It's Water Wednesday this Cyber Monday Week

This year Flint, Michigan was caught up in storm of epic proportions as their city water source was switched and every single resident of that city was literally poisoned with lead.  City, state and federal agencies are working to fix this self inflicted wound for the people there.

But imagine contaminated water was just life. That city would not be called Flint, it would be called Mexico.

We work in some of the poorest areas of Mexico, primarily in the state of Oaxaca. Clean water is a daily problem for people there as many have little or no ability to buy clean drinkable water. Whether it is lack of money, or lack of access, the result is the same.

Parents and kids are not getting the water they need because they can't. Plain and simple.

But you can help. A donation of $100.00 will give a family in Oaxaca a water filter that will give them a lifetime of clean drinking water. These filters are so good they can literally take water from a local river, filter it and then drink it.

Check out this video and then help us celebrate Cyber Week here at Adventures in Life by donating $100.00 here through our website or by using the donate button on the right!

Adventures in Life, a 501(c)3 non profit corporation

Federal Tax ID 95-4434963

Short Term Mission... Solving the Riddle of Your Return Home

It’s been more than three months.

In that time you’ve prayed like never before. Clearly you understood that God was calling you to join the short-term mission team your church was sponsoring. As you thought about that, you became convinced that in order to present yourself holy and pleasing to God, you had to make some changes in your life, both public and private.

In addition to prayer, you attended every pre-trip training meeting and have even been doing a daily bible devotional so you’ll be ready once you get to the field.

Your fundraising went well and you were able to raise over and above your goal, helping others on the team get over the hump. Once you arrived on the field, everyday seemed so vital. If you were not sharing Christ directly with your words, you were serving others in his name, a visible witness to the loving and transforming character of Jesus.

Each day seemed to show a new level of the depth of Jesus as you poured yourself into his mission 24/7. You had never experienced anything like this in your faith walk before. You were alive in Christ, living each moment for him. It was challenging, stretching and frightening, all at once.

And then the dreaded day came… the end of your mission. You found yourself at the airport with the rest of your team and that’s when you started to notice it. Looking around, with the trip in your rearview mirror, the team started to change. Incredibly, before even getting on the plane, many had already returned home.

Instead of the simple cup of tea your hosts made for you each morning, everyone now needed a Caramel Frappucino from Starbuck’s. No one even noticed that most of the drinks at that coffee house cost more than a days wages of the people you were serving. No longer was the team looking for ways to build each other up. Making fun of the way people looked as they traversed the airport was way easier. And a lot more fun.

When you arrived home the first place you went was to the bathroom. Your bathroom. You had never dreamed that the simple task of flushing paper could bring such great joy, but it did. Next was the shower, and gallons upon gallons of hot steamy water. You weren’t aware of it at the time, but you were washing your mission experience right off of you and down the drain.

The next day you and the team shared at church. Each team member brought up a moment when they felt uniquely connected to God and the people you went to serve. The pastor asked about future plans and most of you said you were already making plans to return, praying daily for your new friends on the other side of the globe and sharing Christ more in your home circle of friends.

And then it was over.

You went back to school, work, or the challenges of daily life. The remote control seemed like it was calling your name the moment you walked in the house. Texts from your friends started filling your phone almost immediately and when you opened your email for the first time in over a week, you had almost 800 messages waiting.

"Coming home from your STM without a clear plan in place to consider and apply the lessons of that mission is a recipe for disaster, one countless people and groups serve up every year."

Soon not only were you not reading your bible, you weren’t even praying. Life had crowded out your mission, making it indeed a short-term experience. You felt like a failure, to yourself, your friends and perhaps most, to God.

Relax, you’re not alone.

You’re not evil and you are definitely not a failure. You are like thousands of other people who have gone on short-term mission. You were incredibly impacted by God, but now back home no one seems to understand what you went through. You are struggling to keep your mission “game face” on as you navigate a world that seems designed not to encourage faith, but to push you everyday into a more self absorbed individuality apart from God.

So what should you do? The answer lies not so much in what you should do, but in what you should have done.

I’ve found in over 25 years of receiving short-term mission teams that the single most important part of mission prep is not getting ready for the trip. It’s getting prepared to come home. If leaders and participants are not preparing for the reality of reentry and the impending faith challenges back home, short-term mission participants will continue to struggle when they come home.

Coming home from your STM without a clear plan in place to consider and apply the lessons of that mission is a recipe for disaster, one countless people and groups serve up every year.

