Great Commission Conversations: Recent Episodes
Lee Cadenhead
A missions-themed podcast dedicated to engaging in conversation with Bible-believing Christian workers who are serious about getting the gospel around the world.
Preparing missionaries for the rigors of foreign missions service is an important and often neglected task. The sending and support role of the local church is, after all, bigger than financing the mission. In today’s program, Bro. Matthew Stahlman tells us about his efforts to help the church do a better job at preparing men for foreign missions service through the Beyond Borders Missionary Training Camp.
Additionally, we talk about the homeschool curriculum that he’s recently launched to inform another generation of young people about the historical, geographical, and religious layout of the world that Christ has called the church to evangelize. Bro. Stahlman is really passionate about the Great Commission and he’s fervently and thoughtfully doing what he can to help churches and families do their part to obey our Lord’s parting command.
Beyond Borders - bbmissions.org
Impact Geography - impactgeo.org
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations.com.
My guest today is Bro. Matt Stahlman. I’ve looked forward to talking with Bro. Stahlman about some of the resources he’s been developing in the realm of missionary preparedness and global missions awareness. But in this first segment, Bro. Stahlman relates the background out of which these resources have been birthed, both from his personal experience and from twenty years of missions thinking and observation. Bro. Stahlman’s transparency about his family’s experience in foreign missions deployment afforded us an opportunity to address some territory that hasn’t been previously addressed on the podcast. I think it was both interesting and helpful.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Today, Bro. Thomas Irvin and I pick up where we left off in the first installment of our conversation concerning his family’s first year on the field of Uganda. I ask Bro. Irvin about some of the day-to-day challenges that commonly put a strain on newly transplanted cross-cultural workers, but we also talk about the weightier considerations of functioning in a very different political and governmental environment than what we’re accustomed to as Americans. We finish the conversation discussing how the ministry has taken shape in this first year and what is on the horizon for his labors among the Ugandan people.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
You can find Thomas Irvin's podcasts and prayer letters at plenteousredemption.com.
Transitioning to a foreign mission field is a big deal for any family. That first year is especially critical with so many dramatic adjustments being made. On the program today to talk about the first year on the foreign field is my dear friend, Thomas Irvin. Bro. Irvin was one of my first guests for the podcast, a program in which we tackled the subject of deputation. Since that time Bro. Irvin had deployed to Uganda in East Africa, and he’s recently reached the one-year milestone in this new field of service.
This is the first part of a two-part interview on The First Year, with Missionary Thomas Irvin.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
On today’s program we pick up exactly where we left off last time recounting how the Lord’s dealing with Cody concerning African missions dove-tailed with the Lord’s work in my own life forming a missionary partnership for the country of Zimbabwe. I hope the program is a blessing to you.
This is part two of a two-part interview with Cody Rich on our Missionary Partnership to Zimbabwe.
Your feedback is welcome. You may email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Our family made our entry into Zimbabwe at the end of March this year, and we were accompanied by the Cody Rich family, also from our home church back in Tennessee. I’ve referenced Bro. Cody a few times in describing my call and deployment to this land because our stories have been providentially intertwined over the past few years in relation to African missions. Bro. Cody and his family spent twelve weeks with us here in Mutare, Zimbabwe before returning to the states to commence their deputation travels in view of returning to Zimbabwe to labor along side us.
Before Cody and his family headed back to the states we took some time to talk over how the Lord put missions in his heart as a young man and how Cody’s heart for missions intersected with mine at Cornerstone Baptist Church. This conversation is a more personal, less formal interview than usual. I hope you will rejoice with us and pray for us as we rehearse what the Lord has done and is doing to get the gospel here to Zimbabwe.
This is the first segment of a two-part interview with Cody Rich on our Missionary Partnership to Zimbabwe.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
My guest today is Pastor Adam Summers of Faith Baptist Church in Chelsea, Michigan. Pastor Summers leads a church that is involved in many of the staple efforts that we would expect to find at any missions-minded church: local outreach efforts, an annual missions conference, a concerted program of missions giving, etc. But he's also leading Faith to get involved in some more creative, less common ways that helps the entire church family to personally and intentionally own the responsibility of getting the gospel to the world.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
There are a multitude of useful evangelistic methods at the disposal of the foreign missionary. Some are perhaps more effective in certain places than others. When we go back to the practice of Christ and the apostles we find the bold, straightforward public proclamation of the gospel message in whatever venue might have been available. While there are some places where this is outlawed or impractical, there are many other places where it still works… if we will just try it.
