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<title>Unfinished</title>
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<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org</link>
<lastBuildDate>22 May 2013 02:58:16 GMT</lastBuildDate>

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<title><![CDATA[Spring 2013 | Issue 55 ]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>24 Apr 2013 14:30:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished-55</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished-55</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Ready, set, go explore]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society officially launched its new and improved intern program in January of this year. Named &ldquo;GreenLight Internship,&rdquo; the program is for individuals who would like to spend 2-18 months exploring what a call to full-time missions could look like. But where did the name originate? Did someone from our mobilization department...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:33:54 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/ready-set-go-explore</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/ready-set-go-explore</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[10 ways for a local church to care for a home-grown missionary]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Perhaps your first thought in seeing the title to this article was something along the lines of, &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a missionary from our church.&rdquo; Well, you are not alone. Far too many churches have no missionaries they can call their own. But whether you do or don&rsquo;t have missionaries from your church, you should find the...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:32:54 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/ten-ways-for-a-local-church-to-care-for-a-home-grown-missionary</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/ten-ways-for-a-local-church-to-care-for-a-home-grown-missionary</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook and missions]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was back in 2006 that I first created a Facebook account. Unbeknownst to me, up to only a month before that, only college students could create accounts. I had heard about Facebook, MySpace, and Xanga (anyone remember those?) and thought it might be a neat way for our missionary kids to connect with one another. I wanted to test these...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:32:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/facebook-and-missions</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/facebook-and-missions</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Investing in eternity]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Through your partnership with The Mission Society, you not only proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the world, but you also testify to your loved ones about your commitment to the Lord&rsquo;s work. Did you know that, by dedicating only a few minutes of your time, you can arrange to continue your partnership with The Mission Society even after...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:31:49 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/investing-in-eternity</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/investing-in-eternity</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Missionary presents paper at international missions gathering]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Rev. Kirk Sims presented a paper, &ldquo;A Christendom toolbox, but a Christendom tool? Mission beyond the confines of a mission agency and entrenched in migration&rdquo; at the International Association of Mission Studies quadrennial meeting in Toronto. The theme of the conference was &ldquo;Migration, Human Dislocation, and the Good News.&rdquo;...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:31:20 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/missionary-presents-paper</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/missionary-presents-paper</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: The Mission Society celebrates 25 years of ministry in Paraguay]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In January, The Mission Society celebrated the 25th anniversary of its ministry in Paraguay with a special event in Asunc&iacute;on. President Dick McClain traveled to Paraguay to speak at the anniversary gathering.

	The Mission Society first began work in Paraguay in 1988. The 6th Region of the Methodist Church of Brazil invited The Mission...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:30:54 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/news-paraguay</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/news-paraguay</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: New manager of member care named]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society is pleased to announce that Ari Morsella has been named the new manager of member care. Ari directs and facilitates member care for The Mission Society missionaries and home office staff.

	&ldquo;We see ourselves in member care as intercessors, encouragers, listeners, and advocates. I get to connect with our people and...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:30:12 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/news-new-manager-of-member-care-named</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/news-new-manager-of-member-care-named</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Caring for third culture kids]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The missionary kid (MK) care department of The Mission Society exists to equip, engage, and enable our missionary families around the world. Staffers Vicki Decker and Shawn Ramsay (see page 13) co-lead this ministry, which has a special emphasis on children and youth who serve cross-culturally.

	Shawn and Vicki are both former missionaries...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:29:14 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/caring-for-third-culture-kids</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/caring-for-third-culture-kids</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[A different world]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;As the Boeing 747 sped down the runway, Erika sat inside with seat belt secure, her chin propped against a clenched fist, staring out the window until the final sights of her beloved Singapore disappeared from view.

	&ldquo;How can it hurt this much to leave a country that isn&rsquo;t even mine? Erika closed her eyes and settled...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:28:47 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/a-different-world</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/a-different-world</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The joy of true communion]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In January, 2013, Nick, Heidi, their 10-year-old son, Gilly, departed for Kenya to begin their first term as career missionaries. Several years earlier, they had sensed God calling them to missionary service, and after being approved as missionaries, they had gathered a &ldquo;home team&rdquo; around them. All Mission Society missionaries are required...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:28:17 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-joy-of-true-communion</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-joy-of-true-communion</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[When hope begins to stir]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[What will help missionaries thrive? Former missionaries Lauren and Jo AnnHelveston, who launched The Mission Society&rsquo;s &ldquo;pastoral care&rdquo; department in2007, have been for years exploring how simply &ldquo;being heard&rdquo; can propel peopleforward in ministry. &ldquo;I remember reading, &lsquo;[t]o be heard, really heard, is to behealed,&rsquo;&rdquo;...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:27:51 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/when-hope-begins-to-stir</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/when-hope-begins-to-stir</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Top 10 items to include in a care package]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[10. Small household items &ndash; tools, flashlights, a good fly-swatter, umbrellas

	9. Pictures or home videos &ndash; of family, friends, church or family get-togethers

	8. Family specific needs &ndash; children&rsquo;s clothes, children&rsquo;s activity books, Advil

	7. Ministry specific needs &ndash; crafts for children, donated clothes, workbooks...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:27:24 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/top-10-care-package</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/top-10-care-package</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Top 10 ways to care for your missionaries]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[10. Visit

	This isn&rsquo;t for everyone, but if you are able, most missionaries would welcome a friendly face out on the field. A short-term mission trip is a great way to visit and be involved in their ministry, although not all fields are the right place for short-term teams. If not on the field, schedule a visit or a large get-together...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:26:39 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/top-10-ways-to-care-for-your-missionaries</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/top-10-ways-to-care-for-your-missionaries</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Lost in India]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In 2010, Douglas was asked to attend a conference in HongKong, in which attendees from around the world were challengedto complete the Great Commission in their lifetimes.The focus was particularly on least reached and unreachedpeople groups. Douglas caught the fever.

	This led to our relocation from Russia to India. We plannedto partner with...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:25:44 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/lost-in-india</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/lost-in-india</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Trapped in China]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In 2004 my wife and I were burnt out, discouraged, and feelingrather hopeless about our ministry in China. We had livedthere for about two-and-a-half years and were feeling overwhelmedby everything going on around us. We had so muchstress in our lives from living in a foreignculture with two little children, dealingwith being away from family...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:25:19 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/trapped-in-china</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/trapped-in-china</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[How can we find our way?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Ministry is hard. Add in: foreign location, foreign language, culture shock, homesickness, unfamiliar everything. Maybe slowly at first, then more and more, fear can come, big and suffocating. Next, without warning, waves of discouragement can crash in, followed by waves of guilt. Missionaries can begin to think: There is no way through this....]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:24:28 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/how-can-we-find-our-way</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/how-can-we-find-our-way</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Speaking life]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;When we first arrived on the field, the title &lsquo;missionary&rsquo; seemed to translate to the local people as pastor/counselor/psychologist. We had a line of people at our door who wanted and needed a listening ear, advice, and counseling on the deep issues that affected their lives,&rdquo; says Mission Society missionary Laurie Drum.

	&ldquo;It...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:23:47 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/speaking-life</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/speaking-life</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Awake, My Soul]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[An excerpt from SoulTalk, by Larry Crabb

	&ldquo;Life is all about knowing God,&rdquo; writes Larry Crabb. &ldquo;Every hard thing we endure can put us in touch with our desire for God, and every trial can strengthen that desire until it becomes the consuming passion of our life.&rdquo;

	&ldquo;The greatest commitment I can make in my life,&rdquo;...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:23:20 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/awake-my-soul</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/awake-my-soul</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[What missionaries don’t tell you]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was the spring of 1972. Pam and I had moved to the Panama Canal Zone the previous summer after my first year of seminary in order for me to become the youth pastor at the Curundu Protestant Church, that ministered primarily to American military and Panama Canal Company families. Working in an American church with American students, we...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Apr 2013 15:21:49 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/what-missionaries-dont-tell-you</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/what-missionaries-dont-tell-you</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Winter 2012 | Issue 54]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>17 Dec 2012 05:35:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished-54</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished-54</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Sweet beans?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was an experience I&rsquo;ll never forget.The date: July 4, 2010. The place: Teresopolis,Brazil. Newly approved MissionSociety missionaries had joined BrazilianChristians and a handful of peoplefrom other countries for The MissionSociety&rsquo;s annual orientation training.Since July 4th fell on one of the trainingdays, our Brazilian friends wanted...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:05:47 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/sweet-beans</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/sweet-beans</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Short-term missions with a long view]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Several weeks ago a group of 15 or so people visited the early Sunday worship service at my home church. They were a short-term mission team from North Carolina on their way to the Atlanta airport with a final destination of Central America. Our pastor graciously afforded a spokesperson for the group a little time to address the congregation....]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:05:04 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/short-term-missions-with-a-long-view</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/short-term-missions-with-a-long-view</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[We all think we’re the center of the universe]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[One does not have to be a child development specialist to recognize how little children tend to think the world revolves around them. In an individual, this is called egocentrism, and we hope the child eventually outgrows it as she or he begins to interact more with other people. For some, that maturity seems to take longer than others!

	The...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:04:35 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/we-all-think-we-are-the-center-of-the-universe</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/we-all-think-we-are-the-center-of-the-universe</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Are you prepared to mobilize without warning?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I listen to television ads every evening that are focused on life-changing issues such as home health care, reverse mortgages, home security, and others. To me it is clear that our financial lives require decisions and preparations for which we may have never planned. And as I observe people around me, the unexpected happens so quickly that...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:04:05 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/are-you-prepared-to-mobilize-without-warning</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/are-you-prepared-to-mobilize-without-warning</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Mission training institute named to honor The Mission Society’s founding ‘first couple’]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In honor of The Mission Society&rsquo;s founding president and wife, the Rev. Dr. H.T. and Alice Maclin, The Mission Society announced the founding of &ldquo;The H. T. and Alice Maclin Mission Training Institute&rdquo; as the name of its future annual missionary training conferences. (The most recent of these conferences was held in Huancayo,...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:03:38 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/mission-training-institute-named-to-honor-the-mission-societys-founding-first-couple</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/mission-training-institute-named-to-honor-the-mission-societys-founding-first-couple</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Latin and South Americans prepare to take gospel beyond their borders]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society hosted two International Mobilization Conferences in Ecuador October 15-25, 2012. The conferences took place in Quito and Guayaquil.

	Staffers the Rev. Michael Mozley, senior director for international mobilization; and Steve Wilson, director of missional communities, provided leadership for the conference. Mission Society missionaries...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:03:11 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/latin-and-south-americans-prepare-to-take-gospel-beyond-their-borders</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/latin-and-south-americans-prepare-to-take-gospel-beyond-their-borders</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Reaching least reached peoples using business]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Reaching the world&rsquo;s unreached and under-evangelized communities will require &ldquo;all hands on deck.&rdquo; This, of course, includes businesspeople. In fact, now, maybe more than ever before, Christian business leaders have the chance to play a pivotal role in transforming society and spreading the gospel, according to Michael R. Baer,...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:02:42 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/reaching-least-reached-peoples-using-business</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/reaching-least-reached-peoples-using-business</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Communicating the true gospel]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Missionary training is not just for missionaries. To be effective witnesses in our workplaces and neighborhoods requires learning some basic principles, usually considered cross-cultural communication skills. Here, Dr. Darrell Whiteman, cultural anthropologist, offers some guidance. The gospel may prove to be more life-giving than you ever dreamed.

