Category: Stories From The Field

Tongues on Fire

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. – Acts 2:1-4

What has this to do with social media?

Beth Moore in her James study book said, “You see, the human tongue can be lit by either source: Heaven or hell. God can draw people to the gospel by enabling us to speak in ways they understand or our tongues can cause people to hightail it like their heels are on fire. It can bring comfort or courage, or it can bring destruction and deafness. We do have a choice which fire lights our tongues. Just keep in mind the natural default settings leans south.”

God gave us this gift of social media to use for His Kingdom.

The Mexico Trip

Read the backstory of the 2K Bibles to Mexico here. This was my first writing assignment which allowed me to follow it in person all the way beyond the borders. The trip was very quick and, while mindful of everyone’s time, I attempted to get the best photos possible in the situation. There wasn’t a lot of time available to get photos by foot, and I had to think fast when photo and video opportunities came to make sure I get the story.

Be praying for the people who receive these Bibles and for future deliveries of the Bibles.

Need Your Help!

One-time donations needed for the Gospel Impact Publishing Project

You can help WorldVenture bring tidings of comfort and joy this Christmas.

In 2020, the WorldVenture family came together to produce a Christmas devotional, Simple Christmas, with encouraging, Christmas-focused writings from global workers throughout the world. We did not print the booklet; we only delivered it in digital format.

There was an amazing response to Simple Christmas:

  • 994 downloads of the computer version.
  • 932 downloads of the tablet/smartphone version.
  • 1011 visits to our Christmas page.
  • And we lost count of the responses from individuals and churches sharing gratitude for the booklet.

But there was another response that surprised us… we had numerous requests for printed versions. Some churches wanted to use it to for disciple-making in their communities by including the devotional in their outreach activities. Sadly, we couldn’t fulfill their requests at the time. But this year, we’d like to do so. And we’d like to invite you to help. We have created a new project called, Gospel Impact Publishing.

This year’s devotional, coming out ahead of the 2021 Christmas Season, is called “Every Good and Perfect Gift: Finding Joy in Our Trials” (from James 1:2-4 & 17). Like the previous devotional, it will include contributions from Global Workers all over the world. However, this year’s devotional is set up a little differently to include topic-based, longer form articles to help individuals who are walking through their own trials better connect with Jesus during Christmas. Your financial contribution to the Gospel Impact Publishing project between now and September 1st, 2021 will help cover the printing costs of that devotional for distributing to many in need. And if we receive additional funds beyond the need, those will be used as seed to help fund future development of printed resources that help share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Would you consider making a generous one-time donation to this project?

Go to www.worldventure.com/GospelImpactPublishing and click on the “give” button.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.

Blessings,

Nikole Hahn

Digital Disciple-Making Coordinator

P.S. If you would like to be kept informed on the progress of this devotional, please sign up for my email newsletter by going to www.worldventure.com/nhahn and clicking “once-per-month email” on the page.

Balancing Life and Work

Reading a scanned article that was sent by email, I was struck, not just by the funny comic, but also by these words. I have repurposed them for me, but it feels right:

I am willing to make tough calls in ministry. I am willing to be poorly thought of by some people. I am willing to give up my house and my relationships (except my husband as that wouldn’t be biblical nor loving, and why would I leave him behind? He’s my other half) to go across the world to bring this message. I will pay the price of leadership.

I so get the part where the article talks about ministry depression. I actually experience that here and there once in a while and in the past when I worked full time and served.

Rich Nathan said in this article, “I’ve come to accept that, following a conference or weekend of ministry, I will be subject to spiritual attack and feelings of depression. I try to give myself more time to be away from people.”

In 2015, I took a deep breath and said, “I can’t burn the candles at both ends or I won’t last. I. Must. Have. Balance.”

I like the reference of Elijah in 1 Kings 19:3-5. He had enough. I can imagine himself throwing his hands in the air. All he needed was a nap and something to eat to feel better. The Angel provided it.

However, my idea of rest is very different. I love isolation in the woods. I love doing photography and having the joy of sharing my good ones and bad ones with you. I love reading. I love spending alone time with my husband. I like watching brain-numbing tv shows or movies just to not think. I like writing. I like running. I like walking.

And sometimes, I even like people.

Roots Writers Update

When Roots began, it was to make disciples, not readers. We wanted writers to return to the roots of why they write. As a writer, we are story tellers and story tellers have a long history of doing good work to share the Gospel. With social media, writers have an opportunity to engage with people all over the world.

Week before last, our group met for the first time in the face-to-face at Third Shot Coffee since Covid-19 shut down in Arizona. Our leader, Sherry, was unable to meet and joined via Zoom. She is the one on my phone sitting on my backpack.

Right now, we are working on updating the Roots’ social media platform. Renee has been assigned to do our newsletter. Primarily, it’s been me trying to set up and run the social for this ministry, but my work with WorldVenture and that of the day job has left me with little time to do this.

