Category: Practical Mobilization

The good people at Truth Collective are doing the coolest thing next week: A virtual tea party!

“We need to honor the directives of our authorities, but there’s absolutely no reason we can’t enjoy one another, learn from Jesus, and experience tea-novelties from around the world, all from the comfort of our own slippers! At this tea party we welcome back Noushi, our esteemed TC Fellow from a Muslim background, to discuss the difference between perfect righteousness and relative righteousness and why it could be a pivotal difference between you and your Muslim friend.”

» Sign up for this one. There were still spaces available at the time of writing. Then pray and dream about hosting your own!

Are there 25 of us who would commit to finding, or starting, the team that would go to one of the largest unengaged Muslim groups?

We want to see the Great Commission competed, right? Even though we may disagree about what that looks like. We want to see God’s Kingdom come, right? Again, with diverse understanding of its nature.

There must be steps and stages on the way to God’s vision of consummation. Different benchmarks, waypoints, and goals. What if the start of the problem were defined as simply as this? “We must get one reproduction-oriented team of people on the ground among each unengaged people group.”

Those teams might come from anywhere. And there would be much more to do after they arrived. But could we make that a starting point? Some of us living among all.

Friends of mine who’ve invested many years in global, Great Commission work among Muslims have developed a researched and tested list of over 500 Muslim people groups they call unengaged. That first team has yet to arrive. In many cases, it’s hard to even find believers who are thinking about moving in with them.

If I’m lucky 1500 people will read this email. Are there 25 of us who would commit to finding, or starting, the team that would go to one of the largest unengaged Muslim groups? Just two dozen of us who would receive grace from God to open the flow of his grace to one of the peoples least impacted by the gospel?

I’ve compiled a subset of my friends’ list. Take a quick look at it and a long gaze at your Father. If he directs, put your name and email beside one of the peoples on the list. Together, we might be able to start the very beginning of what will ultimately be the fullness of God’s Kingdom among some precious people.

Plans to complete the Great Commission are nothing new. Some say there have been over 2600 since Jesus gave the challenge. I’m not presumptuous enough to think this idea is the solution to everything. But I’m feeling very committed to doing what I can do to find “engagers” for these 25 groups.

Here’s the massively over-simplified plan:

1. Choose a people: Prayerfully go over the list and put your name and email by one of the peoples. If there’s already a name there, that’s good news. Join them.
2. Become a champion: Learn, advocate, visit (virtually or IRL when permitted), become a stake holder.
3. Find a cheerleader (I volunteer!): Mentoring, encouragement and connecting will be essential.
4. Charge ahead. This assumes you’re operating out of the grace of God and not simply your own ambition. But God does want this done, right?

In the words of NASA’s Gene Kranz, flight director for the ill-fated Apollo 13, “let’s work the problem.”

Thank you for considering this challenge. I’m convinced God wants some of us from somewhere living as ambassadors among every people for whom that’s not currently reality. How wonderful if he were to allow you and me to join him in making that happen.

» Please watch this video where I start the cheerleader process, then consult the list.

Eight Things You and the Kids Can Do to Stay Sane and Love the World

By Shane Bennett

Maybe you’ve got some kids of your own. Maybe you just see kids skulking around the neighborhood or gazing forlornly from their living room windows. Maybe your kids know kids whose parents are nice enough to let them watch TV because we’re in a pandemic after all; kids who live in houses to which the UPS guy just delivered a PlayStation 4 Pro, again, because we’re in a pandemic after all.

You know there’s a sweet spot somewhere in the midst of the TV option, mandatory four-hour naps, 12 hours a day of online school, and “Just go outside before you burn the house down!”

Let’s say you also have a passion for the nations. You want God’s kingdom to come in the midst of and in spite of the coronavirus. You also want those heart-melting kiddos to grow up to be powerful ambassadors of the kingdom. Good on you!

Here are eight things you and the munchkins can do to redeem some “lockdown” time for the Lord’s purposes.

1. Fix a foodie fest.

As I type, it’s just after 10am and one of the kids drifted through asking, “What’s for lunch?!” Have you heard that lately? Happily, we have food for lunch.

