The metrics surrounding cross cultural mission are dire. 60% of all short term mission experiences due detriment to the witness and reputation of their hosts. 50% of all long term mission teams leave the field within the first year, never to return. Setting individuals and teams up for success requires forethought, creativity […]
D and I celebrate 13 years of marriage today. We had a great weekend away attending a wedding, staying in a hotel and spoiling ourselves.
My wife is a creator-artist, guardian of belief, and family launcher. This fall, she starts a part time job at a local pottery studio. Her cover is cashier […]
Congratulations to our good friends K and K, who got married yesterday. Long time readers will remember that I helped lead a high school small group from 1999-2003 and K was one of my students. It’s one thing to watch students grow, develop and change while they are under your watch. It’s […]
::: Mark Beeson from Granger Community Church, on sprinting
Sprint, rest. Sprint, rest. Sprint, rest. Ministry is not a marathon. It is a series of sprints. Get a strangle-hold on the experiences, people and locations that renew you. Maximize your restoration opportunities. Stay fresh or you will rust out, flame out or drop out…and if […]
Below is a media player loaded with the talk from Fusion earlier in July that I mentioned here. The talk is an interview style format, with our Fusion pastor TJ interviewing a church liaison officer from World Relief and…. uh… me. You should listen to her interview, it’s got lots of good stuff. […]
I used to have meetings at church. Instead, I now have meetings where actual humans congregate [not to say that church people aren’t humans…]. This past year, I met the Orbiters a lot at the gym where the girls take gymnastics. Yes, that was a little weird. No, no one asked […]
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” - Alan Kay
Photo: Some of our middle schoolers on a prayer walk in Baltimore.
::: Urgency, Compulsion and Passion
The problem with movements that have settled down is they have all the money and all the time in the world. No sense of urgency. No desperate compulsion. No passionate cause.
More from Steve Addison
::: PM is thinking about a new Bible collegeSee why I love this guy…
::: NCC’s next location […]
Fantastic time on the LC mini missions experience [LC stands for Light Company, the name of our middle school ministry] this weekend. NLind put together two days of light service projects with an overnight between them. The first day was an afternoon serving at our county’s local food bank. This included sorting […]
sat am Originally uploaded by tonytsheng
my morning view we are having fun with these middle schoolers
I’m leaving in a few hours for our middle school mini missions experience. To be honest, I wish I was a lot less ambivalent about it. Part of that comes from knowing that I really haven’t done the very best at putting this thing together for this year. Sure, I can use […]
We have about 3 weeks to go. Here are some of the big items that we still have to plan:- details on crafts for both VBS and evenings.- build out activities in the evenings based on our theme.- passports for RobynB, and the Shengri-Las.- I need to get a hold of our world travelers […]
I should have scored higher - Solaris is a variant of UNIX…
For the team… check out some of these:
http://kerriinfrance.blogspot.com/http://www.unplowedground.com/http://www.jonesfam.us/http://www.christianassociates.orghttp://fourwildgeese.blogspot.com/http://glasgow.wordpress.com/http://www.aixtremelife.blogspot.com/
this is the California team blog:http://web.mac.com/jayrob2/iWeb/Connect%20Hungary%202007
Leaders create leaders, not just followers. In that sense, it is vital that we help team leaders process their experiences, similar to the way good team leaders help their teams process.
MPM and I sat down with TMurray, one of our England team leaders over lunch. Here are some of the questions […]
A TED video: Everything we know about AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is wrong.
- the numbers, although still staggering, are a bit inflated- there is a correlation between economic development and the rise of AIDS cases - when economies grow, there are more AIDS cases- the higher the life expectancy, the more people opted to […]
The term “sweat equity” is not my original term, rather it is a term that one of our Mission Task Force members use to define the concept of a team coming together to put on a fundraiser and having the primary goal be a greater team identity, not necessarily making any money.
This weekend, our Hungary […]
Shackleton was a great recruiter. Nearly 5,000 people applied for 30 spots on the ill-fated Endurance (although no historian has produced a verifiable copy of the renowned help wanted ad). Shackleton used all kinds of inventive techniques to probe for what made the applicants tick, such as asking hard-boiled sailors to sing (a […]
Fusion155, GCC’s young adult ministry, is finishing a series on Africa this Sunday. I’ll be helping with a quick interview sometime during the service. I think it will mostly be on what people can do and the tangibles of serving even when you feel like it is so far away. And of […]
::: Want to mix with other cultures?Regions with the highest percentage of movers (from last year) who spent the previous year abroad. 1. New York - 150,913 movers from Abroad (7.8% of all total movers to the region)2. Washington, DC - 58,900 (7.1%)3. Miami, FL - 62,813 (7.0%)[Large metros only]More from the […]
Two of our teams have gone and now come back, both of them returning this past weekend. Like any anxious parent with kids overseas, I’m relieved that they are back home with no major issues. This past week, I’ve gotten some awesome feedback about both teams. They have said things like “a […]
The concept of progression is important as we build students to understand cultures and impact the world. Starting with middle school, we try to progress students in both culture and physical proximity as they get older. The year between 9th and 10th grade has historically been a bit of a challenge for us. […]
Our England team landed this evening. The only thing that I know about how the trip went was, “It was beyond awesome you have no idea it was absolutely incredible and a text message doesn’t do it justice,” from TriciaB. Of course, I knew all along it was going to be beyond awesome […]
Every few months, a high school or college student wants to sit down and talk to me about their interest in going on a missions trip. Usually, I try to sit down with them in person to help them think through it a bit. This usually entails two things: First, talking with […]
I went and visited our Baltimore team tonight. They are working and serving with Chain Reaction in the northwest part of the city and seemed to be having a great time. Today, part of their time was spent helping mow, clean and weed the grounds of the local police station. Now that […]
I spent this morning hanging out at a …yes…. vacation Bible school. If you’ve hung around me long enough, you know I’m not a huge fan of pre archictected curriculum. Granted, I know not everyone [nor me] can write their own material… but I say, if you can come close, you should.
In any […]
Three summers ago, I took my oldest daughter K, to spend a few days among mosquitoes, living in a tent, with no air conditioning in a Florida swamp. That’s right, we took part of a Teen Missions Boot Camp. I’m proud to say that the experience so impacted her, that the mere mention […]
2 out of 5 teams in the field now. This team is serving in Baltimore with Chain Reaction and returns on Friday. England returns on Sunday.#3 - LC team departs on 7/20.#4 - NYC departs on 8/5.#5 - Hungary departs on 8/8.
