The Missions Show

The so-called “prosperity gospel” has infected evangelical religious life. But it doesn’t just appear in the overt claims that God wants us to be rich and healthy—it takes far more insidious forms. Is the American dream antithetical to the missionary calling? What role does suffering play in our mission to the nations? Sean DeMars, former missionary known for his appearance in the American Gospel documentary, weighs in this week.

Sean DeMars is pastor at 6th Avenue Community Church in Decatur, Alabama. He previously served the peoples of Peru by preaching, teaching, and living God’s word.

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

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The Missions Show is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.

Sometimes the missionary task is a balance between evangelism and humanitarianism. William Carey believed that the more evangelized a society was, the more civilized it became—and the more civilized it was, the more open to evangelized it would become. But was he right? C.J. Moore, missions mobilizer, Midwestern Seminary Ph.D. student and fellow, and pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Missouri, explains how Christian workers today should understand the “father of modern missions.”

C.J. served as a mid-term missionary in East Asia and Peru before joining the International Mission Board as a mobilizer. You can follow him on Twitter.

At the end of the show, we recommended these resources:

• Faithful Witness (Timothy George)
• William Carey (S. Pearce Carey)
• The Missionary Fellowship of William Carey (Michael Haykin)

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

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

The Missions Show is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.

Missions means doing hard things in hard places. So are English-speaking churches geared towards expats truly reaching the unreached, or does more need to be done? The answers may surprise you. This week, Scott Zeller, executive pastor of Redeemer Church of Dubai, reframes the issue.

Scott Zeller is involved in regional church planting and theological education initiatives from Redeemer Church. You can email Scott or follow him on Twitter.

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

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

The Missions Show is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.

On August 8, 2020, a simple tweet by Brooks Buser, president of Radius International, ignited a firestorm of controversy: “Thank you for the prayers for Amdu people and team. By God’s grace, there are now members of that people group who are reconciled to God, who no longer have their sins counted against them.” Skeptics, atheists, and even professed Christians joined together to denounce the missionaries for having the audacity to proselytize. This week, Scott Dunford and Alex Kocman ask Brooks: what gives evangelical Christians the right to convert peoples? Are missionaries just glorified colonists stamping out unique cultures with minimal contact with the world—and why or why not?

Brooks and Nina Buser planted a church among the Yembiyembi people in Papua New Guinea. In 2016, they returned to San Diego. Both Brooks and Nina participate in the teaching at Radius International as well as leading and traveling to spread the word about the necessity of training.

Discount From Kregel Academic: If you enjoyed our interview with Matt Bennett on his newest book 40 Questions About Islam, you can purchase it here from Christianbook.com and receive 40% off using the exclusive discount code “ABWE.” Check it out!

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

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

The Missions Show is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.

Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

Social justice. Critical theory. Post-colonialism. Intersectionality. These issues have divided believers and unbelievers alike in the church over the last few years, and in 2020 the issue is impossible to escape. Is conservative evangelicalism beginning to compromise biblical teaching on complex social issues? And if so, what effect does that have on missions?

This week, Scott Dunford and Alex Kocman delve deep with Neil Shenvi, a noted Christian online personality who has researched and written on apologetics and the subject of social justice.

Neil is a homeschooling dad, theoretical chemist, and member of The Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can follow him on Twitter.

Discount From Kregel Academic: If you enjoyed our interview with Matt Bennett on his newest book 40 Questions About Islam, you can purchase it here from Christianbook.com and receive 40% off using the exclusive discount code “ABWE.” Check it out!

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

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

The Missions Show is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.

Christians live in an age of iconoclasm. How can we do church history and modern missions history responsibly—without falling into the opposite errors of hero-worship or “cancel culture”? Jonathan Arnold, Associate Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, weighs in from his perspective as a church historian.

For three years, Jonathan served as senior pastor of a Bible Church in Michigan. Prior to that he and his wife led several student-focused ministries on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Arnold transitioned to the academy full-time at Northland International University in Dunbar, Wisconsin where he served as vice president of student services and professor of theological studies. In 2015, Arnold moved to Boyce College, where he served as the founding director of the Augustine Honors Collegium, assistant professor of Christian theology and church history, and as founding editor of The Augustine Collegiate Review. He has written The Reformed Theology of Benjamin Keach (CBHH, 2013; reprint, 2019) along with numerous articles, book chapters, and book reviews for various publications. He has been a fellow of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies (SBTS), a visiting fellow of the Centre for Baptist History and Heritage (Oxford), and is active in several scholarly societies. He and his wife, Lindsay, have four children: Nathaniel, Benjamin, Lukas, and Sadie.