You can combine this seemingly insatiable desire for food with a little nudge to the nations. How about treating your kids to some ethnic yumminess? For the truly intrepid, invite them into the cooking process!

Scout around KidWorldCitizen.org for recipes you can make for or with your kids. Here’s a drool-inducing page featuring Moroccan snacks. As you say grace, pray for the country and peoples your food represents.

To spark generosity and encourage empathy (but hopefully not shame), check out What Kids Around the World Eat.

2. Hide the Word in your heart.

Scripture memorization? I see that eye roll! In fact, I’m having trouble not rolling my own eyes as I write this. I have some little kids and it’s a bit unsettling to think about trying this with them. But Christians used to do this. Muslims still do. (I know! Christians do, too!) Here’s a list of ten nations-oriented verses. How about one per day, week, or month until we’re through this?

3. Power through with prayer.

You have a globe, right? Spin it and pin your finger on a country. Have someone Google how that country’s doing with COVID-19. Take a minute to pray for them. Don’t have a globe? Ask Siri or Alexa what countries start with the first letter of your kid’s name. Pick one from the list.

Here’s an idea to inspire prayer if you find yourself socially distanced from the people you long to reach out to. Phil Moore, a pastor in London writes about an experiment undertaken by hall-of-fame missionary James Fraser:

”Fraser worked out that it would take him three to five days to conduct church services in the highland villages of Lisuland—one or two days of travel up into the mountains, a day of gathering together, and then one or two days of travel back down again. He therefore decided to find out: What would happen if I decided to spend the time that I would have spent gathering with these Lisu people praying for them instead?”

Read the interesting article to confirm your guess as to the results!

Now is also the time to grab this year’s “30 Days Muslim World Prayer Guide.” This guide corresponds to the month of Ramadan which starts on or around April 24th. I’d love to see most of us grab the kid’s PDF version and use it with our kids or gift it to some kiddos we love.

4. Watch a great movie together.

My new favorite film is “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.” I expect I’ll be long haunted by the scene of the family of five standing scared around a paltry pile of corn; their entire food supply for the coming months. I actually paused the video to give the kids time to contemplate that. It’s really hard to imagine.

Another pick is “The Pianist.” It’s definitely not for kids, but it’s worth your time even if, like me, you get no deeper than the surface lessons, “Things could be worse than they are,” and “If other people can act that way, could I?”

5. Go around the world and across the street, but from home.

Check out the news series of videos my friend Jeannie is doing on how to personally grow and impact the nations from home. They’re called the Global Stay-at-Home Guide. Watch the first and subscribe for the rest.

You might also like Off-Road Encounters, a seven-part series chronicling one family’s travels to four Muslim countries. Jeannie has written some great questions for you to discuss with kids and things for them to do after each video.

6. Discover the pen is mightier than the virus.

My friend Aaron recently shared how he helped his kids connect with pen pals in Muslims countries. Read about the simple process. I tried with my ten-year-old and now she’s corresponding with a fellow Harry Potter lover in Istanbul!

7. Read a missionary biography to your kids.

I just downloaded one about Mary Slessor and am contemplating diving in with the kiddos. I’ve always loved the Christian Heroes Then & Now books. GoServeLove.net also gives a look at some missionary biographies you can currently stream on Amazon Prime.

8. Learn to talk like a missionary.

Now is a perfect time to encourage your kids to learn some phrases in a foreign language. Go to omniglot.com to find go-to phrases in a gazillion languages. You can also get audio clips so you have some hope of saying them accurately!

This might also be fun: Put sticky notes on five household items per day. Here’s a list of Chinese words and one for Spanish. In a week, you and the kids could learn 35 words. By the end of lockdown, they’ll be running businesses in Guangzhou and Guadalajara!

I’d love to hear your take on these and other ideas you have for staying sane and connecting to the world in these days. You’ve got a minute, right? Please comment on Facebook, Twitter, our website, or respond to the email.

Most summer mission trips have been canceled. Which has, as you’d guess, sent shock waves through the T-shirt printing industry. One spokesman said, “We survived the shift away from fanny packs, but I don’t know if we’ll make it this time.”

