Story time with Uncle Shenk

Posted by Craig in Methods on May 12th, 2013 | 0 comments

If you need to get stoked about actually living with the people you want to minister to, and if you need it by way of stories and general wittiness, consider this podcast by Clayton Shenk (York, PA), given at the BMA Church Planter’s Institute in 2011.

Oh yeah, and if you want to go to CPI this year, pack your bags real quick and meet me in Mississippi this Saturday and Sunday.

The Deception Bouncer

Posted by Craig in Methods on Feb 12th, 2013 | Comments Off

Who is he? He’s the guy you trust more than yourself.

Like my friend J. A. told me, if you’re deceived, you don’t know it. So then the only way to get un-decieved is to have people in your life who you trust more than yourself.

Turn it around now. What if you’re the bouncer. How will you convince the non-Jesus people to trust you, that much?

Follow the Money: Why Apostle Paul wasn’t sent home from the mission field

Posted by Craig in Methods on Feb 4th, 2013 | Comments Off

She who rocks the cradle rules the nation. I have a different idea. He who holds the bag calls the shots. I don’t think this is really a bad thing or a good thing. I think it is the way it is. We can use this knowledge to build more resilient [missionary] lives for ourselves.

Working for a mission board and being employed are similar. You exchange freedom for security and direction. Interestingly, now that I live in the U.S., no one prescribes the type and frequency of my ministry. Why is that? Well, its because I’m not being paid for it. Although my employer is very kind in giving me a lot of flexibility, I do trade time and freedom for money.

So the lesson I am learning through my life experiences and listening to people like Seth Godin and Nassim Nicholas Taleb is that the risky path of entrepreneurship and/or freelancing is a path to [potential] financial resilience, and thereby lifestyle resilience. As long as Paul could sell tents, no one sent Paul home. I think he was onto something.