If you want to read more about what HCJB Global is doing you can go to the Urbana Today newspaper site to check it out.

Have a great day using your hands to serve HIM! 

We have been talking a lot about unity at Urbana - no wonder. Look around. You don't feel much unity around the world. There are wars, political backstabbing and everything else.

The sad thing that in the Christian world has unity issues too. Our speakers have been challenging people to proactively push for Unity. In our ministry environments we have problems, differences of opinions, misunderstandings and all the rest. Unless we deal with it quickly those issues take root and destroy our ministry work. 

Without unity can't do ministry the way Jesus would want us to. Unity drives effective ministry - it drives teamwork and the dynamic that God blesses.

Are your hands striving for unity? 

Tonight at the main session one of the speakers talked about the difference between independence and interdependence. He said that as missions expands around the world, other countries do not need independence - instead they need interdependence.

But interdependece takes a lot of work. It means that you can't ignore others. You can't just enjoy your world.

Are your hands ready for interdependence. Are you able to look at the world from a different perspective and value it as much as your own?

Be interdependent! 

Well, we arrived at Urbana and we will be doing short blog entries each day to share what is going on and how God is working.

This is going to be an exciting time of learning what missional hands really means. If you are here on the floor, come by the HCJB Global booth on the center isle. You can share with us what you feel is key to being a missionary in the 21st Century.

We will also be videoing anyone who comes by to answer this question: "Why do you want to be in missions."

We will review all the videos and two people will win a short term missions trip.

So if you are at Urbana 06, be looking around for how your hands fit into the picture of global missions. Look for people with a vision like yours and a passion that matches your heart. Look for those who have big dreams and will let you dream big too.

For those who aren't here, please be praying. Pray that each person will be confronted with truth, and challenged to see how their hands fit into God's mission.

We will be talking soon! 

Today on the Missional Hands Podcast we are talking about how important community is to missions. Take a minute to listen to it!

But I wanted to apply that community concept to our discussion on peace. When we look around the world at the least peaceful places, one of the glaring realities is that there is broken community. People are not talking, they are not living together, they are not experiencing each other.

So that's a problem! And that is a responsibility that you will have as you go on mission. You will enter situations where community is broken and there is little peace.

In this situation you have the opportunity to be an agent of peace by reestablishing community. What does that look like? I don't know. It will look different every time, but it will be powerful for sure.

So next time you find conflict - look for opportunities to foster community. 

Peace is not the "END" it is a "MEANS." What does that mean? Well, its pretty simple. It means that we don't exist to create peace. We strive for peace as a foundation for something much greater.

It is hard to think about Heaven when you haven't eaten anything in days. Or when your village is being bombed. Or when the crime in your neighborhood never lets you rest.

We are only human, we need a certain amount of stability in order to think, consider and act. People who are in constant trauma can only react.

If our hands bring peace then we set the stage - or the foundation - that will allow for God's love to connect with hearts.

It's not that God can't connect with someone in trauma, but if we bring peace, then we set the stage to let God's love shine even brighter.

Are your hands bringing peace? 

There is a difference between staying out of trouble and being a peacemaker. Do you see the difference. One is simply survival and the other is proactive.

You can stay out of trouble on the mission field by not taking risk, staying away from people who have baggage and staying out of the real challenges of the church.

But being a peacemaker is not that. It is engaging those around you and calling people to a higher vision of what their world, their situation, their relationships could be.

This is hard. And you could loose friends, ministry opportunities and even your job.

But you could rock your world and be the catalyst for major change.

Will you make peace proactively? 

Rob Bell at Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan has just started a series on being a peacemaker. You can podcast it or listen online (Mars Hill Web Site).

His great thoughts have made me think about how the role of a peacemaker is key to missions. You are an outsider when you are in missions. You are not part of the centuries old fights or the misunderstandings. There you sit - a potentially objective third party.

So are you ready to be a peacemaker? Well, it will take a lot of grace, a lot of getting punched in the stomach and a lot of time. But the potential impact of a peacemaker in a missions experience is huge.

Will you advocate peace as you serve? 

Well, it is finally live!

You can now subscribe to the Missional Hands Podcast by going to www.hcjb.org/missionalhands.

This is a fun 1-2 minute program that will be released every Wednesday with new ideas on what it takes to be a missionary in the 21st Century.

Happy Listening!