Thoughts, Ideas, and Interviews to help churches and church members have a clear understanding of every aspect of cross-cultural gospel ministry. Framed from the context of a local church in SE Asia that is building disciples and training leaders for the Glory of God and the future of His church.
I would love to hear your feedback on this episode exploring the end result of various efforts that broadly fit the category of missions!
16 Aug 2024
Social Media for a Missionary
Posting the wrong thing, or even liking the wrong post on a social media platform can have major negative implications for a missionary. Today's episode is a brief exploration of the filters that a missionary has to go through before interacting with anything social media. The request is that you pray for wisdom, authenticity, and overall spiritual health in the use of social media.
9 Aug 2024
What Does it Take to Reach Someone?
Jesus told Peter that he would become a fisher of men.
Peter, we find in other places in the gospels, was accustomed to net fishing. There were times when Peter caught so many fish he needed other boats to help bring them in.
Later, Peter was sent to reach a single person, a Roman Centurian.
What does it take to reach someone in the context of your local community?
In today's episode I share a perspective of reaching people who come from zero knowledge of the one true God.
19 Jun 2024
Furlough Part 2 (Season 2, Episode 2)
The experience of furlough comes with so many blessings, along with challenges. A missionary can set their expectations, and some things will go as planned, while other experiences will require them to adjust and adapt. There is no singular plot line, but these are a few common threads.
31 May 2024
Furlough (season 2, Episode 1)
How much time does a missionary spend visiting their home country and how often? This varies widely. There are similarities though, as all mission workers seek to refresh, report, and refit. Here are a few ways to pray for missionaries:
Pray for your missionary to make it to furlough. (also, maintain healthy rhythms)
Pray for furlough to be really awesome! (time with family, Etc.)
Pray for reporting not to be discouraging. (another podcast for this, but reporting and be really hard for most missionaries)
Pray for missionaries to return to the field ready for a great new season of ministry.
24 May 2024
Cultural Context
When I put on a pair of shoes, what does that mean? I mean, what does it really mean? The task of navigating cultural meaning and letting communication fall within the right context is a huge challenge for missionaries. Here is how you can pray for balanced contextualization:
Pray for missionaries to understand what they don’t understand (so they can ask the right questions)
Pray for missionaries to be understood, even when they miscommunicate.
Pray for missionaries to slow down and take in the setting
Pray for missionaries to courageously engage error with truth, knowing that some will mistake this for cultural ignorance or insensitivity.
17 May 2024
Spiritual Warfare
How does spiritual warfare look different in regions of the world not like your own? What would the pressure feel like for a new believer to end a multi-generational line of
Praying for a missionary as they encounter spiritual warfare is one of the greatest ways you could join into laboring with them. Here are three ways to pray:
Pray for the strength and sanity of the missionary
Pray for the lost to have the courage to stand in truth
Pray - as in the Lord’s prayer - "deliver us from evil"
10 May 2024
Miracles Multiplied
After rupturing my achilles in 2021, we saw God work through the prayers and generosity of a faithful church member in Los Angeles to provide a miraculous path for my rehab and recovery. Often you pray for your missionary without knowing exactly what they are going through, but God will hear and answer your prayer!
Here are 4 ways to stay faithful in intercession:
1. Create a monthly calendar of missionaries to pray for on each day.
2. Use a reminders list on your phone.
3. Collect photos or prayer cards to keep in a place you will regularly see them.
4. Use a prayer app on your phone with notifications to pray for specific missionaries.
3 May 2024
Culture Stress
From encounters at intersections to exploding funeral pyres, there are plenty of moments when a missionary deals with culture shock or culture stress. Here are four ways to pray daily for your missionary dealing with culture stress:
Pray for a daily dose of grace for both the little encounters and some extra shocking ones.
Pray for regular rhythms to de-load the stress of cultural differences.
Pray for the missionary not to get cynical.
Pray for the message of the gospel to make across those barriers.
26 Apr 2024
Battling Entitlement Mindset
Entitlement can creep in through seasons of success, sacrifice, or suffering. The feeling of entitlement opens a missionary to various temptations, including sinful temptations or the desire to start taking shortcuts or set cruise control.
19 Apr 2024
When Your Missionary Needs Accountability
When asked about attrition from the work of missions, my first question is always, "How were they holding themselves accountable in the big areas of life?" Today's episode is a brief exploration of the challenge of staying accountable across cultural boundaries.
Description:
Areas where accountability is necessary:
Time
Finances
Tech use
Spiritual health
Relational health
Pray for accountability to be:
Self-initiated
Consistent
Trustworthy
12 Apr 2024
When Your Missionary Needs a Vision
If you have a suggested topic or a question, please reach out to me by email at: ballou.thailand@gmail.com
Episode 2 is a brief consideration of the need for a clear and specific vision for ministry.
Vision is going to have an impact on a missionary's longevity and efficacy.
Please pray for:
- Good Counsel
- Clear Vision
- Discernment to connect vision to action
5 Apr 2024
When Your Missionary Needs a Visa
In order to limit my own social media exposure this podcast is mostly shared person to person. Please feel free to share without tagging any of my social media.
If you have a suggested topic or a question, please reach out to me by email at: ballou.thailand@gmail.com
Episode 1 Notes:
4 Categories of complexity:
- Bureaucracy
- Aptitude or attitude
- Corruption
- Resistant Policies
4 Ways to Pray:
- Pray for Favor
- Pray for Wisdom
- Pray for Patience
- Pray for Gospel Focus
Reach and audience
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
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