Podcast Burnout – Needing Renewed Vision

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After spending the last two years working on the YWAM Podcast and producing 55 episodes I’m feeling in a bit of funk about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that God has called me to be a missions communicator to tell others about what God is doing in Youth With A Mission around the world. I am not questioning God’s call on my life, I love what I am doing and feel very blessed to be able to do it. The team I work with is great, even though they are on the other side of the world.

Despite knowing God’s call on my life I’m still struggling. One of the articles that I read recently had the following quote in it that really spoke to me:

The real battle is when the lie comes: “There is no point to what you are doing, you are not making a difference”

The audio recording that you can listen to above probably describes better what I’m thinking than my writing does. In talking with others both inside and outside of YWAM I am not the only one involved in communications feeling like this.

Your prayers for renewed vision and passion would be appreciated…

Related Links:

Top 5 Posts of 2011

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I thought it would be interesting to look at what were most popular posts on this site that I wrote in 2011. To be honest when I had a look at the statistics I was a bit surprised about what was popular. My biggest surprise was actually the post that came in at number 1…

5. Facebook, Twitter and Students…

With social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, so pervasive in the lives of people it’s important that we look at what kind of affect it has on students. The Discipleship Training School (DTS), and other second level schools in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) have previously been completely immersive experiences mainly because of the difficulty and cost of communication. Read the full article…

4. Lego, Why do you Spurn Canada?

Caleb spent the better part of two years saving up to buy himself a Lego Cargo Train Set. When he finally went to purchase the set we found that the set was almost $100 more in Canada than to purchase it in the USA.

In the end Caleb purchased the train set in the USA and had a friend pick it up for him. Read the full article…

3. Debt and Missions – A Toxic Mix

This is one topic that I have gotten more passionate about as I have spent time in missions. I have seen people removed from the missions field or prevented from entering the field because of personal debt.

As a missions agency we need to be asking ourselves what are we doing about this? Not only personal debt, but also what are we doing about ministry debt? Read the full article…

Teaching Personal Finance and Financial Stewardship in Missions

Coins and CashAlthough not in the top five blog posts this article was my follow up article to my debt and missions article.

In the article I explore a few different ways that we can help the staff and students in Youth With A Mission deal with their personal debt. Two options I look at are Dave Ramsey’s Generation Change and Lazarus at the Gate. Read the full article…

2. Using What You Know in Missions

Something that frustrates me is when missionaries abandon the skills and knowledge that they have developed before entering missions. Often these things are God given talents that are intended for use in God’s Kingdom. Often though because they don’t fit into the mould of a “young missionary” the talents are dismissed as being not “spiritual” enough for the missions field. What a travesty. Read the full article…

1. Explaining Idiots to our Kids – The Vancouver Riots

The number one article is the one that surprised me most.

Caleb came home from school talking about the riots that had occurred in Vancouver after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins. He was asking why people would do that and I tried to explain to him why, and also tried to get some advice from others about what causes people to act like that. Read the full article…

How to Find Potential Missionaries On-Line

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In our current on-line culture you will find that more and more people are not looking at the traditional “recruitment” areas if they are looking at joining Christian Missions. Instead people are using social media to connect with their friends and people they know and listen to to find out about missions opportunities. Instead of reading a magazine like “Relevant Magazine” they are instead sending out a messages on these social networks like…

#FunFactAboutMe my life long goal is to become a missionary in Africa.

or maybe something like…

#ithink, being a christian missionary would be a great job!

or…

#20FactsAboutMe 17.) when I’m 18 I wanna do Christian missionary and go to Uganda and china and help build schools 🙂

or…

Dear sweet baby jesus, if you get me through this shift today I’ll become a missionary.

Okay, maybe that last one was a joke, but you catch my drift…

Are Christian Missions Groups Active on Social Media?

The question though is are Christian Missions groups using social media to connect with people who are expressing an interest in missions?

Are you active in social media?

Is your group or agency active in social media?

I’m not talking about broadcasting your message using social media and treating it like any other traditional marketing media. What I’m talking about is actually connecting personally with people who are interested in pursuing missions.

You need to listen online, not just talk.

If are are not using social media to connect with people interested in Christian Missions then you are missing out on a potentially huge way to connect with people who are interested in missions and may or may not have a plan on how to get there…

Gary Vaynerchuk has made his mark in business largely through the use of social media. He has leveraged the web and social media to connect with potential customers in ways that have never been possible before. I recommended his book Crush It – Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion on the latest YWAM Podcast after listening to it and being inspired to try to put into action with my role in missions.

Gary did a keynote speech at a recent convention where he talks about how he uses social media and why it works. It is probably the first YouTube video that is over an hour that I have ever actually sat through, and is well worth the time. Here it is:

(be aware though that Gary uses “colourful” language at points in the video)

The new book that he refers to in his keynote is The Thank You Economy. As I write this I currently have the audio version on hold at the library and am eagerly waiting for it to become available. If it’s anything like Crush It, I know I won’t be disappointed.

So if you took the time to watch the video, and I would highly recommend that you do, then how are you going to connect to potential new missionaries? Are you going to use these ideas, or let them slip by, along with the many new potential new missionaries that are out there looking for a  way to connect with what God is doing, and how they can be a part…

(image by Nathan Colquhoun)

What Are Your Favourite Christian Movies?

