New events

North Africa

Egypt: reforms food subsidy system by first kicking out the rich.
… almost 78% of Egyptians receive government subsidies.
Libya: warring sides reach diplomatic breakthrough in Rome. ‘has the potential’
Tunisia: Truth-telling renews a revolution’s promise, painfully
… ‘opened a Pandora’s box of emotions for Tunisians’

West Africa

The beauty of Ghana’s fervent faith
… ‘the West African country fast becoming the Christian center of the world’
Burkina Faso: Violent extremism taking root
… Al Qaeda seeks northern part as a stronghold
Gambia: OpEd: election is a sign democracy advancing in Africa.
Mali: State of emergency extended after jihadist attacks
… Tuareg separatists, ‘desert jihadists’ control north
Nigeria: ‘awash with contraband’: 70% of trade with its neighbors go unrecorded
… Faith, tradition, and birth control: overtones of religious tensions

East Africa/Horn:

Eritrea: The famine Eritrea doesn’t want anyone to know about
Ethiopia: enters seventh month of emergency rule. 669 killed in the unrest.
… Displaced & neglected: Ethiopia’s desperate drought victims.
Somalia: Pirates again prowling off the coast. US watching, sees ties to famine.
Sudan: Inside a house of cards: analysis of succession
… Sudan’s Deep State: a new report on insider corruption
… Report: US sanctions against Sudan may be lifted in July
S Sudan: Relief agencies pull their workers out of the Upper Nile.
… citing tensions between rebels and government forces, and the killing of 3 aid workers.

Central Asia

Young professionals quietly transforming Central Asia for Christ
Kyrgyzstan: Economic recovery and confronting corruption
Tajikistan: No books allowed in or out of the country without approval (RFE/RL)
Uzbekistan: Why Uzbekistan’s shifts on water politics matter: dropping previous vitriol

West Asia/Gulf

The Gulf States are turning to Asia in a big way; here’s why it matters.
Gulf states upbeat about Chinese inbound tourism growth.
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia reverses cutbacks on worker benefits
… ‘because financial position improved’ but more likely ‘to placate an unhappy public’
… Cell phones in hand, Saudi women challenge notions of male control
Syria: Meet an organ trafficker who preys on Syrian refugees.
Turkey: How a handwritten note gave Erdogan an uncheckable win
…  What’s next for the economy after the referendum.
… Foreign Affairs: ‘Turkey’s polarization will only deepen’
… Arrests more than 1,000 in massive purge of its police forces. 9,000 suspended.
  Yemen: Taiz, torn by conflict.

South Asia

Afghanistan: Taliban attack Mazar-i-Sharif army base, killing 163+ soldiers
… deadliest attack since 2001.
Bangladesh: Meth’s new frontiers: the Islamic marshlands of Bangladesh
… annual seizures of meth have gone up 80,000% in nine years.
… and, to build hundreds of mosques with [$1 billion] Saudi cash.
… Bangladesh’s water crisis: a story of gender: the incursion of saltwater
… Islamic romance novels set hearts aflutter in Bangladesh
… ‘as Bangladesh slides from moderate Islam… to a more conservative interpretation…’
Iran: Whisky galore: alcohol mules risk all to fuel illegal party scene
India: Kashmir shuts down social networks for a month.
Nepal: makes scant progress in rebuilding 2 years after quake.
Pakistan: braces for Supreme Court decision that could remove Prime Minister
… ‘could cause intense turmoil’

East Asia

China: launches its second aircraft carrier, projecting power further abroad.
… Unregistered churches are driving a religious revolution (Atlantic)
… In China, the ranks of the religious are growing (Ledger-Enquirer)
… US students are losing interest in China studies.
… Chinese ‘best and brightest’ students are leaving US universities, returning home?
… A podcast on the history of pre-Jesuit Christianity in China (h/t Joann Pitmann).
… Beijing’s migrants no longer welcome as city caps population at 23 million
… could affect CPM/DMM strategies
… In China, rural rich get richer and poor get poorer.
… ‘Apartheid without the Racism’: how China keeps rural folks down: hukou system
Japan: As its population ages, quietly turns to immigration.
… also, robots and pensioners to the rescue.
N Korea: International pressure seems to be restraining Korea [analysts].
… Who would take over in the event of ‘regime change’?
… US quickly installing controversial THAAD system in South Korea
… What war with North Korea would look like: 1 million dead, and that’s without nukes
… and, 25 million reasons the US hasn’t struck North Korea.

