By Shane Bennett

Want to know something funny and a little embarrassing? I will probably check Mailchimp a gazillion times the day this article drops to see how many opens it has had and how many links were clicked. I’m neither proud of this, nor apparently sufficiently disciplined to stop doing it. Turns out my checking makes no difference in the numbers.

Other numbers are a little more important to count. I’d better mind the minutes until the kids’ bus arrives or I risk leaving them stranded on the road. And I count the minutes until my wife gets home because her return makes me happy. 

There’s a whole realm of health numbers getting counted in these early days of the New Year: How many calories did you consume? (Too many.) How many ounces of water did you drink? (Too few.) How many steps did you take? (You’re averaging fewer steps this week than last!) Ack!

In Psalm 90, Moses asks God to “teach us to number our days, that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.” I like that a lot, especially this time of year. I want to be thoughtful about the days of life remaining to me. I want to number them well so that the relationships and results of my life comprise a wise and acceptable offering to God.

Here are some of the numbers I’m puzzling, grieving, and rejoicing over as 2022 gets rolling.

1. Only 50% of people have returned to church. 

It depends on whose stats you get behind, but it looks like up to half the people who were attending church before COVID started haven’t come back. Granted, Omicron is wreaking havoc and some are wisely staying home to guard their weakened immune system or the people they live with. 

But is there more at play? When I look up at the camera that streams my church’s services and greet the people who are attending via Facebook, I sometimes wonder, “Have you just found it more comfortable to stay at home?” 

I also wonder how many people found, in COVID, the opportunity they’d been waiting for to hit the road. It’s like when the person you were dating went away for the summer and you found that absence didn’t make your heart grow fonder, but rather made your determination stronger; you finally admitted it was over. 

What does this decline mean for missions? Have offerings dropped a similar 30-50%? Will support need to be cut for overseas workers? For domestic missions? And what is God up to in the midst of this?

Maybe God is using COVID to prune the Church. Maybe some of those who’ve opted not to drop their bums back in Sunday morning seats will lead the way to new forms of church. I cherish the way God redeems things that seem lost to me. I just sure hope he does so soon because this next number is also weighing heavily on me.

2. More than 400 Muslim people groups are unreached and unengaged.

Research of growing validity shows that 422 Muslim people groups have no one on the ground in their midst who speaks their language and is working their tail off to catalyze a movement of reproducing disciples. In this way, they are unengaged. Further research says that non-Muslim unengaged groups (Hindu, Buddhist, others) number 1,180. 

Unengaged peoples are certainly not the only thing God has on his heart. But I hope he’s planting Pauline ambition in many intrepid souls to, preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. And may that passion, conviction, and focus burn so brightly and deeply that like Paul, they are “hindered” from doing anything less. 

The Bozo people of Mali are on that list of 422 and they’re recently on my heart. They live as nomadic fishermen. I wonder what it will take to take them off the list. Who can embody Christ in their midst? Who can find a way to live like they live and speak as they speak? Who can demonstrate and teach the good news in such a way that it is irresistibly good to the Bozo? 

I don’t know. 

But I believe that list of 1,602 unengaged groups will drop to zero. There’s growing, though still slight, momentum. A website focused on the unengaged is nearing beta testing. God’s people are praying, seeking, studying, and collaborating. It’s going to happen. (Ping me if that makes your heart race a little!)

3. 60, 17, 9, and 8,000 people.

You’ve probably heard about the fire in a Bronx apartment building on Sunday. Sixty people were injured, and of the 17 who died, nine were children. What I didn’t know until last night was that most of the dead were Gambians, some of the 8,000 or so Gambians who live in the US. Most of them are Muslim. I know little about Africa, but I’ve had wonderful interactions with Gambians. Please join me in praying for those suffering as a result of this fire—Gambians and others as well. 

4. Muslim Connect is five!

This week I’ll send the 260th edition of a short weekly email I write to help us think about Muslims the way God does and love them as Jesus does. It’s called Muslim Connect and, aside from brushing my teeth, is the most consistent thing I’ve ever done. I thank God for the health to do this and for the people who read it. If you don’t get Muslim Connect, please give it a try. At 300 words, it will only debit your week a couple of minutes. In the process of doing so, it might provide a timely bit of encouragement, a practical tool, or even a wry chuckle. Check it out and sign up here. (If you do so soon, you’ll be on board in time for the Five-Year Celebration Giveaway!) 

