Rickshaws, Russian Vans and Why I'm a Lame Missionary

I’m the lamest missionary.

Ever.

That’s pretty much how I see it this morning.

Hudson Taylor left England on a boat for China. When he said goodbye to his family (Father, Mother and beloved sister), he left with the understanding that he may very well never see them again. The proceeding suffering he experienced so that the undreached (NOT underreached … truly unreached) peoples in China could hear the Gospel is actually quite astounding. His persistance in language learning and stubborn refusal to quit is impressive at many levels. He traveled by rickshaw in heat and cold to villages and townships in the interior of China so that

At last week’s worship service at Cornerstone Church of All Nations, we were reminded of the Moravian missionaries who left Hernhutt, Germany and sold themselves into slavery in order to reach the African slaves of the Caribbean Islands of St. Tomas and St. Croix. While there is some possible “Christan Urban Legend” around the details of this event … the fact that these guys were willing to do such a thing, and more than likely died in the process, is convicting, as well as inspiring.

Missions history is strewn with such tales of hardship, bravery and sacrifice … and I like hearing about such stories. I’ve always liked hearing about such stories. The problem is that I’m not sure how crazy I am about being such a story.

Don’t get me wrong, Mongolia is not an easy place to live. Even my Mongolian friends say that Mongolia is not an easy place to live. It’s a place of harshness, from the climate to the culture. However, I’m not too worried about dying here. It’s true, I might die here. But that could be said of anywhere one might live. I miss my kids a lot … and hate that they live so far away from us. However, modern technology has equalized distances in many ways. While I don’t have the option of road tripping it over to Greenville, SC to see them, FaceTime makes it a lot easier. We have a nice apartment. We have food. We have clothing. Because of driving regulations we had to ride to church in a Russian Purgon yesterday. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, and we have been provided with a Range Rover to drive around in on normal traffic days.

I don’t suffer so much. My “missionary life” will not make for interesting missionary biography in the annuls of mission history. And there’s a real part of me that is very okay with that. The little bit of pain that I have suffered in my life is enough for me. If God does indeed only give us what we can handle … well, I’m a fairly lame missionary in those regards.

Paul was not lame. He suffered deeply for advance of the Gospel (like Hudson Taylor, the Moravian Brethren, and many others who followed him). For me it comes back to embracing Christ, and whatever comes our way because we follow Christ. Being content with little or much. Loving Jesus more than anything else is the important issue. To live - Christ. To die - gain … because that means more Christ.

I need this reminder today, as I enter into another week of work and service and following Jesus.

And I am unashamedly happy I don’t often have to drive a Russian van around for great distances and even happier that I don’t ever have to travel by rickshaw.

Missiotechnica: Three Apps for EVERY Worker

This geeky idea for a series on our blog is still very much being experimented with. Maybe it’s because I’m having to spend too much time by myself while my family is away. My staff is laughing at me, saying that I’m like a sad, old man who lives alone with a dog (They primarily said that after watching a video I made for my family while they were in NYC). Nevertheless, I am going to make another nerdy “Missiotechnica” post this week.

There are always new applications that I like to experiement around with. Just this week I discovered Squarespace Notes for IOS and was quite impressed with this. Still experimenting around to see if it becomes a part of the daily flow. However, today, I wanted to share with you three Apps that I couldn’t work without … and that I think every IW in the world should invest in. I suppose I’m giving free advertising to these developers. But, frankly, I’m happy to do it, as I really do use these things, and think they make for excellent … and dare I say ... even essential tools for folks who are working in a cross cultural context.

Note: none of these apps are free (at least the way I use them). However, there are some things in life that are worth paying for, and it’s my opnion that these are at least three of them. I also think you should pay for good coffee and fast Internet. But that’s a different issue for a different time.

