This episode ignites a passionate conversation about bridging the gap between the mission force and mission field, highlighting collaborative efforts to reach unreached communities. Our guests share their inspiring journeys and innovative approaches that combine faith, skills, and community engagement for sustainable impact.
• Discussing the vision of reaching unreached people groups
• Introduction to Switchboard as a connector for skilled individuals
• Julie’s journey from consulting to mission work
• Bob’s architectural focus on faith-based community projects
• Peter’s mission in Kenya and the concept of a mission hub
• Exploring sustainability through community engagement and tourism
• Emphasizing the importance of collaboration in mission efforts
• Calling listeners to engage their skills in mission work
Check out these websites!
www.globalswitchboard.io/
https://mappsfoundation.org/invest-for-the-unreached-of-africa/
Follow @unreachedpodcast on Instagram for more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven,
with members from every tribe,tongue, people and language
standing in the throne roombefore the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over7,000 unreached people groups
around the world.
For the last six years, myfamily and friends have been on
a journey to find, vet and fundthe task remaining.
(00:28):
Come journey with us to theends of the earth as we share
the supernatural stories of Godat work for the men and women he
has called to reach theunreached.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hey friends, thanks for tuning into this episode of
the Unreached Podcast Today.
We have a packed house in thestudio.
We have four people who haveliterally come together from
around the world throughswitchboard to work on a project
in Africa that is bridging thegap between the mission force
and the mission field.
So let's jump into theUnreached Podcast studio with
(01:03):
Dustin and the crew and see whatGod has for us today.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Hello friends, welcome back to the Unreached
podcast.
As you know, we are in ourfourth season and we are
recording one of our first fewepisodes this year.
Clinton and I talked about ourcadence for the podcast and
we've decided to move from anevery other week cadence to a
monthly cadence.
I'm going to give our audiencemore time to really enjoy each
episode as well.
(01:29):
Today is super unique.
We're going to have more peopleon the mic than we've ever had.
We have four voices today andthis is kind of a continuation
or a follow-up from season two,episode six of season two, when
we had Scott Eloquin fromSwitchboard on.
And, if you remember,globalswitchboardio is the
(01:49):
website where you as a Christian, as a kingdom-minded person,
can go in and you can build aprofile and you can share your
skillset with Switchboard.
What are you good at?
Are you good at accounting?
Are you good at finance?
Are you good at architecture,which we're going to get into
today Are you good at running abusiness?
And ministries and missions,organizations and parachurches
(02:09):
and even companies all over theworld can go in and they can
search.
They need a graphic designer,web designer, they need someone
to do marketing, they needsomeone to write content and
they can find each other throughSwitchboard, and so it's a
great technology.
And then, just recently,heather and Scott no-transcript
(02:54):
the recipients of theconversation and hear how
Switchboard truly made adifference in their lives and in
the lives of those that they'reserving.
So why don't we start withJulie?
Ladies, first Give us a littlebit about your background, your
involvement with Switchboard,and maybe tee this up for us a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Sure, Well, if Scott Eloquin was here he would say
I'm the poster child forSwitchboard, because I had a
career in consulting,implementing computer systems
for many years with CNN, ErnstYoung, all those and I decided
after a lot of prayer to stayhome with my children, raise my
children.
But I had a heart to serve and Ikind of thought well, how do
(03:36):
you serve others?
I guess I'll go back to medicalschool so I can be a medical
missionary, because I really hada heart for others.
And how on earth could I useimplementing computer systems to
help the body of Christ?
Like that's just preposterous.
And so I went to Don Ellsworthhere at Austin Ridge and was
kind of explaining my backgroundand how preposterous it is to
use systems implementations toserve the gospel.
(03:57):
And he said I think you oughtto meet a guy named Scott
Eloquent.
So the next thing, you know,I'm dropping out of my prereqs
for med school and joining acompany called Switchboard which
was building a platform toconnect everyday believers like
you, like me, with ministriesaround the world that have needs
.
So today I am using mybackground and expertise in
(04:20):
implementing computer systems tofurther the gospel, which is
something I thought wasimpossible.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
That's outstanding.
I love that.
And through that platform yougot to know Bob.
And so Bob Galloway is here.
Bob is an architect.
He has an architecture firmhere in town.
Bob, why don't you telleverybody a little bit about
yourself?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Sure, moved to Austin in 96 and started a firm with
my business partner, which wasmy buddy from school.
We started a business, didn'tnecessarily start out to
specialize but we were blessedto get a few church projects to
begin with.
That's where our network offriends and acquaintances were,
and so over the years, majority,probably 70, 80% of our work
(05:00):
has been in the faith-basedworld churches.
Wow, that's fantastic Notnecessarily worship buildings
but classroom buildings Done alot of master planning work with
either a church moving to a newcampus or a church on the
campus that never had a masterplan or bought abutting land or
any number of reasons thatplanning was important.
(05:20):
So over the years been blessedto do a lot of church projects
here in Austin.
So the original firm wasJackson Galloway, now it's FGM
Architects.
We're connected with a largerfirm network out of Chicago and
St Louis but it's sort ofbusiness as usual here in Austin
for us Still do a lot offaith-based work in the Central
Texas area.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Perfect.
Well, thanks for being here andsharing your story.
And then through Switchboardand Scott and Julie and now
Bob's involved and you I guessyou created a profile on
Switchboard.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Possibly you put yourself out there I did yeah,
yeah At Julie's encouragement,yeah, I'd never, heard of
Switchboard before.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Okay, so Clint and I created a profile when we did
the episode with Scott, so hewas sitting here.
We created a profile.
I got a hit and got connectedto a physician in the Middle
East.
So I've seen the technology atwork.
You saw the technology at workas well, and we're coming to
Peter.
I know everybody wants to hearfrom Peter and you do Trust me.
(06:20):
But, bob, what happened nextfor?
Speaker 4 (06:21):
you after you created it.
Well, I actually got connectedwith a project in the
Philippines, did a small projectthere.
I had previously not a part ofthe Switchboard Network, had
done a project in Uganda, Okay,so it really caught my attention
.
When the opportunity camethrough with the Kenyan project
that I felt like, well, that'spretty close next door and so I
(06:43):
said yeah, tell me more about it, love it.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Okay, the guest of honor.
Who's all the way visiting fromNairobi to Austin, texas?
Peter, please tell everyoneabout yourself and give us a
little gist.
Who's Peter?
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Peter is, I just turned 16.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
He just turned 16?
.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
But with 40 years experience.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I get it.
You're a comedian too.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
That's fantastic yeah .
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Just a little gray in your beard, just a little like
me.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
I hear you.
Just some paintwork, somepaintwork.
I'm married.
It's March 15th this year It'llbe 28 years.
Congratulations Married.
I have four daughters.
So we live in Nairobi and mywife is in the corporate world.
She runs businesses.
We travel quite a bit.
We enjoy traveling.
These days we mix it businessand ministry Perfect.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Perfect.
Thanks for sharing a little bitabout yourself.
Thank you.
Please tell everyone how thisstory kind of got going from
your point of view.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
Well, it's very accidental how I met Switchboard
.
I've been involved in thecorporate world for many years
in the social development workand consulting.
I've always wanted to mix faithand work, but it's not gone
very well for many years.
(08:04):
But it's not gone very well.
For many years I've been tocorporate jobs that I was
literally kicked out because ofsharing the gospel, and so I
began to ask the Lord what wouldbe the best way to still get to
live out my faith.
So a few years ago the Lordjust moved my heart to begin a
(08:25):
missions organization.
During my corporate years I dida lot of work amongst the remote
communities and I kept seeingsuch a great need.
So six years ago I founded themission organization MAPS, which
is M-A-P-S.
Maps, which is M-A-P-S, and webegan looking out for
(08:52):
communities that have a greatneed for the gospel.
Through several happenings, weended up in the northern part of
our country, a place calledTrukana.
So we started doing the workand planted some churches.
