On Mission
On Mission is a podcast that explores personal mission in the lives of leaders in ministry, community, and business. Each episode features a leader dedicated to pursuing a life of excellence, service, and eternal significance.
Episodes
April 29, 2025 • 54 mins
This episode’s guest, Mr. Randy Tanis, is closely linked with Maranatha and Watertown, having graduated from MBU and having served as youth pastor at Calvary Baptist Church for 21 years. Originally, Randy came to college to play football, but then “surrendered to stay.” Working with Neighborhood Bible Time for three summers, he was drawn into youth ministry. He and host Dr. Matt Davis reminisce about how that decision remains the p...
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April 22, 2025 • 54 mins
Jamison Coppola, Government Relations Director for American Association of Christian Schools, and host Dr. Matt Davis unite in this informative episode of OnMission to probe a topic of obvious mutual concern—religious liberty, especially as it relates to Christian education and traditionally-held Christian principles. They explain the implausibility of legislators and staff predicting all ramifications of proposed bills, especially...
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April 15, 2025 • 47 mins
Recent Artist Series soloist, master class instructor, and chapel speaker Dr. David Parker adds this episode of OnMission to the roster. Contrary to stereotypical expectations, Dr. Parker’s exuberant laugh and unpretentious demeanor convey genuine warmth and belie his professional expertise that has afforded him invitations to perform and teach nationally and abroad, including opportunity to sing in a backup ensemble for renowned I...
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April 8, 2025 • 46 mins
Evangelist Glen Shank, whom former classmate and host Dr. Matt Davis knows as Shorty, served as a Maranatha representative for several years and as an assistant pastor for twelve. The Lord used both positions to gradually direct him into his present ministry. When asked his mission, he dedicated a week of intentional reflection, examining his life verse and “encapsulating” it into a comprehensive statement which he shares on the po...
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April 1, 2025 • 46 mins
In this podcast interview, host Dr. Matt Davis and Dr. Charles Plummer, Maranatha’s Human Resources director, discover they share common experiences of bagging groceries and playing trombone, albeit their trombone explorations ended differently. Trombone performance and music were Dr. Plummer’s profession and passion. With a doctorate in musical arts in pedagogy and literature, he taught, played professionally, composed, and arrang...
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March 25, 2025 • 59 mins
Advancing as a manager with Martin Marietta Corporation after college, Dr. Carl Herbster became convicted of the need to invest his life in something of greater eternal merit. His mission became “to serve God and to help other people serve God.” Dr. Herbster and host Dr. Matt Davis review the varied ministries Dr. Herbster’s mission has included—from early days leading a fledgling Christian school, to the multi-faceted ministry of ...
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March 18, 2025 • 50 mins
Having defined his mission in an earlier podcast, Mr. Sam Brock, Executive director of Ironwood Christian Camp, returns with host Dr. Matt Davis to analyze parachurch ministries and their partnership with independent local churches. They clearly acknowledge the primacy of the church in God’s plan and the role of parachurch organizations to serve the church, but note the challenges that can threaten affiliations. Dr. Davis outlines ...
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March 11, 2025 • 46 mins
MBU associate professor Janet Tschida, regales host Dr. Matt Davis with the story of her delayed music education and the setback that threatened it. She explains her mission saying, “I remember in college thinking … what does God want me to do … where … and with whom … I was missing the fundamental question … who does God want me to be.” Having established her God-intended identity, she says her mission is “to encourage those in m...
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February 4, 2025 • 54 mins
Dan Bjokne joined MBU as Director of Development in May 2024. In this lively interview, he explains to host Dr. Matt Davis how he can trace God’s hand in his life, from his first job in a reconditioned container factory to his “reconditioned” (reborn) soul as a public-school teacher, to his repurposed life serving in multiple ministries. Referencing Exodus 17, Dan describes his mission by saying, “I just want to be Aaron. I just wa...
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December 24, 2024 • 46 mins
The scenario presented in this episode of On Mission is the following: a teen boy with no Christian background is saved while reading a gospel tract, immediately seeks a Bible-preaching church, and eventually becomes a preacher. Who would write that narrative? Only God. And that is guest Dr. Oliver’s story.
