MissionLife

Have you ever pulled up to the drive-through window to get your food and discovered that someone had paid your bill? Or maybe you're the one who paid someone else's. It happened to me once. Free coffee for my wife and I. Such a nice gesture from a complete stranger. In this episode, I wonder whether a random act of kindness is an act of missional living.

Merry Christmas! I've been thinking a lot lately about those childhood memories and how powerful they are. This time of year, our childhood memories really kick into full gear, shaping what we like to do and what we try to give to our children. We're here in Uganda, raising kids in Africa...no snow...different childhood memories all together. I wonder what these memories will say to them as adults...

Ain't nobody perfect! In the last episode, we heard a call to dignify and lift up those around us. What do we do if we just don't feel it? What if we are low and beaten down and discouraged? What if we're lonely? In this episode, we're tackling a tough question: In what way does my personal health influence my missional goals? The good news is this: you don't need to be perfect to be missional!

How do people change? Or, how do we change people? There's that famous line: be the change you want to see in the world. Well, yea. But is that all Christians are called to do? Set an example? Jesus certainly did more than "be the change" and his commission is far higher than just "be the disciples". Somehow, we are supposed to "make" disciples. In this episode, we're looking at change and influen...

There is a topic I’ve been avoiding ever since this podcast was started. It’s a scary idea that I’ve been too afraid to approach. There are no specific moments or events that have caused me to suddenly embrace this idea. It’s the whole of everything. The violent summation of recent events in our country has slammed the missional conversation against the wall. I’m not snapping back like a scared do...

Friends aren't accidents. In this episode, we're talking about the plan. How are you going to meet your neighbor? What is your goal? In many cases, it requires creativity to even get past "hi". In many cases, we need a bit of courage just to get started. We'll talk about creativity and courage with several examples along the way. Nathan is joined by Jade in a episode about availability, intrusion,...

In this second part of our conversation with Serge, we hear how God has impacted and called him. Discipleship is something that radically changed his life. As a result, he is radically passionate about discipleship. Are you discipling someone? Are you looking for advice on discipleship? Take a few minutes and listen to Serge!

Please Note! This episode does include reference to some strong elements of war and violence. Depending on the age of your children, some parts of this episode may not be appropriate. The DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) is three times the size of Texas with huge resources, massive national parks and a war that's over 20 years old. In the eastern regions, just near the Uganda border, is the city...

Does it feel like you're always running late? Need more hours in a day? You probably need some margin. However, perhaps margin isn't what you think. It begins with busy and moves to margin and then it gets heavy. It's about priority and desire and keeping center things in the center. In this episode, I'm looking at busyness, margin and priority as major ideas in missional living. If you aren't too...

I won't pretend. When something happens in my life, it is a part of missionlife. The same is true for you. In this episode, sadness is a part of my missionlife and so we are talking about grief. It might feel dark or depressing but it's actually an essential part of ministry. Jesus frequently comforted people in their grief. In this short episode, we're looking at grief as a part of missional livi...

I have a secret. Sometimes, when nobody is watching, I love people. In this episode, we're talking about the unseen mission. How often do you minister and show love to the people around you with no recognition? I'm going to read an email from the challenge in the Fear episode and remember the life of Paul Hull. In doing so, we will see how powerful the unseen mission really is!

What started as a normal conversation ended with free counseling. Maybe I needed the help. In this episode, we discover something quite dramatic through the story of Jenny Manson. The challenges, victories and particular experiences of intercultural missionary work is nothing short of a mess. Its highs are crazy and its lows are bizarre. Yet, through Jenny's story, we may just find some answers.

Let's go rafting! On this episode, I'm afraid down the, I mean, I'm rafting down the Nile River and thinking about how fear is such a big part of missional living. What is fear? How can we find ways to face our fears, defeat them and stay in the raft as God calls us and puts us to work? If you have a fear that needs to be beaten, take a few minutes and listen. There's even an awesome challenge at...

I am Nathan and Floyd and Dan. You are we. I am us. On this episode of the Missionlife Podcast, I'm thinking about the power of impact and the value of our investment on those around us. I am not just myself. I am the result of lots of people. You are the result of a bunch of people, too. And so I wonder what role investment has on missional living? How can we use our day to day interactions to sh...

The last year or two has caused me to think deeply about disagreements. How do we disagree? Why does disagreement often make us feel so threatened? Is there value in disagreement? Could disagreement even be useful to us? In this episode, I'm diving headfirst into the deep end of disagreement and its impact on missional living. Don't think you should listen? I respectfully disagree.

Over these first episodes of the podcast, we've looked at missional living from several angles including heathly relationship development, contextualization, testimony and calling. In this episode, we'll get to the heart of it all: love. In a sermon I preached a few years ago, I spoke on love as the foundation for everything and the definition of God. God is love. *As a note, as I preached this se...

What should the call cost? In this emotional and powerful episode, we delve into the lives of those who have paid deeply in their "yes" to the call of God. Although my job as their professor is to teach them, the lessons they have for me are far heavier than anything I've said to them. They are African pastors and they are on the cutting edge of Christianity in the modern world. Anything worth som...

When are we ready for God's call? After school? When finances look better? I think there is a way to talk about "ready" that makes us "never ready". And so, most of us are "never ready". In this episode, I think through places I've been and things I've seen that have impacted my perspective on readiness in the response to the call of God. In the end, we hope to see a new kind of "ready".

There are three ways I deal with the call of God. I think about it, feel it and pray on it. In this episode, I'm allowing myself to be vulnerable. In a transparent openness, I'm hoping that there might be something in my story that is helpful to your story. In my thinking and feeling and praying there have been some ugly responses to God's call along with some noble and righteous movements. Maybe...

God's call to service reaches every corner of the planet. On this episode, we hear from Tim and Helen on their move from New Zealand to Uganda (with stops along the way). How did God speak to them? What challenges have come? What rewards? With deep transparency and clarity, Tim and Helen reveal a longing for God's heart and a desire to see His people thrive. Tim is the Country Director for Tutapon...

Now that I'm across the ocean and basking in the equator sun of Uganda, I figure it's a good time to talk about calling. Not phone calling. God's calling. We Christians love to talk about God's calling on our lives. It's about our mission and purpose in life. It's about our value and function within God's bigger work among mankind. This episode is an introduction to a whole series on calling that...

What do Grandma Duvall, a country schoolhouse and an Arkansas mountain have to do with MissionLife? In the 1940's, something happened in my family line that speaks powerfully to the value of missional living. In this episode, we hear the story of George Nofsinger, my great-grandfather, a missionary to Arkansas.

Have you ever been to another country? What were the people like? How are they different than you? The way we describe and understand "here" is important! In this last episode on contextualization, we're looking at "here". The phrase we've used to summarize contextualization has been: truth expressed here. If you haven't heard the previous episodes called "truth" and "express", you should check th...

In part 2 of our series on contextualization (we're calling it "Truth Expressed Here") we turn out attention to expression. When we have truth in hand, what do we do with it? Why is expression such a big deal? Also, what does Aretha Franklin have to do with any of this? Merry Christmas!

This episode is the first of a three-part series on contextualization. Episode 8 was a bit of an introduction to the topic. In this episode, we will look at truth as something bigger than just "here's what I think". What's the difference between absolute truth and subjective truth? What is contextualization? How are those ideas related and why do they matter. All this and more in this 9th episode...