 
5. Got 2022 book goals?

Are you going for one a week? One a month? One? Even though I know leaders are readers, I fall short in this area. I often find myself reading for thrill rather than skill. I’m not sure Jesus is super impressed that I made my way through the entire Joe Pickett canon in the past 18 months.

This year I hope to read more books that will edify rather than simply excite. My pastor, our elder board chairman, and I are currently making our way through Tod Bolsinger’s book on adaptive leadership, Canoeing the Mountains. I recommend both the book and the practice of reading books with good buds. It multiplies the impact. 

This morning I ordered Atomic Habits by James Clear. Eugene Peterson’s biography, A Burning in My Bones, is on the list, as well as Loving Your Muslim Neighbor: Stories of God Using an Unlikely Couple to Love Muslim People . . . and How He Might Use You to Do the Same.

I also hope to drop in a couple of novels written by non-Western people of color. Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie helped me deal with my prejudice against Nigerians. I could use a lot more of that. 

What are you planning to read? What would you recommend to me and other Prac Mob readers? Take a second and drop us your thoughts.

We’ve no idea what this year will bring, but we know the one who has our backs. May God bless you with health, perseverance, and absolutely astounding kingdom success and joy in this new year.

Blessings, Shane

By Shane Bennett

Are you healthy? I sure hope so. It can be a challenge these days not to be sick with COVID, heartsick, or sick to your stomach! Yay for me, I don’t have any of those right now. But in the process of reflecting, I’ve discovered another ailment that’s bringing me down, even though it feels like it’s doing the opposite.

Malady #1

I suffer from “Everybody Is Stupid But Me” syndrome. Have you seen this? In others, of course? It’s the deep, abiding sense that the way you see the world is how the world is, and therefore, anyone who doesn’t see it as you see it is stupid.

Now in some quarters, the word “stupid” has fallen out of favor. I tend to agree. Telling someone they’re stupid usually doesn’t help them become any less stupid. I suppose everyone else but me could be dumb, misguided, out of touch, hoodwinked, gullible, or any number of other descriptors. “Stupid” does however seem to capture the feeling that emanates from my dark heart.

And I’m not happy about it. Well, I am happy with the irony that writing about this malady, pointing it out to my reading friends, is the surest sign that I’ve got it bad! But I wish I didn’t. And I wish it weren’t so prevalent around me.

This idea began to coalesce when one of my kiddos got in the habit of loudly and plaintively declaring, “That doesn’t make sense!” when she didn’t understand something. I encouraged her to trade up for “I don’t understand,” a statement far more humble and a good bit less accusing.

And I gave her permission to point out to me when I say things that could easily be replaced with the words, “Everyone is stupid but me.” I give you that permission as well.

Mission-y types like us can fall prey to this when we advocate for our God-given passions by implying (or outright saying!) everything else is “not smart.” I experienced this in a presentation on reaching out to international students some time ago and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m afraid I’ve also done it before and am trying hard to avoid it as I mobilize heartily toward the 400+ unengaged Muslim peoples. (Again, please call me on it when you see it! Thank you.)

Malady #2

You’ve heard of FOMO, fear of missing out, and maybe have discerned it in your own life. FOMOOMO (“foh moo moh”) is a subset of that: fear of missing out on ministry opportunities! I’m guessing this is rarer than FOMO and Everyone Is Stupid But Me, but I’ll tell you what, sometimes I feel such an acute case of this that I’m almost paralyzed.

It has manifested most recently with the arrival of tens of thousands of Afghans in the US. Here are some of the thoughts that have skittered through my mind:

• A friend is working in an army base helping Afghans prepare for life in the US. Intermittently, he’s dropping quotes on them in their heart language because he has a PhD in Pashto poetry! Why didn’t I ever learn Dari?! (For the record, I can almost say “yummy” in Dari and a hello/goodbye word that sounds a little like “coo duh hah fez.”)
• How many Christians and how many churches are adding Afghan refugees to their list of malaise-inducing issues these days? I bet we could help some of them do something cool!
• How should I be leveraging this situation to help people in my church grow in our love for people different from ourselves?
• Have too many of us already stepped forward to eagerly offer more help than is needed? Mike Urton, a new friend, told me 900 churches have offered to help with the 100 Afghans expected to arrive in his area. Am I too late, or worse, unneeded?

If I let FOMOOMO rage, at some point I just bail, find a comfy chair, and continue reading my current Joe Pickett novel.

