 In a world that feels like it’s moving faster every day, the mission Jesus gave us hasn’t changed: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” But the methods we use to engage that mission must be shaped by the context we live in—an increasingly digital, globally connected world where the nations are just a click or a short walk away. I believe that ordinary believers, filled with the Spirit and equipped with simple tools, can be the ones God uses to reach the unreached. That’s why we’re excited to announce two new training opportunities designed to help you and your church take meaningful steps into the mission of God—whether that’s online or across the street. From Pew to Pixel: Sharing Jesus in Digital Spaces
We are living in an unprecedented moment for gospel proclamation. Over 5 billion people around the world use the internet, and many of them—including millions of Muslims—are asking spiritual questions online. But here’s the truth: many followers of Jesus are sitting in the pews every week without realizing the missional opportunities available to them right from their smartphones and laptops. That’s where the From Pew to Pixel training, comes in. This practical and inspiring Zoom training equips everyday believers to begin sharing Jesus in digital spaces and will introduce you to Embassy, a ministry of Crescent Project. Whether it’s through social media engagement, messaging apps, or specialized platforms for outreach, you’ll learn simple, biblical approaches to start gospel conversations with those who are seeking. You’ll discover:
Explore More and Register Here Strangers No More: Welcoming Refugees with Gospel Hope
Over the past decade, the nations have come to us. Refugees from places like Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, and Myanmar are settling in neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the U.S.—bringing with them both incredible needs and incredible openness to friendship and faith. International students are flocking to our universities - often coming from places with little access to the gospel. Immigrants from the unreached world are coming to serve as doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs. And yet many churches don’t know where to begin. How do we build bridges? How do we move from fear to friendship? How do we step into the lives of those who have lost so much, and help them find hope in Jesus? Strangers No More is a one-day, in-person training designed to help you and your church answer those questions. In this training, we will:
Learn More and Register Here Why This Matters Now These trainings aren’t just events—they are invitations. Invitations for ordinary Christians to step into the story God is writing in the world today. Invitations to engage in mission not someday, but today—in the everyday moments, on the devices we already use, and in the neighborhoods we already live in. My vision has always been simple: help everyday followers of Jesus find their place in God’s mission to the nations. We believe that begins with equipping. That’s what these trainings are for. And we hope you’ll join us. So, whether you’re ready to take your first step into digital outreach or you feel stirred to begin welcoming refugee and new immigrant families with the love of Jesus, we believe these resources will be a blessing to you—and through you, to many others. Let’s not settle for comfort or complacency. Let’s live on mission—wherever we are. Did you find this helpful? Share it with a friend
0 Comments
 Obedience to the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations will inevitably take many believers across oceans and over mountains to make their homes with a people not their own. One part of that journey will be the need to learn a new language. There is a Turkish proverb which says, “One who speaks only one language is one person, but one who speaks two languages is two people.” Language learning is a joy and reward in and of itself, but for those called to carry the gospel to the nations we are blessed with another, deeper motivation, to know Him and to make Him known. For those who are called to go, there are many questions that come up about how to learn a new language and when to start. To that second question, I’ll say with great confidence, Before You Move! Some will say to wait, that you’ll do better to just get started learning a new language once you land in your destination. Some might also tell a new recruit to the army to not spend any time getting in shape before boot camp. But we can all imagine the unnecessary pain and struggle that could be avoided with even a moderate workout routine. Before You Move Overseas is a workbook to help you prepare for the language learning journey. It’s the workout routine that will reduce some of the unnecessary pain and struggle. Walking through the activities in this workbook prior to departure will help you step into the stress filled first months of living overseas with one less brand new mountain to scale. It will help you navigate those first fledgling interactions with confidence rather than terror and discouragement. Make no doubt about it, language learning is hard. But waiting until you arrive in-country to do anything about the language learning journey is to stack all the initial hardness into an already challenging season. Click on the button below to download your free copy of Before You Move Overseas. Do you know someone who would benefit from this free workbook? Share this with them.  One of the great challenges we face as Christians in an increasingly globalized world is understanding how to share the love of Jesus and the good news of the gospel cross culturally. As if language barriers were not enough, deep cultural differences in worldview, in customs, in values and history all have the potential to create barriers to good communication and open up wide avenues for miscommunication. Debbie DiGennaro, in her book Acclicmated to Africa: Cultural Competence for Westerners, shares a humorous story that highlights this challenge: There was once a certain British man who went with his company to Nigeria. He immediately noticed about Nigerians that the men did not step back to allow ladies to enter a room ahead of them. This bothered him very much. As a proper gentleman, whenever he approached a doorway at the same time as a Nigerian woman, he courteously motioned for her to pass through the door ahead of him. It is not hard to imagine why, in a country where for thousands of years families most likely lived in grass huts with snakes being an ever present issue, the custom of how to enter buildings developed differently than it did in England. It's also not hard to imagine the looks of confusion and even disdain this British gentleman must have received from Nigerian women as he emphatically ushered them into their potential death by snake bite. This cultural nugget of difference is multiplied thousands of times with every new cultural context we enter. Some issues are minor while others can lead to tremendous damage to relationships and potential opportunities to share the gospel. As disciples of Jesus it is important to first realize that those differences, both the deep and the shallow, will always be present when we move into cross cultural settings. We then must do the hard work of trying to understand these differences to see where God is already at work and how we can join him there. This is hard work. Just when we think we’ve figured something out we’ll run into nuances that will confound us once again. If cross cultural ministry is something that you are or will be a part of then it is vitally important to do some homework. Cross cultural ministry can happen in varying degrees wherever you are. Crossing the ocean to engage with people from a different religious background that speak another language is of course more complex than a midwesterner traveling to New York City, but both are cross cultural ministry. Regardless of the complexity and depth of difference between cultures, we can train ourselves to do better at recognizing both the differences and the opportunities they present. Part of that training could be reading books like Foreign to Familiar by Sarah Lanier or Global Humility by Andy McCullough. Context specific books like the one shared above can be a next step. There are also great trainings for missionaries preparing to move overseas at places like Mission Training International and the Center for Intercultural Training. At Everywhere to Everywhere, we are dedicated to equipping and empowering the local church for cross-cultural ministry in their own communities. To support this mission, we’ve created a fun and interactive one-day training called the Strangers No More Training Module. This engaging experience, which can be done in any city in about 5-6 hours, includes:
This training has been a powerful way to help local congregations move beyond fear and build relationships with their new American neighbors—many of whom come from Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or Animistic backgrounds and have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel. The goal of the training is twofold: first, to raise awareness of the diverse cultures around us, and second, to provide a foundational understanding of cultural differences. By doing so, participants can learn to love well and share the gospel with greater confidence and effectiveness. If you’re interested in hosting your own Strangers No More Training Module, you can find a full event description and all necessary resources by clicking the button below. Did you find this post helpful? Share it with a friend.  I've written often about the importance of immersing ourselves in the word of God and have shared tools for helping us do that well. Today I want to take one step back and share a short scripture hammer tool to help young believers discover the absolute importance the scriptures. The tools are great but if your disciple doesn't understand why they need to apply the tool, well, it may not do much good.
When I sit down to read these with my disciple - or a group of disciples - I read each passage two to three times aloud and then have the individual or the group summarize the basic message in their own words. I save the last passage - Jesus' confrontation with the devil in the wilderness - for last as a way to sort of watch Jesus apply the scriptures in His own life.
The goal is to help our disciples discover the joy, the benefit and the power of the scriptures in our lives. The sooner we can help them begin prayerfully engaging with the scriptures on a daily basis, the quicker they will grow toward maturity. If we really believe that the Holy Spirit will guide us - and them - into all truth (John 16:13) then we have to help them get into the scriptures trusting that the Holy Spirit will indeed disciple them into all truth. Do you have a young believer in your life who is struggling to get into the word daily? Find some time to sit down and work through these scriptures together. Do you have another scripture or story that you would include in the list? Share it in the comments below. Scripture List:
If you do take a disciple through this discovery study, let me know how it went in the comments as well.  What is the person of peace? It's a term that is increasingly used both in the church and in the mission field. Practitioners of disciple making movements (DMM) often talk of searching for the person of peace and yet different groups use the term in different ways. All are correct but for those just beginning to explore the idea of the Person of Peace, a clarification might be in order. Some define the Person of Peace (PoP) as anyone who welcomes and opens up their relational network to to the messenger - be that a missionary or a local lay believer crossing the street in their neighborhood. In this use, the PoP doesn't necessarily need to be someone who initially accepts the message, but rather gives permission to the messenger to share with the group. They are often a gatekeeper of sorts - an elder of the village or the patriarch of a family. God is using them to open the door for the message to go forward in their context. This is also sometimes referred to as a House of Peace. A second way the idea of the Person of Peace is used is to simply indicate someone whom God has prepared to receive the gospel. They are a seeker, a God prepared person. Perhaps they've had a dream or a vision or have had a crisis in life that caused them to do some deep soul searching. Their heart is prepared to respond to the gospel. They are ready to receive the messenger and the message. A final way I often hear to idea of the Person of Peace discussed is that they not only are prepared to receive the gospel, but they are also ready and able to reproduce and share the good news with other. They receive the message and the messenger but they also readily receive the mission. When the woman at the well believes Jesus in John 4 she immediately takes that message back to he village where she tells everyone the good news and brings them to Jesus. Many would also refer to this person as a "Fourth Soil Person" who reproduces 30, 60 or 100 times from the Parable of the Sower. All of these definitions work but as you are reading the literature or listening to interviews with practitioners, it is helpful to understand how they are using the term. It was a bit confusing for me the first time I ran into the different ways it was being used. Perhaps there are other ways to think about the Person of Peace. If so, let me know your thoughts in the comments. Until then, I'd encourage you to download this discovery tool to help you learn about the Person of Peace from Jesus' ministry in the gospels. Trainer's notes are included on page three.  As we immerse ourselves in the story of the scriptures, we allow the Holy Spirit to use them to shape our view of the world, of ministry and of ourselves. Scripture hammer trainings allow a trainer to step out of the way and allow the Bible to do the heavy lifting of the training. They require little charism on the part of the trainer, are hard to argue with and place a tool in the hands of those we are training that is immediately reproducible.
