Both Ends of the Rope

Kevin West has been in Japan for 23 years and says it still feels like he's just getting started. In this season finale, Chad and Jay sit down with Kevin to talk about what actually keeps missionaries going, what quietly erodes them, and why longevity on the field is worth fighting for.

Chapters
0:00 — Welcome and Season 1 finale
2:38 — Introducing Kevin West
5:48 — How long do you want to be here?
6:53 — "I just got started"
13:00 — Why longevity makes you a better disciple
14:59 — Learning to share the gospel over 23 years
19:33 — Long-term impact through long-term relationship
21:04 — 1 Corinthians 3: keep sowing
22:36 — What hurts longevity
23:02 — Disconnection from the church
24:07 — Idolizing or resenting the place
25:54 — Suffering idolatry
30:41 — Missionary care: when it helps and when it doesn't
33:07 — Rhythms of grace
35:00 — Team culture of honesty and accountability
36:39 — Closing encouragement
39:02 — 1 Timothy 6

Scripture
1 Corinthians 3:5–9 · 1 Timothy 6:11–12 · Ecclesiastes

Featuring
Kevin West — missionary in Japan for 23 years; co-planting Mustard Seed Christian Church in Saitama

Both Ends of the Rope is a podcast about Christian missions. Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network — a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan. mustardseed.network

Voiceover: Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com
Theme music: Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp

Follow
BEOTR → @bothendsoftherope
Chad → @chadfarmer.tokyo
Jay → @jaygreer
Mustard Seed Network → @mustardseednetworkjapan

Most missionaries know they're called to share the gospel. Chris DeWelt — missions professor and former church planter in Santiago, Chile — asks the harder question: can you say with confidence that you actually did?In this episode, Chad Farmer and Jay Greer sit down with Chris DeWelt to define what actually counts as a gospel proclamation, using the Moneyball analogy to reframe how missionaries measure their work. Jay tells the story of sharing the gospel on his first-ever mission trip in Dearborn, Michigan — and asking Chris afterward if he'd jumped ahead. They walk through what the apostolic preaching in Acts always included, Chris's "two ditches" of contextualization (irrelevancy and syncretism), and why Paul could call preaching folly and still make it the center of his entire ministry.

Chapters
0:00 — Movies & Intro
4:09 — Moneyball and Measuring Missions
8:20 — Jay's First Mission Trip: Dearborn, Michigan
11:14 — What Counts as a Gospel Proclamation?
17:28 — When Is It Too Soon to Share?
20:17 — Two Ditches: Irrelevancy and Syncretism
28:46 — The Folly of Preaching

Scripture
Romans 15:21 · Acts 8 · Acts 14 · 1 Corinthians 15 · 2 Corinthians 5:20–21 · 1 Corinthians 1:21

Featuring
Chris DeWelt — missions professor; former church planter in Santiago, Chile

Both Ends of the Rope is a podcast about Christian missions. Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network — a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan. mustardseed.network

Voiceover: Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com
Theme music: Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp
Design and animation: Matt Jameson — mattjameson.co

Follow
BEOTR → @bothendsoftherope
Chad → @chadfarmer.tokyo
Jay → @jaygreer
Mustard Seed Network → @mustardseednetworkjapan

Chad and Jay open with an icebreaker about their first jobs: Jay survived a brief stint at Sonic Drive-In; Chad was a busboy and dishwasher at an assisted living center, then pivot to one of the most practical episodes yet: why missionaries need actual job descriptions, not just a vague call to "be a missionary."