Southeast Asia

Indonesia: Jakarta election signals erosion of religious tolerance.
… ‘Victory marks a breakthrough for hard-liners in Indonesian politics.’
… VP dismisses concerns about rising intolerance after Ahok defeat.
… Winners write histories.
… Does the Quran forbid electing Christians?
… After poll defeat, Jakarta’s Christian governor may escape jail.
Thailand: Does Thailand have too many tourists?
… and, Monks with Guns: why Buddhist monks are in arms against Islam.
… Government tells Internet users to unfollow junta critics on social media, or else.

New Data

If you haven’t seen the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, check it out.
Infographic: how a warming plant drives human migration
The number of people who don’t believe in God in America might be higher…
… probably over 10%, maybe around 26%, says one researcher. Others say, maybe not.
What personal space looks like around the world: how close is too close?

Longer reads

Johnson, Ian. The Souls of China: The Return of Religion after Mao. New book.
… China’s religious resurgence is driving growth in Christianity worldwide.
… Note: Pew Research #s do not include any projections on Christian conversion in China.
The value of building something optimized on a metric the competition can’t measure.
… this speaks to why measuring % unevangelized, % unreached is hard
… also speaks to ‘secondary effects’ spawned by a desire to ‘game the system’
Global security firms in race along China’s Silk Road
… ‘One Belt One Road’ represents hundreds of billions of dollars, needs securing

Lifehacking, Tactics, Skills, Rules

What is the proper attitude of a movement catalyst as we become more fruitful in ministry?
How to become insanely well connected.

Pioneer Mission Startups, Strategy

Latest issue of Mission Frontiers focuses on Networks
… including a case study of a network impacting a high-caste people in Karnataka, India
The April issue of EMQ focuses on several partnership issues as well
… also, ‘Exploring the appropriate contextualization of Salat’
… and, ‘Don’t George Muller Me: a missionary’s plea for understanding’: a great exploration of issues
Secrets of Scaling: tough lessons learned. Mostly about team management. Good nuggets.
Why introverts make some of the best leaders.
Why scale may be the biggest threat facing today’s social networks.
… some of the challenges that face networks as they get bigger

UPG Profiles, Travelogues, Stories

Doctors w/o Borders: Between towering ruins and detention centers: a look inside Libya
Photocollage: life in rural Kyrgyzstan, where east Issyk-Kul is still snowy.
Mosul, ‘Pearl of the North,’ fought over for centuries.

Futuristics/Technology

New Data: The Mobile Economy 2017 Report.
… and, the Growth of Digital Payment Ecosystems in China.
Defined: what a zero-day threat is: a vulnerability for which there is currently no fix.
… Hackers cloning popular android apps to infect users with malware.
China’s WeChat is a censorship juggernaut.
Inside the ‘Stalkerware’ market, where ordinary people tap each other’s phones
Facebook is testing new news discovery options; another thing to adapt to.
While Twitter is planning to broadcast live video 24 hours a day.
And Instagram now has 700 million users. It took just 4 months to add 100 million.
… (Facebook Messenger has 1.2 billion.)
And New Amazon Echo Look camera combines with Alexa.
… Watches you dress, then judges your outfit and recommends changes. Seriously.
… Also: Amazon patented an automated on-demand clothing factory.
Google’s Project Owl is a three pronged attack on fake news & problematic content.
… and, planning ad-blocking feature in Chrome. Google as arbiter of truth?
Cash is going out of style. (Have I used cash this year? I can’t recall the last time…)
… but there are perils.
Amazon third party sellers: a new cybercrime threat.

Quotable

“We’re not fishing for men, we’re fascinated with nets.” ~Jim Haney

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”  ~Friedrich Nietzsche

“There’s a thin line between religious thinking, which involves supplication, and magical thinking, which involves control.” ~Mark Allison

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his [exit strategy] depends upon his not understanding it!” ~Upton Sinclair

“We need the witness of Christians of other cultures to correct our correct culturally conditioned understanding of Scripture.” ~Lesslie Newbigin

“A futurist is somebody who helps people to think about the future, so they can make better decisions today.” ~Ross Dawson

“The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.” ~Tony Blair

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” ~Mark Twain

“Forgiveness is giving up the possibility of a better past.” ~Unknown, h/t Micah Fries

“Beware, lest in attempting the grand, you overshoot the mark and fall into the grandiose.” ~Voltaire

Our mailing address is:

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list