And then I got invited to aconference in thailand for
global leaders.
During the meeting I was in agroup, and part of the people
(09:13):
that were in the group was agroup from an organization
called tent makers internationalyes, it was we know them.
So that that's where everythingstarted.
And so, because I introducedmyself as a tent maker, because
I do tent making as I doministry, so I do consulting
(09:34):
work, so that I'm still in themarketplace, because part of our
ministry is being able to helppeople in the marketplace get
involved in missions, so I'm inthis meeting and they asked me
if I would be interested to jointhem and help them get an
office going in a row before theAfrican continent.
(09:55):
I said I'm not very sure aboutthat, but I will talk to you
once I get back home.
So I go back and I'm beginningto just search on the internet
tent makers.
But before I could put,international tent makers
network just came up andimmediately I just read what
(10:19):
they're doing.
They were just beginning theirproject, the switchboard, right,
exactly what they were tryingto put together.
Just before the conference I hadactually, uh, put together the
whole concept.
I wanted to do exactly exactlywhat they wanted they were doing
.
But I'm not an it, I'm not infrom there, I'm not, I'm not it
(10:41):
um, skilled, yeah.
So I knew that was going to bean uphill task.
So I quickly just reached outto them and things just began to
snowball.
I talked to Scott and finally amoment came and I was able to
put up my project and Bob wasable to just jump on it and we
(11:06):
began talking.
It's been a year and a half now.
We have a beautiful projectcoming up now.
In my sense, it's really amiracle how I got connected to
Switchboard and what's happeningnow that I've got to meet Bob.
It's been a dream.
I was telling Bob that 20 yearsago I dreamt about this project
(11:27):
and I even drafted how it'sgoing to be, but it took me that
long for God just to bringeverything together and to get
me the right person and theright team.
So I'm extremely excited, superhappy.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh, man, well, in God's perfect timing, oh,
perfect timing, yeah, I thinkimmediately.
If I go to the Bible, I thinkNehemiah.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
And I think all the prep work that he went through
while he was cupbearer, while hewas exiled, while he was there
and, if you think about, beforehe ever actually went and asked
for permission to go back, andbuild right, he had dreams.
He spent a ton of time inprayer.
And then he gathered all thenecessary documents he needed.
He had all of the documents forthe king to sign to allow him
(12:15):
to cross certain borders and toget the materials that he needed
.
He had gathered the rightfamily names and the right
partners he was going to need.
He was all ready, right.
So when his moment came right,it was go time.
And, man, you just remind me ofNehemiah.
Like you spent the time.
You had the dream, you had thevision, you put the pieces
together, but you patientlywaited for that moment, right?
(12:38):
And then, ironically, God tookyou to Thailand to meet a bunch
of Texans to build a project inyour home country.
That's fantastic.
Julie, back to you.
Give us your perspective onthis story, among other
switchboard stories.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I didn't know that story, peter.
I was listening intently,excited to hear I had no idea
that that's how you found tentmakers, and I haven't heard the
word tent makers in a while.
So these two are actually oldschool.
This is before we had theactual skills assessment and
this match was not made by analgorithm on a platform.
(13:16):
This is back when we weretesting the idea and I remember
meeting Peter.
I remember I was in a hotel roomin San Antonio for our first
Zoom and hearing his vision andhearing what he wanted to do and
remembering that Daryl hadserved on the elders board with
Bob Galloway, which reminded methat I had met his wife even
(13:37):
earlier than that, like 20 yearsago, and just thought she was
an amazing woman of God.
And I was like you know what?
I'm going to text Carol and seeif Bob is still.
I think I texted Daryl to makesure Bob was an architect, that
I remembered that properly, andthen I texted Carol and said,
hey, any chance your husbandwould be interested in this, and
she texted back I don't know,here's his email and so reached
(14:00):
out via email.
Since then, bob has filled outa proper skills assessment.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So reached out via email.
Since then, Bob has filled outa proper skills assessment.
Got it.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Things go through the platform and it's all fancy
with algorithms, but this isTentmakers, old school Got it.
This was two people beingconnected.
And I just I was thrilled whenBob said yes, and I think at
that time you mentioned you hadworked in Padere.
But I just thought what ablessing to have somebody that
understands a little bit of theculture, because we're very
careful with that and we don'twant our volunteers to come in
(14:29):
thinking they know everything.
And Bob came in with a humbleheart and seeking to understand
and even looking at the plansthat we saw today I was just
like wow, perfect match, god.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
So why don't you pick up from there for us, Bob, and
then we'll go back over to Peterto maybe explain this vision he
had?
But what happened in your worldfrom that moment on?
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, peter and I began trading emails just trying
to learn about the project andhis vision for that, and I don't
know if the sketch that Petersent me was the original sketch
or was one that was, you know, alittle bit more recent.
But Peter had had drawn out abit of a diagram for this campus
(15:13):
, this Mission Hub campus, thatvision that he had.
It described a whole series offacilities on a 20-acre campus.
Right now there's not a site,there's not a piece of land, and
so it's a theoretical 20-acrecampus right now.
But it's a master plan templateso that when the real site
(15:34):
comes along, then, you know,with a bit of adjustments and
considerations for maybe someunique features of that site,
then hopefully that 20-acrecampus template will be able to
be used again and again andagain, you know, hopefully, as
the vision gets repeated.
So we traded information.
(15:54):
I just began to fire questionsback at Peter Well, tell me
about this food stand, or tellme about this guest house, or
tell me about these resortvillas that you're thinking
about.
And I began to do what we callprogramming, which is really
just identifying what is theactivity that's going on here,
how is it supported, what kindof spaces or rooms are needed
(16:18):
for that and what their squarefootages are, what the
relationships, just whatarchitects do to begin a project
and start master planning asite.
And then we started drawingthings to scale.
Master planning a site, and thenwe started drawing things to
scale what Peter's ultimate goalis right now.
The number one objective is tocreate a virtual fly-through of
this campus.
(16:39):
Fly around.
I mean, we could have guessedand just put some buildings down
on the ground, but I couldn'tdo that without knowing that
there was a program there, thatthere was reality to the
footprints and to the massingand the spaces that we were
doing.
So we kind of went, building bybuilding, and there's 13
different unique facilities.
(17:00):
Some of them get repeated,because if it's a resort villa,
then there's a whole handful ofresort villas, but there's 13
unique buildings.
And so Peter was super patient,because I was.
You know, it took weeks andmonths for this to kind of go
from one building to the nextbuilding and we would trade
emails and Peter would say, well, yeah, that makes sense, but
(17:23):
have you thought about this?
And finally we worked our waythrough the buildings and now
they've been all modeled inthree-dimensional software.
They've all now been placed onthe campus and we're right at
the threshold of beginning therendering software to fly
through the campus.
Wonderful that's fantastic,okay.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So back to you, peter the visionary.
What's going on here?
What's the goal, what's thepurpose of this?
Speaker 5 (17:50):
When I actually got to start this ministry, I heard
very clearly from the Lord aboutthe book of Acts 17, about the
Macedonian call.
I had this call of peoplecalling him to come and help,
and I've been involved inmission efforts through our
church for many years beeninvolved in mission efforts
(18:14):
through our church for manyyears and even when I was in
campus.
One of the consistent thingthat I've had, especially when
you are talking to missionaries,is there is a calling of come
and help, come.
We have this need and that'show it it all started with our
first missionary.
So our ministry is working withindigenous missionaries so we
look and identify indigenouspeople to reach their own
(18:38):
communities, got it so while wewere praying, and so that's a
big story even how we got toidentify this missionary.
So we go out in this regioncalled Trucana.
He's among his people and he'sgoing about his own businesses,
but in his heart he has acalling in his heart and he has
(19:00):
always been praying before we goto him God, would you send
somebody to us, or to me,actually, so that I can reach my
own people?
I mean, we got to learn thislater.