Dr. Oliver, a pastor and Maranatha’s new board chair, discusses with host Dr. Matt Davis his mission to preach. They explore...
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December 17, 2024 • 51 mins
Are you a high school student worried about what to do next? Take heart. In this podcast episode Paul Brown explains steps the Lord used to guide him to an answer to that dilemma, an answer that surprised him, one that would take him from a business major in a community college to a physical education major in a small Christian college and then to his current position as Maranatha’s athletics director and women’s basketball coach.
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December 10, 2024 • 43 mins
Sometimes personal needs direct career choices, as MBU Assistant Professor Aria Saunders explains in this podcast episode. Aria pursued a master’s degree in science and biomedical engineering with an emphasis in assistive technologies and served as research coordinator in a lab specializing in developing medical equipment for people with disabilities. She focused her research primarily on type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease whic...
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November 19, 2024 • 49 mins
Ministry often includes the unexpected, as Pastor Dan Pelletier recounts in this episode of On Mission podcast. Having served from the East Coast of the United States to a tiny island in Micronesia, Dan’s heart is entrenched in youth and Christian camp ministries. However, when a conference center he directed closed, the Lord provided lodging in the steeple of Hamilton Square Baptist Church in the heart of San Francisco. Then, thro...
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October 29, 2024 • 48 mins
Dr. Matt Davis welcomes Jon Bladine, Director of Longview Camp in Arcade, New York, as his guest on this episode of On Mission. Jon discusses how the Lord guided him to camp ministry, the skills that have been beneficial, and those he had to acquire, as well as the challenge of revitalizing a struggling ministry. Out of college, Jon had plans to be a missionary pilot; his journey may resonate with those who have undergone training ...
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October 22, 2024 • 52 mins
Join Dr. Matt Davis as he talks with retired chaplain Lt. Col. Scott Nupson on this episode of On Mission. Mr. Nupson represents the Associated Gospel Churches Chaplaincy, a tool of the local church to endorse and send chaplains into limited access institutions (all branches of the military, Civil Air Patrol, Veterans Affairs, police, fire, federal prisons) in order to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Besides his career as a ch...
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October 15, 2024 • 47 mins
In this episode of On Mission, Dr. Matt Davis gets to know 2010 graduate and MBU's new assistant athletic director and soccer coach, Jarid Lawson. In the fourteen years since graduating college, the Lord has kept the Lawson family on the move: from student teaching and meeting his wife in Missouri, to teaching, coaching and starting a family in Arizona, to Montana to be near family for a time, to his current role at MBU. In each pl...
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October 8, 2024 • 46 mins
Dr. Matt Davis talks with Maranatha’s own nursing faculty member, Dr. Sarah Urban, on this episode of On Mission. With years of experience as a nurse, Dr. Urban has dedicated herself to nursing education, driven by the goal of training nurse leaders. Dr. Urban talks about the satisfaction of teaching and the excitement of watching her students succeed in the healthcare field. She discusses the many paths available to students after...
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September 24, 2024 • 39 mins
In this episode of On Mission, Dr. Matt Davis sits down with Dr. David Canedy, Deputation Director of Baptist World Mission (BWM). A former accountant, Dr. Canedy’s professional skills and pastoral gifts have been faithfully utilized by God in his current position to assist local churches in sending out missionaries. He discusses the process of missionary deputizing and board appointment, with a focus on BWM’s criteria for candidat...
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September 17, 2024 • 56 mins
On this episode of On Mission, Dr. Matt Davis speaks with Pastor Ron Perry of Faith Baptist Church in Folsom, California. Pastor Perry shares poignant life lessons from his experience as a pastor, police chaplain, husband, and father. One key he shared is the involvement of his wife and their entire family in church ministry. Pastor Perry shares his unique gifting of relational shepherding, and how it has played a large role in how...
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July 23, 2024 • 50 mins
In this episode of On Mission, Dr. Matt Davis speaks with Mark Cover, Co-CEO at Hines in Houston, Texas, where he has spent his career overseeing real estate acquisition, development and operations for Hines’ Southwest Region. Mr. Cover shares insights from working across cultures to build everything from community apartment complexes to billion-dollar stadiums; and how his unique skill set and personal mission to please the Lord t...
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