In this episode of The Go and Send Podcast, Cody and Mike sit down with Ted Esler, President of Missio Nexus. Ted traded a thriving computer consultancy for the mission field after a single Sunday morning blew his world open — and that was just the beginning. He spent a decade with Pioneers in the Balkans, planting a church in post-war Bosnia among Serbs, Croats, and Bosnian Muslims, and has spent the years since leading one of North America's largest mission networks. Along the way, he's picked up a PhD, published a book on why mission agencies struggle to innovate, and never stopped coding. This conversation covers a lot of ground: why a third of the world still has no access to the gospel, how AI is about to close the Bible translation gap and simultaneously challenge our understanding of what it means to be human, and the story of a man named Milenko — a Serb wounded in the siege of Sarajevo — whose path to Jesus had nothing to do with programs or strategy. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to bring your skills, your career, and your curiosity into the Great Commission, Ted's story is a compelling place to start. Contact us at goandsend@sonsetsolutions.org Resources & Links: Missio Nexus: https://www.missionexus.org A Third of Us (International Day of Prayer for the Unreached): https://www.athirdofus.org The Innovation Crisis by Ted Esler Missiology for Mission Pastors, co-edited by Ted Esler and Bradley Bell (Upstream Collective) Joshua Project (Unreached People Groups): https://joshuaproject.net Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: https://www.perspectives.org 00:00 -- Introduction 01:09 -- What Gives You the Greatest Urgency in Global Missions? 01:33 -- A Third of the Planet Has No Reasonable Access to the Gospel 02:18 -- Worlds A, B, and C: A Framework for the Unreached 04:17 -- Where Did the Joshua Project's 2% Threshold Come From? 05:58 -- Ted's Background: MIS Degree, Fortune 500, and Starting a Consultancy Overnight 07:34 -- A Retired Missionary, a Weekly Breakfast, and a Mind Blown Open 08:22 -- The Perspectives Course and Hearing John Piper for the First Time 10:04 -- If You Really Believe the Gospel, It Changes How You Spend Your Life 12:18 -- The Hardest Part of Leaving: Trading a High Income to Take His Kids Into a War Zone 13:53 -- Counsel for Anyone Facing Opposition to a Missions Call 16:14 -- Heading to the Balkans With Pioneers 16:28 -- Stuck in No Man's Land Between Croatia and Serbia 18:19 -- Language Immersion: Six Kids, Two Families, One Three-Bedroom Apartment 20:03 -- Church Planting in Croatia While Waiting for the Siege of Sarajevo to Lift 21:27 -- Into Bosnia After the Dayton Peace Accords 22:05 -- Obstacles to the Gospel in a War Fought With Religious Language 24:00 -- Planting a Church for Serbs, Croats, and Bosnian Muslims 26:00 -- The Story of Milenko: A Mortar Shell, a Bus Ride, and a Closed Door 29:05 -- A Year of Watching — and a Letter of Introduction 31:42 -- Moving to Canada, Seminary, and 13 Years Leading Pioneers USA 34:21 -- How Pioneers Grew From 125 to 3,500 People 36:07 -- An Email Ted Almost Deleted — and the Job That Described Him to a T 38:58 -- What Is Missio Nexus? 43:35 -- Ted's Book: The Innovation Crisis 46:55 -- Jesus Is the Innovator of All 50:33 -- A Concrete Example: An Ovulation App and the Gospel in India 54:10 -- AI Is Already Closing the Bible Translation Gap 54:48 -- AI, Human Identity, and the Imago Dei 59:06 -- Tower of Babel, Pentecost, and Real-Time AI Translation 01:03:07 -- UBI, the Protestant Work Ethic, and the Threat to Human Dignity 01:05:05 -- A Third of Us: The International Day of Prayer for the Unreached 01:07:00 -- Recommended Resources 01:08:17 -- How to Connect With Missio Nexus 01:08:46 -- Closing To learn more about SonSet Solutions, go to our website or follow us on social media @SonSetSolutions. Website: https://www.sonsetsolutions.org
