In This Issue: Annual Christmas Gift-giving Edition!
- Note to Readers
- LIST #1 – Gifts that Mobilize
- LIST #2 – Gifts for the Mobilizer
- Subversive Mobilization – Have We Got a Deal for You!
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!
Practical Mobilization by Shane Bennett is published once a month.
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the annual Christmas gift edition of Practical Mobilization! This year’s column features two lists. The first pulls together several gifts that might help people grow a vision for the world. Or in other words: gifts that mobilize. The second list pulls together gifts that I think a mobilizer might find helpful and fun. Thanks to several readers who sent in suggestions for the lists. We appreciate you!
Since the news (and maybe your life) is filled with rumors and evidence of economic hardship, maybe a list of fancy-schmancy expensive gifts doesn’t feel appropriate. No worries, several items on the list cost little or nothing. Time, instead, will be your investment, but you’ll score high on the “I care” scale.
Cheers,
Shane
LIST #1 – Gifts that Mobilize
Books and Magazines
1. Operation World. Give someone a copy of Operation World and you open a window on the planet for them. In daily, bite-sized chunks, Operation World helps us love the globe like God does and know how to pray for his purposes to be accomplished in it.
2. Missionary biographies. Here’s a page full of books in a series my kids enjoy: Christian Heroes Then & Now.
3. Neal Pirolo books. Author, Missions Catalyst reader (and a future subject of a best-selling missionary biography?) Neal Pirolo suggests Serving As Senders and The Reentry Team, both available from Emmaus Road. George Verwer says of Serving as Senders, “I strongly believe that this is one of the most significant missionary books of this time. Whereas Operation World motivates you to become a world Christian, Serving As Senders tells you what to do once you are motivated.”
4. Mission Maker Magazine. Get a box of sixty for US$60 and give them away like crazy! Or check out “Subversive Mob” below to see how to get one totally free! (OK, there are some strings attached.)
5. Subscription to National Geographic. Help a friend cultivate a sense of wonder for this fascinating world in which we live, and maybe learn a thing or two about good photography in the bargain.
6. Subscription to Mission Frontiers. Each edition gives us a good look inside the mind of Dr. Ralph Winter, one of the most significant shapers of modern missions thought. Ask for the electronic version for your green friends, but pay the suggested US$18 subscription cost so young cash-strapped leaders can also get the publication (and you don’t look stingy!) Also coming from the great minds at the US Center for World Mission is the Global Prayer Digest. It’s like a monthly version of Operation World. Again, you can get it delivered electronically.
Gift Programs
Do you have friends you’d like to honor with a gift, but who really don’t need anything? And if they want something, they usually get it themselves? Consider a gift program in which you pay for a gift that is then given to someone in a situation of deprivation.
1. Partners International has a huge effort like this. Many of your favorite ministries may, as well.
2. My friends at Interlink are launching a new effort along the same lines. For US$20 you can buy a birthday party for an Kazakh orphan. US$40 gets a graduating orphan access to college test preparation help. How cool is that?
Foodie Gifts
1. Dinner at an ethnic restaurant. While I can’t imagine why, this gift may not be appreciated by all. So give it with caution. And make sure you the gift includes you! If you’re feeling intrepid, pick a place neither you nor your recipient has visited before. Don’t leave without some deeper understanding of the host culture.
2. Put on an ethnic meal/program. If you want to give the gift of yummy food to several people, maybe host a little fete at your home instead of a restaurant. Accent dinner with decorations, music, maybe even a film from the culture you’re dining with. (In case you’re wondering, I’d be glad to come!)
3. Bake a tasty treat. This might require some up-front talent. You probably know if you have what it takes to bake your own gifts. If you don’t have it, you may want to stick with something like this. If you do have some culinary “chops,” though, your friends will bless you and the fruit of your kitchen when you bestow on them homemade Ghana sweet bread, baklava or gulab jamun.
Great Opportunities
1. Conference fees. Here’s a gift that could shift the direction of a young leader’s life by several degrees. Spring for the registration fee for an upcoming conference or training session. If you’re really flush, cover the travel as well. This is a gift that might keep giving for a lifetime. You can’t go wrong with these two upcoming events: Pioneers’ Story08 December 28-31 in Orlando, Florida and the Perspectives leaders’ class in Fayetteville, Arkansas, January 20-28, 2009.