This was his prayer, right, andso we come along and we find
him, and then we begin to walkwith him and finally we identify
(19:23):
his calling and he settles downand he plants a church amongst
this community.
And he plants a church amongstthis community and one of the
things that he tells us is thathe has a problem with his health
.
He's got this sickness for thelongest and he's not able to get
(19:52):
to hospital, but he will servethe Lord in the state he is in.
So this was my first time to bein that community.
I've never been there before,and so I'm listening to a lot of
these stories and stories ofchildren who are not going to
school because they don't have ameal in the morning and
therefore they can't stay in theschool.
(20:12):
You're hearing about girls whoare married at 15, forcefully
married at 15.
And you begin to hear a lot ofthese stories and they're
beginning to ask what can you do?
How can you help us?
Yes, the gospel is here andpeople are coming to faith, but
(20:33):
then how does God's love looklike?
And so it took me back again tothe scripture that God gave me.
You know the Macedonian callcome and help.
And so I remembered at thatpoint.
I now remembered that 20 yearsago I had that vision of having
a place, a facility, a programthat can be able to begin to
(21:00):
help bring dignity, because, youknow, the gospel is the only
thing that can bring dignity tohuman beings.
So the Lord helped me to puttogether my thoughts.
That's now what I shared withBob and who was able now to
bring it out in the fashion itis my idea.
(21:23):
With this project as acollaboration, it's what I call
a highly concentratedcollaboration project.
So it will help people who arecoming into missions to be able
to connect with this community,because within the project,
within this 20-acre project,there is a farm, there is a
(21:45):
school, there's a hospital,there is a resort that is ready
to use facilities formissionaries.
So if there's a group cominginto that area, the Lord is
leading them to minister in thatcommunity.
They don't have to think toomuch about infrastructure.
They just come and plug in andjust go.
(22:07):
They could be there for sixmonths, they could be there for
a year and just go.
They could be there for sixmonths, they could be there for
a year.
So it is meant to be like aplatform to go into the places
that the Lord leads differentmission actors that are directed
towards that community.
So the way we are doing it is,in a sense, which is you can
(22:27):
duplicate it, you can actuallytake it to another place in
Africa and, ideally, how we aretrusting all, it's going to work
.
These are high traffic missionroutes, so where there's a lot
of missionary work and effortgoing, we want to be a platform
(22:51):
which makes it easy for them,it's easy for everybody coming
into that community to serve theLord as the Lord is directing
them.
Okay, I've got a lot of threadsto pull on here.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
This is kind of like creating a tech stack to start a
new company, right.
It's like here's all the piecesyou need to start your company
right.
Here's your accounting softwarehere.
It's like here's all the piecesyou need to start your company,
here's your accounting software, here's your email system,
here's your internal comms,here's your website.
You're building that with realinfrastructure and I feel like
you've got a massive valueproposition to your community.
You're going to the communityand you say look for 20 acres, I
(23:24):
got you a hospital, I got you aschool, I've got you these
resources.
These are critical resourcesfor your community that are
going to level things up.
I mean, think about the amountof commerce that can come
through your community and dobusiness here if there's access
to good health care, if there'saccess to good education, right,
and I'm not sure what all thecomponents are, but, as I'm
hearing it, maybe mostimportantly access to living
(23:45):
water, right, and eternal hopeand someone there to really
build up and disciple thatcommunity and eternal hope and
someone there to really build upand disciple that community.
And then I go into this otherthread, and this other thread is
you've got groups like TMAI whohave these pastoral training
centers all over the world andthey're coming under indigenous
leaders and saying, hey, we justlike Bob, we want to hear you,
(24:06):
we want to listen.
What do you need?
What's going on here?
We're not coming in from theWest with all the big ideas and
how to do everything.
What do you need?
How do you reach your people?
Because you're talking aboutthese communities you're
starting in.
Have believers in them.
These are indigenous, localChrist followers with a real
heart to reach their people andthe peoples around them.
(24:29):
Which brings me to the episodewe did with Peter Swan in South
Sudan.
Right, they reached one group,then the three other groups and
now they're flying bush planesaround to the other groups.
Right, to do that.
But with this central track, bob, with this 20 acres, with these
critical facilities, man,you've got a hub.
You've got something reallyspecial that's going to draw
(24:50):
people to it.
You almost think of like youknow, got a hub.
You've got something reallyspecial that's going to draw
people to it.
You almost think of like theRoman's Road, not just the
scriptural version, but theactual version of like here's
your stop points.
Right, you're talking about theroutes the missionaries use.
Like I'm going to go from here,you know.
Then I got another five or sixdays to go to this one, and then
I've got a place to stay andI've got a place to rejuvenate.
I'm going to run into otherpeople.
Am I catching this?
(25:11):
Bob Is that kind?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
of weird.
Not only that, but think of itas, on the resource level,
you've got these folks coming inwho need a place to stay or to
work or to have a conference andall, and the funding that they
bring in to do those kinds ofthings is what undergirds and
underwrites the school and thehealth facilities and so forth.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
So you say that and I hear you on that, but for me,
funding isn't the problem here.
We just got to get this storyout and this vision out, and I
think funds are going to flow infor it.
I think there's a partnershipcomponent, right?
So, in the interest of a littlebit of time and you'll learn
this about me, peter I'mprobably too bold sometimes and
not afraid to ask what do weneed to take the next steps?
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Good question.
I think once we're through withthe model that Bob is working
on, we want to use it to cast avision.
Cast a vision to people who canjoin with us.
And the way it is is likemodular projects, where people
(26:16):
you can connect at differentlevels of the project.
Either at school level, if yourministry is into school
infrastructure, you can come inand help with that.
If you're in agriculture andyou've got skills you can bring
in, you can come and train thelocals how to do farming and
(26:37):
part of the extra produce willbe accessible to the community.
There's a water well we call ita borehole.
So if you're in that directionand you can help, our next level
will be making sure now that wecan actually take off in terms
(26:57):
of the different components ofthis project and get it moving.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
There's a movie in America called Field of Dreams.
You've heard of Field of Dreams?
Yeah, I think I have.
The concept is if you build itthey will come.
Yeah, if you build it they willcome right.
And this has a very Field ofDreams kind of a feeling to it,
although we're not trying topull baseball players out of the
afterlife here, butmissionaries out of the current.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
But you hit on something that was really good
earlier and I think it'ssomething that's impressive
about the sustainability of it.
So we do have to raise funds inorder to build it, but the
beauty of what Peter and Bobhave designed is that you have a
tourist part on one side thathelps fund the education and
agriculture on the other side.
And I think sustainability is abig buzzword in missions, for
(27:43):
good reason, especially inAfrica, because you've got to be
able to sustain yourself.
You don't want to constantlyraise funds.
So the way they designed thetourist, where you have the
hotel we don't call it a hotelthe guest house, and you have a
store where people can sellthings and then you have even
like a little fast food stop,because it's on the way to a
(28:06):
safari, like where tourists aregoing to be going on safari in
Africa and so just brilliantthat you can take, that you can
serve people as tourists andthen you can use those funds for
education and agriculture andto sustain a place that houses
missionaries.
That's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Wow, what a cool model.
Okay, so you're going to let usknow, as you kind of complete,
if you will, right, give us someimages, if you can, something
that we can share and keep ournetwork informed of.
In our nonprofit with Bless, wehave mission partners and we
have resource partners.
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
So, when you're ready to engagewith mission partners, which
(28:44):
would be, I would say, the otherorganizations that may be
sending teachers Okay, and maybe sending agricultural
component Okay, and may besending those pieces Right, we
need to share your story withthem, okay, right.
And then resource partners,which is a fancy way of saying
the people that will fund it.
Right, clinton, are so lucky tobe in the seat we're in and get
(29:05):
to talk to all these peoplethat we need to talk to, because
an amazing movement is a bonusright now, which is this whole
concept of what you talked aboutearlier, which is mobilizing
the marketplace, right, andbeing a light through your
company, right, so I don't needto like work 40, 50 hours a week
and then cut a check to thechurch and then that tithe be
(29:27):
the only money that goes tomissions, like I need to be
doing missions with every partof me all the time right, and
because a lot of thedemographics of Africa and where
you are.
