Why Every Church Member Needs Glasses: Fostering a Missional Lens
I started wearing glasses in the fourth grade. The optometrist whispered to my mom, “He’s nearsighted in one eye, farsighted in the...
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- Nov 7
- 4 min
So You Wanna Be a Missionary—Who Are You Discipling?
I love the enthusiasm I encounter among aspiring missionaries. It drips from them like water from your hands when there are no paper...
- Oct 31
- 2 min
A Liturgy When a Loved One is Ailing Back Home
Father, when first I set sail on this life in another land, I believed your promise, that for every house brother sister father mother...
- Oct 17
- 4 min
The Collective Sending Potential of Smaller Churches
Luke Holmes (@lukeholmes) is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Tishomingo, Oklahoma. Never heard of it? No surprise. Neither had...
- Oct 11
- 3 min
How Missions Convictions Decrease Decision Fatigue
In this article I want to convince you of two things: that missions decisions can exhaust you, and that missions convictions can refresh...
- Oct 3
- 5 min
Why Christians Are More Than Just Senders or Goers
Over the past decade, John Piper’s categorical way of thinking about missions and the local church has invigorated countless people....
- Sep 26
- 10 min
Helping Sent Ones Navigate Culture Shock
Culture shock, day 1 of 1,095. On my first day as a missionary, while riding from the airport to my new home in the obscurities of East...
- Aug 22
- 4 min
A Church Plant Can Be a Sending Church
Recently, I was on a personal retreat at a nearby monastery. With my Bible and journal in hand, I tiptoed away to the surrounding knobby...
- Aug 15
- 4 min
The Top Reasons Why Most Church Plants Fail in Five Years
Churches are like mountains. They’re beautiful—but they can kill you in twenty different ways. This quote has been laying the Sriracha to...
- Aug 8
- 3 min
Leveraging Your Missions Funds Most Effectively in a Small Church
For eighteen years I spent the first hour of my day listening to country music. My mom’s alarm clock was set (loudly) to the local...
- Aug 2
- 8 min
The Future of Church and Agency Partnership
Now I can’t unsee Star Wars. It started when my wife observed how the futuristic films manage to be simultaneously primitive and...
- Aug 1
- 4 min
Expectations vs. Expectancy: The Fine Line of Missionary Attrition
At least a thousand times, my two-year-old has woken up before dawn to watch her beloved Nature Cat, a cartoon produced by the Public...
- Jul 25
- 2 min
A Liturgy for Raising Support
O Lord I have set my face like flint. I am prepared to take a step out of the boat of financial certainty— at least the certainty that...
- Jul 18
- 6 min
The Lead Pastor's Role in Missionary Care
“Wilson!” You probably know it as the most famous line from the film Castaway, starring Tom Hanks. If you haven’t seen it, the story...
- Jul 5
- 5 min
The Five Love Languages of Missionary Care
A monkey was sitting in a tree during a typhoon. From the safety of his perch he noticed a fish that was struggling tremendously in the...
- Jun 27
- 7 min
How to Find a Meeting Space for a Church Plant
We finished setting up our tents just as the rain blew sideways. It was my first trek through the countryside as a church planter in East...
- May 16
- 3 min
The Missions Pastor's Gospel
All my friends are dead. Don’t worry, it’s just the title of a book—a spoofy children’s book for adults. There’s a drawing of a...
- May 9
- 4 min
10 New(ish) Important Books for Church Planting
The cereal aisle will murder you. Don’t believe me? Go live in another country for a few months, especially one that doesn’t have...
- Apr 25
- 6 min
The Cheerleader and the Curmudgeon: Fostering Both Excitement and Sobriety in Potential Sent Ones
Choosing the right road trip companions can mean the difference between life and death. Maybe I just say that because I recently spent...
- Apr 11
- 2 min
How NOT to Send Marketplace Missionaries
So, this could be a terrible idea for an article. But here goes. I don’t know how to send marketplace missionaries. And that’s a problem....