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Oct 17, 20224 min read
The Collective Sending Potential of Smaller Churches
Luke Holmes (@lukeholmes) is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Tishomingo, Oklahoma. Never heard of it? No surprise. Neither had...

Oct 11, 20223 min read
How Missions Convictions Decrease Decision Fatigue
In this article I want to convince you of two things: that missions decisions can exhaust you, and that missions convictions can refresh...


Oct 3, 20225 min read
Why Christians Are More Than Just Senders or Goers
Over the past decade, John Piper’s categorical way of thinking about missions and the local church has invigorated countless people....

Sep 26, 202210 min read
Helping Sent Ones Navigate Culture Shock
Culture shock, day 1 of 1,095. On my first day as a missionary, while riding from the airport to my new home in the obscurities of East...


Aug 22, 20224 min read
A Church Plant Can Be a Sending Church
Recently, I was on a personal retreat at a nearby monastery. With my Bible and journal in hand, I tiptoed away to the surrounding knobby...

Aug 15, 20224 min read
The Top Reasons Why Most Church Plants Fail in Five Years
Churches are like mountains. They’re beautiful—but they can kill you in twenty different ways. This quote has been laying the Sriracha to...

Aug 8, 20223 min read
Leveraging Your Missions Funds Most Effectively in a Small Church
For eighteen years I spent the first hour of my day listening to country music. My mom’s alarm clock was set (loudly) to the local...

Aug 2, 20228 min read
The Future of Church and Agency Partnership
Now I can’t unsee Star Wars. It started when my wife observed how the futuristic films manage to be simultaneously primitive and...


Aug 1, 20224 min read
Expectations vs. Expectancy: The Fine Line of Missionary Attrition
At least a thousand times, my two-year-old has woken up before dawn to watch her beloved Nature Cat, a cartoon produced by the Public...

Jul 25, 20223 min read
A Liturgy for Raising Support
O Lord I have set my face like flint. I am prepared to take a step out of the boat of financial certainty— at least the certainty that...


Jul 18, 20226 min read
The Lead Pastor's Role in Missionary Care
“Wilson!” You probably know it as the most famous line from the film Castaway, starring Tom Hanks. If you haven’t seen it, the story...


Jul 5, 20225 min read
The Five Love Languages of Missionary Care
A monkey was sitting in a tree during a typhoon. From the safety of his perch he noticed a fish that was struggling tremendously in the...

Jun 27, 20227 min read
How to Find a Meeting Space for a Church Plant
We finished setting up our tents just as the rain blew sideways. It was my first trek through the countryside as a church planter in East...


May 16, 20223 min read
The Missions Pastor's Gospel
All my friends are dead. Don’t worry, it’s just the title of a book—a spoofy children’s book for adults. There’s a drawing of a...


May 9, 20224 min read
10 New(ish) Important Books for Church Planting
The cereal aisle will murder you. Don’t believe me? Go live in another country for a few months, especially one that doesn’t have...

Apr 25, 20226 min read
The Cheerleader and the Curmudgeon: Fostering Both Excitement and Sobriety in Potential Sent Ones
Choosing the right road trip companions can mean the difference between life and death. Maybe I just say that because I recently spent...


Apr 11, 20222 min read
How NOT to Send Marketplace Missionaries
So, this could be a terrible idea for an article. But here goes. I don’t know how to send marketplace missionaries. And that’s a problem....


Apr 4, 20225 min read
Missionary, Choose the Posture of a Learner
Imagine you’re sitting in a coffee shop reading your Bible. Each time you take a sip of your coffee, you notice a stranger staring at...

Mar 28, 20226 min read
Join Me! Guidelines for Recruiting a Church Planting Core Team
Each Christmas my family has a tradition of watching a little known movie called The Nativity Story. We love it not just because it...

Mar 21, 202210 min read
Fully-Funded vs. Support-Raised Missions
I love teaching adults their shapes. They really think they know them. “What’s this?” I ask, drawing a shape on the whiteboard. “Duh—a...
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