There's venture capital firmsright now in the West who are
working with ultra high networth family offices to deploy
capital and bring commerce toAfrica.
(29:49):
Heron Ventures is one we did apodcast with.
There's a whole nothercomponent there to say, hey,
here's our model, we're lookingfor a site.
We kind of think this is a goodspot.
Do you have anything nearby?
If you do, how could we do thistogether?
How could it be a net accretivesolution for both of us?
(30:10):
Because if you do this, wherethey're investing is going to be
more valuable.
There's going to be a lot morereason for companies to grow
there and more talent to beattracted there in a farm system
which is a baseball term fordeveloping your own talent right
For bringing the kids that arethere up and equipping them to
be part of the solution.
(30:31):
Am I getting all this?
Yeah, sure You're getting itright.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Yeah, I think that's a way it is going to play out,
so that people can find how toconnect.
They can connect at what you'regoing to skills level.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
Bringing their skills , or you can come with your
resources, right and mission,resources, mission and resources
.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Yeah, is a church one of the buildings or a worship
center?
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Yes, there's several spaces.
The school itself has a largeauditorium.
The residential areas have acommons hall that could be used
for Sunday services.
There's meeting rooms in theguest house, so there's quite a
few opportunities for a varietyof different groups all at the
same time to do ministry.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah well, I mean, we know from stories on the pod
and just working around theworld a lot of churches.
So you said you planted somechurches in your past.
And a lot of churches.
When we think of a church plant, some people may think, okay, a
building was built and it hadthese things that were needed to
be a church.
But that's not necessarily whata church plant in Africa looks
like.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
This is a certain tree that everybody agrees to be
what a church plant in Africalooks like.
This is a certain tree thateverybody agrees to meet on here
, and I've been on such a tree.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Right yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
Yeah, and it's a vibrant church, vibrant.
Worship is so pure and sojoyful and you keep moving the
seats as the sun moves.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Oh, there you go.
It's a sundial church Becauseit may go on for hours, right?
Yeah, exactly, oh yeah, becauseit may go on for hours.
Yeah, exactly, oh yeah, fourhours it goes for hours, yeah.
But so a lot of these churchplants don't start out as a
building.
Yeah, which is probably how wewould start a lot of them in the
west, like, hey, let's build abuilding and then we'll call
that the church and we'll startfiguring out how we're going to
put people in it.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Yeah, these are we get the people.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
The lord gets them excited about what's going on
and then you start to see areason to eventually bring a
building and grow that church,and then that church can become
an Acts 1-8 launch ground rightto go out to the others around
it and what you're trying tocreate here, is that launch
ground that's sustainable andit's bringing jobs and it's
(32:33):
bringing commerce and it'sbringing more reasons to be
investing in that growingcommunity.
That's beautiful, man.
I mean for God to put that onyour heart 20 years ago and you
to feel very stuck in corporateAfrica we would say corporate
America here Corporate.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Africa Corporate Africa.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
And then just to stay faithful and prayerful and work
your way through it.
Speaker 5 (32:56):
Man.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
I commend you.
Speaker 5 (32:59):
You know it's been many years and I share with my
friends when we've been incorporate world and ask me what
exactly are you doing?
Why are you stuck there?
I mean it's kind of this neverleaves me.
I mean I try running but itjust keeps coming back to me.
But the Lord has helped me tobe able now to bring in my
(33:21):
skills.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
You tried to go to Tarshish and the Lord said go to
Nineveh.
Speaker 5 (33:24):
Yeah, and I have my training.
I have training.
My postgraduate is in strategicmanagement.
So one time I asked the Lordwhat is this training helpful in
the kingdom of God?
And so the Lord helped me tounderstand that the kingdom of
God.
And so the Lord helped me tounderstand that the kingdom of
God needs strategy andstrategists.
(33:46):
So I consider myself that theLord has helped me to bring
strategic thinking in missions,and so I do a lot of that in
this mission field.
So that's one of the projects.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I think we'll all consider you someone the Lord's
given some strategic thinking toafter hearing this.
Peter, this is very cool.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
You don't have to carry that opinion on your own,
yeah so I'm happy that I can beable to bring that on the table
and my prayer is that I'll beable to have as many people
organizations, marketplacebelievers to see their place in
(34:28):
ministry.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Because actually our ministry is trying to help
bridge that gap between themission force and the mission
field.
Clint's got his hands in theair over here.
He's worshiping and celebratingI think he just named the
episode.
The cool thing about getting todo the Unreached podcast is we
get to just tell these storiesand let God do his thing with
the listeners and whoever theydecide to share it with.
It's one of Clint and I'sgreatest pleasures and
privileges.
So, peter, to wrap up here, thequote you said that got Clint,
(35:04):
you know, hands in the air backhere was bridge the gap between
the mission field and themission force.
Bridge the gap between themission field and the mission
force.
Create a hub, create a centralspot, create a model that can be
replicated.
This is something that could bereally meaningful to the task
remaining to reaching unreachedpeople groups.
(35:25):
With that in mind, would youpray for our listeners, peter?
Would you just close us in aprayer today and know that we're
going to be praying for you andthis entire project and I'm
going to hope that I get plentyof follow-up and things that we
can be sharing, and I would bequite certain that you will find
some good connections from thisevent, and that will be in the
(35:48):
form of mission partners andresource partners.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
Thank you so much for having me on this podcast.
I really thank Switchboard andmy greatest friend, bob I'm
really grateful and for givingus this platform.
I believe this is part of thecollaboration that we're
building and we're grateful forwhat you're doing for the
(36:16):
kingdom.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
It's our pleasure.
It's our pleasure.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
So let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you,we're so grateful because times
and seasons, they belong to youand you place us where you have
us best and how we can serve you.
And we thank you, lord, for theway that you have just
orchestrated everything.
(36:41):
Two years ago, this was noteven in my dreams, not possibly
in the dream of anyone here.
But, god, you have made it sowork and we thank you, lord,
that you want us to work in yourvineyard together, hand in hand
, to work in your vineyardtogether, hand in hand.
And so we bring our skills, ourstrengths, our dreams, and we
(37:13):
just want to ask that you maybless the work of different
ministries that are laboringevery day and we ask, oh God,
that you'd give us fruit in thatwhich you put in our hands to
do.
Thank you, dear Lord, for thispodcast.
Ask you, god, that you continueto bless this platform, even as
they get the word out to God andthe stories, and so people may
(37:35):
be encouraged that you're atwork.
Thank you for many who aregiving in their time, in their
skills and in their time, and wejust ask for your blessings and
that, dear Lord, that thepeople that we're reaching out,
that this effort to God, weshall see in our generation, the
(37:56):
gospel reaching to thesecommunities and rich people
groups, and that we will seethem, the gospel reaching to
these communities, the EnrichedPeople groups, and that we will
see them turning to the Lord andbeginning to enjoy the
forgiveness and the grace thatwe ourselves have enjoyed
because the gospel came to us,and we just pray that, lord,
that you encourage us on the wayand that you cause us to be
(38:20):
faithful, which you have put inour hearts because it is your
work.
Thank you, lord, that you helpus to accomplish all that is in
your heart for these communitiesacross the world.
We give you praise and we thankyou because we pray in Jesus'
name.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, reminder everybody.
We give you praise and we thankyou because we pray in Jesus
name.
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
Alright, reminder everybody goto globalswitchboardio and fill
out your profile and take theirfancy new assessment and get
yourself out there.
Regardless of your skill set,regardless, somebody out there
is looking for you and you'vegot a role to play.
(39:01):
I say this a lot, right?
We're all a unique combinationof time, talent and treasure and
no one can play your role butyou.
Thank you for listening toUnreached.
