Episode 18: Why Most Short-Term Mission Trips Miss the Mark (And How to Fix It)

Episode 19: Let Me Take You to Mumbai: What a Vision Trip Actually Looks Like

SUMMER SHORT-TERM TRIP SERIES: VISION TRIPS Rather than tell you the difference between a Vision Trip and a Professional Trip and a Survey Trip (the three trip types), I want to show you what a Short-Term Vision Trip actually looks like. Not a slide presentation. Not a bullet-point list of activities. A real trip, with real moments, that did something real to everyone who went. I'll illustrate the true aspects of a great Vision Trip by showing you what it looked like to Vision Trip to Mumbai. In this episode I take you with me to Mumbai — one of the top ten largest cities in the world, home to about twenty-two million people, a majority Hindu and Muslim population, where families from every unreached people group in India likely live. I walk you through the Red Light District and introduce you to Sonita, Veronica, and Asha — three women running a one-room community center in the heart of the red light district where fifty-one women gained freedom last year.  I introduce you to the Dhavari slum, one of the largest in the world with 700,000 souls living on about a mile and a half of land. I tell you about Titus — a man of peace who pulled us off the street and into his home for tea. And I take you to the rooftop prayer meeting where we got on our knees and prayed Isaiah 58 over a city of twenty-two million. Woven throughout, I talk about: ✅ Why short-term teams cannot do in ten days what may take ten years to do — and why that's actually freeing ✅ The poverty alleviation caution: what we did NOT do in that red light district, and why it matters ✅ The naming problem: why calling domestic youth service trips "mission trips" creates confusion and false expectations ✅ What a vision trip done well actually produces — and the right way to talk about what you saw when you come home   RESOURCES mentioned in this episode: ✔️ Mumbai Photo Essay and Instagram Stories Highlight Reel [jeannie-marie.com/blog/111] ✔️ Search for #MumbaiPhotoEssay2019 [https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=%23MumbaiPhotoEssay2019] on Instagram ✔️ Across the Street and Around the World [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/book] Book (Chapter 7: Short Term Trips) ✔️ Get the Trip Type Checklist [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/trips] ✔️ Use the Neighbors and Nations Course [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/nncourse] to train well before the trip. ✔️ Free One Hour Training: Offer Jesus Naturally to Your Neighbors & the Nations [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/freevideotraining] Next episode: Professional Trips  — real stories of real people who used their specific skills overseas, and what happened.

Episode 18: Why Most Short-Term Mission Trips Miss the Mark (And How to Fix It)

I have a confession to make. Years ago, I led a short-term trip to India with twenty-two people and the best intentions in the world. We stuffed twenty-two of our forty-four duffel bags with Beanie Babies for orphan children. We built a medical database nobody asked for. We spoke at a Bible school where no one understood our English. And when I came home, I felt confused, depressed, and deeply disappointed — and I couldn't figure out why. When I went back a year later, the Beanie Babies were in a caretaker's private room. The database had stopped working. The computers had died in the heat and humidity. And the school director had spent forty nights in jail on false charges. I hadn't known my WHY. In this first episode of the summer series on short-term trips, I'm talking about the one question that changes everything before a trip even starts — and what it looks like when a church actually gets it right. I walk through how my own church built a whole sequence of short-term trips in service of one long-term vision: getting long-term workers to unreached Muslims. Morocco, Turkey, Algeria, Bangladesh, and a survey trip — each one with a specific purpose, each one feeding the next. I also talk about why a short-term trip is actually a six-month trip — and why pre-trip training and post-trip debrief are just as important as what happens on the ground. Resources mentioned in this episode: * Across the Street and Around the World [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/book] by Jeannie Marie (Chapter 7: the full WHY checklist + pre-trip training framework):  * Neighbors and Nations Course [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/nncourse](the pre-trip training I built): jeanniemarieacademy.com/nncourse * Global Goer Quiz [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/quiz]: jeanniemarieacademy.com/quiz * Free Video Training [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/freevideotraining] Next episode: the three types of short-term trips — and why mislabeling yours might be the most expensive mistake you make.

Episode 17: Why Headship Theology Is Dangerous for the Nations (And for Women)

