March 01, 2009 by Steve Shadrach

Mobilization Division

The Mobilization Division in Arkansas

In 2004 we moved a significant part of the Mobilization Division of the U.S. Center for World Mission to Fayetteville, Arkansas in order to be more centrally located in the US. We serve the Body of Christ all across the U.S. As behind-the-scenes catalysts, our mission is to see churches, ministries, businesses, and whole communities mobilized to take the name of Jesus Christ to every people group where He is not yet known or followed. We exhort believers to reflect Christ in word and deed to billions of people who may despise and reject Western Christianity but who have for centuries been fascinated and drawn to the person of Jesus Christ.

We have an outstanding team of gifted and motivated people who could have chosen successful careers and well-paying jobs elsewhere, but have instead decided to sacrifice and throw their lot in with others who are seeking to see Christ glorified in all the earth.

A portion of our Mobilization Division resides and works in Fayetteville, but the majority of our colleagues (including 1,000+ volunteers) are spread all across the US. The bulk of our mobilization efforts are presently focused on two primary ministries:

1. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement—This 15-week course has impacted 80,000+ lives in its 35-year history. Dave Flynn, the national director, oversees a team in Fayetteville and 14 regional directors across the U.S.) who have launched and are leading a record 170 courses this Spring with over 6,000 students and 1,200 instructors. If you would like to take the course, start or help with one in your area, or inquire about staff or volunteer positions, please go to www.perspectives.org for more information.
2. EveryEthne Campus Mobilization—This new strategy is placing full-time Campus Mobilizers on major state college and university campuses. Our mission is not to start new campus organizations or meetings, but to serve and equip the staff and students of collegiate ministries. With their blessing and collaboration, our desire is to provide college students in their ministries with strategic mission resources, community and coaching. Our vision is to see God ignite a movement of college students who are consumed with a vision to see every people group reached with the good news of Jesus Christ in this generation. For more information how you can be involved or initiate a work on your campus go to www.everyethne.org.

If you would like to partner with us as we seek to aid and complete the exaltation of Christ in all nations, you can reach us at www.perspectives.org/staffing. We would be honored to discuss staff or volunteer opportunities with you.

The Mobilization Division in Pasadena

Pasadena Mobilization seeks to foster synergy and effective cooperation among its various projects. As you’ll see, we’re mainly in the business of making available the best thinking in mission today. We want to influence and inform the greatest number of people as possible through print, the web, multimedia and face-to-face communication. Here are the means by which we seek to accomplish these goals.

Mission Frontiers

Mission Frontiers has the largest circulation as a generic mission publication in the world with over 30 years experience, covering the cutting-edge issues of the frontiers of mission activity including the reaching of the unreached peoples. It is published six times a year and sent to over 93,000 readers. Subscriptions are free upon request, but donations are appreciated to help cover our costs. Professors may receive extra copies for their students, and articles may be reprinted for non-profit purposes as long as source credit is given. Except for a brief four-year period, all of the articles from its 30-year history are available for download at http://www.missionfrontiers.org in the Back Issues section. We invite you to partner with us in spreading the vision of reaching the unreached. We need writers, administrators, graphics people and a managing editor. Rick Wood, the Editor, is the only full-time person working to produce each issue. Learn how you can be more involved by going to page 6 of this issue.

Global Prayer Digest

The Global Prayer Digest (GPD) provides daily bite-sized information for intercessors to help them pray for the world’s remaining unreached peoples. Each issue has daily prayer entries for a specific unreached people group (UPG) or a ministry to a UPG. FrontierScan, a church bulletin insert, is a supplement to the GPD providing stories and prayer requests for four groups. The GPD relies on a team of volunteer writers, researchers, proofreaders, and editors working mainly at a distance. Editor Keith Carey is the GPD’s only full-time staff member. We desire to partner with like-minded organizations to increase the number of people interceding for unreached peoples. The GPD exists in English, Spanish, Chinese and Korean. It is available via hard copy, e-mail, the web, and downloads for cell phones. We need two writers and two proofreaders. Anyone with a reliable computer can work at a distance. For more info, see http://www.globalprayerdigest.org/.

