We know: Sometimes you want so badly to be DONE with support-raising, for the love of Mike, that your prayers are confined to some version of ohpleaseohpleaseohplease help me find the money.
Don’t hate us for this? There’s a lot of richness to be found in this crazy, so-tired-I-could-sleep-on-an-African-bus journey.
So we want to give you something to hang your hat on–something to anchor your soul. We’ve given you 6 printable verses to encourage your support raising, so we’re taking the next natural step.
When you’re headed overseas, it’s critical you’ve got solid biblical training.
In most contexts, you’ll be placed in a role as a spiritual leader. And because God looks at the heart rather than the appearance everyone else looks at (1 Samuel 16:7)–we want you to be that leader from the inside out.
So for this deeply good Friday–perhaps the blackest Friday ever (in terms of both grief and debts paid), we’re looking at these paradoxes bound up in Jesus’ death: all we gained through his loss.
PRINT 1 CORINTHIANS 9:24-27 HERE.We know: The road can feel long in support raising, the discouragement real. Sometimes you might even wonder whose bright idea this was to go there this way.
We’re impressed by Support Raising Solutions’ top five verses for fundraising (a passage from Nehemiah? Who knew?). If you’re wanting to sink your teeth into the biblical basis for raising support, this page and this page could give you a rousing start, and here’s a longer one for all you theological (or seriously skeptical) types here.
So…we loved your enthusiasm for our 5 [Printable] Missions Scriptures to Memorize (*That You Probably Don’t Know Yet) for your Journey. Ready for more?
The journey overseas gets long, belabored with details and fundraising and emotions that somehow resemble peppering by a paintball gun.
Sure, you could go through the motions. But the Psalms speak of our souls blessing God.
So tape these babies up on a bathroom mirror or inside a cabinet, or tuck them in your books or Bible, or position them on your desk (whose surface is likely about to disappear right about now, either beneath papers or sold right out from under them). Memorize these like the gold they are (see Psalm 19:9-10).
When I headed overseas, I was drowning in cardboard boxes, spreadsheets of to-do’s, and fundraising meetings. So many, I was dreaming about it. Sometimes my ability to string two words together in a sentence was severely tested. I can’t answer any more questions, make any more lists, get one more shot, take one more ugly passport photo, remember one more word in a language I don’t use yet, or smile politely at one more person.
The chaos of the journey overseas has an ability to bring that whole verse to a new level, where “we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).
So to kick off 2019, we’re throwing an infographic at you for you to print out. (New Year, new infographic, that’s what we always say.) We hope it will offer you words when there are none.
The William Carey Library has compiled this free daily prayer guide for the largest unreached people groups in the world. Download it here–and consider this free printable infographic for unreached people groups while you’re at it!
Craig Thompson challenges “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well”, “If it’s important to you, then it’s important to God” and other phrases he’s put in perspective in his time on the field. Great words here.
How could you make unreached people groups a regular prayer focus? A couple of ideas:
Here at Go. serve. Love, we’re all about bringing you tools you can use to truly go there, serve Him, and love them well. So we’re stoked about today’s offering: a printable, flexible timeline infographic to help you start picturing the journey there. (You can find it on our Tools for Your Trip page, too, along with our first infographic: 7 Standards of Excellence for Your Global Work.)
Nope, this won’t encompass everything. But you’ll start to see how all this comes together, and maybe even if you’ve been missing anything. (In fact, if you think we’re missing a key element, feel free to comment below!)
Overwhelming? Sho ’nuff. But most journeys worth taking are.
