January 11, 2012–A celebration was held today in recognition of Rev. Charles Hollifield, who retired last month after 44 years of service with the Church of God International Offices.

A memory from my childhood years takes me back to a summer night in Fresno, California where gathered in our backyard for a church watermelon picnic. Naturally, as everyone sat on the grass socializing, the visitors spat the seeds out into the grass. Within days, the combination of the early morning dew and the hot afternoon sunshine produced hundreds of budding watermelon plants scattered across the lawn (more of this story is found on pp. 48-49 of “Globalbeliever.com,” my missions “eBook” found at www.MissionsResourceGroup.org).

The New Testament writer James used the imagery of seeds blown in the wind as he wrote to early Christian migrants on the move, dispersed across the Mediterranean world through persecution. His word “scattered” in James 1.1 is the New Testament Greek term “diaspora.”

“… to Christians scattered among the nations” (James 1.1 NIV)
“…dispersed throughout the world” (New English Bible)
“…living abroad” (Twentieth Century New Testament)

“Google” search that word “diaspora,” along with “diaspora mission(s),” and “diaspora missiology” and get ready to move with God among people on the move. In fact, the late missions visionary/missiologist Ralph Winter wrote that, “…Diaspora missiology may well be the most important undigested reality in missions thinking today. We simply have not caught up with the fact that most of the world’s people can no longer be defined geographically.”

What is “diaspora missions/missiology” and what is its significance for “globalbelievers” as we strive to faithfully obey the commission of Jesus Christ among the nations? As defined by the Global Diaspora Network:

“…as a missiological framework for understanding and participating in God’s redemptive mission among people living outside their place of origin” (from the “Seoul Declaration on Diaspora Missiology” published at www.lausanne.org and in Scattered to Gather: Embracing the Global Trend of Diaspora. Manila, Philippines. LifeChange Publishing 2010).

Here is our emerging world missions future: “People are on the move as never before. Migration is one of the great global realities of our era. It is estimated that 200 million people are living outside their countries of origin, voluntarily or involuntarily” (from the Lausanne “Cape Town Commitment”).

The wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing. Unreached people groups are being scattered and sown among the nations. Our harvest opportunity is unprecedented! Let us move with God among people on the move and mobilize Great Commission believers to reach the global diaspora!

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Dr. Grant McClung, President of Missions Resource Group (www.MissionsResourceGroup.org), is a member of the Global Diaspora Network Advisory Board and International Missionary Educator with Church of God World Missions. His book, Globalbeliever.com: Connecting To God’s Work in Your World, is distributed by Pathway Press.

When I stepped into 2012, God challenged me to pray big—and to expect the unexpected.

Ticketing and promotion company AttendStar.com is excited to host the inaugural Christian Promoters Conference this spring in Nashville. Designed for anyone that promotes Christian concerts and events, the conference is free to attend and will also stream live March 26 and 27.

Leading international motion picture actor Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List, Taken) pushed himself to his physical, emotional and spiritual limits in THE GREY, Joe Carnahan’s much anticipated survival drama set in the icy Alaskan wilderness.

Church of God General Overseer Dr. Raymond Culpepper will address prayer leaders and pastors at the Praying Church conference. The dates are March 15-16, at the Church at Liberty Square in Cartersville, Georgia.

“Forget the former things; do now dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43.18 New International Version).

USA (MNN) ― “Sanctity of Human Life” Sunday will be observed throughout the United States on Sunday, January 22, 2012.

Johnny Carr with Bethany Christian Services explains, “This year, the fourth Sunday in January, which is the 22nd, is the actual anniversary date of the Roe v. Wade decision–January 22, 1973. The important thing is that we take a Sunday in January and actually bring into focus what it means to talk about Sanctity of life.”

Billy Graham isn’t much for accolades.

Nothing personifies this more than the verse posted in big letters on the wall of his Montreat, N.C., home:

Galatians 6:14: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

Still, that hasn’t stopped others from bringing up his name.