2. A “come along” invitation. One of Jesus’ great gifts to his disciples was his ongoing invitation to join him as he carried out his work. What kind of gift might it be for you to invite someone along on an upcoming ministry trip? Whether it’s across town to a mosque or across the dateline to a new country, your invitation and expertise could open up a whole new world for someone.
The Moon and the World
Need a Christmas present for someone whom you hope will become Mrs. Mobilizer someday? Try this combo: A copy of It’s a Wonderful Life featuring the winsome pledge, “You want the moon, Mary? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down,” and a cool, snuggly pillow globe. The two of you can watch the movie, then dream about places where you’ll live out your wonderful life.
LIST #2 – Gifts for the Mobilizer
And here are a dozen gift ideas, in no particular order, for the mission mobilizer on your list (or inside your skin!)
1. Beautiful, huge banners of people God loves from the Assemblies of God. These are amazing. They’re four feet by six feet and cost only US$25 each! Buy a couple of them, then kiss an AG person to show your appreciation.
2. Web help. Oh, man, if you saw my web site, you’d know why this made the list. How many of us could use an hour or two of top-notch web magic?
3. Credit at a photo site. Sure you can grab a shot from Uncle Bob’s flickr page or maybe even shoot your own. But sometimes a brochure or presentation is made complete with the right image. Consider iStockphoto.
4. Credit at Mailchimp.com. Sharp email newsletters can help us communicate to our constituents and grow the range of our influence.
5. Clothes from this century. OK, maybe that’s an old stereotype!
6. Pico projector. Just let your mind wander a bit now. Where might you be able to use a video projector that’s the size of your mobile phone?
7. Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki. This book is something of a “best of” from a guy who has generated great business content for years. If you’d like to better understand how to influence people and grow businesses or organizations, put Reality Check on your list.
8. Wireless microphone. If you speak a lot, you may want to ask Santa to show up with the mic that Guy recommends. Make sure your equipment will deliver all of you!
9. iPhone. While we’re talking about equipment, can I just say: iPhones are amazing. Granted, they’re expensive. The one I have was given to me by a friend who upgraded. I don’t even have it activated as a phone, but it’s still the coolest little bit of silicon and glass I know of. Use it to read the Bible, show the Perspectives promo video, find cheap gas, keep notes, send email, keep the kids entertained, and surely someday, Skype your pals in Malawi.
10. Subscription to audible.com. Once you’ve got that iPhone, you’ll want some great books to listen to. Until Through Her Eyes by Marti Smith comes out on audio, I’d recommend Peace Like a River for starters.
11. Carry-on bag. No mobilizer can stomach paying for checked baggage and not all of us can fly on Southwest (which could be the official airline of mobilizers). Consumer Reports rates this one a best buy. (Just don’t ask for the light pink. I don’t want us to get our bags confused!)
12. Retreat with the spouse. Hey, you want to keep mobilizing and still have a family that loves you ten years from now? Put a few days away on your Christmas list. Maybe make it your gift to your spouse. Invest in this most amazing gift.
Subversive Mobilization – Have We Got a Deal for You!
Order Mission Maker Magazine from the publisher, and you’ll pay just under US$10 a copy, shipped. But your friends at Missions Catalyst have a deal for you: Recommend this fine ezine to five friends and we’ll send you a copy free. Here’s what you do:
1. Just copy and past this text into five emails:
“I thought you might like this cool ezine I get called Missions Catalyst (www.missionscatalyst.org). Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic missions digest designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. You can use it for your prayers, pass along what you learn to others, and forward it to anyone you think might be interested. Subscribe here: http://www.snipurl.com/1mq0j”
2. Send us your shipping address and we’ll drop a Mission Maker in the mail for you.
3. Wait excitedly for your magazine to arrive.
Thanks. We’d love to see all who would enjoy Missions Catalyst actually receive it!
Questions? Problems? Submissions? Contact publisher/managing editor Marti Smith.