World: The 25 Greatest Problems and What You Can Do About Them

Source: Radical Living by Seth Barnes, March 27, 2025

The book The Fourth Turning tells us Gen Z is the Hero Generation. They just need a cause.

To help them find their cause, our team has compiled a new app called The World’s 25 Greatest Problems. We show you the reason the world’s greatest problems exist and what you can do to address it.

Please check it out. If you know a young person who wants to help change the world, please show it to them.

I’m excited about the tool and would love to get your feedback on it. What do you think? What can be improved? What did we miss? What can help young people learn more and begin to make a difference?

Explore The World’s 25 Greatest Problems (Adventures in Missions).

See also Take Your Kids on a Family Mission Trip.

New Mission Books, Podcasts, Articles & Events

In this edition of Resource Reviews:

  1. Invitation: Join a Scripture Memory Challenge
  2. Roundup: Resources for Parents, Families, and Young Adults
  3. Book: A Handbook for International Transition
  4. Bible Study: God’s Heart for the Nations, 30th Anniversary Edition
  5. Events: Missions Conferences and More Coming in April

Read or share the email edition.

Invitation: Join a Scripture Memory Challenge

Source: Navigators

Dawson Trotman said there is no other spiritual discipline that gives you more bang for your buck than Scripture memory.

You can do it on your own, but it’s more fun (and often more effective) with a bit of accountability.

For the last year, Navigators has been offering a seven-day Scripture memory challenge. Want to join them? It’s just one verse a month.“Our community has slowly grown as people have discovered how helpful this method is,” they write. “Now thousands of people are committing to memorizing one verse a month together.”

Sign up for text messages and join the April challenge.

Don’t have a U.S. number or rather not sign up for anything new? Here’s the verse for April:

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” – Hebrews 11:6

Roundup: Resource for Parents, Families, and Young Adults

Sources: Various

Short training courses for parents

Via Families is releasing easy-to-use online courses designed to help busy parents raise children who love Jesus and love the nations. So far, Frameworks includes three, half-hour courses and they are free. More courses are on the way.

  • Spiritual Development Ages 2-3
  • Creating Meaningful Family Traditions
  • The Power of Everyday Moments

Poke around the Via site for other great resources relating to raising globally minded kids.

Podcast on mobilizing families

Mission mobilizer Dave Jacobs and his son, Pastor Sam Jacob, recently shared a fun conversation about experiences that helped set the direction of Sam’s life direction and obstacles he’s faced, along with eight things you can do to mobilize families to the nations.

Two podcast episodes on engaging the next generation

On her Leading Tomorrow podcast, Jolene Erlacher recently interviewed Jayelle Dolan about Encouraging Spiritual Disciplines in the Next Generation. I found this episode inspiring and practical, especially given the distractions and fragmentation so many of us wrestle with now, no matter our age.

I encourage you to listen to an episode of the One Collective podcast, Innovate for Good. In The Decision Dilemma: Why Too Many Options Leave Us Stuck, Jenny Collins of Taylor University shares how young adults can break free from indecision, take meaningful steps forward, and trust that God will guide them along the way.

Two articles about training young adults

Ted Esler of Missio Nexus recently wrote about trends in missionary training. As Bible colleges close or close their missionary training programs, unaccredited residential training programs have helped fill the gap. He includes a short list and readers suggested a few more in the comments. Read The Jesus School.

Similarly, Andrea Kroeze, a youth ministry leader with Touch the World, wrote Why a Gap Year Might Be the Right Step for Your Young Adult.

Know someone who could benefit from the gap year program at Touch the World? Or maybe you’d like to learn from their model and set up something in your context. Go for it! As the Lord leads, that is.

Book: Worlds Here and There—A Handbook for International Transition

Sources: Worlds Here and There

Worlds Here and There: A Handbook for International Transition, by Paul Snider and Donna Kushner, Lulu.com, 2024. 65 pages.

If you’ve moved to another country, you know it can feel like entering a new world. Your culture, climate, and community all change drastically. And in transition, it can feel like you’re stuck in between different worlds.

This activity book provides ways to identify and process the differences between those worlds and helps the reader develop self-understanding, connect with their team, family, or community, and take steps towards healthy transition.

The book includes six different activities, prompts for reflection, questions for discussion or sharing with others, and instructions for leading the main activity as a family or for a large group. It’s meant for missionaries, military personnel, and international workers and can be used with families, individuals, and teams.

Learn more or buy the book (US$15.99; paperback only). I have not seen the book myself, but it comes with good endorsements. Take a look. The authors serve TCKs/MKs through Cru. Check out their MK resource list.

You might also be interested in this collection of books on preparing and sending missionaries (William Carey Publishing) or this informative article: When Counseling Missionaries, Please Remember These Six Things (Jonathan Trotter, Remnant Counselor Collective).

Bible Study: God’s Heart for the Nations, 30th Anniversary Edition

Source: 16:15 Outfitters

Since its original release, God’s Heart for the Nations has helped churches, small groups, and individuals explore God’s purpose for the world through Scripture. Now, to mark three decades of impact, this refreshed edition includes enhanced content, updated insights, and a modern design to make it more accessible and engaging than ever.

In addition to the printed study, this edition also features a brand-new digital curriculum, providing:

  • Introductory videos for each lesson
  • An optional digital course with additional resources
  • Interactive features to help individuals and groups apply biblical truths to their lives and ministries

Learn more or place an order at discounted, pre-release prices. The study and additional resources are due to be released March 31.

