The Mission Link

Lorraine and I had the privilege of attending the Internet Ministry Conference 2007.  We had a good time, meeting new people, learning things about evangelism, ‘marketing,’ and even some technical stuff for me!  We also enjoyed spending time with each other. 
Some trends to watch for, and items of interest are:

• Youth today are “digital natives” where our generation and older are “digital immigrants.” As described in Rex Miller’s book The Millenium Matrix.
• Open Source CMS (Content Management Systems) - WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and MODx.
• How to “hook” online users.
• Guiding website visitors to the next step(s) in their spiritual journey.
• JavaScript (told you there were tech ones for me!)
• Email Etiquette (not the content, but the delivery - spam and the perception of spam).
• Communicating without words.
• Hits, Pageviews and Other “Lies.”
• Getting started on the net with (very) minimal budget.
• Rethinking Internet Evangelism - who is your audience?
• Fostering leadership that values people/relationships - a site with a “community” perspective.
• Web tools to grow your ministry.
• Extreme Makeover - Website Edition (although they didn’t specifically look at crwm.org or crcna.org - I was able to learn a few things that can take our sites to the next level!)

We are looking forward to sharing more with you down the road, but if anything above really strikes your fancy, get in touch with Lorraine or Jessica.

Jessica Côté, CRWM Canada
Lorraine Woodward, CRWM USA

So here are some scenes from the trenches . . . don’t we look like we’re having fun? 

Those of us who are not working at home are getting settled into our temporary location in the (former) cafeteria of the denominational building here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We’ll have some pictures of our new digs soon, but in the meantime, here are a few scenes from the weeks preceding the move . . .

Our hallways are normally quite colorful, with flags from many different nations, as well as decorative items given to us by our partners throughout the world. This group of incoming students from Calvin Seminary didn’t get to see all of that, however, as we had packed up just about everything by this time. Hopefully they’ll be back to visit after our remodel!

Gord Buys, our Logistics Manager, used to have walls . . .

but, as a former missionary pilot to Nigeria, he is very familiar with upheaval, and he seemed to adjust quite well to his new surroundings! 

(more…)

Barbarita Lee found this list online, and we thought it was good enough to share . . .

who, ME?! a missionary?

A tongue-in-cheek look at some sure-fire ways
to avoid becoming a missionary

1. Ignore Jesus’ request in John 4:35 that we take a long hard look at the fields. Seeing the needs of people can be depressing and very unsettling. It could lead to genuine missionary concern.
   (John 4:35 “Do you not say, `Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” For other Bible passages on missions, click here)
2. Focus your energies on socially legitimate targets. Go after a bigger salary. Focus on getting a job promotion, a bigger home, a more luxurious car, or future financial security. Along the way, run up some big credit card debts. [ ready feet . . . ]
3. Get married to somebody who thinks the “Great Commission” is what your employer gives you after you make a big sale. After marriage, embrace the socially accepted norms of settling down, establishing a respectable career trajectory and raising a picture-perfect family.
4. Stay away from missionaries. Their testimonies can be disturbing. The situations they describe will distract you from embracing whole-heartedly the materialistic lifestyle of your home country.
5. If you happen to think about missions, restrict your attention to countries where it’s impossible to openly do missionary work. Think only about North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China and other closed countries. Forget the vast areas of our globe open to missionaries. Never, never listen to talk about creative access countries.
6. Think how bad a missionary you would be based on your own past failures. It is unreasonable to expect you will ever be any better. Don’t even think about Moses , David, Jonah, Peter or Mark, all of whom overcame failures. [ more on Jonah ]
7. Always imagine missionaries as talented, super-spiritual people who stand on lofty pedestals. Maintaining this image of missionaries will heighten your own sense of inadequacy. Convincing yourself that God does not use ordinary people as missionaries will smother any guilt you may feel about refusing to even listen for a call from God. [ type of missionaries needed ]
8. Agree with the people who tell you that you are indispensable where you are. Listen when they tell you that your local church or home country can’t do without you. [ Apple pickers parable ]
9. Worry incessantly about money. [ simple lifestyle ]
10. If you still feel you must go, go out right away without any preparation or training. You’ll soon be home again and no one can ever blame you for not trying!

Inspired by Stewart Dinnen’s list in How are you doing? (Bromley: STL Books, 1984)

So what’s holding YOU back? How can we help?

James and Barbarita Lee are new Christian Reformed World Missions missionaries who will be heading out to Tijuana in January of 2008. They have had quite a year, with James graduating from Calvin Seminary, their journey in adopting Joshua Jae-Min, and now the preparations for their departure in a few months.

In the midst of all of this, they seem to not have time to get their adorable child a haircut . . . oops, wait. It’s not a time issue–it’s mommy not wanting to cut her little sweetie’s hair!

BUT she is taking a vote at Joshua’s new blog, and we need your help to “get the vote out”.

Seriously . . . it’s time . . .

  But do we have the cutest missionaries, or what?!

Hurricane Felix is bearing down on the country as we speak . . . please pray for the people of Honduras and other affected areas in Central America . . .

Some scenes from our Grand Rapids offices over the past week . . .