Relentless Pursuit Podcast

Grief and Glory

From an early age, Jane had felt a call to missions. Life got in the way, however, and she married and had two children. Grief hit their family in 2011, and Jane’s desire to serve overseas was reawakened. Now, she serves in Southeast Asia among a Muslim minority group, and her loss has given Jane a unique perspective on ministry and empathy for those who have suffered as she has.

Bonus Story: Jane meets a Muslim-background believer who has never read the Bible. The connection provides a language-learning partner for Jane, and the young woman she discipled is now bringing the light of the gospel into places Jane could never go.

Pioneers is committed to serving TCKs (Third Culture Kids) like Jane’s children. Find out more about the challenges TCKs face, and listen to our season three interview with Taylor, a TCK who is now in graduate school to be a counselor and shares her story with us.

Check out our photo essay “Life in a Fishing Village in Southeast Asia” to get a sense of what it’s like to serve in Jane’s context.

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start or chat today.

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Refugee Stories From Southern Europe

What does ministry look like when you only have a few months, weeks or even days to build relationships and share the gospel refugees from war-torn countries, before they are moved to their next destination? Eileen and her family are doing just that in strategic location in Southern Europe. Join us to hear some of the creative ways they are serving people in desperate circumstances—and unexpected lessons they are learning along the way.

Bonus Story: Even when everything has been torn away from them, Eileen discovers that refugees often have an insatiable appetite for stories from the word of God.

You can read more of Eileen’s story—and those of others like her—in our book, Items May Have Shifted: When Missionaries Get Rerouted.

When serving refugees, time is often at a premium. The same goes for members of Pioneers’ Edge teams as they seek to pack as much learning and ministry into 8- to 12-week mission experiences. Check out our destinations for 2025.

Refugees are often uniquely receptive to the gospel. Watch our brief videos telling the story of Mahdi—a Sudanese refugee who encountered Jesus in Egypt and now lives in France. Watch part 1 and part 2—each is less than 4 minutes.

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start or chat today.

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Where God Is Already at Work

With a background in community health, it’s easy for Kelly to find ways to integrate sharing the gospel with caring for the many needs of people in her host country in Southeast Asia. In this episode, Kelly shares some of the many ways God is already at work in the place he called her and what she has learned from her team’s local partners.

Bonus Story: It was the middle of the night before Kelly, her family and a short-term medical team were headed to a new community to launch a water bottling business. Armed pirates broke into their home in the sea-side village, tied them up and ransacked their home. What the enemy intended for evil, however, God used for good.

Church-planting can take many forms and models. Check out Pioneers’ Multiply videos for some examples.

Prayer is an integral part of church-planting among the unreached. Many Pioneers leaders have benefited from Lead With Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders, by Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer and Cameron Doolittle.

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start or chat today.

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A Church That Sends Together...

When Dusty Thompson planted Redeemer Lubbock 17 years ago, the church made missions part of its DNA. In this episode of the podcast, Dusty explains how the church balances global and local outreach, the joy (and pain) of sending people to the nations and what churches should look for in people who are discerning God’s calling to the unreached.

‍Bonus Content: When one of the elders and his wife at Redeemer Lubbock befriended a couple from India, they had no idea how they would be invited into an important life event.

“Why do I need a sending church?” Our quick explainer video answers this question.

Pioneers’ Church Partnerships Team stands ready to help your church become more intentionally engaged with the unreached—through coaching, Church Partner Forums and the GreenHouse online resources.

Check out the book Dusty recommended at the end of the podcast: Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, by Tom Holland.

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start or chat today.

Have you enjoyed this season of the Relentless Pursuit Podcast? Be sure to give us a five-star rating and leave a review.

"Victory to Jesus!"

Elyse is a medical practitioner and runs a business in South Asia that employs vulnerable women. She also has some of the craziest stories we’ve heard on the podcast. This episode includes a miraculous healing, a glass of holy water and a talking Hindu shrine.

Bonus Story: After a women’s Bible study, the women head to the street, asking the Holy Spirit to lead them to people who are open to prayer and spiritual conversation. This leads to an encounter with a desperate woman that only God could orchestrate.

Check out our first conversation with Elyse in season 2 of the Relentless Pursuit podcast.

Hinduism in a nutshell, from Pioneers’ WorldViews curriculum.

Elyse recommends Eugene Peterson’s The Pastor.

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start or chat today.

Have you enjoyed this season of the Relentless Pursuit Podcast? Be sure to give us a five-star rating and leave a review.

From Facebook to IRL

Drew and his family were forced to leave the country where they were serving in the Middle East. Taking a new role as pastor of an international church in a neighboring country, Drew wondered whether he was still on the cutting edge of what God was doing among the unreached. Then an unexpected DM popped up in the church’s Facebook inbox which led to an encounter with a spiritual seeker in real life (aka IRL).

Bonus Content: One day, Drew was invited to an unusual soccer match: Muslims versus Christians. Even more unusual were the stakes: If the Christians won, the Muslims had to hear a gospel presentation from Drew.

Like Drew and his family, many cross-cultural workers end up having to leave the places God initially called them. Although these situations can feel like the death of a dream, they can lead them to places of unexpected fruitfulness. Read four stories from displaced missionaries in Items May Have Shifted: When Missionaries Get Rerouted—free to read online and available in Kindle and paperback.

