Evangelical Missiological Society, "EMS Southwest Regional Meeting", April 4th 2024

Mark Harris, Mission Consulting Group

Counterfeit Conversions and Their Remedies 

The Bible uses animal metaphors to describe various kinds of people who populate churches. The sheep of the Lord recognize His voice. They are true believers. Goats, on the other hand, often mingle with the sheep but are not believers. They won’t be fully identified until the judgment, when they will be divided from the sheep (Matt. 25:32). There are also wolves, who come among the sheep for their own nefarious purposes. 

This same idea is illustrated using wheat versus tares, which look alike in the beginning and are only obviously different at harvest time. The landowner allows them both to grow together, due to the difficulty of separating them (Matt. 13:24-30). Here we see specifically that tares are sown by an enemy. Satan is a liar and destroyer, who relentlessly battles against the church. Counterfeit believers are one common way he uses to damage and ultimately destroy churches. 

So, it is clear from Scripture that hypocrites are going to be an ongoing issue for churches throughout the church age. They are a danger to themselves, to true believers, and to the congregations, and ultimately to the reputation of God in this skeptical world. Churches are often unprepared, however, to detect them and deal with them biblically.

The Legendary Victor Chayasirisobhan joins the podcast this week. He expresses the importance of being a lifelong learner and using all your education as a tool, offerings to God, to point people to Him.

Evangelical Missiological Society, "EMS Southwest Regional Meeting", April 4th 2024

Jonathan Ruehs Concordia University, Irvine

“And Behold, I am with You Always, to the End of the Age” – Sacramental Union and Missions: A Lutheran Approach

Jesus concludes his Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20 with the promise that He will be with His disciples always. What does it mean that Jesus is with us? Why is this important to mission work? This paper will examine these questions from a Lutheran theological perspective, which interprets the words of Christ being with us as a sacramental union (i.e., baptism and the Lord’s Supper). Furthermore, the position will be that this sacramental union is how we are called to “Go…and make disciples of all nations.”

Dr. Rathel, director of the Graduate Studies program and professor of Christian Theology at Gateway Seminary, joins Dr. Hopkins this week to discuss the nature of Christ, divine simplicity and the question of the suffering of God.

Evangelical Missiological Society, "EMS Southwest Regional Meeting", April 4th 2024

Dr. Jeffrey Mooney, California Baptist University

The Story and Evolution of Redeemer Baptist Church's Sending Program

Dr. Jeff Mooney is associate professor of Old Testament Studies and Biblical Theology at CBU and an elder at Redeemer Baptist Church in Riverside, California. Redeemer Baptist Church is a community of believers who exist to glorify God by gathering for worship, growing in Christlikeness, and going to the world with the gospel. RBC is committed to being a sending church, believing every member has a part to play. Their main areas of commitment are: Global Care and Short Term Trips.

"We believe the tasks of local and global engagement and the advancement of the gospel is too important to take lightly. As a church, we purpose to do all that we can to equip each of our members for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12). We require all those who desire to be sent by Redeemer as a global worker to begin their specialized training for global engagement by participation in our “Ministry Training Program.

In Redeemer Baptist Church’s Ministry Training Program participants will undergo a two-year commitment (4 semesters) of ministerial discipleship by the elders and ministry leaders to develop the doctrine of ecclesiology, theology, and missiology, to develop a greater understanding of the rigors and expectations of ministry, and to gain clarity about calls to ministry (local or global).”

Dr. Scott Hildreth is associate professor of missiology and dean of ministry studies at Southeastern. He has recently published several books including "A Short Guide to Evangelism and Missions" and "Serving Jesus without Burning Out". He joins Dr. Hopkins to unpack some concepts in his new book and to discuss the local church's role in the missionary task.