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Faithful Blogging Prompts from Faithful BloggersThe Christian movie scene can be known for some real cringe-worthy writing, acting and directing. Unfortunately when you mention Christian movies many people have an instant bad taste in their mouth based on past experience.

Among the many Christian movies made though there are some that I think stand out as pretty good movies that I always enjoy watching.

Favourite Adult Christian Movies

The first “Christian” movie that I saw is still one of my favourites, and that is “The Ride“, produced by the Billy Graham Foundation.

Unfortunately the trailer looks kind of cheesy, but it’s a fun movie with some great bull riding scenes.

Another more recent movie that Tamara I and both enjoyed is Fireproof by Providence Films.

Good movie, with a great message.

Favourite Kid’s Christian Movie

Children’s movies are one area that you can often find high quality content in. Two of our family favourite Christian kid’s movie series are the Veggie Tales movies (yes, I finally caved and even enjoy them myself) and the Hermie the Common Caterpillar series.

My favourite Veggie Tales movie is The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything. Lots of fun and a very catchy tune to go with it…

Max Lucado does a great kid’s book series that has been made into a video series called Hermie & Friends. The first book and movie is Hermie A Common Caterpillar.

Both of those series are great stories for kids, and also teach good messages for the kids to learn.

Christian Movie I Want to See Next

The next Christian movie that I want to see is also by Providence Films and is their latest movie, Courageous.

What are your favourite Christian movies? What movies would you recommend for my wife and I, or for our kids?

Can Your Ministry Use Virtual or Remote Staff?

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The use of virtual staff is increasing as the world becomes more globalised and skills are becoming more universal. The use of virtual assistants is becoming extremely popular with online marketers and companies, but is this phenomenon something that is limited to the online world? Is virtual staff something that can make the jump to ministry and missions?

Are virtual staff something that you are using with your ministry?

YWAM Ships is one of the first YWAM ministries that I have seen actively seeking volunteer staff to work with their ministry “virtually”. They first posted their desire to do so on their Twitter account:

ywamships: Why not create a base where the back office roles are virtual. – interfacing as a team by video conferencing. #YWAM #YWAMSHIPS #Logistics

They have also put a post on their web-site asking for:

Virtual Volunteers

If you have skills that work well from home and you are unable to join us on site we could still use your help.  If you have “back office” skills such as data entry, graphics, web, IT/programing, registrar, admin and office type skills we could do with your help.

I think that this is a rather unique way that a ministry can look at filling a staffing need. The needs that they are specifically looking at fulfilling virtually are the kinds of needs that can often be done remotely and even part-time. Being part-time roles even opens up the possibility for YWAM Alumni or Associates to perform those roles, while still maintaining a full-time job elsewhere.

Advantages of Virtual Staff

With virtual staff there are many advantages that your ministry can experience:

  • No office space – With virtual staff you do not need to allocate physical office space
  • Not location dependant – Your staff can be literally anywhere in the world, even in a completely different time zone
  • Not time dependant – This is especially beneficial for a part-time role as the staff does not need to fill 40-hours a week
  • Wider pool of potential workers – Since you don’t require your staff to possibly relocate to your location you increase the number of potential volunteers and staff
  • more…

Challenges with Virtual Staff

In addition to all those advantages there are also many challenges working with virtual or remote staff.

I have been working on a remote basis with the YWAM International Communications Team for the last 2.5 years. In addition to the communications team in the United Kingdom I am tied in with a local YWAM Ministry here in Calgary. I must admit though that it is a huge challenge not working in the same location as the rest of my team.

Some of the challenges that I have personally experienced are:

  • Isolation – It is hard not being around and having a “personal” relationship with the people I work with in ministry. Although we are friends and have spent time together “in real life” not having that interaction each day is a challenge.
  • Bouncing ideas off others – Something that I miss is being able to turn around and ask someone for an opinion on something I’m working on or thinking about. For me to get an answer to a question to a member on my team normally takes a day or more via e-mail.
  • Lack of Focus – As much as I love the work that I do in YWAM it can be hard to stay focused on the work when there is no one else around me doing the same or even remotely similar work.
I realise that my personal experience probably differs from others, but I believe that many of these challenges are common to remote workers working in a ministry setting. The lack of fellowship with fellow team members can be quite a challenge…

Do We Need A Virtual YWAM Office Pool?

Here is a question for you, should YWAM have a virtual “office pool” of admin and communications people to fill these needs that are previlant and common at almost all YWAM locations?

I remember a few years ago when the “YWAM President’s Gatherings” started up one of the initiatives that they had talked about was the larger YWAM Centres “adopting” some of the smaller ones around the world. The goal of the larger bases adopting smaller ones was to assist them in growth and fulfilling the things that God has desired for them to do. The President’s gathering was for the largest 40 YWAM Centre leaders to attend. I wonder how many of those centres actually partnered with smaller centres to assist them?

Here is a question directed at YWAM Centre leaders, are you willing to allow your staff to work one day a week for another ministry location to assist them in their administrative or communication needs? Is YWAM one large organisation or tribe, or are we all trying to build our own little kingdoms?