Assuming that’s not a good all-around answer, here’s some of what I’m telling myself. If any of these shoes fit, feel free to wear them with me:

• God knows the plans he has for me and has indeed prepared good deeds in advance for me to walk in.
• When others succeed in kingdom work, that’s a good thing. It does not make me any smaller. I can hardly believe I need to tell myself this, but there you are.
• God’s got it in hand. He’s happy, but not obligated, to use me.
• Read Wendell Berry, who says, “Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.” Stay the course God has you on.
• Admit your FOMOOMO to people who know you, who can tell you you’re full of yourself and still love you. Listen to what they say.
• Experiment. Give it a shot. Iterate. None of us know all the answers. 

Are you feeling the FOMOOMO? I’d love to hear your story.

10 Traps & Distractions that Keep Us from Full Impact in God’s Global Purposes

By Shane Bennett

[You can also read or share the email edition of this article.]

In the past week, I’ve been privileged to watch two women I know do remarkable things. One bought a one-way ticket and hopped on a plane to Faroffistan. She’s going to live there, learn the language, and love and help the people. She raised support and launched during a pandemic. I’m impressed.

Another friend prayed, cried, schemed, called, cajoled, pressured and otherwise worked her tail off to get her Muslim-background-believer friends and a bunch of others out of Afghanistan. She has a way to go to reach her goal, but several people are breathing the air of freedom and security because of her efforts.

Do you want to have an impact like that? I do. I want to do every good deed God has laid out for me. I want to accomplish great things for a great God. I don’t want to miss the full impact God has in mind for my life.

But there are traps. There are distractions. There are things that look good, but only give the illusion of life, like what songwriter T Bone Burnett called “a travel poster in a prison cell.”

Let me be clear: I don’t know what “full impact” means for you. I don’t really know what it means for me. But I believe we want to pursue it and I know there are traps and pitfalls between here and there. Join me in asking which ones you’re prone to.

1. Sometime’s gonna be the right time.

There’s never a totally good time to move to Pakistan! Some times are slightly worse (eight months pregnant) or slightly better (marriage is solid and you’re independently wealthy), but no time’s perfect. I wonder if it’s possible that we fib to ourselves by saying, “We’ll seriously consider going when whatever happens.” Could it be this is an application point for the Proverb:

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.
Do not say to your neighbor,
    “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
    when you already have it with you.

2. I’ve been there, done that, got the fridge magnet.

It’s cool when global impact is on our bucket list, but we miss our best impact when having done something, we put a big fat checkmark by it! I wonder how much more effective Mormon missionaries would be if 20-30% of them went back for a second pair of years. (Let’s keep this idea to ourselves, eh?)

Like many things, we can expect our involvement in missions to compound in effectiveness over time. Your best contribution might be 25 years down the road.

3. I’m waiting for the big assignment.

My friend who’s getting people out of Afghanistan was in a position to make a difference because she’d been discipling Afghans for a while via Facebook. She was able to do that because she had taken the trouble to go out and meet Afghans in her city. Going to a public event with the hope (and prayer) to meet and make friends with Muslims is a relatively small step. Taking that step, however, can lead to amazing possibilities.

I hope God has huge things in store for you and for me. Maybe you’re up to your ears in one right now! If you’re not, trust God for the results of the small steps you’re taking and continue to exercise the faithfulness in little that qualifies you for big.

4. I’m truckin’ to Tarshish.

I want to soft-pedal this in some way, but I’m just going to ask: Is it possible you’re not having the full impact God has for you because you’ve boarded a boat to Tarshish? Would you be fish bait right now, were not God demonstrating his amazing patience? Maybe you found a good thing to do in order to avoid the scary thing Jesus was asking of you.

I certainly don’t know this about you. But I do know this: It’s never too early to get off the wrong road.

5. God doesn’t (or maybe can’t) use people like me.

The depth to which this notion has been pressed into our psyches is matched by its absurdity. The most cursory look at the Bible will show God specializes in partnering with buffoons! An equally cursory look at the humans around you (and perhaps your own heart) will show that most of us assume we are the sole exception to this rule.

God can use you. In fact, he probably already is. And it’s scary cool what he might do through you as you turn your face to the wind and begin to walk.

6. I’m living the American/Dutch/Kiwi/Indian dream.

All cultures are broken, right? They’re packed full of presents for God waiting to be opened, but yeah, they’re broken. In America, it may be the dream of owning more and better and bigger stuff. Maybe, where you’re from, it’s honoring your family or community above all, submitting to its every direction for your life. I don’t know, but I bet there are aspects of your culture that effectively raise up mindsets and pressure against giving your life to God’s global purposes.