	An...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:01:47 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/communicating-the-true-gospel</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/communicating-the-true-gospel</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Pioneers: David Mutai]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Rev. David Mutai is the director of outreach for Kenya&rsquo;s Africa Gospel Church (AGC), providing overall leadership for an enterprise that involves nearly 40 Kenyan missionaries serving among several unreached tribes within Kenya and in three neighboring countries. He and his wife, Alice, have a passion to see missionaries serving effectively...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:00:59 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/pioneers-david-mutai</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/pioneers-david-mutai</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Pioneers: Peter Pereira]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;Ordinary nationals who live and serve in obscurity&hellip;are laying the groundwork for great mission work that God is doing,&rdquo; reports Peter Pereira who, with his wife, Esther, head Hope for Today ministries in Hyderabad, India. The Pereiras are involved in church-planting, leadership training, and compassion ministries. In addition,...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 16:00:26 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/pioneers-peter-pereira</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/pioneers-peter-pereira</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Pioneers: Bishop Joao Carlos Lopes]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;A renewal movement is sweeping through the Methodist Church of Brazil, and these believers are exhibiting a vision for participating in mission beyond their geographical and cultural boundaries,&rdquo; wrote Frank Decker, a vice president of The Mission Society during a Global Mission and Evangelism Conference in Brazil. In 2006, The Mission...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 15:59:58 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/pioneers-lopes</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/pioneers-lopes</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Theirs is the kingdom]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Christian historians estimate that Christianity makes up about the same proportion of the world&rsquo;s population as it did in 1910. What has changed is where Christians live. The Global South and East have now become the center of Christianity. This means Western Christians have a new role&mdash;to help equip and encourage the non-Western church...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 15:57:04 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/theirs-is-the-kingdom</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/theirs-is-the-kingdom</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Finishable!]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[We are living in an era in which the global body of Christ is taking deliberate responsibility globally to completely evangelize the whole world. In varying degrees, the global church is preparing for Jesus&#39; return. Discipleship has been stepped up around the world. Christ&rsquo;s followers are increasingly being mentored in ministry skills...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 15:41:53 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/finishable</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/finishable</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Practicing what we preach]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t wait until you finish the job athome until you go to the ends of theearth, or else you&rsquo;ll never go!&rdquo;

	When we began mobilizing U.S.churches for missions in 2000, utilizingwhat eventually would become the&ldquo;Global Outreach Seminar,&rdquo; that was thechallenge we presented to every U.S.congregation we visited. The...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Dec 2012 15:35:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/practicing-what-we-preach</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/practicing-what-we-preach</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Fall 2012 | Issue 53]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>05 Sep 2012 14:17:22 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished-53</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished-53</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: The Mission Society launches “Team 2:2”]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The church ministry department of The Mission Society recently launched Team 2:2. The group&rsquo;s name was taken from II Timothy 2:2, &ldquo;What you have heard me teach publicly you should teach to others. Share these teachings with people you can trust. Then they will be able to teach others these same things&rdquo; (ERV).

	For the past...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:20:05 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-launches-team-2-2</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-launches-team-2-2</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: "Unfinished" wins award]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society&rsquo;s magazine, Unfinished, received an Award of Merit in the missionary category from the Evangelical Press Association on May 11, 2012. The award given was based on the three Unfinished issues published in 2011. The Evangelical Press Association is a professional association of some 300 Christian magazines, newsletters, newspapers...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:19:52 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished-wins-award</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished-wins-award</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Renovated hearts]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When we moved into our home in the East End five years ago, I came with a seminary degree, missionary training, experience living in South Central Los Angeles, an internship with addiction recovery in South Chicago, and several years working in public health and free community healthcare. I had been an active participant in local politics...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:19:39 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/renovated-hearts</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/renovated-hearts</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Befriending our Muslim neighbors]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A few years back God started bringing Muslim customers to my company. This opened the door for me to enter the Muslim community in a rather untraditional way. I found my new Muslim friends very warm and inviting. It wasn&rsquo;t long before I was being invited to the mosque, joining in Ramadan celebrations, and even being asked to take...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:19:23 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/befriending-our-muslim-neighbors</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/befriending-our-muslim-neighbors</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Neighborhoods, nations, and the next generation]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[What&rsquo;s the vision that has given focus to your ministry and to Grace Fellowship Church?
	We talk a lot about discipleship. If you were to go back and download the first series of sermons I preached at Grace Fellowship, it was about why we must make disciples. Grace has never gone through an explosive period of great growth. Growth...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:19:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/neighborhoods-nations-and-the-next-generation</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/neighborhoods-nations-and-the-next-generation</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Think: cities]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In the meantime, inner-cities have become a hotspot for missions. During the 2010 Lausanne III conference in South Africa (attended by 4,000 church leaders from 198 nations), Manhattan pastor Tim Keller told the crowd that if Christians want human life to be shaped by Jesus Christ, then churches need to go into cities. Among city dwellers,...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:18:57 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/think-cities</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/think-cities</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Diversity and the kingdom of God]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As a cross-cultural worker with The Mission Society, I work among refugees resettled into the U.S. by the United Nations. In our small city, which has been called &ldquo;America&rsquo;s most diverse square mile,&rdquo; on any corner you can meet people from Afghanistan, Burma, Congo, Dominica, El Salvador, Iraq, Iran, Nepal, Somalia, and so on....]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:18:44 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/diversity-and-the-kingdom-of-god</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/diversity-and-the-kingdom-of-god</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Teaming up to reach Kenya’s least reached]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society hosted a cross-cultural training conference April 23 &ndash; May 4, 2012 in Nakuru, Kenya. Mission Society staff members who provided leadership for the event included the Rev. Frank Decker, vice president for member care and development; Dr. Darrell Whiteman, vice president for mobilization and training and resident missiologist;...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:18:28 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/teaming-up-to-reach-kenyas-least-reached</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/teaming-up-to-reach-kenyas-least-reached</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: The Mission Society consecrates 13 new workers]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On May 8, 13 new missionaries were consecrated by The Mission Society for service in Europe, Africa, the world at large, and areas that cannot be disclosed for security reasons.

	Bishop Joao Carlos Lopes, president of the College of Bishops of the Brazilian Methodist Church and a Mission Society board member, spoke during the service at...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:18:17 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-consecrates-13-new-workers</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-consecrates-13-new-workers</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Through the economic uncertainty]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I&rsquo;ve talked with thousands of couples over the years about their financial and estate planning needs, and every one of them has experienced economic uncertainty at some point. Yet today&rsquo;s negative economic condition has led to dramatic insecurity, highlighted by headlines such as &ldquo;Families&rsquo; wealth dives 39% in 3 years&rdquo;...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:17:57 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/through-the-economic-uncertainty</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/through-the-economic-uncertainty</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Be with them]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When we were preparing to move our family to the nation of Kazakhstan, people often asked why we would go there to minister when there were so many needs here in the United States. Our response was that God had called us to that other place where there were not as many opportunities for people to hear the gospel. And if I were feeling...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:17:40 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/be-with-them</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/be-with-them</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Blind spots]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The last time I led morning devotions for our staff at The Mission Society, I talked about blind spots. It just so happens that we all have them. If you don&rsquo;t believe me, try this little exercise by reading through then following the directions below.

	Directions: First, hold this page at arm&rsquo;s length (if you are reading this...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:17:30 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/blind-spots</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/blind-spots</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Get connected]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[How can my family or church connect with an international student?
	Contact your local college or university and ask for the International Student office. This department can connect you with international students and inform you about programs in which you can participate. You can also contact ISI to see if it serves on one of the universities...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:17:18 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/get-connected</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/get-connected</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Break out the flatware!]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Jesus makes some pretty strong statementsin the Bible. One such statementis found in the parable of the sheep andgoats, located in Matthew 25: 31-46.In it, Jesus likens those who addressthe felt needs of others as &ldquo;blessed.&rdquo;However, he refers to those who failto address the felt needs of others as&ldquo;cursed.&rdquo; Regarding the...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:17:06 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/break-out-the-flatware</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/break-out-the-flatware</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Think: universities]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;I think I had always believed that there must be some super-natural power governing the world, but I was not sure who or what the unknown power or person was until I came to the United States. There I joined the international students Bible study held by the International Student Ministry,&rdquo; said Mei.

	Each year, hundreds of...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:16:20 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/think-universities</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/think-universities</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Think: the next generation]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[About 20 years ago, the people of Grace Fellowship Church in Snellville, Georgia, started saying, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to reach kids. The bills are getting paid. People are coming to church. We&rsquo;re teaching the Bible, but we&rsquo;re not reaching kids.&rdquo; Today, about 1,800 neighborhood kids call Grace home. And the church makes kids...]]></description>
<pubDate>04 Sep 2012 14:16:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/think-the-next-generation</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/think-the-next-generation</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Your least reached neighbor]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was January, 2001, and we had just launched what is now the ChurchMinistry division of The Mission Society. The good people of Trinity United Methodist Church in Opelika, Alabama, had invited us to present the Global Focus Seminar to their annual church leaders&rsquo; training meeting.

	At one point during the seminar, we were explaining...]]></description>
<pubDate>03 Sep 2012 14:15:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/your-least-reached-neighbor</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/your-least-reached-neighbor</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Letter from the editor]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On Easter morning, at a few minutes before 7:00, my husband, Greg, and I made theshort drive to church for sunrise service. Along the way, we passed by a neighborwalking his dog. Greg rolled down his window. &ldquo;He is risen!&rdquo; he belted out happily.Our neighbor smiled. &ldquo;Good morning,&rdquo; he said, maybe a bit amused.

	Greg...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Apr 2012 10:58:07 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/letter-from-the-editor</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/letter-from-the-editor</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Spring 2012 | Issue 52]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>22 Apr 2012 14:44:59 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished52</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished52</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[God shoulders our burdens: Rheumatoid arthritis is healed]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Even when nothing seems to be happening, something is happening.In her remarkable testimony, Becky Neel, of The Mission Society&rsquo;sGlobal Resource Team, tells of the gift she received in her decade-longwait for rescue from rheumatoid arthritis.

	I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and a mild formof lupus in 1998. The disease came...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:24:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-shoulders-our-burdens</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-shoulders-our-burdens</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[God knows our needs: Unborn baby is healed]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;Hope deferred makes the heart sick,&rdquo; the scriptures tell us. Afterseasons of mourning and derailed hope, this long-awaited miraclebrought healing in abundance.

	The parents of six children, Martin and Tracy Reeves were anticipatingthe arrival of another daughter, Jubilee Faith. Tracy hadmiscarried three times during the course of several...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:23:39 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-knows-our-needs</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-knows-our-needs</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[God hears our prayers: Breast cancer is healed]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Charles and Rachel Martin* minister in a Central Asian country. Afterbeing on the field for only six months, Rachel was diagnosed withbreast cancer. Treatment required sacrifice she never expected, butGod gave back in unimaginable abundance because, Rachel reports,God hears and answers prayers.

	&ldquo;I was in Thailand at a language conference...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:23:23 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-hears-our-prayers</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-hears-our-prayers</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[God provides: A newborn is rescued]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In a strange land, they would give birth to their firstborn. They mighthave felt vulnerable and scared, particularly when complicationsarose. But the miracle happened through a special intercessor.

