On Raising Support: You're Not Alone

This is a decent article written by a young person planning a short-term mission trip.

Even as I began looking toward the possibility of a mission trip to Costa Rica, I was concerned about the financial obligations of the trip. When I agreed to go on the trip that will take place this summer, a final cost had not been determined, and I remained naively optimistic that it would be an amount I could cover myself.

When the amount was determined, my hopes of financial self-reliance were hindered, but not entirely dashed. I spent a week attempting to find a way to raise the money on my own. I thought about picking up extra shifts at my part-time job, asking for mission trip money in place of Christmas gifts and even submitting jokes to Reader's Digest. However, despite my creative plans, I quickly came to the conclusion that I couldn't come up with the amount on my own.

I considered withdrawing from the trip, but knew that not only had I already committed to going, but God had called me to go. Once I had decided that I was, indeed, going to go, and had come to the conclusion that I couldn't raise the money on my own, I found myself in a place of complete desperation. On my own, I couldn't come up with the money, and nothing I could feasibly do would change that situation.

"God," I prayed, "I hate this. I hate being so completely dependant on others."

click below to read the rest of the article...

Link to RELEVANT MAGAZINE

missions AT HOME... and abroad...

I'm spending this week preparing for my big trip to Nepal. This will be my third annual journey to this country where we've been teaching and training pastors and church leaders. This is my favorite kind of (overseas) mission work. Instead of showing up and doing what only we can do, and then leaving... we are instead, equipping and training the leaders of that country, (very few of them have the privilege of education)... to study their Bibles and prepare their own Bible studies. Most of these folks are geared to learn by "imitation"... so what they do, is imitate a sermon they heard, make it their own, and add it to their list of 3 or 4 other sermons. It is SOOOOO cool taking these guys through the process of building their own sermon. When the light-bulbs went on in their heads last year (Wow, I just wrote a sermon!!!)... it was incredibly exciting.

We're also kicking off our down-town outreach this Friday night. We've been down there most Friday nights (summer time) for the past few years. We make balloon animals and do face painting for the kids. (free)... -then we have a lot of opportunities to share the love of Jesus w/the kids and the parents who are stuck standing around. We wear bright orange shirts and call ourselves the "go ye project"...

We've also done Katrina relief:

http://www.calvarymagazine.org/PDF/Issue_25/hurricane_virginia.pdf

And we help out folks in the community:

All this to say… my mind is geared towards mission right now. I know we've done this in the past, but I'd like to hear again (and hear more stuff)... about your unique visions for missions.

HT: Simple Minded Preacher

Being a Bridge Builder

As a short-term missionary you are "plopped" down into a culture quite different from your own. The behavior, values and beliefs of the people may differ greatly from those familiar to you. With time you may come to notice the common denominators between yourself and those you meet. But the differences will hit you first.

Cultural differences might be pictured the following way: There are two cliffs. On one side is the North American way of life and on the other is the way of life found in Peru. In between these cliffs looms a large chasm. In order for relationships to begin between the two cultures, a BRIDGE must be built connecting the two sides.

Imagine this upcoming mission trip as a week of building bridges. Surprise those in Peru with your willingness to bridge the gap and you will find their hands joining yours.

Bridge Building Involves Examining Your Stereotypes

All of us maintain certain stereotypes about other people. Some are based on elements of truth; others grow out of myths or false perceptions. Building a bridge begins with examining those stereotypes: the ones you may hold and the ones that Peruvians may hold about you.