The Mission Matters

By The Mission MattersReligion & Spirituality Christianity

The Mission Matters episodes

February 12, 2025 Innovation in Church and Missions
Are there unchurched and unreached peoples who might be missed by current methodologies and mindsets? Is innovation in church and missions primarily a process that has to do with ideas/technologies/tools/methods or does it reside in something else that God gifts us with? Pioneering isn’t easy - the Church needs better pathways to nurture ideas, support innovators, and build collaborative movements for the challenges of our time. Tyler Prieb founded Missional Labs to help bring a startup mentality to individuals and teams working on new projects that go after Great Commission impact.
Join Ted Esler and Matthew Ellison as they engage Tyler on the need for a renewed imagination in our evolving church and missions fields.
Tyler is the Founder & Executive Director of Missional Labs (https://missionallabs.co/), a venture group investing in the frontiers of 21st-century mission. He was previously Chief of Staff at Church of the City New York in Manhattan, and has worked for multiple leading organizations across church planting, leadership training, entrepreneurship, innovation, and global mission. He’s worked with leaders in over 50 countries, and was named a young leader for the Lausanne movement in 2016.

He’s pursuing a Doctor of Missiology (in progress), and holds an MA in Theology (RTS) and a BA in Economics and Humanities (Azusa Pacific University). His focus is on the intersection of innovation and missiology.
He loves coffee, reading, and travel, and lives in Nashville with his wife Melany and daughter Penny.
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.
39 min
January 22, 2025 Preparing Missionaries in Higher Education
Research (Dr. Elliot Stephens) has shown that there are three factors that affect attrition on the mission field: interpersonal skills, ministry competency and spiritual formation. Agencies can train for skills, but it's these softer skills that are often neglected at higher levels of Christian education. Ed Scheuerman built his program at Lancaster Bible College largely in response to this research. Listen in as Ted Esler, Matthew Ellison, and Ed Scheuerman discuss trends in higher Christian education as it relates to missions and mentoring the current generation of students.
After getting his BA in Philosophy (with an emphasis in Religious Studies) from West Chester University (PA), Ed completed one year of formal Bible training, taking 42 hours of Bible and Missions classes at Tennessee Temple University in 1985. In 1986, he completed his MA in TESL from WCU. In December 2007, he completed his Doctorate of Missiology degree from Biola University. He was ordained by Calvary Bible Church in Hanover, PA.
Ed and his wife Carol served with PIONEERS, International, in Southeast Asia for 23 years. They served in China for nearly seven years (starting in 1987), teaching and ministering at a university. Their work was primarily with their students, discipling those who came to faith. They were then based in Hong Kong for four years (1994-1998) as a support link to the in-China team. In 1997, Ed was asked to assume the role of Area Leader for South Asia / Mainland Southeast Asia (shepherding the teams from Vietnam to India). The family relocated to Chiang Mai, Thailand. The Area Leader role was primarily a pastoral role, shepherding church planting teams. While there, Ed also became involved in various member care ministries.
In May 2010, Ed was recruited by Lancaster Bible College to be the Coordinator of the Intercultural Studies major. His book, Knowing God to Make Him Known: Living out the Attributes of God Cross-Culturally” was published in 2021 and is used by churches and missions agencies to help train potential missionaries. His passion is to help students find and follow God’s call for their lives in the cause for world missions.
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.
28 min
January 08, 2025 Borders and Immigration: Morality and Missions
Immigration is not a new topic, but its place in a global missions worldview comes to the forefront due to politics in the USA. What role does the movement of peoples have in the making of disciples in all nations? Is it Biblical or moral to have borders and to restrict immigration? How should a Christian engage illegal immigrants? Guest Alex Kocman addresses these questions and more in a conversation with Matthew Ellison and Ted Esler in this episode of The Mission Matters.
Alex received his M.A. in Media and Communication Studies and B.S. in Biblical Studies through Liberty University. He now serves as Director of Communications and Engagement for ABWE (http://www.abwe.org/), a theologically conservative, church planting missions agency with about 1,000 missionaries reaching nearly 90 countries.
Since 2017, he has cohosted The Missions Podcast (https://missionspodcast.com/) with Scott Dunford, interviewing notable guests across the evangelical and missiological worlds. Alex is an author, and his new book, Striving for the Faith: A Journey Through Philippians for Life on Mission (Founders Press), is now available (https://press.founders.org/shop/striving-for-the-faith/) for preorder and slated for release February 2025.