William Carey Library Publishers

William Carey Library publishes and distributes books and other materials (CDs, e-books, etc.) to mobilize individuals and organizations for frontier mission. We especially seek to assist the work of the mission executive, the field missionary and his/her home church, and the student of world mission. William Carey Library has specialized in short print runs of valuable books that other publishers might not find attractive or feasible. However, we also have some large-run titles, such as the Perspectives Reader and Study Guide (now in a new edition)! We produce annual conference series titles for EMS and SEANET, and are launching a Dissertation Series. We primarily sell through our website http://www.missionbooks.org and t,hrough our catalog. We seek to publish and distribute books that promote insights and initiatives leading to mission breakthroughs among all peoples.
International Journal of Frontier Missiology (in conjunction with WCIU Publications)

For over 25 years, this serious quarterly publication has been exclusively focused on the frontiers of mission. In addition to concerns related to the unreached peoples, it also brings attention to other issues related to doing God’s will on earth that might otherwise be ignored. This journal is the official publication of the International Society for Frontier Missiology. An archive of hundreds of articles can be found at http://www.ijfm.org/archives.htm $18 a. year. A sister journal exists in Korean (the Korean Journal of Frontier Missions).

Web Development

Website development includes enhancing and updating the web presence of the US Center for World Mission. This includes new websites, old website redesign, website maintenance, developing web content, and using existing information conduits as distribution methods for USCWM content (e.g., iTunes podcasts, Facebook, etc). We need web designers, developers and proofreaders.

Frontier Media

In our new media studio, we are able to produce new content as well as digitize older content, which can then be made available in new ways. We also record presentations and interviews with mission leaders. The studio is also used for developing promotional videos, Internet content and online learning tools. We currently need video and audio editors, and engineers and producers, as well as After Effects animators.

Southern California Mobilization Office

The Southern California Mobilization office represents the USCWM at conferences, churches and colleges, and maintains a mission resource library for agencies located on the campus of the USCWM. We network with the Latin American Center for World Mission and the African American Center for World Mission. We develop mobilization materials and administer the Adopt-A-People Campaign (including keeping the AAP web site current). In addition, we facilitate the production of the GUIA (Spanish translation of the Global Prayer Digest) as well as the sale of Perspectives curriculum videos. We anticipate adding new staff who can connect with local Christian college student mission offices and help local churches become mobilized in frontier mission. Finally, we look for new opportunities to mobilize local churches to reach the various ethnic groups in the greater Los Angeles area.

Mission Resource Center (MRC)

The Mission Resource Center sells missions resources on the most strategic range of subjects to an international clientele—at discount prices. Primarily a walk-in-bookstore, the MRC offers well over a thousand different books, audio-visuals, maps, and other resources. Missionaries, agency administrators, and students are our main clientele, but we also serve local church leaders and other believers. We enjoy assisting young people who have been newly awakened to the challenge of frontier mission. The store is operated entirely by volunteers. The MRC currently needs one or two more volunteers.

Roberta Winter Institute

Once it becomes clear that the work of the Church is not merely to build and extend itself but to pursue God’s glory by taking a stand against all evil, not only will the growth of the Church be enhanced, but the Lord’s Prayer will also become more meaningful (“...Thy will be done on earth...”). The Roberta Winter Institute (RWI) seeks to bring glory to God by mobilizing believers to identify and destroy Satan’s ingenious and destructive works in our world. In addition, the RWI seeks to rectify the Church’s understanding of God and His works, that He is not the author of the destructive violence and suffering in nature and that He has long sought our help in bringing His kingdom and His will on earth in every area of life. For example, is it God’s will that 90% die prematurely each year from pathogens that could be totally eradicated? Or is this a work of Satan that the Church must confront and destroy? The “frontiers” in mission are at first almost always vague, undefined, hard to grasp, difficult to explain and subject to controversy. It is always hard to draw that delicate and shifting line between what God is going to do and what He expects us to do. As we learn more of how nature works we are expected to do more to “destroy the works of the devil.” (I John 3:8) But has our understanding of our role in establishing God’s kingdom kept up? These are the issues the RWI seeks to address.

Conclusion

The work of the U.S. Center’s Mobilization Division is a diverse effort to raise up believers to tackle some of the toughest challenges in the world today. Regardless of your background or skills, there is a place in Mobilization for those who are available to serve the Lord.