Archive

2021

01/22 Roundup #234
01/14 Roundup #233
01/08 Roundup #232

2020

12/18 Roundup #231
12/11 Roundup #230
12/04 Roundup #229
11/20 Roundup #228
11/13 Roundup #227
11/06 Roundup #226
10/30 Roundup #225
10/23 Roundup #224
10/09 Roundup #223
10/02 Roundup #222
10/01 Movements that plateau as distinct from those few…
09/25 Roundup #221
09/18 Roundup #220
09/11 Roundup #219
09/04 Roundup #218
08/28 Roundup #216
08/28 Roundup #217
08/07 Roundup #215
07/30 Roundup #214
07/24 Roundup #213
07/17 Roundup #212
07/13 Covid-19 July Observations
07/10 Roundup #211
07/03 Roundup #210
06/28 Roundup #165
06/27 Gospel Vectors
06/26 Why rapid growth declines as movements increase in size
06/26 Roundup #209
06/19 Roundup #208
06/12 Roundup #207
06/10 Growth leads to persecution
06/05 Roundup #206
06/03 Counting Missionaries
05/29 Roundup #205
05/18 Changes in speed of religious growth
05/15 Roundup #204
05/08 Roundup #203
05/01 Roundup #202
04/27 North Korea–knowing what we don’t know
04/24 Roundup #201
04/17 Roundup #200
04/17 Higher case fatality rates can signal smaller infection totals
04/03 Roundup #198
03/27 Roundup #197
03/20 Roundup #196
03/13 Roundup #195
03/06 Out of sight
03/06 Roundup #194
02/28 Roundup #193
02/21 Roundup #192
02/14 Roundup #191
02/07 Roundup #190
02/03 How many Christians are among the American expatriates working abroad?
01/24 Roundup #189
01/17 Church growth, 1910-2020
01/16 Church growth & decline vs. population sizes
01/10 Roundup #188

2019

12/20 Roundup #187
12/13 Roundup #186
12/12 How many people groups need Bible translations?
12/12 How many people groups need Bible translations?
12/06 Roundup #185
11/22 Roundup #184
11/15 Roundup #183
11/08 Roundup #182
11/01 Roundup #181
10/25 Roundup #180
10/18 Why can’t both get priority?
10/18 Roundup #179
10/15 How Movements Count
10/11 Roundup #178
10/04 Roundup #177
09/30 Enemies
09/29 Cuts in refugee policy
09/28 Don’t wait for total knowledge
09/27 Roundup #176
09/27 Long-term conversations: one plants, one waters
09/26 There is a solution
09/20 Roundup #175
09/17 The largest, least Christian peoples
09/16 Roundup #174
09/06 Roundup #173
08/16 Roundup #172
08/15 Baptism doublings
08/14 Where 2 or 3 are suspect
08/09 Roundup #171
08/02 Roundup #170
07/30 Suffering
07/26 Roundup #169
07/12 Roundup #167
07/05 Roundup #166
06/21 Roundup #164
06/19 Roundup #168
06/07 Roundup #163
05/17 Roundup #161
05/10 Roundup #160
05/03 Roundup #159
05/01 Roundup #162
04/26 Roundup #158
04/19 Roundup #157
04/12 Roundup #156
02/05 Unreached is not
01/05 Invite the church to people
01/04 When the cost of our strategy is too high
01/03 The Big 5