1. 1Password
   This is available for both my Mac and my iPhone. There are versions available for Windows and Android, as well. Here’s the deal with 1Passwowrd … not only should every IW have this on all of their computer equipment … everyone, everywhere should have this on all of their computer equipment. The concept is simple ... yet, in the day and age in which we live, it is essential. Too many people have one password that they use for their banking information, their social media accounts, Amazon, Ebay … whatever. One, most of the time relatively easy to guess password. The name of your cat. Your birthday. Your kid's names. "password" (Some of you are totally convicted right now, aren't you?) This is bad. Bad. Bad. If this is you, know this: you will eventually be one of those people who have to email all your friends notes of regret and apology because “I’ve been hacked” (I’ve actually received three of those emails from different people I know this week). 1Password lets you make highly complicated and convoluted passwords for your stuff, and securely holds that information for you. It will sync through Dropbox (next on my list) which allows you to use the IOS/Android or the desktop version on any other devices you may have. You have one password that you memorize (or write down somewhere) and you make crazy unguessable, unmemorizable passwords for all of your other stuff. You can also securely keep credit card numbers, addresses and other data stored in this virtual vault. It’s awesome. Seriously everyone needs this. I’ve tried similar apps that are free/open source … and have never really liked the way they operate. Some of them almost feel like malware, themselves. 1Password is the real deal, and in this day and age cyber-security is a non-negotiable. You need 1Password.

2. Dropbox
   I use the heck out of Dropbox. This is one that you can definitely get for free. There is a free 2GB account, but if you refer friends and family to Dropbox you can get up to 18GB for free. I pay a small amount per month to use the 100GB plan. Dropbox basically creates a folder “out there somewhere” (i.e., “the cloud”), and you can then access that folder from any computer, anywhere. The “Dropbox folder” is placed in the list of folders on your computer, and it all just works. You can access your dropbox on a mobile device, or on any machine that you use. Anywhere. There is where the alchemy of Dropbox really shows up. I have an iMac at work and use a MacBook air at home and when traveling, as well as an iPhone 4. Sometimes I even get to use Renee’s iPad. Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, whatever device I am using, I have complete access to my entire documents folder. Sharing is super easy, and the way Dropbox works is just … magical. I don’t think I could work without it, at this point. For those of us who travel around a lot, particualrly traveling on the field … being able to access all of my teaching documents, for example, no matter where I am is critical. Dropbox also makes for an excellent collaboration tool. My colleague in Darhan (or America ... whereever!) can make changes to documents in a shared folder that are instantly synced to my computer. Dropbox is a “must have” tool.

3. Photo Editing Software (like Aperture or Adobe Lightroom)
   There will be another post coming in the next week or two about why IWs should work at taking better pictures. However, I will say … having a decent photo editor is essential. I don’t know what the default editor is in a Windows machine anymore, but every Mac will have iPhoto preloaded. That’s great. But it is limited (although the latest version does have better storage and organizing capabilities). I recommend one of these two. It’s a small investment that will have great returns. I’m a fan of Aperture for Mac. However, Adobe Lightroom is available for both PC and Mac and is alos a great photo editing tool. I don’t think it’s essential to have Photoshop. Most people don’t really even know how to use Photoshop, nor do they need it. One of these two applications will do two essential things:
   1. Organize your photos - this is a big deal when you are taking pictures that you need to find later. You can organize, tag and file all of your pictures. I believe both applicaitons also has other tools like face recognition, and ways to organize the metadata in your pictures. This is really important when you get back to your homeland and need to find pictures to put into slide presentations. Both applications also organize and store video clips, as well.
   2. Tweak your photos - Once you learn some of the basic tools you can make a mediocre photo look pretty good, and good photo look great. I do not advocate over processing pictures, but the beauty of digital photography is the fact that post processing is a possiblity for all. Learn to use the tools that are provided to make your pictures snap. 

Aperture is $80 bucks in the Mac App Store and I think Lightroom will set you back $150. However, I think having one of these two applications on your computer is an essential for the IW.

This is my opinion, only. There are lot’s of cool Apps … and depending on the specific kind of work you’re doing, you may need many others I don’t mention here. However, I think these three are pretty universal and should be a part of ever IW’s work flow.

What do you think?

What about you? Are there Apps on your computer that you can’t live without as an IW? Let me know what you think in the comments

Missiotechnica: Facebook is for 15 Year Olds

"I don't have time for Facebook".