See also: Why Should We Care About Missions? (Global Missions Toolbox).

Events: Mission Conferences and More Coming in April

Source: Missions Catalyst Calendar

April 2, Digital Missionary Conference (online). Participate live online and through virtual reality. Provided by theChurch.digital.

April 4-6, Catalyze Salem (Salem, OR). A mobilization/training event from Frontiers.

April 6-10, Training in Formational Debriefing (Aurora, IN, USA). What if you could offer debriefing to missionaries in a way that furthered their spiritual formation?

April 7-8, Support Raising Bootcamp (Austin, TX, USA). Provided by Via, formerly Support Raising Solutions. More classes held around the world throughout the year.

April 7 to August 10, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (online). New online classes begin regularly. A Spanish class begins April 21.

April 8-10, Sahara Challenge (Raleigh, NC, USA). Training to serve unreached Muslim people locally and globally. Provided by Crescent Project.

April 10-13, Haven Retreat (Buenos Aires, Argentina). For kingdom-minded women serving overseas from various nations; offered in different locations each year. Provided by Azmera.

April 14-18, Storytelling Training (online). Offered regularly by StoryRunners, a ministry of Cru.

April 15, Contend: Monthly Day of Prayer For Mission Mobilization (global). Coordinated by GMMI and held on the third Tuesday of each month.

April 22-25, COMIBAM (Panama City, Panama). Large Ibero-American mission congress from a network of the same name.

April 29 to May 1, Standards of Excellence introductory workshop (online). Provided regularly to help short-term mission leaders and mobilizers make their mission trips better.

View the complete calendar, updated throughout the year. Your submissions are always welcome.

Disciples Multiply in Laos, Herdsmen Sing the Scriptures + More

  1. Laos: A Remarkable Journey
  2. Pakistan: Christian Beaten and Paraded Through Village for Alleged Theft
  3. Namibia: Nomadic Herdsmen Sing the Scriptures
  4. Brazil: The Biblical Print Shop of the Americas
  5. Myanmar: A Rescue Shop at the Gates of Hell

Read or share the email edition or scroll down for individual stories.

Laos: A Remarkable Journey

Source: Movements, March 14, 2025

In a bustling café in Bangkok, Peter and John sat down to discuss their remarkable journey in Laos—a Southeast Asian nation where the gospel is advancing against incredible odds. Together, they have spent 50 years fostering movements that multiply disciples and churches.

Peter’s journey began in the 1990s. He trained and discipled local believers, leveraging people of peace to spread the gospel through their networks. By the early 2000s, local believers had baptized thousands of new disciples in multiple streams and provinces and saw many dozens of simple churches formed. All of this in a nation still under Communist rule.

In 2009, John started into the work of forming an apostolic band, and with Peter’s guidance, he embarked on the challenge of making disciples among a remote and unreached people group in one of Southeast Asia’s most closed countries.

When [national church leaders] introduced traditional seminary programs, Peter and John met with the denominational leaders to share what God was doing and explain why preserving a simple, biblical approach to disciple and church multiplication was critical.

To their surprise, the national church leaders not only embraced the vision but invited them to train all their leaders in movement principles and practices. The Holy Spirit moved powerfully, and those passionate about multiplying disciples were empowered to proceed.

At the center of this transformation was a 70-year-old patriarch of the church. God stirred his heart, and he dedicated his remaining years to seeing multiplying churches planted among every people and place in the country.

Since 2017, over 50,000 new disciples have been baptized, and 1,200 churches have been planted across Laos. In 1990 the Christian population was 0.2% then grew to about 2% by 2007, today it is over 3%.

Over 100 people groups—mostly animists—have been engaged by near-culture or same-culture disciples. Movements are thriving among minority groups, but reaching the Buddhist-majority Lao people remains one of the greatest challenges. Second and third-generation churches among Buddhists are still rare.

Read the full story and listen to an interview with Peter and John (Movements podcast). Last year, we also reviewed a great book about reaching the unreached in Laos. Check out The Faith Road.

We love stories about Christians and churches overcoming differences to collaborate. You might also be interested in a story about churches in Scotland “twinning” with churches in Malawi in a partnership blessing both parties (Christian Post).

Pakistan: Christian Beaten and Paraded Through Village for Alleged Theft

Source: Morning Star News, March 6, 2025

Muslim landowners in Pakistan abducted a Christian laborer, shaved his head and facial hair, blackened his face, and paraded him on the back of a donkey for allegedly stealing wood from their property, his brother said.

On the assumption that impoverished Catholics in Muslim-majority Pakistan have little chance of obtaining legal defense, at least seven Muslims attacked Wasif George, 34, of village Chak 110-GB Chak Jhumra in Faisalabad District, Punjab Province, after he had gone to gather wood the evening of February 27, said his brother, Patras George.

Wasif George has since plunged into depression, telling his family that he wanted to end his life, his brother said.

“If he had indeed committed any wrong act, the landowners could have had him arrested and charged under the law,” Patras George told [reporters]. “But they instead used this as an opportunity to spread their fear in the village.”

“The entire village lined up on the streets and witnessed the inhumane treatment meted out to my brother,” he said. “No one had the courage to stop his persecutors as they brandished guns and threatened to shoot any person who dared to rescue the Christian.”

The assailants warned the villagers against recording videos of the abuse, and no one dared take out their phones, he said.

Read the full story.

See read another story from Pakistan, this one about a Christian man who won the legal battle to reclaim his religious identity after it was fraudulently changed by his employer (Christian Post).