My guest today is Bro. Dana Vogelpohl. Bro. Vogelpohl has served in the country of Scotland for the past ten years or so, and for the length of that time he’s taken up this simple apostolic method of public preaching in the High Streets of Glasgow. In our conversation today we discuss conversion and call to foreign missions, he recollects a trial that his family endured while on deputation, and we discuss his mission efforts in post-Christian Scotland with special emphasis on street preaching.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
We all know that prayer is a critical part of world missions. The command of Christ to His disciples was that they pray the Lord of the Harvest that he might send forth laborers into His harvest. That text in Matthew 9 and the subsequent selection of the apostles in Matthew 10 sets forth a pattern that has been repeated time and again over the history of the church.
My guest today is a man that has taken prayer for missions seriously for a long time and now His prayers to the Lord of the harvest has resulted in his call to the foreign mission field. Bro. Tony (we’re withholding his last name for security reasons), pastored in the midwest for the last eighteen years before being called of God to take the gospel to the Middle East. Bro. Tony relates his call to foreign mission, including the important part that prayer played, and then he and I discuss Biblical principles of missions and prayer and some of the instances where these principles have played out over missions history.
Today, I continue my conversation with Bro. C, who has labored in a majority-Muslim country in southeast Asia for the last seven years. In my estimation, he’s not only a good missionary, he’s one of the most consecrated Christians I’ve had the privilege of knowing. In today’s conversation, Bro. C. helps us to count the cost of missionary preparation and then proceeds to answer some questions about some of the adversity that his family has known since deploying in foreign missions service. But stay tuned to the end, because he tells the story of a man he calls Paul, a beautiful story of what missions is all about. We conclude the conversations with Bro. C’s vision for his work going forward.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
My guest today is Bro. C. We’re withholding his full name out of an abundance of caution. Bro. C and his family are serving the Lord in a creative-access, Muslim-majority country in Southeast Asia. This man is one of my personal modern-missionary heroes having sacrificed a great deal for the service of Christ and taken up the mission of evangelism and church-planting with wisdom and patience.
Today, Bro. C relates his family’s call to foreign missions and deals with the cultural and linguistic chasm that must be traversed in order to minister effectively in the field of their labor. At the end of this installment of the conversation, Bro. C gets into more of the mentality that missionaries, pastors, and churches should adopt concerning missionary preparedness.
Your feedback is welcome, you can contact Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
The Cadenheads are Zimbabwe-bounds. Here's a brief review of our pre-field preparations, developments related to our departure, and a quick update on what's to come for Great Commission Conversations.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
I was privileged to be with Dr. Don Sisk in a missions conference at Capitol City Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. Dr. Sisk, after several years of pastoral ministry in Kentucky and Illinois, went to the country of Japan as a church-planting missionary back in 1965. In addition to his missionary efforts he’s served as the Far East Director for Baptist International Missions, Inc., and eventually became the president and general director of BIMI, a position he held for 19 years. He resigned from this role back in 2002 at the age of 69, but continued to serve the cause of missions as a professor of missions and a popular missions conference preacher. His travels have taken him to over 80 countries around the world and as of the publication of this program, at the age of 88, he continues to serve the Lord Jesus Christ through his itinerant preaching ministry.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com
My guest today is missionary Joel Haynes. Bro. Haynes is one of the most intense men that I’ve been around in a while. I’d heard of the work he’s doing among the Navajo a few years back and it was my privilege to be with him in a missions conference a sit down to discuss their ministry and amazing fruit that they’re presently seeing after many long years of plowing and seed-sowing among the Navajo. The conversation also took us to the subject of serving in missions as a family. I enjoyed this interview immensely and I think you’ll be blessed and provoked by Bro. Hayne’s testimony today just as I was.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
In our previous program we heard from veteran missionary to Ukrain, Chris Rue as he explained how the Lord dealt with him about missions and directed him to the country of Ukraine. I saw Bro. Rue’s ministry presentation quite a few years back at a missions conference in Florida and that presentation included some of the Biblical research and missionary strategizing that he was doing at the time. That exposure was really timely for me as I had been studying the missionary pattern in Acts and doing some reading on missionary and church-planting methods. If you’re interested in these kinds of considerations I think today’s program will be a blessing to you as we tackle Paul’s missionary methods, the challenges and limitations to the indigenous principle, and different approaches to church-planting efforts, along with the progress and future vision of Bro. Rue’s efforts in the Ukraine.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