Our sincere desire is that whatyou've heard today will cause
you to see the mission of Goddifferently and your role in it
more clearly.
If this adds value for you andwe hope it does would you please
(39:23):
rate and review the podcastwherever you listen.
Also, share with your family,your friends, your church, your
life group, small group dGroup,wherever you do life, and if you
want to connect with us, findus on Instagram at
unreachedpodcast, or email us atunreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven,
with members from every tribe,tongue, people and language
standing in the throne roombefore the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over7,000 unreached people groups
around the world.
For the last six years, myfamily and friends have been on
a journey to find, vet and fundthe task remaining.
(00:28):
Come journey with us to theends of the earth as we share
the supernatural stories of Godat work for the men and women he
has called to reach theunreached.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hey friends, thanks for tuning into this episode of
the Unreached Podcast Today.
We have a packed house in thestudio.
We have four people who haveliterally come together from
around the world throughswitchboard to work on a project
in Africa that is bridging thegap between the mission force
and the mission field.
So let's jump into theUnreached Podcast studio with
(01:03):
Dustin and the crew and see whatGod has for us today.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Hello friends, welcome back to the Unreached
podcast.
As you know, we are in ourfourth season and we are
recording one of our first fewepisodes this year.
Clinton and I talked about ourcadence for the podcast and
we've decided to move from anevery other week cadence to a
monthly cadence.
I'm going to give our audiencemore time to really enjoy each
episode as well.
(01:29):
Today is super unique.
We're going to have more peopleon the mic than we've ever had.
We have four voices today andthis is kind of a continuation
or a follow-up from season two,episode six of season two, when
we had Scott Eloquin fromSwitchboard on.
And, if you remember,globalswitchboardio is the
(01:49):
website where you as a Christian, as a kingdom-minded person,
can go in and you can build aprofile and you can share your
skillset with Switchboard.
What are you good at?
Are you good at accounting?
Are you good at finance?
Are you good at architecture,which we're going to get into
today Are you good at running abusiness?
And ministries and missions,organizations and parachurches
(02:09):
and even companies all over theworld can go in and they can
search.
They need a graphic designer,web designer, they need someone
to do marketing, they needsomeone to write content and
they can find each other throughSwitchboard, and so it's a
great technology.
And then, just recently,heather and Scott no-transcript
(02:54):
the recipients of theconversation and hear how
Switchboard truly made adifference in their lives and in
the lives of those that they'reserving.
So why don't we start withJulie?
Ladies, first Give us a littlebit about your background, your
involvement with Switchboard,and maybe tee this up for us a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Sure, Well, if Scott Eloquin was here he would say
I'm the poster child forSwitchboard, because I had a
career in consulting,implementing computer systems
for many years with CNN, ErnstYoung, all those and I decided
after a lot of prayer to stayhome with my children, raise my
children.
But I had a heart to serve and Ikind of thought well, how do
(03:36):
you serve others?
I guess I'll go back to medicalschool so I can be a medical
missionary, because I really hada heart for others.
And how on earth could I useimplementing computer systems to
help the body of Christ?
Like that's just preposterous.
And so I went to Don Ellsworthhere at Austin Ridge and was
kind of explaining my backgroundand how preposterous it is to
use systems implementations toserve the gospel.
(03:57):
And he said I think you oughtto meet a guy named Scott
Eloquent.
So the next thing, you know,I'm dropping out of my prereqs
for med school and joining acompany called Switchboard which
was building a platform toconnect everyday believers like
you, like me, with ministriesaround the world that have needs
.
So today I am using mybackground and expertise in
(04:20):
implementing computer systems tofurther the gospel, which is
something I thought wasimpossible.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
That's outstanding.
I love that.
And through that platform yougot to know Bob.
And so Bob Galloway is here.
Bob is an architect.
He has an architecture firmhere in town.
Bob, why don't you telleverybody a little bit about
yourself?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Sure, moved to Austin in 96 and started a firm with
my business partner, which wasmy buddy from school.
We started a business, didn'tnecessarily start out to
specialize but we were blessedto get a few church projects to
begin with.
That's where our network offriends and acquaintances were,
and so over the years, majority,probably 70, 80% of our work
(05:00):
has been in the faith-basedworld churches.
Wow, that's fantastic Notnecessarily worship buildings
but classroom buildings Done alot of master planning work with
either a church moving to a newcampus or a church on the
campus that never had a masterplan or bought abutting land or
any number of reasons thatplanning was important.
(05:20):
So over the years been blessedto do a lot of church projects
here in Austin.
So the original firm wasJackson Galloway, now it's FGM
Architects.
We're connected with a largerfirm network out of Chicago and
St Louis but it's sort ofbusiness as usual here in Austin
for us Still do a lot offaith-based work in the Central
Texas area.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Perfect.
Well, thanks for being here andsharing your story.
And then through Switchboardand Scott and Julie and now
Bob's involved and you I guessyou created a profile on
Switchboard.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Possibly you put yourself out there I did yeah,
yeah At Julie's encouragement,yeah, I'd never, heard of
Switchboard before.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Okay, so Clint and I created a profile when we did
the episode with Scott, so hewas sitting here.
We created a profile.
I got a hit and got connectedto a physician in the Middle
East.
So I've seen the technology atwork.
You saw the technology at workas well, and we're coming to
Peter.
I know everybody wants to hearfrom Peter and you do Trust me.
(06:20):
But, bob, what happened nextfor?
Speaker 4 (06:21):
you after you created it.
Well, I actually got connectedwith a project in the
Philippines, did a small projectthere.
I had previously not a part ofthe Switchboard Network, had
done a project in Uganda, Okay,so it really caught my attention
.
When the opportunity camethrough with the Kenyan project
that I felt like, well, that'spretty close next door and so I
(06:43):
said yeah, tell me more about it, love it.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Okay, the guest of honor.
Who's all the way visiting fromNairobi to Austin, texas?
Peter, please tell everyoneabout yourself and give us a
little gist.
Who's Peter?
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Peter is, I just turned 16.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
He just turned 16?
.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
But with 40 years experience.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I get it.
You're a comedian too.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
That's fantastic yeah .
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Just a little gray in your beard, just a little like
me.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
I hear you.
Just some paintwork, somepaintwork.
I'm married.
It's March 15th this year It'llbe 28 years.
Congratulations Married.
I have four daughters.
So we live in Nairobi and mywife is in the corporate world.
She runs businesses.
We travel quite a bit.
We enjoy traveling.
These days we mix it businessand ministry Perfect.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Perfect.
Thanks for sharing a little bitabout yourself.
Thank you.
Please tell everyone how thisstory kind of got going from
your point of view.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
Well, it's very accidental how I met Switchboard
.
I've been involved in thecorporate world for many years
in the social development workand consulting.
I've always wanted to mix faithand work, but it's not gone
very well for many years.
(08:04):
But it's not gone very well.
For many years I've been tocorporate jobs that I was
literally kicked out because ofsharing the gospel, and so I
began to ask the Lord what wouldbe the best way to still get to
live out my faith.
So a few years ago the Lordjust moved my heart to begin a
(08:25):
missions organization.
During my corporate years I dida lot of work amongst the remote
communities and I kept seeingsuch a great need.
So six years ago I founded themission organization MAPS, which
is M-A-P-S.
Maps, which is M-A-P-S, and webegan looking out for
(08:52):
communities that have a greatneed for the gospel.
Through several happenings, weended up in the northern part of
our country, a place calledTrukana.
So we started doing the workand planted some churches.
And then I got invited to aconference in thailand for
global leaders.
During the meeting I was in agroup, and part of the people
(09:13):
that were in the group was agroup from an organization
called tent makers internationalyes, it was we know them.
So that that's where everythingstarted.
And so, because I introducedmyself as a tent maker, because
I do tent making as I doministry, so I do consulting
(09:34):
work, so that I'm still in themarketplace, because part of our
ministry is being able to helppeople in the marketplace get
involved in missions, so I'm inthis meeting and they asked me
if I would be interested to jointhem and help them get an
office going in a row before theAfrican continent.
