I say Jamás to Hamas!

I have not posted here in years. But today I feel compelled to share my thoughts. I warn you, the information here is brutal and graphic.

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We are now seeing verified reports that members of Hamas, during their invasion of Israel, systematically raped Israeli women. 

But it gets worse. 

On October 7, Hamas men gang raped women. Some women were raped so often and badly that they were left with their pelvis broken. Some women were raped to death. Some were shot while being raped. Then their beaten, tortured bodies were dragged behind trucks and paraded before cheering supporters back in Gaza.

And it was all filmed on their GoPro's in living HD color.

As the recent "pause" in combat came to an end and bombing began again in Gaza, we now know why. Hamas refused to release women under 40 years of age, as had been previously negotiated. 

Why?

Because according to reports, those women, many beaten, battered and some near death from the repeated rapes, would testify visibly to the world of the savagery and brutality of Hamas and their supporters in the greater Palestinian population.

Sadly we are seeing in the US and around the world an inability to forcefully condemn the actions of Hamas and yes, some of the Palestinian people. 

Make no mistake, the actions of Hamas towards the people of Israel, including the taking of people, including infants and toddlers as hostages are war crimes. Using civilians as human shields are war crimes. Maintaining battle stations in and around hospitals and medical centers to avoid combat, is a war crime.

Period.

And every single member of the US Congressional delegation should say so unequivocally.

Because now is the time to stand with Israel. This is not the time to deal with whatever offenses Israel may have committed against the Palestinian people over the years.

We can deal with those issues and be critical of Israel once Hamas is defeated And we should. But now is not that time.

Now is the time to simply say Jamás, or in English, Never! To Hamas.  

[Disclaimer... the views expressed in "Notes from Dave..."  do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Adventures in Life Ministry or and other entities the author(s) may represent.[

Is the Era of US Cross Cultural International Missions Over?

On June 6, 1944, the US and her Allies landed at Normandy, France. That invasion, known as Operation Overlord was a combined effort of over 155,000 troops, representing more than ten different countries. Within days, the Allied forces, while suffering thousands of casualties had established several beachheads across France. 

D-Day as it soon came to be known, as important as it was as events unfolded, was even more important when you consider what came to be as a result of those deadly days of fighting. There is wide agreement among historians that the events at Normandy set the stage for the eventual victory of the US forces in the European theater.

While there was still much fighting to come, the die had been cast in Normandy and and it was just a matter of time before official victory would be declared.

I’ve been thinking a lot about those events the last few weeks. I wonder if General Eisenhower knew as he was overseeing the invasion if that invasion would turn out to be the lynchpin upon which victory turned?

I’ve also been wondering a lot lately if we are in another of those moments. A moment, as Ken Blue explains it in an essay included in the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Reader, of the “already and not yet.”

I’ve asked myself repeatedly the last few weeks the following questions…

• Is the era of US Cross Cultural International Missions over? 
• Has the era of US church’s and denominational involvement in worldwide Christian evangelism effectively ended? 
• Has the country that sent out people like Adoniram Judson, Jim Elliot and William Cameron Townsend decided that it is no longer interested, or able to stay engaged missionally around the globe?
• Are we in Blue’s period of between? That time where we will still see missionaries leaving our shores but in reality, much like the German forces fighting for their homeland after D-Day it will be for naught?

Sadly, I think the answer to the above questions are not just yes, but a resounding yes, yes, yes and yes! 

But it’s not just me. 

I reached out to a number of colleagues across the spectrum who have years of experience as missionaries, pastors and leaders of mission organizations to get their opinions. And there are not many of them bullish on the ability of the church to effectively mobilize people to be part of calling people into a relationship with Jesus. A few even posited that this closing of an era may be a good thing.

While some will argue that we were never the great missionary force we believed ourselves to be, numbers don’t lie. Long term numbers for commissioned missionary and their families stayed constant at around 35,000 for years. Pre-pandemic levels of short-term participants went as high as 300,000 participants annually with budgets stretching to over three billion dollars.

