Most-Read Posts in 2025

1. Be Barnabas – What is a NAV?
   • See other posts from the Be Barnabas series
2. What is the “Apostolic” and Why is it Important?
   • See other posts from the Apostolic series
3. Spiritual Warfare
4. Two Types of Kingdom Fruitfulness
5. Team Conflict

Being Barnabas – the role of an outsider in partnering with cultural insiders towards movement continues to be a key missions principle that we believe can unlock many missionaries’ most effective role in the Great Commission. In particular, finding a National Apostolic Visionary (NAV) to partner with can result in exponential multiplication among the unreached.

In order to find these NAVs, we focused on better understanding around the Apostolic gift, the Five-Fold gifts from Ephesians 4:11, and how to practically discern, partner with, and equip these apostolic leaders.

Understanding the Two Types of Kingdom Fruitfulness – the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of multiplication can help us pursue the good works God has prepared for us with healthy balance. Of course, we want to see multitudes of people worship Jesus among the unreached. And, we want to see their lives and our own lives changed to look more like Jesus every day. Both are necessary!

Team Conflict and Spiritual Warfare remain as two critical topics that most missionaries face on the field and need equipping around. Without healthy conflict resolution and team interaction, it can be really difficult to concentrate on the ministry God has called you to do. Similarly, when we’re feeling discouraged and overwhelmed by spiritual attack, that can take over from everything else. Coincidentally, spiritual warfare can many times take the form of team conflict. Clearing both of these issues through community and reliance on Jesus can help you and your team focus on what you and your team are there to do!

Our Favorite 2025 Posts

1. Listening Prayer Part 1 and Part 2
2. Men and Women Leading Together
3. The Five Essential Elements of an Apostolic Leader
4. Bonus: The Dare to Multiply Podcast
   • See all the Dare to Multiply Podcast episodes

Listening Prayer is an aspect of interacting with God that permeates our everyday lives. It is a critical component of not only effective ministry, but daily obedience. Our movement coaches helped start the Listening Prayer Movement, where their primary tool when faced with any obstacle or opportunity is to ask God what He wants for them. It has grown into one of the biggest movements in the world off of that one question.

Men and Women Leading Together is something near and dear to our hearts as it’s how we operate in ministry and life. We think that learning how men and women work and lead together can lead to healthier and more impactful leaders, units, and teams. We’re excited to have some future posts around this topic in 2026!

Obviously in finding a NAV, it’s important to understand what the Apostolic gift is first. But the Five Essential Elements of an Apostolic Leader isn’t just another ministry tool or framework to find leaders. These elements are actually a result of a life surrendered to God, set apart for great works that will impact the unreached for eternity! Perhaps other than the Be Barnabas approach itself, these essential elements might be the ‘secret sauce’ in actually seeing movements catalyzed.

Lastly, the Dare to Multiply Podcast has been an exciting and stretching endeavor for Jenn as she both shares and learns from other missions leaders and movement practitioners. We hope this resource will be a blessing to many multipliers!

On to 2026!

In early 2026, we’ll publicly launch the coaching ministry that we’ve been working on for the past couple of years. We’re excited to provide opportunities for missions leaders to not only learn from our blog but to get hands on coaching and cohort-based training on topics around partnering with national believers, forming and developing teams, deepening your abiding, and other topics essential for leaders.

Our prayer for ourselves and for all of you is that 2026 would be marked by a deeper abiding and a richer fruitfulness than we’ve ever experienced before, resulting in worshippers from every tribe, tongue, and nations to the glory of God.

Happy New Year! Lastly, a poem that encouraged us this year that we hope will bless you.

Furnace by Gerard Kelly

May God in whose furnace faith is forged
In whose being beauty breathes
From whose dawning darkness flees
Shine on you

May the Father whose love for you
Beats with a rhythm time itself can’t stop
Whose presence in your exile
Is the promise of home
Whose certainties are deeper
Than the cellars of your city
Whose breath is life
Breathe on you

May the son whose story
Is a mirror of your own
Who has journeyed into darkness
To find a key to your prison
Who has dived the deepest oceans
To find pearls for your wisdom
Who has looked into your heart
And found a beauty worth the battle
Who has written your name
On a white stone carved in secret
Hold you

May the Spirit
Who has waited millennia to fill you
Who shaped the word that moved the wind
Of the morning that conceived you
Who holds the earth on which you stand
As a midwife holds a newborn
Who fully knows you
Wholly own you

So may God
The faithful Father
God the scarred Son
God the sculpting Spirit
Journey with you

As we close out 2024, the Missions Leaders Blog has been around for about 18 months. We’ve been thankful for the opportunity to share lessons and encourage other leaders who are pursuing pioneering work among the unreached.