I like a lot of things about my culture, and I don’t like the feeling of bucking it (usually), but I really don’t want to meet Jesus and have him say, “High five, Buddy, you pretty much nailed the American Dream. You could have 10x’d your impact on the world, but, hey, you got to drive a Tesla.”

7. Blessed be the ties that bind (well, not all of them).

I feel like such an old man saying this, but watch out! Entangling alliances can cause you to miss your full impact! A wife or husband is such a gift. The Bible says so. But with four feet instead of two, it’s harder to jump into something new! Add a baby and you square the challenge. Buy a puppy and you might as well forget it! None of those things are bad. You may even want to get a mortgage and buy a house. But do the calculus. Consider the ramifications. Don’t let the vines of normal life keep you from the radical impact God wants to give you and give the world through you.

8. I don’t know which way to walk.

Have you ever tried to plan a trip and been paralyzed by the options? A gazillion flights at different times and prices and do you have to pay for bags? Forty different rental car companies plus secret ones you won’t know until you commit. Hotels with high prices and bad reviews, low prices and mostly good reviews except for the one just three days ago that says this place has gone to the dogs! Ack! So it can be with a world in need. With so many options, how do you know?

For starters, at least, go where the glow is low. Point yourself toward the places or peoples where the least amount of Jesus seems present. There are around 422 Muslim peoples where no one has yet shown up and said, “Wanna hear a story Jesus told?” Give yourself to one of them! 

9. Say no to plateau.

Ask God for the grace and strength to run all the way to the tape. I know people whose gospel effectiveness is stunning, even though they’ve more than earned a rocking chair and an afternoon of watching baseball. To be sure, “full impact” looks different when you’re 25 than it will (does?) when you’re 75. But may God make us all like scrappy old Caleb, “I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day.”

10. We’re all going to be OK, aren’t we?

True confession: I’ve been a mission mobilizer for 35 years and for most of them I’ve wanted to be a universalist. I just don’t think the Bible allows it. Tolerant pluralism may be the current zeitgeist, but God says he’s bringing his kingdom to bear on the earth and Jesus is the king. I want to die inviting people to their rightful place in that kingdom. Join me?

Globe image by Prawny from Pixabay.

Summer Short Shots: The Back-to-School Edition

By Shane Bennett

In my world, it’s back to school time. The three intrepid humans I’ve been riding herd on this summer vacillate between fired up and frantic about returning to the classroom. Excited to see friends, concerned about new teachers, happy that masks are “strongly suggested,” but “not required,” and perhaps secretly glad to be ridden herd on by someone else for a change! 
 
To celebrate the season this is the first-ever back-to-school edition of Practical Mobilization. No back-to-school buzz at your house? No worries. These ideas, for the most part, travel beyond that sphere. Though I’d also humbly invite you to forward this to your friends with school-aged kiddos.

1. Surviving the “Meet and Greet” 

Depending on how tight the COVID clampdown is where you live, you may have a “meet and greet” at your kids’ school in the next few days. Does that several parts of your body to involuntarily clench? Does mine! Then here’s some help for you: Treat it like a challenge to do what Jesus would. For starters, he’d bless your kid’s teacher. Ask how you could pray for them this week. (If you’re feeling super feisty, pray right then and there!) And, he’d probably talk to the people no one is talking to!

The handy acronym FORKS shows you one way to give that a go. 

2. This Girl Had It Harder Than You!

Need a little pre-first-day pep talk? Try sharing the story of Nadia Nadim with your kids. Here are the bullet points: 

• Born in Afghanistan in 1988.
• When she was ten years old, her family fled for their lives after her father’s execution.
• As a refugee in Denmark, she began to excel at soccer.
• Nadim now plays for the Danish national team and for Racing Louisville Football Club.
• She speaks nine languages.
• Oh, and one more thing, she’s one semester away from completing med school!

Watching her TEDX talk might give you a little boost as well!

3. A Challenge on Another Level

Gospel workers around the world face brain-bending and heart-rending decisions when it comes to schooling their kids. For some, boarding school several time zones away is still the best choice. For others, it’s local school or home-schooling. 
 
One of the most poignant photos of any of my kids is that of wee Anna sitting in her Dutch kindergarten on her first day ever of school. New classroom, new teacher, new language!  
 
