Category Archives: Reporting

Build trust through the reporting process

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Jim Killam

Reporting stories from project sites can be a wonderful trust builder among organizations and their prayer and financial partners. This requires care, because it’s just as easy to violate that trust if the people you interview or photograph are surprised … Continue reading →

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Wonder in a Butterfly’s Wings

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Jim Killam

This is a blue morpho butterfly, native to Central and South America. My wife and I spent part of Saturday at Texas Discovery Gardens, next to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The gardens’ featured attraction is the two-story Butterfly House and … Continue reading →

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The Power of Being Invisible

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Jim Killam

Book recommendation: “Invisibles: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion,” by David Zweig. I’m just starting this one, but the title alone sold it for me. In his introduction, Zweig writes: “… I was fascinated by people … Continue reading →

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Glimpses of home

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Jim Killam

Christmastime brings a great reminder of one of the most impactful story elements: surprise. C.S. Lewis loved the term sehnsucht. The German word has no English equivalent. Roughly, it means a longing “to find the place where all beauty came from.” … Continue reading →

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Mobile video: Apps, links and more

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Jim Killam

For the benefit of those who attended my mobile video workshop today at Northern Illinois University (and anyone else interested), here are the app suggestions and useful links. Apps With video editing apps, look for multitrack editing so you are … Continue reading →

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WWHTD? How churches can produce more world Christians

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Jim Killam

Famed 19th-century missionary Hudson Taylor suggested a four-part process for engaging congregations in missions. 1. Missions are preached every Sunday; 2. Every person in the church knows his/her personal responsibility to support the work of missionaries; 3. Missionaries must give … Continue reading →

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When spectacle obscures story

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Jim Killam

Everything is Awesome!!! If you’ve seen “The Lego Movie,” I’ve just triggered that obnoxious, earworm of a song to start playing again in your head. You’re welcome. I’m aware that most critics loved this movie. It’s smart, cynical, funny and … Continue reading →

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Blogging from your mission trip

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Jim Killam

From our friend Bruce Herwig at Trinity Church in Redlands, Calif., here’s good advice on blogging from your short-term mission trip. And thanks, Bruce, for the plug for our book!

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In disaster aftermath, God’s stories don’t stop

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Jim Killam

I’m writing this on an airplane after spending the past two days in Covington, Louisiana, helping to train ReachGlobal’s Crisis Response staff to be reporters. Of all mission work, crisis response offers some of the best opportunity for bragging on … Continue reading →

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The stream and the banks

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Jim Killam

Historian and philosopher Will Durant liked to see the big picture. The history of the whole world, for instance. Between the 1930s and the 1970s, he and his wife, Ariel, wrote an 11-volume opus called “The Story of Civilization.” They … Continue reading →

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