(09:55):
I said I'm not very sure aboutthat, but I will talk to you
once I get back home.
So I go back and I'm beginningto just search on the internet
tent makers.
But before I could put,international tent makers
network just came up andimmediately I just read what
(10:19):
they're doing.
They were just beginning theirproject, the switchboard, right,
exactly what they were tryingto put together.
Just before the conference I hadactually, uh, put together the
whole concept.
I wanted to do exactly exactlywhat they wanted they were doing
.
But I'm not an it, I'm not infrom there, I'm not, I'm not it
(10:41):
um, skilled, yeah.
So I knew that was going to bean uphill task.
So I quickly just reached outto them and things just began to
snowball.
I talked to Scott and finally amoment came and I was able to
put up my project and Bob wasable to just jump on it and we
(11:06):
began talking.
It's been a year and a half now.
We have a beautiful projectcoming up now.
In my sense, it's really amiracle how I got connected to
Switchboard and what's happeningnow that I've got to meet Bob.
It's been a dream.
I was telling Bob that 20 yearsago I dreamt about this project
(11:27):
and I even drafted how it'sgoing to be, but it took me that
long for God just to bringeverything together and to get
me the right person and theright team.
So I'm extremely excited, superhappy.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh, man, well, in God's perfect timing, oh,
perfect timing, yeah, I thinkimmediately.
If I go to the Bible, I thinkNehemiah.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
And I think all the prep work that he went through
while he was cupbearer, while hewas exiled, while he was there
and, if you think about, beforehe ever actually went and asked
for permission to go back, andbuild right, he had dreams.
He spent a ton of time inprayer.
And then he gathered all thenecessary documents he needed.
He had all of the documents forthe king to sign to allow him
(12:15):
to cross certain borders and toget the materials that he needed
.
He had gathered the rightfamily names and the right
partners he was going to need.
He was all ready, right.
So when his moment came right,it was go time.
And, man, you just remind me ofNehemiah.
Like you spent the time.
You had the dream, you had thevision, you put the pieces
together, but you patientlywaited for that moment, right?
(12:38):
And then, ironically, God tookyou to Thailand to meet a bunch
of Texans to build a project inyour home country.
That's fantastic.
Julie, back to you.
Give us your perspective onthis story, among other
switchboard stories.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I didn't know that story, peter.
I was listening intently,excited to hear I had no idea
that that's how you found tentmakers, and I haven't heard the
word tent makers in a while.
So these two are actually oldschool.
This is before we had theactual skills assessment and
this match was not made by analgorithm on a platform.
(13:16):
This is back when we weretesting the idea and I remember
meeting Peter.
I remember I was in a hotel roomin San Antonio for our first
Zoom and hearing his vision andhearing what he wanted to do and
remembering that Daryl hadserved on the elders board with
Bob Galloway, which reminded methat I had met his wife even
(13:37):
earlier than that, like 20 yearsago, and just thought she was
an amazing woman of God.
And I was like you know what?
I'm going to text Carol and seeif Bob is still.
I think I texted Daryl to makesure Bob was an architect, that
I remembered that properly, andthen I texted Carol and said,
hey, any chance your husbandwould be interested in this, and
she texted back I don't know,here's his email and so reached
(14:00):
out via email.
Since then, bob has filled outa proper skills assessment.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So reached out via email.
Since then, Bob has filled outa proper skills assessment.
Got it.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Things go through the platform and it's all fancy
with algorithms, but this isTentmakers, old school Got it.
This was two people beingconnected.
And I just I was thrilled whenBob said yes, and I think at
that time you mentioned you hadworked in Padere.
But I just thought what ablessing to have somebody that
understands a little bit of theculture, because we're very
careful with that and we don'twant our volunteers to come in
(14:29):
thinking they know everything.
And Bob came in with a humbleheart and seeking to understand
and even looking at the plansthat we saw today I was just
like wow, perfect match, god.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
So why don't you pick up from there for us, Bob, and
then we'll go back over to Peterto maybe explain this vision he
had?
But what happened in your worldfrom that moment on?
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, peter and I began trading emails just trying
to learn about the project andhis vision for that, and I don't
know if the sketch that Petersent me was the original sketch
or was one that was, you know, alittle bit more recent.
But Peter had had drawn out abit of a diagram for this campus
(15:13):
, this Mission Hub campus, thatvision that he had.
It described a whole series offacilities on a 20-acre campus.
Right now there's not a site,there's not a piece of land, and
so it's a theoretical 20-acrecampus right now.
But it's a master plan templateso that when the real site
(15:34):
comes along, then, you know,with a bit of adjustments and
considerations for maybe someunique features of that site,
then hopefully that 20-acrecampus template will be able to
be used again and again andagain, you know, hopefully, as
the vision gets repeated.
So we traded information.
(15:54):
I just began to fire questionsback at Peter Well, tell me
about this food stand, or tellme about this guest house, or
tell me about these resortvillas that you're thinking
about.
And I began to do what we callprogramming, which is really
just identifying what is theactivity that's going on here,
how is it supported, what kindof spaces or rooms are needed
(16:18):
for that and what their squarefootages are, what the
relationships, just whatarchitects do to begin a project
and start master planning asite.
And then we started drawingthings to scale.
Master planning a site, and thenwe started drawing things to
scale what Peter's ultimate goalis right now.
The number one objective is tocreate a virtual fly-through of
this campus.
(16:39):
Fly around.
I mean, we could have guessedand just put some buildings down
on the ground, but I couldn'tdo that without knowing that
there was a program there, thatthere was reality to the
footprints and to the massingand the spaces that we were
doing.
So we kind of went, building bybuilding, and there's 13
different unique facilities.
(17:00):
Some of them get repeated,because if it's a resort villa,
then there's a whole handful ofresort villas, but there's 13
unique buildings.
And so Peter was super patient,because I was.
You know, it took weeks andmonths for this to kind of go
from one building to the nextbuilding and we would trade
emails and Peter would say, well, yeah, that makes sense, but
(17:23):
have you thought about this?
And finally we worked our waythrough the buildings and now
they've been all modeled inthree-dimensional software.
They've all now been placed onthe campus and we're right at
the threshold of beginning therendering software to fly
through the campus.
Wonderful that's fantastic,okay.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So back to you, peter the visionary.
What's going on here?
What's the goal, what's thepurpose of this?
Speaker 5 (17:50):
When I actually got to start this ministry, I heard
very clearly from the Lord aboutthe book of Acts 17, about the
Macedonian call.
I had this call of peoplecalling him to come and help,
and I've been involved inmission efforts through our
church for many years beeninvolved in mission efforts
(18:14):
through our church for manyyears and even when I was in
campus.
One of the consistent thingthat I've had, especially when
you are talking to missionaries,is there is a calling of come
and help, come.
We have this need and that'show it it all started with our
first missionary.
So our ministry is working withindigenous missionaries so we
look and identify indigenouspeople to reach their own
(18:38):
communities, got it so while wewere praying, and so that's a
big story even how we got toidentify this missionary.
So we go out in this regioncalled Trucana.
He's among his people and he'sgoing about his own businesses,
but in his heart he has acalling in his heart and he has
(19:00):
always been praying before we goto him God, would you send
somebody to us, or to me,actually, so that I can reach my
own people?
I mean, we got to learn thislater.
This was his prayer, right, andso we come along and we find
him, and then we begin to walkwith him and finally we identify
(19:23):
his calling and he settles downand he plants a church amongst
this community.
And he plants a church amongstthis community and one of the
things that he tells us is thathe has a problem with his health
.
He's got this sickness for thelongest and he's not able to get
(19:52):
to hospital, but he will servethe Lord in the state he is in.
So this was my first time to bein that community.