My guest today is 28-year veteran missionary to Ukraine, Chris Rue. Bro. Rue has had a lengthy, fruitful, and thoughtful ministry in Eastern Europe that stretches back to a time shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union - a particularly exciting time in terms of evangelistic openness and opportunity. One of the reasons that I wanted to have this conversation with Bro. Rue is for the fact that he is thinking deeply about Biblical missionary methods and trying to employ these methods practically in the field where he is serving. But the methodological questions will have to wait for the second installment of this interview. In part one, Bro. Rue traces his conversion and call to Ukraine, at length, including some amazing stories of how God grew his faith and gave supernatural direction and guidance to get him to the very place that he’s labored for more than two decades.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
When it comes to church planting and local church multiplication and reproduction, one of the most fruitful fields that I know of in terms of recent missions history is found across our southern border in the country of Mexico. Because of its proximity to the US - basically representing our continental Samaria - a lot of laborers and resources have been poured into this field and many Mexican missionaries have engaged in this great work in cooperation with American missionaries and churches. While some of that interaction and cooperation has been limited in recent years owing to the violence associated with the drug cartels, the work of church-planting has continued. For years I’ve heard of the labors of missionary Sonny Fritz. Bro. Fritz went home to be with the Lord a few years back, but I was in a missions conference recently with his son-in-law and fellow-laborer Rubin Murillo. I was told that if I wanted to meet a church-planter I should get to know Bro. Murillo. Bro. Murillo agreed to sit down with me and talk a little bit about his 45 years of church-planting mission work in the country of Mexico, including the methods they’ve undertaken over the years to multiply local churches in an amazing way.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
My guest today is Bro. Jim Fellure, the director of the Victory Baptist Press located in Milton, Florida. I pastored for twelve years in Brewton, Alabama, not far from the Victory Baptist Press and I am thankful to have been introduced to Bro. Fellure and the work of the Press early on in my pastoral ministry. Bro. Jim has been a friend to me and I’ve followed the work of the Press closely over the years I’ve been acquainted with him. Back in 2018 the Victory Baptist Press assisted me in shipping a container of John and Romans to Zimbabwe, something a pre-cursor to what the Lord has since called our family to full-time. I sat down with Bro. Fellure recently to discuss the ministry of scripture printing and to get his insight into how the pandemic has affected the American church and what VBP is doing to sow the word of God in America in these last days. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation with Bro. Fellure, as I always do, and I hope that you’ll be blessed by it as well.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
There were some amazing moves of God that took place across Eastern Europe following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Some of the ongoing mission works in that region of the world are a direct or indirect result of the revival that God visited upon them at that time.
My guest today is Missionary Zach LeFevre. Bro. LeFevre has ministered among Turkish-speaking people in Bulgaria and Romania for the past 26 years. The story of how this labor commenced with Missionary Ralph Cheatwood following the fall of the USSR is fascinating. And the ongoing work of the LeFevres and their fellow-laborers is cause for rejoicing as they’ve witnessed a once despised, forgotten, oppressed people group embrace the glorious gospel of Christ.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
While in a missions conference at Shady Acres Baptist Church in Houston, Texas I had an opportunity to sit down with Bro. Mullins and talk to him about his ministry over the course of more than 28 years in New Guinea. I set out to speak with Bro. Mullins about pioneering, which is largely what he was engaged there in PNG over the course of nearly three decades. We did address this subject and Bro. Mullins provides some helpful insights into pioneering a work in a tribal setting like that in which he labored in the mountains and swamps of New Guinea. But perhaps more than this, the theme of my conversation had to do with following the leadership of the Lord, or perhaps better yet staying out of the Lord’s way, as God did an exceptional work at a particular time and among a particular people whom God had specially prepared.
If you would like to contact Ted and Lyn Mullins to obtain one or both of Mrs. Lyn's books they can be reached by email at ted.lynmullins@gmail.com.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com
In our last program Bro. Brad Wells, pastor of Graceway Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. related the story of his call to our nation’s capital while deployed in missions to the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. It’s a fascinating and enlightening story, if you missed, you’ll certainly want to go back and catch that program. Today, we pick right up where we left off last time with the arrival of the Wells family in Washington, D.C. Once we finish unpacking this new calling, Bro. Brad provides a bit of contrast between these two fields of service, including an analysis of the different spiritual climates. We proceed to discuss some of the doors of utterance and ministry the Lord has opened unto the Wells family on Capitol Hill and some of the progress and prospects for Grace Way Baptist Church.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
My guest today is Bro. Brad Wells, one-time veteran missionary to the country of Papua New Guinea and now for the past several years a church-planter in Washington, D.C. Brad is the founder and pastor of Graceway Baptist Church on Capitol Hill. He and I were recently in a conference together in Northern Ohio and he graciously agreed to sit down and talk about the ministry in New Guinea and D.C. and it proved to be a very enjoyable conversation.
