What is the vision of the Mission America Coalition (MAC)? " 'The whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole nation-and to the whole world,' which is a national expression of an international collaboration."

What is the history? "In 1974, Billy Graham invited Christian leaders around the world to Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss world evangelization. Out of that came the Lausanne Covenant, written by Dr. John Stott. The U.S. delegation (members) decided that when they returned home to the U.S., they should continue to meet as the U.S. Committee for the Lausanne Movement. This national group continued to collaborate-as did many other countries-to pray and seek God, and ask, 'What can we do better together than apart?' There have been multiple collaborative initiatives over the years, such as the Lighthouse Movement, but the primary mission has been facilitating collaborative evangelism, in word and deed. In the mid-1990s, the U.S. Committee for Lausanne changed its name to Mission America Coalition.

"Also, in the mid '90s, the leadership team began to recognize and promote collaborative evangelism in cities. In March, Mission America Coalition hosted the 11th annual City Impact Roundtable, where cityreaching leaders came together in a learning community, to discuss collaborative prayer, collaborative evangelism and community transformation. Some of the various 'streams' of Mission America Coalition include denominational and local church leaders, ministry leaders, ministry network leaders, cityreaching leaders, marketplace leaders and global evangelism leaders.

Mission America Coalition promotes collaborative evangelism as a combination of praying, caring and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with a focus on Christ's desire for unity as described in John 17:20-23. Additional details as well as a copy of the Lausanne Covenant are given in the 'About the Coalition' section of www.missionamerica.org."

What is your role in MAC? "My role with Mission America Coalition is as national facilitator for ministry networks, which really means that I help serve a number of ministry networks in the U.S. that (hold) collaborative evangelism as a core value. All of these networks are independent, autonomous networks. The Coalition has helped to start a number of these networks over the years, but has desired that they have a unique identity and leadership of their own. A list of these 27 national networks can be found at www.missionamerica.org/ministrynetworks."

What do the networks do? "As their variety shows, they focus on a given affinity or strategic area (men, family, youth, education, legal, music) and promote collaboration for the sake of the gospel. They each do this in different ways, guided by their own leadership."

Tell us about one network in particular and how it came about. "The National Coalition of Men's Ministries resulted from relationships and conversations at various Mission America Coalition meetings. There was a realization of what could happen if men's ministries collaborated for the sake of the gospel. More details about them are given at www.ncmm.org and they provide a wonderful online collaborative environment at www.disciplemen.com. Each ministry network has its own wonderful, rich story. Each has a powerful opportunity. In addition, the collective potential of all the networks working together is very powerful."

How might a network for those involved in Christian retailing be beneficial? "I have thought of a few key ways, but what is important is what the Christian retailing leaders think. I would imagine that many of the leaders have been collaborating for years. I have found that the 'how' usually starts with seeking God together in prayer."

What part do you think Christian retailers could play in MAC's vision for the country? "This could be answered many ways, but one way to view this would be a collective influence of their passion to see the church equipped for the Great Commandment and Great Commission. This could be lived out nationally as well as in local networks. There are multiple roles that could be played, but I think these are best explored by a set of passionate Christian retailing leaders."

How could churches and Christian stores work more closely together? "Again, I am thinking of multiple ideas, but I think these would be best explored by a set of passionate Christian retailing leaders. It would be wonderful to explore the synergies of local cityreaching networks and local Christian retailing networks."

What can Christian retailers learn from MAC's interaction with the network of "marketplace ministries" of Christian leaders involved in business and community? "This is a newer network that is still exploring possibilities. I think there are definitely synergies here to be explored. Leaders in these marketplace ministries are passionate about awakening, equipping and mobilizing leaders for living their faith in Christ at work and impacting society through their sphere of influence."

How might Christian stores be more involved in evangelism efforts in their communities? "Individually, many of these stores already serve as neutral hubs for collaboration. In serving together, there would be multiple opportunities to live out John 17:20-23."

What resources would you recommend for retailers wanting to know more about MAC and how they might be involved? "The best resource is the Mission America Coalition Web site at www.missionamerica.org. If there is already a network for collaboration among Christian retailers, the first step would be connecting it to the other list of networks. If not, I believe the work that you are doing could serve as a hub for collecting interest from some of the passionate leaders within the Christian retailing community. In addition, I would be happy to discuss this further. I can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.."

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