???? The Christmas list edition… it’s back! ????

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.