During the pandemic restrictions of the last two years, short-term missions have all but dried up. Many long term missionaries are still on extended home leave, unable to get the needed approvals to serve the countries where they believe God has called them. Others have seen their financial support dry up and as a result have been forced to seek out other work to feed their families.

I do not believe we will ever again see massive numbers of young people piling into vans to head south for their Annual Mission Trip. The call in US churches to “take up your cross” and go to the “ends of the earth” will not be answered as it once was if it is even given. 

US airports will see fewer groups of people traveling in packs with like colored shirts and fewer couples with all of their earthly belongings in a few suitcases heading off to far flung locations for the cause of Jesus.

How did we get here?

It’s a mix of reasons, some within our control, others perhaps not.

Next up I’ll explore some of those reasons and try to point us in a forward direction.

On Race, and the Differences in Life...

“Dave” he said, “you’ve just lived life differently than most of us here.”

That statement, by one of the guys who has been part of our Men’s Ministry in Oaxaca, has stayed with me since the day I heard it. 

Because it’s true.

Raised as a middle class kid in suburban Southern California by blue collar working parents, my life changed the day my mom and I walked to the church around the corner from our home. That’s the place where I came to know Jesus, work my first real job, receive my call to ministry and meet my future wife.

It’s also the only house of worship I’ve ever been to that resembled the words in Revelation. The ones that speak of people from “every tongue, tribe and nation” worshiping God. That’s because in that neighborhood church, where on a regular Sunday we held four services because the place was packed, we counted among our membership Mexican, Chinese, Japanese and African American people among others.

The different life that my friend recognized started infecting me at a young age.

And so while on some level I knew that when I married Chelle way back in 1979 things were gonna be different, nothing really prepared me for reality. Let me share a little on that…

I found out it was going to be different when Chelle’s grandmother said I was of the “other persuasion.”

I found out it was going to be different when my mom’s dad, my grandfather, said I was marrying a “negress.”

I learned it was going to be different when my dad’s parents, my other grandparents and leaders in their church, disowned me for marrying a black person. And I never heard from them again.

I learned it was different when as young kids on our honeymoon, Chelle and I stepped into a barbecue house in Central California and the place went dead silent. We took our food to go. 

I experienced that difference when as I was renting our first apartment in Las Vegas before we were married, the rental manager told me that the blacks lived in the back area, but my place would be upfront. I almost rented the place just to make a mess of his racist policy.

There was also the time Chelle was accused of stealing our child, because he’s light skinned. And the time I was thankful for that light skin of his when he and I were stopped by sheriffs in Alabama. Because as Joseph later learned, we were in a no go area for black people. 

Chelle’s brother is an attorney for the US Government. We were fortunate to have his card with us on the night of Joseph’s graduation from Auburn University. Because that night of celebration, in spite of our having made a reservation weeks in advance, the front desk continually ignored us and seated others, leaving us standing… waiting. 

It took her brother’s business card, the one that said US Justice Department Division of Civil Rights, to get us our table.

I was even once on staff at a church in California when the pastor rented a house from one of church members and had to sign an agreement to never allow a black person inside. The landlord, a longtime member of that church, evicted him when he and his wife adopted their special needs black son.

I do live my life with people different from me!

And I am eternally grateful to God for that. But sometimes, like right now, it’s hard. The other night as I was sitting outside Costco with a steamship full of supplies waiting for my wife to bring the car around, I fell apart.

There I was with tears streaming down my face, overcome by the reality of a guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin case. All of those experiences I shared above, and more came flooding back to me. Experiences that no one should ever have to endure. 

And then it got worse, because I knew that absent a nine minute recording of a man’s life being ended, few would have believed what had happened. Just like when I share my experiences, people ask me if I’m sure I’m not misinterpreting something. Or making it up.

In the US, it seems like we are sitting on a knife’s edge. I don’t know how we get past this place but I do know this… unless we stop, listen and believe the stories of those different from us, and live life differently from those who aren’t following Jesus, we’re never going to see that…

“great multitude that no one could count, from every tongue, tribe and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb… worshipping God.”

And I think that would break God’s heart.

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Read More... from the "other persuasion."

