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Relentless Pursuit

S1E5: What Makes a Good Missionary?

40 minutes

Steve has served in Africa and Europe and has been a mission leader for decades. We asked him to share his best tips for those preparing for missions and insight into what teams are looking for when they recruit new members.

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Show Notes

I think God is calling me to go. I want to serve among people with little access to the gospel. What do I need?

In this episode, we talk with Steve about how mobilization is the work of missions. Luke 10 calls us to pray for more laborers; this is a call to mobilization. Pioneers is passionate about teams displaying God’s glory together. We can’t be passionate about teams if we aren’t passionate about mobilizing people to join them.

Steve has been serving with Pioneers since 1998. He started his missions journey working in the Caribbean and Haiti. He then set sail on a medical missions ship traveling around Europe and the coast of Africa, where he met his wife, Sara. Together, they made a home in Senegal and worked among the Wolof people. When their daughter needed special medical attention, the family transitioned to working in France and spent 15 years leading a church-planting team there. Steve and his family are now based in Germany where Steve provides leadership for Pioneers work in several regions.

Steve shares how God guided and moved him worldwide to serve His purposes. Because of Steve’s role in mobilization, he interacts with many potential missionaries and team leaders.

Steve gives tips for those preparing to go and insight into what teams are looking for in new teammates. He also helps us examine our beliefs about the connection between spiritual need and physical poverty, arguing that even wealthy countries in Europe may have tremendous spiritual need.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • What mobilization is
  • How leaving Senegal taught Steve a lesson in mobilization
  • Qualities teams look for in potential candidates
  • The importance of teachability
  • Why we need a passion for Christ, love for people and flexibility
  • Impoverished countries versus the spiritual need
  • The need for workers in Europe
  • Rethinking the 10/40 window
  • Creating a mentality of home, wherever God has you
  • Being all in where God has you

Book recommendations from Steve:

Bonus Content

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Episode Transcription