In this episode of The Go and Send Podcast, Cody and Mike sit down with Doug Weber, the Communications Team Leader at SonSet Solutions. Doug spent over two decades serving as a missionary with HCJB World Radio in Ecuador — using his electrical engineering background to keep shortwave transmitters on the air while he and his wife Ruth planted churches in the mountains outside of Quito.
In this episode of The Go and Send Podcast, Cody and Mike sit down with Doug Weber, the Communications Team Leader at SonSet Solutions. Doug spent over two decades serving as a missionary with HCJB World Radio in Ecuador — using his electrical engineering background to keep shortwave transmitters on the air while he and his wife Ruth planted churches in the mountains outside of Quito. One of those nights, an angry mob threatened to burn them out. Only an unbelieving husband stood between them and the crowd — and that moment became a spiritual anchor Doug returned to through every hard season that followed.
He also shares two remarkable stories from his time at SonSet Solutions: A Christian radio station director in Africa who let Muslim imams advertise on his station and saw it lead people to Jesus, and 3,600 solar-powered radios held up for seven months by COVID, arriving in a Ugandan refugee camp at exactly the right moment. If you've ever wrestled with leaving a good career for ministry, waited on the Lord longer than felt comfortable, or wondered whether stories can really change anything — this one is for you.
Contact us at goandsend@sonsetsolutions.org
Resources & Links:
00:00 -- Introduction
00:39 -- Why Storytelling Is So Important in Missions
02:29 -- How Communications People Can Plug Into Ministry
03:00 -- God's Preparation: Looking Back at the Seeds He Plants
03:40 -- 6th Grade: A Broken X-Ray Machine and a Story That Stuck
04:35 -- High School: Friends Coming to Christ Through Evangelistic Musicals
06:03 -- Mexico Mission Trip: Preaching His First Sermon and Meeting His Wife
08:21 -- Engineering at Hughes Aircraft and Sharing the Gospel at Work
09:09 -- His Wife Ruth's Prayers and the Gradual Turn Toward Missions
11:01 -- The Hesitancy: Being a Pastors Kid and Seeing the Backside of Ministry
12:49 -- Leaving a Fast-Tracked Career for the Unknown
14:56 -- How the Decision Came Together: Mission Conferences and the Tug of the Lord
16:02 -- Urbana 87: Exploring Every Kind of Mission Opportunity
18:11 -- Why They Felt Called to HCJB and Skills-Based Ministry
19:49 -- Visiting Ecuador and Seeing the Ministry Firsthand
20:15 -- What HCJB Was: Radio, Hospitals, and Shortwave Broadcasting Around the World
22:08 -- Getting to Work: Doug in the Audio Department, Ruth Editing Reel-to-Reel Tapes
25:20 -- Flexibility in Ministry: Using Your Skills and Adapting as Needs Change
25:58 -- Getting Into Church Planting in Quito
27:12 -- How Teresa Started a Church From a Kids Club in the Park
28:09 -- Parents Ask to Be Taught the Bible Too: The First Church Is Born
29:00 -- Moving to PIFO and Joining the Church Planting Network
31:05 -- El Teblon: The Community the Church Had Tried to Reach for a Decade
34:00 -- The Night the Threat Came: "They're Coming to Burn Us"
38:57 -- Staying When Every Instinct Said Run
40:21 -- What Actually Happened That Night: An Unbeliever Who Stood Up for Them
44:17 -- God Using an Unrighteous Man to Protect His People
45:53 -- The Takeaway: Using El Teblon as a Faith Anchor Through Every Hard Season
47:44 -- Leading HCJB Through Financial Crisis: Layoffs, Fundraising, and Hard Decisions
48:03 -- Returning to the US: Family Needs and Sensing the Lord's Release
50:20 -- Coming to SonSet Solutions and a Role That Took a Curve
51:31 -- The Role of Storytelling and Communications in Missions
52:09 -- Story From Africa: Muslim Imams, a Christian Radio Station, and Unexpected Fruit
55:42 -- Story From COVID: 3,600 Radios, Seven Months of Waiting, and God's Perfect Timing
59:14 -- What the Lord Was Doing All Along in Uganda
01:00:26 -- Encouragement for Anyone Sensing a Call to Ministry
01:01:48 -- What to Do While You Wait: Prayer, Fellowship, and Active Ministry
01:03:43 -- Recommended Resources: Missionary Biographies and Mountain Rain
01:05:27 -- How to Get Connected With SonSet Solutions
01:06:34 -- Closing
To learn more about SonSet Solutions, go to our website or follow us on social media @SonSetSolutions.
Website: https://www.sonsetsolutions.org