Seriously though, I’m guessing churches budgeted a ton of funds for trips that can’t be taken. What becomes of that money?

It may be used to keep staff employed or pay the mortgage. If giving holds through the pandemic though, and there are leftover funds, what might we do with them?

I’ve some ideas. (Didn’t see that coming, did you?!?)

1. Come September, or whenever the funds would have been spent, divide them among the long-term workers you support.
2. When travel opens up, send your pastor and two intrepid stakeholders to the most unengaged situation you can come up with. Ask them to sit in a cafe or on a rock and ask God what he might be giving your church among the nations.
3. Use them to fund a Perspectives class for your city. Scholarship pastors, elders, and missions committee leaders with this string attached: If the course proves significant for them, they’ll reinvest their scholarship into future short-term trips.

You most likely have other, better, ideas. Please share them with us!

By Shane Bennett

I tend to be optimistic—one of many gifts from my mom. But sometimes these days the world at large assails a positive outlook. It’s as if the universe is saying, “Not today, buddy!” We’ve got growing Covid-19 concern. Markets are melting down. And a couple of nights ago, the gold fish I got for Persian New Year jumped out of his bowl to an inauspicious death on the kitchen counter.

But gloom and doom will not win the day. My glass is still half full. Spring is near, Jesus loves me, and I got married last week!

In February, I soberly warned of the seven sins of mobilizers. This month, with great pleasure, I dive into the seven joys of mobilizers: the particular charms, privileges, and delights of doing the crazy stuff we do.

1. The Weight of Glory

Lewis’s seminal sermon celebrates the honor, the staggering weight of glory, that we can be part of the divine pleasure. Could I bring joy to God? Even thinking that pings all of my “not worthy,” “not me,” “not likely” buttons! But it’s true! And as mobilizers, our privilege is to work hard, long, and well to see God glorified, to see God’s pleasure increase as his kingdom springs up all around the planet.

This is a pleasure—a gift for which I’m too rarely grateful, too seldom cognizant.

2. Life Beginning Among a New People

Many of us in the Missions Catalyst tribe mobilize people toward the ends of the earth, the unreached or unengaged peoples. We could pick easier things to do, right? Ah, but when it works, when the gospel begins to take hold in a new place, what a joy!

I remember sharing a story from the life of Jesus with a young Gambian guy who’d had no real previous interaction with the Bible. His wide-eyed, “There’s something about Isa” comment will probably stay with me to my death.

3. Joining Friends on Their Journey

Sometimes in Perspectives classes I’ll challenge students to tell me what they’re good at and I’ll tell them where they might contribute to reaching unreached peoples. I do that to pull the veil off their imaginations, to enable people to see in new ways the way God loves them and plans to employ them in his kingdom work.

I love to help people take their next step. Can you relate?

Occasionally we’ll really connect with someone or some family and get to watch, even participate, as their journey unfolds. That’s like drugs to me. I have friends who’ve served in North Africa, Turkey, and Italy at my direct invitation. They’ve filled my heart with hope and joy.

4. Love Beyond Boundaries

One of the many lessons embedded in the masterful story of the good Samaritan is God’s desire for us to love beyond those near us and like us. For mission mobilizers, this is part and parcel of our calling and our work. God’s glory and compassion for those beyond the established church motivate us in ways far superior to targeted triumphalism.

If we’re lucky, as we learn to love people far different from us and advocate for their best in God, we’ll realize in fresh ways how thoroughly God loves us.

Of course, this “loving those unlike me” can be hard work, frustrating, demoralizing, and sometimes apparently without fruit. But it’s a good work, both in the effect on the loved and the growth of the lover. It’s good for our souls, a gift really, to practice obeying the second greatest command. (Tweet this.)

5. Fresh Perspective

Whenever we learn about another people or culture in our efforts to advocate for them, our own hearts and minds are shaped and developed.

My work in recent years to mobilize church-planting efforts among Muslim migrants in Sicily has given me a chance to see in the smallest way how Sicilians view their island’s immigration situation. This, in turn, helps me understand how people in my own country, even my own church, view immigration.