So, what should you do? Here are three simple steps to help you cement the faith and life lessons you learned on the field.

Set aside time for reflection. This seems so basic, but it is often overlooked. On mission, every day you were intimately connected to God, and you also should be when you get home. Pray and spend time doing nothing except listening to Him, seeking wisdom for your life in light of your mission experiences. As on the field, make Him a priority.

Don’t go it alone. Proverbs 12:15 says “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” In business we call this taking a partner. Get a trusted elder, pastor, leader or friend to walk with you on your return. Often they can help you better navigate the feelings, struggles and difficulties of coming home and understanding God’s will.

Get involved. Find a local ministry where you can serve others as you did on the field. God does something in us when we serve. We should do it at home with as much excitement as we do on the field.

Three simple steps. But they come with a caveat.

You’ve got to plan them ahead of time. Completely. Set dates, times and appointments with people before you even leave on mission. Otherwise, you’ll be like so many others when they return… wondering why just a few weeks ago God was so close to you, but now seems so incredibly distant.

A Cross Cultural Covenant... Stopping short term mission team disaster before it strikes!

Rod Fry in Oaxaca with my Men's Ministry last February

One of the hardest things for people serving cross-culturally is giving up the comforts of home. That’s true if you go for a week, a month, or years. There is just something about having things your way that causes us to struggle when we are faced with something that changes that reality.

Recently I was in Mexico City with Rod Fry, a 20-year Missionary there with Mexico Matters. We work together on a program called missionXchange where people come to Mexico for 6 weeks alongside both our ministries. Rod’s in Mexico City and Adventures in Life in Oaxaca.

As part of our orientation, we touched on the subject of our “right” to have things as we want them. We included them in a Cross-Cultural Covenant that Rod developed. Everyone who serves with us reads and agrees to follow the covenant their time here in Mexico.

Today I’m going to share part of that Covenant. It has been my experience that if someone going "over there" can get, or understand this, their time serving will be much more effective and rewarding. It can even save your mission and ministry by heading off difficult issues before you ever get on a plane. And, it gives you a basis for resolving the inevitable conflicts that arise when you are in a foreign place.

Thanks Rod for all of your work on this!

Cross Cultural Covenant

We live in world full of rights. Our particular culture is one where we take pride in rights. As a matter of fact, the rights of the individual are constitutional, but as we see the demanding of those individual rights increase, we are seeing the moral fiber of our society decrease. Jesus laid down his rights to the heavens and all his glory to become man and serve, not be served. 

We are asking you to consider laying down your rights on this short-term mission. Not to lay them down for better or worse, but to entrust them to Jesus. While many of these rights may seem reasonable, indeed, who can argue about a comfortable bed, on short-term mission, they can become an unnecessary distraction.

Please take the time to search your heart and consider this… are you willing to surrender your rights to God?

I Give Up My Right To:

• A comfortable bed
• Three meals a day on a set schedule
• Eating familiar food
• Dressing cool and fashionable
• Seeing the results and fruits of my labor
• Control what I do
• Control what others do
• Control the circumstances around me
• Have pleasant circumstances around me
• Make decisions about all that I am doing
• Be offended
• Be successful
• Be understood
• Be heard
• Be right, or correct
• To worry

I Will Entrust To God

• My strength and energy
• My health and hygiene
• My likes and dislikes of food
• My security in him
• His purposes, results and fruit in His time
• My need for the Holy Spirit
• His work in others
• His purposes in making me more Christlike
• The privilege of suffering for His sake
• His sovereign hand on my life
• My deepest needs
• My security in His love
• My reputation
• My need for recognition
• My need for His righteousness
• Divine Control

If you like what you see and want more info, contact us.

The Presence of God Defeats a Hopeless Mad Max World!

Like about 47 million other folks, I went to the movies Memorial Day weekend. Which means in addition to the movie I wanted to see, I also saw significant portions of movies I'll likely never see. You know what I'm talking about... the previews.

One of the previews was for Mad Max Fury Road. As the trailer played on suddenly the screen filled with the words, WITHOUT HOPE. A few seconds later another message flashed on the screen, WITHOUT MERCY.

The Mad Max movie series, being redone from the Mel Gibson 1979 original is all based on a world gone mad. It is a world where literally there is no hope and no one has, or shows any mercy towards anyone.

Years ago when I went to San Dionesio Ocotepec in Oaxaca for the first time, I sat down with a group of children, all under 12. I asked them about their plans for the future. The answers stunned me. Almost all of them, boys and girls alike had a variation on the theme of going to the Estados Unidos, the United States.