Color of Compromise, by Jemar Tisby. Well researched and difficult to read if you are an evangelical. But invaluable if you want to understand a lot of the issues facing America and the evangelical world as it relates to reconciliation.

Tears We Cannot Stop, by Michael Eric Dyson. Dyson is a father, professor and pastor. This book, which he calls A Sermon to White America reads quickly, despite it's difficult title.

Light for the World to See, by Kwame Alexander. Poetry on the issue of race, and hope in America... in 1000 words. You'll be challenged to stop, think and reflect deeply. Follow this link to the whys behind this book and hear Alexander read part of it. 

The Least of These...

As I walked across the plaza in Guadalajara towards where I get my morning coffee, I saw him in the distance. Walking around, shirtless, in his bare feet.

We’ve all seen him before. Even you.

That guy. The guy who smells. Who just looks so… unkempt. 

Homeless. 

He’s the guy who sees you even before you realize he exists. The guy who when you get close, asks for money, help, or something else you aren’t prepared, or don’t want to offer.

For many of us, guys like that, and increasingly women too, are the least of these.

We see them all the time, as I did that morning. And if you’re like me, even before you get close you are thinking of a strategy… of avoidance.

When I saw that guy walking in my direction, I decided to not avoid him but simply to walk directly to where I was headed. As I did, our eyes met and we acknowledged each other. No conversation, no confrontation, no asking for money. Nothing, And in a few short strides I had completely forgotten him as I was drinking my hot latte and thinking about the day ahead of me.

Until I got in my Uber to head to Pastor Raul’s church.

That’s when I looked across the street and saw him again. On the edge of the plaza. Kneeling by the rose beds, pulling them close to his face and smelling them. 

And then it hit me.

He was human.

Just like me. 

And just like me, he too was created in God’s image. With dignity. Worthy of our, or at least, my love.

I was pretty pleased with myself when I first avoided that guy. But now watching him tenderly pull a rose close and consider it, I was crushed by the reality of Jesus’ words…

“This is the truth I tell you… in so far as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

My way of walking made sure I would not have to interact with him. Just like when I act like I have a phone call to avoid others like him as I leave department stores or markets during Christmas time back home. 

They stand on street corners with “Help a Veteran” signs. 

Depending on where you live, they might be selling bags of oranges to passersby at corners as people wait for the green light. 

Or they dot the city landscape with their shopping carts loaded with all of their worldly possessions.

The least of these.

But it’s easy to dismiss the least of these. Because for some reason, we’ve determined that they are not worthy of our time, our love, our touch, our hearts.

And in so doing, our dismissal becomes a rejection of not just the person who’s bothering us, but if we’re honest, his or her humanity too.

Lord, I serve my life on mission. I’ve sacrificed for you, left home, helped build your church and made sure people all across Mexico have an opportunity to hear about and experience your eternal life saving Gospel. 

When have I ever treated you badly, neglected you or rejected you?

You did it that day, Dave, when you decided to ignore that man on the plaza. 

That man you later saw considering the lilies of the field.

That man who is just like you Dave… I created him in my image too!

Think on it...

Oaxaca, Earthquakes and Water... an urgent call to help!

Here’s my coffee this morning. I like it in this mug because the shape of it works well if I’m making a latte. I also like what it says… “Life is good.”

Except today, that’s not true. It’s not true because when your friends are suffering, life can’t be good. And that’s happening right now in Oaxaca.

Saturday, September 9 an 8.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Southern Mexico. Immediately life was changed for thousands of people. Because of ruptured phone lines, lack of power and lack of real news reporting, the devastation was not really known the first few days.

Now the news is getting out, and it is not good. Devastated is the word my friend Pastor Chablé used. He said we need to do something. Anything. Because it’s unbelievable. 

The main town affected, Juchitan, lost part of their main hospital, City Hall, an entire hotel and numerous other buildings and houses. But Juchitan is the main city in the area, the one with resources and the money to rebuild… and building codes.

The rest of the region has seen house after house crumble. Streets and roads are destroyed. Infrastructure is essentially gone in many of the small villages across southern Oaxaca and Chiapas. More than 100 people have died and hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless. And the after shocks, more than 1500, keep coming. Homes continue to fall.

