The 2025 Launch Survey from Gospel Mobilization offers a revealing look into the motivations and barriers shaping today’s aspiring missionaries, drawing insights from 2,428 respondents. The analysis highlights generational differences, the factors most likely to propel someone toward international service, and the obstacles that most commonly prevent them from reaching the field. By examining both those who have already launched and those still discerning their next steps, the survey provides mission leaders with actionable wisdom to strengthen recruitment, refine mobilization strategies, and better support emerging workers.
From a mission to the public schools to missionary journalism, from reaching the unreached to AI and online missions, we have traveled the globe to find stories of God at work around the world. On this episode of Missions Today, we’ll look at five highlights from 2025 and hopefully bring a bit of encouragement to your heart about the ways God is at work in the lives of people all over the world. Check out 2025 Highlights on this week’s episode of Missions Today.
Mission Field: Public Schools with Joel Penton
On a Military Mission with Brian Kleager
Expanding the Reach of the Gospel with Doug Lucas
At one point in college she wanted nothing to do with God. Then, a special bible study opened her eyes to God’s mission in the world and the need to provide God’s Word and local churches to the least and the lost. Now, as a Director of Missions at a local church, she is seeing where and how God is on the move and how much it is impacting the people in her congregation. Local Church Missions, the focus of this week’s episode of Missions Today!
The Shared Foundations Initiative is a strategic collaboration launched by the People Care & Development track of the Missio Nexus Leaders Conference, in partnership with the John Powell Institute at Mission Training International. It seeks to create a unified framework for Member Care, or “People Care & Development,” across Western mission-sending organizations. This field has traditionally lacked common guidelines, which has led to isolation, inconsistent practices, and variable quality in providing care and support for global workers. Learn more on this week’s episode of Missions Today.
He had no desire to get involved in his father's ministry. He wanted to work in finance, travel the world, spend time with friends. But God clearly communicated to him one day that he was to serve in his father's organization, and that's just what he did. Now, after his father's tenure of 36 years, he has been given the mantle of this incredible organization that brings the Good News of God's Word to hundreds of thousands across Africa through dramatized audio bibles in the people's heart language. Hear more of his story this weekend on Missions Today!
DOOR International is a global Christian ministry dedicated to reaching Deaf communities with the Gospel through sign language Bible translation and Deaf-led church planting. Founded in 1983, the organization partners with indigenous Deaf leaders to ensure that Scripture is accessible in the heart languages of Deaf people worldwide. With over 70 million Deaf individuals across more than 400 sign languages—and less than 2% knowing and following Jesus—DOOR International addresses this gap by equipping Deaf believers to evangelize, disciple, and plant sustainable fellowships within their own cultures. As a member of the Wycliffe Global Alliance and the Forum of Bible Agencies International, DOOR plays a vital role in combating “Gospel poverty” among the Deaf, empowering communities to flourish spiritually while preserving their unique linguistic and cultural identity. Hear their story on this episode of Missions Today!
This week on Missions Today: Crossroads Prison Ministry is a faith-based organization dedicated to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with incarcerated individuals and helping them grow as disciples. Its mission is to glorify God by fulfilling the Great Commission inside prisons, offering Bible studies, mentorship, and spiritual encouragement to those behind bars. The ministry believes that no sin is too great for God’s forgiveness and that through Christ, lives can be transformed, allowing inmates to become productive members of society and contributors to God’s kingdom. By equipping volunteers to mentor and disciple prisoners, Crossroads seeks to bring hope, healing, and a biblical worldview to those impacted by crime and incarceration. Learn more on this episode of Missions Today!!
Bibles for China is a nonprofit ministry dedicated to providing God’s Word to Christians in rural China, equipping believers and lay leaders with Scripture to strengthen their faith and ministry. With over a million bibles distributed, Bibles for China continues to take God's Word to people in need in China and in mandarin speaking regions of the world. Hear the story on this episode of Missions Today.
