Medina Focus

For many who work among Middle Eastern people in North America, there is a natural progression toward imagining what it would be like to live abroad and minister in the home countries of their friends. But how to gain the confidence it would take to take such a big cross-cultural step. Our guests for this podcast lead Vision Trips into various Middle Eastern countries on a regular basis. We asked Kathy and Insaf to describe what their trips look like and how they decide who to invite. They've even offered their contact information to post here to allow you the opportunity to join them! Kathy Giske kathygiske@yahoo.com 425-770-3793 Insaf S. insafsafou@gmail.com 416-274-2949

Nate and Brian talking about what they're looking forward to at Merge Conference in September.

What could be more innovative than an entire culture being affected by the gospel? Perhaps not many of us would think of Diaspora ministry as being particularly innovative, but it is still a relatively new field compared to the efforts we put into sending workers overseas. Today, we welcome Paul Dzubinski and Steven Spicer of the Ralph Winter Launch Lab to help us walk through some of the current innovative strategies they're seeing employed.

There's a new generation of innovative organizations that train up workers to go to the nations, and helps send them there. They are also placing workers in North America, where they will contribute to the dynamic interaction between domestic and international outreach. We're pleased to have two guest co-founders to share stories of their organizations' birth. Bobby with GoTEN (Go To Every Nation), and Matt with Forefront Experience are ready to help build out diaspora outreach centers in cities across the country.

Founder of Global Frontier Missions, Grant Haynes, shares some of the experiences and struggles of his students as they learn how to effectively impact the lives of Muslims in their community with the love of Jesus. This is a great resource for anyone who would like to learn from others with more experience, who will walk alongside you as you apply the concepts in a Muslim community.

Nate and Brian are pleased to welcome three veterans to international student ministry among Muslims. Jake is on staff at Central Christian Church in Tempe, Arizona and intentionally connects with students on the ASU campus. Liz and Jonathan work with Chi Alpha Ministries on a large state campus in Washington State. Together, they offer great insights on student ministry from their years of experience.

Muslim refugees looking for work often move away from the city they were initially resettled in to find jobs in meat packing plants in smaller towns. Fred and Joe join us in this episode to share stories of how they minister in these marketplace settings.

In this episode, Brian helps to introduce a great new word picture, “gospel remittances,” referring to the ways that the good news travels on the relationships between Muslims in the diaspora and their family in homelands. Carlos and Tim outline a trending outreach strategy involving social media, called Media to Movements (M2M). Imagine not being able to travel back to the country you've been called to work because of the pandemic, but working to reach them over the internet instead. How would you do this for an orality-based people group?

This episode we interview two leaders in the discussion on Honor and Shame: Special guests: Syed Ibn Syed and Audrey Frank. Audrey Frank is an author, speaker, storyteller. She and her family have spent over 20 years living and working among Muslims in North Africa, the Middle East, and beyond. She has three degrees in communication, intercultural studies and theology, She specializes in the impact of the honor-shame worldview on Muslim women and their journey to Christ. Audrey is the author of Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World. You can learn more about her at www.audreyfrank.org, Syed Ibn Syed is a former Muslim from India. He has been sharing the good news of Christ with Muslims for twenty-five years and 15 of those in the Arabian Peninsula. He has a Bachelor's in theology and a Master's degree in Philosophy & Religion. He has written an account of his own testimony in his book, Try Me, I am Jesus.

Brian and Nate explore how ministry among the diaspora in North America is extended back to home countries. Special guests, Susan and Josh, share stories of how their own local ministries have overflowed into global influence.

Brian and Nate reflect on a year of collaborative conversations in this summary reprise of memorable moments with guests in 2020. Discovering common trends give us insights into new topics for the next year.

Samantha shares about her experience in trauma care.

Trevor shares how he finds language speakers from countries that are hard to enter for cross-cultural workers. Though they are now in diaspora in the United States, they are uniquely qualified to help as consultants in projects where the Bible is being translated into their mother tongue.

Aaron describes the difference it has made to switch from holding their ESL classes at a church building to working with learners in their homes within the high density Arab Muslim environment around him.

Jenifer describes how she creatively accesses her local refugee community by coaching community college students to connect with Somali students who are bridge builders as generation 1.5 in their diaspora context.

Nicole shares about how belonging to a non-traditional, micro-church has expanded her outreach beyond the Arabic-speaking community, and of her insights about "imposter syndrome."

Ryan shares about how he helps church-goers build cross-cultural competencies by bringing them with him to visit his refugee friends in Texas.

Marie shares with us about her journey of God leading her to reach the Muslim community in Alaska.

This week on the MEDINA podcast, Dave tells us about his experience mobilizing Latinos to go to Central Asia.

Candace tells us about her work with MUPPIES in the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, learn what MUPPIES are.

Steve shares about his experiences moving to a new city to serve others in various Muslim ministries and to introduce the key need for trauma care in all that we do. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and ideas for future interviews. Interactivity is our primary goal in presenting this podcast. We're after the richness of "tribal" relational dynamics that will encourage and advance our common passions. Write us at medinafocus@vision59.com.

Brandon shares about his work with The Guild in Little Arabia - a training program/ministry community with glocal focus. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and ideas for future interviews. Interactivity is our primary goal in presenting this podcast. We're after the richness of "tribal" relational dynamics that will encourage and advance our common passions. Write us at medinafocus@vision59.com.