The Mission Matters

The Mission Matters
  • 4.7 (13)
  • CHRISTIANITY
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The Mission Matters Podcast discusses the mission of God and the matters of the mission. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission. It's hosted by Matthew Ellison, president of Sixteen:Fifteen, and Ted Esler, president of Missio Nexus.

  1. 2D AGO

    Addressing Sexual Brokenness in the Church and on the Mission Field

    Matthew Ellison and Ted Esler welcome Michele Okimura, founder of Explicit Movement, to discuss sexual integrity as a critical and often overlooked issue in global missions. Michele shares her background as a teacher, church planter, and nonprofit leader, and explains how her ministry equips youth, parents, church leaders, and missionaries to address topics that are frequently avoided, including pornography, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, gender and LGBTQ questions, healthy dating, and God’s design for sex within marriage. Central to her approach is grounding identity in Christ, creating safe and vulnerable spaces for healing, and providing practical tools that help the body of Christ walk in both grace and truth.The conversation highlights how sexual brokenness affects missionaries, church leaders, families, and entire communities worldwide, and why addressing root causes such as trauma, shame, and loneliness is essential for long-term freedom. Michele shares powerful testimonies of transformation among youth, pastors, and families, emphasizing that healing comes not only through accountability but through encountering God’s goodness and embracing His design. She also introduces her “Brave” and “Raven” curriculum series, developed for teens and schools in both faith-based and non-faith versions, which is gaining global interest as a platform for discipleship and prevention. The episode closes with a call for mission agencies and churches to cultivate cultures of wholeness, where leaders and members alike can pursue healing, joy, and holiness for the sake of the gospel.The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.Links: Joshua's 20 minute testimony: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uu1z9epcvutlsseti0gf5/20-min-JOSHUA-KAINA-GENDER.mp4?rlkey=tmmks5nae1eb22qj50lhq2qow&st=k0q7ukx1&dl=0Michele on Sexuality in Missions on the Modern Day Missions Podcast: http://modernday.org/podcast/sexuality-in-missions-with-michele-okimura/Brave and Beautify book series:https://www.thebraveseries.com/Explicit Movement:https://www.explicitmovement.org/

    22 min

  2. FEB 11

    The Unknown Missionary: Gospel Advance Through Nameless Faithfulness

    Ted Esler and Matthew Ellison revisit the story of John Chau, seven years after his death on North Sentinel Island, through a conversation with Mary Ho, International Director of All Nations. Mary reflects on John’s extraordinary preparation, his calling to an uncontacted people group, and why his story captured global attention, noting factors like his youth, his nationality, and modern anxieties about colonialism and risk. She also challenges listeners not to fixate solely on John’s name, but to remember the countless unnamed believers worldwide who faithfully suffer, serve, and sometimes die in obscurity for the sake of the gospel.Drawing deeply from Acts 11 and Acts 13, Mary highlights the “no-namers” who helped birth the Antioch church and reminds listeners that the gospel has always advanced through ordinary, often forgotten men and women. She reframes risk as situational rather than conceptual, emphasizing that God calls specific people to specific risks at specific times, and that discernment must involve the individual, the sending church, and trusted leaders. Throughout the conversation, suffering is presented not as recklessness or failure, but as potential worship, a lived witness rooted in obedience and joy. The episode closes with a sobering yet hopeful call for believers to view witness not merely as something spoken, but as a whole-life testimony that may include sacrifice, suffering, and steadfast faithfulness to Christ.The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

    28 min

  3. JAN 28

    Missiology Translated : The Why and How For Mission Pastors

    In this episode of The Mission Matters, Matthew and Ted are joined by Bradley Bell, Executive Director of Upstream Equipping, to discuss Bradley and Ted's newly released book, Missiology for Mission Pastors.Written specifically for those leading missions within the local church, this book addresses a growing gap. Many missions pastors and directors find themselves in the role with deep passion but little formal missiological training. Rather than offering a dense academic textbook, this collaborative volume provides a gospel-centered, biblically grounded, and practically applicable framework for missions leadership.Bradley and Ted unpack why this book was needed now, how missions leaders are currently being formed, and why mobilization inside the local church is just as critical as engagement with the field. Drawing from diverse voices, including global perspectives, the book equips missions leaders to think clearly, act wisely, and steward their role faithfully.This conversation also explores the internal and external responsibilities of missions pastors, the role of lead pastors in shaping missions culture, and why mobilization should be viewed not as recruitment, but as an invitation into God’s redemptive story.The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