2018

12/17 Balance
12/11 It won’t be heaven if…?
12/10 Worship in many languages
12/09 The value of marketing
12/08 Odd paradoxes in the Christian community
12/06 When patriotism can kill the soul
12/04 The spiritually mature
12/01 Missionary martyrdom isn’t unusual
11/30 Are you a missionary?
11/29 Chau–failure, martyr or what?
11/28 Questions about whether a group is reached
11/26 Defining a missiological breakthrough
11/25 For the kingdom to spread
11/24 Investment times
11/23 4 types of people critical to movements
11/22 Festivals of Thanksgiving
11/21 Eternal perspective
11/20 Strategies in the midst of quasi-Christian, post-Christian, non-Christian environments
11/19 A simple calculation
11/16 Another view of people groups
11/02 Counting movements 4: Goal posts
10/30 Counting movements 3: pots, bushes, sycamores
10/29 Counting movements 2, grandparents to grandchildren
10/25 Counting movements 1: believers & churches in denominations
10/24 Choosing friends
10/22 Mission degrees and debt
10/19 There’s no work here
10/18 Money on missions vs Halloween pet costumes
10/11 Every place and people group needs a worker
09/04 Categories of Progress
08/23 Women in missions
08/09 How fast movements need to grow
05/22 Throwing back starfish
05/21 Are Muslim birth rates faster than Christian birth rates?
05/19 Is Christianity growing or shrinking in individual countries?
05/17 A simple recruiting/mobilization interview
05/11 What keeps us from decisions
05/10 Hubs
05/08 Globalization, diaspora, and where the unreached are
05/06 The value of limits coupled with the value of diversity
05/05 The hype around North Korea
04/25 Not saying yes
04/24 This is not the end
04/20 Urbanization probably higher than 55%
04/19 Control vs Empowerment Structures
04/18 Small spaces and security
04/17 Surveillance in China
04/16 Security, fear, pride
04/14 Why movements succeed
04/13 Is USA’s Millennial (Gen-Z) generation post-Christian?
04/12 First, Multiply
04/09 Levels of mission involvement
04/03 Student debt
04/02 Resurrection vs Raising
04/01 Easter is the proof
03/31 Experiments
03/28 Four marks of a good candidate
03/27 Church gathering
03/26 What we mean by “unreached”, and the importance of reaching them
03/24 Categories of Difficulty
03/23 50,000 American workers?
03/22 As movements grow, growth speed degrades
03/19 The difficulties of defining closure
03/16 If demography is destiny
03/15 How can I know the will of God?
03/09 The Matthew Effect in missions
02/27 The “heresy” or “wrong knowledge” objection to movements
02/05 Top 10 most challenging people groups
01/29 What countries have the most potential to be strong sending countries?
01/19 Does mission recruiting overlook the poor?

2017

11/15 Concentrations of American workers
11/13 Missionary biographies
11/09 Is France reached?
11/08 Huge populations
11/06 Will Saudi Arabia be able to moderate Islam, or itself?
11/02 Festivals and stories
08/14 Titanic and professionalism
08/11 Closure as a Biblical concept
02/20 Can a nation be changed in a day?
02/01 Are the numbers of Muslims coming to Christ too small?
01/27 The tyranny of the “new”
01/25 Deciding where to go
01/24 Who is growing fastest
01/23 Pain
01/17 We are not all apostles
01/16 Choosing God’s presence
01/15 The workers are in the harvest?
01/14 Drucker for missions
01/12 Because it matters
01/11 Annoyances
01/10 Why is the remaining task not getting finished, when…
01/09 Success and what matters
01/07 The easiest way to self-organize the Great Commission
01/06 The key thing about failure is what we learn
01/05 Prioritizing
01/04 The 80/20 Rule and the time it takes movements to start
01/03 Rural populations are still large
01/01 January 1

