Missionary Presentations Q&As

There is hardly a missionary who presents his/her work that is not thrust before an audience and the pastor says, answer any questions that our people might have. In this presentation by Deborah Grayson Riegel, she deals with how to handle Questions and the audience.

Torture Common in Mexico #2

Lopez Tortillo torture is common in MexicoTorture and Human Rights Violations are Common in Mexico

Taken from Mexico New Daily (Torture Common in Mexico)

The United Nations special reporter on torture says it’s widespread in Mexico, and Ernesto López Portillo and Nancy López agree. It’s a common occurrence, say López Portillo, the executive director of the Institute for Security and Democracy (Insyde), and López, of the Mexican Commission on the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH). The two claim torture often occurs without investigation or punishment…. According to López, information obtained from the Attorney General’s office (PGR) demonstrated that although the office denounces torture, there is no evidence to back that up, nor is it punished.

This news article is a good read about Torture Common in Mexico. Basically, it reveals publicly what we who live in Mexico have known for a long time privately. Police regularly beat confessions out of people, and the article makes the point that even police torture of police is common. This is how the Mexican police work, their mentality.

Living in Mexico for 30 years, my take is simply that the Mexican police are incompetent. Torture Common in Mexico is simply a product of this corruption. The factors that contribute to this are the following:

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Missionary Calling: 7 Ways to Identify your Calling

In this brief video, Tara Sophia Mohr (not identified as a Christian) speaks in general about identifying your calling in life.

See video at end of this post…

I would note that this is just a simple motivation type talk where Tara speaks in general to anybody about their calling in life. What I took away from this is that this is exactly what you as a missionary need to understand and present to your potential missionary partners so that they understand your calling. One thing is that you are called (not all missionary candidates are called by the way), and another thing is to communicate that calling to others, especially those that support you, and those that potentially are considering supporting you. This means that you need to highly persuade them of your calling. The elements that Tara presents are very useful in this task.

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Missionary Calling: Processing a call into Ministry

10 Steps to Processing a Call into the Ministry

1. Spend adequate time evaluating what you are sensing.

2. Be patient. Clarity takes time.

3. Seek the counsel of a pastor or professional minister that you respect. Seek honest impressions about the ministry, and your dealing with it.

4. Get involved in ministry right now where you are.

5. Seek affirmation of your calling from others around you.

6. Involve your family in the discussion and the decision.

7. Consult books that can assist you. Books on the philosophy of the ministry. Biographies of respected ministers.

8. Face the tough questions. What are your deepest motives? Why are you really in this?

9. Meet regularly with a mentor. Choose a good trustworthy mentor that believes in you, that knows what you are going to do, and believes in you.

10. Embrace it with everything you’ve got!

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