This episode of The Mission Matters podcast features a conversation between Ted Esler, Matthew Ellison, and guest Steve Leston, focusing on the topic of "church-centric missions." The discussion stems from a popular Substack post Ted wrote that ignited dialogue about the role of the local church in global missions.

Steve shares his personal journey, describing his early passion for the church and how his experience in the military shaped his perspective on discipleship and training. He recounts how the church he attended embraced a church-centric model that sought to train, disciple, and send missionaries directly.

This was initially inspiring but later exposed challenges when church leadership transitions and financial issues left missionaries unsupported. Steve started to recognize the vital role that mission agencies play in providing structure, expertise, and sustainability for long-term missionary work.

Both local churches and mission agencies have important, complementary roles in fulfilling the Great Commission. Steve, now at To Every Tribe, explains their intentional approach: partnering with churches so that the church affirms and releases missionaries, while agencies facilitate and support them in the field.

Matthew and Ted reflect on how this partnership approach has matured over the decades, avoiding extremes where either churches or agencies attempt to "own" missions exclusively. They discuss how the complexities of global missions today require both theological clarity and practical expertise, underscoring that missionary sending should be a relational, collaborative endeavor that honors God, supports missionaries well, and recognizes the diverse gifts required to reach unreached peoples.

The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

In this episode of The Mission Matters podcast, Ted Esler welcomes guests Matthew Ellison and Denny Spitters from Sixteen:Fifteen to discuss their new book, The Sending Shepherd: Leading Churches to Disciple All Nations.

The book emerges from a Barna study commissioned in partnership with Pioneers, which surveyed over 400 U.S. Protestant pastors about their understanding of missions. The results reveal concerning trends: missions is rarely taught or preached, the definition of missions is widely diluted, and there’s a significant disconnect between pastoral passion for the Great Commission and actual church engagement in global missions. The authors argue that pastoral leadership is critical to reversing this decline and sparking a new missions mobilization movement in the American Church.
Despite the challenges, the research also points to encouraging opportunities. While only 27% of pastors report strong passion for global missions, 74% affirm the importance of the Great Commission, and 98% see missions as a biblical mandate. Matthew and Denny emphasize that this gap is a strategic opportunity. We can start to address it with clear definitions, scriptural teaching, and equipping pastors to become "sending shepherds." They encourage church leaders to connect local outreach passions with global needs and to shift from consumer-driven topical teaching to narrative-rich biblical exposition. The book offers a compelling, data-driven call to action for pastors, missions leaders, and mobilizers alike.
The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

thesendingshepherd.com

1615.org/sendingshepherd

In this episode of The Mission Matters podcast, hosts Matthew Ellison and Ted Esler speak with Dr. Lawrence Oseje, a Kenyan pastor, theologian, and leader of Destiny Impact Mission International. Dr. Oseje shares his journey from pastoring in a Muslim-majority city to training pastors and missionaries across Kenya and beyond.

He emphasizes the urgent need for theological training in Africa, citing tragic examples of spiritual deception due to lack of education. Through non-formal theological education, his ministry brings basic, accessible Bible training directly to local pastors and lay leaders who are often unable to attend seminary due to educational or financial barriers.
Dr. Oseje discusses the rapid growth of the African church and the resulting demand for grounded, equipped leaders. He highlights a shift in mindset: seminary training is no longer viewed as irrelevant or inferior but as vital and increasingly sought-after.

With the help of partnerships, including with Global Action and U.S. churches, his ministry is forming a network committed to grassroots discipleship and contextual missions. Dr. Oseje calls for global interdependence in missions, affirming that the future of the African church is bright, but will require sacrificial investment, collaboration, and Spirit-led leadership.
The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

https://dimitrust.org

In this episode of the Mission Matters podcast, Matthew Ellison and Ted Esler welcome Mark Luckey, Executive Director of Every Child Ministries (ECM), to discuss how the face of missions in Africa is changing. With decades of firsthand experience, Mark shares how improved infrastructure, evolving government involvement in child welfare, and a stronger local church have transformed both the needs and opportunities in African communities.

ECM’s mission to serve the most vulnerable children has shifted from a traditional child sponsorship model toward a more holistic, family-empowering approach. This change stems from a desire to move beyond relief and toward lasting community transformation by partnering with local families and churches.