In this first part of a two-part interview, Bro. Brad walks us through his call to Papua New Guinea and some of the primary labors that he undertook in that country over a period of 17 years, and then he traces the call and transition to our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. That is, from the poorest country in the Southern Hemisphere to one of most elite, educated, and affluent cities in the Western World. I assure you, it is every bit as interesting as it sounds.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Missions Reading List
Indigenous Church Planting
“The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches” by John Nevius
https://www.amazon.com/Planting-Development-Missionary-Churches-ebook/dp/B00SUMNRDM/ref=nodl_
“The Indigenous Church” by Melvin Hodges
https://www.amazon.com/Indigenous-Church-Missionary/dp/0882438107/ref=nodl_
“Ten Men and One Book” by Duane Cleghorn
https://victorybaptistpress.com/product/ten-men-and-one-book/
Culture
“Bruchko” by Bruce Olson
https://www.amazon.com/Bruchko-Astonishing-19-Year-Old-Adventures-Christianizing/dp/159185993X/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=bruchko+by+bruce+olson&qid=1629032554&sprefix=bruchko&sr=8-3
“Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot - And Cold - Climate Cultures” by Sarah Lanier
https://www.amazon.com/Foreign-Familiar-Understanding-Climate-Cultures/dp/1581580223/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=sarah+lanier+missions&qid=1629032622&sr=8-2
“The 3D Gospel: Ministry in Guilt, Shame, and Fear Cultures” by Jason Georges
https://www.amazon.com/3D-Gospel-Ministry-Guilt-Cultures/dp/0692338012/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=shame+honor+cultures&qid=1629032697&sr=8-7
“Peace Child” by Don Richardson
https://www.amazon.com/Peace-Child-Don-Richardson/dp/0764215612/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=peace+child&qid=1629032766&sr=8-1
“African Friends and Money Matters: Observations from Africa” by David Maranz
Missions General
“The Challenge of Missions” by Oswald J. Smith
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0934445087/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1629147243&sr=8-3
“World Missions: Total War” by L. E. Maxwell
https://www.amazon.com/World-Missions-Total-Spiritual-Warfare/dp/1937428354/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?dchild=1&qid=1629147168&refinements=p_27%3AL.+E+Maxwell&s=books&sr=1-8&text=L.+E+Maxwell
Biography
“To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson” by Courtney Anderson
https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Shore-Life-Adoniram-Judson/dp/0817011218
“C.T. Study: Cricketer & Pioneer” by Norman P. Grubb
https://www.amazon.com/C-T-Studd-Cricketer-Pioneer/dp/0875082025
“Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret” by Dr. And Mrs. Howard Taylor
https://www.amazon.com/Hudson-Taylors-Spiritual-Secret-Howard-ebook/dp/B00D0ST9BU
“William Borden of Yale ’09” by Mrs. Howard Taylor
https://www.amazon.com/Borden-Yale-Mrs-Howard-Taylor/dp/1781398216
“Through Gates of Splendor” by Elisabeth Elliot
https://www.amazon.com/Through-Gates-Splendor-Elisabeth-Elliot/dp/0842371516/ref=asc_df_0842371516/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312154644197&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3812639734124774369&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011620&hvtargid=pla-562761387266&psc=1
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
On today’s program we resume our interview with missionary B. J. Cormier. A good bit of the conversation in part one of this interview centered on language-learning. Language acquisition is always an important and challenging element of effective cross-cultural mission work. But for Bro. Cormier, in addition to acquiring the Swahili language to communicate verbally to Kenyans, he also had to learn a new variety of sign-language to communicate with the deaf that he was seeking to minister to. In this program we pick up right where we left off as Bro. Cormier recounts his education in Kenyan Sign Language as well as how their church’s deaf ministry got a jump start in a very unexpected way.
This is the second part of a two-part interview on deaf missions in Kenya.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
My guest today is missionary B.J. Cormier, missionary to the deaf and hearing of the East African country of Kenya. In today’s program, Bro. Cormier relates his call to foreign missions, including ministry to the deaf, and also relates some of the diverse foreign language exposure that he had that helped to prepare him to learn Swahili and KSL once in Kenya.
This is the first part of a two-part interview on deaf missions in Kenya.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Our guest today is Bro. Ken Kraich with Seaport Ministries. Bro. Kraich has been taking the gospel to the seaman docked at the Port of Mobile since 2009, and it is a fascinating and fruitful door of ministry and evangelism that the Lord has opened unto him. He tells us about it on today’s program, including some of the outstanding stories of his interaction with these men that go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
What is an evangelist? And what role does the evangelist play in the great commission? This is the subject addressed in today’s Great Commission Conversation with Evangelist Bill Smith. Bro. Bill’s understanding of the office of the evangelist has matured over the years and in this conversation he and I have a candid discussion concerning some of the misconceptions of full-time evangelism and how he sees the role of the evangelist in scriptural and practical terms.