Pastor Chablé and Adventures in Life have identified three villages we believe we can help and make a significant long term impact. Those villages are San Mateo del Mar, Reforma de Pineda and Chicapa de Castro. All three are closer to the coast than Juchitan, which means closer to the epicenter of the quake. Houses across these cities are destroyed. Access to food and clean drinking water has been severely limited because of the quake.

As anyone knows, water is life and an inability to get clean water will have life threatening consequences. So here is what I want need you to help us do. Raise $10,500.00. Right now.

With that money, each village will get a water purification system that can be gravity fed, or even hook up to city water lines once they are restored. Additionally, we will put 100 personal water filters in and around the parts of the city too far from the main water source.

The cost is $3500.00 per village, $1500.00 for the village system and $2000.00 for the individual filters. Three villages… $10,500.00. We are already almost 50% of the way there! If we raise more than our goal, we will help other villages as we are able. So…

• A gift of $1500.00 will give a village a central water purification system.
• A gift of $1000.00 will provide 50 individual water filters for one of our three villages.
• A gift of $100.00 will help us give 4 families clean safe drinking water.

That’s the ask. You can give through Adventures in Life, and view our IRS 501(c)3 tax exemption letter on our donation page by clicking here. 

Map of the affected area. The cities we are helping are marked.

In a few weeks, the world’s focus will turn from the hurricanes and fires here in the US and even the earthquake in Mexico. We have short attention spans. We will return to the political wars and the wait for the next disaster to grab our interest. Harvey, Irma and Oaxaca will fade from our minds. We’re already seeing it.

But what will remain, at least in those three villages, will be a lasting legacy of the love and the outpouring of God’s people to help the least of these in their moment of need. Long after the rescue workers return to their homes and locals are left to clean up the fallen brick walls and try and rebuild their lives, the gift of clean water will remain. Each and everyday.

And then because of our work on the temporal side of life, we just might gain a chance to have a conversation about the eternal side of life and living water and maybe, just maybe a few folks in Oaxaca will be able to say once again... Life is good!

To give through PayPal click here! 

To read more and give through Go Fund Me, click here! 

A New Reality... Funding the Great Commission through Short-Term Mission

This is the final piece detailing what I believe the church needs to do to address chronic funding issues as they relate to ongoing missions work around the globe.  

Today I want to offer some real world suggestions for financing the Great Commission work of US churches around the world.  

Let’s start with a few realities.

1. Short-term mission [STM] is here to stay.  Hundreds of thousands of people serve each year and STM is effectively a billion dollar industry when you factor in not only direct costs like fees and offerings, but travel and lodging.

2. Denominations are cutting back on their historical support of in-country missionaries as they scramble to fund their domestic operations and service churches closer to home base. This is forcing many log term people to have to learn themselves how to raise money to support their ministry and mission.

3. Cross-cultural Great Commission work is hard, takes a huge commitment, and is exceedingly costly. 

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Case Study 1. Years back, the American Baptist Churches [ABCUSA] responded to a series of bad financial decisions by breaking a historic pledge to their in-country missionaries, telling them that they now had to build teams to help raise part of their personal support. Sadly, this was decided not as good missionary policy, which I believe it is, rather, in response to the denomination’s inability to continue funding their global missions force.

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Case Study 2. I've had numerous discussions with pastors and leaders who wonder why churches should pay for anything beyond actual expenses when they serve on short term mission overseas. Many see no need for professional help and guidance, often prefer to go it alone, and believe paying host receivers for their time is bad stewardship of the dollars God had entrusted them.

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Case Study 3.  Not too long ago Adventures in Missions, founded by Seth Barnes, had a little survey on their web page. The results showed that cost was the top factor in determining where to serve on short-term mission.

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Short-term work, long the bane of career in-country missionaries is a billion dollar growth industry.  

We need only look to the explosion of web sites like gofundme and shorttermmissions.com for evidence. In a tangential way, STM even made it into a Jeopardy episode a while back with the answer being “donor fatigue.” It's the feeling you get when you open the mailbox and see support envelopes from every student you’ve ever known. 

