Pray, Go, Give Blog

Here are some great resources to educate yourself on this topic:

Diversity - Respecting and Celebrating God given uniqueness, style of ministry, and calling.

When I arrived on Roatan this week the island was buzzing about the arrival of this cruise ship. People were all excited about the money they were going to make from the tourists who would be disembarking and playing for the day. Some hoped the tourists would be spared the "behind the curtain" aspects of the island and be interested in purchasing higher ticket items like a home or condo on the beach in a gated and guarded community. I must say the ship was impressive and the island folks are trying to make Roatan a more liveable place...God bless them in their efforts.

An individual can make a difference in this world and a movement of people can make a BIG difference. More than likely you have interests, beliefs, and values that are shared by others. When you communicate those values effectively, provide steps of action, encouragement and organization people will join you. If you consistently communicate and provide steps of action you can find yourself in the middle of a movement.

What a concept in our crazy busy world...Time Alone? We all need it. Some avoid it. Others are purposeful about it. Many wish they could figure out how they could have it.  

I am speaking at a couple of youth groups in Seattle over the next couple of weeks during their mission emphasis. Here is my outline. With 55 years of life and 25+ years of missions experience I have plenty of illustrations to choose from. I am not sure how much I will get to or in what order but I thought this might make interesting discussion. I can use your help if you have anything to add…please do.

It is early in the morning and I am posting while on a week long trip with some friends building a home for a needy family in a remote village of Nayarit, Mexico. See this blog post for more photos and information about the build:  http://clicky.me/9uF   The village is made up of farmers that grow corn, chilis, tobacco and beans. Some of the fields are still plowed using horses or mules. People live simple lives and pray for things like the correct amount of rain so crops will grow but not to much worrying about if it coming in through their roof or walls as they try to get some sleep at night. This year times are tough as more than normal rainfall is taking place and crops are being lost which will mean less income than normal. Yesterday a few of us ate lunch in a families home that consisted of sticks for walls and palm leaves for a roof. We were treated like honored guests as they enthusiastically served chicken soup (I mean everything), beans, salad and juice. It is a meal they can rarely afford to eat. We paid for the food and hoped that they did not feed us all that they had prepared and saved some for themselves. In their simple hut with the wind blowing and rain running through it they had a t.v. which seems to be the only luxury they can afford. I asked if they had been watching the Olympics. They looked confused and said they did not know what the Olympics were.  That seemed wierd. After eating we asked them what we could pray about and they asked that the rain would stop so the beans did not rot and that they could find work, stay dry at night and warm up. I also prayed silently about God supplying a team to build them a home.

We (Alternative Missions) use and I recommend the resources provided by Ministry Insights for team building. In particular I recommend the "Leading From Your Strengths" profile. If you are looking for team buidling tools I think you would find this helpful.

to withdraw from illusion and pleasure, from worldly anxieties and desires, from the works that God does not want, from a glory that is only human display;