The basic idea is to create a list of scriptures that all point toward the basic Biblical principle or lesson you are wanting your trainees to grasp. A scripture hammer study is best done in groups of 2-5 and then debriefed as a group. You can create your own for any topic you'd like to train on. I've created a one page handout with six scripture hammer studies that I've learned from others and that I've been using to train. The focus of these particular studies are:
[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SIX STUDIES] I've written previously about a few of these topic and you can check those out at the links below: While coronavirus has caused a lot of disruption in our world it has also created some great new opportunities. Crescent Project's annual national conference has needed to adjust and has moved online. Introducing the Hope Conference. More accessible than ever and FREE, Hope Conference will happen Thursday September 10th from 9 am - 2 pm central time. The event will feature top notch speakers, opportunities to interact with mission mobilizers, missionaries, former Muslims and Crescent Project staff and all of this will happen online. This will be a great opportunity to be encouraged and equipped to join the work that God is doing in the Muslim world. Watch alone or gather some friends!   Sahara Challenge is an important training opportunity for anyone wanting to go deeper in their understanding of how to better minister to Muslims. It is Crescent Project's top tier training event and because of Covid-19 will this year be offered online for the first time ever, making it more accessible than ever before.
Included in the Online Event:
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.
* Information taken from the Crescent Project website. A sermon given at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church on the strategies and disciple making process of Jesus in Luke 10:1-24.
 Before moving to Central Asia in 2008 I was fortunate to spend time at Mission Training International (MTI) in Colorado doing some pre-field training. This included two weeks of language training with Dwight and Barbara Gradin. We were not learning our target language but rather receiving training to be more effective and efficient language learners. That training set the stage for becoming a language coach and the writer behind The Everyday Language Learner. The goal was to help as many people as possible be successful language learners and in the process create a location independent business which would allow continued work throughout the Muslim world regardless of whether we lived there or not. When we returned to the states in 2012, my goal was to continue to grow this online business model. Traffic grew. Influence grew. But I lacked the business acumen to really make a go of things. And so in 2014, The Everyday Language Learner went away. I moved on and see now all that God was doing to prepare me through those years for the work I'm doing now to mobilize and train the church into the harvest. I want to share with you a few resources that were created during that season. The three resources below are ebooks that you can downloard for free. I hope that they will help you learn another language so that you can more effectively share the gospel. Enjoy and share them with others. Before You Move Overseas: This workbook is a blueprint for the weeks and months BEFORE you board the plane. In it you will find actions that, when implemented, will help you prepare for the language learning journey. This workbook is filled with the actions I wish someone had encouraged me to take in that year before moving. The bulk of this guide then is made up of ten actions you can take over the coming months before you move. [Read it Here] Activities and Strategies for Everyday Language Learners: This ebook is a collection of 56 articles from the Everyday Language Learner blog focusing primarily on practical, hands-on activities you can do in your personal study time, with a language helper or out in the community. This is a 243 page ebook! [Read it Here] The Everyday Language Learner's Guide to Getting Started: This is the most robust guide I wrote and in it I give all the information needed to be a self-directed, independent language learner. [You can download a zip file from the bottom right of the Resource Page] Most cross cultural work will require the learning of another language. It is essential to be able to effectively communicate the gospel. I hope that these resources will help you on the language learning journey. |
The E2E Community
Books for Language Learning
Categories
All
Good Books
Archives
June 2025
|
Proudly powered by Weebly