Why is it that women are often more unleashed in overseas movement contexts than in Western churches? And what does that tell us about the theology we've accepted without examining? In this episode, I'm wading into one of the most important — and most understudied and misunderstood — topics in global missions and the church: headship theology. I'll clearly define it, then address it honestly, from a perspective of my own learning. And yes, I'll make a case from the Bible for why I believes it needs to change. In this episode: ✔️ The story of three widows in their 40s who started a movement in the Muslim world ✔️ The Sunday morning that gave me pause  ✔️ What headship theology actually means — authority, covering (and the final-decision doctrine often taught but isn't in Scripture) ✔️ Complementarian vs. egalitarian — both believe men and women are equal in value; the debate is about role ✔️ Why women are more unleashed in overseas movement contexts — and what that costs the nations when headship theology proponents stop them ✔️ Spiritual gifts have no gender label — and what that means for who gets to lead ✔️ What ezer and kephalē could actually mean — and why it matters ✔️ A quick honest look at 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Peter 3, and Ephesians 5 ✔️ Why the submission passages are not a blank check — and why they've been dangerously misused in abusive situations ✔️ The curse argument — why building a theology on the fall instead of the garden doesn't make sense ✔️ The love and respect either/or framework — and why it doesn't hold up ✔️ What wives are really asking for when they say to their husbands, "I want you to be the spiritual leader" ✔️ A personal admission — my kids, my marriage, and the work I still have to do ✔️ The Reformation parallel — and why re-examining theology isn't the same as making it say whatever you want ✔️ The single women on the mission field point — and the inconsistency we need to name Whew, this is a long one. A necessary one. Let me know your thoughts hello@jeannie-marie.com [hello@jeannie-marie.com]    Resources mentioned: * From Genesis to Junia [https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Junia-Honest-Search-Leadership/dp/0830785809] by Preston Sprinkle * Theology of Women Academy [https://cynthiahester.com/] with Dr. Cynthia Hester * Neighbors and Nations Course [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/nncourse] * Across the Street and Around the World [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/book] book

EPISODE 16: You Don’t Have to Be Mother Teresa: The Five Global Goer Types

I just got off a call with a former Anderson Consulting executive who coaches aspiring cross-cultural workers how to start legitimate businesses in countries where religious visas don’t exist. And I thought — he is not at all what I imagined a global goer would look like. That’s what this episode is about. After a lifetime of living among cross-cultural workers and walking alongside hundreds of families moving overseas, I’ve noticed that there are five distinct types of global goers. Five different motivations. Five different ways God wires people to make a difference in the world. If you’ve ever thought “I’m not sure I’m the right TYPE of person for this” — this episode is for you. And if you’re a church leader or mobilizer trying to find and recruit the right people — this one’s for you too. In this episode: * Why your image of a global goer might be way too small * The difference between community development and pioneering disciplemaking movement work (and why it matters) * Why knowing your Global Goer Type gives you permission to be who God wired you to be * How mobilizers and church leaders can use the five types as a recruiting tool * A full walk-through of all five types: * The Bleeding Heart, * The Strategic Thinker, * The Meaning and Purpose Champion, * The Adventure Seeker, * and The Obedient Disciple * A behind-the-scenes peek at the book I’m writing about this Resouces:  Take the Global Goer Quiz [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/quiz] (before you listen — seriously, do it first!): Free Chapter 9 download [https://www.jeannie-marie.com/wrestling-with-calling-gifting-and-personalities]— Wrestling With Calling, Gifting and Personalities Across the Street and Around the World [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/book] (my book):   Listen to: * Episode 14: Discerning Your Calling — Part 1 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-14-discerning-your-calling-part-1-how-to-know/id1870961544?i=1000763888861]How to Know if You Should Go (Apple Podcast) * Episode 15:  Discerning Your Calling — Part 2 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-15-discerning-your-calling-part-2-called-to/id1870961544?i=1000766082312] Called to a Who, Not a Where (Apple Podcast) Find me on Instagram and DM me [https://www.instagram.com/jeanniemmarie] — which Global Goer Type are you? And is the Five Global Goer Types book something you’d want to read? I really want to know.

EPISODE 15: Discerning Your Calling — Part 2 Called to a Who, Not a Where

DISCERNING YOUR CALLING — PART 2: CALLED TO A WHO, NOT A WHERE This is Part 2 of my two-part series on discerning your calling as a Global Goer. If you haven't listened to Episode 14 yet, I recommend you start there first. In this episode I tackle the question that trips most people up once they think they might be called: where? I make the case that calling is probably not a where first — it's a who. And once you know your who, the where starts to take care of itself. In this episode I cover: * Why asking "where" might be the wrong first question * Paul's example — apostle to the Gentiles, not apostle to Rome * How to narrow your "who" and let the "where" follow * The difference between a calling and your next directional step * The green light vs. red light framework for moving forward   Links mentioned in this episode: * Breakthrough Prayer Course [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/breakthrough] * Across the Street and Around the World book [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/book] Connect with Jeannie Marie: 🌐 Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/]  📱 Instagram: @jeanniemmarie [https://www.instagram.com/jeanniemmarie/] (DM me which of the 15 resonated most!)  📖 Take the Global Goer Quiz: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/quiz [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/quiz]  🎥 Watch the free one-hour training: Share Jesus Naturally With the Nations Near You [https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/freevideotraining]   What's Next: Next week: Episode 16 - Change the Way God Wired You with The Five Global Goer Types   Leave a Review and Subscribe: If this episode helped you discern your calling, would you leave a review on Apple Podcasts? It helps others who are considering the journey find this show! New episodes drop every Tuesday. Don't miss one! 🍎 Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-15-discerning-your-calling-part-2/id1870961544?i=1000766082312] 🎤 Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/episode/6EtUmXF0C98besc7ZT71cw?si=3d52d2620d8041c4]