We hope to assign someone to run the social media and keep it updated regularly. We also hope to develop a new service award for those writers who use social media well to “make disciples, not readers”.

Not a Happy Ending For The Donkey

Like with election time, a pandemic, as it turns out, creates even more division and negativity. A post in a local Facebook Group reminds me of Aesop’s Fable, The Man, The Boy, and The Donkey.

If you don’t recall how the fable went, click here to read or hear it. In short, a man and his boy made their way to town on a donkey. At every turn, someone had an opinion on their mode of transportation. The boy shouldn’t be riding the donkey, the man shouldn’t be riding the donkey, nobody should ride the donkey, and towards the end, both the boy and the man carried the donkey tied to poles until the donkey panicked, got loose, fell over a bridge and drowned.

Not a happy ending for the donkey.

The moral of the story was: Please all and you will please none.

In looking through the Bible, I can’t seem to find verses that support social shaming, but these days I resonate with this story because so much of social media is filled with people policing other people, social shaming, and judging. In the wake of this, is hopelessness, fear, anxiety, and anger. If anything comes from this pandemic, let it be a new normal in line with the Bible. Let Philippians 4:4-9 guide and permeate our hearts through this pandemic:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

People need hope. They need encouragement. As a practicing Christian, I don’t think the donkey should drown because of my decisions being heavily influenced by society. It’s been a tough week watching people grieve, get angry, point fingers, and yet, change is usually messy and painful.

John 15:1-2 says,

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

When we come out the other end, I hope this new normal is a new church still interested in using whatever tools are necessary to reach the lost, the hopeless, the unchurched, and the unreached with the Gospel, including social media and Virtual Reality. I hope the Lord uses this time to create a new heart in each of us.

We Are What We Post

Someone somewhere said, “You are what you eat.” If we only eat Krispy Kremes, eventually our body would stop functioning. To stay alive, to have the energy to be the best version of ourselves, we need more than a Snickers bar, but vegetables and lean proteins. The same goes for social media.

Matthew 15:18 says, “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.” Whatever comes out of our heart lands on social media. What is on social media is what we’ll see every day. Whoever we friend on Facebook, is what influences us. What we post, influences us because social media can make us focus on good or bad things. It can drain us, isolate us, or it can build us up. It is a tool and how we use that tool is up to us. Social media isn’t the problem in society. It is us.

We need to surround ourselves with people online who are allowed to speak the truth in our lives–people whose online lives are an example to follow. Their posts become the compass that points to the Bible. They are people willing to meet us for coffee or introduce us to people willing to meet us for coffee. And likewise, our posts need to reflect the visual story of our lives in truth. Good posts are the vegetables our mother told us to eat because it’s healthy, not because they tasted good.

Eat more vegetables and less Krispy Kremes.

3 Ways to Engage Online

Francis Chan is right. Sharing a meme on social media is not digital discipleship. Having a conversation online though is digital discipleship.

First, make time to engage with people. Start with, “How are you?” or ask them about the things they have posted online. Statuses and posts are conversation starters, even the ones about food.

Second, be discerning. I’ve encountered many posts where my fingers were ready to tap out a reply, but instead, I prayed and remained silent. Debates are unnecessary and mostly useless. All they do is create a divide. Invest in the relationships of the people you friend or follow. Get to know them as a friend, not a ministry leader, a pastor, or a missionary. People want authenticity. They want to see Christ in your life first.

Third, don’t be satisfied in simply sharing a meme or someone else’s post. Share your heart about why that post was worth sharing. While keeping your emotions private may be a generational thing, it doesn’t have to remain that way. Encourage questions. Be compassionate. Put the relationship and your concern for their eternal destination above a desire to be right. Reply to them promptly in private or public.

Discipleship is a long process. My goal is to help churches build digital teams that eventually become the whole church body using social media to share the Gospel in relationship to their communities and beyond.

*If you feel led to support this work, please click here to give*

Dear Friend: A Blessing in Email @LeadLikeJesus

Most people hate it when you take their email and sign them up for things they may not want. Email is very much in, but it is also what takes up most of our time. I can spend a couple of hours on email, but with my limited time, I simply take care of the important emails. This is why my email is out of control and has been since I started last year with a new day job. But I will never forget the saint who signed me up for Lead Like Jesus email devotionals. You were a blessing.

To you, whoever you are, THANK YOU.

Dear friend, you did me a favor. My heart ached. I felt empty. Numb. I started reading them every morning and used that in the quiet mornings before work became busy to pray and focus on what God wanted me to focus on.  What God taught me through those emails over the years will never leave my heart, nor the memory of finding the very first one in my inbox.

Perhaps someone blessed you with an email subscription or sent you something encouraging. In the comments, tell me about it. 

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