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Three Great Ways to Get Started Learning a Language

2012-06-05T23:02:00.002-05:00

Most people who move to a foreign culture--including missionaries--will need to learn a language. While many businesses are conducted in English or through translators, this luxury is often not affordable for missionaries (also, learning the language and culture gives the missionary great advantages in presenting the gospel).

Since I have lived in three countries and spent significant time in a few others, I've been exposed to several languages. I have learned fluency in Indonesian and familiarity in Tagalog and Spanish (although my competence in all three of these languages has plummeted in the last few years that I've lived in the States).

I want to offer you three tips that will help you get started learning any new language:

1. Study the Basics

Take some time to learn the basic pronunciations, pronouns, tenses, colors, and directions in the language you will be learning. These topics will be covered in the first few chapters of any language book. Although it would be helpful to master these basics, even gaining a familiarity in them will help you pick more up as you listen to others' conversations.

2. Immerse Yourself

You will learn a surprising amount just by hearing others speak. Once you have the basics down, you'll start to recognize words and phrases that you hear. This familiarity will help you understand more of the foreign language, especially as you begin to understand the context of the conversations.

I took Spanish 1 in high school and didn't think I had retained anything. I remembered a few basic words and basic grammar, but I couldn't have any meaningful conversation. However, four years later, I had Mexican and Guatemalan roommates during my junior year of college. As I spent more time with them and listening to them, I began to understand nearly everything they said and was often able to respond in Spanish.

3. Don't be Afraid to Make Mistakes

When you were a child, you did not speak your native language with complete fluency. You mispronounced words, used wrong grammar, and had a limited vocabulary. However, as your parents and teachers corrected your mistakes, you learned your native language with fluency. If you are reluctant to practice your new language because of a lack of confidence about making mistakes, then you will be unlikely to learn the language.

These mistakes always result in great stories. In Indonesian, I often confused the words for hair (rambut) and grass (rumput). A missionary I know once preached a sermon about how Jesus was born in a toilet rather than in a manger.

Have you ever studied a foreign language? What helped you learn? Any good stories about mistakes you made?

Related articles:

How to Choose a Missions Sending Organization

Hosanna, Hallelujah, and Other Foreign Things

How to Become a Missionary

May 2012 in Review

2012-06-01T08:11:00.005-05:00

Well in terms of the different things I track (comments, unique visitors, total page views, etc.), this has kind of been a down month, but it wasn't a major dip.

My top three posts of the month were:
Someone is Always Watching You, which, by the way, is probably my favorite post I've ever written.
What's Your Growth Plan, which resulted in my time at Chick-Fil-A's leadercast seminar.
Two Themes of World Missions Work

How did your blog do this month? Include links to your top posts so I can enjoy them too.

Three Great Ways to Beat Jet Lag

2012-05-31T06:43:00.002-05:00

Missions Wednesday is a little bit late today. I had Monday off, and I got my days all mixed up. When I think about having my days all mixed up, I think about jet lag. Jet lag is a common experience for all world travelers, including missionaries, so for this Thursday edition of Missions Wednesday, I want to talk to you a little bit about jet lag and how to beat it.

What Is Jet Lag?
In order to best understand jet lag, it's easiest to compare it to how you live your life now. Your body is used to waking up at a certain time; being hungry for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at certain times; and finally being ready for bed at a certain time. Sometimes you'll hear this referred to as your body clock.

Well, if you travel to the other side of the world, what used to be lunch time is now in the middle of the night and what used to be time to get up in the morning is now time to eat dinner. Basically, jet lag is what happens when you take your body clock and make it adapt to a whole different time zone.

How Do You Get Jet Lag?
You're most likely to get jet lag when you travel to another time zone, usually ones that are far enough away that you're daily routine is displaced by several hours. You can actually give your self some of the symptoms of jet lag when you have to adjust to a new schedule or when you have to adjust to Daylight Savings Time.

Three Great Ways to Get Rid of Jet Lag

1. Adopt your new timezone before you get there. The trick to doing this is to set your watch to the timezone you'll be traveling to. This will confuse your stomach and your sleep schedule, so snacks and naps may help you get started as long as you don't over do it. It can be tricky to decide when to start the transition. I usually preferred starting the day before I left, but many travelers will suggest that you start when you board your first plane.

However, it's important to not start this process too early. You need to finish well in your old timezone so that you can succeed well in your new timezone. If you start too early, then you'll be tired and groggy in both timezones!

2. Drink lots of water. Water helps you feel refreshed when you're tired (since your sleeping schedule will be all out of whack), fuller between meals (since your eating schedule will be all out of whack), and hydrated (since airplanes will dry you out).

3. Spend some time outdoors. If the sun is shining, you it won't feel like bedtime, no matter how tired you are. If it's dark out, then you can start giving yourself mentally ready for bed even if you're not that tired. Also, if you take time to go on a walk while you're outside, you'll get a short-term energy burst and longer-term assistance in feeling tired sooner.

Have you ever experienced jet lag? What was it like? What did you find helpful in getting through it?

Memorial Weekend

2012-05-26T10:18:00.002-05:00

Have a great, fun, and safe Memorial Day.

Who are you remembering this Memorial Day? What are your plans for Memorial Day weekend? Did you get any extra time off of work?

Missions: Protecting the Home Front

2012-05-22T23:15:00.000-05:00

For Missions Wednesday this week, I want to look at the other side of missions. To help explain this concept, let's compare missions to sports.

The objective of most sports is to have more points than the other team at the end of the game--even sports like wrestling, boxing, and martial arts include scores to determine a winner if one person didn't clearly win the fight. To score points, there is usually offense and defense--offense's objective is to score points and defense's is to prevent points to be scored.