	In 2011, missionaries to Thailand, Chris and Dora Barbee welcomedinto their lives their first child, Natalie. Since Roi Et is arelatively remote region,...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:23:10 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-provides</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-provides</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[She finished well]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As we were at work on this issue of Unfinished, examining thewonder and mystery of God&rsquo;s healing grace, our dear friend andlong-time missionary Mari Hicks went home to be with Jesus onMarch 21, 2012, after a long battle with cancer.

	For 31 years (22 of which were with The Mission Society),she and her husband, Neal, have ministered...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:22:51 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/she-finished-well</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/she-finished-well</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[God grants us peace: Stage-four ovarian cancer disappears]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[After having served for nearly 14 years in this Central Asian country, Jill left the village and people she had come to love in a hurry, in urgent need of medical treatment. This was not how she dreamed she would leave what had become her home. But she needed to go away now, possibly to die.

	Just days earlier, she had celebrated Thanksgiving...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:22:28 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-grants-us-peace</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-grants-us-peace</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Top 10 books on healing and healing prayer]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Healing Path, by Dan Allender
	Carefully and wisely charts the often slow andstrenuous journey involved in healing.

	Authority to Heal, by Ken Blue
	Especially helpful in addressing the keytheological issues related to physical andemotional healing.

	Deep Wounds, Deep Healing, by Charles Kraft
	An eminently practical manual that helpfullyincludes...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:21:57 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/top-10-books-on-healing-and-healing-prayer</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/top-10-books-on-healing-and-healing-prayer</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[When the healing doesn’t come]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Joel and Marylee Duggins and their children served for nineyears with The Mission Society in Kazakhstan, which was thena newly established field. Hannah, the fourth of seven children,lived in this former Soviet republic from age seven to 16. Lessthan one year after the Duggins family relocated back tothe States, Hannah&rsquo;s father, Joel, died...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:21:43 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/when-the-healing-doesn-t-come</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/when-the-healing-doesn-t-come</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Skeptics beware]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Among &ldquo;Enlightenment&rdquo; thinkers, there is prejudice against belief in miracles. But in the Two-Third&rsquo;s MajorityWorld, which is now the global center of Christendom, miracles are largely more accepted and expected than inthe West. In the following brief excerpts from his recent two volume work, Miracles, Dr. Craig Keener helps lay...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:21:26 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/skeptics-beware</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/skeptics-beware</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Grateful for her witness among us]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society mourns the loss ofRita Mae Livingston Donner, who wenthome to be with Jesus on March 9, 2012at the age of 82. She and her husband,James, spent 20 years in their retirementdoing missionary work in India and inGhana. They served with The MissionSociety for many years, first as residentialmissionaries in Ghana and later asvolunteers....]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:21:03 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/grateful-for-her-witness-among-us</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/grateful-for-her-witness-among-us</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Helping reach India's unreached]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;There are more than 1,000 unreached people groups inthe world, and many of them are in India,&rdquo; said Dr. DarrellWhiteman, vice president for mobilization and training andresident missiologist. Helping equip India&rsquo;s Church reachher nation&rsquo;s unreached was among the purposes of the recentInternational Mobilization Conferences. Hosted...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:20:46 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/helping-reach-indias-unreached</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/helping-reach-indias-unreached</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Our present groaning]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A roundtable discussion

	As we &lsquo;look through a glass darkly,&rsquo; how can we understand the mysteries of faith? How can we interpretthe seeming randomness of healings? What unseen structures are involved in the miracles for which wepray? Is there an even wider significance for healings that we do not recognize?

	During sessions of...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:20:11 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/our-present-groaning</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/our-present-groaning</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Preparing for Haiti’s future]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society collaborated withInternational Christian DevelopmentMission (ICDM),to host a training event forHaitian leaders January 9-13, 2012. Heldoutside of Port-au-Prince, the conferenceincluded presentations by staff membersthe Rev. Frank Decker, vice presidentfor member care and development; theRev. Michael Mozley, senior directorfor international...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:19:05 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/preparing-for-haitis-future</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/preparing-for-haitis-future</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[God redirects us: Ebstein Barr Virus is cured]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Fifteen-year-old Caylor Gongwer grew up serving with her parentsin Ghana, West Africa. In 2011, her life was intercepted by a strangeillness. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s amazing how, in only one year, the journey of your life cantake a big detour,&rdquo; she writes. God used her time of illness to refocusher life.

	In 2011, I battled a very strange...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:18:52 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-redirects-us</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-redirects-us</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[God fights for us: Lupus pain is subsided]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Days following a diagnosis can be riddled with fear. In her amazingstory, Reed Hoppe testifies how God met her at her point of greatestneed.

	It started soon after my son was born&mdash;a migrating pain thatcoursed through my body, causing pain in my wrists, shoulders,and knees. As a mother of two small children who rarely gets tosit down...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:18:34 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-fights-for-us</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/god-fights-for-us</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Offering life in South Sudan]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The world&rsquo;s newest nation is reveling in independence, butstill desperate for peace. South Sudan gained independenceon July 9, 2011 after 99 percent of southern Sudanese voted toseparate from Sudan. Sudan was home to Africa&rsquo;s longest civilwar. Fighting began in 1955 when the southern army officersmutinied. There was a brief respite during...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:18:13 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/offering-life-in-south-sudan</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/offering-life-in-south-sudan</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: The Mission Society launches Marketplace Ministry]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In January 2012, The Mission Society launcheda Marketplace Ministry division. DennisE. Brown, who has served as The MissionSociety&rsquo;s vice president for advancement since2005, now heads this new initiative.

	&ldquo;Denny Brown is a former businessmanhimself. He has passion for developingbusiness strategies that will empower us to takethe gospel...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:17:31 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-launches-marketplace-ministry</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-launches-marketplace-ministry</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Fifteen new missionaries are approved for mission service]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Fifteen new missionaries were approved for service with The Mission Society at the conclusion of the Candidate Assessment andOrientation on March 14, 2012, bringing the number of full-time Mission Society missionaries to 234.

	This group of cross-cultural workers will join other Mission Society teams in various locations. After attending The MissionSociety&rsquo;s...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:17:10 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/fifteen-new-missionaries-are-approved-for-mission-service</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/fifteen-new-missionaries-are-approved-for-mission-service</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Do your plans bring healing?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Have you recently reviewed your will or estate plans and asked the questions: &ldquo;Do these documents&mdash;and the plans theyexpress&mdash;bring healing to those who will read them? Do they accurately reflect the testimony of the Christian life I am living?&rdquo;As you read, ponder the special opportunity you have to use these plans as a...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:16:56 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/92847</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/92847</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Healing wounded hearts]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[During much of the last century, one ofthe hot topics of mission was whether themain focus should be evangelism or socialchange. Fortunately, that false dichotomyhas been largely put to rest in missiondiscussions, and people now acknowledgethat mission must be holistic&mdash;addressingboth the physical and spiritual conditionsof humanity. However,...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:10:59 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/healing-wounded-hearts</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/healing-wounded-hearts</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Mission for the faint of heart]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry ma&rsquo;am, but I can&rsquo;t pray for yourhealing. I heard that a healing crusadewill be coming through Kampala thisweekend. Perhaps you can attend. &hellip;What? You&rsquo;re in terrible pain and headedto the hospital at this very moment? Well,I honestly feel bad for you. However, myteammate and I are only 19 years old.We&rsquo;re...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:10:46 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/mission-for-the-faint-of-heart</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/mission-for-the-faint-of-heart</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Prayer that heals]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I recently had the privilege of meetingJohnnie and Jean Corbett at a GlobalImpact Celebration in their home churchin Charleston, South Carolina. In keepingwith the theme of this issue I talked withthem about their ministry of healingprayer.

	Stan: How would you describe healingprayer?

	Johnnie: Well, I guess that could beanswered in many ways....]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:10:33 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/prayer-that-heals</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/prayer-that-heals</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Shouldn’t we expect a miracle?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[We read in the New Testament about Jesus&rsquo; healings, but do we really expect Him to heal today? When Johnbecame a missionary intern in Ghana, West Africa, he had been struggling with faith questions for months.An experience in Africa changed him and, years later, it continues to affect his trust in the words and miraclesof Jesus.

	I...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:09:37 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/shouldn-t-we-expect-a-miracle</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/shouldn-t-we-expect-a-miracle</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[He is the Lord who heals us]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I can hardly recall a time in my life when Iwas not aware of God&rsquo;s power to heal. Letme explain.

	Shortly before my third birthday, mymother contracted endocarditis. Mom&rsquo;sdisease was nearly always fatal in thosedays, even in the States. We were livingin India where my folks served as missionaries.To complicate matters further,Mom...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Apr 2012 15:09:25 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/lord-who-heals</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/lord-who-heals</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Money well spent?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In the past several years, as global missionshas been undergoing significantshifts, even the need for missionariesfrom the United States has been calledinto question. Maybe you&rsquo;ve heard. Somemission authorities have been asking,&ldquo;Shouldn&rsquo;t the U.S. Church spend its moneyon supporting the ministries of indigenousChristian workers? After...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 16:51:08 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/money-well-spent</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/money-well-spent</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Transformational unity]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The story is told that Robert Benchley,American humorist and actor, arrived forhis final exam in international law atHarvard University to find that the testconsisted of this one instruction: Discussthe arbitration of the internationalfisheries problem in respect to hatcheriesprotocol and dragnet and procedure as itaffects (a) the point of view of...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 16:40:48 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/transformational-unity</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/transformational-unity</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Mission in shifting contexts]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Fifteen years ago my family arrived inKazakhstan. The country had been independentjust under five years followingthe dissolution of the Soviet Union. Theinfrastructure was largely in a state ofcollapse. Unemployment was high; confusionwas everywhere; utilities wereunpredictable; cars were few; potholeswere massive, and the availability ofgoods was inconsistent....]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 16:33:12 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/mission-in-shifting-contexts</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/mission-in-shifting-contexts</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: The Mission Society approves eight new missionaries for service]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society&rsquo;s CandidateAssessment and Orientation was heldSeptember 11-14, 2011 at its Norcross,Georgia headquarters. The four daysincluded interaction with staff, ministryand team-building activities, andinterviews. The new missionaries&rsquo; namescannot be released until their country ofservice has been finalized.

	One couple currently...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 12:15:45 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-approves-eight-new-missionaries-for-service</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-approves-eight-new-missionaries-for-service</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: The Mission Society invited by Kenyan ministry to help train its missionaries]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In early September, Dick McClain, MissionSociety president; Bill Johnson, Mission Societyboard chairman, and his wife, Phyllis,met with leaders of Kenya&rsquo;s Africa GospelChurch (AGC) and the newly forming KenyaMission Alliance (KEMA). As a result of thesesessions, The Mission Society has beenextended an invitation by AGC leaders towork alongside...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 12:07:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-invited-by-kenyan-ministry-to-help-train-its-missionaries</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-invited-by-kenyan-ministry-to-help-train-its-missionaries</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[A year in review]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[215 - Number of Mission Society missionaries
	39 - Number of countries in which Mission Societymissionaries serve
	2 - Number of new ministry locations opened(Namibia and South Africa)
	16 - Number of new missionaries approved for service
	14 - Number of missionaries deployed for the first time
	9 - Number of new interns approved and deployed
	11...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 12:04:57 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/a-year-in-review</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/a-year-in-review</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Cheerful giving]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Over the years, God has consistentlyprovided The Mission Society withmissionaries, with open doors toministry, with nationals with whomto partner, and with leadership andstaff. But if you ask me, one of the mostamazing things about The MissionSociety is how God has provided uswith so many faithful prayer partnersand donors. Each day that I talk...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 11:50:51 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/cheerful-giving</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/cheerful-giving</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[His long-awaited miracle]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Sanim is a 51-year-old banana farmerfrom the coastal town of Lae in PapuaNew Guinea. For most of his life he hasbeen a leader in his village. One year agoSanim suddenly lost his sight. He hadno idea why his sight had gone. He justknew that he could no longer see, so hecould no longer look after his bananacrop or work as a village leader.