When I asked them why they would want to leave Oaxaca, they had all sorts of reasons. No work. Too hard to raise a family. Little, or no opportunity to advance in life. And then one of the kids said the words that I'll remember all of my life... "there's no hope here."

Think about that for awhile. No hope. Or as the movie Mad Max would put it... A WORLD WITHOUT HOPE! How could you live, thrive, or even survive?

That's a major part of the ministry of Adventures in Life in Oaxaca. Working to bring a holistic emphasis to ministry, we are striving to address not just spiritual hopelessness, but economic hopelessness as well. We are trying to bring hope, and live mercy for today, and eternity.

One way we are doing this is through our Vocation Camp Week. We are expecting about 40 teenagers this year. They will be studying Photography, Agriculture, Science and Culinary Arts. Each of these disciplines will begin the steps to help the students at camp learn a skill that will enable them to make a real salary in Oaxaca.

Every village needs a photographer. Part of the culture of Mexico revolves around photos of family events, just as it does here. So, if you can shoot, you can work. Our agriculture classes will help people understand better ag practices which will increase crop yields and allow them to better care for their animals, increasing food output. Our science track will hopefully instill in people a love for experimentation and exploration that is so central to entrepreneurship. It may also inspire a few of our kids to become scientists.

Finally, our culinary arts track will be totally hands on giving the kids a chance to develop some of the skills necessary to succeed in one of the high end restaurants prevalent in Oaxaca, the gastronomic capital of Mexico.

Perhaps most exciting about all of this is that it is a ministry of the local church! 

Every person attending our camps will know and understand that the church, and Jesus, stands with them, and wants to be a part of giving them hope, not just for eternity, but for today, tomorrow, next week and beyond!

The people of the Mad Max world are living in a hopeless, merciless world, a world gone mad. For me, and AIL Ministry, mission is most effective when it is holistic. Because that holistic style gives witness to the mercy and love of Jesus and his power to transform and bring order to our lives. Both for eternity, and for today.

Learn more about Dave and Adventures in Life Ministry

"They beat us and left us for dead..." An urgent message from AIL Ministry Executive Director Dave Miller about Eloxochitlán, Oaxaca...

***Update Below***

"They beat us and left us for dead... but the Lord gave us life again!"

That is how Pastor Chablé, our main ministry partner in Oaxaca, described what happened last weekend in Eloxochitlán, the village our medical team served in October.

This week I had planned on sharing a simple Christmas message with our AIL Network. And then real life intruded on those plans. So I am sharing something different. A story of pain, loss, and ultimately hope.

On Sunday, December 14th in the middle of the day, Eloxochitlán, more than 6 hours away from our ministry base in Oaxaca City, erupted in political violence between people holding opposing views of the role of government in everyday life.

At the end of the day, 2 people died, both friends of Adventures in Life. Gustavo, one of the dead gave his life protecting our partner Elisa. He leaves a wife and 4 kids. Manuel, Elisa's brother was also killed in the violence. He leaves a wife and two young children.

A few of the vehicles lost in the violence

Multiple houses were set afire, houses where our medical team recently stayed. Cars, trucks and businesses were burned and people near and dear to our ministry, including Pastor Chablé, were seriously beaten. Two of them, Malena and Elisa, have been in the hospital since that day, having been beaten to within inches of their lives. Doctors are now working to save Malena's right eye and help Elisa walk again.

The houses of everyone who served with us, where we stayed while helping more than 350 people receive medical care, were the main houses attacked. Some were completely destroyed. 

Having lost everything, the families escaped to Pastor Chablé's ranch south of Oaxaca City, more than 6 hours away, to recover, rest, and consider their future.

We now have five families living at that ranch. Many of them have lost everything. Houses? Gone. Furniture? Gone. Clothing? Gone. Property? Gone. Money? Gone. Cars? Gone. The other day a local church brought some clean clothes for the kids. Finally they could change their dirty clothing.

Manuel's work truck, a total loss

Step back and think about that for a moment. They have not lost a lot of stuff... they've lost everything.

As Pastor Chablé put it, he now has a group of refugees and no way to get around town and get the things they need. His truck was one of those burned in Eloxochitlán. Stop and consider what that means. A rancher has no way to go and get food. No way to bring feed back for his animals. No way to take his young son to to school.

I doubt many of us here in America can imagine what that must be like. You wake up one morning, and by the time the day ends, you've lost everything.