My time mobilizing in Holland helped me see how differently Dutch people see the world than I do. This has challenged my thinking in areas of tolerance, cooperation, and frugality.

I’m particularly grateful for the many Arab, Indian, and Southeast Asian cultures that have impressed on me biblical truth regarding community and hospitality.

My mind is a happier, more interesting playground for having enjoyed the gifts of many diverse cultures. Yours, too?

6. Fantastic Food

Of particular note are the culinary gifts mobilizers receive. I would happily take seconds of almost everything someone from a different culture has ever given me. From the mango drinks a kind Arab shop keeper in Illinois shared with my kids to the watermelon in a Palestinian refugee camp… from baklava in a Turkish village to the South Asian feast an international student made for my family after he’d returned to America with his new wife. Ah, but God’s kindness has come through the food shared by many.

There may be no better way to introduce someone to a people group than to buy them some of their food! This is the mobilizer’s secret weapon. And of course, it’s rude to expect someone to eat alone! (Tweet this.)

7. Freedom to Dream

Here’s one of my favorite dreams: What if we prayed the Lord’s Prayer, asking, “May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” and God said, “Yes. I’m down for that! I say ‘Yes’ to that prayer!” What does it look like? How does it come about?

I sure don’t have all the answers, but I love that my job involves dreaming about them.

This is a gift, isn’t it? To give your mind and your time (at least some of it) to dreaming about how God will accomplish his purposes for our planet?

I’m currently wondering about what kingdom opportunities will open up in Syria. As I pray for peace, I look forward to days when the displaced will begin to return home, when reconstruction money will start to pour in, when thoughtful, loving Jesus-people from all over will give the best of their strength to come alongside and care for Syrians.

It’s going to happen, you know, this completing-the-Great-Commission thing. One day it will be done. Jesus would not have asked us to do it if that weren’t so. What a joy that we get to be a part.

As mentioned above, one of the gifts God gives mobilizers is curiosity. We wonder and dream about kingdom advance. One of the things you are probably pondering right now is how the novel coronavirus affects our work. I am, too.

Three thoughts:

• Grab Marc Van Der Woude’s free mini ebook to see how the Church dealt with a couple of previous similar issues.
• If your short-term trip has been cancelled and you’d like to consider reaching out to refugees in the US, I’d love to hear from you.
• Are you willing to share your thoughts regarding how this epidemic will shape our work in coming months? Please comment on Facebook, Twitter, our website, or by responding to this email.

By Shane Bennett

Quick, move on to your next email! A sermon on sin? What has come over me? This hasn’t happened once the entire 15 years I’ve been writing Practical Mobilization. Maybe it’s the approach of Lent, reminding us it’s healthy to lament and repent. Maybe deep winter has got to me. Another foot of snow will likely fall on my house tonight and football’s over until August. Ugh.

I could call this The Seven Sins of Shane. But if you’ve read Practical Mobilization for a while, you’re aware I abhor alliteration. And just maybe I’m not the only one guilty of these things. Though guilty I am. I’ve done (or am doing) them all to varying degrees. With Paul I say, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” His mercy is essential, kind, and good.

Let me be straight here: These are detours from holiness to which I think mobilizers are prone. That doesn’t mean you’re guilty of any of them. And, by way of reminder, your guilt is no match for the cleansing blood of Jesus.

1. Pandering to the Rich

Could James be any plainer? After specifically challenging our tendency to show preference for the rich, he declares, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:8-9).

But the guy “wearing a gold ring and fine clothing” clearly has more disposable income to direct to your fine work than the “poor man in shabby clothing.”

If your work arrangement is like mine in that you depend on the financial gifts of others to pay your bills and feed your kids, you need relationships with people who have money to give. Ergo, you need to be nice to rich people. But somehow you can’t prefer them over poor people.

Easier said than done, in my experience.

2. Self-righteousness

How many overseas trips does it take to cancel out the sins of your youth? Will learning a foreign language or two finally earn God’s approval? Will disregard of your culture’s main narratives of accumulation and status through wealth make God like you more?

