10 Things You Can Do for B4T in 10 Minutes a Day
Busy? Join the club! One of the most powerful pieces of advice I’ve heard during my lifetime was about goal setting. The advice was that if you set a goal- whether or not you reach it- you are significantly more likely to at least take actions towards it. Without goals, there’s little motivation to action. If you’re like me, a busy schedule can be a huge goal-deterrent. Why set them if you know you’re too busy to achieve them, right? Wrong!
Here are 10 B4T-related activities that can be done in as little as 10 minutes per day that will change your life and, by proxy, your world.
Read- Reading is the best way to become a lifelong learner. Spending even just ten minutes per day reading B4T related books can allow you to take your business- or your profession- to the next level. You’ll get new tips and inspiration on how to build your business on principles that bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. Need ideas on what to read? Mandate’s weekly recommended resources are a great place to start!
Join an Online Group- In this day and age community is high-tech. People across the globe are a click away. Take advantage of this! Find a B4T-related group- preferably in your area. Get connected with other individuals and take 10 minutes a day just to read the content and posts they share. This is a great way to gain resources, but it’s also a way to meet like-minded people who may be in your own backyard!
Pray- Spend ten minutes on your commute or at the end of the day before bed specifically praying for the least reached. This doesn’t take any “extra” time, but it does take being intentional. Set an alarm to remind you! It may only be ten minutes, but ten minutes of prayer can move mountains.
Meet a New People Group- It’s far less likely that you’ll get attached to a people group that you don’t know. Emotionally, we’re just not wired to care about that which we don’t have relevant information about. Go out of your way to learn about a people group for ten minutes. The Joshua Project website is a great way to do this. Once you read their stats, watch a short video (youtube is a great resource) on that people group or that part of the world. Not only will it inform your prayers, but you’ll start developing a soft spot for them too.
Connect with a Mentor- Do you know a more experienced/older believer who is in the same profession as you? Make an effort to seek out someone who is both mature in his or her spiritual life as well as knowledgeable about your profession. Take ten minutes a day and ask ONE question. Send an e-mail or do some texting. Ask how he or she navigates his or her faith and profession. Ask how that person blends the two. Ask what he or she has learned that they didn’t know at your age/level. The Bible values wisdom, counsel, and elders for a reason.
Make a Cross-Cultural Friend- In many communities today in our globally enmeshed world, someone who came from another culture originally is not hard to find. Maybe it’s an international student in your program. Maybe it’s an immigrant in your community. Maybe it’s someone you make a connection with online. Find this person for no other motivation or agenda then to love and understand them. This person must also want an intentional friendship with you. No relationship works well one-sided. The lessons you can learn from relating to someone that has a culture so different from your own are invaluable.
Get Continuing Education- Are you a therapist? Find some online readings! Are you a teacher? Find some online trainings that you can work on for ten minutes per day. Believe it or not, getting better at your job is akin to getting better at your ministry. When anyone does well in his or her field, that person becomes a “go to” person professionally. As people “go to” you in your place of work, you can send them on to Him. Be good at your job and give God the glory.
Listen to the Lord- Have you listened to the author of your life recently? He likely has some good ideas about how you could make those next career moves or what kinds of ministries He has in store for you. Spend time just listening. This may be a harder task for my type A folks, but it’s well worth the quiet, agenda-less time.
Share a relevant post- How long does it take to click “share” on Facebook? Less than a second. This beat ten minutes by a long shot! Everyone has a second. If you don’t then something is seriously wrong with your schedule. Find a post about engaging the unreached. Find a post about using your profession for God. Find a post about Christian witnessing in your community. Then SHARE it! The more who hear, the more who will be able to help you scatter seed.
Give Intentionally- With PayPal and Stripe, giving can happen in less than ten minutes. Can you give every day? Probably not. But giving is not a one-and-done process. Contrary to popular belief when you “sow” financially, you need to water that seed. It’s an ongoing process of prayer. I encourage you to sow the first day of the month. Choose an organization that reaches the least reached or otherwise accomplishes the Great Commission that you feel God calling you to. After you donate that first day, take ten minutes each day after to PRAY for that gift to be multiplied, for God’s will to be done with it, and for that organization’s work to be accomplishing the Great Commission. Imagine in a year what could happen!
There you have it. Ten things in ten minutes per day. Try one- or all- of them this month! This small investment of time will multiply your fruitfulness in B4T.