The Global Goer Podcast

I've been doing a deep study of the life of Joseph in Genesis, and I've realized he's my favorite Old Testament character. He's the one I want to revere. We admire Moses, but he murdered someone. David committed adultery and murder. Joshua killed babies and pregnant women in war. Joseph is the one who entered another culture, not by his own choice, and held himself up with righteousness the whole way through.

In this episode I'm sharing six lessons I've learned from studying Joseph's life, all about what it looks like to enter another culture well:

He became Egyptian. He took a new name, an Egyptian wife, and Egyptian customs, and he never asked to go home. My line for this is, if it's not sin, do it their way. And Joseph lived that out, except for the one line he wouldn't cross.

He didn't look for the exit. He never tried to escape or plan his way back home, even when things got hard. I tell on myself a little here about my own first months in India.

He learned humility. He wasn't born humble. He was pretty arrogant as a teenager, bragging to his brothers about his dreams. Egypt is where that got stripped out of him.

His view of God was solid. He trusted God before he ever got an explanation. Two full years in prison, no answers, and he never got bitter.

He was emotionally healthy. He wept, openly and often, even as the second most powerful man in Egypt. That's health, not weakness.

He had a heart for the nations, just like God does. Joseph's success fed his own family, and Egypt and the surrounding nations too.

If you are in another culture right now, or wrestling with whether to go, or feeling betrayed by the people you're trying to reach, I think Joseph has something for you.

Coming up next time, I'm talking about what to do as a church for your Global Sunday or your Global Series of the year!

Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com

Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

Email: [email protected]

A few years ago I met a red-haired American named Sarah at the Perspectives 50th anniversary in Chicago, with a baby strapped to her chest. We connected instantly. Turns out she was living in India, married to a Bengali filmmaker with tattoo sleeves who does raids to rescue trafficked children and spends the rest of his time filming secular documentaries in vulnerable communities across India.

In this episode, I'm telling you about an experiment I just ran using one of his newest documentaries. It's called How We Are Tempered and this episode is called Pneumatophores. It takes you inside a Bengali Muslim community in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, a place with almost no long-term cross-cultural workers and less than 0.1% believers among 3 million people.

I watched all four hours of it in one sitting, and it changed how I think about getting to know a people group before you go. Instead of stats or a one-page profile, this is ethnographic storytelling. You watch real people, in their own homes and community, telling their own story in their own words.

I walk through what I loved about it, including an unforgettable interview with a gunan, a local witch doctor, and what I think we can learn about entering a community with welcome, understanding root causes of systemic issues, and seeing how worldview shapes behavior long before we ever try to bring change.

I also tell you about the Deep Dive Round Table experience I built around this documentary, so you can watch it yourself, gather your team or small group, and work through discussion questions and strategic prayer together.

Next week: Lessons from the life of Joseph, how he engaged with another culture in surprising and insightful ways

Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com

Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

Email: [email protected]

I just flew back from a gathering overseas with about 130 cross-cultural workers living in some of the most difficult, and most strategic, places on earth in South Asia. I thought I'd bring you behind-the-scenes and let you in on eight topics cross-cultural workers are discussing, the ones happening around tables, from the stage, and over dinner. Not theory, not old news. What's live right now in 2026.

If you're a church leader, this matters because these are the things the people you're sending, or want to send, should be discussing right now. If you're already on the field, this will probably validate a lot of what you've been thinking. And if you're a potential Global Goer, this is your chance to get in on the conversation early.

Free Video Training: Three Ways to Share Jesus Naturally with Your Neighbors and the Nations

Related Episode 20: Professional Short-Term Trips

Related Blog Travel hacking and flying for free with points

Next week: a deep dive documentary from 24 Parganas, West Bengal, and the launch of our new Deep Dive Roundtable. Watch the documentary on your own, then gather your own table to discuss and pray using our guide.

Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com

Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

Email: [email protected]

I just got back from a camping weekend with zero cell service, and it reminded me just how much I need to still my soul and actually listen when I pray, not just talk. In this episode, I'm sharing three reasons listening prayer matters so much, especially for those of us doing cross-cultural work. I'll give you a peek inside Lesson One of my Breakthrough Prayer course, and then walk you through a simple breath prayer you can use anytime you need to quiet your soul and tune in to the Spirit.

Email me at [email protected] and tell me about your experience with listening prayer. And if this episode encouraged you, forward it to a friend who might need to hear it today.

Don't forget to follow The Global Goer Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Today I'm sharing something a little different — a real conversation I had with my colleague in India. I'm calling her Suwahati (not her real name) to protect her identity, but I wanted you to hear directly from her because what's happening through her ministry is honestly one of the most encouraging things I've come across lately.

Suwahati took the Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course, spearheaded the translation of it into Tamil with a team, and ran her own group training called Love Your Neighbor in India. She prayed for 40 people to join. She got 40 people. And by the end, 33 of them finished the six-week course — many of whom started out saying they didn't even want to have a heart for their Muslim neighbors.