Your feedback is welcome. You car reach Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com,
Today's guest is Evangelist Bill Smith. Bro. Bill has been in full-time evangelism for nearly thirty years, and that has included extensive international ministry. In today’s program Bro. Bill relates the heartbreaking story of his wife’s unexpected death back in 2006 in a tragic automobile accident. That trial left Bill with seven children under the age of 14 and some very difficult decisions to make. The Lord has enabled him to continue his work in full-time evangelism with his children, both stateside and abroad. It's a truly powerful story of God’s grace.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
One of the critical needs for virtually any mission work anywhere in the world is printed literature, such as Bibles, Bible portions, and gospel tracts. In this program Bro. Allen Johnson, director of Wings Bearing Precious Seed, tells us about his efforts to get the incorruptible seed of God’s word from stateside storehouses to needy foreign fields.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
In part two of this interview on ministering in Israel, we discuss the often frustrating and difficult logistical hurdles involved in securing legal entry and residence in Israel. Bro. Mo also provides us with some insight into the actual work of the ministry in Israel, including some of the firstfruits that his family has been able to see in their efforts in the Jezreel Valley.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Bro. Mo, as we’ll call him for this interview, has ministered among the Jewish people in the land of Israel since 2015. He is a zealous and thoughtful Christian and in this first segment of a two-part interview we discuss the proper way to think about Jewish missions and striking the proper balance between the motive of covenantal blessing and faithfulness to the great commission. Bro. Mo’s perspective on this subject is insightful. But first he relates the story of his calling and preparation for mission work which included being discipled and trained under an American missionary on a different foreign field.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach Bro. Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Pastor Tim Ellis of Bethany Independent Baptist Church in Courtland, Mississippi lives, eats, and breathes missions. He loves to go, give, and help others do the same. In this interview, Bro. Ellis speaks about being a missions-minded pastor of a missions-minded church.
Your feedback is welcome. you can reach me by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
In follow-up to the interview with Chad Wells on serving God as a family, here's a conversation with his three sons, Trevor - age 23, Derrick - age 20, and Conner - age 19.
This is the second part of a two-part interview with Missionary Chad Wells on serving in missions as a family.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach me by email at greatcommissionconversations.com.
Chad Wells is a second-generation missionary to the country of Papua New Guinea and his entire family has been deeply involved in the many ministries and outreaches that they've undertaken, including their Christian school, a printing ministry, a radio ministry, Religious Instruction classes in the local public school, preaching and teaching in local churches, and much more. Bro. Chad has experienced the trying experience of transitioning from a dependent with his family on the foreign field to and independent adult back in the states, and now he's navigating this same season of life with his own children. In this interview we discuss the role of the family in missionary service, the first installment in a two-part interview.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach me by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
In this week's episode I walk through the Lord's dealings with me about our family serving Him full-time in the country of Zimbabwe.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach me by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Our family is preparing to serve the Lord full-time in Zimbabwe, Africa. I wanted to take the opportunity to share how the Lord dealt with me about foreign missions service, but first I thought it might be helpful to interact somewhat with the concept of "a call to missions". In this episode I've tackled the subject expositionally and experientially to try to give some honest analysis of this sometimes ethereal and confusing concept of a missionary call.
In the next episode, I'll relate more of our plans to serve the Lord in Africa.
Your feedback is welcome. You can reach me by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
On today's program we conclude our conversation with Missionary Phillip Gaddes concerning missions in Australia. This conversation includes a discussion of their church's public outreach to the nations that have flooded the city of Sydney and how Bro. Gaddes goes about dealing with such a religiously and ethnically diverse group of people. We close the conversation with Bro. Gaddes's vision for the future of the work.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com
From Smith County, Tennessee (pop. 20,000) to the sprawling metropolis of Sydney, Australia (pop. 5.3 million), our guest today, Missionary Phillip Gaddes, traces his call from rural Middle Tennessee to the cosmopolitan hub of Oceania where the Lord has allowed him to establish the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Sydney, largely through street preaching and letter boxing. In this first part of our two-part interview, Bro. Gaddes also describes some of the faithful saints that helped him along the way and some of the differences between stateside evangelism and door-to-door work in the suburbs of Sydney.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com
This is the second part of the interview with Bro. Stephen on the topic of marriage and missions.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Marriage is powerful illustration of the gospel, as well as a potential problem area for stable, fruitful ministry - perhaps especially cross-cultural mission work. Our guest today, Bro. Stephen (last name withheld for security reasons) serves in a creative-access country in Southern Asia. Bro. Stephen knows the marital pressures of the foreign-field and addresses this subject of marriage graciously and straightforwardly, based upon Biblical principles. This is part one of a two part interview with Bro. Stephen.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Getting the gospel out demands seed-sowing and that includes looking for needy fields (which are never difficult to find) and effective methods for getting the seed into the soil of men’s hearts. Our guest today is Missionary James Hoffmeister and he’s spent more than twenty years sowing the seed of the gospel in the island nation of Trinidad and beyond. Among the many outreaches that Bro. Hoffmeister has employed in the evangelistic crusade. Bro. Hoffmeister has a lot of experience with this method of evangelism and has even been able to employ it in the work of church-planting. In this interview, he walks us step by step on how to conduct an evangelistic crusade from preparation to execution to follow-up.
