Strike The Match With J. D. Payne

Paul Dzubinski is my guest on this episode. Paul is the Director of Innovation for Frontier Ventures where he provides oversight for Launch Lab. In our conversation, we talk about the place of Spirit-led innovation in missions today and answer question such as: Why should Kingdom citizens have conversations on innovation and the Church? What […]

God has not only made every person from Adam and Eve, but He has also determined when and where they will live (Acts 17:26). The reason? That they might find Him (Acts 17:27). 232 million people live outside of their countries of birth. While many of these people are followers of Jesus, many are from […]

Churches and mission agencies have been thankful for the global work of the U. S. Center for World Mission.  For almost four decades, the Center has been involved in Kingdom advancing labors. If you are familiar with the name Ralph Winter, unreached people groups, or the Perspectives course (to mention a few examples), then you […]

The decision to select a major and/or vocation is one of the most important decisions a person will make. This decision sets life on a specific course. This decision is often left up to the whims of youth, family tradition, and secular guidance counselors. The church is usually divorced from this decision. Personal comfort and […]

Patrick Johnstone’s leadership has been very significant among evangelicals for many years. It is a delight to have Patrick as my guest on this episode of Strike the Match. We discuss the history of Operation World, his latest books (Pray for the World, The Future of the Global Church, and Serving God in Today’s Cities), three challenges […]

The world is always changing; our mission remains the same. Dr. David Sills is my guest and we discuss his forthcoming book, Changing World, Unchanging Mission: Responding to Global Challenges. In this conversation, we address some of the key global challenges confronting disciple-making today. David calls us to be proactive as Kingdom citizens and to […]

Discussions related to the topic of orality and missions often focus on contexts outside of North America. However, in 2003 half of the Untied States’ citizens struggled with literacy. Few college students read books on a regular basis after graduation. And according to my guest, Mark Snowden, after work and school, “the vast majority of […]

Your church is not involved in church planting. How do you begin to cast such a vision to move from where you are to where you need to go? Proverbs 20:5 notes, “A plan in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out” (NASB). Vision casting is […]

The 20th century has been called the Age of Migration. Presently, 232 million people live outside of their countries-of-birth. They move for different reasons. Some are relocating for a better standard-of-living and education; others are fleeing persecution, war, disease, and famine. In this episode, I speak with Dr. Enoch Wan, one of the leading global […]

The United States is home to the third largest number of unreached people groups in the world (behind India and China). The Global Gates Network is one of very few groups in North America attempting to make disciples and plant churches among the unreached peoples in the United States. In this episode I speak with […]

One of the cutting edge organizations out there is GMI. They have been thinking and leading on an innovative plane for 30 years. With a mission statement like: GMI leverages research and technology to create, cultivate, and communicate mission information leading to insight that inspires Kingdom service, you know they are involved in some exciting […]

My next book, To the Edge: Reflections on Kingdom Leadership, Mission, and Innovation, is scheduled to be released this summer. In this podcast, I share about the book and my reason for writing it. I even read an excerpt for you! Most of what I share in this episode about this book, I have not […]

Mission agencies have always faced challenges. However, the 21st century has brought some unique challenges to agencies headquartered in North America. In episode 15, I speak with Dr. Steve Moore, Executive Director of the Center for Excellence in Leadership. Steve is an author and formerly served as the President of MissioNexus, the largest network of […]

This week Baptist Press released the article, “SBC Reports More Churches, Fewer People.” Within hours, secular media outlets were reporting on these findings too. For those who have been tracking these numbers, this article brought no surprises. And while there is nothing surprising here, as a Southern Baptist, I have many concerns for the tribe […]

It has been said that since Gutenberg the Christian faith has walked on “literate legs.” And while we are very thankful to have the Bible in our language, we often operate from the assumption that the majority of the world also prefers to learn through literate means. However, close to 5 billion people in the […]

One reason churches do not participate in church planting is because they believe it is beyond their abilities. And I would agree that church planting is beyond most churches as long as we use the typical western definition of church planting.  When we turn to the Scriptures, we do not see church planting as something […]

There is much in the Bible that addresses the topic of shame (referenced more than twice as often as the notion of guilt). This is good news as we labor among the 4 billion! For most of the world is not as individualistically-oriented as we in the West. Matters such as honor and shame affect […]

Dean Merrill, collaborating with Patrick Johnstone, recently published Serving God in Today’s Cities: Facing the Challenge of Urbanization. This book is a great introduction to our urban world and ministry today. Three percent of the world’s population lived in cities in 1800. By 2100, 90% of the global population will live in cities. Most of […]

A stewardship of innovation exists within the Kingdom. We often do not think in such terms or recognize this responsibility we have received. If Jesus is building His Church and we are filled with a dynamic Spirit, then change should be expected. We do not innovate for the sake of innovation. We innovate as the […]

We have better information on unreached people groups living in the most remote places of the world than we do of those same groups living in the United States and Canada. We know the world; we do not know our neighborhood. I recently spoke with Dr. Bryan Galloway, Senior Research Analyst with the International Mission […]