Missions food for thought

According to Ralph Winter of the US Center for World Missions, “A person must overeat by at least two dollars worth of food per month to maintain one excess pound of flesh.  Yet two dollars per month is more than what 90% of all Christians in America give to missions. If the average mission supporter is only five pounds overweight, it means he spends (to his own hurt) at least five times as much as he gives for missions. If he were to choose simple food (as well as not overeat) he could give ten times as much as he does to mission and not modify his standard of living in any other way!

Newsletter

Get your free CC Missions Newsletter in the lobby this weekend. It is printed and out! Or get it online at http://calvarystp.org/pdf/missions/missions-newsletter.pdf If you have an article you'd like to contribute, please let us know! Our next issue is on the equipping of the saints.
Be blessed!

Missionaries following the call

Last week in my meetings with Pioneers (www.pioneers.org ), I inquired about something that was weighing on my mind and I was told a fascinating statistic.  Pioneers has 1,000 missionaries serving all over the world and do several orientation trainings every year.  In those trainings, roughly 40% have no idea where they are going to be serving and around 10% have an idea but change the area during orientation.  After talking to Pastor Viv who was a missionary in Africa for 35 years, he agreed with the stat and even gave his own testimony of how God moved in his life, called him to missions but he never really knew where to serve except in Africa.  In that time, Viv faithfully served in Nigeria, Kenya and Sudan.  I find it reassuring to read about the great men and women of faith like Adonirom Judson, William Carey, Amy Carmichael, etc that moved around until God planted them in the soil where they were to flourish. All God wanted was a submitted, available heart, to be used by the Potter’s hands!

 

How To Prepare For a Mission Trip

Many people ask “how do I prepare for a mission trip?” Well, I am glad you asked. We have in our bookstore a Short Term Mission leader’s training manual that we’ve put together with a nuts and bolts approach to equipping teams for overseas mission trips. For the most part, many churches have no idea how to properly send a team and unfortunately, the consequences can be disastrous. We’ve seen all kinds of problems and dependencies created by good intentions and as a result, the manual was designed to plan, prepare and send a short term trip. In this manual, you’ll find everything you need to develop a vision, plan team meetings, build unity/teamwork and debrief your short term team.