Adventures in Life needs your help. Pastor Chablé needs your help. Manuel, Vicente, Malena, Elisa, David, their families and their kids need your help. 10 adults and eight children.

There is no FEMA to help in Oaxaca. The evening news is never going to publicize this and ask people to help make Christmas happen in the face of this unspeakable tragedy. No one will be starting an internet campaign there to help them.

But there is the family of God, and we can respond.

I am asking you to consider making a sizable donation to these families. We need to pay off medical bills, provide food, clothing and see if we can get Pastor Chablé another truck to replace the one he lost.

Our goal is to raise $20,000.00 in the next two weeks. That will enable us to get a truck and provide for the families who are now living at the ranch. We expect that they will be there for at least a month.

Literally there is not one person connected to Adventures in Life who has served in Oaxaca that has not in some way seen their ministry impacted by Pastor Chablé and his family.

This is one of those moments that defines ministry. 

Almost 20 years ago, Paul Lathrop and I arrived to where the village of Santa Rosa once stood north of Ensenada. The day before, the entire village was bulldozed, the people losing everything. We brought food, diapers for kids, milk and other supplies for the people of that village. It is where we built our first church.

Even today, when I see people from that village, they still talk about how God used AIL to literally save them after that tragedy.

Together, we can write another chapter in God's story in Mexico. Another chapter where his people in Oaxaca speak of God provided in their hour of need. Indeed, as you read this, we've already received over $5,000.00, 25% of our goal!

Pastor Chablé was taken to the hospital after being beaten in Eloxochitlán. He refused to stay because he told me his sheep, his people, needed him.

Chablé and his people need us. 

Today as you consider how you can respond, let me challenge you to go big. Seldom do we have the opportunity to step up and make a real stand for Jesus. To do something that will make an instant kingdom difference.

This is that time.

This is when we can live the community, the love, and hope that we profess each year at Christmas. This is our chance to help provide a Christmas miracle to God's people of Oaxaca.

If you want to help us raise the $20,000.00 we need to help these families, you can send us a check to our office [address below], use the donate button on this page, or give online through our web site. 

All donations are 100% tax deductible and will go directly to Pastor Chablé, his family, the ranch and to help the people now living there from Eloxochitlán.

Update... To date, Adventures in Life has collected over $50,000.00 in relief funds for Eloxochitlán. We have helped cover medical bills of some of the victims, purchased vehicles, and helped restore the businesses that were lost in the violence. We also provided food and shelter at our ranch in Oaxaca City when people had to be in the capital for medical care, to meet with government officials investigating the attack of because they no longer had a home in which to live.

We have also set aside an account of money for the people of Eloxochitlán to use in the future for development of micro loans for small businesses and other projects designed to benefit the entire community of this isolated mountain village.

Adventures in Life Ministry

A 501(c)3 non profit corporation

3243 E Warm Springs Road

Las Vegas, Nevada, 89120

Federal Tax ID 95-4434963

Giving Tuesday and the Gift of Water through Adventures in Life Ministry

Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Two days America joins together to shop, shop, shop.

Here are the numbers. Americans spent over 50 Billion Dollars during the Thanksgiving Weekend on everything from Christmas trees to Legos to Elsa, the heroine of the hit movie Frozen.

Today, known as Cyber Monday, will be more of the same as retailers are expecting upwards of 2.5 billion. That's quite a bit less than the Black Friday numbers, but let's be honest here, 2.5 billion is still a lot of money, or as a good friend of mine might say, cabbage!

Tomorrow, December 2nd, is known as Giving Tuesday. It's a day set aside in the Christmas shopping season to give back to those in need. This year, Adventures in Life Ministry needs your help.

Everyday when you get up in the morning you brush your teeth with clean water. You brew a pot of coffee or a cup of tea with clean water. You put your glass under the kitchen tap, turn on the water and instantly, that glass is overflowing with clean, drinkable water.

But what if you were unable to do that? What if the only water available was not drinkable? What if you could not afford to have clean, fresh water in your home?

That is the situation I encounter everyday in the villages where we serve in Oaxaca. Places like San Pedro Amatlán, San Baltazár and Eloxochitlán. 

Recently I was in Eloxochitlán for a medical clinic. Two of the doctors helping us were from Oaxaca, and as I've written before, they were stunned at the conditions they witnessed. Lack of potable water was literally killing people in this village bit by bit.

I shared with them that AIL Ministry could get portable water filters that families could use in their homes. Dr. Milton, in his review of the week shared that effective water filters could essentially be a game changer. People could literally take river water, filter it, and get a clean glass of water.