Chapters
00:00 — Intro and theme
00:15 — Icebreaker: first jobs (Sonic, an assisted living center)
05:40 — Why missionaries need job descriptions
06:48 — Two kinds of burned-out missionaries
09:15 — "I'm adjusting and settling"
11:25 — Language learning is a tool, not a job description
17:14 — You can do ministry while you're learning
20:00 — Why "building relationships" can't be your 40 hours
22:00 — You need a craft
25:12 — Real-world example: the post office guy
28:04 — Matthew 28 and the point of it all
30:21 — What happens without structure
32:00 — Wrap-up

Scripture
Colossians 3:23–24 · Matthew 28 · Acts 6 · Romans 12 · 1 Corinthians 12 · Ephesians 4 · 1 Timothy

Both Ends of the Rope is a podcast about Christian missions. Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network — a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan. mustardseed.network

Voiceover: Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com
Theme music: Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp

Follow
BEOTR → @bothendsoftherope
Chad → @chadfarmer.tokyo
Jay → @jaygreer
Mustard Seed Network → @mustardseednetworkjapan

When Jay introduced Dr. Chris Dewelt at the top of this episode, he called him "the first real live missiologist on the missions podcast" — and then said "feels fitting." He wasn't wrong. Chris has a doctorate in missiology, eight years as a missionary in Chile, and decades training missionaries at Ozark Christian College and Lincoln Christian Seminary. He also happens to be a longtime mentor to both Chad and Jay. This conversation was overdue.

In it, Chris talks honestly about what keeps missionaries on the field long-term, what tends to pull them off it, and what finishing well looks like from someone who has watched all of it up close for a very long time.

Featuring
Dr. Chris Dewelt — missiologist, former missionary to Chile, professor at Lincoln Christian Seminary

Chapters
00:00 — Intro and welcome to Dr. Chris Dewelt
01:30 — Chris's background: Chile, publishing, teaching missions
07:00 — What makes missionaries last
08:00 — Spousal buy-in: both need to be all-in
12:30 — The #2 reason missionaries leave: can't get along with teammates
15:00 — Families on the field and including your kids in the work
18:30 — Third culture kids
20:00 — Extended family and staying connected across distance
24:30 — Why some missionaries leave early
27:00 — Vitality of spirit life vs. a performative lens
28:00 — Negativity, defensiveness, and always being an outsider
35:00 — Social thriving matters too
39:00 — When the honeymoon phase ends for the sending church
40:00 — Member care and local church resources
42:00 — Finishing well and not overstaying usefulness
44:00 — "I just needed to hear your voice"
46:00 — Fear is the enemy's #1 tool
51:00 — "Love your Lord, love your spouse, love your kids, love your work"

Scripture
Hebrews · 2 Corinthians 1 · Psalm 19.14

Both Ends of the Rope is a podcast about Christian missions. Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network — a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan. mustardseed.network

Voiceover: Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com
Theme music: Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp
Design and animation: Matt Jameson — mattjameson.co

Follow
BEOTR → @bothendsoftherope
Chad → @chadfarmer.tokyo
Jay → @jaygreer
Mustard Seed Network → @mustardseednetworkjapan

Who does a missionary actually answer to? Chad and Jay get honest about accountability structures, supporter pressure, and why every missionary needs to know exactly who their authority is before they hit the field.

Chapters
00:00 — Intro
02:11 — Who are you actually accountable to?
06:01 — The problem with 8 sending churches
07:09 — "I wrote the bylaws so I could be fired"
11:37 — Who is your supervisor?
20:11 — Make sure you have authority over you
22:59 — The newsletter temptation
25:23 — Round down, not up
25:41 — Trust God for your daily bread

Scripture
Hebrews 13 · 1 Peter 5 · Titus 1.5 · Matthew 6.33

Both Ends of the Rope is a podcast about Christian missions. Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network — a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan. mustardseed.network

Voiceover: Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com
Theme music: Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp

Follow
BEOTR → @bothendsoftherope
Chad → @chadfarmer.tokyo
Jay → @jaygreer

Most churches want to be sending churches. Few know what that actually requires.

In this episode, Chad Farmer and Jay Greer walk through what it actually looks like for a local church to send a missionary well — from assessing the candidate before they go, to communication and accountability on the field, to evaluating mission effectiveness and asking hard questions about spiritual health. They cover the conversations a church needs to have before writing a single check, how to mobilize the congregation to pray, what to do when missionaries go through culture shock and hardship, and what it means to hold missionaries accountable without leaving them alone. They close with Philippians 4.17: the fruit that increases to your credit.