I hear that a lot. And in the 15-year-old-girl sense of the word, I don't have time for Facebook, ether. Or Twitter. Or YouTube (although I prefer Vimeo for video sharing). Or Pinterest. Or any of the other Social Media options that exist on the Internet. The issue is I am not a 15 year old girl (That is admittedly an ageist and possibly a sexist statement, for which I apologize up front) and I believe that there is great value and power in Social Media, particularly as it applies to those who are involved with worlwide Kingdom work. I want to use this article to make a plea to all of my colleagues to consider using social media for Kingdom work and communiction.

Here's the caveat.

Yes ... all social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) can be addictive and narcissistic. It's true. As with anything that causes stumbling or unholiness or disconnects us or our work from Jesus, caution should be exercised and disconnection may be the healthiest option for any one of us at any given point in time. For some, social media can replace "real life" relationships and be an escape for those who are in particularly lonely or unhealthy circumstances. I get that.

However, I don't believe it has to be this way.

And ... these tools, used for the Kingdom, are tools to be reckoned with.

Here are some reasons why all M workers should consider their use.

1. Your kids are on
   The reason I started a Facebook account back in 2007 was not to play Farmville. It was mainly because my kids were wanting to join facebook (we have a strict familial policy of not lying about your age, so both of my kids were the required 13 years old before joining). For young teenage kids, there isn't much they can hide on there. I highly recommend that all parents of teenage children join what ever social media you allow your children to join. Yes, both of my kids have been grounded at some point because of something that happened on social media. But that's the point. I could see everything they did on there. Sure, my kids called me a "stalker" ... but I don't mind footing that bill when it comes to my own kids.

I hear from people with children who chuckle about the fact that their kids are on Facebook but "Oh, I don't have time for that". My interior response is that if you allow your kids on any kind of social medua, then you'd better make time. Our children are more important than our ministry. and for that reason alone, I joined social media networks 6 years ago, and have been keeping digital tabs on my kids ever since.

1. Your extended family is on
   Now that my kids are older, and living in the US, it's a key technological connection point between us and them. Now I also connect with my Dad (and my Mom vicariously through my Dad's account) and other family members, who would really have no contact point with our family otherwise. Most conversations with my brother are through Twitter. Hudson Taylor lamented the limited contact he had with his beloved family. That's not a necessary evil in missions anymore. You can (and should) stay in touch with the lives of family members, and a healthy use of social media provides a quick and easy way to do so. For many, they are some of our biggest supporters and most important relationships.

2. Your supporters are on
   Social media is a powerful communication tool for engaging our supporters and "rope-holders". My wife has more than once received immediate prayer support in distressful times through Facebook. More people read our newsletters (and even this blog and website!) because of the nature of quick dissmination through Social Media. If we still depend on newsletters or "deputation" to stay connected with people in our home churches, I think we're going to miss enormous opportunities and, ultimately, will not really stay connected. Most of my generation and younger connect this way. We are missing real opportunities with them if we're not connecting with them through these means, as well. I often hear "I prefer to just pick up the phone and have a real conversation with real people." That sounds very holy and spiritually correct. But the thing to remember is 1. the people we connect with via social media are "real people" 2. when living time zones away from our friends, supporters and family the phone is rarely both a timely and viable option for communication.

3. The World is on
   There are over one billion people actively on Facebook. Twitter stats are a little less forthcoming, but it seems that there are about 200 Million active Twitter accounts as today. I have so many Mongolian friends and coworkers who I connect with via Social Media. Our Center in Ulaanbaatar actively uses Facebook to connect with local residents, as does UBean Coffee House. I use Twitter to stay conncted with news, products and Internet posts in which I'm personally interested.

I realize there are issues that prevent some workers from connecting with social media. This would be particularly true where security levels are high, or where it's not possible because of restrictions on public Inernet use. I've seen some creative ways around this. Using a VPN is an excellent security tool in most parts of the world (and enables you to use NetFlix ...  just saying). We have colleagues who live in high security areas who simply keep an anonymous Facebook profile, but are still able to connect with coworkers and supporters all over the world.

So, I encourage my colleagues who are not connecting with friends, family, colleagues and supporters in this way to seriously consider, or reconsider, your use of social media. Again, I realize that it's not for everybody. But for those who are in our line of work ... I don't see how it can't be useful.

How (if at all) do you use social media in your work and ministry? Do you agree that it's a useful tool that should be used in the "M" worker context, or something that should be avoided? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

(note: I am going to be trying some new kinds of blog posts on the RememberMongolia.org website. I'm keenly interested in the way International Workers use technology to further the interests of the Kingdom. I'm going to try and write a weekly "MissioThechnica" related post on various issues surrounding technology and international work. Let me know if you have anything in this area interests you. I'll try to bring it up here for review and discussion.

Your Church is Too Small

My 45th year of life on this earth just passed me by. It’s incredible to me how fast days and hours and years move. I don’t even realize it. Renee’ and I were recently recognizing the reality that we could be grandparents in a few years, and as I was pishawing that fact, she pointed out to me the reality that my father was a grandfather of a one-year-old named Jonathan at my age.

Ouch.

In 2013, I’ll have been involved with full time work in, with and for the Christian church for 20 years. Thirteen years as a pastor. Seven years as an overseas worker. I love what I do. I’ve always loved “what I do”, at least in the general sense of vocation. Sure there are “days” (sometimes “weeks” and “months”), but that’s the case with every profession. I think back over the years (which I tend to do a lot of this time of year. It’s like a tradition for me), and look at my time in Tennessee and at what has been essentially exported to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, I wonder if our vision - my vision - of the church has been far too narrow. The church is Jesus’ Kingdom and bride. Yet, my experience has been something far less than that. I wonder sometimes what we are leaving to our childred and to our children’s children (even though I’m still holding out that I’m way too young to begin thinking about that…)

Is our church too small?

JB Phillips was a brilliant, albeit liberal, Biblical scholar. When he finished translating the New Testament, he wrote an important volume entitled Your God Is Too Small. It’s a good book, and worth reading. I thought of this volume the other day, while thinking about the Biblical vision for the church (particularly the picture given us in Revelation 21). I wonder what would happen if Christians began to take a broader view, a New Testament view … a Jesus view … of what the church should look like? I deal with and hear a lot talk about “Church Planting” and “movements”. Yet, I haven’t seen much by way of “Church Planting” and “movements” that has taken on the look of something lasting. Eternal. Revelation 21. I wonder if our church is too small? Not by way of head count. In fact, I don’t think it has anything to do with “head count”. I wonder if our church is too small by way of vision. I wonder if there is a mentality we have in our heads that follows (to quote a friend of mine) the “win ’em, wet ’em and work ’em” plan, rather than a plan for long range and long lasting discipleship.

So, in following the tradition of Phillip’s book …

If any of these statements solely capsualize our vision for the church, our church is too small.

The Morality Police
Gay marriage. Abortion. Adultry. Legal vs. illegal drugs. All of these things are clearly issues that the church will and should have something to say about. If we are being salt and light, this will affect and impact how we interact with society on these issues, and we do employ and even verbalize standards of right and wrong. We believe in a moral law. That’s important. However …

The church is ultimately about Jesus and about the Gospel and about the glory of God. The church is not ultimately about picketing and lobbying and condemning/accusing and making sure that society lives up to our standards. If that’s the entirety of what we feel our “mission” as Jesus-followers is supposed to look like, we are small followers, indeed. There are appropriate ways that we are to interact with society on these issues. However, the Gospel is paramount, and change will not happen in people’s lives until the Gospel takes root. This is why I love the vision of organizations like Unearthed. They are working hard to uncover the evils of the sex trade industry, however, they are moving deeply into the real root of the problem: the fallen and depraved and broken hearts of men that can only be transformed by the Gospel, which is what ultimately fuels sex trade and human trafficking. The Gospel is not morality. The Gospel is trnsformation.

The Political Flavor of the Day
Democrat, Republican, Tea Party. Again, I’m not saying that politics are not important. I’m not saying Christians should abstain from voting or from being involved in the political process. I am saying that if we put our hope in the political system, our hopes will eventually be dashed to the ground. I just preached from Psalms 42–43 and the appeal is to “Hope in God”. I think this applies here. The church is larger than every political system on the planet. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15 ESV). That’s where we’re heading, whoever the president might be. I believe that if the church loses sight of this, we become very small and limited in our thinking. Then all that matter is who is, or who is not, in office. We’re bigger than this.

