My friend Dave Datema serves with the US Center for World Mission in Pasadena, Calif., and his blog, "Freakin' Missionary," is one of blogs I check every day. He grew up as a missionary kid in Jamaica and Sierra Leone, and now he works alongside missions statesman Ralph Winter.

In today's post (November 9, 2006), Dave presents two explanations on why so few Americans are signing up to be missionaries. These are well worth repeating here.

View #1: The main problem is that there are major hurdles in the way of missionary service. Some of the major ones are: raising financial support, school and consumer debt, the stigma of being a narrow-minded fundamentalist who believes his/her views of salvation are absolute and for everyone, parents who'd rather hold grandbabies than touch the nations, and the loneliness involved in pursuing something off the beaten track of one's peers. It is HARD. 

View #2: The only real problem is that people today simply don't want it bad enough. Stop this incessant whining about how hard everything is. What do you expect? What did Jesus warn? The hurdles to missionary service have always been daunting, even more so in years past - MUCH more so. Do we really need to hand-hold people into missions?  Wouldn't it be better to give them a kick in the pants instead? Waa, waa, waa. I wish CT Studd would come back to life and give us a lesson in sacrifice and commitment. It's enough to make a person puke.

Check out his post for the rest of his self-described rant, and while you're there, page down through some of the rest of his posts. He writes with a blunt edge. There's a lot of good stuff regarding missions.