Clearly not. But I’d be dishonest not to admit that below the surface of my consciousness there lurks a bit of this notion that God likes us more when we do more stuff for him. And that brings us to…

3. Pride, the Ugly Brother of Self-righteousness

Can we agree it’s hard to preach a sermon on the heart of God or what God is trying to do in the world and not think, “Hmmm, I must know the heart of God!” Even when our words are couched in scripture, as well they should be, we may believe we’re the ones with a right understanding of the Word. Those we speak to need to have their thoughts tweaked, changed, or maybe even traded in for the new model.

Whenever we are sure we believe rightly about a given issue, lifestyle, political approach, or really anything, pride is waiting to jump us. Since God says clearly that he “opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble,” my frequent prayer is this: “Father, help me be humble! I don’t want you to have to oppose me.”

4. Idolatry

Is it possible we might value the work of God ahead of the God of the work? I’ve wrestled with accusations of this from people I’ve loved and trusted. “You’ve made an idol of your ministry.” I don’t think so, but I get that sometimes such things are easier to see from the outside. I do know that I don’t want to progress years down the road in my work only to look back and see God waving far behind me.

We’re called to be passionate, self-sacrificing, and diligent. Our work can be hard and require attention and focus. May God give us grace such that while working hard, our chief focus stays fixed on the author and perfecter of our faith.

5. Judgement

A couple of Sundays ago I attended the first service at a pretty big church in Salt Lake City. At the conclusion, with no place to be, I sat in the lobby watching the service-one people depart and service two begin to show up. After a few minutes it occurred me that I was clearly judging on outward appearance, not like the Lord who “looks on the heart.” I’m not proud of my thoughts: “Those guys are cool. Those guys are weird. Those guys are trying way too hard to be cool.”

It’s so easy for mission mobilizers to fall into judgement. God has called us to call the attention of his body to those for whom his blessing has yet to arrive. Most won’t respond as we wish. Some will not care at all. How do you deal with that? Have you ever shaken your head and seethed just a bit? I sure have.

Jesus soberly warns us that the way we judge is the way we’ll be judged. That gives me pause. So, in this case, do the words of Brené Brown: “I know my life is better when I work from the assumption that everyone is doing the best they can.”

Someone not answering my call to live among the unreached? If that’s cool with them and cool with God, it should probably be cool with me, too.

6. Lack of Compassion

To think that mission-y people might not be compassionate seems a little crazy. Why else would we do what we do? Well, I for one, have a long list of sub-par motivations. But what I’m referring to here is this: In our passion to complete the Great Commission, we may give short shrift to the Great Commandment. I know, I know, the best way to love someone is to tell them how to spend eternity with God. I just want to be sure I’m willing to share my sandwich while I’m doing that.

I also recognize in myself a deeper, more driving concern for Muslims, Turks, Indians, refugees, and basically most brown people far and sometimes near than I have for the white people who live in my town.

I’m happy for God to give gifts and vision to each of us as he desires. None of us can care enough for everything and everyone who needs care. But I don’t want to not love anyone Jesus desires to love through me.

7. Finally, Despair

Haven’t faced days of despair in your life or work as a mobilizer? I’m happy for you. For me it’s sometimes hard to shake the sense that it’s been a long time since Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.” Yet the kingdom’s not here the way I wish it was. Too much injustice. Too little compassion. Too many living and dying without hearing of a God who wants them desperately.

I know, deeply know, that the hope of God is the only way I can survive, but despair lurks in the shadows. As Stephen Foster says, “Long have you lingered outside my cabin door.” As God warned Cain, “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Since I’m feeling pretty despair-free these days, reach out if you like and I’ll juice you up! You can return the favor later.

May God give us all grace
to walk in holy freedom with him,
humbly obedient to carry out the good works
he has prepared in advance for us to do.

Subversive Mobilization: Remember Uyghur Kids

I’ve been praying lately for the million-plus Uyghurs in Chinese concentration camps. Some experts say if the coronavirus reaches the camps the results could be devastating. I’m also concerned for their kids who’ve had to make their way to relatives or been shipped to orphanages. I can’t imagine what things might be like for them.

