Christine Sine shares a prayer from the book “Blessings for the Fast Paced and Cyberspaced”. It is a prayer that technology would be a blessing and not something that just adds more stress to our lives.
Tomorrow, Wedenesday April 23, at 7pm Mustard Seed Associates will be hosting an MSA Conversation: The New Ends of the Earth: A learning party about the Kingdom and technology with Thomas Knoll. It will be held at the Mustard Seed House in Seattle. It will also be accessible online by going to http://www.msainfo.org/ for anyone to participate from wherever you may be. The evening will discuss the following:
“This is the social age of the web, where online communities, tools, and resources make it easier to extend relationships, expand influence, and invite participation. During this event, we will explore some of the latest technologies, dream about their best application in spiritual/social/justice communities, and learn practical implementation.”
Looking for some missions videos on the internet? YouTube is a place that organizations are using to share about their ministries and how God is at work throughout the world. Mennonite Church Canada recently added a channel that features videos of missionaries in different parts of the world. You can also find other videos by mission agencies by going to Ministry Tube.
Some books that I have come across that speak about the journey of life.
Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan.
This book, which is written in two parts and I just finished reading the first part recently. The book is a classic among Christian literature, through allegory, tells the story of the life of a man as he journeys through a life of faith in God. It speaks to how one needs to remain focused on Jesus avoiding the temptations of life and the encouragement of other Christians. If you are wanting to read this you can find sold in different forms, including ones where the English has been updated.
Travelling Light by Max Lucado
Releasing one’s burdens is what this book is about. It is based on Psalm 23. I haven’t read this one yet, but our Sunday School class is using it to learn and discuss the Psalm.
The Way is Made by Walking by Arthur Paul Boers
I just ordered this book and I am looking forward to reading it. One year I was living in Spain at a place called Burgos. It is one of the cities along a pilgrimage across Spain known as the Camino de Santiago or Way of James. In this book a Mennonite professor tells of his experience as he walked the Camino and the lessons of life he learned. Sidenote: There are many websites on the Camino de Santiago where people tell there stories. One that I like is the one Cycling the Camino de Santiago, which would be my preferred way of doing it.
I’ve just come back from another weekend at Missions Fest in Vancouver. It was a good weekend. I was running a booth again that has several computers that using a web search tool helps direct people to different organizations present at the conference. If you would like to check it out visit the Mission Opportunities Search site. I had some difficulties with the computer setup at the beginning, but it improved as the weekend went on.
During the weekend I was also able to take in a couple of the sessions and enjoyed listening to the choirs and speakers that they had. One of the interesting things was at the beginning of one session they had a video playing highlighting the fact that it was the 25th Missions Fest with the first one taking place January 1984. They also showed some pictures of what else was happening in the world at that time. One of the items mentioned was, well, the introduction of the Macintosh.
The Macintosh and Missions Fest both began at the same time. The Macintosh is known as a computer that changed the computer industry and throughout its history has had an impact beyond that industry, such as the original iMac’s colourful design that had an impact on the fashions of the day. Many of its users are also fans and passionate about the computer, what it can do and its design. Missions Fest is an event held that brings together Christians from many different churches and backgrounds to share in a vision to see people worship and go out and let others know of the good news and love of Jesus Christ.
Things here on earth don’t last. Some things like Macs come and go, such as what I experienced with computer problems with a couple Macs I was using: one that I couldn’t get started again. Missions Fest is a place where people come and are challenged to live for God in their lives, whether at home or in another part of the world in such a way that they honour God. While Missions Fest as an event may come to an end someday it draws people to have a passion and vision that looks both to the present and eternity.
What is your passion? Do you want to change the world? Have you considered that Jesus came to earth and changed things eternally and we only need to look to him. That is my desire for my life. That doesn’t mean that one can’t be passionate about other things: I still like using Mac computers as well :-).
Dates: Jan. 25-27
Location: Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre
website: www.missionsfestvancouver.ca
Missions Fest is taking place again in only one week on Jan. 25-27. I have attended the conference for a number of years and also been involved as a volunteer. I will be at the Mission Opportunities booth in the centre of the exhibition hall. This year the conference is celebrating their 25th anniversary and I am looking forward to being there again. What you will find at Missions Fest and what continues to bring me back each year are:
Be sure to pray for the weekend and come out if you possibly can.
Are you someone that is interested in learning more about reaching out with the love of Christ? The following are some of the sites that I have found to have excellent material for reading geared towards missions. Whether serving near home or crossing large distances, language or culture you might want to visit some of these sites. You will be able to learn more about how God’s mission is given in the Bible and how we can apply that in our lives, ways in which you can pray for missionaries, learn from missionaries past and present and for those interested in overseas service have some of your questions answered.
Urbana.org
Every three years Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship has a missions conference. It brings together Christian students from across North America. The website includes articles, Bible studies, archives of Urbana conferences as well as guidance for those that are interested in being in missions. You can also find a guide for praying for IFES Christian student groups throughout the world.
Perspectives
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement is a 15 week course held throughout North America and beyond in Bible schools and churches. It covers how God has been at work and continues to be at work in the world from Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic point of views. The course can be taken at different levels including audit, certificate or undergraduate or graduate credit. With an account under Next Steps one can find access to additional resources. If one has taken the course this includes access to a set of recordings of the classes. For information on Perspectives in Canada see www.perspectivescanada.org.
Lausanne World Pulse
This is a magazine that is published on a monthly basis and includes a set of articles around a theme for the month. Other articles include news, research and reports from the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism.
Evangelical Missions Quarterly
This journal published every three months by the Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS) with articles to discuss issues relevant to missions. This is a journal and requires a paid subscription. It is available in print and/or online. The online version provides you with access to current writings as well as access to journals from back issues in the archives.
GO Connect
Here you can find some of the ways in which you can pray for missions and links to websites providing mission news, opportunities and training available.
The Journey Deepens
This site includes various sections, including one called Ask A Missionary that has questions that have been asked by people pursuing a vocation as a missionary with answers provided by missionaries.
This weekend I was up at Stillwood Camp and Conference Centre for the SIM fall conference for BC. The main speaker was Gregg Bryce, the Canadian executive director for SIM. He spoke on Jonah, not just about whether or not not we respond to what God calls us to, but what the attitude in our hearts is when we respond. There were also reports from missionaries, those who have returned and those that will be going in the near future. I had an opportunity to speak this morning as well about the time that I was in Peru. Throughout the weekend I was also kept busy setting up people’s computers for their presentations. There was also several workshops on Saturday. One of the ones that I attended was “Learning from African Theologians” which was spoke about what went into the new Africa Bible Commentary and what can be learned.
I also have to add that even on a cloudy day it was enjoyable driving up to the camp. The camp is located in the Columbia Valley with a nice drive along Cultus Lake. The lake is on one side of the road with the trees along the road and on the mountains changing colours.
This past weekend I was at the Missions Fest conference in Vancouver. An annual event held to hear from missionaries and to challange Christians to respond to God’s call on their lives. As well many agencies are present for people who want to get involved in a ministry locally or in another country. As in previous years I was involved with the Mission Opportunities booth where people can access a website to help them find an agency that fits their interests. In addition a career counsellor was available for people to discuss their plans. For myself it was a long weekend, but overall it went well. Sunday I was able to go to the morning service and hear Bruce Milne speak. There was also some excellent music by the Trinity Western University Choir and an accapella group called Rescue. After it was all over I went for a good meal at The Spaghetti Factory with several others from SIM.
With Accordance 7 having been available for awhile now Oak Tree Software has just released a new set of CDs of their Library and Scholars packages. In addition they have updated the Bible Unlock CD and Bible Reference CD. One item of interest to me was that the Bible Unlock CD now includes a module for the Spanish language Nueva Version Internacional.
