From Here To Eternity

Dr. Danny Akin is Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary's longest serving president. He has been in ministry for over 50 years, and he joins Dr. Hopkins this week to talk about the joys and sorrows of ministry and on finishing your service well.

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

Linda Barkman, Testimony Ministries

“Gallons of Love” Christmas for Prisoners Project: Impact of Expanded Ecclesiology in Missional Outreach to California Prisoners

This paper will explore how Gallons of Love – Christmas Gifts for Prisoners, has become a unifying mission project, bringing together incarceration-impacted persons from both sides of the walls, prison staff, volunteers, and the greater church by practicing an ecclesiology that is christocentric by definition.

Gallons of Love (GOL) is an outreach ministry that provides a one-gallon zip lock plastic bag of small gift items to persons incarcerated in several California prisons. GOL has recently shown exponential growth, tripling the number of prisoners reached over each of the last three years. The interplay between ecclesiology and mission is a core component in the success of GOL. Prisoners are suspect about all gifts, wanting to know “what are the strings attached?” since in the prison environment almost everything does, in fact, come with strings attached. However, when the strings are that “those do-gooder Christians are giving me a Christmas gift because they want me to feel loved,” those are strings acceptable to almost all, including those of other faiths or of no faith at all.

This study looks at: 1) how a christocentric ecclesiology extends the boundaries of what comprises the church, 2) the theological implications of how Christmas becomes a touchstone concept that enables ecumenical participation in both giving and receiving of gifts and, 3) hidden factors that result in the synergistic outcome of GOL.

Dr. Steve Scheibner, 'Captain Steeeve', has over 750K followers on YouTube. He is a devout Christian and in 2001 he was supposed to be a pilot on the first plane that hit the twin towers in New York City on September 11th. He joins Dr. Hopkins this week to talk about his journey from the navy, to being a pastor, then to being a commercial airline pilot, and now becoming a YouTube influencer!

Watch Captain Steeeve's 9/11 story mentioned in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLj4akmncsA

To follow Captain Steeeve's journey, subscribe to his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CaptainSteeeve

Character Health Resources: www.characterhealth.com 

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.