Mass abduction reveals decaying Mexican State

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http://world.einnews.com/article/235642697/eLhz3Fk80e_AQKCM?n=2&code=DkjZAFS17FKPn9ko

This is a follow up to the recent news in Mexico. In brief, the mayor of the town Iguala and his wife are linked to organized crime. They are raking in a lot of money from corruption, although they just entered their office two years ago. They were going to have a celebration of a new large shopping mall that they personally financed completely out of their own pocket, and a teacher movement (students preparing for being teachers) wanted to demonstrate at this event in protest of things these two were doing. The mayor and his wife got wind of it, and they sent people from their mafia connections to abduct them, take them to a city dump and kill them. They didn’t use enough bullets. So they were ordered to pour diesel on the bodies and burn them for several days until there were no more remains. When they started, some of those still alive tried to get out of the fire, and they were pushed back in, and left to burn alive.

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Ending your presentation on time

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Missions Mentoring: Ending your Presentation on Time

This short under 2 minute talk is about missionaries ending their presentations on time. While what this fellow says is true, it can give the wrong idea. Just because you end on time doesn’t mean that the church will give you support. The opposite may be truer though. If you go over your allowed time, your chances greatly decrease with the more time you go over. Ask the pastor, and try to stay within that time limit. I would also point out that you need to clarify what time you are to stop speaking, and what time the service is over. Many pastors stop before 12 AM and have an invitation and closing hymn, so you only have until like 11:50. Good ole U.S.A., getting at the beginning of the feed-line at the restaurant after Sunday morning church is more important than getting anything spiritual from the message. Yep! That’s about it!

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Using Color correctly in Slide Prentations

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First of all, these principles are basic art class principles. Color is extremely useful in presentations, but note that there are some rules to observe.

Most missionary presentations use very few title slides, but some use a background kind of effect with an image within that “frame”, and a title. The frame and title would be where you would apply the principles in this post.

There is a very useful and nice program called VideoScribe that allows you to make a whiteboard type video, where a hand actually draws the image. These color balancing tips come from their website (you don’t have to use their program to follow this tip). I will use there images and add logos of companies to illustrate what they say.

http://www.sparkol.com/blog/captivate-your-audience-with-these-pro-colour-tips/

I will summarize the rules here.

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Success is a two edged Sword

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Truly, every single missionary wants success. It is extremely important to really understand “what success is for a missionary”. For many people, success can be defined as the 3 B’s: Bodies, Bucks, and Buildings. See my tract ch31 3Bs of success: buildings, bodies, and bucks In this tract I refute those elements of success. The Jack Hyles school of ministry would clearly define success in these parameters. While these things may seem to be success for Christian ministries, it is very unspiritual, and it is very much not what the Bible presents. As far as we know, Jesus had no building EVER. The money aspect of Jesus’ ministry did not appear prominent, i.e. he did not have expensive things a lot of money could buy. When at the end he entered into Jerusalem at the beginning of his final week, he had to borrow somebody else’s “wheels” (a burro, not a nice horse), and he had to borrow somebody else’s upper room. Both of these elements, as well as all the other aspects of his ministry point to a ministry devoid of “riches”. He helped the poor, but he himself and his inner circle walked wherever they went from all indications.

Even the “helping aspect” of Jesus’ ministry is something that is speaking strongly against modern success oriented ministries. Notice that Jesus fed the thousands and healed many. These things were not the appeal that Jesus put forth as his main focus. We see nowhere that Jesus nor his followers went about advertising free food or free healing. These things were not the focus. Jesus’ focus was centrally and exclusively on the Gospel. People came to hear the Gospel, not for the food. This was the advertisement Jesus and his disciples’ used if there were even an advertisement at all. Word of mouth was what would appear to be the only advertisement they used.

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Missionary Software Recommendations

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Note: This page will be updated regularly with new recommendations.

I (David Cox) have been a missionary for about 28 years now, and if you count the years on deputation, around 30 years. In my lifetime, I have gone from nothing electronic to speak of to using powerful desktop computers now. When I was in my schooling years (1964-2002) computers hit the scene and are now common. My education (much after school was self-taught about computers, and I even taught myself Foxpro relational database, and programmed my own software) has spanned both no-computer, and computer. So let me start off by a couple of much needed points that people need to understand.

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Emerging Church and the Bible

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This is a description of “the Emerging Church and Young Seekers” from christianity.about.com

Solomon’s Porch, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a good example. Founding pastor Doug Pagitt saw thousands of college students in the area and knew they had dropped out of traditional church services. Pagitt offered them something different.

Instead of preaching from a pulpit, Pagitt sits on a stool and engages the participants in dialogue. Instead of rows of pews facing forward, Solomon’s Porch has sofas, arranged in a circle. And instead of organ music and 500 year-old hymns, this church has guitars and contemporary music.

Other churches in the movement hold young texters’ attention by projecting fleeting visuals to illustrate messages, accompanied by fast-paced discussion. Some include activities such as signing one’s name on a cross or walking a labyrinth. Worship may engage the senses with incense, candles, and bells.

While some of these new ways of doing church services are a departure from evangelical Christianity, others resemble ancient symbols and rituals of Roman Catholicism.

The writer of this article correctly observes that mixed within the desire to reach these young people is the incorporation of false religions and dubious elements that would probably not be valid for true Christianity.

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