This episode is for any church that wants to do more than write a check — and for the missionary who needs to know what good sending looks like.

Chapters
00:00 — Intro
02:10 — How do we become a sending church?
07:00 — Budget and global vision
09:00 — Have the financial conversation early
10:30 — Assessing the missionary candidate
17:00 — Let the church ask the hard questions
19:00 — After the send: communication and prayer
22:10 — Encouraging missionaries through hardship
24:53 — A theology of suffering
30:38 — Evaluating mission effectiveness
34:36 — When missionaries pivot
37:00 — Care, standards, and restoration
42:07 — Final words for sending churches

Scripture
Acts 13.48-50 · Romans 15 · 1 Corinthians 16.9 · Matthew 18 · Thessalonians · Philippians 4.17

Both Ends of the Rope is a podcast about Christian missions. Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network — a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan. mustardseed.network

Voiceover: Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com
Theme music: Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp

Follow
Chad → @chadfarmer.tokyo
Jay → @jaygreer
Mustard Seed Network → @mustardseednetworkjapan

If this episode was helpful, share it with your missions committee — or with the missionary who needs to hear that someone's thinking carefully about how to send them well.

Short-term mission trips can get a bad reputation. Sometimes for good reason. But they can also be one of the most strategic tools a sending church has when everyone involved knows what they are actually trying to do.

In this episode, Chad Farmer and Jay Greer sit down with James Miyashita, born and raised in Japan, now church planting in Nagoya, to talk through what makes a short-term trip genuinely helpful versus a burden, why "just send money and pray" is more biblical than it sounds, and how James's Recon Tour helps people discern their role in missions before anyone twists their arm into going.

This episode is for the church that wants to send well, the missionary trying to figure out how to receive well.

Chapters

00:00 — Intro: welcoming James Miyashita

03:30 — James's background and Nagoya

07:00 — Have any of you been on a short-term trip?

11:00 — What missionaries actually need from visiting teams

12:30 — Vision trips vs. mission trips

18:00 — The goal: love Jesus more when you leave

21:00 — When churches want to come and see the work

26:30 — What makes trips go poorly

29:30 — Who should come on a vision trip

33:00 — Why we moved to invite-only

37:00 — The "we just want to bless you" problem

45:00 — "Just send money and pray"

50:30 — About Recon Tours

Scripture

Romans 15.24, 30 · Ephesians 6.19-20 · Luke 8.1-3 · Luke 1.1-4

Featuring

James Miyashita — church planting in Nagoya, leading Recon Tours: seven-day vision trips to Japan for people exploring whether missions might be for them. reachingjapan.com · @reachingjapan

Both Ends of the Rope is a podcast about Christian missions. Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network — a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan. mustardseed.network

Voiceover: Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com

Theme music: Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp

Follow

Chad → @chadfarmer.tokyo

Jay → @jaygreer

Mustard Seed Network → @mustardseednetworkjapan

If this episode was helpful, share it with someone who's thinking about a short-term trip or someone who sends people on them.

Missionaries aren't just crossing borders. They're crossing cultures. And the words they've used their whole lives don't always make the trip.

In this episode, Chad Farmer and Jay Greer work through what contextualization actually means — and why it matters more than most sending churches realize. They start with five phrases from American evangelical culture that don't translate: "do community," "a God thing," "it's," "just" in prayer, and "share your faith." From there they trace Tim Keller's definition through the book of Acts, showing how Paul preached differently in Athens than he did in Antioch — not because the message changed, but because the starting point did. They walk through two real ways contextualization goes wrong: under-contextualization (a scene from a crowded Tokyo intersection) and over-contextualization (prosperity gospel, Buddhist-Christian syncretism, and liberal theology). And they keep coming back to 2 Timothy 3: the Word is living, active, and sufficient — and missionaries need to know it, preach it, and let it sustain them.