Pioneers Media connects spiritual seekers like Rashid with local believers who can help them take the next steps in finding Jesus.

Drew serves as VP of Church Partnerships at Pioneers. Find out how his team can help your church become more engaged with the Great Commission and check out the book he recommended: Pipeline: Engaging the Church in Missionary Mobilization.

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start or chat today.

Are you enjoying this season of the Relentless Pursuit Podcast? Be sure to give us a five-star rating and leave a review.

Little Spreading Lights

Iceland is ranked #3 in the United Nations’ HDI (Human Development Index), behind Switzerland and Norway. In other words, from the standpoint of life expectancy, education and standard of living, it’s at the top of the pack. But is there more to the story? In this episode we talk to Elliot and Hildur, who are part of a multicultural church-planting ministry in Iceland. They share the unique challenges and opportunities of making disciples in “the land of fire and ice.”

**BONUS CONTENT** Elliot and American TCK (Third Culture Kid) and Hildur (a native Icelander) tell us the funny (if unpredictable) story of their meeting and marriage.

For more on ministry and opportunities in Europe, check out the story of Lindsey, who shares the gospel—and her passion for baking—with French seekers.

Elliot and Hildur dropped some recommendations at the end of the interview, including John Mark Comer’s Practicing the Way and Leah Roberts’ songs, which put the book of Philippians to music, aiding in memorization.

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start, or chat today.Enjoying this season of the Relentless Pursuit Podcast? Be sure to give us a five-star rating and leave a review.

Bikes, Surfboards & Tents

There’s a lot of talk around the importance of “building relationships” when it comes to taking the gospel to unreached people and places. But what does that look like? For Chris, who leads a team in the UK focused on serving immigrants and refugees, building relationships is about sharing his interest in cycling, surfing, hiking, camping and all manner of outdoor activities.

**BONUS CONTENT** A messenger appears in a vision to an imam (a Muslim religious teacher) and tells him, “The Truth you’re seeking you will find in New York.” Soon after, the imam ran into Chris … in New York.

Chris isn’t the only one in Pioneers whose love of the outdoors has given him opportunities to share the gospel. Check out A Canyon, A Cathedral, our video documenting what happens when a group of Christians and Muslims hike 50 miles into a canyon.

Pioneers partners with International Project to provide internships for those preparing for long-term ministry among the unreached overseas.

Check out our article “What is Church Planting?” to find out more about the concept of “persons of peace.”

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start, or chat today.

Enjoying this season of the Relentless Pursuit Podcast? Be sure to give us a five-star rating and leave a review.

Special Needs, Special Calling

Bonnie and her husband had been on the field for five years, and they were expecting their second child. When prenatal testing revealed her daughter would be born with Down syndrome, Bonnie’s theology was shaken. After all, she and her family had given their lives to missions. Why did this feel like a death sentence for their calling? Listen in to find out how God used their daughter’s diagnosis to transform their lives and ministry in Southeast Asia.

** BONUS Content ** Bonnie shares a story of how her experience as a mother of special needs children prepared her for an encounter with a local woman and built a bridge of understanding between them.

Bonnie wrote a chapter in the book Disability in Mission: The Church’s Hidden Treasure, a book that explores how God uses weakness to accomplish great things in His kingdom.

Check out Enabled, a Pioneers ministry that serves disabled people in South Asia. You can find out more about that team and even give to support ministry that seamlessly integrates gospel proclamation with meeting physical needs.

Also, we want to give a shout-out to Joni and Friends, an amazing ministry led by Joni Erickson Tada that brings practical help and gospel hope to people with disabilities around the world. Bonnie wrote an article on the story of how their daughter Anna was able to get a visa in their host country once she turned 18.

The book Bonnie recommends in this episode is In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership, by Henri Nouwen.

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start or chat today.

Are you enjoying this season of the Relentless Pursuit Podcast? Be sure to give us a five-star rating and leave a review.

Not on Board

With only about 1,000 words, the Book of Jonah is one of the shortest books in the Bible. Its account of a wayward prophet chased down by a merciful God can seem outlandish to modern ears. In this episode of the podcast, we talk with Pioneers president Steve Richardson about how Jonah’s world wasn’t too far removed from ours and what his story teaches us about God’s love for the unreached.

**Bonus Content** Steve tells the story of how a mugging in Cape Town, South Africa, opened up an unexpected opportunity to share the gospel.

If you enjoyed this conversation with Steve, we encourage you to get a copy of his new book, Not on Board: Jonah’s Plunge Into God’s Plan. You can read the book for free at Pioneers.org/Books, but it’s also available in print and ebook formats on Amazon and Apple iBooks.

Also, check out Steve’s other book, Is the Commission Still Great: 8 Myths about Missions and What They Mean for the Church. Peace Child, by Steve’s father, Don Richardson, tells the story of the Sawis' encounter with the gospel.

During his interview, Steve mentioned several other books, including *Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, by Cal Newport, and Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman.

Ready to take the next step, but not sure what it looks like? Schedule a call with our team at Pioneers.org/Start or chat today.

Are you enjoying this season of the Relentless Pursuit Podcast? Be sure to give us a five-star rating and leave a review.