In this episode we talk about:

Why so many believers and even pastors in her city didn't want to reach out to Muslims, and where that resistance came from

How she structured the course — video lessons on their own time, then a smaller live coaching group on Zoom each week

The moment she started seeing real heart change in her students, not just head knowledge

How she built consistency and community through WhatsApp reminders and personal phone calls (yes, she called people before every single session)

Why she chose to commission her students instead of just handing them a certificate and calling it done

Two student testimonies, translated from Tamil, about overcoming fear, starting conversations with Muslim neighbors, friends, and four families on the road into the Kingdom.

If you've ever wondered how to help the people in your own life — your small group, your church, your family — catch a heart for Muslims, this episode is full of practical, real-world encouragement. India is home to more people with the least access to Jesus than almost anywhere else in the world, and Suwahati is proof that ordinary people, in an ordinary city, can be part of changing that.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

✅ Group Training Package (run your own version of what Suwahati did) — jeanniemarieacademy.com/grouptraining 
**Book a call with me and get rights to train FIFTY, less than $6 a person

✅  Free 10-Minute Video: Three Mistakes Most People Make When Reaching Out to Muslims — jeanniemarieacademy.com/invitemuslims

✅ Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course (get $50 off after watching the free video) — jeanniemarieacademy.com/invitemuslims


Would you consider facilitating your own small group training to cast vision for, and help people learn how to invite Muslims to follow Jesus? No prep. No teaching. Just follow my lesson plan for a six-week small group, or a weekend training.

Show the videos, facilitate discussions and experience people feeling confident and happy to speak easily to their Muslim neighbor, co-worker, or friend.

Also, if you book a call with me (email [email protected] so I can brainstorm your situation with you), I'll throw in rights to train another 30 people. You could facilitate training for up to 50 people for only six dollars a person.  

PPS: If you are a Global South student (like Suwahati, from a country in Africa or Asia), please click here to apply and I'll give you a full scholarship.

The Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course is now in English, Tamil, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Related Episodes You Might Like

Episode 25: Jesus Is Not the Son of God

Episode 24: Easy Ways to Meet and Greet Internationals in Your City

Episode 19: Let Me Take You to Mumbai: What a Vision Trip Looks Like

Episode 10: How to Explain Easter to Hindus and Muslims

Episode 7: India From the Inside: A Live Report 12 Years in the Making

Episode 4: How to Be Intentional About Ramadan With Your Muslim Friends

More

If today's episode encouraged you, I'd love for you to listen to the full conversation, and if you're not subscribed yet, hit follow so you don't miss next week's episode on breakthrough prayer.

Drop me an email at [email protected] and tell me which part resonated most with you or if you have ideas for your own Group Training.

If you have Muslim friends, you already know this conversation. You turn things spiritual, and it goes the same way almost every time — the same objections, rapid fire, with total conviction. And usually, it ends in an argument instead of a real conversation.

In this episode, I'm answering the question I get asked most: how do you talk with a Muslim friend without it turning into a fight? I'm pulling back the curtain on a lesson straight from my Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus course, where I walk through exactly how I sidestep the biggest objections in those early conversations, and then how I answer one objection in particular: "Jesus is not the Son of God."

What you'll hear in this episode:

✔️ Four things I do in the first conversations with Muslim friends to keep us from ending up in a boxing match instead of a real conversation.

✔️ The six most common objections Muslims raise with Christians, and why I don't argue with all of them right away.

✔️ Exactly what I say when a friend tells me Jesus is not the Son of God, including the Arabic framework and the "adopted into the family" picture that tends to open the door instead of closing it.

✔️ Why the phrase "Son of God" means something completely different to a Muslim than it does to us, and how saying it the wrong way can shut a conversation down fast.

✔️ A practice moment for you to try answering the question yourself.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Free 10-Minute Video: Three Mistakes Most People Make When Reaching Out to Muslims
www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/invitemuslims

Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course
www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/invitemuslims

Connect with me
Instagram: @jeanniemmarie
Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com                  

In this episode, I'm answering a question from Ashley, one of my Neighbors & Nations Course students, who kept noticing Muslim and Hindu women at the grocery store and wanted to talk to them but didn't know what to say without being weird.

So I'm pulling back the curtain and sharing an actual lesson from inside the Neighbors & Nations Course, Module 1 Lesson 4, on how to meet and greet internationals in a way that feels natural, not forced.

You'll learn:

✔️ How to find out what country someone's family is originally from

✔️ A gentle way to ask about their extended family's religion without putting them on the spot

✔️ Simple greetings in Arabic, Hindi, and Thai that open the door to a real conversation

✔️ Clues, like head coverings, saris, and names, that can point you toward someone's background What to do when you get it wrong (you will, and that's okay)

✔️ I also share the story of my daughter striking up a wonderful conversation with a Pakistani family in the park and what that family told her afterward. It broke my heart a little.

Resources Mentioned:

The Neighbors & Nations Course
www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/nncourse

Ten Ways to Make Ten Friends From Unreached People Groups (Right Where You Live) Guide
www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/tenfriends

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It helps people find the show! Thank you SO MUCH.

Email me at [email protected] to connect

Dozens of you have written in since my book came out asking the same question: how did you publish your book? Today I'm answering it — and giving you three different paths depending on why you're writing and what kind of book you're dreaming about.