From an early age, he was fascinated with the stories of missionaries. In college he was challenged to pray that the Lord would put a country on his heart. He had no desire to fulfill the “American Dream” but rather his desire was to “go to the hard places and do hard things” for the Kingdom. Hear the powerful story of this young man who has committed his life to the call and cause of Christ. That and more on this episode of Missions Today.
It is said that 1 in 8 Christians around the world are facing persecution. Just a few years ago, that number was 1 in 10. Persecution and suffering of our brothers and sisters in Christ is on the rise. Join us this week as we hear the story of Jeremy Frith and his organization Barnabas AID. They are working to help persecuted Christians and the suffering Church around the globe. Helping the persecuted and suffering church on the next episode of Missions Today.
Imagine planning to study politics, run for office and ultimately become president and then ending up on the mission field in North Africa! That is just a bit of the story of our guest this week who now runs an organization that focuses on making sure the local church is actively involved in mission work around the globe. Hear his powerful story on this episode of Missions Today!
The saying about sending missionaries used to be “from here (the West) to there (everywhere else)”. But with the move of the Church from the West to the Global South, Asia and Africa, we now hear the phrase “from everywhere to everywhere”. Missionaries are truly being sent out from nations all over the world. This week on Missions Today, we’ll learn more about that as we talk with a young man who leads an organization focused on sending Latin American missionaries to Afghanistan and beyond. Hear his powerful story on this episode of Missions Today.
For information on Reflejo
Regent Park…it was named “Detroit’s Most Dangerous Zip Code” in 2011. Now, it is being reclaimed, rebuilt and empowered through the work of many people and through the ministry of LifeBUILDERS Detroit. Join us this week as we speak with one of the young leaders of this impactful and life-changing organization. That’s on this episode of Missions Today.
For more info on LifeBUILDERS Detroit
One of the leading reasons that missionaries don’t make it to the field is the fear of not being able to raise and handle all the financial needs that accompany a move abroad. This week on Missions Today, we look at an organization that is helping over 1200 missionaries in 101 countries keep it all straight to the glory of God! That and more, on the next episode of Missions Today!
For Information on Modern Day Missions
For over 30 years, Mission Discovery has been finding just the right mission trips for people who desire to help those in need. One of their discoveries has been that many of those who go on these trips are changed even more than those they went to help. Some are even finding Jesus in the midst of missions. That and more, on this episode of Missions Today!For more information on Mission Discovery
Some 80 million people around the globe need wheelchairs but don't have access to one. This weekend on Missions Today, Nuka Hart of Free Wheelchair Mission joins me to talk about how they are providing quality wheelchairs to people in need in over 90 countries. These wheelchairs not only meet the physical needs of the people they serve, these wheelchairs are given in the name of Jesus, providing hope and love. Hear more about this incredible story on this episode of Missions Today.
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He came to Christ in college and almost immediately felt a call to missions. He and his family began a work in Chihuahua with the Tarahumara people who had moved from the mountains to the city. Through bible study, discipleship, church planting and leadership programs, they have seen miraculous things happen in the lives of these people. Hear more about this incredible story on this episode of Missions Today.
He never planned to be in missions, but God had plans for him. He and his family served for over a decade in countries throughout Africa. Then he came back to the states and was asked to lead an organization dedicated to Sunday School and Family Empowerment. Here how this Call to Serve is now impacting children and families across Africa! That’s on this episode of Missions Today!
Family, it’s something that many children around the globe do not have. This weekend on Missions Today we’ll dig into the work and outreach of Family Life Missions. Founded in 1993, this organization, working in the heart of Honduras, is seeking to bring hope, health and stability to families, with the church leading the way. Their mission is to partner with the Lord, working to transform the lives of Honduran children and families through family preservation, education, child protection and foster care. Family Life Missions, on this episode of Missions Today!
For more information on Lisa Steele
In just two years, Mischelle Manis has seen God do some amazing things through the lives and work of women missionaries with Reaching Souls. What began with a few women in Cuba, now totals 332 missionaries in a dozen locations around the globe. From Zambia to Mexico and SE Asia to Kenya, Mischelle and her team are making an impact for the kingdom. Hear more of her story and their stories on this episode of Missions Today!!
For information about Reaching Souls International