This Giving Tuesday, and throughout the Christmas season, we would like to ask you to give a water filter to a family in Oaxaca. Each water filter, from Sawyer Water Filters, filters about a million gallons, enough water to last a family of four a lifetime.

The cost is $99.00. For only $99.00, above your regular giving, you can make a donation that will literally change lives. 

Earlier this year I was in a village known as San Ildefonso. The pastor of the church came up to me pleading for help in getting more water filters for the people of his village. The same is true in every village and town where I work and serve in Oaxaca.

Simply put, these water filters save lives and give us the chance to share about the true living water. 

Can you help? To make a donation, just click this link and you will be directed to the support page of AIL Ministry. Make your tax deductible donation of $99.00 and we will send you a thank you note and let you know what community will get the water filter you provided.

Our goal this Christmas season is to provide 100 families with clean water. With your help, I know we can get this done.

Taking the Kids on Short-Term Mission... how to make sure you get it right!

One of the emerging trends I am seeing in short-term mission from both the sending and receiving side of the equation is a desire for families to involve their children in missions.

To that I offer a hearty amen!

All of the pictures here show kids serving on mission with AIL and their families

From my perspective, the opportunity to “train up a child” from an early age about the importance of getting personally involved in cross cultural missions cannot be understated. Whether those children ever become lifelong missionaries will remain to be seen, but in a world that is becoming more multicultural everyday, cross cultural competence and fluency will be increasingly necessary to effectively share the Gospel.

Before I start, let me clarify where I stand regarding children in mission. I am a strong proponent of kids going on mission, provided they do so with their parents. I don’t believe parents should pass that responsibility on to another parent, even if that parent is a close friend. The family experience of serving together is central to a child understanding that this is a big deal for his or her parents, and the kingdom. It becomes about modeling the value of mission and self sacrifice together.  

As a host receiver, I have had a front row seat to some of the perils and pitfalls of family mission experiences. Generally in my role, I have tended to always say yes to parents and families wanting to be part of our work, provided I can reasonably accommodate them within the ministry we are doing.

This means there are going to be limits. If your host receiver primarily works in high danger areas, or in specialized ministries like rescuing women from the sex trade, those would not be appropriate places for kids and families.

With the above as a backdrop, here are a few thoughts 

Parents are more the issue than their kids. 

US parents are significantly more over-protective of their kids than many other cultures. This is not to say one parent loves their child any more than another. I simply want to suggest that if you are a “helicopter parent”, missions might be a struggle for you and your family.

Effective mission takes place when we enter into a culture, as opposed to standing outside of it as a pseudo-observer. One of the first points of contact, and struggle for kids and families on mission, is at meal time. When you are in another country and the food comes out looking different, smelling different and tasting different, what are you, as a parent going to expect from your son or daughter.

My son started coming with me on mission at a young age. From those very first days, he understood the biblical model of eating and drinking what is put in front of you that we learn from Jesus in Luke 10. To this day I still hear him respond to friends when asked how he could eat something so different at someones house with two simple words... “Missionary meal.”

Before you head out on the field with your bundle of joy, are you prepared to force the issue when it comes to food, or are your going to travel with a secret stash of goodies to give to your son or daughter when they tell you they don’t like what is being served?

Missions is about sacrifice. 

One of the reasons many parents want to bring their kids on missions is for them to learn about sacrifice. Don’t short circuit that lesson out of a perceived need to cater to your child. Once they learn that you expect them to eat what they are served, and that there are no other options, believe me, they’ll eat, and quickly learn the importance of the term “missionary meal.”

US kids have significantly less stamina than many children around the world.

Generally when I think of appropriate mission opportunities for kids, I like to see them involved in kid friendly activities. This usually means ministry to children. If you want to bore a kid to death, take them on mission with you where all the work is focused on adults. If you want them to thrive, make sure they have time and opportunities to interact with the kids their own age who they are going to serve and get to know.

This however can pose a serious challenge because of the stamina issue. Let me give you an example. Each year my ministry facilitates a series of children’s camps in Oaxaca, Mexico. The kids we serve are from very poor rural backgrounds and are often expected to help work the family land along with school and any other “chores” around the house.

They get up before dawn to work the field and leave for school around 8:00am. There is no bus, or car, so they walk. When they get home in the afternoon, they return to the field until dinner is served, around 8:00pm. After dinner they finally get a chance to do their homework, getting to bed between 11:00 and 12:00 each night. The next morning before dawn, it starts all over again. Every day, every week of their young life. 

