The Missions Show

Radical. Transformative. Impact. Crazy, even. These words fill the atmosphere when Christians discuss the sacrifice and risk involved in missions. But has all this talk of “radical” living left us unable to cope with regular life, ordinariness, boredom, and God’s normal means of grace? This week we talked with Dr. Michael Horton, professor, author, and nationally-syndicated radio host, regarding his book Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World.

Dr. Horton is the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California since 1998, Editor-in-Chief of Modern Reformation magazine, and president and host of the nationally syndicated radio broadcast, The White Horse Inn. He also leads Core Christianity and hosts Core Radio. Dr. Horton is an ordained minister in the United Reformed Churches in North America and lives in Escondido with his wife, Lisa, and four children. Follow him on Twitter.

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The social justice controversy echoing across conservative evangelicalism has brought terms like “privilege” into the Christian vernacular, but in all the discussion of rights, equity, and cultural engagement, we’ve missed a critical category: gospel privilege. Chad Vegas, founding board member of Radius International and lead pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, joins the show this week to discuss privilege, the reality of eternity, and how pastors can keep their congregations aware of global spiritual need.

Later in the conversation, we address the critical need for biblical and theological training among missionaries and why seminaries and pulpits can’t afford to stay divorced from the missiological community.

Chad is the founding pastor of Sovereign Grace Church. After completing his MA in Theology at Talbot, and being the high school pastor at RiverLakes Community Church, Chad was called to plant a church in Bakersfield. His passion is to know Christ and to make him known. He has been married to Teresa since 1994, and they have 2 children. You can email him.

Remember to share, rate, leave a review, and subscribe. Together we can help bridge the gap between the worlds of theology and missions.

Want to ask a question for a future episode? Email [email protected].

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Christmas-and-Easter Christians. Mainline Protestants. Nominal Catholics. Bible-Belt believers. Let’s face it—cultural Christians are everywhere. And the problem is that we see cultural Christianity as a discipleship issue rather than an evangelistic field.

In this enriching conversation, Dean Inserra expounds on his book The Unsaved Christian and the eight types of cultural Christians he identifies as being in special need of evangelism. He builds a case for why North America’s pew-warmers really are a bona fide mission field, and explains some practical tips to help true disciples understand that America’s civil religion is another faith altogether.

Dean Inserra is the founding and lead pastor of City Church in Tallahassee. He graduated from Liberty University and attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He holds a M.A. in Theological Studies from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is pursuing a D.Min. from Southern Seminary. Dean is an advisory member of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission's Leadership Council with the Southern Baptist Convention. He is also a member of Baptist 21. Follow Dean on Twitter.

Dean is married to Krissie, and they have two sons, Tommy and Ty, and a daughter, Sally Ashlyn. Dean likes baseball, wrestling, and the Miami Hurricanes. He believes Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback, and that everyone who disagrees holds the right to be wrong.

Remember to share, rate, leave a review, and subscribe. Together we can help bridge the gap between the worlds of theology and missions.

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Everybody talks about “engaging culture.” Culture is a slippery concept. When should missionaries break from their host culture, and when should they bend with it? Is missions mainly about creating countless contextualized Christianities across various cultures, or is it also about assimilating believers into one overarching Christian culture? We discussed these issues with Dr. Kenneth Nehrbass of Biola University, author of multiple books including God’s Image and Global Cultures.

Kenneth Nehrbass was a pastor before he and his wife Mendy joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in 2000. In 2002, they moved to the island of Tanna (in Vanuatu) to translate the New Testament with a team of nationals. In 2012 they moved back to the USA, and Nehrbass became assistant professor of International Studies at Belhaven University. In 2014, he moved to Biola to teach and direct the M.A. and Ph.D. Programs in intercultural studies. He continues to volunteer as a translation and anthropology consultant with SIL and the Seed Company. His research focuses on contextual theology and missiological anthropology. He and his wife have four children. Visit his site to learn more.

You can also read Scott Dunford’s review of Nehrbass’ book on the ABWE blog.

Remember to share, rate, leave a review, and subscribe. Together we can help bridge the gap between the worlds of theology and missions.

Want to ask a question for a future episode? Email [email protected].

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For decades, missiologists have assumed the priority of the “unreached”—and for good reason—building entire organizational strategies around it. But do we need to redefine this term? Matthew Bennett, Ph.D., former IMB missionary and current Assistant Professor of Missions and Theology at Cedarville University, weighs in.

In a recent article, Matthew argues that we’ve taken the arbitrary 2-percent definition of “unreached” too far, countering that we need to consider both unreached people groups and unreached places. He also argues in another piece that we must shift our focus from “finishing the task” to being faithful in the constant disciple-making mandate. In this interview, we ask Matthew about the history of UPG emphasis and talk about Ralph Winter, Donald McGavran, and how the homogeneous unit principle morphed from description into prescription. Finally, we discuss the importance of unhitching our missiology from a narrow conception of eschatology so that we can focus on our present callings. Nerds, this episode is for you. (And everyone else too, of course. We promise.)