Since this challenge is real, I’m wondering if as a community we can take a moment and share some prayer and encouragement for cross-cultural workers facing school decisions and the implications of the choices they’ve made. I set up a Google doc where you can share a brief prayer or blessing for our family members around the planet. It won’t take you long, but it might be the thing that gets them through a rough day.

4. Homeschool with Global Purpose

Once you’ve chosen to home school your kids, and some of you have, the question looms large: What curriculum do you use? I’m the last person qualified to answer that for you! But here are a couple of options that have God’s global purposes at their core: Sonlight Curriculum and Unveiling Glory. 

5. Middle School Survival Training

If you’re a dad of middle school girls, you might suspect there’s no way to navigate those years without tears, heartache, and seasons of moodiness. I agree and have observed that both girls and boys are their rawest, most sin-ridden selves during this time. Even so, I want kids to grow up to follow Jesus wholeheartedly and take the gospel to the most challenging and under-served parts of the world. This one-page survival training might help in a small way.

6. Life Inventory 

Finally, if on that first day of school, having dropped the kids at the bus or building, you sink into the sofa and go into some sort of human hibernation until pick-up time you’ll get no judgment from me. 
 
Assuming your nap need will ease up eventually, though, here’s something to consider that is just tough to do with kids writhing around you like a sack full of snakes: A life inventory.
 
Not an “everything bad I’ve ever done” list, but more like you and the Holy Spirit asking, “Where’s this ol’ train headed?” 
 
I like the approach Ximena Vengoechea outlines, starting with writing 100 wishes on 100 post-it notes. How fun might that be? Don’t panic. Most people don’t get past 30 or 40. (Ximena, overachiever that she is, was at 121 when she ran out of post-it notes!) 
 
A life inventory is probably not going to solve all our issues, but it might just be a fun and helpful way to put to use some of the time that theoretically will be freed up when the kiddos go back to school. 
 
Thanks for reading the Summer Short Shots. Before you head off to your next priority, please take a moment and share a prayer or blessing for missionaries and the kids going off to school. Thank you.

Quick, actionable missions ideas and a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

Read or share the email edition.

By Shane Bennett

Does it bug you as it does me when people tell others to do something you’re pretty sure they’re not doing themselves? I bet my kids wonder about this when I tell them to take naps, but I stay awake.

Of course, they’ve no idea how much I’d love to take a nap too!

You know the old saying, “Those can’t do, teach.” Hoping to avoid proving this, I work hard to not ask anyone, including you, to do something I’m not willing to do myself.

But this month, I’m sealing the deal. I’m going to implement each of the following ideas. If it goes well, I’ll write about it. If not, I’ll sweep it under the rug! So here we go. Brief but binding.

1. Get (or renew) your passport! 

I know, you couldn’t have traveled this past year if you wanted to, so why bother? Well, my friends, that ship has sailed. Many ships are sailing again, planes are flying, trains are tracking, and God may be fixing to invite you to go somewhere super cool. Most of the least-loved lands on the planet pretty much insist on a passport to let you in. If you don’t have one, it’s very difficult to obey God if he asks you to go love the people there. 

If you live in the U.S. and want a passport, say for a possible trip with me next spring to reach out to Muslim immigrants in Italy, you may want to get on it. According to the State Department, “Routine service can take up to 18 weeks from the day an application is submitted to the day a new passport is received!” (The exclamation mark at the end of that sentence is mine. The chill State Department felt like a period would suffice. But 18 weeks deserves an exclamation point!)

2. Say thank you.

Few things are as easy, appropriate, and beneficial as saying thank you. 

It blesses people to be thanked. It temporarily lowers your social status relative to another person, but in a healthy way. “I received something I needed from you and I’m grateful.” I think it may even boost your sense of gratitude and happiness. One way to count your blessings is to thank those who brought them into your life. 

Around 100 people support my work financially most months. I’m going to give each of them a personal thank you before another edition of Practical Mobilization hits your inbox.

Got anyone you could thank? Maybe…

• Thank you for the impact and influence you’ve had on my life.
• Thank you for your years of hard work that accomplished worthwhile stuff for the kingdom of God.
• Thank you for looking me in the face and saying you accept me. Jesus was speaking through you then.

By the way, thank you for reading Missions Catalyst. I honestly and deeply appreciate it. 