If you would like to contact Bro. Hoffmeister directly, you can email him at jamesintnt@yahoo.com.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com
In part two of this interview with Missionary Stephen Holt, we take a look at some of the living conditions and cultural and religious features of Sierra Leone and how Bro. Holt has developed a strategy for evangelism and evangelism training suitable to that field.
If you would like to learn more about the Holt's ministry, including their regular field reports and Mrs. Laura's blog, "Fragments of Gold", you can visit their website at gatherthefragments.com.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com
Why do we do what we do when it comes to the work of missions? The question of motive is an important one no matter what the endeavor may be. In this interview, Missionary to Sierra Leone, Stephen Holt walks us through an experience that he had on his survey trip in 2005 that readjusted his motives for foreign service and we go on to discuss some of the ways in which that perspective has carried he and his wife through the various challenges that they have faced serving the Lord in West Africa.
If you would like to learn more about the Holt's ministry, including their regular field reports and Mrs. Laura's blog, "Fragments of Gold", you can visit their website at gatherthefragments.com.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com
Part two of this two-part interview with Missionary Mitch Muller looks at some of the church-planting strategies that the Muller's have employed over the years and the way those strategies have been adapted dependent upon the location where they're working.
The second half of this interview addresses the difficult decision the Muller's made back in 2014 to come off the foreign field to care for for their aging parents; it provides a rare look at one of the forgotten challenges of foreign missions service.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
In this interview with Missionary Mitchel Muller, we hear the powerful and unusual story of how the Lord saved Mitch and his wife, got them into a Bible-believing Baptist Church, and eventually to the field of Mexico. In the course of the conversation we are reminded of the value of short-term mission trips and the importance of cultural adaption, including a great story illustrating the importance of language-learning on the foreign field.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
This second part of our interview with missionary to Uganda, Keith Stensaas picks up where we left off on the subject of the indigenous principle and foreign funds. We also discuss the use of radio and other technologies in gospel outreach in Uganda, and Bro. Keith tells us about their efforts in the training of national preachers in the city of Masaka and beyond.
If you would like to learn more about the Keith Stensaas family you can visit their website at kstensaasfamily.com or check out his podcast, Always Abounding.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
The story of the Keith Stensaas Family to Uganda traces back at least one generation earlier to Rota, Spain where a sailor named Bryan Stensaas was converted under the ministry of an American missionary to the military. This dramatic conversion would not only transform one American military family stationed in Western Europe, but countless families in East Africa as well. This is the story that kicks-off today's interview with 24-year veteran missionary to Uganda, Keith Stensaas.
In the course of this interview, Bro. Keith also relates an extremely helpful application of Biblical, indigenous church-planting principles which helps to guide their work in Africa.
If you would like to learn more about the Keith Stensaas family you can visit their website at kstensaasfamily.com or check out his podcast, Always Abounding.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
In part two of this two-part interview with Missionary Kenneth Murphy, we talk about the need for missionaries in the field of Germany, different church-planting and missions strategies in the cultural context of western Europe, and some of the spiritual warfare that missionaries face in this part of the world.
For more content on missions in Germany, you can check out the missionary podcast hosted by Bro. Murphy and his fellow-laborer Philipp Frei, 2&2 Missionaries. You can contact Bro. Murphy at kenfreefromsin@yahoo.com.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
The country of Germany, along with the rest of Western Europe, is a place of tremendous spiritual darkness despite the lengthy history of Christianity there. In this first segment of a two-part interview with Missionary Kenneth Murphy, we take a look at how the Lord got him from a small town in rural Alabama to the land of the Reformation. We also look at how the religious history and composition of this country has contributed to the dark spiritual environment that persists there; a spiritual darkness that can only be addressed by Bible-believing, gospel-preaching preachers and churches.
