August Birthdays
By Bill MacLeod, Director of MissionConnexion
My Dad, one of my sisters, and two of our three kids were born in August. For me, August 26th will always be a red-letter day as it was the day I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and experienced re-birth, just a week before I started college. Birthdays give us an opportunity to stop, and reflect, on how far we have come, but also to grasp what is on the horizon. August is a great time to transition from summer rest to approaching opportunity. Here are some “birth” days and events I’m already looking forward to celebrating with you…
The Unfinished Story for Youth
Involving teenagers, college students and young adults are key if we want to fulfill the great commission. Revival has almost always been carried along by young people. Just look at what God is doing at Asbury college and other US campuses.
In 1973 and again in 1976, Dr. Ralph Winters noticed thousands of college-aged students responding to the call to take the gospel to the nations at the Urbana Student Missions Conference. As Dean, and with his colleagues at Fuller School of World Mission, they drew up what would become Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.
As we are preparing for Urbana to come to Phoenix this December, we have been anticipating thousands of students descending on our city, and offering a special version of this course, designed just for students. It is called, The Unfinished Story for Youth (TUSfY).
This material has four main sections: Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic aspects toward understanding and finishing the task of global evangelization, and it was developed by eager believers in the Global South to engage young people.
Last fall, MissionConnexion Southwest hosted the premiere of TUSfY in Phoenix with 75 high school upperclassmen and 10 teachers and administrators, and the response was phenomenal. We believe it will help open the door to them becoming world Christians and understanding the importance of knowing what God is doing in the world and joining Him in it.
This year at MissionConnexion (both Southwest and Northwest) we are hosting TUSfY as a stand-alone event within the structure of each Mission Connexion conference. We will offer the course in its entirety on both Friday and Saturday (with two separate audiences). Our hope is that Friday will draw students from Christian schools, homeschool networks, or other students. On Saturday, our hope is to draw church youth groups or individual students who want to attend apart from a school or church connection.
The cost for the day-long experience is $30 and includes all materials and lunch. Registration will be offered on the Mission Connexion website, Fall 2025. Stay tuned for more information as we draw closer to each!
Quarterly Mission Pastors Brunch
A quarterly meeting of mission pastors and lay people will ramp up again this fall. Our first gathering was last November at Village Church in Portland. Fellowship was lively with many networking opportunities. We heard from Joy Yoon and Amelou Delgado about the on-going work in North Korea – very exciting! We plan to schedule quarterly meetings for this fall, winter and spring in the Portland metro area. Along with special reports about domestic and global mission work, we will again have time for you to network with other like-minded believers, learn from and encourage each other and possibly join others in the work here and abroad. Watch for an email update in the coming weeks.
Perspectives – Made for More!
You have heard about it, but this may be the moment for you to finally take it…
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, is starting in the Portland metro area. It is a course that grows vision, of God accomplishing his purpose, with a paradigm shift to a God-centered focus for our lives. It gives hope, as we become part of something that will happen.
Perspectives helps believers from all walks of life see how they can get threaded into God’s story of redeeming people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to Himself. From Genesis to the prophets, Jesus Christ to the early church, and Constantine to today, you will see how God has been moving, how the global Church has responded, and what the greatest needs in world evangelization remain today. It isn’t a class about missions, but a course on how every believer can be intimately woven into the story of God using His people to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth.
Expert Instructors. For 15 lessons, a different instructor with a breadth of experience will teach as part of a 3 hour session that engages students both intellectually and spiritually. One example is one of the first missionaries to enter Mongolia in the early 1990s. By 1998, the Mongol believers had grown to more than 10,000! Today, Mongolia sends more missionaries into the world per Christian than any other country. It only takes 222 Christ following mongolians to send 1 missionary.
Classes in Beaverton, Kelso, Vancouver, and potentially on the east side of Portland will soon be taking registrations! Check the dates below and follow the links for more information on each class. Class details should be available shortly on perspectives.org:
- Beaverton session begins January 20th. Email: PerspectivesPW@gmail.com
- Kelso, WAsession begins January 19th.
- Vancouversession starts January 18th.
Register for your class of choice and attend the first two nights for FREE and discern whether it is God’s direction for you at this time.
BONUS: Care Connexion 2026!
We have just confirmed that after a couple of years’ hiatus, we are bringing our missionary-care conference back next May 15-16, 2026, and we are thrilled that Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church has offered to host us! We will keep you posted as plans develop!
It is my hope and that you will take advantage of these opportunities as August flows into the days when these events unfold as you follow God’s Mission in your life.