I've never been there before,and so I'm listening to a lot of
these stories and stories ofchildren who are not going to
school because they don't have ameal in the morning and
therefore they can't stay in theschool.
(20:12):
You're hearing about girls whoare married at 15, forcefully
married at 15.
And you begin to hear a lot ofthese stories and they're
beginning to ask what can you do?
How can you help us?
Yes, the gospel is here andpeople are coming to faith, but
(20:33):
then how does God's love looklike?
And so it took me back again tothe scripture that God gave me.
You know the Macedonian callcome and help.
And so I remembered at thatpoint.
I now remembered that 20 yearsago I had that vision of having
a place, a facility, a programthat can be able to begin to
(21:00):
help bring dignity, because, youknow, the gospel is the only
thing that can bring dignity tohuman beings.
So the Lord helped me to puttogether my thoughts.
That's now what I shared withBob and who was able now to
bring it out in the fashion itis my idea.
(21:23):
With this project as acollaboration, it's what I call
a highly concentratedcollaboration project.
So it will help people who arecoming into missions to be able
to connect with this community,because within the project,
within this 20-acre project,there is a farm, there is a
(21:45):
school, there's a hospital,there is a resort that is ready
to use facilities formissionaries.
So if there's a group cominginto that area, the Lord is
leading them to minister in thatcommunity.
They don't have to think toomuch about infrastructure.
They just come and plug in andjust go.
(22:07):
They could be there for sixmonths, they could be there for
a year and just go.
They could be there for sixmonths, they could be there for
a year.
So it is meant to be like aplatform to go into the places
that the Lord leads differentmission actors that are directed
towards that community.
So the way we are doing it is,in a sense, which is you can
(22:27):
duplicate it, you can actuallytake it to another place in
Africa and, ideally, how we aretrusting all, it's going to work
.
These are high traffic missionroutes, so where there's a lot
of missionary work and effortgoing, we want to be a platform
(22:51):
which makes it easy for them,it's easy for everybody coming
into that community to serve theLord as the Lord is directing
them.
Okay, I've got a lot of threadsto pull on here.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
This is kind of like creating a tech stack to start a
new company, right.
It's like here's all the piecesyou need to start your company
right.
Here's your accounting softwarehere.
It's like here's all the piecesyou need to start your company,
here's your accounting software, here's your email system,
here's your internal comms,here's your website.
You're building that with realinfrastructure and I feel like
you've got a massive valueproposition to your community.
You're going to the communityand you say look for 20 acres, I
(23:24):
got you a hospital, I got you aschool, I've got you these
resources.
These are critical resourcesfor your community that are
going to level things up.
I mean, think about the amountof commerce that can come
through your community and dobusiness here if there's access
to good health care, if there'saccess to good education, right,
and I'm not sure what all thecomponents are, but, as I'm
hearing it, maybe mostimportantly access to living
(23:45):
water, right, and eternal hopeand someone there to really
build up and disciple thatcommunity and eternal hope and
someone there to really build upand disciple that community.
And then I go into this otherthread, and this other thread is
you've got groups like TMAI whohave these pastoral training
centers all over the world andthey're coming under indigenous
leaders and saying, hey, we justlike Bob, we want to hear you,
(24:06):
we want to listen.
What do you need?
What's going on here?
We're not coming in from theWest with all the big ideas and
how to do everything.
What do you need?
How do you reach your people?
Because you're talking aboutthese communities you're
starting in.
Have believers in them.
These are indigenous, localChrist followers with a real
heart to reach their people andthe peoples around them.
(24:29):
Which brings me to the episodewe did with Peter Swan in South
Sudan.
Right, they reached one group,then the three other groups and
now they're flying bush planesaround to the other groups.
Right, to do that.
But with this central track, bob, with this 20 acres, with these
critical facilities, man,you've got a hub.
You've got something reallyspecial that's going to draw
(24:50):
people to it.
You almost think of like youknow, got a hub.
You've got something reallyspecial that's going to draw
people to it.
You almost think of like theRoman's Road, not just the
scriptural version, but theactual version of like here's
your stop points.
Right, you're talking about theroutes the missionaries use.
Like I'm going to go from here,you know.
Then I got another five or sixdays to go to this one, and then
I've got a place to stay andI've got a place to rejuvenate.
I'm going to run into otherpeople.
Am I catching this?
(25:11):
Bob Is that kind?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
of weird.
Not only that, but think of itas, on the resource level,
you've got these folks coming inwho need a place to stay or to
work or to have a conference andall, and the funding that they
bring in to do those kinds ofthings is what undergirds and
underwrites the school and thehealth facilities and so forth.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
So you say that and I hear you on that, but for me,
funding isn't the problem here.
We just got to get this storyout and this vision out, and I
think funds are going to flow infor it.
I think there's a partnershipcomponent, right?
So, in the interest of a littlebit of time and you'll learn
this about me, peter I'mprobably too bold sometimes and
not afraid to ask what do weneed to take the next steps?
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Good question.
I think once we're through withthe model that Bob is working
on, we want to use it to cast avision.
Cast a vision to people who canjoin with us.
And the way it is is likemodular projects, where people
(26:16):
you can connect at differentlevels of the project.
Either at school level, if yourministry is into school
infrastructure, you can come inand help with that.
If you're in agriculture andyou've got skills you can bring
in, you can come and train thelocals how to do farming and
(26:37):
part of the extra produce willbe accessible to the community.
There's a water well we call ita borehole.
So if you're in that directionand you can help, our next level
will be making sure now that wecan actually take off in terms
(26:57):
of the different components ofthis project and get it moving.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
There's a movie in America called Field of Dreams.
You've heard of Field of Dreams?
Yeah, I think I have.
The concept is if you build itthey will come.
Yeah, if you build it they willcome right.
And this has a very Field ofDreams kind of a feeling to it,
although we're not trying topull baseball players out of the
afterlife here, butmissionaries out of the current.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
But you hit on something that was really good
earlier and I think it'ssomething that's impressive
about the sustainability of it.
So we do have to raise funds inorder to build it, but the
beauty of what Peter and Bobhave designed is that you have a
tourist part on one side thathelps fund the education and
agriculture on the other side.
And I think sustainability is abig buzzword in missions, for
(27:43):
good reason, especially inAfrica, because you've got to be
able to sustain yourself.
You don't want to constantlyraise funds.
So the way they designed thetourist, where you have the
hotel we don't call it a hotelthe guest house, and you have a
store where people can sellthings and then you have even
like a little fast food stop,because it's on the way to a
(28:06):
safari, like where tourists aregoing to be going on safari in
Africa and so just brilliantthat you can take, that you can
serve people as tourists andthen you can use those funds for
education and agriculture andto sustain a place that houses
missionaries.
That's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Wow, what a cool model.
Okay, so you're going to let usknow, as you kind of complete,
if you will, right, give us someimages, if you can, something
that we can share and keep ournetwork informed of.
In our nonprofit with Bless, wehave mission partners and we
have resource partners.
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
So, when you're ready to engagewith mission partners, which
(28:44):
would be, I would say, the otherorganizations that may be
sending teachers Okay, and maybe sending agricultural
component Okay, and may besending those pieces Right, we
need to share your story withthem, okay, right.
And then resource partners,which is a fancy way of saying
the people that will fund it.
Right, clinton, are so lucky tobe in the seat we're in and get
(29:05):
to talk to all these peoplethat we need to talk to, because
an amazing movement is a bonusright now, which is this whole
concept of what you talked aboutearlier, which is mobilizing
the marketplace, right, andbeing a light through your
company, right, so I don't needto like work 40, 50 hours a week
and then cut a check to thechurch and then that tithe be
(29:27):
the only money that goes tomissions, like I need to be
doing missions with every partof me all the time right, and
because a lot of thedemographics of Africa and where
you are.
There's venture capital firmsright now in the West who are
working with ultra high networth family offices to deploy
capital and bring commerce toAfrica.
(29:49):
Heron Ventures is one we did apodcast with.