When these kids come to camp, they are loaded with enough energy and stamina to go full bore, all day. Unfortunately, their peers from the US are not able to keep up. Before bringing your child on mission with you, think about this. We want people set up for success, not failure and if your child lacks the stamina to keep up, perhaps it would be better to wait a year and work on his or her physical endurance.

Recently I had a group serving with me and they were adamant that their kids were in good shape and well prepared for the ministry awaiting them. As would happen on any camp ministry in the states, we divided all the locals up into teams and then placed the Americans kids on teams with them.

We gave points and awards for everything from attitude to participation in the various activities at the camp. Across the board, the teams with more participants from the states scored the lowest amount of points. One of the primary reasons for this was because those kids from the US were simply not physically able to keep up with a full days’ activities. 

Incarnational Mission is not a museum.

One thing we do not need more of on the field is observers. We need people willing to role up their sleeves, get into the hard work of sharing the Gospel and helping the local church build bridges into the communities where they are working. We need people willing to actively seek out ways to live the Gospel for whatever length of time they are here.

This means that people on a mission site, whether they are 5, or 75 years old, will be expected to get involved. One way to gauge this is to see what your kid is doing as opposed to what the local kids are doing.

If the locals are playing a game of kickball, and your child is sitting quietly reading a book, or has decided it is time for a nap, what message does that send to his new international friends?

Trust me on this... the only way to ultimately get what you want for your child on mission is to arrive prepared to make sure he or she gets involved, whether they like it or not. It is that involvement, that living outside of a comfort zone that will stretch your child. It is that incarnational witness and decision to be directly connected to the life of another that leads to effective transformational mission.

Asher Sarjent of 16:15 Church Mission Coaching has a few rules for anyone going on mission that he always shares when he trains a team. Two of those are especially relevant here.

"Do everything you are asked, or told and no complaining."

As an adult, it is fairly easy for us to live this. For kids though, unless they are well prepared ahead of time, and constantly reminded, this does not come naturally. This is where the rubber meets the road because given the option, most kids prefer a mission that is a museum.

Let me introduce to you Jim [not his real name]. Jim was 12 when he and his parents served on mission with us in Oaxaca. One of the activities we had for the kids at our camp was a chance to go to the theater and see the latest animated movie that was showing. For most of the kids at our camps, this was the first, and maybe the only time they would ever see the inside of a movie theater.

Like a lot of theaters in the US, this one was connected to one of the local shopping malls, so when we announced to the group of Americans where we were going, they were all excited.

What was interesting about this group of kids serving with their parents was that their excitement had nothing to do with mission or building kingdom relationships. They were excited because they were going to a mall. You could sense their disappointment when we told them we were not going shopping but to a movie and that they could only go if they were willing to spend time with their new Mexican friends and see the movie.

Every single young person in the group decided not to go except for Jim. As we were driving over to the theater, I asked Jim, all of 12 years old, why he decided to go. He said to me “Dave, I may never get a chance again in my life to a movie I Spanish, in Mexico, with a group of my friends.” 

It should not surprise you that Jim was the star of that camp. The attitude he showed that day, being willing to stretch himself and live incarnationally among the people he was trying to serve should be an example to all of us.

If you are going to bring your children on mission with you, and I strongly recommend and support this, neither you or your children should treat mission like a museum. Mission that is effective, or that makes a Kingdom difference, is not to be observed, either by adults or by your kids. It is to be lived, all day long in relationship with the people you are trying to serve.

Final thoughts for parents.

Don’t bring your child before he or she regularly does not need a daily nap. We all know how kids are when they do not get the nap. Cranky, tired, whiny and everything no one wants to see on the mission field. Set your children up for success by waiting until they have passed this important developmental step.

Wait until your kids are potty trained. No one likes cleaning up a messy diaper. Trust me on this, you are gonna like it even less on some far away mission field location. You, your kids and your host receiver will all appreciate it if before you pack your future missionary off on mission, he or she knows how, and when to use a restroom.

Your kids are your responsibility. Period. No team you are serving with is there to baby sit your kids and neither is the missionary. Understand that if you have a relationship with a missionary host receiver who is willing to let you bring your child, that is going to be the exception. Honor that and take to heart the above points.

Final thoughts for missionary host receivers.

Be open to the idea of children on site with you. In todays world, kids are going to travel. Do we want a generation of children growing up feeling like God’s servants around the globe don’t want them around? Of course not. Who knows, one of those kids might just grow up and be the person who continues your ministry into the next generation. 

