In this episode of The Go and Send Podcast, Cody and Mike sit down with Ted Esler, President of Missio Nexus. Ted traded a thriving computer consultancy for the mission field after a single Sunday morning blew his world open — and that was just the beginning.
In this episode of The Go and Send Podcast, Cody and Mike sit down with Ted Esler, President of Missio Nexus. Ted traded a thriving computer consultancy for the mission field after a single Sunday morning blew his world open — and that was just the beginning. He spent a decade with Pioneers in the Balkans, planting a church in post-war Bosnia among Serbs, Croats, and Bosnian Muslims, and has spent the years since leading one of North America's largest mission networks. Along the way, he's picked up a PhD, published a book on why mission agencies struggle to innovate, and never stopped coding.
This conversation covers a lot of ground: why a third of the world still has no access to the gospel, how AI is about to close the Bible translation gap and simultaneously challenge our understanding of what it means to be human, and the story of a man named Milenko — a Serb wounded in the siege of Sarajevo — whose path to Jesus had nothing to do with programs or strategy. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to bring your skills, your career, and your curiosity into the Great Commission, Ted's story is a compelling place to start.
Contact us at goandsend@sonsetsolutions.org
Resources & Links:
00:00 -- Introduction
01:09 -- What Gives You the Greatest Urgency in Global Missions?
01:33 -- A Third of the Planet Has No Reasonable Access to the Gospel
02:18 -- Worlds A, B, and C: A Framework for the Unreached
04:17 -- Where Did the Joshua Project's 2% Threshold Come From?
05:58 -- Ted's Background: MIS Degree, Fortune 500, and Starting a Consultancy Overnight
07:34 -- A Retired Missionary, a Weekly Breakfast, and a Mind Blown Open
08:22 -- The Perspectives Course and Hearing John Piper for the First Time
10:04 -- If You Really Believe the Gospel, It Changes How You Spend Your Life
12:18 -- The Hardest Part of Leaving: Trading a High Income to Take His Kids Into a War Zone
13:53 -- Counsel for Anyone Facing Opposition to a Missions Call
16:14 -- Heading to the Balkans With Pioneers
16:28 -- Stuck in No Man's Land Between Croatia and Serbia
18:19 -- Language Immersion: Six Kids, Two Families, One Three-Bedroom Apartment
20:03 -- Church Planting in Croatia While Waiting for the Siege of Sarajevo to Lift
21:27 -- Into Bosnia After the Dayton Peace Accords
22:05 -- Obstacles to the Gospel in a War Fought With Religious Language
24:00 -- Planting a Church for Serbs, Croats, and Bosnian Muslims
26:00 -- The Story of Milenko: A Mortar Shell, a Bus Ride, and a Closed Door
29:05 -- A Year of Watching — and a Letter of Introduction
31:42 -- Moving to Canada, Seminary, and 13 Years Leading Pioneers USA
34:21 -- How Pioneers Grew From 125 to 3,500 People
36:07 -- An Email Ted Almost Deleted — and the Job That Described Him to a T
38:58 -- What Is Missio Nexus?
43:35 -- Ted's Book: The Innovation Crisis
46:55 -- Jesus Is the Innovator of All
50:33 -- A Concrete Example: An Ovulation App and the Gospel in India
54:10 -- AI Is Already Closing the Bible Translation Gap
54:48 -- AI, Human Identity, and the Imago Dei
59:06 -- Tower of Babel, Pentecost, and Real-Time AI Translation
01:03:07 -- UBI, the Protestant Work Ethic, and the Threat to Human Dignity
01:05:05 -- A Third of Us: The International Day of Prayer for the Unreached
01:07:00 -- Recommended Resources
01:08:17 -- How to Connect With Missio Nexus
01:08:46 -- Closing
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Website: https://www.sonsetsolutions.org