In the "sport" of missions, it is necessary to play both offense and defense. The offensive players are the missionaries on the front lines, churches and supporters who help get the missionaries on the field, and the prayer partners who lift up their missionary friends.

Even with missionaries on the front lines, the American church still needs defense!

Do you know what countries/regions missionaries get sent to? Places like China, India, the former Soviet Union, and the nations of Africa are some of the first places we think of when we think of where missionaries are needed. However, did you know that many of our missionaries go to Europe? Did you know that other countries appoint missionaries to minister to the United States?

Europe was once the center of global Christianity, but now less than 3 percent of the population are Evangelical Christians. The United States sends more missionaries than any other country, but now is receiving missionaries.

How to play defense in the American church

There are countless ways for the American church to step up and play defense, but I'd like to offer three:

Lose the checklist mentality. It's easy to let your faith become a checklist. Go to church--check. Read my Bible--check. Smile at a homeless person--check. With a checklist mentality, our faith becomes about meeting minimum requirements, not about becoming growing and vibrant.

Focus on your heart. The Book of Proverbs is a guide to Christian living--its words contain so much wisdom that it would take several lifetimes to try to apply all of the lessons. One of the key verses (in my opinion) in the book of Proverbs is 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." When you focus on your heart, you allow yourself to be someone who can be completely used by God.

Make partnerships. The opposing offense will try to succeed by using teamwork, so you'll lose if you try to do defense alone. Partner with your church and other Christians, allow yourself to be discipled and take time to disciple others, and evangelize to those who need to hear the Truth.

I've only listed three of the many ways to play defense. What are three other defensive plays do you think will work?

Wycliffe Words

2012-05-18T23:28:00.000-05:00

Every Wednesday I blog about missions. Obviously, today is not Wednesday, but I was too excited about this topic to let it wait another half week. If you're interested in reading my other Missions posts, click here.

Along with missions, there are a few other things that I'm fascinated with: marketing, effective uses of social media, trivia, and the Bible. This week, I have found something that combines all of those interests: Wycliffe Words!

If you're not familiar with Wycliffe, they are one of the leading Evangelical missions-sending agencies. Their primary goal is translating the Bible into languages that have no Bible, but they excel in many other missions roles too.

The Game

Wycliffe Words is an online game that will run until June 12, 2012. The goal is to accumulate as many points as possible by answering Bible trivia questions, checking in each day, recruiting your friends to play along, and connecting your social media accounts. There are several prizes up for grabs, and all of them look pretty sweet.

What makes this different than other Bible trivia games is that each day you are given a Bible passage in another language but, as you correctly answer the trivia questions, you are given a clue to how to translate the foreign passage.

Spreading The Message

The trivia is fun, but what really draws me to this game is the social media components. The purpose of this game is to make more people aware of the ministry of Wycliffe, which will hopefully help attract new donors and prayer partners. One component of the game is to recruit as many new players as possible to play, and this is accomplished by seamless Twitter and Facebook integration.

If you are interested in trying this game, please visit this site: http://www.wycliffewords.org/?pid=32437&source=LinkRecruit. Signing up is very fast, and you can immediately start accumulating points for your own chance at the grand prize (which is a trip for four to Orlando!).

My Thoughts On Wycliffe Words

Wycliffe Words is doing something that many Christian organizations don't do well--embracing technology to spread their message. The focus of this game is making more people aware of missions, but similar techniques could be embraced to spread the message of Christ, aid discipleship, and make Christian education fun and interesting to future generations.

Have you tried out Wycliffe Words? What ways do you think Christians could effectively embrace social and digital media? Does it cheapen anything for you for prizes to be used in ways like this?

Come on, help me out! http://www.wycliffewords.org/?pid=32437&source=LinkRecruit It'll only take one click to sign up!

How To Choose A Missions Sending Organization

2012-05-15T22:16:00.001-05:00

This is Missions Wednesday. For an archive of all of my missions posts, click here.

If you search "Missions" on Google, you will get thousands of results in only a fraction of a second. A closer look will reveal that there are hundreds of missions-sending organizations. If you or a team are interested in going on a short- or long-term missions trip, you'll inevitably find that the opportunities are endless.

Here's a guide to help you get started in your missions trip planning. I hope this guide will help you make the best decision about a ministry partner next time you go on a missions trip. Since I work at the national office of the Assemblies of God, I have to highly recommend going on missions trips with the AG. GoAG.org is a great resource for helping you get started.

Go Independently
Unless your group has the backing of a strong church and has great overseas partners, this probably isn't ideal for long-term missions, but it can work well for short-term trips. When you plan your trip independent of a sending organization, then you design a trip that will specifically work for you or your group and you may be able to reduce your overall costs. A major drawback to this approach is that you must take care of all of the logistics instead of having the help of an established organization.

Look Within Your Denomination
If you attend a denominational church, then it is valuable to look at the opportunities within your organization. They will likely have a missions department or will be able to endorse certain organizations. Depending on what you plan on doing on your trip, your denomination's office may be able to connect you with people on the missions field who can host you and your team. Additionally, staying within the denomination may have special opportunities or incentives. For example, in the Assemblies of God, churches can receive awards for how much money they give to missions each year, and the money spent on the trip counts towards that total.

Choose Based On Your Ministry
A friend of mine is a missionary to surfers, others teach English, others do entrepreneurial work, others work with children, others do manual labor--the opportunities are endless. Some missions-sending organizations work specifically with people and teams who want to do a specific kind of ministry. For example, the English Language Institute helps missionaries use English teaching for evangelism in countries across Asia. If you or your team have specific gifts, then an organization that specializes in that kind of ministry will be great ministry partners.

Choose A Great Organization
Sadly, not all organizations are efficient or reputable. Some organizations have high administrative costs, which means they don't efficiently spend the money they receive. A simple Google search will help you assess the reputability of the organization you intend on working with. There are also organizations that specialize in investigating ministries and non-profits to assess their reputability. MinistryWatch.com or CharityNavigator.org may be a good places to start.

What do you consider when you decide on ministry partners for a missions trip? Have you had a good experience with any? What characteristics do you think a good missions-sending organization have?

Someone Is Always Watching You

2012-05-11T20:54:00.000-05:00

Did you know that there is someone out there who is always watching you? This person mocks you every time you trip, every time you are clumsy, or every time you mess something up. Staring at you, laughing at you, jeering at you.

No, you can't get away from this person. Their all-seeing eye remarkably catches all of your embarrassing moments, but always seems to be looking away when you have an accomplishment. This person knows about all of your typos, recognizes all of your flaws, and their opinion of you is plummeting.

This person probably can get you fired, probably can get you audited, probably can get you arrested, can probably ruin your life, or probably get you killed. In fact, they are probably planning every step of your premature demise.

You can't run from this person. When you sleep, get ready, work, relax, or whatever you are doing, you are being watched. A long list of wrongs is growing, but the list of accomplishments is covered in dust.

I'm not talking about God, Google, or Big Brother--though they see a lot too. I'm not talking about your parents, your boss, your best friends, your worst enemies, but someone who knows you deeper in every way.

Stop being your own worst critic.

How To Become A Missionary

2012-05-08T22:03:00.000-05:00

Today is Missions Wednesday. I write a new missions post every Wednesday. I don't want you to miss any of these posts! Click here to subscribe.

Whether you're a pastor, evangelist, tech person, teacher, editor, photographer, underwater basket weaver, or counselor, God can use your specific talents in missions. Regardless of what you may think, the job description of a missionary is very broad and can accommodate every kind of background.

If you think God is calling you to missions, it can be an arduous task to fulfill that call. Here's a few steps to help you get started. This procedure I'm describing is written to help those who want to serve in long-term (5+ years) missions, but the process will be fairly similar for short-term missionaries. If you want to serve less than a year, then your process will likely be fairly simple.

Be A Maturing Christian
If you aren't committed to Christ, then you won't be a very effective missionary. You can begin the process as a new Christian, but a lot of organizations will want to see signs of Christian growth in your life. If you aren't sure where to begin, make sure you faithfully attend church, find ministries you can serve with, start a Bible reading plan, and find someone to mentor you in your faith--this process is referred to as discipleship and it's something you should continue your whole Christian life.

Talk To Your Pastor
If you are a mature Christian or a new Christian who has begun the discipleship process, talk to your pastor about your desire to be a missionary. Most importantly, be willing to listen to him/her. They may encourage you to wait, serve longer in the church, take specific classes, go on a missions trip, or gain certain experiences first--don't let this discourage you. Prayerfully trust their discernment.

Get Your Church's Endorsement
It will be very important to have a supporting church working with you. If your church is independent, then it may be as simple as talking to your pastor. If your church is part of a denomination, then you may have to get endorsement on a statewide or national level.

Find Someone To Partner With
This can be a specific missionary that you can begin serving with or a missions-sending organization. Initiate the application process with the organization or begin communication with the missionary. You will likely have to jump through some hoops, but this is one of the most important steps so keep your head up and keep a good attitude during this stage.

Be Flexible, Patient, and Persistent
You'll likely have to submit references, get a background check, and go through interviews. Once you're approved, then you'll have to start finding financial and prayer partners. This whole process from your first call to the time you arrive on the field could take a few years. You will experience discouragement, you will experience frustration, and you will feel like giving up, but once you pass through this process then you will be a missionary.

What preparation do you think candidate missionaries should receive? Anything you'd add/remove from this process? How can you help an applying missionary get to the field.

What's Your Growth Plan?

2012-05-04T22:39:00.002-05:00

Today I attended the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast. It was a great day and I heard a lot of great speakers and learned a lot of great stuff. If you have an opportunity to attend next year, I highly recommend it. One thing that really stood out to me was from John Maxwell.

John Maxwell is probably the most famous Christian leadership expert, but he was just a regular guy working a regular job. He had breakfast with a mentor who asked John, "What is your growth plan?" Maxwell had no growth plan--in fact was unsure what a growth plan was--and began to seek out how others were growing and developing in their life.

The difference between the respected leadership author

and just another guy was a plan for self development.

Planning To Grow

I don't know the secret to growing, but I do have a few ideas:

Take Some Classes. Community colleges offer inexpensive classes, many workplaces offer free learning resources, and there are many inexpensive conferences you can attend. These classes don't have to apply directly toward your intended career, just make sure you broaden your mind, learn new critical thinking skills, learn how to understand things from a different perspective, and, of course, it never hurts to take a class or two that will directly affect your career.

Read Some Books. Books are free at the library, many lesser-known books are very inexpensive or free from the Kindle or Nook store, or you can spend a few dollars at a local bookstore and pick out a good book. Similar to the classes you can take, you don't always have to choose books based on your field, but it never hurts.

Talk To Someone Smarter Than You. One thing that Maxwell said is that you should never be the smartest person in your group. If you are, then you need to find a smarter group. Spend time with people smarter than yourself and do everything you can to learn from them.

How Can You Be The Next John Maxwell?

The difference between the famous Christian author and another Christian professional is a personal growth plan. What can you do to be the next John Maxwell? Do you have a personal growth plan? What other tips can you offer to add to a personal growth plan?