Will you join me? Consider putting a note on your bathroom mirror or the dash of your car that simply says, “Remember Uyghur kiddos.” Take a shot of it and share it on Facebook or Instagram to invite others to join you in praying.

God loves those munchkins. Let’s join him in that.

New year. New decade. New start.

By Shane Bennett

Yeah, it feels a little cheesy and cliché, but honestly the whole new year thing works for me. Fresh starts feel invigorating and hopeful. Things haven’t been screwed up yet!

Are you up for some new beginnings? I’ve started reading through the Bible and I’m doing a tiny bit of daily journaling. Some really big new stuff is brewing for me too, but you’ll have to read the list below to get to it.

Maybe you have so many plates spinning already that the opposite sounds good to you. Remember, Bob Goff is known to say, “You can quit anything on a Thursday!” If you’re reading this when it lands, you’ve got a little lead time to mitigate the damage of the plate(s) you let clatter to the floor!

If “start something new” works for you, as it does for me, here are some ideas. I’ll try to let you know the ones I’m taking up, as well as the ones that I think you’d be a crazy, faith-filled superhero to try!

1. Offer an idea that feels risky.

There’s so much power in, “What if we thought about this…?” Maybe you hang with Francis Chan, Malcolm Gladwell, and Elon Musk (seriously, how cool would it be?) and you never float out an idea that doesn’t get a double eye roll and head shake. But if your tribe is a bit more ordinary, it could be that you are thinking of some things they haven’t already thought of. Yes, you! And maybe God is doling out some chutzpah right now to enable you to suggest, “We could do something really cool. What about this…?” Something for your church, your community, or the world. We won’t complete the Great Commission without some of us somewhere suggesting we do something substantial in a new place.

And if you do get shot down? You won’t be alone. Remember William Carey, for one, famously feels your pain!

2. Launch a prayer effort for an unreached people.

If you don’t have a people on your heart, consider those among whom your friends are working or maybe a group your church is involved with. If you find no natural connection, go to this list of the 31 Largest Frontier Peoples. Pick one, start to learn, and gather friends to pray.

3. Provide Perspectives.

This could legit change your life. It’s one of the crazy, super-hero options on this list! Sit down over coffee with three intrepid friends. Ask God and each other, “Should we bring Perspectives to our town?!?” It will mean a lot of work and some financial risk and you’ll get stretched in uncomfortable ways. But dang, will you leave a dent. If you started scheming tomorrow evening, you might be able to pull off a class in the fall. I would be delighted to dream with you.

4. Nudge your church toward the unreached.

Pastors deal with multiple messes. Truckloads of poo, really. I don’t want us to contribute to that. Nonetheless, you might be able to start the train rolling toward looking at fresh partnerships among unreached peoples. If you could use some help, let’s chat. The cool org I work for, Healing Nations, specializes in helping small to mid-sized churches connect with mission situations. I would love to kick some ideas around with you.

Pioneers, Missions Catalyst’s host organization, would also be a great starting place. And you may know others.

5. Initiate a friendship with someone outside of your normal sphere.

This could be a Muslim, a Hindu, a Democrat, a homeless person, a wealthy businesswoman, someone who’s transgendered, or an old white guy. (If you’re reading this and “an old white guy” would be out of your normal sphere, I’d really like to hear from you. I fear the Practical Mobilization tribe is, on the whole, more pale than I’d like.)

6. Write a book.

Seriously, you’ve been thinking about it! Do it! Just promise me you’ll pay a little bit to get the text edited and the cover designed by a pro. This one is on my goal list for 2020. It all feels pretty vague so far, but I’m asking God for the necessary direction.

7. Learn a lot about something.

I need to implement this one. I have a goal to raise the number of subscribers to the weekly email I write from 2148, where it stands today, to 5007 by the end of the year. I have almost no idea how to do that but am pretty sure that some people do and maybe they’ve written down things I could learn from. If you have some tips or would like to be one of those new subscribers, I’d be honored. Check it out here.

8. Go somewhere.

At the risk of bringing the wrath of Greta Thunberg on my head, I urge you to travel. Get out of Dodge. Visit a new neighborhood, a new city or a new country. Take some old friends and make some new ones when you arrive. If you do number five above at the same time, bonus points for you!

