Strike The Match With J. D. Payne

The Moravian Church has been described as “one of the most remarkable missionary churches in Christian history” (Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya). In a day and time when few people were thinking about missionary activities, the Moravians were going to the most remote places on the globe and working among the most resistant […]

The Church at Brook Hills, by God’s grace, sends about 40 short-term teams to 10 countries every year. In this episode, my guest is Fox, Director of Short-Term Missions with our church. Some of the questions we address include: What is The Church at Brook Hills doing when it comes to short-term missions? How do […]

The Church is growing the fastest throughout the Majority World. And with any growth comes the need for leadership development. This need is not a contemporary creation but a biblical expectation. Pastoral training is one of the most important issues facing the Church. David Sills and I discuss this topic in this episode of Strike […]

Who pastors missionaries? Who provides care for those sent from local churches? We think about member care when it comes to the members we see every week, but often forget about those making disciples and planting churches across North America and throughout the world. Pastors, member care does not end at the borders of our […]

Season 3 of Strike the Match begins with this post! Be sure to subscribe (iTunes, Android, RSS) so you will not miss an episode! Ramadan 2017 begins Friday, May 26. I thought it would be appropriate to begin our third season talking with Dr. John Klaassen about Islam and reaching Muslims. Dr. Klaassen served for […]

Two of the most influential missiological books of the twentieth century were Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? and The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church, both written by Roland Allen. Even today, Allen’s missiology greatly influences missionary activities. In this episode, Steven Rutt and I continue our two-part conversation about Roland Allen. What were his views about church planting […]

The influence of Roland Allen on missionary activity continues today. Valued by pastors, missiologists, missionaries, and New Testament scholars, Allen’s writings are constant calls for the Church to return to the New Testament for guidance with apostolic endeavors. In this two-part episode, Roland Allen scholar, Dr. Steven Rutt is my guest. We take time to […]

Missiologists and mission agencies operate from two unreached people group lists: 1) global unreached people groups; and 2) global unengaged-unreached people groups. The global unreached people group list receives a high strategic priority when it comes to global disciple making. The global unengaged-unreached people group list receives an even higher strategic priority when it comes […]

Church multiplication strategies must include pastoral training. Though some people believe pastoral training gets in the way of making disciples and planting churches, the bible advocates otherwise. “After church planting, what?” asks my guest, Dr. Ramesh Richard. In this episode, we discuss the importance of pastoral training throughout the world. We address the global conversation […]

Evangelicals have been asking questions related to the ministry of apostles for several years. Some of these conversations have been unhealthy and unhelpful while others have been edifying and resulting in Kingdom advancement. Do apostles exist today? If so, who is an apostle? If so, are they different from the Twelve? Is there an ongoing […]

Good research and healthy mission strategy should go hand-in-hand. How can we be wise stewards with Kingdom resources in view of 7 billion people in the world? Jim Haney is my guest in this episode. Jim is the Director of Global Research with the International Mission Board. He is also the registrar of the Harvest […]

Jeff Sundell has been involved in Great Commission activities for many years. After serving in South Asia and seeing the multiplication of disciples, leaders, and churches, he returned to the United States in 2009, contextualizing what he learned. Now, many churches across the United States benefit from Jeff’s vision and training. Christians are becoming aware […]

Last week, Baptist Press released the article by Carol Pipes: “ACP: More Churches Reported; Baptisms Decline.” Media sources across the country quickly ran stories on the information found in the article. The Southern Baptist Convention added 294 churches in 2015. However, our membership declined by more than 200,000 people, with average weekly worship attendance now […]

The concept of church multiplication movements is often discussed in missiological circles. Kingdom citizens desire to see “the word of the Lord. . . speed ahead and be honored” (2 Thes 3:1) and for new churches to be taught the “whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). Nathan Shank is my guest on this episode of […]

  This episode of Strike the Match kicks off season 2. In this podcast, I share insights from eighteen years of training pastors in both the academy and the church. The pastor is the most important and influential person in a local church when it comes to leading that congregation to participate in the mission […]

In this last episode of Season 1 of Strike the Match, I share about my forthcoming book, Apostolic Church Planting: Birthing New Churches from New Believers (IVP). In the book of Acts, church planting begins with sharing the gospel. A church was not talked about until disciples were made; and disciples were not made until […]

Disciple making and church planting movements are popular topics in many conversations today. In this episode, Steve Addison is my guest. Our conversation is about his next book, Pioneering Movements: Leadership that Multiplies Disciples and Churches, which releases December 2015 with InterVarsity Press. In our conversation, Steve answers questions such as: Why write this book? […]

The twentieth century has been called the Age of the Refugee. And today, we continue to hear of the flight of the peoples of the world. At the time of this recording, the refugee crisis continues to grow in Europe. The United States is planning to increase her cap on the number of refugees allowed […]

Dr. Travis Kerns is one of the leading evangelical scholars in the area of Mormon history and theology. He is also a missionary with the North American Mission Board and serves in Salt Lake City. The state of Utah is the least-reached state in the United States, comprised of a 2% evangelical population. And within […]

Dr. Ted Esler recently became the new President and CEO of MissioNexus. Ted joins me in conversation this week on Strike the Match. We spend time talking about his background as a church planter and an administrator. MissioNexus is the largest network of evangelical mission agencies and church partners in North America. Ted and I […]