For more content on missions in Germany, you can check out the missionary podcast hosted by Bro. Murphy and his fellow-laborer Philipp Frei, 2&2 Missionaries. You can contact Bro. Murphy at kenfreefromsin@yahoo.com.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Americans are sometimes tempted to think that money is the solution to just about everything. And wherever we apply our financial solutions, we bring with us certain conceptions of economy, such as thrift, i.e. the determination to get the most bang for our buck. Is the missionary enterprise ever ill-effected by this mindset? In this podcast we return to the subject of supporting nationals, but this time we set out to address some of the problems and complexities associated with pouring foreign dollars into national leadership. Helping us think through this topic is missionary to Zambia, Damon Matacchiera.
If you'd like to learn more about Bro. Matacchiera's efforts in Eastern Zambia, you can visit his website at hopezambia.com.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Christian radio is among the tools that has been used to great effect to get the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. In this interview we talk with Gene Sharp, founder of Independent Baptist Media, about the medium of radio and how it continues to be an asset to the work of worldwide missions.
To learn more about the ministry of Independent Baptist Media you can visit their website at ibmradio.com.
Your feedback is always welcome. You can contact Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
One of the hot-button topics in the realm of missions is the role of humanitarian efforts. There are plenty of examples of how these efforts become a distraction to the larger goal of evangelism, discipleship, and church-planting, but that is not to say that the Lord cannot open up some amazing doors utilizing 'humanitarian-type' tools. The motto of Baptist Drillers is “for the furtherance of the gospel". In this interview, veteran missionary to Papua New Guinea, Jason Russell relates how this arm of their ministry developed and how it fits in with his more pressing gospel objectives.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Communist China has never been open to career missionaries, as such, and the access of western missionaries to the country of China seems to be growing more and more complicated all the time. Be that as it may, today's guest is approaching thirty years of gospel ministry in China and this tremendous door has not opened by working around government officials, but working with them.
Bro. Eddie mills has been enabled of the Lord to take his experience in the U.S. military and deploy this for the sake of the gospel by working closely with Chinese officials to coordinate English instruction in China. This has not only allowed him to remain in the country, but it has given scores of American college students the opportunity to export their English skills and Christianity to atheistic, communist China.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
What might it look like if we purposed to make use of web-based communication tools to get the gospel into closed-countries and even to facilitate more traditional in-person evangelistic and discipleship methods? In the second part of our interview on technology and creative access countries, Bro. Daniel explains how he has used digital communication to build relationships with young men in "closed-countries" in the interest of evangelism and discipleship... and even how he followed up on some of these contacts in person.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
A significant part of the unevangelized population of the world resides in countries that are formally closed to western missionaries. In order to gain access to these regions, foreigners must have some other stated purpose for being in the country. Simultaneously, large portions of the population of these unreached and under-reached countries have internet access. Can web-based forms of communication be employed in reaching into these regions for great commission purposes? This is the question that we engage in this two-part interview with Daniel (last name withheld for security purposes). We begin with a look at what Daniel calls "the forgotten circle" - a region of the earth with an unprecedented concentration of unevangelized peoples. If you would like to view a short video explaining the forgotten circle, you can do so here.
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Local evangelistic zeal should invigorate global gospel engagement. In this second part of the interview with Pastor James Knox we talk about some of the ways he and his church have been involved in sowing the seed far beyond their Jerusalem and how God has provided for those outreach efforts as well as the church's local needs.
Your feedback is welcome. You can contact Lee by email at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
The Great Commission is NOT an either/or proposition. Obedience to our Lord's command to preach the gospel to every creature demands engagement in evangelization BOTH in our Jerusalem AND in the uttermost part of the earth... and everything in between. Pastor James Knox has been engaged in sowing the seed of the word of God in his Jerusalem and beyond for more than forty years. In this interview we discuss the importance of local evangelism and we also interact with the question of whether public ministry "does any good".
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Where do missionaries come from? This is the question taken up in this interview with Missionary Jeff Williams. Bro. Williams has served in New Zealand for the past thirty years. He likens local churches to greenhouses in which to incubate the future missionary labor force and in this interview he explains this strategy biblically and practically.
Missionary mentorship and on-the-job-training, while often neglected, can be a critical element of training and preparation for new and prospective missionaries. Short-term mission trips can be a great way to develop a burden for missions and can even be used facilitate the kind of mentorship and training that is invaluable to effective and long-lasting missionary service. These come into focus in this interview with Missionary Brad Barkowski. Bro. Brad has served in the island nation of Trinidad since 2015, but his exposure to that field of service and his training for ministering there began before his deployment as a supported missionary. This is among the things that discuss in this Great Commission Conversation.
Your feedback is welcome! You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
This is part two of the interview with Jon Nelms, founder of Final Frontiers Foundation. He is making the case for supporting nationals and in the course of this conversation he addresses a critically important subject in the support of foreign nationals: accountability .
