What is the most important skill a missionary needs? A solid understanding of scripture and how to communicate it is vital. Language skills are essential. Flexibility in a different culture, valuable.  But, the most important?  Is it hospitality? In good Yiddish, the ability to schmooze. (Schmooze: to converse informally, make… FULL STORY »

A large group of Chinese officials are visiting a university near your church. The director of a student ministry calls and asks if he can bring them over on Sunday to visit your church. They want to see what an American church is like. It just happens to be your… FULL STORY »

When Jack and Sarah* went to Taiwan with their little daughter, Sarah’s parents went along. Not in body, but in every other way they could. With a need-to-know desire for every detail in Sarah and Jack’s life, they called, they wrote, they came to visit. Then, when Jack’s Chinese co-worker… FULL STORY »

I just spent the last 11 days couch-surfing across Russia. Two coworkers and I took a trip to Moscow, Tambov and Ulan-Ude to begin production on a new video about what God is doing in Russia. While there, we were completely dependent on the hospitality of the SEND missionaries and… FULL STORY »

As the afternoon wanes I decide to say goodbye. I set out on foot to walk my adopted town. Waving to Mr. Wong, I turn left and head around the block to the electronics store. One digital tape later, I walk down the street, turn right to the flyover and… FULL STORY »

At a recent college mission conference the speaker challenged students to think about the “ends of the earth.” My husband responded in a daily newsletter to the students that for some of them, just stepping off campus was their “end-of-the-earth.” Good banter ensued. We took the conversation home to our… FULL STORY »

The sixth post in a series on defining success for a missionary. Part 1 demonstrated that we, like Paul, can be confident in our ministry, despite all our detractors and critics. In Part 2, we saw in 2 Corinthians that Paul repeats the phrase “commend ourselves,” to identify key criteria… FULL STORY »

It was a rude awakening. Here I am, a writer at a missions organization and I don’t care about lost people. My job is to create media that will motivate people to take the gospel to the unreached and yet I have no motivation myself. How did this happen? Growing… FULL STORY »

  “If there be any one point in which the Christian church ought to keep its fervor at a white heat, it is concerning missions. If there be anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness, it is in the matter of sending the gospel to a dying world.” – Charles… FULL STORY »

fur·lough noun \ˈfər-(ˌ)lō\ (a) a leave of absence from duty granted especially to a soldier; (b) an antiquated word still used by churches to describe time missionaries spend in their home country. “When is your next furlough?” the letter from 1st Church asks us. Furlough? Leave of absence? 2012 missionaries… FULL STORY »