Referenced in this episode:

• Why the Naga Headhunters Converted to Christianity | National Geographic
• Did the Reformers Believe in the Great Commission? | Interview with Jonathan Arnold (Pt. 1)
• Why Should Missionaries Care About the Reformation? | Interview with Jonathan Arnold (Pt. 2)

Discount From Kregel Academic: If you enjoyed our interview with Matt Bennett on his newest book 40 Questions About Islam, you can purchase it here from Christianbook.com and receive 40% off using the exclusive discount code “ABWE.” Check it out!

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

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

The Missions Show is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.

On August 4, 2020, the world’s eyes were glued on Beirut, Lebanon as two fatal explosions in a major urban center caused at least 171 deaths, 6,000 injuries, rocked social media, and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless. Pierre Rashad Houssney is Middle East and North Africa Regional Director for Horizons International, based in Beirut, and is a Lebanese-American who grew up in the context of cross-cultural ministry among Muslims and international students. This week, we ask Pierre the question many missions-minded believers are asking: what happened in Beirut, and what does it mean for the cause of the gospel?

Pierre has been in full-time ministry with Horizons International since 2006, and has been an active member of Horizons’ teaching staff and curriculum development team since 2002. Pierre lives in Beirut, Lebanon, with his wife Gigi and their two children. He leads a team of nationals and missionaries who run a center for evangelism and discipleship among Muslims. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Northern Colorado and is fluent in English and Arabic.

Discount From Kregel Academic: If you enjoyed our interview with Matt Bennett on his newest book 40 Questions About Islam, you can purchase it here from Christianbook.com and receive 40% off using the exclusive discount code “ABWE.” Check it out!

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

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

The Missions Podcast is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.

“Stay safe, stay home” may be a reasonable mantra during a pandemic, but that thinking long-term suffocates the missionary spirit. Most of us are already technology-addicted, and now streaming video services like Netflix are arguably making it harder to be faithful as a missionary. This week, Tony Reinke of Desiring God explains why the missionary endeavor depends on modern, media-saturated Christians choosing to forsake their fixation on worldly spectacles and get lost in a greater glory.

Tony Reinke is senior writer for Desiring God and author of Competing Spectacles (2019), 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You (2017), John Newton on the Christian Life (2015), and Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books (2011). He hosts the Ask Pastor John podcast and lives in the Phoenix with his wife and three children.

Free John Piper Book Download: Desiring God is giving away John Piper’s latest book, Coronavirus and Christ, absolutely free. Subscribe to ABWE’s blog and podcast and you’ll get a link to download the ebook or audiobook in a variety of formats. Special thanks to Desiring God for their generosity.

Discount From Kregel Academic: If you enjoyed our interview with Matt Bennett on his newest book 40 Questions About Islam, you can purchase it here from Christianbook.com and receive 40% off using the exclusive discount code “ABWE.” Check it out!

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

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

The Missions Podcast is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.

When most people think of Norway, they think of gorgeous fjords, bitter cold, and secularism—not a revival of interest in apologetics or biblical doctrine. Is this Scandinavian nation simply circling the drain of postmodernism, or is God doing something new? We ask that question to Nahum O’Brien, ABWE missionary to Norway, along with his national partner and local church elder Edvard Moe.

Nahum and Arin O’Brien plan to partner with national pastors Asbjørn Berland and Martin Hjellvik of Kilden Menighet, to cultivate a church planting movement in Norway beginning in Stavanger. Their ministry plan is to focus on evangelism, discipleship, and theological education. Support Nahum’s ministry.

Discount From Kregel Academic: If you enjoyed our interview with Matt Bennett on his newest book 40 Questions About Islam, you can purchase it here from Christianbook.com and receive 40% off using the exclusive discount code “ABWE.” Check it out!

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

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

The Missions Podcast is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.

Everyone is discussing the importance of evidence, empirical data, and peer review. What role—if any—should these scientific standards play in missiology? Dr. John Morgan, resident missiologist for ABWE, discusses his latest article exploring the application of evidence-based practice (EBP) in cross-cultural missions strategy.

After serving as missionaries to Togo, John and his wife Michele returned to Ohio as church planters. They now minister at ABWE’s International Headquarters. Support their ministry.

Free John Piper Book Download: Desiring God is giving away John Piper’s latest book, Coronavirus and Christ, absolutely free. Subscribe to ABWE’s blog and podcast and you’ll get a link to download the ebook or audiobook in a variety of formats. Special thanks to Desiring God for their generosity.

Discount From Kregel Academic: If you enjoyed our interview with Matt Bennett on his newest book 40 Questions About Islam, you can purchase it here from Christianbook.com and receive 40% off using the exclusive discount code “ABWE.” Check it out!

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

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email us.

The Missions Podcast is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International and Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.