I am not saying allow kids on every site where you are involved. What I am saying is take a look at your calendar, see where it might be appropriate for young children to be involved and when a parent asks about bringing their child, give it a try.

In closing.

The idea of bringing children on short-term mission is enough to sometimes send even the most laid back host receiver over the edge. For parents, the thought of trying to keep a growing boy or girl under control in another country, where they speak another language, may be just too much.

But let me offer this encouragement to both sides of what I am sure we will seeing more of in the coming years. The Kingdom, the mission field, your family, and our ability to attract new leaders to the global Great Commission will be strengthened by having children on mission with us.

That alone should cause us to explore ways to make this happen.

Adventures in Religion... how a name it claim it theology perverts the Gospel of the suffering servant

Raul and his two sons, Raul and Obed at his recent 25 year anniversary celebration in Guadalajara

It was spring of 2006. I was walking with my friend and longtime ministry partner in Guadalajara, Raul Arteaga. His son had been in a horrible accident a few weeks earlier that had left him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to exert much control over the use of his arms.

I was there to offer comfort and encouragement to a family that in those days, was living in stunned depression.

As we walked, he said he had a question. "Hermano David" he asked, "do you think my son is not getting better because I lack faith?"

The question stopped me in my tracks. How could he think like that I asked? If I know anyone with a deep and abiding faith, it's Raul. The thought that he might lack faith scares people like me. If Raul is lacking at a level that would bring disaster and destruction on his family, then I really have no hope.

I remember looking back at Raul and offering the soundest rejection I could of his question. I asked where that was coming from and he said more than a few pastors in those early days of his son's paralyzation had insisted that God would indeed heal his son, if only he had sufficient faith and claimed the power of God in this horrible situation.

Each day Raul got up with the power of God. He went to bed every night praying for a miracle and that the next morning he might wake up and see his son standing again. A lack of faith was not keeping his son from walking again.

I was reminded of those days as I read about the recent theological dust up at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Osteen and his church are well known in American Christianity, preachers of what in short hand is known as "Name it, claim it" theology.

In short, this theology believes if you have enough faith, and speak what you want, in God's name of course, it will be given to you. Beyond being biblically suspect and bereft of a true theological basis, this understanding of God and how he works is more than misleading, it is evil.



It is also a theology that leads us to believe it is all about us, not Jesus, not others, simply us. That was on full display as Osteen's wife Victoria stated this past weekend that our worship makes God happy when we do it for ourselves, not Him.

Here's why this sort of me first theology is so dangerous. If you do not get the desired outcome, the only reason must, by definition be due to a lack of faith. There really is no other way of understanding this. A boys inability to recover and walk after his spine was totally shattered is not because of a tragic accident, for which there is no medical fix, it is because of a lack of faith.

The evil of this theology comes forth as we delve a little deeper, understanding that a name it claim it theology, a theology based on us, places the blame for a continued lack of recovery on the faith of the father, and his lack of faith.

Sadly, many are embracing this type of theology, not just here in the US, but in Mexico as well. Because it is more focused on us and our needs, and because it seems to offer people control over the arc of their lives. A belief that I can somehow "trap" God into doing for me what I want and claim is a potent aphrodisiac.

Traditional mission in my area is struggling to confront this type of understanding of Jesus. The idea of a of Isaiah 53, of a suffering servant, is not a popular message to people longing to be empowered to live a better life.

Unlike many who are angry at Joel Osteen and his church for what we heard this week, I am curiously pleased. Joel is slick, and able to evade and parry the jabs from those who question the theology of Lakewood Church.  Thankfully the 37 seconds of video we have of his wife giving a full throated defense of their "It's all about me" Gospel understanding shows us just how self-centered this church, and their leaders are.

There should be no further debate on the issue. Absent a full denunciation of Victoria Osteen's widely seen words, everyone should now know that for the leaders of this church, it ain't about Jesus, it's about us.

I doubt you can make much of a case that Jesus was as self centered as the Osteen's claim we should be.  And I know that you can't make a case that the bible teaches that worship is all about us. Unless of course, you support Lakewood Church and the other many adherents to this empty theology.

Your thoughts...

Read more...
The Osteen's Donald Sterling Moment
Victoria Osteen says "Worship is not for God, you're doing it for yourself"

Mission Support... funding effective Great Commission work with Short-Term Mission

This is Part II of a three part series on effective cross cultural mission giving.  Part I focused on direct regular support of national pastors and non US based churches. Today we will deal with short-term mission leadership and long-term missionary support.  Part III will delve into ways we can leverage short-term mission to fund long-term work.

