Free Photos for Missionaries and Ministry

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Sometimes I reckon that I subscribe to way to many blogs. It can be overwhelming at times just to sort through all the content, even if it’s good content.

Honduras-0580-21 (Medium) Today however in a recently subscribed to blog I came across a real gem of information.

The International Missions Board is making available a whole boat load of missions and ministry focuses photos available, for free for individuals and churches who need multi-cultural photos for web-sites, presentations, videos, etc.

From reading the original article that I found what you can see in the IMB gallery at the moment is only a bit of what will be made available soon for use.

Bangladesh-8623-30 (Medium)

At the moment you can check out about 160 free photos of people, places and events. The photos are all very high quality and can potentially add a lot to whatever project you are needing them for. Already they are a great resource for Christian Missionary Pictures, and they should be even better once the full gallery has been added.

Unfortunately there are no missions related IT or Communication type photos in the gallery. Those are the type of photos that I am needing right now as I prepare new support materials to help us make up the $1330 budget deficit that we will be shoulder with when we finally make the move to Canada.

You can check out the photo over at the IMB Picasa Web Album.

Source: Mission Leader – Want Great Mission Photos?

Become a Missionary – The YWAM Way

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There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of different ways that you could become a Christian Missionary. Rather than looking today at how you can be a missionary in your home town or work I’ll look at how you can become a cross-cultural Christian missionary through Youth With A Mission.

I am also going to avoid for the moment the discussion about short-term missionaries and the value that actually comes from that. There are some good discussions and debates from both sides of that topic, so I will include short term and longer term opportunities through YWAM.

Youth With A Mission has many ways that people can become involved in Cross Cultural missions. Every year over 200,000 mostly young people go through YWAM missions programs around the world. Here are a few options that are available:

  • Mission Adventures
  • Discipleship Training School
  • Business as Missions
  • School of Frontier Missions
  • Joining YWAM Staff

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How I Became a Christian Missionary

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I have often looked back and asked myself how I became a Christian Missionary. I have been a full-time missionary now for 10-years (since January 1999), and it is something that I never would have thought I would be doing.

I’ll save my testimony for another post, and just focus on what happened after I decided that God had better plans for me than I could even have for myself.

Shortly after deciding to follow after God’s plan for my life in November 1997 I caught up with a friend named Tyler Rousell, who had just completed a YWAM Discipleship Training School in Mexico. He spent about 2-hours telling me the "short version" of his YWAM DTS and some of the things that God had done in his life over the six-month school.

For me, being a fresh Christian, a YWAM DTS sounded like a great way to "figure out who God is". Prior to that I had always wanted to go travel to Australia with another mate, so I started to look at how I could do a YWAM DTS in Australia.

After finding a YWAM DTS at Reef to Outback in Australia to go to I booked a one-year open ended ticket because I figured I might want to travel for a bit after I completed my Discipleship Training School. My plan (notice I didn’t say "God’s plan") was to be in Australia for 6 – 12 months, then head back to Canada with a clear vision of what I was to do with my life.

I got to my YWAM DTS after also completing a YWAM Niko with YWAM Calgary. It was a very intense time of realizing just a tiny bit of what it meant to live in accordance with God’s will. Somehow during that time I had also agreed to come back to Reef to Outback to join staff for the next Discipleship Training School in January 1999.

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Lunch with Pop – Revisited

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Maxwell Stenson - WWII Vetran - Aussie Digger Since I have moved over to a new blog I was thinking about what posts I really wanted to hold onto. There is a lot of stuff on the old blog that was good, and that I eventually want to move over to this new blog. I’ll be sorting through them slowly, but it will take me a while as there are over 400 articles on the old blog.

This is one post that I was thinking about today that I wanted to move to this new web-site.

I wrote this original article in July 2005. About a year after I wrote it Tamara’s Pop had a stroke, which has left him in a weakened physical state, and with dementia. He has since been admitted to a nursing home and just isn’t the man that he was when I first wrote this article …

 

 

I just got back from having lunch with Tamara’s Pop, her Mum’s father. I asked him a lot of questions, and got a lot of amazing answers.  I can’t help but think about how much our generation owes to their generation.

His Dad was a WWI veteran who instilled some amazing values into Tamara’s Pop.  During the Great Depression in the 30s he left school after grade 7 to go to work and help support the family.  He started out there as a messenger boy in a hose fitting company.  When he retired in the late 70’s he was the manager at the Adelaide Postal Exchange, with over 700 employees that he was responsible.  I already respected him a lot, but that respect grew as I sat and just listened to some of his stories.

Pop joined up with what would now probably be the Australian Reserve Forces in 1938 as soon as he could, at 16. He said that in ’38 they thought that there was a possibility of an upcoming conflict. As soon as he turned 19 he joined the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and was put into the Signals Corp as he had taught himself mores code by the time he was 10.

How do you think our generation respond during a time like that? Would we sign up, or would we run? Does our generation still have the same sense of values and responsibility that his generation did?

He taught me a lot today as we spoke and I could probably write for pages. I wish that I had some more time with him but they are heading back to Adelaide tomorrow, but I am very grateful for the hour that we had today.We owe so much to the generation before us, but we don’t acknowledge it enough. We don’t show them the respect that they deserve. We don’t know the hardships that they went through so that we could have it as easy as we do now.

The VP60 (Victory in the Pacific – 60 years) Celebrations are coming up here in Townsville this month.  There aren’t many of the veterans left and we can’t forget what they and the generations before them have done for us…

I Am Moving to Canada

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After serving in YWAM here in Townsville for most of the last 10-years we are now moving to Canada to continue ministering there with YWAM.

In Canada I will be working primarily with the Youth With A Mission International Chairman’s Team (YWAM ICT). The work with the YWAM ICT will involve:

  • Communicating what God is doing in YWAM around the world and assisting locations that do not have the means to communicate themselves.
  • Developing ways to help YWAM to communicate and coordinate better between the over 1200 locations around the world.
  • Evaluating cutting edge technology through a biblical filter and applying it within YWAM.

I will be also tying in with the local YWAM base in Calgary a bit in addition to the work I will be doing for the YWAM ICT.

Before I did my YWAM Discipleship Training School in 1998 I did a YWAM Niko through YWAM Calgary, which was a great personal development opportunity for myself, and a good introduction to YWAM. Ironically when I went back to Calgary in June 1999 after my YWAM DTS I spoke to the leaders of YWAM Calgary about joining staff there in 2000, but that never eventuated. Now it looks like I will be working them after all, only 9-years later than I originally thought …

You can read more about the YWAM ICT here and YWAM Calgary here.