2016

12/28 Movements and training
12/25 Incarnation
12/24 Holding our breath
12/22 Wrestling with the mystery
12/21 Redeeming the time
12/20 Faithful witness vs pioneering
12/19 Wartime lifestyle
12/14 Bearing fruit too late
12/13 Nuances of the unreached definition
12/06 Journeys
12/05 Is Islam growing faster than Christianity?
12/01 What makes DBS powerful
11/30 Adjust behavior accordingly
11/29 The price of fear
11/28 Mute
11/25 The importance of done
11/24 Collecting holidays
11/23 Putting the trees in the context of the forests
11/22 The purpose of peoples lists
11/20 Missional Labor Clouds
11/19 More money on dog food
11/18 Short-term, Long-term, expats, nationals and the e-Scale
11/15 Reachedness and situations of need
11/09 Inspire
11/08 Asians as % of world, and Asian Christianity
11/07 Simultaneous = Synonymous = Speed
11/06 Less than 10% Christian
11/05 We would like
11/04 Innovation in World Mission
11/03 Apples, oranges, and categories of time
11/02 How common are missionary candidates in a population, and how many might we send?
11/01 The influence of our information sources on our worldview
10/31 Ethne vs Geo
10/30 Societies vs Agencies
10/29 Doing the impossible
10/28 Connections and Connectedness
10/27 The power of distant social connections
10/04 Can the task be finished?
09/10 Liberation
09/09 People, more than peoples
09/08 Is Islam being hollowed out by falling birth rates?
09/03 and then the end will come
09/02 when to struggle through, when to quit/iterate
09/01 Mission disruption, 3
08/31 Revisiting marriage in heaven
08/30 Mission disruption, 2
08/29 Mission disruption
08/28 Strong v Weak Friendships
08/22 Building disciple-making capacity in local churches
08/19 Christian spycraft
08/18 Cultural Christianity
06/10 Are the swelling ranks of short-termers actually a bad thing?
06/07 Less sensitive scales
05/23 Thresholds of reachedness
05/18 A better way to map churches globally
05/16 Population concentrations mapped by density
05/10 Measuring reachedness by measuring who is reaching out
05/08 The future of urbanization
05/07 If you are the average of the 5 people you associate with most
05/02 Only 400 people groups–or 2.9 billion people?
04/25 Might mobilizers make good missionaries?
04/24 When will the world be over half evangelical?
04/18 The strategic value of mapping people to places
04/17 Don’t do it for them
04/16 The most probable 2016 of Syria–a stalemate of death
04/15 Discovering vs Shaping candidates
04/13 The role of persecution in movements
04/12 Is the 10/40 Window still a valid mobilization tool?
04/11 Regression to the mean
04/08 Relationships before location
04/05 Discovering defaults
04/04 Imperfect disciples
04/03 Unreached, non-Christians and friendship
04/02 Annual growth rates–aging, literates and total population
04/01 Country categories
03/30 Fishers, fishing and analogies
03/23 Protection and the hand of God
03/16 Wealth is
03/14 Africa and casual communication
03/13 Continuous training
03/12 Busyness
03/11 Power conferred
03/10 The dark side of a call
03/09 Growth for growth’s sake
03/08 Power
03/07 Faith, trust, and hope in the parenthesis
03/06 Airplane mode
03/05 The importance of automation
03/04 Realistic date projections
03/03 Why some should hear twice when some haven’t heard once
03/02 If not you
03/01 We need more workers Because there are…
02/29 Status of Global Mission 2016
02/28 An extra day
02/27 Unpopular things
02/26 Other peoples’ eyes
02/25 If they are coming here, why bother going there?
02/24 Why we serve
02/23 Discipling households vs individuals
02/22 Are there too many denominations?
02/21 Nexus and Edge Hub People as Missionary Candidate Recommenders
02/20 The dangers of creativity
02/19 The future of Afghanistan
02/18 The end of the task is getting further away
02/17 Defying the odds
02/16 The cost of the difference
02/15 Wealth can make, break or take
02/14 Can I be involved in mission if I’m not on the field?
02/13 Pastoral care from small groups
02/12 Dependency
02/11 Tool-makers, tool users
02/10 Calling vs Surrender
02/09 Is the Bible alone enough?
02/08 Mission Meetups
02/04 Kinds of Learning
02/02 Networking Recommenders–Missionary Magnets, Candidate Curators
02/01 The likely future of Somalia–stabilizing, but still dangerous
01/28 How do I know I’m called?
01/27 the “democratization” and “amateurization” of mission
01/26 The marks of a good candidate
01/25 Preparing for Black Swans
01/21 Don’t put missionaries on pedestals
01/20 The power to seep
01/19 Few are interested
01/18 How likely is the North Korean government to fall
01/13 Can I be a missionary?
01/12 Don’t rush closure
01/11 We need more workers
01/05 The role of disruption in the start of movements
01/04 How likely is a disastrous earthquake in 2016?

