others to participate!

Learn more and sign up.

To Dodge or Not to Dodge

Hearing & Heeding Hard-hitting Words from John the Baptist & Ralph D. Winter

By Shane Bennett

Turns out my seven-year-old son has a superpower. Not the “power of hyperspeed” he imagines but the power of dodging. Yes, dodging. I’ve seen it in action.

Months ago, while we were enjoying some family time on the front porch, his 12-year-old sister inadvertently dribbled the basketball off her foot. It caromed directly toward the boy’s face, who, though not watching, tipped his head out of the way with scary-good timing. The ball sailed by instead of giving him a bloody nose.

Then, two weeks ago at dinner, I failed to account for Colorado’s extreme barometric pressure swings when I opened the ranch dressing. This resulted in a thumb-sized glob of dressing rocketing across the table. Again, with uncanny timing, the boy leaned to the side, allowing the dressing to hit and subsequently drip down the chair right behind where his little, lithe body had been. I know not what this superpower portends!

Similarly, I seem to also have a gift for dodging, though it’s less a superpower and more a refined avoidance. Prepping to preach on John the Baptist this past week brought this home for me. Some listeners wanted to dodge John’s message: the Pharisees and Sadducees desired the virtue-signaling points of getting dunked but not the hassle of changed behavior.

As for Herod, he dodged by tossing John the Peskiest into prison.

The Radical Message of John the Baptist

It seems that the crowd, some tax-gatherers, and the soldiers honestly wanted to feel the full weight of John’s message. I was stunned by their questions and John’s answers. And I don’t want to dodge them.

If you’ve read through the Gospel of Luke a few times in your Christian walk you may find it easy to breeze by what John tells them. I think, at least for me, it might be worth a non-dodging pause:

Crowd: What should we do then?
John: Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.

Tax collectors: Teacher, what should we do?
John: Don’t collect any more than you are required to.

Soldiers: And what should we do?
John: Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.

In each case, John is saying, “Do right regarding your resources and do right to others who lack your resources.” One commentator says, “Luke possesses a sensitive, compassionate theology of the poor.”

I wonder: Do I?

Choosing a Wartime Lifestyle

As that question rolled around in my head, I remembered a scary, provocative article that might have made John the Baptist proud, A Reconsecration to a Wartime, Not a Peacetime, Lifestyle by Dr. Ralph Winter. If you’ve taken the Perspectives course you’ve probably seen it. Maybe like me, you dodged it or tried to dismiss it.

Basically, Dr. Winter said to live on the minimum amount of money and stuff you need so that you can direct the excess toward the best kingdom use.

What I inadvertently heard was, “The poorest among you is the holiest.” While that may sometimes be the case, it’s not what Winter was advocating. He clarified this in 1983 in a family profile in Missions Frontiers:

“A wartime lifestyle may be more expensive or less expensive than simple,” Winter explained. “If a man is out in a trench and he’s eating K-rations, he’s not using up much money, but a guy who’s flying a fighter plane may be using up $40,000 a month of technology. In other words, during wartime one doesn’t judge according to the same model of lifestyle. What’s important is getting the job done.”

Two Key Questions

With John the Baptist on one hand and Ralph Winter on the other, I have a couple of questions. I’m asking them of myself and invite you to consider them as well.

1. Do our baptized, repentant lives reflect a “sensitive, compassionate theology of the poor”?

Do you find that in your life, your church? Generally in the Church throughout your country? In the U.S. these issues seem to have taken on partisan shadows in recent (or maybe not so recent) days. But what would it look like to view them less politically and more biblically?

I wonder if there are Christian responses to the poor and marginalized that transcend party affiliation? Surely many believers are doing many amazing things that would make Luke say, “Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking when I wrote that!”

But for others of us, me included, we may need to keep thinking and take the risk of asking God to shape and direct our thinking. We need to pause before slipping into popular tropes and cliches about why things are the way they are and what is and isn’t being done.

To gain some perspective on your personal food situation, just in case John asks you to give some away, ask yourself this question: If you only ate the food currently in your house, without going out to eat or buy more food (except for milk!) how long could you go? The couple from whom I poached this idea went for 147 meals!

2. What does it mean to live a wartime lifestyle and who should try to do so?

Second part first: If Winter had his way, every one of us would adopt this practice as soon as we toweled off after baptism!

He suggests in his article (written decades ago) that everyone in his denomination could live on what an average pastor or support-raising missionary makes. Pastors may be doing a little better these days, I don’t know. But what about that? What would that mean for your lifestyle? I wonder what would happen if I floated the idea out to the little church where I serve as associate pastor? Could be I wouldn’t have to preach anymore for a long while!

One of the reasons this is on my mind is that I’ve been scheming with a small band of brothers and sisters about how the remaining 1,600 or so unengaged people groups might get gospel workers on the ground among them. I’ve wondered aloud about the possibility (and wisdom) of hiring people to do it! We hire pastors, don’t we?

How many wartime lifestylers would it take to free up funds to hire 1,600 small teams of missionaries? How cool might that be?!

Subversive Mobilization: Conversations with Greg Livingstone at 82

During some gut-wrenching life circumstances a few years ago, I connected with my long-term hero, Greg Livingstone, in a new and personal way. We’ve stayed in touch and recently embarked on a project that’s been super fun for me. We’re recording a series of short videos in which I ask Greg things I’d like to know about his life, work, leadership, and thinking. 

This is pushed forward by the fun of it as well as a two-fold purpose:

  1. To preserve some cool things Greg thinks and has done in his life.
  2. To give him a chance, at 82 years old, to unleash his recruiting chops on a new generation of people.

I would flat out love for you to give these a look. Greg and I are not amazing YouTubers (even with my friend Jeremy’s great editing help)! Any advice you’d like to offer in terms of content, production, and distribution would be met with gratitude.