We have some exciting things in store for 2025, as we launch a new ministry focused on helping missions team and ministry leaders abide, lead effectively, and pursue multiplying ministry throughout the world.

But for now, here are some of the top posts from 2024 along with some of our favorites!

Most-Read Posts in 2024

1. Team Conflict
2. Women in Leadership
   • Other posts from Women in Leadership:
   • Internal Barriers (Part 1)
   • Internal Barriers (Part 2)
3. Spiritual Warfare Part 1 and Part 2
4. Be Barnabas – What is a NAV?
   • Other posts from the Be Barnabas series:
   • Be Barnabas: Intro & Mint’s Story
   • Why Be Barnabas?
   • Who Was Barnabas from the Bible?
   • How to Find a NAV
   • How to Partner with a NAV
   • Be Barnabas – Life Together
5. Lessons from Cancer: Suffering Leads to Surrender
   • Other posts from the Lessons from Cancer series:
   • Lessons from Cancer: Surrender the Self to the Point of Death
   • Lessons from Cancer: Receive Resurrection Life and Power

Team Conflict continuing to be a highly read post just highlights for us how prevalent and intense of a topic interpersonal conflicts on missions teams continues to be. Although this topic arguably has the most resources, team conflict can be an issue that can make or break teams. In the past 10 years, Jenn in particular has mediated several conflicts in and out of our team (including an 8 hour session this past year). Please reach out to contact@missionsleaders.com if you’re desiring specific coaching around conflict mediation!

Women in Leadership takes the second spot! Research shows that single women outnumber single men on the field up to a ratio of 7 to 1! And despite the great need for leaders among the unreached, there remains significant confusion and numerous internal and external barriers for women to enter into roles of missions leadership. Jenn will continue to break down these issues to encourage and empower women throughout the unreached to take up the role God has called them to!

Spiritual Warfare was one of our earliest posts, and one that people ask us about most frequently. The Enemy’s opposition is strongest against those pushing forward the Kingdom on the front lines. Goers, and especially leaders, need to be equipped and able to equip others to engage in spiritual warfare.

The role of Barnabas and lessons of suffering that lead to surrender and resurrection life are two of the topics that we felt were most important for us to share on this blog.

Our Favorite 2024 Posts

1. Reflections from 10 Years on the Field – Part 1 and Part 2
2. Be Barnabas – Life Together
3. How to Recruit Teammates Part 1 and Part 2

Reflections from 10 Years on the Field was the culmination of Steven’s processing during our first sabbatical this past summer. The sheer volume of intensity and weightiness from our time starting a new team and leading it to expand into three teams was surprising and churned up a lot of emotions to bring to the Lord. But ultimately, that reflection and processing led to gratitude and joy that God allowed us to be a part of so many significant moments, relationships, and Kingdom opportunities.

Be Barnabas – Life Together is one of our favorite posts, not only from the series, but overall. We were both in tears as we wrote this post, praising God for allowing us to have such close relationships with our Thai partners. There are many biblical and strategic reasons to take a Barnabas role as an outsider pursuing movements, but the relationships we get to invest in and that we receive blessing from are some of the things we most cherish from our time on the field.

How to Recruit Teammates is similarly another topic that many new team leaders ask us about. Ultimately, the Lord will bring the right people to your team. Although it can be a pain sometimes (a lot of times!) to enter into all the cultural transitions, interpersonal conflict, and personal development issues that come with leading new teammates, looking back at how the Lord has given us some of our closest friends and co-workers filled us with thankfulness that we had the privilege to lead others towards Jesus and his purposes.

That’s it for 2024! We’re eager and ready to post more resources and stories for missions leaders in 2025. To those reading, may Jesus draw so nearly to you through abiding that you experience oneness with him, and that oneness would lead to many others to know the hope that we have in him.