	But...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 11:48:30 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/his-long-awaited-miracle</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/his-long-awaited-miracle</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Unimaginable!]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[By James Heffner and Jeff and MaryLou Wallace

	Wachara is a village in western Kenya,just south of the equator, not far fromthe Tanzanian border and halfwayaround the world from Gardendale Mt.Vernon United Methodist Church inAlabama. Wachara normally has tworainy seasons each year, and can growcorn, potatoes, pineapples, and cabbage.Rain and shallow...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 11:41:25 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unimaginable</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unimaginable</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[His heart was free]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Mr. Tsuda&#39;s stare was cold and withoutemotion. He barely acknowledged ourpresence as we sat opposite each otherin the visiting room at the local jail. Thiswould be the first of many visits beforegaining Mr.Tsuda&#39;s trust. Regrettably,Mr.Tsuda acquired a large gambling debt,and in desperation kidnapped for ransomone of his own boys he coached...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 11:37:14 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/his-heart-was-free</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/his-heart-was-free</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Just as she dreamed]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society will soon open a fieldin a largely unreached area of India. Oneof the cross-cultural workers planningto move to India shared this story of anencounter with a man she met whileexploring ministry opportunities there.

	I found myself overcome with sorrow atthe poverty, ignorance, sickness, andinjustice that sometimes surrounded...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 11:30:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/just-as-she-dreamed</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/just-as-she-dreamed</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Re-focused]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Who are the least reached? Where do they live? When and howdid The Mission Society begin focusing on them? And how doesit equip missionaries to communicate the gospel to them? At anevent last winter, staffers answered these and other questionsabout The Mission Society&rsquo;s newly galvanized attention onreaching those who have never really heard....]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 11:00:43 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/re-focused</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/re-focused</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Missions come of age]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[This issue of Unfinished, which containsa brief annual report for the fiscal yearthat ended May 31,captures several currents that reflectwhat God is doing within The MissionSociety and, I believe, the world thesedays. The year behind us was especiallysignificant, because it was the first yearin which our life and work as an agencywas shaped by...]]></description>
<pubDate>11 Oct 2011 10:41:47 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/missions-come-of-age</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/missions-come-of-age</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Fall 2011 | Issue 51]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>10 Oct 2011 19:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished51</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished51</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Summer 2011 | Issue 50]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society&#39;s quarterly magazine, &quot;Unfinished,&quot; will help you keep up with the missionaries, ministries, and worldwide mission trends and issues. The articles here are excerpted from each issue. Subscriptions to &quot;Unfinished&quot; are free. You can also view selections from our previous magazine, Heartbeat, online.]]></description>
<pubDate>26 Sep 2011 19:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished50</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/unfinished50</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[What do you have?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Have you ever had one of those situations where you thought you had messed up and then later it turned out to be a blessing? Such was the case for me a few months back. I had experienced a grueling week which ended on a Saturday that included an all-day teaching session for local church mission leaders. I crawled into bed sometime after...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:42:32 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/what-do-you-have</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/what-do-you-have</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The 'long haul' of justice]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When we hear the word &ldquo;justice&rdquo; in our contemporary context, perhaps it brings up images of Judge Judy on cable TV, or perhaps a courtroom scene, with justice equated to the prison sentence given as punishment for a crime. Politicians talk about bringing perpetrators of terror &ldquo;to justice.&rdquo; But what does justice have to...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:40:57 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-long-haul-of-justice</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-long-haul-of-justice</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: The Mission Society consecrates 13 new missionaries]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On May 3rd, 13 missionaries were consecrated by The Mission Society for service in Africa, Latin America, and restricted-access locations in various regions throughout the world. Workers serving in such restricted-access areas will be ministering in locations where it might be unsafe to be openly Christian, so they cannot be named publicly.

	Those...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:40:01 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-consecrates-13-new-missionaries</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-mission-society-consecrates-13-new-missionaries</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Remembering a life of faithful witness]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society&rsquo;s first development director, Leonard F. Stuart, went home to be with the Lord Tuesday, June 7, 2011 in Boyle County, Kentucky. Stuart began work with The Mission Society in 1987, just three years after its launch. Prior to his move to serve with this young organization, Stuart had already served in the Air Force...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:39:21 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/remembering-a-life-of-faithful-witness</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/remembering-a-life-of-faithful-witness</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Rising above the ruins]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A congregation of 500 in weekly attendance, Trinity United Methodist Church in Gulfport, Mississippi is very active in local and international mission. This wasn&rsquo;t always the case. But in 2005, gale force winds called forth a response of mercy and love for the world that has not subsided.

	Stuart Allen has served as the mission committee...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:38:25 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/rising-above-the-ruins</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/rising-above-the-ruins</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Caring for Egypt's littlest ones]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Casualties of poverty in a nation of rapid change, many of Egypt&rsquo;s children are left wandering streets alone. This is a story about kids whose prayers and deepest heart cries are being answered.

	Today in Egypt, food prices and unemployment are high. Early 2011 reports indicated &ldquo;Nearly half of all Egyptians live under or just...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:29:45 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/caring-for-egypts-littlest-ones</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/caring-for-egypts-littlest-ones</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Wounded healer]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Samson Siprasur fled Burma into Thailand as a young boy. Soon thereafter, still forging a new life, Samson began doing what many refugees do in Thailand. He picked pineapples. And as he did, he began dreaming of one day having a home for refugee children, so that they could have a better life than him.

	Samson attended Bible school as...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:25:26 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/wounded-healer</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/wounded-healer</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The Burmese next door]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Bridgeport* is one of the many cities in the United States that is growing because it receives refugees from around the world. Every year, the U.S. State Department invites to these cities more than 100,000 immigrants who have been chased out of their countries by ethnic cleansing, war, religious persecution, and the like. Among the residents...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:25:04 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-burmese-next-door</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/the-burmese-next-door</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Who is my neighbor?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[With broadband internet access and mobile technology, the injustices and sufferings of the world are front and center for us every waking hour. How can we decipher which of the world&rsquo;s agonies are our responsibility &ndash; who is our &lsquo;neighbor&rsquo;? In his new book, Steve Moore, president and CEO of The Mission Exchange, offers...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:23:59 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/who-is-my-neighbor</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/who-is-my-neighbor</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Care for the neglected]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In his book The Next Christians, author Gabe Lyons challenges the notion that conversion of souls should be the only motive of Christians. Lyons argues that Christians should be restorers who &ldquo;envision the world as it was meant to be and [they] work toward that vision. [They] seek to mend earth&rsquo;s brokenness.&rdquo;

	I&rsquo;ve been...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:22:41 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/care-for-the-neglected</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/care-for-the-neglected</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[What's a church to do?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Let&rsquo;s say your church wants to expand its mission program. Where to begin? Trinity&#39;s long-time missions volunteers offer suggestions.

	
		Make sure that you work to convince the congregation to climb on board. You can&rsquo;t be successful if you are constantly pitted against people who don&rsquo;t have the
		same dream.
	
		Set your...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:21:47 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/whats-a-church-to-do</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/whats-a-church-to-do</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Celebrating 25 years with The Mission Society]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In 1986, the Revs. Dick McClain and Frank Decker, both elders in The United Methodist Church, joined The Mission Society &ndash; what was then The Mission Society for United Methodists. Dick took a position on staff in Decatur, Georgia as The Mission Society&rsquo;s first personnel director. Meanwhile, Frank began serving with his family as...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:18:35 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/celebrating-25-years-with-the-mission-society</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/celebrating-25-years-with-the-mission-society</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Staffers Jim Ramsay and Frank Decker take on new positions]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Jim Ramsay, who has been serving on The Mission Society&rsquo;s staff as senior director of field ministry, has accepted a new role as vice president for mission ministries. Ramsay and his family served for 10 years in Central Asia before joining The Mission Society staff in 2006. A graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary, he is currently...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:18:27 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/staffers-take-on-new-positions</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/staffers-take-on-new-positions</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Mercy for the exiles]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In a matter of hours, they hardly even know themselves any more. Every step takes them closer to an identity they never wanted. No longer will they be known as shop owners, or farmers, or lawyers, or teachers, or neighbors, or homeowners. Suddenly these Karen people of Burma have become refugees &ndash; victims of what has been called one...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:17:46 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/mercy-for-the-exiles</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/mercy-for-the-exiles</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Kingdom living now]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Recently I&rsquo;ve been intrigued by the question, &ldquo;Why did Jesus come?&rdquo;