Watch the videos.

Blessed to Be…

Using Our Gifts & Privilege for God’s Glory

By Shane Bennett

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Have you had a chance recently to consider how good you’ve got it? I’m talking about a deep down, soul-lifting consideration of God’s gifts to you. The sort of thought process that reminds you you didn’t hit a triple, you were actually born on third base!

If you’re going through hard, hard times right now, it might be tough to think this way. But it also might be particularly important. I haven’t spent much time on the precipice of despair, but maybe an effort to focus on what isn’t terrible could be a good way to walk back from the edge.

A serious inventory of the good stuff in our lives might also pleasantly remind us that we serve a God of abundance and abundant goodness.

The God of Abraham

Imagine the beep, beep, beep of God’s “Dump Truck of Amazing Gifts” as he backs it up to Abram’s tent and begins to raise the bed! “Abram! Grab your wife and get out here. I’m fixin’ to bury you in blessing! (What? God’s not Texan?) You’re going to have a land that’s yours. You’re going to have more kids than you can count! I’m going to elevate your regard among all men. I’ll have your back and mess with the people who mess with you. And, get this, both of you, you have a purpose beyond your imagination. You are charter members of the Global Blessing team. We’re going to take these gifts to every clan on the planet.”

The presents you and I get may be different from what God gave Abraham and Sarah, but they are similarly huge, certain, and rich in purpose. When I lived in Holland, I remember walking down the charming streets of Amsterdam, shaking my head and thinking, “How did I get so lucky to live and work here?” Even now, in southern Colorado, it’s crazy good. As I write, intrepid workers are installing solar panels on our roof to capture power from the wonderful number of sunny days here.

It may be cloudy where you are, but I hope you share my sense that a good God has smiled on you lovingly and abundantly. If so, there are two things I’d like to say.

1. Let’s recognize our privilege.

I know “privilege” is a provocative word these days and I don’t choose it lightly. But I can’t get around the sense that I have some advantages. I can make a long list of things in my life I did little or nothing to bring about but that make everything easier than it might have been. Maybe you do, too?

I grew up with two parents who stuck it out through thick and thin and three siblings who didn’t kill me though few would have blamed them if they did. Through junior high and high school, I had a pastor who pumped value into my friends and me and valued Jesus even more than he valued us.

I don’t worry about food, either the amount or the safety of what’s available. Nor water. Nor whether or not I can keep the house warm enough this winter to keep the kids healthy. Nor if there are resources for medicine if they do get sick. 

And I know I’m part of a society that is still generally run by privileged people like me (see here, here, and here) and they still generally run it for their (and my) benefit.

To be honest, I’m not sure how to deal with that. If you felt like God was leading you to devote your life to leveling the playing field, I’d cheer you on. But if the lone African American woman in my Perspectives class two nights ago, or the Mexican woman sitting near her, looked at me and asked, “It’s not fair the way the system is organized right now. What will you, as an insider, do about it?” I’m not sure how I’d respond. I hope I would at least listen to them and at a deep, honest level believe what they said.

This irony is not lost on me: I have the privilege to sit in my comfy chair, in my comfy house, and ruminate thusly, fully expecting you’ll read what I type on my new MacBook Pro.

2. Let’s consider what to do with it.

Sometimes Jesus asks us to give up everything, right? That was his prescription for the rich young ruler in Mark 10. Zacchaeus only had to give up half (and four times whatever he had gained by cheating!) Sometimes we expect that to be the vibe: God or a mythical preacher extending his mythical bony finger toward us and saying, “Thou shouldst giveth away thy goods and pecuniary resources!” Fair enough. The Bible shows us there’s a time and place for that.

I prefer the biblical model of stewardship. Every good gift comes down from the Father and is intended to bless his kids and facilitate their involvement in his kingdom-building enterprise. As good stewards we:

  1. Assess what we have, e.g., money, stuff, gifts, abilities, privilege, or even spiritual maturity forged in suffering.
  2. Compare that to the overall goal. Short version: Genesis 12:3b. For the longer version, take Perspectives!
  3. Figure out how the first step gets you to the second.
  4. Critique your stewardship success, but maybe not that of Bob in the pew next to you!

I so want to be faithful and true in this, but often fall short.

Last week, I read a super fun book related to this. (There’s the privilege again: I have the time, eyesight, resources, and security with which to read super fun books.) In More or Less, author and cool guy Jeff Shinabarger asks us and himself, how much is enough, and what would it look like to live a life of extravagant generosity?

Jeff made me wonder what I have an excess of and what it might be like to give that away. Some of the things he did seem easy: Decide how many t-shirts you need and give away the rest. Others, not so much. He and his wife gave up a huge chunk of their backyard to be a community garden. Personally, I need to grow in understanding where I have excess. I’m learning, slowly, how to give away money.

But one thing I have more of than some people is access to the attention of sharp believers. Yep, I mean you, among others. Believing that access to be a gift of God, I want to steward it to the best ends. When appropriate, I want to open doors for people who weren’t born into the privilege I was, but—and this should come as no surprise—have important things to say about God’s global purposes. (If that’s you, I’d love to chat!)

Grace to you as you steward your time, health, privilege, and money. May God lead you in a few minutes of reveling in the good gifts of your savior and the delight of being chosen by him. It might help you to crank Matt Maher’s Alive and Breathing! It sure does me.

Subversive Mobilization: Help Needed

Psst, over here, I’ve got a quick question for you: If God has given you skills in the dark arts of admin and IT, I could use some help. I need someone to help me drop fewer balls and help me with the content delivery I think God may want me to be about. If that sounds interesting (or more importantly, like good stewardship) for you, shoot me a text (719.251.1403). Let’s do some cool stuff together.