I believe that the future of our ongoing Great Commission work around the globe is dependent on Short-Term Mission and Ministry [STM]. Without the energy, vitality, youth and direct personal experience from these ministries, we are going to struggle to fund and continue our long-term work.

So, what should we do?

First, long-term missionaries need to reorient their ministries to take advantage of this incredible resource and opportunity to call people to a long-term commitment to cross-cultural missions.

Gone are the days when these faithful servants served and lived their lives in isolation from anyone from their home country.  With the availability of relatively cheap, and quick air travel to even the most far off locale, folks are going to visit.

Simply put, there are people back home who want to visit and serve in other countries alongside knowledgable, God-loving people who are involved in God’s work over there. A long-term missionary in a stable country that is not open to short-term work, is a kingdom liability.  

If you are a long-term missionary and are not making use of STM in your ministry, you are robbing yourself and your work of a valuable partner. Worse, you are refusing to develop relationships with the very people most interested in prayerfully and financially supporting your ministry over the long haul.

It is ironic that even as denominations like the ABC recognize the necessity of career missionaries building partnerships with potential donors, those missionaries who will benefit from these partnerships still try to keep STM involvement at arms length. The very people in country missionaries are casting aside as not worthy of their time and effort, are those that will organize people back home to raise money for their work and causes.  

Does the seminary where you teach need a new computer lab? Do you need a financial shot in the arm to jump start a new church plant? Would you like to finally move that long hoped for project from the shelf of dreams to reality? Short-term mission can help you in all of these, and more.

As a career in-country missionary, the short-termer is your friend, not an enemy, or an adversary. He or she, is there in response to a call by God to serve you, your people and your ministry. Make use of them! Encourage them, and maybe one day they will be your biggest supporter, or even the much needed replacement to continue the ministry you spent a lifetime developing.

Next, we need to recognize that it takes strong leadership to do effective mission, and that leadership costs money. It takes even more money to sustain long-term mission. If you are choosing your short-term ministry site primarily because it is a cheap option, you need to rethink your priorities.

Talk to anyone who has served long-term in another country and ask them how long it took before they felt like they were beginning to understand the people and culture where they served. It has taken me more than 20 years to finally feel like I have a grasp on “some” aspects of the Mexican culture. 

Without a doubt, I made a myriad of mistakes in my early years serving. Thankfully those mistakes were forgiven both by God, and those I harmed. Grace and forgiveness were accorded me from many different quarters in those days.But that grace only came as a result of a years of humble learning and servanthood.

However, the presence of grace and forgiveness should not be an excuse to not do all we can to ensure effective ministry. Often that means spending the money necessary to do mission and ministry right. The first step in this is partnering with a person or organization that has invested the time necessary to learn and understand not only the church culture, but the larger cultural issues where you are going to serve.

It is not bad stewardship to make use of an experienced person, or organization, when you go abroad to serve. In fact, it is exactly the opposite! It is bad stewardship not to use a person who is experienced with the people and the culture you are going to serve.  

Church planter and missionary Roberto Guerrero of Del Camino Connection says that any ministry that thinks they can sustain an effective cross cultural partnership without someone standing between those two cultures is "doomed to fail."

Churches, groups and individuals need to repent of their cheap gene. In all my years of hosting short-term groups, the strongest partnerships we had were ones where I knew if something came up, the church, or group was prepared to respond. They had raised extra money for their mission, were looking for God’s guidance, often through the missionary they were supporting, and came with a generous spirit and the resources to back that up.

It is that spirit of giving, and the wisdom to plan for it that leads to my final point.

Double up! 

I've proposed this before, but with every passing day, it’s simpleness continues to gnaw at me. It is an idea first floated by Larry Hovis, Executive Director of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina a few years back.

After figuring out your cost for short-term mission, each and every leader and participant on a team should agree to raise double those fees. Let’s face it, those people on short-term teams have huge networks of friends and family that are not even part of our local faith communities. Those networks, and the people that make them up, are going to be personally vested in making sure little Billy raises the money he needs to be successful.