    31 min

  4. JAN 14

    Kingdom Partnership for the Tarahumara: Light Shine and Faith Bible Church

    The episode explores what Ted calls “third party partnerships,” a Kingdom model where ministries unite not for their own benefit but for the sake of a third party, illustrated through a deep collaboration to reach the Tarahumara people of northern Mexico. Chris Nickerson of Light Shine shares how their long term work among this hard to reach, historically hope starved indigenous group has grown into indigenous church planting, after school discipleship programs, leadership development, and a staff made up of both Tarahumara believers and Mexican church members. He explains Light Shine’s highly relational partnership model, where U.S. churches adopt a specific colonia as their primary mission field and Light Shine provides expertise, on the ground presence, and security wisdom in a cartel impacted region. Tonya Zunigha from Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma describes how coaching from 16:15 helped reorient their missions vision and led them into a long term partnership with Light Shine that offers accessible short term trips, meaningful engagement with a least reached people group, and extensive pre-trip discipleship. As families, elders, retirees, and children pray, give, and go together, missions has become central to Faith Bible’s DNA, reshaping their view of God, the nations, and their own calling, while Paul’s prayer that the word of God would “run swiftly” is seen fulfilled among a people known for their running.

    33 min

  5. 12/10/2025

    2025 Year-End Review: Highlights and Trends

    Matthew Ellison and Ted Esler close out the year on The Mission Matters podcast by reflecting on key missions trends in 2025 and their most-listened episodes. They revisit a controversial conversation on borders and immigration with Alex Kocman, an innovation-focused episode with Tyler Prieb of Missional Labs, and their highly viewed discussion with Mary Ho on the documentary The Other Side of the Mission and the ongoing debate about missions and colonialism. From there, they zoom out to examine the rising cost of discipleship, citing research that martyrdom is increasing again, especially in places like Nigeria, and argue that the church must recover a robust theology of risk rather than be ruled by safety. Matthew and Ted celebrate emerging collaboration and coalitions among churches, agencies, and funders, push back on simplistic narratives about a decline in missionary sending, and note the complexity created by thousands of small “micro-missions.” They close with hopeful signs of spiritual awakening among young people in the U.S. and the UK, looking ahead to Urbana 2025–26 and urging churches to become sending churches with “sending shepherds” ready to disciple and release a new generation to the nations.The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

    38 min

  6. 11/26/2025

    Building a Church-Led Strategy for International Students

    On this episode of the Mission Matters Podcast, Matthew Ellison and Ted Esler talk with Ryan Finke, CEO of International Friendships, Inc. about why international student ministry is one of the most open doors in global missions and how local churches can step into it with simple hospitality and friendship. Finke explains that 70–80% of international students never enter an American home even though most want an American friend, and he shares how IFI connects volunteers with students to ease culture shock, answer spiritual questions, and spark disciple-making that reaches families and marketplaces worldwide. The conversation covers shifting enrollment trends (fewer Chinese students, rising Indian students), the need for cross-cultural training, practical ways to serve students from airport pickup to grocery runs, and how digital strategies can extend ministry to remote enrollees overseas. You'll get a clear vision for church-led mobilization that welcomes the stranger, builds genuine friendships, and advances the Great Commission right in their own city.The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

    29 min

  7. 11/12/2025

    Deconstruction in Missions with Ted Esler

    Ted Esler defines 'deconstruction' as ideas and practices that dilute a Great-Commission focus on discipling the nations. He argues critical reflection is healthy, but postmodern habits and critical-theory framings can overcorrect, obscuring biblical priorities. Ted outlines four current lanes or areas in which deconstruction is apparent: “When everything is missions”;  “It’s somebody else’s job”; "Diaspora as replacement"; and  "Ideological distortions." Ted closes with a call to long-term, multi-generational faithfulness (not quick fixes) and a rediscovery of Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations.You can read more from Ted Esler at https://tedesler.substack.com/The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

    32 min

  8. 10/22/2025

     The Current of the Holy Spirit: Unity Fueling Global Mission in Roanoke

    Matthew Ellison and Ted Esler welcome guests Megan Gahima (Missions Director, Parkway Church on the Mountain, Roanoke, VA) and Joel Wagner (Senior Pastor, Colonial Baptist Church, Blue Ridge, VA). Megan and Joel recount how a cross-denominational coalition of Roanoke-area churches formed and started partnering to bring Scripture to a Bible-less people in Southeast Asia. The conversation traces the coalition’s formation where unity became the defining “current of the Holy Spirit,” overcoming long-standing denominational barriers. Practical steps included monthly prayer, a memorandum of understanding, research on translation partners, and a collective discernment period before identifying the Baker people and launching joint prayer initiatives like a citywide prayer summit.  The video of the "Roanoke Current" which Matthew references: https://youtu.be/JIPoJk_5lS0 The Mission Matters Podcast is a place to talk about the importance of our Mission as Christians. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission.

    30 min
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4.7
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About

The Mission Matters Podcast discusses the mission of God and the matters of the mission. The Mission Matters is a partnership of Missio Nexus and Sixteen:Fifteen, who have a shared passion to mobilize God’s people to be a part of His mission. It's hosted by Matthew Ellison, president of Sixteen:Fifteen, and Ted Esler, president of Missio Nexus.

Information

  • Creator
    The Mission Matters
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    75
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © The Mission Matters
  • Show Website
    The Mission Matters

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