	I put that question to a group of mission interns who were with us recently for a week of training. &ldquo;To be our substitute,&rdquo; replied one. &ldquo;To be an example,&rdquo; said another. After several others gave similar responses, I noted that Jesus...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 Jul 2011 18:17:34 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/kingdom-living-now</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/kingdom-living-now</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Spring 2011 | Issue 49]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>01 Apr 2011 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47946</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47946</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Something you know for sure]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I am an evangelist, not a pastor. I&rsquo;ll go out and get people saved and then hand them over to a pastor so he can care for them.
These were my exact thoughts during my college years. I was passionate about winning souls for Christ, but I had no desire to disciple these souls once they came to faith. I didn&rsquo;t have the patience,...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:44:26 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47961</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47961</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The way of the disciple]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Every individual believer and every local congregation should live out their walk of faith in intimacy with Jesus, showing love to others, and seeking to encourage others to find the same relationship with Christ that they enjoy. The four &lsquo;Greats&rsquo; of discipleship presents a cyclic progression that models how that can happen in a...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:43:40 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47960</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47960</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Disciple-making in a sauna?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[One cold winter evening in northern Kazakhstan where our family lived, I went to enjoy the great Russian tradition of going to the sauna with friends. This time I was with a young man from the church we were working with. As we sat relaxing in the heat of the sauna, we talked at length about issues of faith and of ministry. I remember...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:32:54 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47959</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47959</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Four members join The Mission Society board]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[This January, The Mission Society welcomed four new board members. &ldquo;We appreciate the diversity of real-world experience, theological depth, and pastoral insight these members bring to our board,&rdquo; said President Dick McClain. &ldquo;All four have been deeply involved in church life and reaching out to others with the kind of love that...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:31:25 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47957</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47957</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Good reads]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Here are some missionary favorites on discipleship. In addition, we asked Frank Decker to add his top five picks (listed here first). Decker, The Mission Society&rsquo;s vice president of mission operations, directed the national evangelism and discipleship program of the Methodist Church in Ghana from 1987-1993, and today, in addition to his...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:30:33 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47954</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47954</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[A curriculum for Christlikeness]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;To correctly form a curriculum for Christlikeness, we must have a very clear and simple perception of the primary goals it must achieve, as well as what is to be avoided,&rdquo; writes Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy. There are some objectives, he notes, that &ldquo;have often been taken as primary goals, but must not be left...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:28:56 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47952</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47952</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Discipleship's key ingredients]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[We asked our missionaries to complete the sentence: &ldquo;In my Christian journey I&rsquo;ve learned that the most important thing about discipling others is &hellip;&rdquo; Here&rsquo;s what some of them told us.
Prayer
The most important thing is&hellip; prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, prayer for the individual(s) to have an open...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:27:10 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47950</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47950</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Discipleship, our main focus]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Ask anyone where you go in the Bible to find a mandate for missions, and they&rsquo;ll point you to &ldquo;the Great Commission&rdquo; in Matthew 28:18-20.
Jesus came and told his disciples, &ldquo;I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:24:50 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47947</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47947</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: 'Water specialist' missionaries appointed co-directors of the 'Global Resource Team']]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Missionaries Ed and Linda Baker have transitioned from drilling water wells in Nicaragua to now leading a global team of cross-cultural workers.
After more than a decade of foreign missionary service, the Bakers will co-direct The Mission Society's Global Resource Team, which provides specialists in various disciplines to help other Christian missionaries...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:23:23 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47956</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47956</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Focus on relationships]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As we volunteered to open a Mission Society ministry in French speaking West Africa, we had little idea what we were up against. We have encountered so many needs and so much opportunity. But we have little resources and personnel.
We found ourselves trying to do everything for everyone. We wanted to meet all of the needs &ndash; physical...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:22:13 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47951</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47951</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Persecuted disciple-makers]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Among its ministries, The Mission Society provides conferences, resources, and training for church leaders of other nations to help them mobilize their own people in greater missions involvement. In a recent conference in India, Michael Mozley, senior director of International Mobilization, sent this report:
&ldquo;Words really are hard to come...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:16:15 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47958</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47958</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Inside a revolution]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On February 11, friends of The Mission Society who reside in Cairo, Egypt sent news of the situation there after Mubarak stepped down. &ldquo;We write to you now hearing fireworks, honking, and loud celebrations out in the streets! &hellip;We would like to thank each and every one of you for your prayers. We have all prayed His will be...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:15:58 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47955</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47955</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The disciple-maker's limits]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[With regard to helping people love God, the most important question we face is, How do we help people love what is lovely? Very simply, we cause them, ask them, help them to place their minds in the lovely thing concerned. We assist them to do this in every way possible. Saint Thomas Aquinas remarks that &ldquo;love is born of an earnest...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:15:49 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47953</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47953</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Widespread discipleship]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In communities where people are turned off by Christianity that has been miscommunicated or misinterpreted, how do you effectively reintroduce the gospel? This missionary family unlocked a key to widescale discipleship.
Arthur Ivey calls himself a grave robber for Jesus. That notion first occurred to him in the early 1990s while walking down...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:15:29 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47949</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47949</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The unanswerables]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[An interview
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve changed our mission statement every month for the last five years,&rdquo; say Mr. and Mrs. Peterson* who, by their own admission, were called to do an &ldquo;impossible job.&rdquo; The job looked possible, though, when their journey began. They had a detailed business plan. They would help Russia&rsquo;s orphan teens...]]></description>
<pubDate>22 Mar 2011 18:15:24 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47948</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47948</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The attractiveness of Jesus]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[What would people be surprised to know about Buddhism in Japan?
	One of the things that surprised me was that Buddhism was not an original religion of the Japanese. It came from India and worked its way to China, Taiwan, and Korea and then, in the 6th century, finally to Japan. So Buddhism is not indigenous to Japan and, in fact, Buddhists...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:31:04 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47984</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47984</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Reaching the Buddhist heart]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[They meet in hotel restaurants &ndash; neutral territory. Dressed in business suits, they sit around beautiful tables with Bibles open in front of them. They share Scripture and pray &ndash; Christians and non-Christian &ldquo;seekers&rdquo; together. It&rsquo;s a peculiar sight in the land of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, but it&rsquo;s...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:31:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47983</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47983</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[What matters most?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[People often ask me what The Mission Society is all about. &ldquo;What do you do?&rdquo; is how the question is usually put.
Over the past year or two we&rsquo;ve given considerable attention to that question. As a diverse organization with something of an entrepreneurial spirit, The Mission Society has more than 200 workers serving in more...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:55 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47982</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47982</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Go the distance]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Do you remember the Rocky movies? Perhaps one of the most memorable scenes in the series is when Rocky races up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art after a long jog. When he reaches the top of the steps, he throws some jabs, practices some fancy footwork, and then jumps up and down with his fists in the air &ndash; all as if...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:48 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47980</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47980</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Becoming missional]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Wanting to increase outreach, but no missions budget? Here&rsquo;s how one church was turned around.

	Only minutes from the Gulf of Mexico, nestled between palm trees and the sound of crashing waves, sits a church that God is using in His mission. Heritage United Methodist Church in Clearwater, Florida has been prayerfully transforming its...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:44 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47979</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47979</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Ideas for being the 'friendly church' outside the church walls]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[John Wesley, the father of Methodism, put it this way, &ldquo;Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.&rdquo;
What might happen if you:
&bull; Asked your server at the restaurant if there were...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:39 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47978</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47978</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[We are a 'friendly church']]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As I visit churches around the country, I often ask the parishioners what is the distinguishing characteristic about their church. By far, the most common response is, &ldquo;We are a friendly church.&rdquo; They are not alone. If you do a Google search on that specific phrase, you will get over 18,000 hits. It seems like a lot of people...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:33 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47977</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47977</guid>
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<title><![CDATA['Agrimissions' celebrates 10th anniversary]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society&rsquo;s Agrimissions ministry celebrated its 10th anniversary with an event at Sand Mountain United Methodist Church in Trenton, Georgia on February 27, 2010. Agrimissions is a member of The Global Resource Team (GRT) which comprises of a group of specialists in biblical storytelling, information technology, micro-enterprise, agriculture,...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:28 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47976</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47976</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The Mission Society commissions 22 new missionaries]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society recently commissioned one of the largest groups of new missionaries since its founding in 1984. The historic service took place on May 11, 2010 at Simpsonwood United Methodist Church in Norcross, Georgia. The Rev. Dr. Ira Gallaway, one of The Mission Society&rsquo;s founders and retired United Methodist Church elder, was keynote...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:23 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47975</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47975</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Mission Society anthology listed among outstanding mission study books]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[World Mission in the Wesleyan Spirit, a collection of 31 essays by Wesleyan scholars, has been listed among the &ldquo;Fifteen Outstanding Books of 2009 for Mission Studies&rdquo; in the April 2010 issue of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research.

	The book, issued as part of the American Society of Missiology Series, was commissioned...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:18 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47974</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47974</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Haiti, five months later]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Haitians are still seeking to recover from the January 12, 2010 earthquake (7.0) that rocked the capital city of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area. It is reported that the quake left more than 200,000 dead and at least 300,000 injured. The United Nations estimates that 1.3 million people now live in makeshift tent settlements and half...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:12 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47973</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47973</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Mexico's Church grows as violence continues]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In Mexico, violence continues as two of the largest drug cartels fight for turf and easy access to the United States. More than 22,700 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels after assuming office in December 2006. Ciudad Juarez, which is located across the border from El Paso, Texas, is one...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:07 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47972</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47972</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Mexico and Central America in their hearts]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[COSTA RICA

	Doug and Brooke Burns
	Children: Austin and Mary Beth
	Originally from Texas, Doug and Brooke both earned Master&#39;s degrees from Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky before joining The Mission Society team. They have been serving as advocates for sexual trafficking victims in Costa Rica and throughout Latin America. Brooke helped...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:30:02 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47971</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47971</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Out from the darkness]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[During her family&rsquo;s years in Costa Rica, Brooke Burns helped found a safe house for victims of sexual trafficking. The home is called &ldquo;Casa Lavinia,&rdquo; which means, &ldquo;home of a girl who is loved and cared for.&rdquo; Casa Lavinia was designed to offer a place of refuge for young women who have been sexually exploited. While...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:57 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47970</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47970</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Reflections from the scary road]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The rainy season has returned early and with a vengeance. As I make my way down the &ldquo;scary road&rdquo; (page 16), as our family has respectfully named it, I am more cautious than usual due to the slick pavement. I know the road well, really well, as I travel it many times daily to school, to work, and to go just about anywhere...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:52 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47969</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47969</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Do's and don'ts for short-term teams]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Sometimes, short-term mission teams fall into a pattern of posing short-term solutions to long-term problems without asking local people what they know and are doing about the issues. To help avoid this, here are a few simple guidelines for short-term teams:

	1. DO let local people determine your project.

	2. DO undertake projects that are...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:47 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47967</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47967</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Dependency check list]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When is it wrong for outsiders to fund local ministry? If you can answer &ldquo;yes&rdquo; to any of the following questions, it may well indicate a problem. If your answer is &ldquo;yes&rdquo; to more than one, it is a distinct possibility. If your answers to several questions are in the affirmative, it is almost certainly wrong to fund...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:43 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47968</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47968</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Building their future their way]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Long-term effects of short-term mission teams can be disastrous &ndash; broken relationships, increased dependency, decreased esteem among the national people. This Nicaraguan community, however, provides a view of short-term missions that fosters dignity, builds friendships, and represents the Kingdom of God.
When one speaks of &ldquo;missions&rdquo;...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:31 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47966</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47966</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[First, do no harm]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Poverty alleviation is more complex than it appears at first glance. However, there is a good rule of thumb that is extremely useful in cutting through a lot of the complexity: Avoid paternalism. Do not do things for people that they can do for themselves.