So let’s put little Billy and his networks to work not just for this mission, but the larger Kingdom need. And when that extra support comes in, give it directly in support of the local missionary with whom Billy is working.

Give to their denomination, their organization, or directly to their mission, but make it clear that the funds are a direct gift to the mission and ministry of the missionary you are serving. 

This type of approach will go a long way towards helping our long-term in country missionaries achieve financial stability, fund a vision that often goes unreached for lack of resources and see the value of short term mission.

Imagine the impact this could have on a global scale.

If young people knew they could have financial security on the mission field, they may be more willing to enthusiastically meet the ongoing call for career in-country missionaries.

If those of us in the field knew with certainty that we had the resources available, in many cases, we could move from Christian relief to Christian development. Churches would be planted, workers would be resourced, lives would be changed and God’s Kingdom would grow.

The resources are there. Short-term mission holds great promise for the continued resourcing of vital long-term mission work. It’s proven ability to raise money and potential future missionaries cannot be discounted.

If I could rerun that conversation I had with the pastor who suggested paying host receivers for their time was bad stewardship, here’s what I would say.

Bad stewardship on the part of career missionaries, churches, groups and individuals is a failure to leverage this billion dollar industry for the greater good of the Kingdom and financially provide for our ongoing Great Commission work now and for generations to come.

[The 1.6 million statistic is from Robert Wuthnow, author of Boundless Faith, the Global Outreach of American Churches.  The $20,000.00 STM team statistic is from Asher Sargent, long time friend and Mission Pastor at Cole Community Church in Boise Idaho.

The Great Commission and the Role of Short Term Mission

No area of funding Great Commission work is as fraught with peril as when we talk about short-term leadership and host receivers, or long-term missionaries. But before we begin, it is necessary to define the terms so we are all on the same page.

When I use the term Host-Receiver, originally coined by Roger Peterson and Wayne Sneed in their book, “Maximum Impact Short-Term Mission", I am talking about those cross cultural missionaries living in other countries who serve as hosts and receive short-term teams. Typically you know them as long-term missionaries.

Short-term mission [STM] leadership on the other hand are pastors and professionals whose job it is to facilitate effective short-term work around the globe.  In my position as Executive Director of Adventures in Life Ministry, not only do I handle the day to day operation of AIL Ministry, I also spend significant time in the field each year.

Others, at organizations like DELTA Ministries in Vancouver, WA, where my friend Brian Heerwagen works, spend significant time recruiting, training and preparing short-term teams and individuals for their various types of mission work around the globe.

All of these positions need to filled with quality people who are following God’s call on their lives if we are to have consistently effective cross cultural missions work. I believe that anyone who fills these valuable positions, just like a pastor at a local church, deserves a fair salary.

And therein, for many, lies part of the problem.

Many of us on the field, and yes I include myself in that group, would serve for free. Few of us see what we do as a job, because deep down inside, we believe God has called and specially equipped us to be where we are. We cannot stop what we do anymore than a pastor can just walk away from the pulpit.  

But that presents us with some problems as it relates to funding. Let me give you an example.

Friends of mine serve as denominational missionaries in South America.  They are asked, actually expected, to function as host receivers for anyone the denomination decides to send their way on short-term mission.  Skipping past how they must alter their existing ministry schedule, let’s just deal with the finances related to this.

When a team serves with them, they are not allowed to ask that team for additional financial resources beyond what the denomination has predetermined are reasonable expenses.  They are expected to work longer hours, because they must also maintain their current ministries, provide additional materials and do it all, to use a business term, essentially at cost.

Sadly, their case is not the exception to the rule.  I have heard numerous stories of missionaries having to work double time facilitating groups with no extra financial compensation. How many people working in the states would gladly work double shifts for a week with no overtime pay? Yet that is exactly what missionaries are expected to do everyday in the field when STM teams arrive.

Even if those field missionaries are short on raising their financial support, often they are not allowed by their denominations or organizations to appeal directly to the teams the “home office” sends for additional financial support.  

Is it any wonder long-term host receivers who deal with short-term teams, teams that often raise an amount equivalent to 50% of the long-term missionaries annual salary, are frustrated?

