missions « Wandering Priest

Culture of Poverty

We (CMF) are involved in research to minster with local partners in a ministry among the urban poor in a Latin American country. There has been “on the ground” research by some on our staff while I have been focusing on library research (pretty much, my own library, that is).

Back in college and seminary days I [...]

ASM Meeting

This past week-end I participated in the annual American Society of Missiology meeting. This was the 39th meeting of the ASM, which was founded to promote the discipline of missiology. Its charter called for a meeting where mission agencies, missionaries, and mission professors could get together to promote their causes, fellowship, and learn from one [...]

Cooking with Poo

Anji Barker, serving with Urban Neighbors of Hope in Bangkok, Thailand, is active in community development in the slum of Klong Toey. She has helped dozens of women on the road toward self-sufficiency. One of her great projects involves helping women to utilize their resources. One of the women Anji works with is named Poo (short version [...]

CHE Training

This week we are offering training on CHE and are pleased that twenty-two people have come for the training, one from as far away as Colorado. CHE is a kind of Christian version of ABCD, “Asset Based Community Development.” (Actually, maybe I should have said that the other way around.) As an organization, CMF partners [...]

A New On-Line Journal

I want to introduce you to a new on-line journal: Missio Dei: A Journal of Missional Theology and Praxis. The link is http://missiodeijournal.com You can download the journal to read or save in pdf format. The issues are themed. The theme of the first issue was “Rediscovering Missio Dei” and the second issue’s theme was [...]

Congratulations Allison!

This past week-end Robyn and I drove to Kentucky Christian University for the graduation of Allison Thwing. She is the daughter of my cousin Patty, so I think this makes Allison my first cousin once removed or something like that. It was a great family gathering with my aunt Louise and uncle Jerry, cousin LuAnn [...]

Revolution in Research

For many reading this blog, the information I am about to share is not new. Remember, I finished my doctoral studies back in 1989, so I have not been doing a ton of work in the library. A lot of my writing is done with the aid of current books since I write mainly about [...]

My First Webinar

This year CMF is hosting six webinars related to short term mission trips. Two have already taken place – one on tips for planning a trip, and the second on spiritual preparation for the trip. Thursday will be the third webinar, and it is one that I am doing. The subject is “cultural intelligence,” or, what are some [...]

Teaching Today’s Leaders

What a privilege for me to be asked to teach Maasai church leaders, nearly 25 years after leaving work with the Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania! The class I was asked to teach was on the subjects of Missions Trends and Leading a Missions Agency. The Maasai church, with some 100 congregations in the Community [...]

African Mother

When we were on our first furlough, back in 1983-84, Robyn attended some college classes at Fullerton Junior College. One of the classes was in poetry. She wrote the following poem, one of my favorites. She was encouraged to enter the poem in a contest for a local newspaper, and she won! I think she [...]