Inlander Podcast

As a young adult PJ knew he was interested in missions. He carried that interest throughout a variety of life experiences, and even over a decade of pastoral ministry. But one thing proved pivotal in ultimately steering him toward a long-term commitment to the Great Commission: experiencing the mission field as a “short-termer.” PJ now serves as AIM’s Short-Term Program Director and we sat down with him to peel back the curtain on all things Short-Term and AIM. If you’ve ever wondered what our programs are designed to accomplish, what opportunities we have, or how we partner with long-term missionaries, this is the episode for you.

Early in his career, God gave Billy a heart for young people, and the desire to help them unleash their God-given gifts and abilities for His global purposes. After several years of youth ministry in Indonesia, Billy and his family returned to the US, where today he serves as Africa Inland Mission’s Southwest Mission Mobilizer. He’s excited to walk with Gen Z and others to encourage them in their strengths as they seek to discover their part in God’s kingdom work.

Resources:

Recently AIM staff hosted a webinar where Michelle and others shared stories surrounding living overseas as a family. She offers practical advice to help demystify the journey regarding:

• Raising kids overseas
• Navigating life transitions
• and Expectations with those at home.

RESOURCES:

Belonging Everywhere & Nowhere - Lois J. Bushong

The Grief Tower - Lauren Wells

Third Culture Kids - Ruth E. Van Reken and Michael V. Pollock, David C. Pollock

Raising Healthy Third Culture Kids - Lauren Wells

What happens when two college students, a mom, and a teacher take the Perspectives course? What changed for them? What did they know about missions going into the course? What makes decision-making about missions difficult for the younger generation today? Most importantly you'll be encouraged to hear the "perspective" shifts that have spurred them on to engage in a long-view of being involved in God's Great Commission, for His glory.

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Susan serves as AIM's Counseling Liaison, and she’s been coming alongside missionaries and their families for decades, providing mental health counseling and resources. She’s someone who bravely brings her own lived experiences to the conversation, and in this episode, shares about topics such as burnout, anxiety and living within our limitations.

As someone who felt led to missions at a young age, Mike had much to discern and consider as he has experienced college, dating, and the exploration of many opportunities to serve. With so much need in the world, he set his focus on serving among unreached people groups.

Discover how God cultivated this desire in him and kept him on course amidst so many other "good" options.

Mike's story is a great listen as he humbly shares his journey thus far – and his hope to serve for the long-haul among the unreached.

Dan and Becky packed up their family to serve at a Learning Center in North Africa for a year. When a couple goes overseas, what happens when one person seems to be thriving, while the other is experiencing anxiety amidst finding their spot in ministry? Dan and Becky beautifully share what it was like to walk through this reality, experiencing God's deep grace through one another, their local teammates, and their friends back home. You'll come away from their story encouraged as they put on display the beautiful truth that God uses ordinary people to accomplish His mission. He works in us, and through us, in all seasons.

Now approaching his fourth term of ministry among the highland shepherds of Lesotho, Caleb shares about life in this rugged mountain kingdom, and what he’s learned about living simply and enduring hardships for the cause of Christ.

Now leading Borderless, Africa Inland Mission’s outreach to African immigrants and refugees around the globe, Rick shares his journey into missions when he and his wife stepped out of the familiar, and into Christ’s call to the nations. From a small school in Kenya, where he unexpectedly stepped in as headmaster, to gospel outreach in a remote location in the nation’s desert north, Rick’s is a story of obedience, faith, leadership, and change. Hear about the rich opportunities to serve and share Christ with unreached African's right in our own neighborhoods.

A large majority of the unreached are found in the area known as the 10/40 window. Most countries in this region are considered 'closed' countries, which means people cannot enter to live and work in these countries as missionaries or church workers. But are these countries really closed? Closed to what? They are NOT closed to the Gospel! We’ll talk about some of the creative ways God is using to bring His people to live and proclaim in these Creative Access Nations.

With a multiplicity of voices vying for our hearts and minds, how do we think about singleness, for both ourselves and those around us? Join Christina, Northeast Mobilizer and 33-year-old single, as we consider how Scripture reorients our perspective towards this common issue in the church and in missions.

After 13 years of serving in Mozambique, Jenn loves her ministry more than ever; and her love for the Ndau people only grows deeper. She shares about the darkness they are up against, the local pastors she labors alongside, and her bold vision for the next generation of Ndau. From the daily spiritual battles to the unexpected joy of becoming a wedding planner, Jenn is an advocate for the overlooked, the hopeless, and the downtrodden - pointing them to the God whose love is boundless.

We sat down with Michelle to talk about her new memoir, Worst Case Scenario: Finding Overwhelming Rescue in the Promises of God. Sharing insights from the book, we talk about the impact her late husband Chris had in Africa, just how complicated grief can be, and what it looks like for God to show intimate care for us in even the darkest of circumstances.

