In this edition: Resources to help you raise up and equip tomorrow’s mission force. Image from At Any Cost by Faith Based Musicals.
Day: January 30, 2019
FILM: The Least of These, the Graham Staines Story
Source: SkyPass Entertainment
In rural India in the late 1990s, journalist Manav Banerjee moves with his pregnant wife to Orissa. When speculation mounts that local Australian missionary Graham Staines is illegally proselytizing patients, Manav agrees to investigate undercover.
Coming to theaters across the US on February 1 with a special sneak peek on January 31, The Least of These tells the story of Graham Staines and aims to beautifully illustrate the power of love, hope, and forgiveness to overcome hate.
» Watch the trailer below. Learn more or find a theater.
WEBINAR: Nurturing the Missions Call
Source: Sixteen:Fifteen
Students who sense God is calling them to be missionaries may feel scared or uncertain about what to do next. Join Sixteen:Fifteen and David P. Jacob for a one-hour webinar designed to equip pastors and youth leaders to help young people keep their passion for ministry alive.
Jacob is the author of the related ebook It’s Your Call, recently published by William Carey Library. Looks like it might be a good resource to distribute broadly; take a look and let us know what you think.
The webinar will take place Wednesday, February 6, 2-3pm EST.
» Register for the webinar. You can also watch recordings of past webinars from Sixteen:Fifteen.
» See also Afterglow or Transformation? on how churches are maximizing the long-term fruit of student mission conferences (Catalyst Services).
DRAMA: At Any Cost, a Story of Obedience and Sacrifice
Source: Faith Based Musicals
What if, instead of a film or speaker at your next mission event, your church, school, or ministry presented a drama with a mission theme? Such a choice would also immerse participants in the story for weeks or months as they learned their parts and put the show together.
Faith Based Musicals has developed a simple, one-hour musical production that shares the story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and three other missionaries killed in Ecuador in 1956. Based on Elizabeth Elliot’s book Through Gates of Splendor, the production includes singing, basic acting, and a combination of movie clips and still images and can be presented by any group with at least five (male) singers.
» Learn about At Any Cost. They also have a musical production based on the life of Corrie Ten Boom, inspired by the book The Hiding Place.
» See also dozens of mission-related scripts listed at the Christian resource website DramaShare and let us know if there’s one you’ve used (or created) that might interest Missions Catalyst readers.
SERVICE: Short-term Mission Solutions
Source: XPCulture
Need help organizing and equipping a short-term mission team? XP Culture has lots of content you can use along with a variety of online trip management tools to help you serve your team better and improve the impact of the trip on them and their hosts.
Some of the resources are free; any STM participant can create a free account to go through 90 minutes of video content before or after the trip. The basic level of service is US$30 a person, and for a bit more you can customize materials and create your own training courses.
XPCulture is certified as a resource provider by the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission (SOE).
» Visit the XPCulture website or watch a two-minute overview video.
» Read about other tools and services designed to help you manage mission trips (ShortTermMissions.com).
EVENTS: Coming in February
Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar
February 1-2, Santa Barbara Mission Conference (Santa Barbara, CA, USA). An annual event.
February 1-3, Missionfest Manitoba (Winnipeg, MB, Canada). Free, annual, community-based mission festival for all ages.
February 3-8, ABIDE (Joplin, MO, USA). Re-entry debriefing for global workers from TRAIN International.
February 4 to June 9, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (online). New classes begin throughout the year.
February 6, Nurturing the Missions Call (online). Webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen.
February 10-22, Second Language Acquisition Course (Union Mills, NC, USA). Provided by the Center for Intercultural Training.
February 11-15, Emerging Leaders: Developing Critical Skills (Orlando, FL, USA). Training event from Missio Nexus.
February 12-13, Support Raising Bootcamp (Austin, TX, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions. Events in various locations throughout the year.
February 14, Building Missionaries: Fostering Souls for Success on the Field (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.
February 14 to March 14, Foundations of Media Strategy (online). Training course from Mission Media U.
February 15-16, Midwest Conference on Missionary Care (New Hope, MN, USA). An annual event.
February 18-21, Thrive Retreat (Tuscany, Italy). For North American women serving cross-culturally. Retreats in different locations each year.
February 20 to March 20, Story in Ministry (online). Mentored course by Mission Media U on applying elements of story to your outreach.
February 21, Creating an Annual Fundraising Plan (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.
February 21-22, Standards Introductory Workshop (Clackamas, OR, USA). Training in the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission.
February 22-23, Short-term Mission ConneXion (Clackamas, OR, USA). An annual event.
February 22-24, Missions Fest Alberta (Edmonton, AB, Canada). Free, annual, community-based mission festival for all ages.
February 25 to March 23, COMPASS (Palmer Lake, CO, USA). Language and culture acquisition provided by Mission Training International.
February 28 to March 2, IMPACT Gathering (Dallas, TX, USA). Annual event for those desiring CPM among UPGs of SE Asia.
» View the complete calendar, which includes some interesting listings for March, April, and beyond. Want to know more about a specific event? Contact the event organizers.