3. Restart the church missions emphasis.

If your church is getting back together in person, maybe this fall would be a good time to grab some weeks to emphasize a big God’s purposes for a big world. Here’s what I’m thinking:

• Ask for three Sundays, but settle for two.
• Book a speaker. As gifted as your pastor and others at your church are, there’s something powerful about an outside person talking about things like reaching the unreached. Pro tip: Many speakers have not been speaking much due to COVID. You may want to tell them they have less time than they do, in anticipation of enthusiastic overrun!
• Design and order a cool, tangible item to give everyone that will connect people to your ongoing mission efforts and remind them to pray. I’m thinking of a stress ball globe with something printed on it that I haven’t come up with yet. You could also go with a bookmark, fridge magnet, or a pen. All solid options. I’d advise against scented putty. Too many ways that’s going to go bad! 

I can guess what you’re thinking: “Hey, if we buy a little doodad for everyone, we won’t have money for the speaker’s honorarium!” Wanna hear a little secret? Having been grounded by COVID, many missions speakers are chomping at the bit so much they’ll speak for free. (On second thought, that might only apply to me!)

Finding a good theme is an early challenge for a missions emphasis time. You want something that builds curiosity and inspires interest and involvement. And it needs to go hand in hand with the giveaway. 

To spark your creativity and entice your involvement, I’m awarding a $25 Amazon card to the person who posts the best theme/giveaway combo for a fall 2021 church missions emphasis. 

Share your best stuff here.

4. Renew a commitment to pray for the world.

You’re probably a better pray-er than me. I lean heavily (inappropriately) toward taking action on my own, rather than praying for God to take action. It’s tough enough to pray for things present right in our own lives. When we toss the net out to include the whole wide world, people we don’t know, places we’ll never visit, it’s a wonder any of us pray for the nations! 

But you don’t have to be very analytical to wonder when, at current rates we’re going to accomplish what God has in mind in terms of gathering his harvest. There’s so much to do, time is of the essence, and it seems like so few are about this work.

So, I’m encouraged to pray. More and better. And invite others to join me. 

A small step any of us—heck, all of us—could take is to set a recurring alarm on our phone at 10.02 am, and when it buzzes take a moment to pray Luke 10.2 as Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

I’m committing to the near-daily journaling of a brief prayer for the nations. I’m also going to invite our elder team to do the Luke 10.2 prayer!

If you have prayer advice for me, I’d love to hear it. Shoot me an email. Maybe you can help spark content for a future Practical Mobilization article.

Grace to you as you both pray and take the action God invites you to take.

See you in August with more summer short shot ideas. 

If the powers that be just laid another lockdown on you, I’m sorry. Much grace to you. For many of us, though, COVID is loosening its grip. Plus the northern hemisphere is moving headlong into summer.

Since that may mean more time outside and less devoted to email, the next three Practical Mobilization columns will be brief and action-oriented. You’re going to find four to six ideas so good, you’ll be glad you’re reading this instead of fishing, floating in the pool, or playing Frisbee! 

1. Easy Recipe for Cognitive Whiplash

Read a book that details a South Sudanese mom’s experience in a refugee camp while camping, yourself. You just need 1-2 decent tents, a cooler full of yummy food and plenty of water, and a vehicle with sufficient fuel to take you home when you’re ready to stop “roughing it.” In case you’re wondering, the mom in the book was happy to sleep on the ground with her two surviving children, having reached the camp after walking for weeks, dodging militants, and barely staying alive due to a lack of food and water. 

The book is John Grisham’s Sooley and I loved it. A few caveats: It’s also a basketball book. If you hate basketball, you’ll likely want to skim some pages. But hey, we’ve been skimming since high school, right? John Grisham might also be below your literary tastes. And what, after all, does a fantastically rich white guy have to say about the despair and success of Sudanese refugees? 

But I’m thrilled to see Grisham uses his storytelling talent to draw the attention of his vast audience to a situation so gut-wrenching I usually just look away. Read and share this book with your friends who care about refugees and those you’re nudging that way.

2. Get Your Heroes on the Big Screen

Here’s a super simple idea that will help the people at your church know the people your church supports. Ask your missionaries to shoot and send in a 90-second video introducing themselves and their work. All you need is a sincere thank you and one cool story. If they close with an invitation to visit, well, that would rock, too. 

Remember three keywords to make the video better than most.

• Loud: Make sure the voice is clear and legible.
• Light: Shoot outside or with plenty of artificial light.
• Lengthwise: Make sure the video is shot on a phone held sideways. Horizontal will look tons better than vertical on Sunday morning. 