2015

12/16 When things go wrong, and things happen, and people suffer–why?
12/15 Part of the challenge for our attitudes toward…
12/11 I agree with Eddie on who can be a missionary
12/10 Why the unreached are unreached
12/08 More simple tactics for mapping cities
12/03 Lean experiments leave prayer out of the equation?
12/02 Worshipping as though we were in jail
12/01 What speed of growth for a movement is too slow?
11/30 How do I create lean experiments?
11/24 Missional accounting
11/23 How do I find People of Peace?
11/18 Where persecution is worst.
11/17 No Syrian refugees allowed in.
11/16 You can’t plant churches any more.
11/12 Belief is not Knowledge is not Obedience
11/11 Boldness vs Danger–when risk is a bad thing
11/09 Clusters vs Peoples
11/02 Should Churches send only to the unreached
10/29 “You go to Italy.”
10/28 Fundraising
10/27 To change the world
10/23 Predicting the (religious) future
10/21 What is “more open”?
10/18 Is the USA in a better position to finance missionaries than ever before?
10/16 Not wanting the end.
10/15 Jetlag; or, the prices we pay.
10/14 Short term trips and the nations in our backyard
10/13 Coffins vs Exit Strategies
10/12 It is too small a thing
10/11 Freedom
10/10 God, glory, fame
10/09 Festivals
10/08 Sometimes it doesn’t pay to share
10/07 Decrease
10/06 Churn vs Disbursement
10/05 Love vs In Love
10/03 Funding missions
10/02 That will never happen
10/01 The hardest parts about beginning
09/30 Urbanization and the least-reached
09/29 Teaching everything commanded vs teaching to obey
09/28 Estimating movement size
09/26 Two lists of Five types of people necessary for movements
09/25 If the world will not end this year, then
09/24 Money and people
09/22 Do you have to reach them all?
09/21 Mapping the City
09/20 Matchmakers and church growth
09/18 Relationships and blessings
09/17 Just because the end is coming
09/14 Limiters on the spread of the Gospel
09/10 When the church is a building
09/09 Now and not yet
09/08 Its not that we have failed to finish the task
09/04 Time to double
09/01 Christianity is
08/30 After the task is finished, Jesus will return
08/29 Without mobilization, we fail
08/27 We don’t need a global plan
08/26 The task requires discipleship, which requires time
08/25 More about agencies, churches, and when a church is a church
08/24 Finishing the task will not bring Jesus back
08/20 Should Beyond exist?
08/19 Mobilizing is getting into someone’s head
08/18 Too many mission agencies?
08/17 Don’t fling seed without a thought for harvesting
08/16 Does discipling the nations mean each individual nation or all the nations, generally?
08/15 Church as…
08/14 Answering 5 questions we’d rather not answer
08/13 How does climate (weather) and placement of a cross-cultural worker relate?
08/12 Why we should reduce qualification requirements to build a quality movement
08/11 How to choose a place and people to engage
08/10 Finishing the Task means everyone will be able to hear
08/07 Accuracy of unreached peoples numbers
08/06 How do you count the number of UPGs?
08/04 How do you get current information on progress in a particular UPG?
08/03 Finishing the Task does not mean everyone will believe
08/02 How to change paradigms of church and discipleship
08/01 The question we don’t ask about discipleship
07/30 Respect the calling
07/29 Why are missionary numbers going down?
07/28 Closure Conundrums
07/27 Closure is not a Biblical term
07/26 Good, Bad, Non, Anti Christians and missions
07/25 Making a difference through social media
07/24 Dunbar’s Number and networks, movements, mobilization
07/23 What is the population of unreached people and the number of people groups in India?
07/22 The average attention span of a human?
07/21 Three Challenges for Finances and Fundraising
07/20 Movements = Growth
07/19 What doesn’t make you stronger might just kill you
07/18 Should we stop all immigration of Muslims to the United States?
07/17 All of the people
07/16 Worldview differences between generations of immigrants
07/15 Frequently posed complaints over people group theory
07/14 Church, defined
07/13 Islam has the largest number of under-30 believers in China?
07/12 How 10% can shape a broader community
07/10 Why should missionaries be sent to Europe?
07/09 A team of 1
07/08 Knoxian Champions
07/07 Foreign vs Indigenous Missions
07/06 Marriage and divorce in the USA, graphed, over 144 years
07/05 We don’t need better people group lists
07/04 America
07/03 Practically and technically getting stories from the field
07/02 The Time Sink of Social Media
07/01 Understanding someone requires conversation, not polls