Dr. Matthew Bennett joined the faculty at Cedarville University in fall 2017 after serving and living in North Africa and the Middle East since 2011. He currently teaches The Bible and the Gospel, Theology I, Urban Missiology, Contemporary World Missions, Global Theology, and World Religions. You can listen to our preview interview with Matthew here.

Remember to share, rate, leave a review, and subscribe. Together we can help bridge the gap between the worlds of theology and missions.

Want to ask a question for a future episode? Email [email protected].

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Lament—though it litters the psalter—is a lost art form in modern evangelicalism. In a culture as torn-apart as ours, it makes sense that engaging grief biblically can open spiritual doors previously shut. Not only that, but embracing the grace of lament can also prepare missionaries and pastors for the pains and losses that often mark the suffering, missional life.

Mark Vroegop, lead pastor of College Park Church in Indianapolis, trustee at Cedarville University, and council member of The Gospel Coalition, joins us to discuss his new book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy. In this interview, we dive in to his own experience seeing missionaries like Jennifer DeKryger experience loss, and we talk about the pastoral and personal benefits of this lost spiritual discipline.

Along with being married to Sarah and the father of four children, he is a contributor to 15 Things Seminary Couldn’t Teach Me, and blogs regularly on his personal site. Follow Mark on Twitter.

Want to ask a question for a future episode? Email [email protected].

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Are all the accounts of miraculous conversions among Muslim refugees true? What is unique about Athens, Greece amidst the ongoing people displacements in the Middle East? And what can U.S. churches learn from the hospitality and evangelistic zeal of Greek Christians? In this episode, Scott and Alex invited Darren Carlson to weigh in and take us on a journey through the planning and creation of his new documentary, Jesus in Athens.

Darren is President of Training Leaders International (TLI), a theological education ministry launched from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota to equip and resource the 85 percent of pastors worldwide who have no formal biblical training. He’s also the brains behind the new documentary which chronicles the harrowing ordeal of Muslim refugees flooding into Athens from countries like Syria, Libya, and Iraq, only to encounter the love of Christ in the form of bold witness and radical mercy ministry among Greece’s tiny yet unignorable number of evangelical believers.

Darren founded TLI 2009, and now serves with a staff of over 50 people serving around the world, providing theological training in underserved and undertrained areas. Darren holds two masters from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Ph.D. from the London School of Theology. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Want to ask a question for a future episode? Email [email protected].

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Reading well in Scripture, theology, culture, and literature in general is key to preaching and teaching that connects—especially for the cross-cultural worker. What should we be reading? Why does it matter? And how can we who are busy working and doing ministry have time to cultivate the life of the mind as we constantly prepare to minister God’s word?

In this episode, Scott and Alex talk about best practices for engaging Scripture, historical theology, and other key study sources without breaking our stride in all of life’s obligations.

Remember to share, rate, leave a review, and subscribe. Together we can help bridge the gap between the worlds of theology and missions.

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Is preaching essential to missions, or is it a Western tradition that can be sacrificed for the sake of contextualization? Some advocates of disciple-making movements (DMM’s) claim the latter. In this interview, Tom Ascol and Jared Longshore of Founders Ministries explain why authoritative proclamation is indispensable to ministry in any culture.

Later in the episode, we address whether or not Reformed theology is compatible with missions and evangelism, and give pastors and seminarians words of advice for avoiding cultural trends bringing worldly sociological categories into our methods of outreach.

Tom Ascol is pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida, and Executive Director of Founders. Jared Longshore serves as associate pastor at Grace Baptist and Administrative Director of Founders. Together they host The Sword and the Trowel podcast, where they discuss issues of theology and culture ranging from church ministry and pastoral theology to social justice and biblical law.

Founder’s Ministry exists for the recovery of the gospel and the biblical reformation of churches. With a focus on serving the Southern Baptist Convention, Founders educates pastors and students on historic baptist theology through their journal, online study center, and more.

Remember to share, rate, leave a review, and subscribe. Together we can help bridge the gap between the worlds of theology and missions.

Want to ask a question for a future episode? Email [email protected].

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The average college student in the U.S. leaves with about $30,000 in educational debt. At what point do we stop sending missionaries to the field with students loans? Is it immoral to send expensive Western missionaries to serve where national partners could do the work of ministry much more affordably?

Luke Womack, executive director of The Go Fund, weighs in. The Go Fund specializes in student debt repayment for long-term missionaries, helping missionaries overcome financial hurdles to get the gospel into least-reached places.

Remember to share, rate, leave a review, and subscribe. Together we can help bridge the gap between the worlds of theology and missions.

Want to ask a question for a future episode? Email [email protected].

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