Two Themes of World Missions Work

2012-05-02T04:50:00.001-05:00

Today is Missions Wednesday. For an archive of past Missions Wednesday posts, click here.

For nearly any task, there's often more than one way to accomplish it. World missions is another task that also has more than one way to do it. Although I'm sure there are more than two, here are two major themes of world missions work.

Traditional World Missions

This is the theme of worlds missions work that you are probably most familiar with if you have spent any significant time in the church in America. In this model, ministers and professionals are sent around the world to carry out world evangelism. What they do overseas varies widely by the missionary, because there are many different roles that need filled, but their overall purpose is the expand the Kingdom of God in other countries.

Pros: They often have access to top education and resources; they are backed by their home currency, which is sometimes quite strong in their country of ministry; they are backed by their home church, which can be a great source of finances, teams, and prayer; those who become missionaries usually have a unique call of God on their life to do be in missions in a specific country.

Cons: Occasionally their home currency is quite weak when converted to foreign currencies; missionaries need to learn a new language and culture, which delays their ministry by over a year; they are far from their family, home, and church; they are often unable to get jobs if finances are tight; they have to cover the large expenses of travelling internationally.

Empowered National Missionaries

This theme of world missions has been made famous by Gospel for Asia--a missions organization that has been very effective in empowering Indians to reach India. The main premise of this concept is that Christians will be most effective at reaching people in their own country and culture. Instead of sending a missionary to a faraway country, empowered national missionaries are ministers who travel to different parts of their own country to do missions work. In some cases, such as in Latin America, these national missionaries may also go to a nearby country with similar dialects and culture.

Pros: The national missionary is immediately able to begin evangelism in their new home without language or culture training; with international partnerships, they are often backed financially by stronger currencies (for example, Gospel for Asia receives a lot of its financing from America); they do not need to cover the enormous international travel costs; they are closer to family and their home; if funds are tight they won't need any special permits to get a local job.

In Gospel of Asia, for example, their missionaries only need a few hundred dollars a month; whereas, an American missionary sent to India often has to raise several thousand dollars each month.

Cons: People who feel called to minister among a certain people group are discouraged to do ministry outside of their own country; in some countries, the national minister will likely face harsh persecution for abandoning their cultural religion; in some cases they will not have access to the education or resources they need; poorer countries may have a harder time sending their missionaries if they cannot find international partners.

What Do You Think?

As a church goer who occasionally is asked to give to a missionary, who would you feel more comfortable giving to? Which do you think is more effective?

April 2012 in Review

2012-05-01T03:43:00.001-05:00

Thank you for following my blog. I have been enjoying writing it, and I hope you have been enjoying reading it.

April was a great month for me. I expanded my blog by one post per week (a missions post every Wednesday) and I have continued to post a Christian life post every weekend (usually Friday evening). I also got the opportunity to write a book review for Jeff Goins, who is kind of a blogging big shot.

Here are my top three posts in April (as determined by several factors, mostly Web traffic).

How Christians Deal With Frustration. This post took me by surprise--it didn't feel like it was very revolutionary or anything, but it quickly became the #2 most-read post on my blog (here's #1).

The Missionary's Job Description. This post is a look at what missionary's do in their ministry--the truth might surprise you. Hint: Not all missionaries are pastors, evangelists, or church planters.

Black Saturday. This is an Easter post inspired by my time in the Philippines.

How did your blog do this April? What were your top posts?

Book Review: You Are A Writer

2012-04-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

Jeff Goins is a Christian blogger who blogs about writing, publishing, and building a personal platform for your writing. Additionally, he offers free e-courses to help you get started. If you aren't regularly reading GoinsWriter.com, then you need to go subscribe right now.

I received an advanced copy of his newest book You Are a Writer (So Start ACTING Like One). It's not available yet in the Kindle or Nook store, but check back here next week and I'll provide you a link where you can go check it out. It is now for sale on Amazon (affiliate link) or you can check out special packages at YouAreAWriter.com.

What The Book Is About
Jeff Goins wants to empower writers. Not just bloggers or those who write as a hobby, but he wants to help you get to the place where you can develop a following, publish articles, and even write a book. He walks you step by step through the process of getting started, reaching out to readers, and reaching out to publishing editors. He gives you all the tools you need to get started without blindly getting into the process.

It's not an easy process and can actually be quite intimidating. Fortunately, Jeff is very encouraging and inspiring--several times while I was reading, I could actually imagine Jeff giving a pep talk. Jeff is honest about some of his own struggles he has gone through in his writing journey, and offers insights and advice about what helped him succeed through it.

Also, there are some special features at the end of the book that I'm not allowed to tell you about.

Who The Book Is For
If you are a blogger, writer, aspiring blogger, aspiring writer, or maybe you're just kinda, sorta interested in writing, then this book will be valuable for you. It offers advice that will benefit all writers, no matter what stage of the game you're in.

What part of the writing journey are you on? What about You Are A Writer interests you? What experience do you have in blogging or publishing?

Missions and Giving

2012-04-24T23:26:00.000-05:00

Today is Missions Wednesday. You can find an archive of my missions posts here: <robsorbo.com/p/missions-and-me.html>. If you want to receive my Missions Wednesday posts by e-mail, please subscribe by using the form to the right.

Did you know that my name is in the Bible? It's true. However, I hate hearing my name in church, because that means the pastor is doing a series on giving. Here's the passage:

Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "In tithes and offerings.You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Malachi 3:8-10

Giving is always a touchy subject. I'm sure most pastors hate preaching about it and I know most church goers hate hearing about it; however, missionaries rely on financial support to do their ministry. When you consider your financial contribution to church and ministry, there are three kinds of giving you should know about.

