Many missionaries are plagued by doubt. Not usually about the message. At...
Do’s and Don’t’s of Learning Chinese #3
This post is about where you’re going to get your instruction… 5. DO NOT TRUST A SCHOOL TO TEACH YOU The complex nature of language learning makes all attempts to systematize it near futile. Nevertheless, many students enroll in educational institutions and never give their language progress another thought! This is so dangerous. Please remember […]
The Police Meet Our Church
Yesterday a police officer came by the church building to check people’s residency cards. Just a routine thing that happens every once in a while for the police to keep tabs on what’s going on and who lives under their jurisdiction. I wasn’t there, but the three Chinese guys training for ministry were, as well […]
Do’s and Don’t’s of Learning Chinese #2
Some thoughts about the kind of drills that result in real language-learning progress… 3. DO NOT MEMORIZE VOCABULARY There is a certain kind of personality that gets a rush out of making flashcards. Normally this is a person with an exceptional memory who, with just a few cycles through the cards, can nail down a […]
Do’s and Don’t’s of Learning Chinese #1
Pardon the delay – I was in Mexico last week. And, in case you’re wondering, Mexicans don’t understand Chinese. Believe me, I tested the hypothesis repeatedly and with the same outcome. But I wanted to share some of my own conclusions about language learning, particularly Chinese. Not sure how much I’ve written about this in […]
Speared: Reaching the Unreachable
Probably the most telling evidence against the strategy of the ten murdered missionaries is that shortly after their deaths, both the tribes they were targeting (the Auca and the Ayore) had been successfully contacted by missionaries disseminating the Gospel. After a couple tough-to-write entries, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to a new […]
Speared: A Faulty Mind-Set
So far, we’ve looked at how a lack of accountability and preparation contributed to the ineffectiveness of the speared missionaries. But I think it’s important to understand the mind-set that birthed those failings. How did ten young men who loved the Lord and desired to bring God glory by the proclamation of the Gospel miss […]
Speared: Isolation and Independence
Here’s another factor in the strategic failure of the murdered missionaries: 2. They cut themselves off from those who could be of help Jim Elliot’s team in Ecuador was afraid of attracting too much attention to their efforts in the jungle, because they thought that too many outsiders would serve to further alienate the Aucas. […]
Speared: Mute Missionaries
The next couple of posts are going to discuss why I personally believe these ten heroes were misguided in their strategy, and therefore why modern missionaries should search for another model of ministry. For the record, I don’t believe this because they were killed. Christians doing God’s work will encounter real persecution. And (as I’ll […]
Speared: Another Look at My Heroes
Read in ‘From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya’ today the stories of some of my heroes – missionaries Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and their three friends that were killed by Auca Indians in the 50s. Probably the most balanced account of their work I’ve heard – made me consider their efforts a little more evenhandedly. Plus […]
Trajectory Shift
What a weekend! Made some big changes over the past week that have been in the making for a couple months. Sunday was our first run… 1. We distributed invitations to our church services to 1000 homes in our community. It included an explanation of the Gospel, a flyer about our church, as well as […]
The Gospel in China 
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