The Conductor and Orchestrator of worship Services
I’m not sure what the stats would be on this one. However, I do know that North American churches spend an enormous amount of time, effort, money and manpower on the Sunday morning worship service. This is not evil. This is often times a good thing. Again … to be clear: I am not saying that we should stop spending money, time or human resources on Sunday morning worship services, or that money spent in this is necessarily being porrly spent. I am saying that the church is bigger than this. If all we do is conduct a service on Sunday, that’s a fail. I wonder sometimes if we were to start spending less on Sunday morning and more on discipleship, along with helping widows and orphans (and other underprivileged in our society), if there wouldn’t be more fruit more joy for us and more glory for God? I wonder if there’s a church planting model that focuses on people and discipleship and NOT on worship services which require a drumset and sound board? If there is, I believe that’s the model that will begin to see the church as large.

Hollywood/Broadway Style Entertainment
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this. But, I’ve been to those churches. I’m guessing you have, too. I was surprised when visiting a large church (several thousand people) that had two reserved seats. One for the pastor and one for the “producer”. The producer? The services were very well produced, its true. There were a lot of people in all five worship services that I attended. However, I found engagement to missions and discipleship to be minimal, at best. And this is only one example of many. It’s been going on for awile. I think church history proves the “Church as entertainment” phenomenon as nothing new. However, recent decades in North America have taken things to entirely new levels, some borderlining ridiculousness. “Church is boring” could be a statement about the lifelessness of the church. “Church is boring” could also be a statement about the the lifelessnes of the one expressing their boredom. Our 21st century addiction to entertainment is a problem the church must recogize and wrestle with honestly and with integrity. Neil Postman’s prophetic book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business has come to age in 2012. Under the guise of “reaching people for Jesus”, the church has simply become another cheap entertainment medium, at least in many circles. Where this is the case, the church is tiny, indeed.

Your local YMCA
It can get a little tricky here. I’m not going to get into every nuance of this issue in a 1500 word blog, as it’s actually rather complicated and has rather significant theological foundations. But sometimes the church is too small because the church doesn’t apply the Gospel to the needs of the community and to the social injustices of the of society. This is a huge problem, and often the result of small thinking. However, the church can also be too small when we do “community” ministry and it ends up being just another means to entertain and “keep our people”. Community ministry can be a wonderful thing, when it’s accomplished inside the boundaries of proper motivation and Biblical principles. There are many excellent examples that can be given of this. However, community ministry that is not closely connected to the Gospel and to the Word can turn into another program that shrinks the church to something less than it should be. Changed lives form the inside is the goal. Not a busy calendar of community programs.

The Fortune 500 Company
The church is not a business. There are business and management principles that can and should be followed. However, often the church gets reduced to “customers” and “transactions”. A friend of mine worked for a large church in the Nashville, TN area. She was in a planning meeting and as a part of the evaluation process the church leaders began to make a list of their “competition”. So they named off other large churches in the area (the church I was pastoring at the time didn’t have enough people attending to make the list). I’m not questioning the heart motive of those involved. I am questioning the methodology. It’s these kinds of blantent marketing tactics that reduce the church to being a business entity with profit and loss and bottom line thinking being … the bottom line. At this point the church becomes a pale wraith of the Revelation 21 vision.

As a North American International Worker (M), I’m actually deeply concerned about what we are exporting. It seems to be a much more easily marketable, entertaining product than its Biblical counterpart. Yet … it’s so small. I don’t know if I have 20 years or 20 days of ministry left. I know I do want to to see the unclouded, grand and glorious vision that the Bible has for the church.

A small church produces small people. We need to do better than this.

There is a day that will come, when the One sitting on the the Throne will declare with a loud voice, “Behold, I am making all things new!”(Revelation 21:5), and the rest of the Revelation 21 vision for the church will come to pass. I hope to use the vapor of my life to point to that.

What do you think?

In what other ways is the 21st Century church smaller than the Biblical vision of the Kingdom of God?