	Memorize this. Recite it under your breath all day long. Every time you are engaged...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:26 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47965</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47965</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[When helping hurts]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[You turn on the evening news and see that a tsunami has devastated Indonesia, leaving millions without food, adequate clothing, or shelter. Following a commercial break, the news returns and features a story about the growing number of homeless people in your city, who are also without food, adequate clothing, or shelter. At first glance the...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:21 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47964</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47964</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The Gospel for everyone]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[My introduction to Central America came during the summer of 1970. With one year of marriage under our belts and the ink on our college diplomas barely dry, Pam and I, along with two other couples from Asbury College (now Asbury University), were sent on a two month-long mission trip to Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. During our stay in...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:15 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47963</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47963</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The world to come to South Africa]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[CT 2010 will be held at Cape Town. Of its 400 U.S. delegates, three will be from The Mission Society.
Approximately 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries participated in the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing, China. Watching the opening ceremony brought tears to my eyes as I saw each nation parade along the floor of the Beijing National...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:07 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47945</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47945</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Got direction?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[While surfing the internet a couple of years ago, I came across a blog by Tony Morgan (www.tonymorganlive.com) titled &quot;10 Advantages of Doing Ministry Without a Ministry Plan.&quot; Upon reading through the list, I recounted, with some grief, the numerous church meetings I have endured in the past. You may recall the same anguish I have...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:29:03 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47944</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47944</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Grow the relationship: Five easy ways]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[1. The missionary cannot often visit your church in person, so when he or she does, make the most of it. Get him or her in front of small groups in the church. Don&rsquo;t forget the children and youth. While the pulpit is great, it is really not the place from which relationships will be built, so find creative ways to engage the congregation...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:58 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47943</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47943</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[More than a budget line item]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society holds the primacy of the local church in mission as one of its core values. Missions is not the job of the mission agency. The agency&rsquo;s job is to assist the local church in fulfilling its call to be engaged in God&rsquo;s mission. That has been the incentive for The Mission Society&rsquo;s involvement in church...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:53 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47942</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47942</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Six new missionaries approved for service]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Six new missionaries were approved for service with The Mission Society at the conclusion of the Candidate Assessment and Orientation event on September 16, 2010. This group of cross-cultural workers will join other teams of Mission Society missionaries in various locations around the globe.
Three of the six new missionaries are planning to serve...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:48 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47941</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47941</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The Mission Society boosts efforts to help equip international churches for missions]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On September 1, Michael Mozley, former missionary to Ghana, joined The Mission Society staff to head its new international mobilization department. The recent great expansion of Christianity in the global south and in parts of Asia has introduced a need within world evangelization. Says Mozley, &ldquo;In many instances, these international congregations...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:44 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47940</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47940</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Transitional leadership]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Change is what happens to us from forces outside ourselves over which we have no control. Most of us deal fairly well with continuous change, which is ongoing, gradual, and expected. But discontinuous change is much more disturbing and difficult. Congregations do not do well with this unexpected, dramatic change; they need entirely different...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:39 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47939</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47939</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Where are we?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In the fog of rapidly changing culture, churches can feel lost or doubtful that there is any way forward. But &ldquo;a congregation can be transformed into a missional community,&rdquo; say authors Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk. Here, they offer guidance through confusing periods of change and transition.
&ldquo;God is present in the churches...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:34 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47938</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47938</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Designed with your church in mind]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society offers the following workshops that are designed to assist local churches become more strategic, significant, and skilled in their outreach. All workshops include teaching, video presentations, and hands-on activities.
Global Outreach Workshop
Target Population: Church staff and leaders, mission team members, interested church members
Length:...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:28 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47937</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47937</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Role reversal]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[For about 200 years, it was commonly assumed that mission agencies should be provided for and &ldquo;served&rdquo; by local churches. But The Mission Society, for one, has taken a 180 degree shift in that thinking. Recognizing that the local church (not the mission agency) is God&rsquo;s primary mission agent in the world, The Mission Society...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:18 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47936</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47936</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Shift in perspective]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Rev. Ryan Barnett never intended to participate in cross-cultural missions. As the worship pastor at The U, Barnett saw his ministry as the congregation he served. When a friend asked him to take a short-term trip to Rwanda, he reluctantly agreed. &ldquo;What I realized is that, if I am going to be a theological leader of the people...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:14 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47935</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47935</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Church done inside out]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Local churches have long measured success by the incoming nickels and noses. But what happens when a church shifts focus, and starts gauging effectiveness, instead, by what goes out from the church? This Texas congregation&rsquo;s story offers a bright example of a new standard for church &ldquo;success.&rdquo;
Referred to as &ldquo;The U&rdquo;...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47934</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47934</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Churches, come alive again]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to do a better job working with churches! We&rsquo;re ministering in lots of congregations, but we&rsquo;re not really making a difference.&rdquo;
That was the assessment of our president, Al Vom Steeg, in 1999. Al said he felt like after we conducted a missions event in a church, the leaders pulled out their &ldquo;to-do...]]></description>
<pubDate>15 Mar 2011 19:28:02 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47933</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47933</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[No exceptions]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Before any committee wrote your church&rsquo;s mission statement, your congregation already had its mission. Jesus declared it when He said: &ldquo;Go into all the world and make disciples.&rdquo; In other words, missions is every church&rsquo;s mission.

	But the long arm of missions goes beyond the local church. Paul teaches in I Corinthians...]]></description>
<pubDate>30 Sep 2010 14:56:59 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48087</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48087</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Fall 2010 | Issue 48]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>01 Sep 2010 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47932</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47932</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Many more know Him]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[You do not have to look far before finding someone who is connected to The Mission Society. Whether a missionary, ministry partner, staff member, or friend, The Mission Society&rsquo;s presence reaches to the corners of the globe.

	We invite you to enjoy some time with the next few pages and rejoice with us at the many ways Christ has...]]></description>
<pubDate>13 Jul 2010 19:05:45 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48023</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48023</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Russia's young survivors]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Ever since the fall of communism, the largest country on earth has been taking up less space in our collective consciousness. After nearly a century of watching over our shoulder at fellow superpower the USSR, other emerging giants seem to be capturing more of our nation&rsquo;s attention these days. Even so, Time magazine reminds us, &ldquo;Russia...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Jun 2010 14:32:10 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48055</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48055</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Summer 2010 | Issue 47]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>01 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47962</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47962</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Make disciples in Asia]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Despite persecution, the Church is growing in Asia, and workers are needed to disciple national church leaders and new believers. Here are a few opportunities. Read how you can plug into what God is doing among the people of Asia.
Southeast Asia
Disciple church leaders
While the faith of those believers in a country where the gospel cannot...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Feb 2010 16:18:02 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47993</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47993</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Refueling the workers]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The city of Istanbul has had no shortage of invasions. From the Greeks and Romans to the Ottomans, this strategic gateway between East and West has attracted the attention of empires. In early November, 88 missionaries, missionary kids, staff, and guests converged on this ancient city. But while our interest was Kingdom-oriented, it had nothing...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Feb 2010 16:17:07 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47990</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47990</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Rev. Edgar Nelson, Mission Society founder, passes away at 94]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Rev. Edgar Nelson, one of The Mission Society&rsquo;s founders, passed away at his home in Yuba City, California on January 23, 2010. Nelson was among the original 34 people who met in St. Louis to form what was then called The Mission Society for United Methodists in 1984.
Nelson had a long history of mission involvement throughout his...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Feb 2010 16:16:31 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47989</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47989</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Kazakhstan field celebrates 15th anniversary]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society recently celebrated 15 years since the founding of its work in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan. In addition to the team and national staff in Kazakhstan, Mission Society staff members Dick McClain and Jim Ramsay traveled there to celebrate this milestone. Jim, whose family lived and served there from 1996-2006, writes...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Feb 2010 16:15:59 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47988</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47988</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Further along the Indian Road]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Christ of the Indian Road, published in 1925, is the groundbreaking account of E. Stanley Jones&rsquo; missionary experience among the people of India. In it, he describes the gospel&rsquo;s universal appeal and Indians&rsquo; hunger for Christ. &ldquo;&hellip;Standing among the shadows of Western civilization,&rdquo; wrote Jones, &ldquo;India has...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Feb 2010 16:14:29 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47986</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47986</guid>
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<title><![CDATA["The meek shall inherit the earth"]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Meekness. By definition, to be meek means to be patient, humble, gentle, easily imposed on, submissive. In Thailand, meekness is a way of life.

	We are about to embark on a journey to serve with Nantachai and Ubolwan Mejudhon, a Thai couple who have been working among Buddhists in the northeastern region of Thailand, known as the Isarn...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Feb 2010 16:12:25 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47985</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47985</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Red light, green light]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;God tends to operate more by red lights than by green lights.&rdquo; One of my undergraduate theology professors was fond of that saying. It has stuck with me over the years, and has become a favorite phrase of mine as it relates to my role as a missions coach. As a matter of fact, I find myself sharing my professor&rsquo;s words...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Feb 2010 16:04:36 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47992</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47992</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Reclaiming the priority]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I received a letter from a missionary serving with another agency a month or so ago. One paragraph in the letter caught my attention. It read, &ldquo;Missionary meetings a generation ago were usually well attended. Young people came forward to offer themselves to Christ and churches were revived. There was excitement. Sadly much of that has...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Feb 2010 16:04:31 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47991</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47991</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Asia and the Pacific in their hearts]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In the nations of Asia live people of enormously diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, comprising 60 percent of the world&#39;s current population. Some of your Mission Society missionaries to Asia (and the Pacific) are shown here; many others are not named because they minister in areas of the world in which security is an issue. Thank...]]></description>
<pubDate>23 Feb 2010 16:04:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47987</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47987</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Winter 2010 | Issue 46]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>01 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47981</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47981</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Wanna go deeper?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Well, summer has passed, and what a glorious one it was. The summer of &rsquo;09 saw many college students, young adults, teachers, and even a couple of retirees embark on an internship experience with one of The Mission Society&rsquo;s teams. Interns discipled youth, played with orphans, learned about different family structures and new cultures,...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:44:17 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48006</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48006</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Shaping the next generation]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I have begun to realize that many veteran missionaries have one fear in common. They are afraid that the next generation will not take the baton and finish the task of world evangelization. I remember being at a bonfire with my seminary missions professor and his wife as they &ndash; with tears in their eyes &ndash; shared this concern...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:44:02 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48005</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48005</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The Mission Society celebrates 25 years]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Some 370 leaders and friends celebrated The Mission Society&rsquo;s 25th anniversary on September 11, 2009, at Norcross First United Methodist Church, Norcross, Georgia.

	&ldquo;The Mission Society has become a global entity, responding to spiritual and material needs throughout the world,&rdquo; said Dr. Gerald H. Anderson. &ldquo;While retaining...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:43:53 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48004</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48004</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[This church has left the building]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Woodinville Community UMC in Woodinville, WA began a Community Outreach Ministry in September 2008. This program, TALK TIME, is an opportunity for new English learners to practice speaking English in a safe, nonthreatening, and relaxed environment. It is an easy, friendly way for foreign students, refugees, immigrants, and international businesspeople...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:43:32 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48003</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48003</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Help wanted]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It has been an interesting week here at The Mission Society. Every morning, the staff gathers for devotions at 8:00 to focus on God&rsquo;s Word and to pray for our missionaries, supporters, and other needs. Normally, we rotate the day&rsquo;s leading of the devotional time among the various staff members. This week, however, all of our devotional...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:43:20 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48002</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48002</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Is missionary life safe?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In our second year of serving as missionaries in Kazakhstan, we were preparing to receive a young, single woman as a two-year missionary. She wrote me to say that her father was concerned about her living in this far-away, strange place. So I wrote a nice email to her father, dispelling some of his concerns and assuring him that we would...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:43:08 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48001</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48001</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Zambia: Ripe for harvest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Jesus said, &ldquo;Do you not say, &lsquo;Four months more and then the harvest&rsquo;? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields&rsquo;! They are ripe for the harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages; even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so the sower and the reaper may be glad together.&rdquo; John 4:35-36 (NIV)

	One...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:42:56 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48000</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48000</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Helping heal Ghana's people]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Reid and Lola Buchanan moved from Lexington, Kentucky to Ankaase in 2001. During their six years in Ghana, Reid helped develop the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program in the Ashanti region and some of the surrounding villages.

	CHE has trainers who visit people in the village and teach them about Jesus, as well as about preventative...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:42:39 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47999</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47999</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Ankaase: A village changed]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Cam, Anne, and Caylor Gongwer have spent the past 11 years serving in the remote village of Ankaase in Ghana, West Africa. Their primary ministries of medical work and literacy training have affected thousands, as God continues to bring people to Himself.

