The majority of us who are involved with a local church know someone who has lived or currently lives on the mission field. On any given Sunday, we may hear about how God used a missionary’s obedience or a quick plug or through an introduction from the stage if they happen to be in town. Their work may be somewhat familiar to us yet still distant enough from the details to leave them feeling vaguely unknown. This can make catching up with a missionary friend over coffee quite uncomfortable or even awkward at times. But here are some helpful things to remember.

Teams are going to fail. That failure can be devastating, disheartening, or frightening. It is also inevitable. If you are committed to innovation and take on God-sized tasks, you are sometimes going to fail in a particular initiative. As painful as it may be, the failure in itself is unimportant in the grand scheme of things. God’s purposes will not be ultimately thwarted. What you learn from that failure is what is important. Here are some important considerations.

The gospel may be a stumbling block, but the way we share it shouldn't be. Here are five strategies to help you be a more effective communicator and a better gospel witness. 

It's election season! With that comes some uncertainty about how—if at all—churches can act towards political campaigns and candidates. It all seems a bit confusing. To gain perspective about the mechanics of what churches can and cannot do and what the consequences might be, our Executive Director Josh Ellis reached out to Dr. Marvin McNeese Jr, a political science professor at the College of Biblical Studies and a Deacon at Houston's First Baptist Church.

How many licks to the center to a Tootsie Pop? No matter how hard various cartoon creatures have tried, they have all failed to slowly make to the candy center. Because it's the center—that tootsie roll (or bubble gum) core—that everyone loves. It's that core that makes a Tootsie Pop what it is. Otherwise, it's just another run-of-the-mill lollipop. Likewise, there are certain elements that make an effective team: diversity, trust, competence, empowerment, and dialogue. 

One evening when our adult kids were home for Christmas, we entertained ourselves with Google translate by translating phrases back and forth to see how they might change. Communicating clearly and effectively is both important and challenging for church and ministry leaders. How often have you conveyed a key message and then been shocked at how it was misunderstood by others? Probably far more often than you would like.

In the past, we've thought of hospitality as equivalent to entertaining and feeding people in your home. However, the conversation about hospitality is is turning to more about the whole person and the way you act towards others. No place is this more important today than on social media. Wherever we go—physically or virtually—we need to consider our words and our demeanor. Scripture promises the world will know us by our love, but I have wonder if they would recognize us on Twitter.

If Janis Joplin’s song title, Me and Bobby McGee, makes you flinch, you might be an English teacher at heart. When it comes to little old “me,” we seem to have lost our way. As communicators of the gospel, the way we write, speak, and teach matters. So, for the sake of good communication, the grammarians are here to help you out!

“We need to talk.” That simple sentence can spark fear and trembling, especially when there’s disagreement. We know conversation is a path forward but we also fear it may be unproductive and difficult. When we create a container for overheated conversations, we can talk things out without hurting ourselves or anyone else. We can make progress toward mutual understanding and decision-making.

If you asked me, “How did you know that your parents loved you?” I would answer immediately, “Because they listened to me.” As a child, I was quite a talker. My grandfather called me MotorMouth.