Episode 37 - The Art of Storytelling in the Mission Field - Having a detailed plan but staying open to God’s lead, building rapport with interview subjects, how pre-trip preparation pays off, and one woman’s tearful reaction to visualizing her new church

Episode 39 - Maranatha Mythbusters - Is Maranatha an Adventist Church entity or receive funding from the Church? Does Maranatha pick where we work? Do we only work overseas? Do we do disaster relief like ADRA or ACS?

Four vice presidents of Maranatha get together to talk about some of the most common myths they hear about the organization. They tackle some common general questions like “Is Maranatha an Adventist Church entity?” “Does Maranatha receive funding from the Adventist Church?” “Does Maranatha pick where we work?” “Does Maranatha only work overseas?” “Does Maranatha do evangelism?” The crew also discusses who is doing the actual construction work, and whether Maranatha gets involved in disaster relief.  If you think you know Maranatha, get ready to go behind the scenes to learn a lot of details about how we work—something that we don’t often talk about. Thanks for listening! Please subscribe, leave a review, and share the show. Visit maranatha.org for more info on the work of Maranatha Volunteers International. Text us! Let us know what you thought of this episode and the show in general! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2287181/fan_mail/new] On September 19, 2026, join us in Sacramento, California, for our annual convention, Mission: Maranatha. You’ll be inspired by volunteer testimonies, stories from the mission field, and updates from Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders around the globe. Plus, be blessed by Oakwood University's award-winning choir, The Aeolians. Learn more at https://maranatha.org/media-events/maranatha-convention/

Episode 38 - Mission Trip Leaders’ Playbook - Behind the scenes of short-term mission trip organization. From pre-trip planning, to the daily schedule, to the unseen challenges of a leader, this conversation reveals how mission trip coordinators do their

Volunteer leader Jennifer Trujillo joins the crew to share her experience leading short-term mission trips with Maranatha, fresh off a project in India. They talk about what drives their motivation to lead this time-consuming and challenging endeavor, the transformation they see in volunteers, and the positive impact on home churches that send volunteers. The group analyzes how mission trip leaders prepare their volunteers for the project, how crucial the first few hours after arrival are in setting the tone for the trip, and how volunteers can be culturally sensitive to the place they’re visiting. The panel reflects on the differences in planning a mission trip for teens or children versus for adults, how they prepare spiritually for leading a project, and what they’re doing behind the scenes each day on a mission trip to make sure it’s successful. The ladies touch on how important it is to rely on God’s leading, as our best-laid plans are often disrupted.  Thanks for listening! Please subscribe, leave a review, and share the show. Visit maranatha.org for more info on the work of Maranatha Volunteers International. Text us! Let us know what you thought of this episode and the show in general! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2287181/fan_mail/new] On September 19, 2026, join us in Sacramento, California, for our annual convention, Mission: Maranatha. You’ll be inspired by volunteer testimonies, stories from the mission field, and updates from Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders around the globe. Plus, be blessed by Oakwood University's award-winning choir, The Aeolians. Learn more at https://maranatha.org/media-events/maranatha-convention/

Episode 37 - The Art of Storytelling in the Mission Field - Having a detailed plan but staying open to God’s lead, building rapport with interview subjects, how pre-trip preparation pays off, and one woman’s tearful reaction to visualizing her new church

Julie Lee and Sidney Needles share details of their recent trips to India and the Dominican Republic, and the stories they were sent to capture. Julie describes what travel is like in the northeast Indian state of Mizoram, including the exciting traffic, harrowing mountain roads, varying religions, and getting mistaken as a local resident. The group discusses how they approach changes when it’s a follow-up to a previous trip, how they battle jet lag when they have to push through full days, great meals they’ve enjoyed in India, and how they stay connected to family and other work projects when they’re trying to put their full focus into the stories in front of them. Julie talks about her visits to Pine Hill Adventist Academy for the dedication of a large Elementary Education Center, the Graceland Adventist School where Maranatha is adding infrastructure like dorms and bathrooms, and the Irvine Adventist School where Maranatha is constructing new dorms. Sidney reflects on how her pre-trip preparation has become more detailed over her three years working in marketing for Maranatha, and the crew speaks to how that preparation pays off on a media trip in allowing more time to capture better stories. The team discusses how important it is to stay open to God’s leading while visiting these sites to see what characters and stories present themselves that we weren’t planning on, and just how the people we meet become characters in the stories we tell. Sidney reports on the four churches she visited in the DR and their stories of need. Each one is unique, but they share a similar theme with many of the congregations we encounter there: members are passionate about evangelism, leading to growing membership and new churches that need to be planted. Sidney tells of one woman’s tearful moment that our TV camera captured while standing on the new concrete foundation of what will become the church she’s dreamt about for years.  The panel talks about building rapport with volunteers during a project for potential interview subjects, how more time with characters before the sit-down interview helps makes for a better interview, and what they would miss most about media trips if they couldn’t do them anymore. Thanks for listening! Please subscribe, leave a review, and share the show. Visit maranatha.org for more info on the work of Maranatha Volunteers International. Text us! Let us know what you thought of this episode and the show in general! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2287181/fan_mail/new] On September 19, 2026, join us in Sacramento, California, for our annual convention, Mission: Maranatha. You’ll be inspired by volunteer testimonies, stories from the mission field, and updates from Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders around the globe. Plus, be blessed by Oakwood University's award-winning choir, The Aeolians. Learn more at https://maranatha.org/media-events/maranatha-convention/