Mark Luckey is no stranger to Every Child Ministries, having served as one their own missionaries in Uganda with the Afayo Project. After more than fifteen years of missionary service in four African countries, Mark became the International Executive Director of Every Child Ministries in January 2015. Mark and his wife Stacy have six children and nine grandchildren.
The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

In this episode of The Mission Matters Podcast, hosts Matthew Ellison and Ted Esler sit down with veteran missions mobilizer Jeff Lewis to explore the deep connection between biblical disciple-making and global missions. Jeff also shares about the newly-released 30th anniversary edition of God’s Heart for the Nations, a study resource he created that has shaped thousands of students and churches. 
Jeff shares his testimony of experiencing what he calls a “second conversion” a spiritual awakening to God's global purposes sparked by years of Scripture meditation and a simple yet transformative prayer: “Lord, burden my heart with the things that burden Your heart.” 
This journey led Jeff from pastoring in a small Pennsylvania town to becoming a prominent advocate for missions, deeply committed to helping believers discover the centrality of God’s renown among the nations. 

During Jeff Lewis' 36-year career in missions mobilization, he planted and pastored two churches and spent 23 years as a college professor at California Baptist University and Oklahoma Baptist University. Jeff has also participated in training indigenous mobilization leaders in five African countries, along with assisting in the development of mobilization strategies in over 25 countries. Jeff’s remarkable journey includes co-founding and co-directing the Passion conferences from 1997 to 2000, leaving an enduring mark on the landscape of ministry and worship. His literary contributions include the widely translated God’s Heart for the Nations, Calling: A Scriptural Journey, and Christ Love Compels Me. Jeff is also an inductee to the Tennessee Swimming Hall of Fame. He has been married to Elaine for 50 years and has seven adult children and 20 grandchildren. Jeff is a member of First Presbyterian Church (EPC) of Rome, GA.
The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.
Order God's Heart for the Nations at https://1615outfitters.org/ghftn
10% Discount Code: 2025TMM

How can the illiterate read the Scriptures? Through animation and heart-language engagement, iBIBLE connects deeply with both children and adults in remote areas—many of whom are seeing the Bible in their language for the very first time. In this episode of The Mission Matters, Matthew Ellison speaks with Steve Cleary, founder of Revelation Media and Executive Producer of iBIBLE, a groundbreaking animated series that brings the entire narrative of the Bible to life using Scripture-only scripts.
Born out of a dream and a deep desire to impact world missions, iBIBLE is designed to be accessible, visual, and faithful to God’s Word—especially for people who speak minority languages or are unable to read. With translations underway in over 120 languages (including some with as few as 500 speakers), Steve shares how iBIBLE is transforming hearts in places where printed Bibles alone cannot reach.
Steve underscores the growing need for visual Scripture in an age where literacy and language barriers keep many from accessing the Gospel. With a vision to complete the entire Bible in short, animated episodes, Steve and his team are pioneering a new frontier in missions—one where the Word of God is not just read or heard, but seen in the language people understand best. It’s not entertainment—it’s transformation through the unaltered power of Scripture.

Steve started his work in missions in 1989 as a volunteer for The Voice of the Martyrs. He joined the staff in 1990 and soon after had the honor of traveling with VOM founders Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand. Being able to spend the last decade of their lives with them became the biggest blessing and honor of Steve’s life. He continues with VOM as a contractor and has traveled with them to hostile and restricted nations around the world, including Cuba, Sudan, Northern Nigeria, borders of North Korea and most recently Iraq during the Isis occupation.
In 2015 Steve and Robert Fernandez began an animation studio in San Jose, Costa Rica. It was at this time he began to see both the tremendous need and opportunity of making films for the mission field. In January 2017 Steve officially founded and launched the ministry Revelation Media, which is committed to providing quality and culturally engaging media for the global missions community. His projects include the Tortured for Christ movie and animated The Pilgrim’s Progress, and now, he is working on a visual and interactive presentation of the entire Bible called iBIBLE.
The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

The global church is growing exponentially, but traditional training models are inadequate and inaccessible to emerging leaders. With less than 10% of global church leaders having received any formal theological education, Rich explains how Global Action uses competency-based theological education (CBTE) to meet this urgent need—offering a nine-month, contextually relevant curriculum that trains pastors to disciple others and lead their communities well.
In this episode of The Mission Matters podcast, host Matthew Ellison is joined by Rich Griffith of Global Action for a compelling conversation about equipping pastors and ministry leaders around the world. Rich passionately describes the transformational impact he’s witnessed—pastors weeping with joy upon receiving a certificate, because for the first time, they feel equipped and recognized to carry out God’s call.
Learn more at globalaction.com.
As Chief Development Officer of Global Action, Rich’s role involves building strong relationships with donors and developing church partnerships. For the past 20 years, Rich has served as an associate pastor at three different US churches. He is passionate about Jesus Christ and desires to contagiously engage others in the biblical mandate to “be His Witnesses.” Rich loves how God is not only transforming hearts around the world, but also calling North Americans to step out of their comfort zones and into God’s larger plan.
Prior to Rich’s pastorate, Rich played seven years in the NFL as a tight end and long snapper for the New England Patriots and the Jacksonville Jaguars.  During his athletic career, he was voted Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ Athlete of the Year in 1995, and was nominated for the NFL’s True Value Man of the Year in 1996 and for the Byron White Humanitarian Award in 1997.
Rich has been married to his wife Keri for over 30 years, and they have four adult children. Rich resides in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