We start with the most important question: why are you writing a book in the first place? Is it a memoir for your family's legacy? A framework or idea you want to share? A lifetime of experience you want to pass on? Your answer shapes everything else.

From there, I walk through three publishing paths: writing a memoir with the help of a guided prompt service (including the story of the beautiful book I made from my dad's life stories), self-publishing (starting with the children's book I wrote in 5th grade), and traditional publishing — the full, honest story of how I landed a literary agent, wrote a book proposal, queried 19 agents, got the deal with Thomas Nelson, and spent two years writing, revising, and marketing the book you're holding today.

Then I tell you the one thing you have to do before any of that matters — and share the story of the year-long blog that quietly became the seed of my book.

If you've ever thought "I should write my stories down" or "I have a book in me" — this episode is for you.

Resources mentioned:

Across the Street and Around the World by Jeannie Marie

Multipliers Mindset by Cynthia Anderson

Write your memoir with StoryWorth

Start your own influencer business with Kajabi
(podcast, blog, website, courses, coaching) 

Episodes drop every Tuesday. Subscribe so you don't ever miss one.

If you love this, please leave a review! It helps people find the show who need it.

Email me at hello@jeannie-marie and let me know your book idea.

SUMMER SHORT-TERM TRIP SERIES: SURVEY TRIPS (BANGLADESH)

This is the finale of the Short-Term Trip Summer Series — and we're going to Bangladesh.

Two twenty-five-year-old millennial vloggers named Luke and Paul. A retired sixty-something businessman named John. A Muslim driver and guide. And me. We flew to Dhaka, hired a car, and just started driving south through four districts with eight million Bengali Muslims and almost no long-term workers.

We had a map. We had advice. And we had the Spirit of God who kept saying: turn here, go there, talk to this person, stay here.

The whole trip was documented in ten YouTube vlogs by TwinSauce — Luke and Paul — and I walk you through every stop in this episode. Watch the vlogs alongside the episode for the full experience: the Old City of Dhaka, the kingdom businesses, the Nice Guesthouse in Noakhali, our Cornelius who said "bring your friends, I will take care of them," the ferry boat we may or may not have made, the agricultural district of Patuakhali, the jungle paradise of Jalukhati, the elephant who wanted our money, and the hip-hop dance that went viral in an hour.

Two phrases I say about southern Bangladesh to this day: a beautiful paradise. And generously hospitable.

This is what survey trips do. They make the unknown known. They open doors that cannot be opened any other way. And they make it impossible to look away.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

 ✔️ Bangladesh Survey Trip Vlog TWINSAUCE Playlist

 ✔️ Take a Virtual Survey Trip to Bangladesh PART ONE

 ✔️ Take a Virtual Survey Trip to Bangladesh PART TWO

 ✔️ Across the Street and Around the World Book

✔️ Training for Short-Term Trips

LISTEN NOW:

🍎 Apple Podcasts

🎤 Spotify

🌍 My Global Goer Podcast Page

Send me an email at [email protected] and let me know how this Short-Term Trip Summer Series changed how you think about short-term trips?

SUMMER SHORT-TERM TRIP SERIES: SURVEY TRIPS

My favorite kind of short-term trip is the one hardly anyone is planning.

The Short-Term Trip called a Survey Trip goes where no long-term workers live. Where if you look up the city in a missions database, you get back almost nothing. Where the people you ask say — no, nobody is working there right now. Not that we know of.

In this episode I define what a Survey Trip actually is — not a Vision Trip, not a Professional Trip, but the specific kind of trip designed to make the unknown known, rip the doors of impossibility off your imagination, and come back with a Caleb and Joshua report: I was there, I saw it, here's what God can do.

Then I tell the story of the Survey Trip that changed my life. Three years of waving around a photo of a white sand beach. A team of six brave, quaking, resolute souls. The kinds of things we did on that first survey trip to an unreached, unengaged people group where no long-term workers lived in the city of a million Muslims.

You'll discover what a Survey Trip IS and how to plan one illustrated by this Survey trip that led my family and I to move there.

I also give you the full Survey Trip objectives list — ten questions to ask yourself that will tell you if a  Survey Trip might be what God is asking of you next.

 
Resources mentioned in this episode:

✔️ Across the Street and Around the World Book

✔️ What Kind of Trip Type are you Planning? Checklist

✔️ Group Training Package for the Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course

✔️ India From the Inside Podcast Episode 12 

✔️ Neighbors and Nations Course

Subscribe:

New episodes drop every Tuesday. Don't miss one!

LISTEN NOW:

🍎 Apple Podcasts

🎤 Spotify

🌍 My Global Goer Podcast Page 

Next episode — the Short-Term Trip Summer Series finale: a survey trip to southern Bangladesh. Two millennial vloggers, a retired businessman, a hired car, and eight million Bengali Muslims with almost no workers. The vlogs are on YouTube and you can watch along.

Send me an email at [email protected] and let me know what type of trip you're planning and if you'd consider a Survey Trip! 

 
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