This episode is for the church and the missionary candidate who want to understand what it means to bring the gospel to a culture that has never heard it.

Chapters
00:00 — Intro
01:40 — "Do community"
03:29 — "A God thing"
04:32 — "It's"
07:14 — "Just" in prayer
08:39 — "Share your faith" — and why precision matters
11:07 — What is contextualization?
13:05 — How Paul preached differently in Acts
17:21 — What the Word says about itself
21:30 — Two ways contextualization goes wrong
23:32 — Under-contextualization
29:14 — Over-contextualization: the prosperity gospel
31:27 — Syncretism: Christian and Buddhist
33:18 — Liberal theology
37:47 — Hebrews 9.27 and reincarnation
40:42 — Preach the Word: back to 2 Timothy
44:30 — Get reps at home before you go
46:42 — The Word sustains you on the field

Scripture
2 Timothy 3.14-4.2 · Hebrews 9.27 · Matthew 6.24 · Acts 13 · Acts 14 · Acts 17 · Acts 19

Both Ends of the Rope is a podcast about Christian missions. Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network — a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan. mustardseed.network

Voiceover: Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com
Theme music: Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp

Follow
Chad → @chadfarmer.tokyo
Jay → @jaygreer
Mustard Seed Network → @mustardseednetworkjapan

If this episode was helpful, share it with someone preparing to go — or with the pastor who's sending them.

Japan is one of the least-reached countries in the world. The need for workers is real and urgent. But does that mean we will take anyone?

In this episode, Chad Farmer and Jay Greer talk through what they are actually looking for when someone says they want to go to the mission field — and what gives them pause. They work through the qualities that matter most, the red flags that are hard to ignore, and the question that frames it all: are you the part of the body of Christ that should be sent?

This is not meant to discourage anyone. It is meant to help the right people get ready well.

Scripture: Matthew 9:38, 1 Timothy 3.

Next episode: what a missionary actually needs to carry — the Word, the gospel, and why it matters more than you think.

Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network, a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan — mustardseed.network

Voiceover by Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com

Theme music composed by Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp

Japan has fewer Christians per capita than almost anywhere on earth. Two missionaries who have lived and worked there for a combined three decades want to talk about why that matters — and what it actually looks like to go and to send.

In this episode, Chad Farmer and Jay Greer introduce Both Ends of the Rope, explain what the name means, and lay out the theological foundation the whole show is built on: the Great Commission, the church as the agent of mission, and why the gospel — not just good neighboring — is what missionaries are there to bring.

This episode is for anyone who wants to understand what Christian missions actually is before deciding what to do about it.

Chapters
00:00 — Intro
01:30 — What "Both Ends of the Rope" means
05:32 — The rope metaphor: William Carey and Japan
09:02 — The Great Commission: why we go
11:14 — What church planting actually looks like
15:03 — Why the church is not optional
18:02 — God works through the church
21:00 — The gospel vs. social programs
25:31 — The Great Commandments without the gospel
28:00 — When the gospel takes root in Japan
30:01 — "I feel like I am not right before God"
31:44 — 1 Timothy 3: the church as pillar

Scripture
Matthew 28.19-20 · Acts 14.21-23 · John 13.34-35 · Ephesians 2.8 · Ephesians 3.20-21 · Ephesians 5.25 · 1 Timothy 3.15 · Revelation 7.9

Both Ends of the Rope is a podcast about Christian missions. Chad and Jay serve with the Mustard Seed Network — a network of gospel-centered church-planting churches in Japan. mustardseed.network

Voiceover: Ben Mayer — benmayerdonethat.com
Theme music: Studio Inlight — inlight.co.jp

Follow
Chad → @chadfarmer.tokyo
Jay → @jaygreer
Mustard Seed Network → @mustardseednetworkjapan

If this episode was helpful, share it with someone thinking about missions — or with the church that's supporting them.