Since video files can get huge, maybe ask them to post them to a Google drive or someplace similar and then share them with you. 

3. Friends for the Fourth

The exploding apex of summer in the U.S. is the Independence Day celebration this weekend. You American? Invite internationals to join your gathering of friends and/or family. Feel a little queasy wondering what to grill and what to say? Check out a recent edition of Muslim Connect for some cooking and conversation tips. 

4. Awaken from COVID Slumber

My boss at Healing Nations said the coolest thing recently: “Let’s help churches awaken from COVID slumber!” Maybe your church isn’t snoozing, but I bet many of your people are ready to ramp up and get going with the Holy Spirit to bring God’s kingdom to bear on the Earth. My church is dreaming about an Alpha Course in the fall and maybe a trip to connect with refugees in Italy next year. If you suspect I’m jazzed about this, you’re right! 

How about your church? Maybe you’ve stayed at full steam ahead or maybe you’re ready to kick it up a notch in the missions department. If you’re a part of a medium-sized church and could use some help in connecting with vetted missions partners for long-term connection, I’d love to chat with you. If your church might be up for giving it everything you’ve got to get boots on the ground among one of the ~450 currently unengaged Muslim people groups, I want to get on a plane, bus, or boat to meet you for coffee. In either case, shoot me a quick email and let’s get cooking! 

5. Ask for the Mic

If you’ve got a missions message burning in you, now may be the time to take a risk and ask if you can share it. I don’t know your church, of course! Maybe this idea is laughable for you! But summer might be the time when your pastor wouldn’t mind a Sunday in the seats. It’s like asking someone out in high school: you won’t know if you don’t ask! If you decide to give it a go, let me know and I’ll pray for you! 

More ideas to come next month.

By Shane Bennett

Here’s a fun question: If you could go back in time, based on current knowledge and life experience, what would you tell your 20-year-old self about missions? Maybe as the bus rolls away from a mind-blowing Urbana Student Missions Conference. Maybe sitting around with your small group from Campus Crusade for Christ (yes, that’s what they called it!) Maybe driving home after date number three with that guy who seems to be God’s gift to women and specifically to you. 

What would you say? Would you have warnings to share? Hope to impart? Like my long-time friend pictured above, would you point out, “There will be rattlesnakes on the path! Might as well expect them!”

For some of us, our 20-year-old self is back a ways! For me, it was 1985. For others, the back-in-time update wouldn’t cover such a span. If going back to when you were 20 would be less than 10 years for you, please let me know. I’m serious. If you’re under 30 and reading Missions Catalyst, take eight seconds to click this link and drop me an email telling me your age. This is a small part of an effort to stave off the, perhaps inevitable, process of us writing for people our own age until we all die! 

In his immense grace, God has kindly blessed me with a boatload of friends. (More like this boat than this one.) They are smart, articulate, and funny, and most can remember being 20 even if it’s been a while. So I ask them what they’d say to their younger missions self. Before I share their wise responses, it’s only right that I go first. 

1. Accept others.

I’d say to young me: “Dude, stop being ‘Judgy McJudgerface!’” I remember with regret some of the dumb things I said about people who had different priorities than I did, particularly when it came to how they spent their money. Of course, this was in part because they had money and I didn’t. Jealousy may possibly have slipped in. In my early missions days, I could have done with a tenth of the judgment and ten times the grace.

Melanie echos that, saying, “I wish I had not wasted time telling people how wrong they are but told them more about how right Jesus is!!” Amen.

2. Listen up.

Several friends would tell their younger selves to relax a little bit and keep learning. To listen more. To ask questions.

Our intrepid editor offers, “I’d probably tell the 20-year-old Marti: Hey, you don’t have to take yourself so seriously. The 50-year-old Marti sometimes needs to be reminded of that, too!”

Lynn says, “I would keep learning and listening to ministry leaders in other countries.”

Pam adds, “Relax, be a learner, and don’t spend so much of your time thinking about what other people are thinking.”

3. Try these practical tips.

Some of my buds are crazy practical. I wonder how life would be different had I known these people and learned from them 35 years ago.

More than one bud said they’d tell themselves to take the Perspectives course as soon as possible. That’s a good word.

Jen says, “Beware of student loans!” Indeed!

Matt advises young Matt to put away money for retirement!

Dave said, “Keep my mouth shut until Christ’s love fills my heart for the Muslims I am with.”