"A Short Guide to Evangelism and Missions": www.bhpublishinggroup.com/a-short-guide-to-evangelism-and-missions/ 
"Serving Jesus without Burning Out": www.bhacademic.bhpublishinggroup.com/product/serving-jesus-without-burning-out-3/#flipbook-sampler/

Evangelical Missiological Society, "EMS Southwest Regional Meeting", April 4th 2024

Daniel Bannister, Gateway Seminary

A Church for God’s Mission: Shaping Ecclesiology Through Missional Hermeneutics 

Traditional approaches to mission often seek to exposit the “biblical basis for mission,” identifying passages that directly address evangelistic and missional activity. However, missional hermeneutics offers a paradigm shift by emphasizing the missional basis of the text itself. Rather than merely finding mission in Scripture, it frames Scripture as a product, record, and instrument of God’s mission. This paper explores the implications of missional hermeneutics for ecclesiology, arguing that missional hermeneutics not only shapes biblical interpretation but also the community of Christ that interprets the text. 

Interpreting Scripture through the lens of the missio dei, the church identifies herself as gathered and sent—shaped by centripetal mission as a witnessing community and propelled by centrifugal mission as a participant in God’s redemptive work. This perspective challenges ecclesial self-perceptions shaped by Christendom, calling the church to reorient its theology and praxis in a post-Christian world. Furthermore, the communal practice of missional hermeneutics and cultural exegesis ensures that the church not only interprets Scripture but embodies its message through praxeological engagement in its local context. 

This paper contends that missional hermeneutics is not merely a theoretical framework but a formative practice for ecclesial identity, compelling the church to align herself with God’s mission in both being and action. Practicing missional hermeneutics in community will transform not only the church’s interpretation of the text but also her understanding of identity and function within the biblical narrative, leading to active participation in the divine mission and embodying the kingdom of God in the world.

Pastor Julius Tennal II, Director of International Missions at The Summit Church in Durham and Raleigh in North Carolina joins the podcast this week. The Summit Church, with lead pastor J.D. Greear, is a large and very influential leader in the world of sending and evangelism. Julius and Dr. Hopkins talk about finding his role in the church among hesitancy when no one else looked like him, the involvement of family in ministry, and Julius's theology of suffering.

Connect with Julius on instagram @jbehumble

Evangelical Missiological Society, "EMS Southwest Regional Meeting", April 4th 2024

Ken Nehrbass, California Baptist University

Shared Altars: How Churches’ Experiences with Diversity, Oneness, Multiculturality and Intentionality Form Their Cross-Cultural Postures 

Church leaders do not seem to agree on what is meant by a “multicultural church;” but they do agree that achieving such a vision is difficult- though not impossible. Churches’ journeys toward this “elusive dream” (Edwards 2008) are affected by four factors: multiculturality, oneness, vision and ethnic diversity. Churches’ leveraging of these four factors results in six cross-cultural postures: 1) Activist, 2) Shared space, 3) Multiethnic, 4) Reconciling, 5) Ethnic group; and 6) Fully Integrated. Churches with an Activist Posture are deeply committed to addressing issues of racial reconciliation, though the congregation is predominantly (that is, more than 80%) one race or ethnicity. Churches with the Reconciling Posture also have this deep commitment to diversity but have also achieved the goal of becoming ethnically diverse. In churches with a Shared Space posture, different language and cultural groups are present, but they remain separated in terms of vision, finances, events, worship services, and leadership. Churches that have a vision of multiculturality but designate specific campuses or worship times to target specific ethnic groups have an Ethnic Group posture. Lastly, Fully Integrated churches have a single leadership team and budget, reaching various cultural groups who worship together regularly by blending various languages, worship and leadership styles. Here we have developed an assessment tool to help churches measure their experiences in these four areas, providing insight into their current cross-cultural posture and allowing them to identify areas of improvement.

Mohammad Sanavi, founder and teacher of the Bible Training Center for Persians, joins the podcast this week to talk about ministering in family based cultures as well as sharing about his missionary training method and the reasons for it's existence.