	I first met Cam and Anne when I was 23 years old. Just a year out of college and...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:42:28 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47998</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47998</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Out of Africa]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The story of Christian theology has been told from a European perspective, but the so-called &quot;dark continent&quot; has been lighting the path of classical Christianity for centuries, says theologian Thomas Oden. He writes of our debt to Africa.

	A few years ago, an African-American friend and I were discussing a popular black pastor whose...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:42:15 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47997</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47997</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[On the starting line]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I have known Phil Granger for a long time, having worked with him at the board level for a sister organization for many years prior to his coming to The Mission Society. Because of the gifts and graces I had seen in Phil, I suggested to him some years ago that he submit his resume to the search committee of The Mission Society, and...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:42:01 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47996</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47996</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Until then...]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As year end approaches I find that Iam looking to retirement with mixed feelings. It is a moment of sorrow as I prepare to step away from the greatest season of ministry I have ever experienced.

	I will miss being in ministry with you. You, through prayer, financial support, notes of appreciation and encouragement, and countless other ways,...]]></description>
<pubDate>24 Sep 2009 15:41:17 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47995</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47995</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Fall 2009 | Issue 45]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>01 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47994</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/47994</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Oh brothers, where art ya'll?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I have been working at The Mission Society since December 2006. At the time of this writing, I have participated in five missionary candidate events and three intern trainings, and I&rsquo;ve noticed a trend.
Of the 47 missionary candidates from these five candidate events, what percentage do you think were men? 
a. 15%
b. 25%
c. 40% 
d....]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 16:12:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48019</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48019</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Focusing on missions has re-invigorated our church]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society&rsquo;s church ministry department exists to help your church find and pursue its mission calling. As you will read, churches are being transformed as they more fully turn their hearts toward offering Christ to the world.

	December 12, 2008

	Dear church mission leader,

	St. Johns United Methodist Church will be hosting...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 16:06:18 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48018</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48018</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Moving on out to the 'ends of the earth']]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A Global Impact Celebration (GIC) is an annual event designed to celebrate the outreach ministries of the local church while casting a greater vision and challenge for global outreach and involvement. In 2007 Peoria First United Methodist Church held a GIC, which turned out to be a turning point. God used it to reinvigorate already-existing...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 16:02:37 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48017</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48017</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[When "loving your neighbor "means loving your nearby state]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When Julie Rolff noticed a list of upcoming mission opportunities in a publication of First United Methodist Church of Peoria, Illinois (her home church), the &ldquo;hurricane relief&rdquo; mission trip to Dulac, Louisiana caught her eye. Wishing her husband could go, too, but knowing that wasn&rsquo;t a possibility, she found herself considering...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 15:55:48 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48016</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48016</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Investing in our "Missionary Kids"]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In early January, 50 missionaries and 20 missionary kids (MKs) from across the Americas gathered along with several staff and some guests in the mountains outside San Jos&eacute;, Costa Rica. The event was the Latin America/USA regional gathering of The Mission Society. Such events provide an important opportunity to minister to our MKs, many...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 15:47:26 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48015</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48015</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Letting God be in charge of change]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Change. It&rsquo;s a word that has been used so much in this last year that it&rsquo;s easy to tune it out or not even relate to it. Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary says that change means &ldquo;to make different in some particular; to make radically different; to give a different position, course, or direction.&rdquo; Now I can relate to change...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 15:41:23 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48008</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48008</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Discipleship has consequences]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In 1998, Dana Hernandez enrolled at the University of Georgia (in Athens, Georgia) as a freshman from Summerville, South Carolina. She made the move to Athens because she had heard about the party scene and that there are more than 100 bars within a square mile right next to campus. But the Lord directed Dana to a Wednesday evening service...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 15:40:29 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48014</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48014</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[There must be more]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It is 8:07 pm on Wednesday evening. As guitar, drums, and keyboard players on stage play songs of prayer, a large gathering of young adults enters into a time of worship. The tone is solemn but joyful. Below the stage is an altar where people are kneeling and praying for each other. The worship team will play until everyone has gone home,...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 15:28:48 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48013</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48013</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Home among the exiled]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;It seemed so simple then: Just move to the city and watch God show up. But I had no idea at the time what it meant,&rdquo; writes Alex Davidson, who moved with his family into an apartment complex to live and minister among refugees. &ldquo;I am still discovering what it means to have my life intertwined with the lives of my refugee...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 15:28:36 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48012</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48012</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Our church has left the building]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Provide an after-school tutoring program.
	Grace Fellowship Church in Snellville, Georgia, along with other area churches, began an after-school program for the immigrant children in the neighborhood. Most of these children are &ldquo;latch-key kids&rdquo; (children who are home alone for several hours after school each weekday while parents are...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 15:28:25 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48011</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48011</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Mission Bootcamp]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Their &ldquo;Mission Bootcamp&rdquo; course is one way the Heinzes seek to equip downtown congregations to reach out with Christ&rsquo;s love to the multicultural community around them. Ten people from Lexington, Kentucky&rsquo;s First United Methodist Church have committed to meeting two hours each week for nine months to attend the training. By...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 15:28:14 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48010</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48010</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Downtown for Good: Tearing down old walls]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Cultural differences often barricade inner-city churches from the communities around them. How can those divides ever be leveled? Missionaries John and Katheryn Heinz help downtown congregations remodel their thinking so they can better reach into the communities in their backyards.
While many cities do not live up to the beauty, history, and...]]></description>
<pubDate>06 May 2009 15:28:03 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48009</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48009</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Spring 2009 | Issue 44]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>01 Apr 2009 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48007</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48007</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Two billion reasons]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Talking to The Mission Society&rsquo;s founders, one gets a sense of how Tom Brokaw must have felt when he was interviewing people for his book, The Greatest Generation. Mostly pastors and missionaries, those who laid the groundwork for what would become &ldquo;The Mission Society for United Methodists&rdquo; took bold stands that they probably...]]></description>
<pubDate>16 Mar 2009 15:49:08 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48022</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48022</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Going where no missionaries have gone before]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Have you ever wondered about the meaning of The Mission Society logo? President Phil Granger explained its significance in the fall 2006 Unfinished: &ldquo;The left side of the globe and fish (an ancient Christian symbol) are incomplete, signifying that the task [of global evangelization] is unfinished.&rdquo; The Mission Society&rsquo;s commitment...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jan 2009 15:37:31 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48031</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48031</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Built to last]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;The mission to which The Mission Society is called is God&rsquo;s mission &ndash; His plan for the salvation of the world,&rdquo; reiterates the Rev. Dr. Philip Granger, who took the helm as The Mission Society&rsquo;s president and CEO in 2001. &ldquo;Our tactics will change, but the message will remain the same.&rdquo; Now at the threshold...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jan 2009 15:31:21 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48021</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48021</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Don't put off reading this article]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Well, I have done it again. The deadline for this edition of Unfinished is due, and once again I have put off writing my article to the very last minute. Oh sure, I can rationalize how I seem to arrive at this point every quarter. I had other things to do &ndash; important things. It&rsquo;s funny. They don&rsquo;t seem all that important...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Jan 2009 01:18:56 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48030</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48030</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[A divine appointment]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Our advancement team at The Mission Society desires to connect personally as often as possible with ministry partners (those who give through financial support and prayers) and encourage them in their faith journeys. As we do, it is not uncommon for us to hear some amazing stories of God&rsquo;s faithfulness.
Here is one such story, shared...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Jan 2009 01:09:32 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48029</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48029</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Discerning the path ahead]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In late October, we gathered 16 of our missionaries, several staff members from headquarters, and some guests in the city of Prague. The purpose was to spend some time as a community looking 25 years into the future, considering what that future might look like and what ways The Mission Society will need to respond to it. From that vantage...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Jan 2009 01:01:35 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48028</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48028</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Jesus rules the nations]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we want to take note of how God is moving among hearts and communities around the world. So we asked Mission Society missionaries to tell us what theyare seeing the Lord doing as they announce His Kingdom. We had many responses. Here is a small sampling.
&bull; This summer we saw more than 1500 gather...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Jan 2009 00:53:07 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48027</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48027</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Shape your missions mind]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[For your 2009 reading list, Dr. Darrell Whiteman, Mission Society vice president for mission education and resident missiologist, recommends some mission classics &ndash; or soon-to-be classics (listed here in alphabetical order).
Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today 
by Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder 
This masterpiece by two...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Jan 2009 00:47:37 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48026</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48026</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[What's a good church to do?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Strategic outreach seems more complex than ever before. In this changing world environment, what should every congregation know about missions? We asked David Mays, who has consulted with hundreds of churches.
As the struggle to share the Gospel with the unreached grows more intense and missions organizations grow more savvy and collaborative...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Jan 2009 00:39:21 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48025</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48025</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Here comes the hard part]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Reaching the unreached was among the reasons The Mission Society was founded 25 years ago. For it, as for every church and mission agency, the biggest challenge in world missions might just be only beginning.
Some complex challenges face mission workers and churches today, observes David Mays, director of learning initiatives of The Mission...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Jan 2009 00:31:03 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48024</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48024</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Winter 2009 | Issue 43]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>01 Nov 2008 08:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48020</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48020</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Brazilian Methodists moving into missions]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In 2006, The Mission Society entered into process of mission development with The Methodist Church of Brazil. It began when the Brazilian church asked if The Mission Society could help it become a mission-sending church. The collaborative process was launched when a team from The Mission Society consulted with Brazilian leaders regarding sending...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 17:57:51 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48037</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48037</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Educators, is God calling you to cross-cultural ministry?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Lesson plans, classroom decorations, new students. Farewell, summer break. School is back in session! Teachers everywhere are hoping to make a positive impact on their students, some of whom will become great leaders. All over the world, teachers are examples and mentors. Educators, is God wanting to use you to communicate Himself to the children...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 17:56:34 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48042</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48042</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The unmentioned ones]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Have you ever watched a movie and sat through the entire list of credits? Unless you were waiting for the crowd to thin out, chances are that you left the theater after the first few actors&rsquo; names had been displayed on the screen. You probably didn&rsquo;t stay in your seat to find out who was the key grip, nor did you wait around...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 17:50:47 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48041</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48041</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[You had me at hello]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A good friend of mine and of missions passed on to glory recently. The Rev. James Hord served as a missionary with World Gospel Mission in Honduras. Later, he served as a missionary evangelist preaching in camp meetings and missions conferences all across the United States. I can attribute much of my continuing involvement in missions as...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 17:34:26 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48040</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48040</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Re-thinking stewardship]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[From time to time, I am asked what I do at The Mission Society. I answer that our department seeks to &ldquo;minister to, pray for, mobilize, and motivate followers of Christ toward more active participation in the Great Commission and greater generosity to God&rsquo;s work.&rdquo;
Personally, I like to think of myself as working for the Lord...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 17:27:06 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48039</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48039</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Mission Society "MK" program takes a step forward]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society family presently includes 136 &ldquo;missionary kids&rdquo; (MKs) under the age of 21. Some go to international schools with other MKs. Some are homeschooled. Some go to local schools. Some speak several languages, while others speak only English.
Characteristics common to all MKs are their cross-cultural and highly mobile lives,...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 17:19:31 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48038</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48038</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Home by another way]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[It was the French philosopher, Blaise Pascal who said there is a &ldquo;God-shaped vacuum in every heart.&rdquo; Of course, that was about 400 years ago. The modern French heart, we think, seems to know of no vacuum for something beyond itself.
Au contraire, reports Brian Beise, who grew up on the mission field in Paris. Many French are...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 17:13:52 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48034</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48034</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Christians burned alive in India]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Christians in India&rsquo;s state of Orissa are being persecuted and killed. On August 27, The Mission Society received a message from former board member, the Rev. Naik, a native of India&rsquo;s eastern state of Orissa. &ldquo;Just this morning,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;I spoke with family members there. Things have been getting worse by the...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 17:10:03 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48036</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48036</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Rules of engagement]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Recently I was on a flight returning to Atlanta from Brazil, where we had just completed two weeks of training with our new missionary appointees. Most of them were on the same flight. I was seated right across from the flight attendant, who was in the small seat three feet away and facing me. It seemed natural to strike up a conversation....]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 17:02:56 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48035</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48035</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Something wonderful]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Lu&iacute;s Wesley de Souza, Ph.D., a Luso-Brazilian born in Sao Paulo, is Arthur J. Moore associate professor of Evangelism at Emory University&rsquo;s Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a founder of and visiting professor at South American Theological Seminary in Londrina, Brazil, and is the founding director of the Jethro...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 16:42:21 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48047</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48047</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Back from the brink]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Have you ever noticed that you learn things at least twice (for me, often it&rsquo;s many more than twice) before those lessons &ldquo;stick&rdquo; and really become part of you? First you learn something intellectually when you become aware. Then you learn it at the heart level when it becomes &ldquo;real&rdquo; to you and deeply affects your...]]></description>
<pubDate>29 Oct 2008 16:35:52 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48033</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48033</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Fall 2008 | Issue 42]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>01 Sep 2008 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48032</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48032</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Personnel Needs]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&iexcl;Bienvenidos! You are welcome to serve in South America! The Lord is doing marvelous things in this part of the world. Join Him and get involved with what He is doing there. Whether you would like to serve as a teacher, agriculture specialist, medical worker, or administrative assistant, we have quite a few positions available. Remember,...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jul 2008 19:03:29 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48052</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48052</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[God Speaks Spanish]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society supports 38 missionaries to six countries in South America. Our work there began in 1988, during which time, the religious and political situation in these areas has changed dramatically. Here, meet your Mission Society team in South America. Note the wide variety of ways in which these men and women minister, addressing...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jul 2008 18:53:15 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48049</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48049</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Legends of the call]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In my last article (&ldquo;The wrong question&rdquo;), I tried to address a misconception about missions. I said that every follower of Christ &ndash; not just certain ones &ndash; is called to missions. Of course, it naturally follows that our physically going to another part of the world is not the only way to fulfill this call on our...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jul 2008 18:39:57 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48051</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48051</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Wanted: Lay pastor trainers]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Beginning with the earliest Spanish conquistadors, Christianity was injected into the communities of South America. It was an imported form of the faith &ndash; high on ritual, ordained clergy, and elaborate church garb. Spreading through the mountains and jungles of South America, this European-looking Christianity must have sometimes looked rather...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jul 2008 18:39:46 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48045</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48045</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Peru's shining stars]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;There are thousands of Peruvians hungry to hear about the saving grace of Jesus Christ,&rdquo; observes missionary Arthur Ivey, &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t even have enough minimally trained pastors for the existing churches, much less for the churches we could easily plant.&rdquo;
The story of the Gospel reaching these hungry hearts is one of...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jul 2008 18:39:04 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48046</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48046</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Seeking the heart of Latin America]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Three major theological movements have helped shape the Church in Latin America. What form of Christianity will best take root in the soil of this, one of the most diverse regions in the world? Does this 500-year-old question finally have an answer?
Roman Catholicism: faith imported for the New World 
Christianity arrived in Latin America...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jul 2008 18:38:49 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48048</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48048</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Against all odds]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Twenty years ago the Evangelical Methodist Church of Paraguay came into existence as a joint effort of The Mission Society and the Brazilian Methodist Church. In April, more than 1000 people came out to celebrate the Paraguayan church&rsquo;s 20th anniversary, and I had the privilege of being there.
Before I left for Paraguay, I found a trip...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jul 2008 18:33:56 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48050</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48050</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Back from the future]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I&rsquo;ve been thinking a lot about perspective lately. What got my wheels turning was a meeting staff members had with Bill O&rsquo;Brien, former director of the Global Center at the Beeson Divinity School(at Sanford University, Birmingham). Bill introduced us to a planning method he calls &ldquo;horizon visioning.&rdquo; Rather than projecting...]]></description>
<pubDate>19 Jul 2008 17:39:37 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48044</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48044</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Summer 2008 | Issue 41]]></title>
<description />
<pubDate>01 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48043</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48043</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The beauty of the impossible call]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve changed our mission statement every month for the last five years,&rdquo; say Mr. and Mrs. Peterson* who, by their own admission, were called to do an &ldquo;impossible job.&rdquo; The job looked possible, though, when their journey began. They had a detailed business plan. They would help Russia&rsquo;s orphan teens transition...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:54:18 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48056</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48056</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Reality Check]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I&rsquo;m having a hard time. It&rsquo;s probably myfault. I make it a point to read our Atlanta paper daily. I listen to news radio on the way to and from the office each day. I make sure I catch the local and the national news on television each night. I also read my Bible. I try to stay informed, and I also ask the question over...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:54:07 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48054</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48054</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Jesus, Lord of all]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[When the young missionary E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973) arrived for the first time in India in 1907, he was not prepared for his new life. &ldquo;As I look back,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;I see that the most valuable thing about me in those days was my colossal ignorance. I had no knowledge of what to do and not to do, for I had gone through...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:33:14 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48057</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48057</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The wrong question]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I ask a lot of questions. Some of the questions cause me to appear like a calculated user of the Socratic method. Others make me sound like I&rsquo;m a bit lacking in common sense. An example of the latter is when I bought a new set of golf clubs earlier this year and asked if I needed to keep the UPC barcode sticker on my driver....]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:31:36 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48063</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48063</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Ghana's Methodist Church mobilizes to send missionaries]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Mission Society partnered with The Methodist Church &ndash; Ghana to conduct its 2nd International Missions Conference in January, 2008. Hosted by the Evangelism, Missions, and Renewal (EMR) committee of the Ghanaian Church, the conference was attended by more than 100 African pastors and church leaders, including five of the church&rsquo;s...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:31:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48061</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48061</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[News: Election fury]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Several Mission Society representatives in Kenya have been deeply &ndash; and at times personally &ndash; touched by the tragedies in the nation following national elections that took place near the end of December 2007.

