What does it take to send missionaries who are prepared not only to go, but to stay and faithfully serve for the long haul? Alex and Scott talk with Brooks Buser, president of Radius International, and Pat Daly of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary about the church’s role in sending well-equipped missionaries. They also discuss the upcoming Missionary Conference and its focus on helping churches recover a biblical vision for taking the gospel to people who have little or no access to it.

Brooks and Pat make the case that zeal for missions must be matched by deep biblical knowledge and practical preparation. They explore why language is an important way to identify where gospel access is still lacking, how churches and training organizations can work together, and what can happen when workers enter cross-cultural ministry without adequate preparation.

• Why the local church must take the lead in sending missionaries
• Reaching unreached language groups with the gospel
• The need for both theological and practical missionary training
• Moving young missionaries from zeal to lasting biblical conviction
• The dangers of syncretism when cross-cultural ministry moves too quickly
• How churches, seminaries, and missions organizations can work together to prepare workers

Explore your calling to global missions at ABWE's 24-Hour DEMO event. These events, held throughout the year, help individuals and churches explore how they can help fulfill the Great Commission and explore God's calling on their life and church. Learn more at demo.abwe.org.

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The Missions Show is powered by ABWE. Learn more and take your next step in the Great Commission at abwe.org.

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Should Christians want to be losers?

In this episode of The Missions Show, hosts Alex Kocman and Scott Dunford talk with pastor and author D. Michael Clary about the ideas behind his book, Loser Theology. Clary challenges the belief that Christians are somehow more faithful when they are suffering, struggling, or losing. Scripture teaches believers how to endure hardship faithfully, but that does not mean suffering should become the goal. For missionaries and ministry leaders, this distinction matters: faithfulness may require sacrifice, but Christians should not seek hardship simply to prove their devotion to Christ.

The conversation also explores a healthier view of success in missions. Faithful ministry often means years of patient work with little visible fruit, and results ultimately belong to God. Yet that truth should not lead Christians to passivity. God calls his people to take initiative, use the gifts and opportunities he has given them, proclaim the gospel, love their neighbors, and pursue the Great Commission with courage.

• Why suffering should not become a measure of Christian faithfulness
• The danger of romanticizing martyrdom and difficult ministry
• How missionaries can remain faithful when they see little visible fruit
• Balancing God’s sovereignty with human initiative and responsibility
• Why ordinary, faithful Christian service has eternal value
• Taking risks for the Great Commission while trusting God with the results

Do you love The Missions Show? Have you been blessed by the show? Then become a Premium Subscriber!

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The Missions Show is powered by ABWE. Learn more and take your next step in the Great Commission at abwe.org.

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email alex@missionsshow.com.

If the world is ending, why bother with missions?

This week, Alex Kocman and Scott Dunford are joined in the ABWE studio by Benjamin Vrbicek, lead teaching pastor of Community Evangelical Free Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and author of The Restoration of All Things (Baker Books). For most Christians, the doctrine of last things produces anxiety, charts, and headline-watching rather than comfort. Benjamin came to the subject the hard way, studying every major view of Christ’s return for his own ordination, and came out the other side convinced that the biggest truth in Scripture ought to be the brightest one.

Together they trace what that hope does to the missionary task. If history is moving toward a designed conclusion rather than circling endlessly, then the work we leave unfinished is not brass polished on a sinking ship but the beginning of something Christ will complete. They talk through why the classic rapture passage lands on “therefore encourage one another,” how the promise of final justice gives wronged and weary believers room to forgive, and how to live ready for Christ to return today while still planning to disciple the nations for generations.

• Why studying every major view of Christ’s return for his ordination made the biggest truth the brightest truth
• How a designed end to history, rather than an endless cycle, reframes the missionary task
• Why 1 Thessalonians 4, the classic rapture passage, lands on “therefore encourage one another”
• How the promise of final justice helps suffering believers and abandoned missionaries forgive and endure
• Holding imminence and long-term faithfulness together: living ready while planning to disciple the nations for generations
• How to pastor people away from newspaper eschatology toward the blessed hope of Christ’s presence and the resurrection of the body

Do you love The Missions Show? Have you been blessed by the show? Then become a Premium Subscriber!

Premium Subscribers get access to:

• Exclusive bonus content
• A community Signal thread with other listeners and the hosts
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• A free gift!

Support The Missions Show and sign up to be a Premium Subscriber at missionsshow.com/premium

The Missions Show is powered by ABWE. Learn more and take your next step in the Great Commission at abwe.org.

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Email alex@missionsshow.com.