Your feedback is welcome. You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
One of the relatively recent developments in American missions giving is the effort to get American funds into the hands of national workers on foreign fields. Jon Nelms has given his life to this effort, establishing Final Frontiers Foundation back in 1986. Bro. Nelms is also the author of "The Great Omission: Why we have failed in accomplishing the Master's departing command of global missions, and how we can be the first generation in history to finally and fully accomplish it." In Bro. Nelms view, it cannot be done apart from the support of national workers. In this first part of a two-part interview, Bro. Nelms sets the backdrop in his case for supporting nationals.
Your feedback is welcome! You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
Tommy Tillman is something of an independent Baptist missionary legend. His labors in missions and evangelism have included smuggling Bibles onto Soviet ships, evangelizing Mayan tribes in Central America, ministering to lepers in Thailand, and working among the Gobi desert nomads in communist Mongolia. In this interview we talk with Tommy Tillman's son, Mitch, about his dad's ministry and the ongoing work of Harbor Evangelism.
Your feedback is welcome! You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
The local church is God's appointed institution for evangelizing the world in this age. If we're going to be effective in the work of missions we need local churches and local church pastors to work hand-in-hand with cross-cultural missionaries serving in foreign fields. Pastor Adam Thompson has a zeal for world missions and has been on both sides of this important partnership. He served in foreign missions for 15 years before assuming the pastorate of Capitol City Baptist Church back in 2009. In this interview, Pastor Thompson helps us to think through the relationship between the local church and the foreign field.
Your feedback is welcome! You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.
In this second and final part of our interview with Greg, we take a brief look of the history of the three-self church in China and we discuss at length the reality of the persecution of Christians in China, the challenge of dealing with fear as a missionary in a closed-country, and the growing repression of Christianity in the country and its affect on foreign missionaries.
From the most populated country on earth, we've heard years of glowing reports of the unprecedented growth of Christianity alongside harrowing tales of repression and persecution. What are we to make of these popular presentations of the church in China? In this two-part interview, veteran Bible-believing missionary Greg relates his take on the state of Chinese Christianity and the increasing difficulty facing American missionaries seeking to work under the atheistic antagonism of the ruling Communist party. In part one, Greg relates how the Lord directed him to China, he assesses the condition of the Chinese church at large, and speaks to the strength and weaknesses of the underground house-church movement.
How do you get the gospel to people groups without a written language, scattered in a difficult-to-access region of the world, within a country that is closed to missionaries? In this episode, we talk to Tim about how he ended up serving in the remote regions of Central Asia and some of the challenges and gains that he and his team have experienced as they seek to get the gospel to the unreached Persian peoples that live there.
Cornerstone Baptist Church in Carthage, Tennessee has a reputation for its generosity toward missionaries and the tool they have employed to carry out this liberality is Faith Promise Missions Giving. In the conclusion to our interview with Pastor Ron Ralph, he walks us through what the missions conference at Cornerstone looks like, how they take their faith promise, and he provides some suggestions as to how churches can get involved in giving to missions.
We all know that missions takes money. One of the tools which God has used to get funds into the work of missions is Faith Promise Missions Giving. In this episode, Pastor Ron Ralph of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Carthage, Tennessee tells us how Cornerstone, from its inception, got involved in faith promise missions giving and he provides a primer on what faith promise missions giving is. This is the first part of a two-part series.
Deputation is praised by some missionaries and pastors as an inherent good and cursed by others as a necessary evil. In this interview missionary Thomas Irvin, having recently completed his deputation travels, helps us unpack the pros and cons of pre-field fund-raising. This is part two of a two-part interview.
You can learn more about the Irvin's ministry by visiting their website here.
Deputation is praised by some missionaries and pastors as an inherent good and cursed by others as a necessary evil. In this interview missionary Thomas Irvin, having recently completed his deputation travels, helps us unpack the pros and cons of pre-field fund-raising. This is part one of a two-part interview.
You can learn more about the Irvin's ministry by visiting their website here.
Missionary Jeff Porter has spent more than two decades loving and serving the people of South Africa and Zimbabwe. I wanted to have this conversation with Bro. Jeff, not only because of his many years of experience in this region of the world, but also because of what I witnessed in watching him interact with his people. He he has a big heart for the people among which he labors and I hope you'll hear a bit of that come out in the course of the conversation. This was the first interview recorded for the Great Commission Conversations podcast. I appreciate Bro. Porter sitting down for this interview while in South Africa after a very long day of travel - and automotive trouble - through the Zimbabwean bush.
Welcome to Great Commission Conversations! In this introductory podcast you'll learn what Great Commission Conversations is all about, how it got started, and what to expect from the programming.
Your feedback is welcome! You can email Lee at greatcommissionconversations@gmail.com.