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Perhaps 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.  You probably know them as long-term missionaries.

Short-term mission [STM] leadership on the other hand are the 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 Asher Sarjent works, spend significant time recruiting, training and preparing short-term teams 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.  And 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 because I spend significant time each year in Mexico, even if I do not have a residence there, would serve for free.  Few of us see what we do as a job, because deep down inside, we believe God has called us to 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.

They are not allowed to ask for additional financial resources from the team apart from 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 with scant additional financial help.  Sadly, their case is not the exception to the rule.  Even if they are short on raising their financial support, many long-term host receivers, like this couple, are not allowed to appeal directly to the teams the “home office” sends to help.  

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!  this is no small feat for many who have lived a significant portion of their lives in another culture.

We need to change this equation now.  I believe failure to do so and to recognize the financial reality of cross cultural Great Commission work will have a long lasting negative effect not only on current work around the globe, but on our ability to recruit and keep future generations of missionaries deployed on the field.

So what should we do?

First, let’s 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 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.  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.

Now for some, this is going to be extremely difficult, because many 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?

Let me give you 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 a Christian camp experience to kids from some of the poorest 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 host receivers, and helped make their 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 we can wash dishes, sweep floors, clean dorms and play with and love kids.  We can also 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 ministry 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 fund 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 will be fairly compensated and their families adequately cared for, I am afraid that 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.

Open... The US Mission Community's response to some of the biggest challenges facing our world today

If you know me, you know that I am a passionate voice for people going on mission to be prepared.  If you follow me, you know I've written much on this over the years.

I do not believe it is enough to have a heart of gold, be filled with desire, purchase a plane ticket to somewhere named wayoverthereistan and then just go!  That type of mission mindset is what many of us in the field are talking about when we talk about good intentions/bad mission.

Over the last 20 years, we have seen the short-term mission game improve by leaps and bounds.  Yes, there are still guerilla mission trips where outsiders arrive en masse and set up shop for a few hours of “Gospel Ministry” and “Street Evangelism” before retiring to safe ministry bases miles away, but thankfully, that trend has diminished substantially.

Now it is much more common to see teams on short-term mission going with a clear goal of entering into the local culture and being learner servants.  We no longer see hoards of short-term teams throwing food and candy from the windows of school busses crammed full of students while trying to say “Jesus loves you” in a foreign language.

Where are still too many teams, individuals and organizations whose mission goal is dedicated to primarily serving those who go, as opposed to people “over there,” you cannot make a credible argument that short-term mission has not turned a corner from our early years of anything goes.

Now we are a much more disciplined group that strives to hear to heart of God and the heart of those we serve, where ever that may be.

Much of that improvement has come as a result of the work of a small group of dedicated people who have served through the Alliance for Excellence in Short-Term Mission, or AESTM, for many years.  It was the leadership of AESTM that made possible the Fellowship of Short-Term Mission Leaders, the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission and the National Short-Term Missions Conference.

Each of these branches of AESTM worked hard to provide different levels of training and expertise to a rapidly growing short-term industry over the last 25 years.

Now AESTM has partnered with Missio Nexus and the larger long-term mission world in an effort to unify the different mission approaches world wide as we continue our efforts to fulfill the Great Commission that Jesus gave us.

This September 25 - 27, AESTM and Missio Nexus will be hosting the 2014 Mission Leaders Conference in Atlanta.  There is no better place to hear what God is doing around the globe, talk to the leadership of the North American mission movement, get connected and, above all, learn.  Last year over 1000 leaders from around the globe, representing both long and short-term mission, churches and schools gathered in Dallas.  It was an incredible coming together of the different worlds of mission in one place. 

Do you care about missions?  Do you believe that we should give our best and go prepared when we leave our shores to serve in the Great Commission?  Are you trying to discern whether God is calling you into a lifetime of Christian service abroad?

Then, hands down, you need to be in Atlanta in September.

Too often we complain about the quality of our mission serve, especially when we cross cultural barriers and go overseas.  Here’s an opportunity to be better prepared, better informed and better connected.

Whether you are considering an overseas posting, on a mission committee at your local church, or a support person or CEO in a mission organization, the 2014 North American Mission Leaders Conference should be on your God bucket list for this year.

I’ll be there... will you?

Register Now!

[full disclosure... I have been part of the Fellowship of Short Term Mission Leaders Conferences for many years and served on the steering committee of that group from 2010 to 2013.]