Many people going to the missions field have little exposure to actually sharing the gospel and need significant training. Why? The church has a passion for evangelism but traditionally, there has not been much focus on how to do it for regular people. Christians generally know how to explain the Gospel, but there's fear and ignorance of how to get into spiritual conversations. How do you get to that moment? How do you bridge a conversation to get to those opportunities?Listen in to this conversation and be challenged in your evangelism. Ted Esler and Matthew Ellison dive deeper into Kevin King's new book Living Out Loud: Letting Your Love for God Flow into Your Everyday Language (https://a.co/d/iN39Rel) and reinvigorate the desire to live out loud.Kevin King is cofounder and president of International Project, a missions-sending organization focused on church planting among unreached people groups across the globe. International Project has a variety of teams in New York City, as well as in other cities in North America and internationally.Kevin has a BA in Bible, an MA in biblical counseling, and an MDiv. His passion for evangelism began when he gave his life to Christ in high school—and later intensified to focus on reaching people who have never heard the gospel. He then discovered the strategic advantage of working with international students and the people groups God was bringing to the US through migration.Kevin and his wife, Jeanne, moved to New York City in 1998 and began sharing the gospel on college campuses and in ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Through the people they've led to Christ, churches have been planted in multiple countries. In 2010, Kevin founded Equip, a ten-month program training cross-cultural church planters to start simple churches that will expand and multiply. A core element of the training is equipping Christians to live their faith out loud in everyday conversations. Workers from multiple missions agencies who have gone through the Equip training are now serving effectively around the world.Kevin enjoys overseeing the International Project teams, as well as engaging in and starting Bible studies with international graduate students through Jeanne's ongoing campus ministry. He also loves running, scuba diving, and hiking. Kevin and Jeanne live in Harlem, where they raised their two children, who are now grown.The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

Is it possible to 'do missions' without ever sharing the Gospel? Not according to Scott Hildreth. In fact he's written a book called A Short Guide to Missions and Evangelism (https://a.co/d/8cCsKWv) that contains a warning to the western Church that she's dangerously close to walking away from the mandate to carry the Gospel to those who need it most. Listen in as Ted Esler and Matthew Ellison talk with Scott about his book (available May 6) and this current challenge in the western Church.
Dr. Hildreth is an associate professor of missiology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS). He is married to Lesley and has two adult children and two grandchildren. Before coming to SEBTS, he and his family served with the International Mission Board in Europe and Central Asia. Dr. Hildreth serves as an elder at The Summit Church and also serves as interim pastor or guest speaker when possible. He has written on evangelism and missions. His research interests are on contextualization, missiology, and theology of mission.
The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

How are American Christians thinking about engaging non-Christians in the United States? According to recent Barna research there are 60 to 80 million Americans who don't fit the paradigm that a lot of Christians have about those outside of the church. They are not really hostile to discussions about faith and spirituality and are actually spiritually curious at the right moments.

Join Ted Esler's conversation with Mark Matlock, the Executive Director of the Urbana Student Missions Conference and also author of Faith for the Curious: How an Era of Spiritual Openness Shapes the Way We Live and Help Others Follow Jesus. 
Mark Matlock is a facilitator of innovation and impact, helping organizations adapt to changing times through turning research based insights into action. The founder of WisdomWorks LLC a consultancy helping churches and faith-based organizations leverage their collective wisdom and insight to innovate and adapt in changing times. Mark also works with Barna to assist clients with board training and on-site facilitation of research findings. 
Mark has been an advisor to organizations such as the Seed Company, Youth Specialties, Young Life, Awana, Brotherhood Mutual, Movement.org, BetterMan and has served as a board member of the American Bible Society. 
Mark is the author of more than 20 books for teens and parents, and in 2019 co-authored Faith for Exiles: Five Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon with Barna Group President David Kinnaman. Having initiated many research projects with Barna over the last two decades related to Next Gen studies, Mark’s research continues to provide insights into emerging generations and how to cultivate faithful disciples.
Mark is an ordained minister, certified LifePLanner, LEGO Serious Play facilitator, and MCORE trainer and coach. Mark is also certified as a HopIn online platform agency. He’s been married for 30 years to his wife Jade. They have two adult children.
The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.
https://www.amazon.com/Faith-Curious-Spiritual-Openness-Shapes/dp/0801018714
https://www.urbana.org/