Three Kinds of Giving

Tithe = Obedience. The verses above make it clear that our tithe is expected. Other places in the Bible you'll hear this called the "first fruits." This is a farming concept--when you collect your harvest, the first tenth is what was owed to the temple. This is a statement of priority--instead of paying your tithe when you know you're financially able, you pay it before you know if you'll make it or not.

Pledge = Faith. When you commit to make a monthly contribution to a ministry or missionary, that is often called a pledge. The reason it is an act of faith is because people are often challenged to commit to give more than they feel they are able to give. As challenging as it is to make a commitment like this, missionaries, ministries, and non-profits rely on these gifts.

Even though it is an act of faith, you don't immediately have to jump into a huge commitment. Try committing $5 or $10 dollars each month. When you start small, you'll see it takes little sacrifice to fulfill that pledge.

Another situation that comes up is when people feel God touching their hearts to give a large amount. This can be scary, but be obedient. Some of the most exciting stories I've heard in churches are the stories of provision when people give more than they thought they were able to give.

Offering = Personal Priorities. Offerings and pledges are both contributions above and beyond your 10 percent tithe. In cases when a special church offering is being gathered for a special ministry, guest, building program, or project, money given is an offering.

Giving an offering requires you to take money previously budgeted to something else (whether that be a luxury or a essential need) and instead given to that special need. It requires you to assess what you are prioritizing for your spending, and deciding if it's more important than the need at hand--sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. This is between you and God.

Talk To Me
Is giving a challenge or does it come naturally to you? How do you give? What are the best ways for you to plan/budget for it? Has God come through for you in any miraculous ways through your giving?

(Photo credit: Filip Ologeanu)

Three Steps to Establishing Your Brilliance

2012-04-23T06:09:00.002-05:00

I wrote a guest post today at Dan Black on Leadership. Dan runs a great blog on leadership--I encourage you to subscribe, because you won't want to miss any of his posts.

You can read my guest post here: http://danblackonleadership.info/2012/04/three-steps-to-establishing-your-brilliance/

Three Lessons on Life From a Puppy

2012-04-20T23:58:00.001-05:00

Have you subscribed to RobSorbo.com yet? It's really simple. Just click here.

I have a little sister. Well, kind of. I'm actually an only child, but a few years after moving out of my parent's house, they decided to adopt another kid--a Shih-Tzu puppy named Sassy. Sassy is a fun addition to our family. Sassy has a great life. She sleeps a lot, she will never know what hunger feels like, and she has an endless supply of toys to play with.

Even though a puppy's life is much different than our lives as adults, but I do think there's a lot we can learn from them.

Three Life Lessons From Sassy

1. Sometimes stuff happens. Sassy doesn't like being picked up. Sometimes she'll try to run away from you, sometimes she'll crawl under the couch, and sometimes she'll try to bite you. Unfortunately for Sassy, she's pretty easy to corner and pick up. When she realizes that she's been beat and that being picked up is inevitable, she looks up at you with a resigned look on her face and braces herself to be picked up.

Sassy puts in a lot of effort to avoid being picked up, but when she knows her fight is over, she quickly goes into damage-control mode and makes the best of her situation.

2. Value people. When Sassy meets you for the first time, you're immediately her new best friend. She jumps up on you, she licks you, and she will even jump up onto your lap. Every time Sassy sees me, she is obviously is happy to see me (even though I pick her up sometimes).

Everyday we encounter new people and get back into contact with people we've met before. Some of these people have tried to "pick us up" before. It is important to make people feel valued, important, and to not go out of your way to avoid people who have hurt you before. Note, you still have to protect yourself--don't give dangerous people a chance to hurt you.

3. Play hard. Sassy has a whole box of toys, and by the end of the day, those toys are all over the floor. Tug of war is Sassy's favorite game and she'll give it everything she has--if I wasn't 20 times her size, I bet she'd win. When she's outside, she runs all over the backyard and makes sure that there's no detail that she's missed.

It's really important to work hard at your job, to serve your church and others, and to make sure important things in your life are prioritized; however, it is also important to work to enjoy life. Find a hobby, interact with people, read a great book, watch something on TV, play sports, or any other activity that helps you enjoy life. Activities like this reduce stress, improve your health, and make your life more enjoyable.

What's Your Pet Got To Add?

Does your pet share any great life lessons with you? What are they?

Are you a cat person? I'd be willing to check out a guest post about what we can learn from cats.

The Missions Ministry of the Sender

2012-04-17T22:29:00.000-05:00

Also, I’m pleased to announce that I will be writing another missions post every week on TabersTruths.com. My first post went up this past weekend: <taberstruths.com/why-missions-is-needed-in-this-broken-world-15043/>

Every few years my family packed our stuff and made the two-day trip from Indonesia to America. During our time in the States, we spent many weekends going from church to church across the Central Plains of Texas.

My dad would preach and share about the seminary he taught at, my mom promote her ministry in the slums of Jakarta, and I answered a barrage of questions in Sunday School classes. For my family of introverts, this time was always a challenge; however, getting the support of churches was crucial to my parents’ ministry.

Missionaries spend a lot of time on the road. How can you help them?

In missions, there are goers and senders. Since I write so often about missions and missionaries (i.e. the “goers”) allow me to focus on the senders.

The Missions Ministry of the Senders

Financial. When a missionary family is visiting, churches will often take an offering for the missionary. Unless the church is large, this offering will likely not even cover the fuel and lodging costs that the missionary incurred while travelling to that church.

One of the most beneficial ways that a sender can financially benefit a missionary is by pledging monthly support--a monthly gift that is sent to the missionary’s ministry and personal accounts. So that the missionary can appropriately budget, this monthly gift will ideally be the same amount each month.

