Missions & Miles | Mission Trips, Group Travel, Missionary Stories, Travel Tips

Missions & Miles with Brad Mills

What does success look like when the results are hard to see? In this episode, Joy Owens talks with Brad Mills, president of Adventist Frontier Missions, about serving across cultures, leading a mission organization, and staying faithful when the harvest hasn’t come yet.

Brad’s love of missions began with the stories his mother read to him as a child. That love led to 19 years overseas with his wife, Lena, and their two sons in four countries across several continents. He talks about living on medical mission boats in the Amazon, learning Spanish and then Arabic, and why the greatest measure of mission work is faithfulness. He also shares some unforgettable travel stories, from appendicitis abroad to a rabies scare in Turkey to evacuating Beirut with his family.

In this episode

• How childhood mission stories planted a lifelong calling
• A one-year volunteer assignment in Bolivia that confirmed Brad and Lena’s call to cross-cultural ministry
• 13 years in the Brazilian Amazon with a medical missionary boat project serving isolated jungle villages
• How learning about the 10/40 Window, where many people have little or no Christian presence, led the family to consider a new field
• Entrusting the move to the Middle East to God, and how the call became clear
• Why effective ministry has to happen in people’s heart language
• Redefining mission success as faithfulness, not just visible results
• Adventist Frontier Missions’ work planting indigenous church movements among unreached people groups
• Travel stories: surgery overseas, a street cat attack in Turkey, and evacuating Beirut during conflict

Key ideas

• Faithfulness as success: In unreached settings, the truest measure of mission work is faithfulness to God’s call, not only visible results.
• Planting, watering, and harvesting: Different workers play different roles, and results can unfold over many years.
• Heart-language ministry: Meaningful cross-cultural communication requires learning the language people actually speak.

Notable quotes

“The greatest measure of success in missions is faithfulness.”

“You’ve got to go as a learner.”

“It absolutely positively has to be done in the language that people speak, their heart language.”

Takeaways for listeners

• If you’re considering mission work, go with a learner’s posture.
• Be willing to serve where you feel called, even when results aren’t immediately visible.
• Invest in learning the local language so you can communicate meaningfully across cultures.

Connect with Adventist Frontier Missions

• Website: afmonline.org

Planning a mission trip?

Butler Travel has helped groups serve around the world for 30 years.

• Website: butlertravel.com
• Free budgeting tools: butlertravel.com/tools

Missions & Miles with Steven Grabiner

What does it really mean to help people well? In this episode, Joy Owens sits down with Steven Grabiner, whose life has been shaped by mission work, cross-cultural learning, and years of leadership in Zambia. Steven talks about how his faith journey led him into service, what he learned about effective aid and cultural humility, and how a hidden health battle affected his work in the field.

Steven has flown more than two million miles on Delta, so he also shares practical wisdom for long flights and delays. He closes with heartfelt advice for anyone considering a short-term mission trip or a long-term move to the mission field.

In this episode

• How Steven's conversion in his early 20s sparked a desire to serve
• How restaurant work in New York City and Boston, plus health lectures and stress classes, unexpectedly led to overseas mission work
• Moving his family to Zambia to work at Riverside Farm, a mission project and NGO on the banks of the Kafue River
• How his definition of successful mission work changed, and why helping people in the ways they actually want and need matters most
• The unintended consequences of aid, including mosquito nets repurposed for fishing
• Cultural differences in Zambia: kindness, saving face, and indirect communication
• Living with undiagnosed liver disease, and why you shouldn't ignore serious health concerns
• Travel tips from two million miles: choosing the right seat, eye masks, and noise-canceling headphones
• Advice for anyone considering mission work: clarify your motivation, expect to learn, and go with humility

Connect with Steven

• Website and leadership coaching: percepta.coach
• Facebook: Steven Grabiner
• X: Steven Grabiner

Planning a mission trip?

Butler Travel has helped groups serve around the world for 30 years.

• Website: butlertravel.com
• Free budgeting tools: butlertravel.com/tools

Saying yes is step one. How you prepare determines whether your trip changes lives — or just survives.

This episode breaks down the three mistakes we see most with first-time teams: waiting too long to plan, skipping cultural prep, and going it alone instead of partnering with a local organization.

Check out https://butlertravel.com/tools/ to get your free trip planner tools.

What happens when a 13-year-old leaves Connecticut for Zambia with nearly 40 bags? Joy Owens shares the unexpected airport miracle that launched a lifetime of missions, travel, and trusting God when plans go wrong. Welcome to Missions and Miles, a podcast for missionaries, humanitarian workers, short-term mission leaders, and anyone preparing to serve overseas. In this first episode, Joy introduces the stories, practical advice, and faith-filled travel experiences the podcast will bring to listeners around the world. You’ll hear about:

• Moving overseas as a teenager and beginning life in Zambia
• A Christmas Eve airport miracle that saved Joy’s family from a massive baggage fee
• Why travel plans in missions rarely unfold exactly as expected
• How delays and unexpected obstacles can become moments of providence
• Practical tips for finding travel deals, organizing flights, packing, and preparing for humanitarian work

Drawing from years of living and traveling in Zambia, Kenya, Honduras, Taiwan, Germany, and Portugal, Joy offers a glimpse into the realities of getting to the mission field—and the surprising ways doors can open along the way.

If you’re considering a mission trip, leading a group, serving overseas, or simply curious about the intersection of faith and travel, this is your invitation to come along.

Subscribe to Missions and Miles for stories and practical tips from people serving around the world.

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