Long-term missionaries are expected to raise enough money not only to cover their salary and benefits, but their ministry as well and a chunk of change for the office back home.  All without asking the very people serving alongside them for additional help! 

As someone who has to raise every dime my ministry spends, I can tell you this is no small feat for people who live a significant portion of their lives in another culture.

We need to change this equation now. 

In my opinion, failure to do so now, and to recognize the financial reality of cross cultural Great Commission work will have a long lasting negative effect not just on our current work around the globe. We can expect a greater difficulty in recruiting and keeping future generations of long term missionaries deployed on the field.

So what should we do?

First, we need to accept reality. Short-term mission is here to stay!  As much as many long-term missionaries might wish it away, that is not going to happen. So instead of complaining that STM siphons off valuable funds from effective long-term work, in country host receivers need to reframe their ministries.

Long-term missionaries need to look for ways short-term teams can empower the people they serve to accomplish their ministry goals. Almost every leader I encounter wants to be effective when they serve short-term. In fact, they are begging to know what to do. So let's tell them!  As they are beginning the process of planning their time with you, an effective host receiver needs be honest and let them know how they can support your ministry.

One pastor who has served repeatedly with me in Mexico never fails to check all of his ideas by asking me if what he wants to do will actually be beneficial to my ministry. It is his goal he says to make sure that his short-term teams are actually serving the goals of the long term people he is serving.

Now for some, this is going to be extremely difficult. Many long term missionaries have never thought of, or have never wanted to work alongside short-term teams.  But folks, if short-term mission is not going away, and it isn’t, wouldn’t it be a better strategy to figure out how to use this resource in a way that improves your ministry?

Here's an example.

My ministry, Adventures in Life is currently working in Oaxaca, Mexico.  Our partners in this area had a desire years ago to provide Christian camp experience to kids from some of the poorest indigenous areas in the state. The hope was that by giving children an opportunity to have a great week in the presence of people living out a joyful faith in Jesus, they would begin to have a positive impression of Jesus and Christianity. This positive experience would then open doors for local pastors and leaders to sit and share the Gospel with families and adults in this vastly underreached area.   

There was one problem.  There were no resources to make this happen, so the dream went unfulfilled. Until we came alongside these leaders, these potential host receivers, and helped make their ministry dream a reality.

Now we have regular teams from the US that come as support staff for this camp. They don’t teach at all, as we prefer that to be done by trusted local leadership. But they can wash dishes, sweep floors, clean dorms, play with and love kids. And they bring the financial resources necessary for a successful camping experience.

AIL Ministry had no plan for this. We never went to our partners and said we’ll do this for you. We simply asked what ministry dreams they had, and we tried to help make them happen, under their leadership.

If you are a long-term missionary serving in some far off land, don't you have long deferred projects that your ministry needs help with? What ministry dreams do you have that are sitting on a shelf because of a lack of resources, both people and financial? Think about this... hard. Because the answer contains the key to continuing to the funding of your ministry and that of future generations.

The second thing we must understand, and this relates directly to my friends in South America, is that cross cultural, ends of the earth ministry is expensive. Sadly, many church leaders, especially when they think about short-term mission, don’t like to hear that. So instead of really thinking about what they are doing, they want to design ministry on the cheap.

Apart from the travel required to get somewhere, there are a myriad of expenses related to hosting a group. Things like lodging, utilities, offerings, transportation and insurance are all part of this. But these are the easy expenses. Every church or group expects to pay these and generally does not struggle with them.

Problems arise however when we get to leadership. Churches and groups that want to design ministry on the cheap do not believe they should have to pay for professional leadership. 

I’ve been told by group leaders many times that they believe paying for on site field leadership is bad stewardship. I’ve also been told that those of us on the field have been gifted specifically by God to live with less. The implication being that while we might deserve more, we should be content with whatever we get.

I believe the future of long-term Great Commission work hinges on this... Unless we can insure that on-field host receivers are fairly compensated and their families adequately cared for financially, we will see a steady downward trend in people following a call to serve overseas.

So, what should we do? That will be the topic of the third and final part of this series.