If the powers that be just laid another lockdown on you, I\u2019m 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\u2019re going to find four to six ideas so good, you\u2019ll be glad you\u2019re reading this instead of fishing, floating in the pool, or playing Frisbee!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read a book that details a South Sudanese mom\u2019s 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\u2019re ready to stop \u201croughing it.\u201d In case you\u2019re 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. Here\u2019s 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. 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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<\/a> for some cooking and conversation tips. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My boss at Healing Nations<\/a> said the coolest thing recently: \u201cLet\u2019s help churches awaken from COVID slumber!\u201d Maybe your church isn\u2019t snoozing, but I bet many of your people are ready to ramp up and get going with the Holy Spirit to bring God\u2019s kingdom to bear on the Earth. My church<\/a> is dreaming about an Alpha Course<\/a> in the fall and maybe a trip to connect with refugees in Italy next year. If you suspect I\u2019m jazzed about this, you\u2019re right! If you\u2019ve 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\u2019t know your church, of course! Maybe this idea is laughable for you! But summer might be the time when your pastor wouldn\u2019t mind a Sunday in the seats. It\u2019s like asking someone out in high school: you won\u2019t know if you don\u2019t ask! If you decide to give it a go, let me know<\/a> and I\u2019ll pray for you! If the powers that be just laid another lockdown on you, I\u2019m 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 … Continue reading Summer Short Shots: Five Quick, Actionable Missions Ideas<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-practical-mobilization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10247"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10250,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10247\/revisions\/10250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The book is John Grisham\u2019s Sooley<\/a> and I loved it. A few caveats: It\u2019s also a basketball book. If you hate basketball, you\u2019ll likely want to skim some pages. But hey, we\u2019ve 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\u2019m 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\u2019re nudging that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. Get Your Heroes on the Big Screen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Remember three keywords to make the video better than most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n3. Friends for the Fourth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Awaken from COVID Slumber<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How about your church? Maybe you\u2019ve stayed at full steam ahead or maybe you\u2019re ready to kick it up a notch in the missions department. If you\u2019re a part of a medium-sized church and could use some help in connecting with vetted missions partners for long-term connection, I\u2019d love to chat with you. If your church might be up for giving it everything you\u2019ve 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<\/a> and let\u2019s get cooking! <\/p>\n\n\n\n5. Ask for the Mic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
More ideas to come next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"