The following article is comprised of selections from a talk given by John Piper at the Annual Meeting of the ACMC in 1988. His address contained three main points.

Life is war
In other words, life is war.

But most people do not believe this in their heart. Most people show by their priorities and their casual approach to spiritual things that they believe we are in peacetime, not wartime.

In wartime, the newspapers carry headlines about how the troops are doing. In wartime, families talk about the sons and daughters on the front lines, and write to them, and pray for them with heart-wrenching concern for their safety. In wartime, we are on the alert. We are armed. We are vigilant. In wartime, we spend money differently — there is austerity, not for its own sake, but because there are more strategic ways to spend money than on new tires at home. The war effort touches everybody. We all cut back. The luxury liner becomes the troop carrier . . .

The logic is crucial. Why is the Father going to give the disciples what they ask in Jesus’ name? Answer: Because they have been sent to bear fruit. The reason the Father gives the disciples the gift of prayer is because Jesus has given them a mission. In fact, the grammar of John 15:16 implies that the reason Jesus gives them their mission is so that they will be able to enjoy the power of prayer. “I send you to bear fruit so that whatever you ask the Father . . . he may give you.”

So I do not tire of saying to our church, “The number one reason why prayer malfunctions in the hands of a believers is that they try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom . . .”

So my first point is that, if we are going to mobilize a powerful prayer movement for missions or even sustain the will to pray in our own hearts, we must talk about something else first, namely, war . . . Until we feel the desperation of a bombing raid, or the thrill of a new strategic offensive for the gospel, we will not pray in the spirit of Jesus.

The sovereignty of God
When our hearts ache for something, we pray for it . . .

In other words, when you believe in the sovereignty of God – in the right and power of God to bring hardened sinners to faith and salvation – then you will be able be able to pray with no inconsistency and with great Biblical promises for the conversion of the lost . . . Until we embrace the sovereignty of God, we cannot be confident that our prayers will succeed and that the cause of Christ will triumph . . .

Until we embrace the sovereignty of God we cannot be confident that the cause of Christ will triumph and that all our praying will not be in vain . . . (more…)

by Peter Armstrong

I am excited to share that AskAMissionary.com is now included in M-DAT’s family of mission websites. AskAMissionary started out 10 years ago as an eNewsletter to help people get their questions about mission service answered. As questions and answers poured in, a website was launched to make them more accessible. The site now boasts 400-plus answers from experienced Christian missionaries to hundreds of questions about being a missionary for one year or longer. The email version of the service continues and has grown to 2,000 subscribers. God brought all of this about through an ordinary person who offered up a portion of his free time to encourage people in missions involvement!

Early this year M-DAT entered into an agreement with John McVay to take on the lead role in operating the service. The agreement is a one-year trial period, intended as a stepping stone toward a permanent partnership. We are happy to have John continue his involvement with the project and he is excited to see his “hobby” taken to the next level.

Our team is pleased to have the opportunity to help raise the profile of this good, solid content. Over the coming months we will overhaul AskAMissionary.com, making it a bit more user friendly, updating the look and improving the visibility of the site in major search engines. We will also integrate the Q&A content into PreparingToGo.com, which is currently in beta. No immediate changes are planned for the newsletter.
Please take a look at the site. You can post a question or contribute an answer. While you are at it, don’t forget to subscribe to the AskAMissionary eNewsletter to get the latest questions and answers!

John McVay is administrator of In His Image International and coordinator of the Tulsa Missions Mobilizers Network, as well as developer of The Journey Deepens retreats.

The following resources, intended to help a person interested in learning more or deepening their prayer practice, were recommended by Wendy Andrews.

Some books I highly recommend are as follows:

• Red Moon Rising (by Pete Greig) — the story of the beginning and growth of the 24-7 Prayer movement
• God on Mute (by Pete Greig) — what to do with unanswered prayer
• With Christ in the School of Prayer (by Andrew Murray) — a 30-day devotional from Scriptures about prayer
• Intercessory Prayer (by Dutch Sheets) — a wonderful exploration of the kind of prayer called intercession
• Windows of the Soul (by Ken Gire)

Some websites sites rich with inspiration:

• 24-7prayer.com — the global 24-7 Prayer website, rich with stories of what God is doing through prayer across the globe
• 24-7shorts.com — 5 mini-documentaries about various kinds ofprayer that will inspire you to pray!
• Campus America films — short videos about what God is doing through prayer on America’s campuses
• SVM2 – website from a ministry called SVM2, or Student Volunteer Movement 2, who are friends of ours with 24-7 Prayer — seeking God for another student volunteer missions movement to be borne from praying students on today’s campuses

Prayer: We discovered we will need to upgrade software versions on our web server in order to launch an eSeries with tips and advice for before, during, and after a mission trip. Pray that testing the new version and the upgrade would go smoothly.

Prayer: That God would provide a website project manager (support raising position) to join our staff.

Praise: Over 10,000 inquiries about mission trips made via ShortTermMissions.com since last July!

Praise: We have entered a 1 year “trial period” agreement with John McVay to adopt the AskAMissionary.com website into the M-DAT family of services. John will continue to be involved in the editing and assembling of the content for the website and e-newsletter. We plan on maintaining a standalone AskAmissionary.com site as well as integrating the Q&A content into PreparingToGo.com (currently in beta).

Brad Brestel is Personal Stewardship Pastor at Lincoln Berean Church (LBC) in Lincoln, Nebraska. He heads up the church’s Generous Living Team. In this interview he talks a little bit about what he does as a stewardship pastor and then adds some insights on generosity and money for missions.

Propel: What are your responsibilities as Personal Stewardship Pastor?

Brad: The Generous Living Team is responsible to help build a culture of generosity in our local body. When we wake up in the morning, we are the group that is thinking about the church’s income. We teach classes in theology of stewardship, cash flow management, preparing wills and building a master financial plan. We are currently working more on how to serve the members of our local body who do not have cash flow issues yet need to hear and understand the theology of stewardship.

Propel: How do you teach people the importance of giving as an integral part of The Great Commission?

Brad: I’m uniquely positioned for this one. I serve both as the stewardship pastor and also on the missions team. Our missions team includes a “Resource Team” that I lead which is concerned mainly with the financial resources needed to fund our global outreach projects. Since stewardship and global missions are my main two passions at LBC I naturally include the Great Commission as part of the theology of stewardship taught in the “Intro to Generous Living Class” at LBC; that is our “Stewardship 101” class. I remind people of the two great commandments and the Great Commission in the first five minutes and build everything from those cornerstones.

Propel: In your opinion, should people tithe 10% to the church before giving to missions, or do you consider giving to individual missionaries or para-church organizations part of a tithe? Please elaborate on your thoughts. (more…)