Hospitality. While missionaries are travelling between meetings with senders, they incur enormous costs. Even the cheapest motel will cost $20-30 dollars, and missionaries will sometimes spend months on the road at a time. Without even considering the cost of gas and food, the missionary will need to raise at least $600 per month just to cover the cost of fundraising.

Hospitality is a larger gift than just offering a guest room for a night. It saves the missionary a large amount of money on lodging and meals for the time they are with you, but other than a few extra groceries, it is inexpensive for the sender to offer this gift. Hosting a missionary will also give you a first-hand opportunity to hear some great stories that you won’t hear from the pulpit.

Loyal Support. Part of this is obvious--if you commit to send $25 dollars each month to the missionary, be faithful to that. If you need to cancel the gift because your financial position has changed, then give the missionary a few months notice so they can adjust their budget.

The not-so-obvious part of loyal support is the commitment to stand behind the missionary as an ally and a friend. Missionaries receive a personal stipend--if they choose to spend part of this stipend on a nice dinner, a vacation, or a drink from Starbucks, don’t condemn them for wasting your support money. Missionaries need faithful friends, not critics. Imagine if your employer got angry at you for spending some of your paycheck--you would be frustrated and hurt.

Prayer. Prayer is crucial. It benefits the missionaries and it helps grow the faith of the senders. Miracles still happen. If you don’t believe me, just Google it. You’ll be amazed at the stories you can find.

Be a Sender

If your church doesn’t support missionaries, talk to your pastor about it. If you want to start supporting missionaries independently, feel free to contact me and I can let you know about reputable missionaries and organizations who won’t waste your money. Commit yourself to pray and support a missionary; consider opening your house to them when they visit your church.

What is a specific way that you think you can help a missionary? Does your church support missionaries?

Photo credit: http://www.creationswap.com/mgruber

How Christians Deal With Frustration

2012-04-13T23:33:00.000-05:00

I lived in Indonesia in 1998 when long-time President Suharto finally resigned his presidency after over 30 years in power. Before he resigned, the threat of revolution and riots grew, so the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia officially asked all Americans to evacuate the country.

After a very long and tense day, we boarded a chartered plane and flew to Singapore. While we were waiting in Singapore for a flight back home to America, I remember hearing a man shouting obscenities into a pay phone. I don't remember what he was saying into the phone, but he was obviously very stressed about something and felt like he was stranded so far away from home.

Image by Matt Gruber: creationswap.com/mgruber

As Christians, there are certain expectations on our behavior (I'll let you decide how biblical most of them are). We often talk about the joy or peace of the Lord, but we don't often talk about how we deal with our anger or frustration.

Good Christian Responses To Frustration
Emotional. It's okay to cry. It's okay to get angry. It's even okay to feel like you're boiling on the inside. Read through the book of Psalms, and you'll find that the Psalmist expressed every emotion from joy to sadness to rage. Read the Gospels and you'll see Jesus lash out in rage at people who were defiling the temple. Be careful how your emotions make you act, but having the emotions aren't sinful.

Prayer. We serve a God who listens. Google it--miracles still happen.

Bad Christian Responses To Frustration
Gossip. It's none of your friend's business what someone did to you or what happened at work. And guess what--the prayer request excuse doesn't cut it either. Also, it doesn't take long reading your Bible to see that God doesn't like gossip either.

Vengeance. Vengeance is one of the things that can happen when you act on your emotions the wrong way. Romans 12:19 says "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

Talk To Me
How do you handle your frustration? What are other ways that you think Christians can effectively handle frustration and anger?

Hosanna, Hallelujah, and Other Foreign Things

2012-04-10T21:42:00.001-05:00

Today is Missions Wednesday. I grew up overseas in a missionary's home, so missions has become something that is very important to me. You can read a little bit more about my experiences in missions here: (robsorbo.com/p/missions-and-me.html). If you want to receive my Missions Wednesday posts by e-mail, please subscribe by using the form to the right.

I attend a very non-traditional church: Worship feels like a rock concert, secular songs are often used to help connect that week's message to the culture, and speakers go out of their way to explain words like tithe, redemption, salvation, justification--words that Christians usually understand, but sound like a foreign language to others.

As you can imagine, my church is a comfortable place for people who don't have a church background. However, I noticed something interesting. During worship, my congregation full of people with no church experience begin to raise their hands during parts of songs that say "Hosanna" or "Hallelujah." Now, to be totally honest, I have a Bible degree and I don't fully understand the meaning of those words.

So how did a congregation of people with limited church experience know that those songs were "worship cues" and respond by raising their hands?

Photo Credit: Tonya Christner (creationswap.com/dtcchc)

Culture's Place in Church
I live in the middle of the "Bible belt," so even though my church attracts many people who don't normally attend church, they are at least familiar with Christian culture. This explains why people in my church are comfortable with unusual words like Hosanna and Hallelujah.

However, when a missionary begins ministry in a foreign culture, they not only need to learn a new language and culture, but they also have to learn a new church culture. The minister has to become a student of that church's culture. When adapting to that new culture, he must remember that different isn't wrong.

Example? Some people are very still and quiet in church, but will go to a foreign church that dances during worship. Maybe the missionary is from a culture that shuns alcohol, but is now in a church where alcohol is not taboo, maybe it's even used in Communion.

Church's Place in Culture
If the missionary ministers in a place where the church is not yet established, they will not only have to translate Christianity, but they also have to translate Christian culture--concepts like worship, prayer, fellowship, etc. This has historically given secular culture a very low opinion of missionaries, because missionaries confused aspects of their home culture as aspects of Christianity.

For example, missionaries have forced new foreign believers to begin to act Western after their conversion, because the missionary thought that culture shaped Christianity. This is also how cultures with strong military cultures became known as barbarians and savages.