Episode 36 - Don and Laura Noble - Our most difficult projects ever, including a remote desert in Kenya and Communist Cuba, and Don’s first Maranatha project involving a plane crash, circumventing a war, and breaking down in the middle of the ocean.

Don and Laura Noble join the show to talk about some of the most problematic projects, countries, and situations we’ve had to deal with over the years, and why Maranatha chooses to push through these roadblocks, when it would be easier to just move on. They discuss the difficulties of working in Mozambique after 30 years of war, the socio-economic disparity in Angola that made things problematic, and other brief examples of specific projects that posed issues.  The group then recounts in-depth a specific project in northern Kenya with extreme logistical requirements, bringing churches and water wells to the Daasanach tribe there. It took Maranatha’s in-country crew five days of driving from its homebase near the capital city of Nairobi (Dustin said 3-4 days, but it was five), half the time on roads and half the time through the desert with no roads, to make it up near the Ethiopian border where the Daasanach call home. The team had to bring everything they would need for construction and well drilling, because there was no going back for supplies. They were told to prepare like they were leaving Earth for another planet. Don tells the story of one of the villages where experts said we would not find water, and how a double-miracle that occurred. Beyond that, a number of Maranatha’s crew decided to get baptized in salty Lake Turkana during the trip after witnessing everything they saw. In the rapid fire question round, Don and Laura share their biggest travel pet peeves, a country they’d like to visit that they’ve never been to, where they’d love to see Maranatha work in the future, and the most unique gift they’ve ever received or been offered on a Maranatha trip. Don tells the story of his very first Maranatha trip ever in 1983, which involved a small plane crash, changing plans to a commercial flight, circumnavigating the U.S. invasion of Grenada by flying to a another island, taking a boat to an island called Bequia to finally get to their site visit. After the visit, their boat broke down on the way back without any communication, and when they finally made it back late to the Adventist Church headquarters in Barbados to spend the night, they realized the church leaders locked the gate and went home, forcing Don to scale the exterior wall to gain access. Not a bad first trip. Don references our map tool showing our projects around the world, so here it is: https://explore.maranatha.org/map. The group then shifts its focus to Maranatha’s work in Cuba—how it started, why we chose to work in a communist country in the first place, and some of the challenges in making progress there over the last three decades.  Thanks for listening! Please subscribe, leave a review, and share the show. Visit maranatha.org for more info on the work of Maranatha Volunteers International. Text us! Let us know what you thought of this episode and the show in general! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2287181/fan_mail/new] On September 19, 2026, join us in Sacramento, California, for our annual convention, Mission: Maranatha. You’ll be inspired by volunteer testimonies, stories from the mission field, and updates from Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders around the globe. Plus, be blessed by Oakwood University's award-winning choir, The Aeolians. Learn more at https://maranatha.org/media-events/maranatha-convention/

Episode 35 - Teen Transformation on Ultimate Workout - Josue Quispe - Life change for youth, quitting his job for missions, and finding his wife on a mission trip

What started as a one-time translation job for a Maranatha volunteer project turned into a lifelong passion of service, and bringing others along for the ride. Josue got his first introduction to Maranatha on our teens-only mission trip, Ultimate Workout (UW), as a 16-year-old translator in his native Peru. The experience shifted his perspective in transformative ways, and as grew into adulthood, he continued to be involved, eventually as a volunteer staff leader. Over time, Josue’s commitment to this annual youth project was so strong that when his employer said he couldn’t have the time off one year, he simply quit his job! (He got it back.) He’s also developed life-long friendships on UW, including his wife, who he met on a project. At their wedding, a number of UW volunteer staff attended. Josue shares examples of how impactful the project has been for youth volunteers over the years, how he’s followed the examples of adult leaders before him, and the support he’s been able to provide to youth participants as an adult himself. Thanks for listening! Please subscribe, leave a review, and share the show. Visit maranatha.org for more info on the work of Maranatha Volunteers International. Text us! Let us know what you thought of this episode and the show in general! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2287181/fan_mail/new] On September 19, 2026, join us in Sacramento, California, for our annual convention, Mission: Maranatha. You’ll be inspired by volunteer testimonies, stories from the mission field, and updates from Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders around the globe. Plus, be blessed by Oakwood University's award-winning choir, The Aeolians. Learn more at https://maranatha.org/media-events/maranatha-convention/