From Mozambique to Central Africa, Steve and Sharon have led outreach teams in some of our most challenging fields. Steve shares what it looks like to become a true “belonger” in a community, endure hardship, and surrender the unanswered questions to the Lord. Learn how a passion for the lost and an undaunted trust in God’s sovereignty can take you far beyond your abilities, but never beyond His sufficiency.

Hope, excitement, nerves, and mystery. Debbie's journey has, at every turn, been one or more of these. For over thirty years she has served through teaching and nurturing the children of missionaries working in remote places. From rainforest to desert, village and city, through rebel uprisings and unexpected fresh starts – Debbie’s story puts God’s sustaining grace on display, and His faithfulness to draw us close, crafting us to become like Him no matter the place or space we find ourselves in.

Surprised how God led her into cross-cultural missions, Abby shares about the importance of doing life and ministry with a team, while navigating some of the hard realities and hard hearts among her island community. Her 16-year journey with AIM would continually bring her back to this truth: it is God's work. We are simply invited to come alongside, witness what He is doing, and revel in the beauty of taking part in bringing truth and hope to the lost.

Jake and Mandi twice set out to serve in one of AIM’s most difficult fields: Chad; and each time found themselves beyond their own sufficiency and outside of the plans they had in mind for ministry. God provided much needed family in teammates and new-found Chadian friends. God even provided a miracle for their son. But His path for Jake and Mandi was still a redirection. 

Learn about the power of community and prayer in the face of formidable odds and unexpected turns, where learning to abide – even in our sorrows and disappointments – is one of the greatest lessons the mission field can teach us.

Pilot, producer, gifted storyteller; Ted got his start with AIM serving from a remote mountain airstrip with his young family, a Cessna airplane, and a calm determination to follow God's call - wherever that might lead. Learn how Ted made the leap from aviator to film producer to a key member of AIM's mobilizing team. 

Whether he's engaged with the stories of persecuted Christians, Africans longing to become missionaries, or the average Joe at a coffee shop in Minnesota - Ted reflects on how other people's stories can change us, and challenges us to consider the stories our own lives are telling. Also, if you're a boat captain, Ted needs to talk to you. ASAP.

Michelle describes her journey as the story of God’s grace in the middle of profound difficulty. Following the sudden death of her husband Chris early in their first ministry assignment in Lesotho, Southern Africa, she found herself as a single mom in a country far from home. But even in the darkest moments, she recalled this grounding truth: “I knew that God was with me.” Hear the story of how God helped and sustained her through a season of incredible loss, and revealed His purposes to her as she entrusted her ways to Him.

As a young and single business owner, KB’s decision to skip part of the Super Bowl and head to church to hear a missionary speaker changed the course of his life forever. Today, some forty years later, he reflects on his family’s incredible journey of serving on remote islands in Lake Victoria, to laying the foundations for Africa Inland Mission’s two-year missionary training program, and later, helping to launch outreach in Africa’s Islamic North.  KB’s story is a testimony of how God can use our gifts and abilities in incredible ways as we surrender them to His purposes.

In their 19 years of outreach ministry among two of Africa's unreached peoples, Colin and Becca saw God work in incredible ways as lives were transformed by Jesus. Today they serve in south Atlanta, Colin as AIM's US Director, and Becca through outreach among African immigrants and refugees. Hear their stories, their hearts for global missions, and their passion to make Jesus known across the street and around the world.

It was at the ripe old age of 10 that Karen first sensed a call to missions. Today, looking back over a 30 plus year missionary journey that took her from Rift Valley Academy (RVA) in Kenya, where she served as a dorm mom, to a nation in Africa’s north, where she served through business, to a pioneering role as a missions coach at Africa Inland Mission’s US headquarters. She shares what it means to yield to God’s call and to trust him with the big stuff and the small - even when you get on the wrong train and none of the other passengers speak a word of English.

It was on a short-term mission trip to Haiti in 1971 that a young Sam told God that he'd go where nobody else wanted to go. And that's exactly where God led him and his wife Bonnie. Several years later, Sam took the wheel of a packed-out Ford F-150 pickup truck and set out from language school in France to the very heart of Africa - Central African Republic - crossing the Sahara Desert in a dramatic beginning to a 44-year ministry journey marked by God’s faithfulness all along the way.

Join our conversation with Amelia as she shares her journey from growing up in Kenya and her years at a missionary boarding school, to short-term ministry assignments that took her from the bustling streets of “America’s most diverse square mile” to eight months on a tiny African island with no streets or electricity. And how, despite language and cultural barriers (and the occasional flying goat head), God worked through her in ways she never expected.

With a deep desire to share the Good News that transformed their own lives, Joel and his close friend Dan joined an Africa Inland Mission outreach team serving in a remote region of South Sudan. Joel shares lessons learned through his two years of serving among the unreached Laarim people, the ins and outs of daily life in the African bush, and what it means for God to use us even in our own weakness.