	&ldquo;This is not what anyone expected,&rdquo; noted Mission Society international partner and Kenya native Michael Agwanda,...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:25:36 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48062</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48062</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Uncomplicating evangelism]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On many weekends, our church ministry team members have the privilege and blessing of being in a local church delivering our Global Outreach Weekend. These churches have invited us in to either help ignite a passion for missions among the membership, or to assist in taking their existing missions program to a higher level. In the context...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:24:38 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48059</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48059</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The elusive bottom line]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I am a lousy secretary. Really. Maintaining and updating detailed records is not my strength. Len and I actually have a perfect division of labor in place &ndash; he manages all of our financial records, and I let him!

	But one task I cannot avoid is writing activity reports. Not that I&rsquo;m complaining. I realize that periodic evaluations...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:18:18 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48060</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48060</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Personnel Needs]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Nearly every Mission Society field of service has one thing in common: need for more laborers. The following is a list of the opportunities available in several countries to serve in cross-cultural ministry. We hope these pages will serve as a topic of discussion and prayer for your family, for your Sunday school class, church, and friends.

	Don&rsquo;t...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:14:10 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48064</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48064</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Churches, let the little children come to you]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[I remember my first time. My family had only been serving as missionaries in Central Asia a few weeks when our church group decided to make weekly visits to a local orphanage. I fell in love with the children. I was overcome by their hugs and their hunger for love. I wanted to make a difference. I&rsquo;ve been in many orphanages in...]]></description>
<pubDate>18 Apr 2008 15:11:32 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48058</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48058</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Trouble in paradise]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As Christ&rsquo;s Body, our work involves interceding on behalf of the persecuted church. Here, contributing writer Reed Hoppe acquaints us with the plights of some of our suffering brothers and sisters worldwide. In this issue, she examines the island nation of Maldives.
Along the sandy shores of Maldives rest flocks of tourists, eager to explore...]]></description>
<pubDate>17 Apr 2008 13:42:27 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48114</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48114</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[One Body]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[How do you minister to a man who burned down your house and shot at your family?
	A Burundi pastor posed this challenge to Dr. Karl Dortzbach, a ministry leader with Peacemaker Ministries, during the fourth day of the East Africa Mission Mobilization Conference in Kenya. Dortzbach, an American born in Ethiopia and living in Kenya, was in...]]></description>
<pubDate>17 Apr 2008 13:42:07 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48107</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48107</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Introducing Jesus to the last unreached tribe on earth]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In the fall issue of Unfinished, you read about the two-week East Africa Mission Mobilization Conference. Its goal was (and is) to help mobilize more than 700 churches with 35,000 Christians taking the Gospel to 100,000 people in unreached and leastreached tribes in East Africa. Among the fruit of that event, more than 1,000 people have made...]]></description>
<pubDate>17 Apr 2008 13:41:09 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48101</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48101</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Jesus, our Home]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[At Appletree House in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, neighborhood children &ndash; many of them, children of alcoholics &ndash; get fed one meal a day, five days a week. Some of them trudge through the snow in subzero degree temperatures, with holes in their shoes and with coats only the weight of a windbreaker. They hazard the bitter cold to come...]]></description>
<pubDate>17 Apr 2008 13:40:38 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48097</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48097</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Accelerating the spread of the Gospel]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In 2006, The Mission Society engaged in a new kind of partnership &ndash; a partnership to help launch a missionary-sending organization in Brazil that would recruit, train, and place Latin American missionaries around the world.

	&ldquo;A renewal movement is sweeping through the Church of Brazil,&rdquo; writes The Mission Society vice president,...]]></description>
<pubDate>17 Apr 2008 13:39:25 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48094</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48094</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[The state of the Gospel]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last September, Jason Mandryk, editor of Operation World, and Justin Long, senior editor of Momentum, delivered a report on the current state of world evangelization to 400 delegates attending the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering in Malaysia. The following is gleaned from their report. For much more on this subject, and to download an information-packed...]]></description>
<pubDate>17 Apr 2008 13:38:59 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48093</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48093</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Cuba before Castro]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;Anyone who really wants to understand Cuban reality should start by understanding that Cubans managed to build a relatively successful nation before Castro,&rdquo; writes Roger F. Noriega, former ecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Here, he revisits pre-revolution Cuba.

	
		The Cuba which Castro took over in 1959 was one...]]></description>
<pubDate>17 Apr 2008 13:38:10 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48091</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48091</guid>
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<title><![CDATA[Partnering with Cuba's Church]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;People would typically think, &lsquo;You&rsquo;ve been to Cuba, so now you&rsquo;re planning to send missionaries there,&rdquo; surmised Frank Decker, The Mission Society vice president who was part of a team who traveled to Cuba last November. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not exactly the full story. The Mission Society is looking at partnering with...]]></description>
<pubDate>17 Apr 2008 13:37:44 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48089</link>
<guid>http://www.themissionsociety.org/learn/multimedia/unfinished/mag-templ/article/48089</guid>
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