By Justin D. Long, ed.

Perspective, Insight, Context, Analysis

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NUGGET TRAINING #13: JESUS’ STRATEGIES FOR REACHING THE LOST
How did Jesus teach his disciples to “do missions?” Was there strategy involved?
Come join us on Monday, May 14th, as a Beyond field director shares key principles in Jesus’ strategy for reaching the lost. In this Nugget Training we will look at Scripture and learn how to implement disciple-making methods that Jesus used. See how Jesus’ disciples did ministry, and learn to recreate that 2000 year old model in the 21st century. This training will cause you to reconsider traditional missionary methods and help you evaluate the ancient biblical model that Jesus used for missions with resounding results. Consider inviting a friend to join you for this next nugget!
Registration Link

News & Events

Nigerian mass becomes a massacre – CT
… Muslim Fulani herdsmen kill 18 worshipers
… and then 11 Hausa Muslims were killed in retaliation by angry crowd – Link
… “Christians in Nigeria call for end to incessant killings”

Oscars highlight Muslim defense of Persecuted Christians in Kenya – CT
… Watu Wote, movie about an al-Shabaab attack where Muslims defended Christians

CAR: 15 dead after attack on church – Reuters
… UN urges calm in wake of violence in Bangui – UN

Public launch of the first full Uzbek Bible in Tashkent  – UBS
… “the unthinkable happened… with the official approval of the government…”

Saudi Arabia is pushing out foreigners to create jobs for locals – Economist
… but new Saudi hires are not always up to the job, raising frustrations
Saudi women on motorcycles – WPost
… a look at how difficult it is to learn to drive, and the desire for freedoms

Pakistan’s resilient Christians: who they are, where they came from? Link
… I’m not familiar with this source, but ran across this long read. My very brief skim marked it as interesting, so I’m taking the risk of linking it here. Lots of historical data that jives with what I’ve seen elsewhere. If you know more about the author or the source, I’m curious.

India: Anti-conversion bill becomes law in Uttarakhand – Link
… can someone confirm?
India cities dominate world air pollution list – BBC
… 14 Indian cities among the world’s 20 most polluted, says WHO
… top cities: Kanpur, Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Delhi
… 3.8 million people worldwide died in 2016 due to pollution

Millions of Chinese seniors are growing old alone – WPost
… the story of one who “put himself up for adoption.” Here’s an idea for churches!
China is afraid of its ethnic minorities – Axios
… two scenarios the Party worries about
China: Asian-American pastor’s arrest – Link
… comes amid crackdown on unsanctioned house churches

North Korea’s Secret Christians – Atlantic
… S Kor proselytizing using thousands of illicit radios smuggled over the border
… CBN has another interview with FEBC, not planning to stop daily broadcasts – Link
Amid thaw, Chinese are eyeing North Korean real estate – Reuters
… pushing up prices in the border city of Dandong
North & South dismantle loudspeakers blaring propaganda on the DMZ – NPR
North puts its clocks forward 30 minutes to match the south – WEF
“The Koreas take first steps to build trust” – Reuters Video
… “but skeptics still question how much Kim Jong Un is willing to relinquish”

Where Myanmar went wrong – Foreign Policy
… “from democratic awakening to ethnic cleansing”
Indonesia: it’s the incumbent counting on populism – Bloomberg
… “will the presidential election fuel religious animosity or overcome it?”

USA: The changing profile of unmarried parents – Link
… 1 in 4 US parents are unmarried; 35% of unmarrieds are cohabiting
In Norway, it’s children first, then marriage – Link
… graph of births out of wedlock, in 1964 and 2014, for numerous countries
Nevada leader to give first Hindu prayer in Oklahoma senate – AP

Analysis

The state of African economies: insights from IMF, World Bank spring meetings – Link
… Growth rebounding, could be sustained, West/East leading way, Central struggling
… long read, lots of statistics, charts, graphs

Why the world’s fastest growing populations are in the Middle East and Africa – Link
… infant mortality down, life expectancy up, fertility still high.

How a Eurasian Steppe Empire coped with decades of drought – Link
… a fascinating if all too brief look at the once large Uyghur empire

Declining Democracies: Nations in Transit report – Link
… more Consolidated Authoritarian Regimes than Consolidated Democracies
… rising authoritarianism, falling freedoms will have implications for evangelism

Why is Beijing so obsessed with order? It fears the alternative – SCMP

Fun, fashion and halal lipstick: retailers cash in on £200m Ramandan economy – Guardian

Future, Tech

Chinese monitoring brainwaves of employees in factories, military, trains – Link
… “to detect changes in emotional states”
… “Tech used broadly around the world, but China has deployed at scale”

If you don’t say something, you’re the product? Link
… a deep history of an ubiquitous meme that may be wrong.

Fewer Americans think it would be “very hard” to give up TV – Link
… more than half think it would be “very hard” to give up cell phone/Internet

China: tech giants feel the squeeze as Xi Jinping tightens his grip – NYT

Chinese scientist developed rice that can be growing using salt water – WEF
… promising, but not the full solution yet

A look at the implications of the new 5G Wireless standard – Link
… incredible speed, capacity for surveillance, national 5G network?, low latency

Google and Amazon kill domain-fronting, used by “fake news” – Link
… but in process, disrupts Signal from getting around censorship in certain regions

You could be flirting on dating apps with paid impersonators – Quartz

Nepal’s medical drones, bringing healthcare to the Himalayas – Reuters

Quotes

“There is no one who is insignificant in the purpose of God.” ~Alistair Begg

“Everyone wants to be clothed with power but no one wants to be stripped of self.” ~Leonard Ravenhill

“We can know the right words yet never be changed. This is the difference between information and transformation.” ~A.W. Tozer

“Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.” ~Francis Schaeffer

“When the culture collides with scripture, let the culture collapse.” ~Pastor Dan Cadavos

“Discipleship is personal. Jesus preached to thousands, but he discipled a few. You may preach to thousands, but if you’re not discipling a few your Ministry isn’t like Jesus.” ~Rick Dugan

Read More

What I’m reading right now:
… Measure what Matters: John Doerr on how to write OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) and their impact on big companies, lots of stories and practical illustrations
… The Square and the Tower: Niall Ferguson on decentralized networks vs hierarchies, lots of lessons for movements