4. Be intentional.

Jon says he would tell his younger self, “Work hard until age 30 in a high-paying job but live with the spending level of a missionary. Invest every dime over your minimal spending for that decade. By age 30 you’ll be able to serve in ministry the rest of your life and money won’t ever be a worry for the future. You’ll be free to follow however God leads, and your donors will be able to shift their giving directly to ministry projects (they’ll be even happier). Simple.” I’m not sure how simple that is, but crazy smart. 

Doug would tell his 20-year-old self, “Find the most fruitful disciple-maker you can find and ask him if you can shadow and assist and learn from him for the next three years. After three years, ask that disciple-maker to help you figure out where to be the most fruitful in God’s kingdom. Unless that disciple-maker tells you otherwise, go to the largest unreached group you can find and take five people with you. The six of you commit to learn the primary heart language and culture and stay there for five years. After the fifth year, ask God what to do next. Rinse and repeat.” 

May God raise up thousands who will combine and execute these last two ideas.

5. Keep your priorities straight.

Several friends said they remind their younger selves to keep God first.

Mike says, “Watch over your heart above all things by staying centered on the King.”

Robby adds, “Yield in advance to the Holy Spirit’s direction and empowering in adjustments (repentance) and assignments (good works Father prepared in advance for us).”

Brett says, “Keep the main thing the main thing: loving Jesus and loving people.”

6. Watch out for pitfalls.

Like me and perhaps you, many of my buds have walked some challenging roads in their efforts to see the gospel go where it hasn’t before. For many, there have been rattlesnakes on the path. Some they dodged, others get ‘em. As a result, their advice to their 20-year-old selves is sober and heart-felt.

Fouad says, “Work while there is light for darkness is coming. Put the hand to the plow and never look back.” 

Amy offers, “Make sure to marry someone who has a God-placed vision that lines up with yours. Even through all the ups and downs of every marriage, if you share a common vision of why God has you here on earth, it will carry you through stronger than most anything.”

Similarly, a couple of friends would pre-remind themselves to keep their family in mind.

Lois learned to say no to some opportunities when she realized that saying yes to ministry was saying no to her kids.

Brett considered, “As a consultant who mostly worked from home, or traveled for seminars, presentations, and training, I wish I had involved my family in my ministry more. My kids follow Jesus, but I think it would have been so much more enriching to have taken them.”

Tim thoughtfully reminds the younger Tim, “Don’t wish to peer into the future as the things you’ll face will seem too overwhelming if you knew.”

7. Don’t go it alone.

Knowing the road will be fraught with hazards and heartbreak, Barbara says she’d tell herself, “Find your journey-mates or a ‘band of brothers.’ Devote yourselves to caring for and encouraging each other and advance the kingdom together.” 

Like someone who knows what he’s talking about, Bret wisely says, “Find a good counselor! Deal with your junk, your family history, and your sinfulness. Find someone you trust and can be honest with. My generation did not do soul work very well. Millennials today are more open to this than we were (thank God!) I have concluded that almost all of us would benefit from going to a counselor as often as we go to a medical doctor! ‘God makes the man, then He makes the ministry.’”

Julie humbly reminds herself, “You’re probably not gonna get it all done by the time you’re 30, more like, you’re not gonna get it all done!” Her husband adds, “Remember there are Kingdom saints who labored before us and saints who will labor after us. Just play the part in God’s generational sweep.” Sad, sober, hopeful words.

Others advised getting in relationship, even submission, to local leaders. It’s easy to think we’re the ones with all the answers. Ethnocentrism is as natural as skin.

Dr. Johnson said, “All theology is contextual, including White theology. And Christianity is not a Western/White religion but a global religion.”

8. Be all in.

Finally, other friends said they’d tell their 20-year-old self to be radical, to be ready to die for the gospel. They’d say to center your coming obedience in a deep love for and from the Father. To focus, like Paul, on laying the foundation where it is not yet. 

My dear friend and mentor Greg says from the perspective of his 80 years, “It’s not what you start, it’s what you leave behind. If you can’t finish it, make sure you find some people who can. And keep laughing at your own foibles.”

Amen. Amen.

What would you say?

I can’t tell you how much I’d love to hear what you’d tell your 20-year-old self! Even if you don’t usually respond to requests like this, please take two minutes and share your thoughts here. I’ll link to this page next month so the whole Missions Catalyst community can read them. That link also has the comments that space prevented being included in this article.