I sat next to a couple yesterday who’d been on more than 50 cruises. They said they liked to spend a third of the year on the water. I hesitate to judge them, but this much is true: If they can do that, you might be able to swing eating at a new ethnic restaurant or visiting a refugee center in a nearby city.

9. Take care of your soul.

Mission mobilizers tend to be an intrepid, hard-riding lot. We’re willing to overlook a lot for the sake of the cause. Maybe we’re no more soul-starved than the general Christian population, but we may be soul-starved while squawking endlessly about the purposes of God. The problems with this are not lost on me, at least right now, since I’m writing about them. I fear I often overlook or discount them, though. Want to join me in changing that?

10. Start a small group.

People need connection, community. Often it takes a catalyst, such as a person who will say, “Buy this book. Come to my house. I’ll make coffee. You bring donuts.” It’s not super complicated. First step could be to pick a good book. You can’t go wrong with either The Magnificent Story or Across the Street and Around the World. Then ask seven buds to read it with you and talk about it over coffee (or a beer if inspired by the Inklings!)

Bonus Idea

Get married! OK, odds are good this would be a bad idea for you; you are already married. I really just put it on the list so I could tell you I’m getting married! After some grueling years of pain, brokenness, and regret I’d never anticipated, light has broken on the horizon. By the time you read the March edition of Practical Mobilization, things will have changed considerably for me.

Conclusion

Let the rest of the tribe know which of these ideas you plan to implement (and the better ones you’ve come up with on your own!) I can’t really speak for all of us, but I’d love a chance to pray you out of the gate.

Mind if we pause for a moment (again, for many of us) to thank God for Rick Love, who recently passed away, and pray for Fran and the kids? My life was impacted by Rick in many ways, and perhaps yours was too. I was encouraged and inspired by his life right up to the point I read he’d gone to be with Jesus.

Remember the Loves with me. Remember that death will be defeated. But remember as well that your days are numbered. Mine too. Let’s make them count the way Rick did.

Read a brief bio of Rick (and others you may know) from Missio Nexus.

12 Gift Ideas to Boost Global Vision or Vision Casters

By Shane Bennett

How is Christmas unfolding for you? You doing okay? I pray you’re filled with hope, peace, joy, and love in the lead-up to celebrating the birth of Jesus. I’m looking at deadlines and dropped balls myself, but also reeling in the wonder of new life and possibilities, including the birth of my first-ever grandchild!

Whether or not the whole Christmas spirit thing is totally happening for you, here’s a chance to take a quick break, smile for a minute, and maybe snag an idea or two you can use.

After a multi-year hiatus, the December edition of Practical Mobilization is once again devoted to a pair of Christmas lists. One consists of gifts you might give to juice a friend or family member’s vision for the nations. The other features gifts that gonzo mobilizers like us might particularly enjoy. (The second is not my personal Christmas gift list, but the overlap is striking!)

Christmas Gifts to Boost Vision

If you’re like me, it’s hard to turn off the mobilizer switch. It kind of runs on automatic. So, when it comes to gift giving, maybe you think, “Two birds, one stone. My friend gets something they like, and they also get a little nudge toward the nations.” Some of these are subtle and sneaky, and some dreadfully overt. You choose.

1. A Timely Gift

2020 YWAM Personal Prayer Diary and Daily Planner: A lot of the cool kids are going back to paper and this planner has solid chops. It also has a decades long track record of facilitating prayer for the nations.

2. Food Gifts

• Ethnic Dinner Gift Certificate: If there’s an easier, tastier way to seduce someone into God’s global purposes than food, I don’t know it. Maybe you’ve got the skills to make an amazing meal for your friend. Do it. If not, find an Indian buffet or a Middle Eastern diner. When you’ve got my stomach, you’ve got me.
• International Snack Box: Go to Cost Plus World Market and compile your own. Or save the gas and send one like this Ultimate Assortment of Turkish Treats.

3. Gifts that Give

How about giving a goat in your friend’s name? Sometimes this is a good way to honor the love you feel for them, along with the reality that they don’t need any more stuff!

