From Here To Eternity

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.

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

David Dunaetz and Will Ingersoll, Azusa Pacific University

Gen Z and Boomers Need Each Other: Missiological Applications of an Empirical Study Examining How Challenges Faced by Church Leaders Differ by Generation

As Western culture evolves, leaders of evangelical churches throughout the world, and especially those in urban multicultural contexts, are facing new challenges. In this study, we seek to understand what the greatest challenges are that church leaders face, how these challenges are related to the age of the church leader, and how this information can be used to strengthen churches. In this study, church leaders (N = 347) indicate how much of a challenge 79 various issues are which are commonly faced by church leaders, as well as their age and information about their church’s size and growth. A factor analysis reduced these 79 challenges to 16 clusters of challenges. Six of these clusters were related to age. Older church leaders found maintaining their mental health, self-management, and church finances to be less challenging than did younger church leaders. The differences in mental health were especially strong. In contrast, younger church leaders found evangelism, creating effective programs, and addressing problems associated with social media use to be less challenging than did older church leaders. Moreover, churches with younger pastors were growing faster than churches with older pastors. In order for both older and younger church leaders to benefit from each other’s strengths, it might be beneficial, under certain conditions, for an older and a younger church leader (or missionary) to work together.

It took over 12 years for Jesse to get placed in the mission field after he was called to serve. He talks with Dr. Hopkins about his call to Christ as an atheist in college and about being patient with the timing of your call.

Stephen Coppenrath, Pastor of The King's Church in Ontario California, shares his opinion on the place of entertainment in church, being hospitable in Western culture, and including children of all ages in worship.

Check out The King's Church current series on YouTube www.youtube.com/channel/UC_-lN7pdKlnt9-RRTcx59gg

Minister Darren Logan joins Dr. Hopkins this week to speak on the effects of raising 8 children overseas and how it impacted their family. He also talks about the cultural differences in California even within the USA, and the importance of slowing down in your preparation for ministry.

Mikko Sivonen, Academic Dean of the Agricola Theological Seminary in Finland, joins Dr. Hopkins to discuss working as a missionary in a place where people are predominantly a different denomination than you. You can learn more about Mikko's work here www.agricolaseminary.fi/

Dr. Phil Hopkins shares his thoughts and perspective on the current war between Israel and Iran. Dr. Hopkins has a Ph.D in Iranian history and has raised his family in Iranian culture.

The Beyond Program sends qualified Gateway Students on fully funded short term, international mission trips. In this episode, GoTrip director Carola Manriquez talks with Dr. Hopkins about the importance of getting involved in the work of the Great Commission, her identity as a Chilean-American, and what she has learned over the years on mission trips.