The missionary is responsible to analyze Scripture, their home church culture, and the culture, and figure out what elements are truly Christian, what elements from the home culture need to be abandoned, and what elements of the foreign culture will help that society better understand Christ. Fortunately, this approach to culture is much more prevalent now.

Pray For Your Missionaries
Take a moment to think about the missionaries who have passed through your church. In order to be successful at their job, they have to be Bible scholars, culture scholars, language scholars, and extremely wise in how they balance each of these duties. Take a moment to pray for the missionaries who have visited your church, even if you don't remember them by name--before they can even begin ministering or evangelizing, they have to accomplish so many things that they probably never even considered before.

Let's Talk Culture
Take a minute to tell me about one thing in your church that definitely reflects your culture and wouldn't necessarily translate well to a foreign culture. Also, if you've heard any great missionary culture screw up stories, please share!

Black Saturday

2012-04-07T00:26:00.000-05:00

Holy Week is arguably the most important week in the Christian calendar. It marks the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. However, I learned something about Holy Week when I lived in the Philippines that I have never forgotten: Black Saturday.

The Saturday between Easter and Good Friday is sometimes called Black Saturday. It is "Black" because it is the day between when Jesus died and rose again, or the day that Jesus was dead.

In the Philippines, the Catholics are severely terrified on Black Saturday. They believe that since Jesus was dead on that Saturday 2000 years ago, He repeats this death every Black Saturday. Since they believe Jesus is dead, they also believe that He cannot save you on Black Saturday. So people avoid all risky activities, because they believed that if they experienced an accidental death that day, they would experience damnation because Jesus' saving power was unavailable.

In other Catholic countries, I have heard that Black Saturday is wildly celebrated, because they believe that Jesus can't catch them in their sin--this sounds like a much more fun way to celebrate Black Saturday! Unfortunately, I am quite ignorant on Catholic traditions, so I don't know how Black Saturday is officially recognized, if it even is. I do know, however, that this Filipino tradition isn't an official Catholic practice.

Easter Weekend Reflection

As you reflect on Christ and His sacrifice this weekend, I'd like for you to think and pray on these things:

1. Jesus' Sacrifice Always Saves. If you think you've committed some unpardonable sin, you're wrong. If you think that there's a day on the calendar when you cannot be saved, you're wrong. "Jesus Saves" might sound like a hokey bumper sticker saying, but it is completely true.

If you are a follower of Christ, thank Him for the salvation He has given you. Also, pray for friends and family members who still need this saving sacrifice. If you do not follow Christ, please know that His arms are open and His hands are reaching out--He is desperately offering you His grace, all you need to do is accept it.

2. Jesus Sees Your Sin. Whether you've told a little white lie or you've committed murder, the Bible is very clear what death is and that the consequence of sin is eternal death.

If you are a follower of Christ, take a moment to ask for forgiveness for your sins and reflect on ways that you can keep from returning to those mistakes. If you are not a follower of Christ, God's forgiveness is free and simple--you only need to ask forgiveness and figure out how you can keep from repeating your mistakes (the churchy word for that is "Repentance").

The Missionary's Job Description

2012-04-03T21:48:00.003-05:00

Christian missions is something that is very important to me. I wrote briefly about why missions is important to me in a previous blogpost, which you can read here. I am beginning a new feature on my blog about missions that I’ll post every Wednesday.

Dan Betzer is a very well-known minister in the Assemblies of God. One thing he is famous for is his passion for missions. Growing up, Betzer wanted to be a missionary. As he began his ministry, he longed for God to explain to him what mission field he should head off to; however, after years of seeking, God revealed to him that he was called to be a missions giver. In his 50+ years as a pastor, evangelist, and church planter, he has inspired people and churches to give millions of dollars to missions.

To help clarify the job description of missionaries, let’s compare missions to a large company.

Missions is God’s Company
Major companies have management teams, accounting offices, marketing departments, sales departments, and many other departments; they hire people to research, answer phones, make coffee, make the hard decisions, or vacuum. Each one of those job duties is crucial to the overall success of that company.

Missions is kind of like a large company. People are needed to lead, manage and raise funds, promote ministries, teach and train, make Web sites and maintain technical services, translate Bibles, offer guidance to foreign churches and inform their home churches, and even offer child care. Notice that I didn’t mention preaching, evangelizing, or church planting? A whole team of nontraditional missionaries is needed to enable a missionary to perform necessary and traditional ministry roles.

Let’s take a look at Faith Academy as an example. Faith Academy is a school in the Philippines which primarily serves the children of missionaries. To operate this school, missionaries serve as teachers, administrators, assistants, coaches, laborers, dorm supervisors, and many other roles. The dorms allow the missionaries to send their kids to a God-honoring boarding school so that parents can serve in the most remote villages of Asia without worrying if their child is being taken care of.

In addition to the many missionaries I know serving traditional ministry roles, I personally have friends who are missionary teachers, technology specialists, secretaries, media specialists, construction managers, humanitarian project leaders, sex slave advocates, Bible smugglers, and even one friend who is a missionary surfer!

The Missionary’s Job Description
A missionary is someone who fulfills a role in the purpose of reaching the world for Christ. Sometimes the missionary is the person who is doing the evangelism and sometimes the missionary is the one who makes other missionaries more strategic and efficient in their roles. Typically, the missionary will need to raise their own funds and will do their ministry far away from their home.

I have heard people say, “I’d like to be a missionary, but I’m not a pastor.” The truth is, you don’t have to be. There are lots of pastors in the world who would be willing to be missionaries--if God is calling you instead of one of those many pastors, doesn’t it make sense that He might need you to do something else? Who is the coolest missionary you’ve ever met or heard speak? What was their missions role? What skills do you have that could be effectively used in missions (hint: any of them!)?