Quite a few organizations can help you out here. World Concern offers a way to gift a year of school, chickens or a church. Food for the Hungry gives you a chance to buy a bee hive or the whole manger!

4. Mappy Gifts

• World Map Shower Curtain: Contemplate the planet every time you…whatever.
• Scrunch Map: A map of the world that wads up and fits in a small pouch! Won’t get you as many “Best Uncle Points” as something chocolate, but it just might score.
• World Map Pillow: Global vision via osmosis every night!
• World Map Puzzle: For bonus points, put this puzzle together with some munchkin relatives.

5. Good Reads

• Across the Street and Around the World. You may want a case of these. They’re that good.
• How to Bless a Missionary: Practical Ideas for Your Church and Family. 100 great ideas.
• Something Needs to Change. Classic David Platt. Easy to read. Hard to dismiss.

6. An Invitation

Are you going somewhere cool in 2020? Of course, you are, you crazy mobilizer! What if your gift to a close friend was a genuine invitation to accompany you? Maybe you can’t afford to cover her cost. What about just part? “You get the ticket, I’ve got the rest?” Or, “I’ll pay for your passport, if you’ll just send in the paper work.”

Few things wield more power than personal invitation.

Bonus Item

Here’s a Pray for Syria coffee mug. Can we all buy this and do it?

Gifts for Mobilizers

Got a mobilizer you love? Someone who’s laying it all on the line to share God’s passion for the planet with others? Reach out and kiss them with a gift this Christmas.

1. Go Blue

For starters, you can’t go wrong with anything in Pantone’s color of the year, Classic Blue. They say it instills, “calm, confidence, and connection.” Which pretty much describes mobilizers. The Cut calls it, “anti-anxiety” blue, which also might be needed!

2. Think Video

Once you’ve got them calmed down, increase your favorite mobilizer’s effectiveness by helping her excel in video. You’ll want to start with an iPad and add a quick course to get things rocking.

A drone! Again, not because it’s fun, but in the interest of helping mobilizers generate great video to help others fall in love with their favorite people group. Of course, to be honest, capturing drone footage in some cool places might land you in jail! (But that might in turn land you a book deal…)

3. Help with Finances

Consider the gift of an hour with a finance coach. For $45 my personal finance coach will spend an hour on the phone helping your mobilizer friend see where they stand financially. And he’ll give them three solid action steps to move forward. In case you’re worried, this guy will not try to up-sell your friend. He honestly just wants to help people. If you’ve got the courage and sensitivity to give this gift, let me know and I’ll make the connection. (I won’t tell if you want to give it to yourself!)

4. A Photo Shoot

Mobilizing isn’t mainly about looking good. But it doesn’t hurt to look like you tried a little! And many in mobilization ministry can use a head shot or family photos. Maybe you’ve got the chops and the chutzpah to gift your own services for this or maybe you hire someone else. Either way, many mobilizers would benefit from an hour of someone’s time whose photo skills surpass that of their iPhone.

5. Hotel Points

Riding the Perspectives speaking circuit, I’ve stayed in a lot of people’s homes. Many have been small outposts of Heaven and the owners’ exercise of hospitality blessed me deeply. All the same, sometimes you can’t beat a hotel. Telling your mobilizer bud you’ve got their bed and tiny shampoo bottles covered for a night or two on an upcoming trip can be a huge blessing.

6. A Boost of Power

If you know what sort of phone they use, hook them up with house and car chargers and an emergency power brick. I love this one, but cheaper versions are also available. I don’t know anyone who couldn’t use extra charging equipment.

And more Holy Spirit. Now we’re talking real power! What if your gift were to seriously ask your mobilizer friend what they’re dreaming, scheming, and planning for in 2020? When you’ve thoroughly heard them out, commit to weekly prayer for them and occasional check-ups on progress. We might hit the end of next year having seen goals reached and people released into the kingdom like never before!

Happy Christmas to you, my friends. I appreciate you reading Missions Catalyst and am grateful for every ounce of effort you put into the completion of the Great Commission. May God bless you beyond your imagination in 2020.