There's a whole nothercomponent there to say, hey,
here's our model, we're lookingfor a site.
We kind of think this is a goodspot.
Do you have anything nearby?
If you do, how could we do thistogether?
How could it be a net accretivesolution for both of us?
(30:10):
Because if you do this, wherethey're investing is going to be
more valuable.
There's going to be a lot morereason for companies to grow
there and more talent to beattracted there in a farm system
which is a baseball term fordeveloping your own talent right
For bringing the kids that arethere up and equipping them to
be part of the solution.
(30:31):
Am I getting all this?
Yeah, sure You're getting itright.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Yeah, I think that's a way it is going to play out,
so that people can find how toconnect.
They can connect at what you'regoing to skills level.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
Bringing their skills , or you can come with your
resources, right and mission,resources, mission and resources
.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Yeah, is a church one of the buildings or a worship
center?
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Yes, there's several spaces.
The school itself has a largeauditorium.
The residential areas have acommons hall that could be used
for Sunday services.
There's meeting rooms in theguest house, so there's quite a
few opportunities for a varietyof different groups all at the
same time to do ministry.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah well, I mean, we know from stories on the pod
and just working around theworld a lot of churches.
So you said you planted somechurches in your past.
And a lot of churches.
When we think of a church plant, some people may think, okay, a
building was built and it hadthese things that were needed to
be a church.
But that's not necessarily whata church plant in Africa looks
like.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
This is a certain tree that everybody agrees to be
what a church plant in Africalooks like.
This is a certain tree thateverybody agrees to meet on here
, and I've been on such a tree.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Right yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
Yeah, and it's a vibrant church, vibrant.
Worship is so pure and sojoyful and you keep moving the
seats as the sun moves.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Oh, there you go.
It's a sundial church Becauseit may go on for hours, right?
Yeah, exactly, oh yeah, becauseit may go on for hours.
Yeah, exactly, oh yeah, fourhours it goes for hours, yeah.
But so a lot of these churchplants don't start out as a
building.
Yeah, which is probably how wewould start a lot of them in the
west, like, hey, let's build abuilding and then we'll call
that the church and we'll startfiguring out how we're going to
put people in it.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Yeah, these are we get the people.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
The lord gets them excited about what's going on
and then you start to see areason to eventually bring a
building and grow that church,and then that church can become
an Acts 1-8 launch ground rightto go out to the others around
it and what you're trying tocreate here, is that launch
ground that's sustainable andit's bringing jobs and it's
(32:33):
bringing commerce and it'sbringing more reasons to be
investing in that growingcommunity.
That's beautiful, man.
I mean for God to put that onyour heart 20 years ago and you
to feel very stuck in corporateAfrica we would say corporate
America here Corporate.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Africa Corporate Africa.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
And then just to stay faithful and prayerful and work
your way through it.
Speaker 5 (32:56):
Man.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
I commend you.
Speaker 5 (32:59):
You know it's been many years and I share with my
friends when we've been incorporate world and ask me what
exactly are you doing?
Why are you stuck there?
I mean it's kind of this neverleaves me.
I mean I try running but itjust keeps coming back to me.
But the Lord has helped me tobe able now to bring in my
(33:21):
skills.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
You tried to go to Tarshish and the Lord said go to
Nineveh.
Speaker 5 (33:24):
Yeah, and I have my training.
I have training.
My postgraduate is in strategicmanagement.
So one time I asked the Lordwhat is this training helpful in
the kingdom of God?
And so the Lord helped me tounderstand that the kingdom of
God.
And so the Lord helped me tounderstand that the kingdom of
God needs strategy andstrategists.
(33:46):
So I consider myself that theLord has helped me to bring
strategic thinking in missions,and so I do a lot of that in
this mission field.
So that's one of the projects.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I think we'll all consider you someone the Lord's
given some strategic thinking toafter hearing this.
Peter, this is very cool.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
You don't have to carry that opinion on your own,
yeah so I'm happy that I can beable to bring that on the table
and my prayer is that I'll beable to have as many people
organizations, marketplacebelievers to see their place in
(34:28):
ministry.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Because actually our ministry is trying to help
bridge that gap between themission force and the mission
field.
Clint's got his hands in theair over here.
He's worshiping and celebratingI think he just named the
episode.
The cool thing about getting todo the Unreached podcast is we
get to just tell these storiesand let God do his thing with
the listeners and whoever theydecide to share it with.
It's one of Clint and I'sgreatest pleasures and
privileges.
So, peter, to wrap up here, thequote you said that got Clint,
(35:04):
you know, hands in the air backhere was bridge the gap between
the mission field and themission force.
Bridge the gap between themission field and the mission
force.
Create a hub, create a centralspot, create a model that can be
replicated.
This is something that could bereally meaningful to the task
remaining to reaching unreachedpeople groups.
(35:25):
With that in mind, would youpray for our listeners, peter?
Would you just close us in aprayer today and know that we're
going to be praying for you andthis entire project and I'm
going to hope that I get plentyof follow-up and things that we
can be sharing, and I would bequite certain that you will find
some good connections from thisevent, and that will be in the
(35:48):
form of mission partners andresource partners.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
Thank you so much for having me on this podcast.
I really thank Switchboard andmy greatest friend, bob I'm
really grateful and for givingus this platform.
I believe this is part of thecollaboration that we're
building and we're grateful forwhat you're doing for the
(36:16):
kingdom.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
It's our pleasure.
It's our pleasure.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
So let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you,we're so grateful because times
and seasons, they belong to youand you place us where you have
us best and how we can serve you.
And we thank you, lord, for theway that you have just
orchestrated everything.
(36:41):
Two years ago, this was noteven in my dreams, not possibly
in the dream of anyone here.
But, god, you have made it sowork and we thank you, lord,
that you want us to work in yourvineyard together, hand in hand
, to work in your vineyardtogether, hand in hand.
And so we bring our skills, ourstrengths, our dreams, and we
(37:13):
just want to ask that you maybless the work of different
ministries that are laboringevery day and we ask, oh God,
that you'd give us fruit in thatwhich you put in our hands to
do.
Thank you, dear Lord, for thispodcast.
Ask you, god, that you continueto bless this platform, even as
they get the word out to God andthe stories, and so people may
(37:35):
be encouraged that you're atwork.
Thank you for many who aregiving in their time, in their
skills and in their time, and wejust ask for your blessings and
that, dear Lord, that thepeople that we're reaching out,
that this effort to God, weshall see in our generation, the
(37:56):
gospel reaching to thesecommunities and rich people
groups, and that we will seethem, the gospel reaching to
these communities, the EnrichedPeople groups, and that we will
see them turning to the Lord andbeginning to enjoy the
forgiveness and the grace thatwe ourselves have enjoyed
because the gospel came to us,and we just pray that, lord,
that you encourage us on the wayand that you cause us to be
(38:20):
faithful, which you have put inour hearts because it is your
work.
Thank you, lord, that you helpus to accomplish all that is in
your heart for these communitiesacross the world.
We give you praise and we thankyou because we pray in Jesus'
name.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, reminder everybody.
We give you praise and we thankyou because we pray in Jesus
name.
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
Alright, reminder everybody goto globalswitchboardio and fill
out your profile and take theirfancy new assessment and get
yourself out there.
Regardless of your skill set,regardless, somebody out there
is looking for you and you'vegot a role to play.
(39:01):
I say this a lot, right?
We're all a unique combinationof time, talent and treasure and
no one can play your role butyou.
Thank you for listening toUnreached.
Our sincere desire is that whatyou've heard today will cause
you to see the mission of Goddifferently and your role in it
more clearly.
If this adds value for you andwe hope it does would you please
(39:23):
rate and review the podcastwherever you listen.
Also, share with your family,your friends, your church, your
life group, small group dGroup,wherever you do life, and if you
want to connect with us, findus on Instagram at
unreachedpodcast, or email us atunreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
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