06/29 Fluid dynamics; or, water as a symbol of the spirit and the church
06/28 How fast are Iranians worldwide coming to Christ?
06/28 Stop trying to persuade everyone to be a missionary
06/27 Platform, Proclamation, Planting are not the same thing
06/26 Current trends don’t have to continue.
06/24 To reach all, find one person
06/23 What gets measured
06/22 Seasons of Transition
06/21 Purity and holiness maintained vs Gospel messiness
06/20 The temptation to too easy closure
06/19 Avoiding the twin idols of long-term presence, short-term engagement
06/17 The bigger they are
06/16 Closure, 2
06/15 Closure
06/14 A church is not a random sampling of the place it is in
06/13 Converts vs Disciples
06/12 Kinds of futures–should vs will
06/11 Why God gives us money
06/10 The final 2,000 people groups?
06/09 In 4 years
06/08 Quantity of workers is a vanity metric
06/07 Preparing for non-Christian religions is more critical than preparing for agnostics/atheists
06/05 Your part
06/04 Reach the first place to reach all the places
06/03 Four stories the world tells about death, and one hellishly simple rationalization
06/02 Antifragile
06/01 Moving out, or moving in? The price to be paid to be a blessing
05/31 Believers, non-believers, sex, marriage, cohabiting, and how we engage with the world
05/30 Philippians 4:13 doesn’t mean I can do anything I want
05/29 If I tweet with the tongues of men or of angels
05/28 Of emergent systems and transformation
05/27 Focusing in on a specific problem
05/26 People of Peace are not just the spiritually open
05/25 Max Group Size, Max Movement Size, Leaving Soon
05/24 Not every disciple will make disciples
05/23 When we disagree about church (or anything)
05/22 Misunderstood, unappreciated
05/20 Green grass and tornado chasers
05/19 Exit ramps and extinction events
05/18 Graduations
05/16 Simple vs. Complex Culture Crossing; or, we are not all missionaries
05/15 Limitless can be limiting
05/14 Had it not been for
05/13 27 Doubles
05/12 those pesky Pew Research numbers on declining Christianity in America
05/11 Are there enough workers in the harvest?
05/10 Acting like a missionary does not make you one, but not all missionaries are good ones.
05/09 Is the very best missionary not a missionary at all?
05/08 What kind of person are you recruiting?
05/07 Why knowing too much can cost those who know nothing at all everything
05/06 Pride goeth before a fall
05/05 How should Christians interact with Muslims?
05/04 The fine print on Pew Research numbers–no converts projected in China, India
05/03 Evangelists, Developers, Entrepreneurs, Leaders–business terms, or church terms?
04/30 Christianity is not declining
04/29 Picking a church by where you can best serve
04/28 Counts of missionaries by city or country
04/26 What do you mean by “plant churches”?
04/25 Success
04/24 The biggest problem with our failures
04/23 The importance of a vision and mission
04/22 An ekklesia for every person
04/21 When we have to tear apart the boxes we are standing on
04/16 Rule of 72
04/09 17 Doubles
04/08 Are Muslims the fastest growing religion, and why?
04/06 What I think we must do to count the task finished
04/02 Jesus wants the whole pie
03/31 Defectors
03/29 Households of faith
03/28 Does not making disciples equate to disobedience?
03/27 Why discipleship without reproduction is not Biblical discipleship
03/26 Single males in mission
03/24 Why the differences in unevangelized and unreached population numbers
03/23 The world as percentages
03/16 Are diaspora in (whatever place) reached or unreached?
03/11 Why hugely successful annual events can be very, very bad for the long-term goal
03/09 You don’t need the little blue dot
03/07 More time
02/24 Is the 10/40 Window still urgent?
02/12 Three key ideas for churches to achieve closure
02/11 Data on nominal Christianity vs. people following Jesus?
02/10 How many missionaries are sent out from Latin America?
02/02 How many short-term missionaries are sent from the USA?
01/21 Defining movements
01/13 All
01/08 Disengagement
01/07 70% solutions
01/06 Margin

2014

11/29 Questions to ask about your area
11/27 Thankful
11/26 Be an exponent
11/17 Can we use “Allah”?
11/12 Passing over
11/11 Should
11/10 Disconnects
11/08 Shifts
11/07 Powers, wrestled with
11/05 3 kinds of growth, and when each is important
11/03 Relationships are more difficult than presentations
11/01 Vanity Metrics
10/21 Early Adopters
07/21 The nations are coming to us

2013

10/07 What we look for in a missionary candidate
03/06 Different kinds of mission structures

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