March 2012 in Review

2012-04-01T07:56:00.001-05:00

Thanks for keeping up with my blog this month. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can enter your e-mail address into the box on the top of the right sidebar.

My top three most popular posts this month were:
The Three "Hows" of Communication

The Power of a Decision

The Insider's Guide to Missions

Don't fall for any silly April Fool's Pranks tomorrow!

A Different Name For Luck

2012-03-30T22:28:00.002-05:00

If you have a TV, computer, cell phone, or newspaper, you’ve probably heard about the Mega Millions Lottery. The media started covering it when the expected winnings swelled to over $500 million dollars, and soon after the media coverage began, the prize has grown to over $600 million. With all of the hysteria surrounding this jackpot, I wouldn’t be surprised if the additional ticket sales pushes the prize to over $700 or $800 million dollars.

If you haven’t heard yet, the numbers drawn for March 30 are: 46 - 23 - 38 - 4 - 2. Having your lucky numbers picked means you can own any home, car, or luxury you want and still have money to spare. The phrase “set for life” would be an understatement.

Lottery or no lottery, you’re already incredibly lucky. The fact that you’re reading this means that you probably have a computer, smartphone, or some other access to the Internet. The fact that you’re reading this in English, means that you either have had an incredible education or you live in one of the English-speaking countries of the world, which are among the wealthiest countries. I hope that you have had all you need to eat and drink today and that you have a comfortable place to sleep tonight.

The fact is, if you’re reading this, you’re incredibly lucky.

The Christian Bible has another word for this: Blessed

The Bible says this about blessings:
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us--so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.... May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him” (Psalms 67:1, 2, 7 NIV).

You’re blessed for a reason.

It’s not karma, luck, a good family, or even hard work. The Psalmist David says that God has not blessed us to draw attention to ourselves, but to draw attention to God. Your blessing is intended to draw your eyes and the eyes of those around you onto the God who provides.

If you are a follower of God, please take time to thank Him for all that you’re blessed with. If you aren’t a religious person, please take the time to think about all of the blessings or “luck” in your life. You are blessed because God blessed you, and He wants to have a relationship with you.

If you want to know more about the God who blessed you, please let me know, I’d be glad to help you learn more.

How are you blessed? What are you thankful for?

Book Review: Addicted to Love

2012-03-28T20:40:00.000-05:00

I am reviewing Addicted To Love by Joey Berrios. You can download it here for $0.99. He blogs at joeyberrios.com, and you can follow him on Twitter at @thejoeyberrios.

My first impression of the book is that it would be a great read for someone who's around junior high age (11-15 years old). I could see this book being adapted into some great junior high small group or Sunday School material.

The basic premise of the book is that everyone has such a strong longing for love that it is an addiction. This addiction can be satisfied through worldly means--sex, property, status, etc.--or through relationship with Christ. Christ is the only solution that can fully satisfy the addiction, and any other solution just leads to emptiness and loneliness.

Once it is established that Christ is the solution to the love addiction, Berrios discusses what is different about Christ's love. By emphasizing Christ's love, Addicted To Love gave a great teaching on God's grace and how God draws us freely into Himself. The book finishes out with an explanation on what the Christian life looks like and how the love of Christ can be lived out through us.

Content
Addicted To Love contains great teachings about God's love and how it is different than the patterns and suggestions of the world. Berrios frequently references Scripture to validate his points and uses many examples to clarify and explain the concepts he is teaching.

Although the examples were quite helpful, Mr. Berrios's use of them was occasionally a drawback. Several of the examples didn't quite seem to fit the chapter, and in some chapters the content was dominated by examples and stories. However, since this book seems to be written with teenagers in mind, the numerous examples and stories keep this book fresh and interesting, which is rare for books that teach on theological subjects like grace.

Mechanics
Since this is a self-published book, it did not go through the rigorous editing processes that a traditionally-published book would have gone through. With that in mind, Addicted To Love is well-written. It is clear that Berrios took the time to organize his thoughts and to research the topics he wrote about.

That said, I think this book would have definitely benefited from the input of one more editor--many of the transitions were weak, I noticed several typos, and the layout style was inconsistent. However, these mechanical errors are limited and do not distract from the strong message of the book.

Final Recommendation
Addicted To Love is a good book. I don't feel uncomfortable recommending it to any Christian, anyone who is beginning to investigate Christianity, or any non-Christian who is sick of the daily grind of the world's solution to love addiction. As mentioned before, I would strongly recommend this book to be used as a resource to junior highers or ministers to junior highers--the concepts have some theological depth, but are well-explained in a way that is clear and easy to follow.

Like I said, there were several shortcomings in the book, but it didn't hinder the strong message of the book. At only $.99, I think it's worth your money to check it out or share it with a friend. It is an easy, worthwhile read

Just for the sake of transparency: as an Amazon Affiliate, if you order using the link at the top of this post, I will receive a small commission from the sale. I would appreciate your support.

What's on Your Reading List?

2012-03-26T06:30:00.000-05:00

I got myself a new toy this weekend. I am now a (very late) newcomer into the e-reader family.

I decided to go for it after I realized that I don't really like reading off of the bright screen of my phone or my computer. Also, several of the bloggers I follow have been releasing new e-books. I really wanted to support their writing, but needed a comfortable way to read them. I went with the Kindle Touch (pictured), and I'm really enjoying it so far.

Taken from Amazon.com

This all leads me to a few questions, What are you reading? Which of your favorite books and authors should I check out? Can you recommend any e-books written by some bloggers or other rising stars?