May 01, 1993 by Rick Wood

Exciting, earth-shaking things are happening all over the world. We at Mission Frontiers want to futher that progress.

wood.JPG (4591 bytes)The goal and vision of the US Center and Mission Frontiers is to change the way the Christian world thinks about missions--to bring a new focus on the unreached peoples and the completion of the Great Commission. We are moving boldly toward that goal.

Just recently we have made some dramatic moves forward in getting MF into the hands of Christian leaders all over the world. Beginning with the first issue of this year, we have added the names of about 7,000 key Christian leaders--all overseas. These names were graciously provided to us by Luis Bush of the AD2000 Movement. These are people who the AD2000 Movement has been working with in developing their world-wide networks. Many of these people will be involved in the second Global Consultation on World Evangelization in Seoul Korea in June 1995.

These and others who get MF are key people who are having a significant impact on the entire course of world evangelization. This is especially true because of the explosive growth of the third world missionary movement. As this movement grows we want them to have access to the important vision giving information in MF that can lay a strong foundation for their ministries. Continuing to nurture a vision for the unreached peoples is changing the course of world evangelization. We believe that sending MF provides a significant communication link to all those involved in the growing AD2000 Movement and spurs the growth of networks to reach the unreached peoples. The addition of these 7,000 names will bring our overseas mailing of MF to over 13,000 people, the largest overseas circulation of any generic missions magazine.

Another exciting opportunity is our offer of a free subscription to Mission Frontiers for all missionaries. In just the last two months we have sent out nearly 8,000 sample copies of MF to missionaries working with 25 different mission agencies. This amounts to almost 16,000 people since many are married couples. We included a reply card for them to request their free subscription. Currently over 700 have done so and we are hoping and praying that many more will respond. Please contact me if you are interested in providing this offer to missionaries you know.

For those of you who are wondering about the response to the new look of Mission Frontiers, the response has been very positive. Almost without exception the responses have all been very enthusiastic. They really like the new white paper on the cover. Many thanks to all who wrote in or called to give us your input.

The Challenges

Along with the exciting moves forward come significant challenges that need to be met. These can be broken down into two areas, staffing and money. We have such tremendous opportunities to minister to thousands of key Christian leaders from all over the world through MF, but we need more staff. We need writers, news editors, graphic artists, secretaries, church and mission agency relations personnel. I am wondering why more people are not clamoring to work on this important mission resource. There must be thousands of Christians in Bible schools and colleges that are studying Journalism and Graphic Arts and would greatly benefit from the experience of working on this magazine. Just being exposed to the tremendous learning opportunities of this mission center makes working here worthwhile.

Mission Frontiers is a real gold mine of opportunity to share the vision of reaching the unreached with people all over the world. This magazine could be so much more than it is if we had the staff we need. Think about it.

If you are interested in helping to make Mission Frontiers even better and more regular, give the Personnel office here at the Center a call or write to them at the address at the bottom of the page. We are interested in those people who want to come on staff for at least two years or who are willing to volunteer part time on a long term basis. Many want to stay where they are and send in articles. That is helpful but we need people here. It is hard to manage people from afar when you are short-staffed.

Another challenge to the success of MF is money. In the Jan-Feb. 93 issue Dr. Winter outlined in detail our financial situation and asked for your input as to the proper way to proceed in financing this important mission resource. Since then the response has been slow in coming.

Dr. Winter outlined a plan to have people volunteer to send in a donation of $136.50 each year to cover the cost of sending MF to 70 other people. $136.50 is only 37 cents a day. This is a very cost effective way of financing MF. Paying a service to manage subscriptions and send out bills would cost $200,000 a year more.

I believe that the message of MF can change the course of world evangelization as it gets into the hands of Christian leaders. God has given me a vision of what this magazine can accomplish if we have the support we need. We will not give up in our efforts to communicate the message of reaching the unreached to as many as will listen, but we need your help and support to get this message out to more and more people around the world.

The message of reaching the unreached is a life changing message. It has changed my life and thousands of others. If you believe that MF is a valuable resource worth sending to mission and church leaders around the world, please consider sending in a gift of $136.50, to cover the cost of sending MF to 70 other people, to the address at the bottom of the page. (This does not pay for any staff salaries.) The opportunities have never been greater, but we need your help to take advantage of them. By working together we can reach the goal of a Church for Every People by the Year 2000.