He resides with his wife and four children in York, Pennsylvania, where he spends his free time studying theology, weightlifting, and nursing a heavy coffee addiction. He adheres to the 1689 London Baptist Confession and serves as an elder at Faith Bible Fellowship Church, where he leads the missions team and serves as director of communications and worship.
31 min
November 15, 2024 The Marginalization of Missions in Theological Education
In a recent survey (to be published in 2025, stay tuned) of pastors, those with seminary or divinity school degrees were significantly more likely to report passion for those in their community and little toward cross-cultural work or missionaries. Is this the result of a marginalization of missions in theological education? If so, how can seminary education be refined to present missions as worthy of a pastor's or church's passion? Matthew and Ted seek answers with J. D. Payne who serves as professor of Christian Ministry at Samford University.
https://www.jdpayne.org/about/
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.
36 min
October 15, 2024 Managing Risk: Gospel Obedience and Thriving
We cannot be successful in gospel obedience without an element of risk. What is a Biblical theology of risk, and how can mission leaders manage risk so that missionaries thrive in their contexts? Scott Brawner is co-founder and President of Concilium, a non-profit organization that builds capacity and resilience into Christian missionary orgs. Join Ted, Matthew, and Scott as they discuss risk and the role of the security professional in a ministry organization.
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.
www.concilium.us
Book: Anna Hampton Facing Fear: The Journey to Mature Courage in Risk and Persecution
47 min
September 16, 2024 Neighbors and Nations
There are three billion people with least access to the Gospel. Motivated by this fact, author and mission strategist Jeannie Marie writes and teaches everyday Christians how to share their faith to Muslim and Hindu friends. These least reached are not just around the world -thanks to the diaspora, they are across our street. Join Ted for this conversation with Jeannie as they talk about what the makeup of this diaspora is, how to befriend them, and how the church should engage them.
Jeannie's book, Across the Street and Around the World: Following Jesus to the Nations in Your Neighborhood...and Beyond and her online courses offer practical training for Christians wanting to engage their neighbors from the nations. Jeannie Marie's online courses:
Inviting Muslims to follow Jesus
Offer Jesus Naturally to Your Neighbors and the Nations
https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/freevideotraining
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.
33 min
August 15, 2024 Fifty Unbelievable Years of Gospel Advance
Fifty years ago Ralph Winter spoke at the Congress of World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. He laid out a vision of world evangelization that transformed the perspective on the unreached not as countries or nations, but ethnic people groups. What progress has been made in global evangelization since that moment? What does the remaining task look like? Matthew and Ted interview RW Lewis, who has researched and published a booklet called The Great Progress of the Gospel and the Remaining Frontier Missions Task.
35 min
July 15, 2024 Sending Latinos: Uniquely Suited as Missionaries
Reflejo are a group of Latin-American missionaries called to be forerunners to Gospel movements among the unreached. What are the pathways for Latinos to be sent and what are their unique advantages being sent to the unreached? Dave Matthews is president of Reflejo (https://reflejo.org), a missions sending agency based in Latin American. Dave joins Matthew and Ted to talk about the need for sending agencies outside the USA and how Latinos can help fulfill the Great Commission.New boost
26 min
June 15, 2024 SIM's First Non-Western International Director
SIM has a long history in Nigeria. As a teen, Joshua Bogunjoku became a follower of Christ and was discipled by an SIM missionary. Years later he became the first non-western International Director of SIM. Eleven years later he has retired. Join Ted and Matthew as they listen to Joshua's interesting story and to some of his reflections from his time as International Director.
36 min
May 15, 2024 Mobilizing Gen Z with Jolene Erlacher
God has equipped Gen Z with a unique set of gifts for our time and culture. Gen Z are inclusive, empathetic, collaborative, and individualistic. How can we contextualize our mobilization efforts towards these talented young people? Jolene Erlacher (author of Mobilizing Gen Z and founder of http://leadingtomorrow.org) talks with Matthew and Ted about how to steward our relationships with this generation.
30 min

About The Mission Matters

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The Mission Matters Podcast discusses the mission of God and the matters of the mission. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize…