S07E03 | 5 Questions to Launch Missionaries Into the New Year with Marvin Slaton

What might God be calling you to start, stop, or step into this year?

What if asking the right questions could launch you into the most impactful year of your life?

In this episode, we give you an activity you can do today to launch you strong into the new year!

Marvin Slaton, executive director of Modern Day Missions, shares five profound questions to help missionaries reflect, realign, and reimagine their calling for the new year and beyond.

Let them help you discover what the Lord wants to birth, refine, and resurrect in your life this year. Grab a pen or reflect as you listen—this episode is packed with inspiration to launch you into your best year yet!

✍️ In this episode, you'll learn:

• How pruning can lead to fresh growth and freedom.
• Why revisiting past passions or goals could bring fresh life into our calling.
• How to reflect on ministry with fresh eyes and open hearts.
• Practical ways to evaluate and deepen our current ministry efforts.
• How to identify what God is calling us to start or create this year.

💡 Questions to Ponder as You Listen:

• What are the things God is wanting to birth or bring to life in you? (birth)
• What is the ministry God has for you to jump into or go deeper in? (ministry)
• Are there things God is calling you to put to death, learn from, and move on from? (death )
• Is God wanting to resurrect an area of your life that was thriving before but currently needs new life? (resurrection)
• What is God calling you to ascend, complete, fulfill, or overcome or conquer? (ascension)

Thanks for listening! Email us your questions at care@modernday.org

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Chapters

• 0:20 5 Powerful Questions for Missionaries
• 5:35 Question 1: What is God Wanting to Birth in You?
• 13:27 Question 2: What Ministry is God Calling You To?
• 17:22 Question 3: What Needs to Be Put to Death?
• 28:27 Question 4: What Needs to Be Resurrected?
• 34:27 Question 5: What is God Calling You to Ascend?
• 39:50 Conclusion and Prayer
• 41:49 Final Announcements and Resources

Transcript

Welcome to this episode of the Modern Day Missionaries podcast. Today we have back with us Modern Day’s executive director, Marvin Slaton. And Marvin has five questions to launch you well into 2025. And if you're hearing this in a future year, you can use them to launch you well into that year also. He believes God gave him these five questions specifically for our missionary listeners.

So we just encourage you to engage with them. Use this episode as an activity. If you're sitting down, grab a pen and a piece of paper and start thinking about what the Lord might be saying to you in these questions. If you're in the car, in a bus walking around, as you're hearing this, also just let it stir some things on the inside of you.

And we believe God's going to use this episode to set you up well to go into 2025 strong. So with that, let's dive into today's episode with Marvin Slaton.

[00:00:48] Stephanie Gutierrez: Hey, Marvin, welcome back to the podcast.

[00:00:51] Marvin Slaton: Stephanie, great to be on again.

[00:00:54] Stephanie Gutierrez: We are glad to have you back. And I love where we're going today. You and I were talking beforehand how January is that time of year when you're asking all these reflective questions and kind of thinking about the past, looking toward the future. You had five questions that you felt like the Lord gave you to share with all of our missionary listeners that we're going to help orient them and launch them into 2025.

[00:01:21] Marvin Slaton: Stephanie, everyone, or I say everyone, a lot of people are looking at New Year's resolutions and they're setting goals. I want to do more of this and less of that and everything in between, really. And so in the new year, on my lunch breaks at work, I work out and I go for a run and a walk.

And I was just thinking about 2025. As you're in the new year, you're thinking about new beginnings, you're thinking about foundational things in life. And,  so there was just kind of this progression that the Lord was leading me down. And I began to think about foundational things of the Christian faith. I began to think about the life of Christ, and the importance of that, obviously, in the Christian faith.

As I processed the life of Christ, there were five specific parts or seasons of Christ's life that were highlighted to me, and it was birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. And of course, we're in 2025, so everything's an abbreviation or an acronym. So it's like, oh, BMDRA, BMDRA, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension? And so, it was like half goofy, half serious, but like the Lord was in it,  just when you feel that. And so I thought, man, God, what are you, what are you saying there about your birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension?

As I continue to run and walk, the Lord just really developed these questions inside of me. I knew when I got the questions, it was like, I'm not supposed to keep these to myself. I think these are supposed to be added to, the missions world and, serving as the executive director of Modern Day Missions,  obviously speaking to all of our missionaries, but then the thousands of people who tune in through YouTube or through Apple podcasts or wherever they're listening.

As a believer, the first line item for us always in a resolution or a goal is that we want to be more like Christ, right? I mean, that's just what we want to be is more like Christ. We want to go deeper in all things, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so I think the uniqueness of these questions is it's brought out of the life of Christ. They're directly out of that. And as we think about these questions, it takes us right back into that acronym of the life of Jesus. So we know as we're processing them, as we're thinking about them through 2025 and, and moving forward in them, it's like, man, these are rooted in the life of Christ, the moment, of his birth, the season of his ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, all of those important pieces.

So I think that's the uniqueness there. And for me, at least, it gives me that feeling of, ah, man, there's so much symmetry and alignment there with what I ultimately want to be, which is growing closer with Christ, honoring him with my life, stewarding my life the best way. And I think I speak for all of our listeners out there as well.

That's always priority number one, right? It's always on the front burner. And, and so this is just kind of a way to systematically set it up at, if you will, for, for the new year.

Okay. So without further delay, it goes back to the, the acronym birth ministry. death, resurrection, ascension, the life of Christ, going, going deep into all things Christ. And so the first one is the letter B, which is birth. And the question is, what are the things God is wanting to birth or bring to life in you? And so birth means to arrive. And so there is the arrival of something. And so we know, obviously, as we just celebrated the Christmas season. It was the birth of our Savior. It was Emmanuel, God with us. He was brought on the scene. He, Emmanuel arrived on the scene and changed history forever, right? And so there's this birthing of Christ. And I was just led, it's like, okay, what are the things God is wanting to birth or bring to life in us in 2025? And I don't know if––maybe there are some people who naturally think that way––but when I was, when I felt that question, just come across my radar, it's like, man, I don't know if I ever think about what is God wanting to birth in me this year? What is he wanting to bring to life in me this year? And I think, Stephanie, that hits on a whole array of different facets of our life, right? When we look at our personal walk with Christ,  and we evaluate that, we take inventory and we ask, man, Christ, what is it that hasn't arrived on the scene yet? Okay. Hasn't arrived on the scene. It's not Emmanuel, if you will, but there's this sense,  this inclination of, I think there is something here in my walk with you, God, in my relationship with you, Jesus, that you're wanting to birth, that you're wanting to bring to life in this new year. 

And that could be hundreds of different things, depending on who you're talking to, right? We could go to our, our marriages: God, what is it that you're wanting to birth? We may have been married 10 or 20 or 30 years, but I don't need to forsake the newness of something that God is wanting to bring on the scene in whatever stage of life that it is. And so I think there has to be there, this openness there with us, of man, God, I'm open to you bringing something new on the scene. And I know a lot of times, even for me, it's like, well, it really just depends on what that is? And so it can be a challenging question to ask. And we can be a little bit tempted because it's like, man, I don't know what this could be, and we can get into a kind of a controlling space, but I think it's such a valid question because God is always wanting to do new things in us.

He's always wanting to birth new things in us,  personal life, marriage, in our ministry. What are those new things? And that we would not be intimidated in 2025 to let those things happen, be birthed. And I go back to even, Stephanie, thinking about how as we develop our relationship with the Lord, okay, and we're fostering that intimacy with him through prayer, through Bible reading, through community, teachings, podcasts, all of the things, what is God doing all along the way?

He's planting seeds in all of us, right? He's planting seeds, hundreds and thousands of different seeds, and as those seeds germinate, as they have time to marinate, they're going to come forth, they're going to birth, and they're going to bring forth life on some level,  and so God is planting all of these seeds and in different seasons.

He's going to birth new things inside of us. And, and my point of the question is that we would be open. We would be aware of the things that he wants to birth in our life, that he wants to bring on the scene and can really forever change us, our marriage, our family dynamics,  and, and our ministry.  

[00:09:12] Stephanie Gutierrez: It's a great question. And,  I, a few minutes ago, you said, don't be intimidated by it. You used the word intimidated and I was glad that you mentioned that because when you think of a birth, birth is so exciting. I mean, what's more exciting than something new or a new person,  coming into the world? And also what is more painful? Whether it's birthing a new project or a new ministry or a new literal person or a new character trait or fruit of the Spirit.. It takes so much effort, so much work, a lot of pain in it,  usually as well. But there is this excitement and this energy that comes with it, that gives you the grace for all of that. That gives you that motherly amnesia. They always talk about where you forget about it afterwards because of just the, as Jesus said, the joy set before him, he endured the cross,  and a cross is a death. 

But also I think the difficulty of a birth as well. There is a joy set before you. You, you can envision what it's going to be. So, I like how open that question is. Like you said, it could refer to so many different things. So as a missionary sits down with us, it's like, Lord, are we talking about something physically, mentally, something in my family, in my relationships with the church?

There's so much that it can be. So I'm curious for everyone what your answer to that question will be. I hope you're jotting down thoughts as you're listening to this. You can actually do this activity as you are listening. Look at that.

[00:10:45] Marvin Slaton: Yeah. Well, and I think that's a natural segue there into the second question. And just a quick story in this segue is when I think about birth, you can even go to the story of Modern Day, 2005, I'm on the bus in China and the Lord's speaking to me the words modern day and to marry the,  the modern-day world of technology to the archaic world of missions, but  Modern Day didn't come to fruition until July of 2008. It was three years later. So there was this planting of the seed, but then for three years, there was all of the words, the, the marinating, the germinating, the pollinating, whatever it is,  and for us, it was, who were a part of the founding, Elias and Nick, it was tough.

There were challenges. There were obstacles, there were hurdles in developing a 501c3 and the organizational model and all of the things, and so you're talking about a three-year process. But what if, what if, Stephanie, at the end of those three years, we were like, this has been tough and we really don't know. There's uncertainties, it could fail.

What if we didn't follow through? What if we didn't allow it to come onto the scene and arrive and embrace what God was wanting to do? You look back now and it's like, we don't want that. We need Modern Day. 

And so many people, donors, missionaries are using it. And so I'm so glad that we didn't suppress that and that we didn't move on from it, but that we allowed it to arrive? 

And so I think that can apply to anyone in their life. They may have a seed inside of them that has been marinating within them for 10 years. All I'm saying is in 2025, is this the year? Is this the year for that seed to come forth and bear life? 

So with that, I was mentioning segueway. So again, that acronym BMDRA, the second one is ministry. So it's the birth of Christ. And then the second significant part is the ministry of Christ's life. And so that question is: what is the ministry  God has for us to go deeper into as missionaries, okay, or jump into, or recalibrate, adjust? What is God speaking to us about ministry in 2025? 

And so, as missionaries, obviously we know that they're already involved in,  all kinds of different, ministries. Maybe they have one singular focus ministry, or maybe there's, there's a different array of them. But it's a call in this new year,  to really, Stephanie, take inventory and to self-assess. And to, to look,  completely at the ministry that's going on. And to say, Lord, you spent three years of your life in ministry on this earth, and we look at your, the fruit, and the challenges and the difficulty. I want to look at this ministry that you've given to us. And in this year, I want to take inventory and I want for this ministry to go deeper and further in everything that you have for us. 

And so there's the established ministries there, but I think also, Stephanie, and this is really what I want to kind of drill down on is, I think that there's missionaries out there who they have a ministry that's on their heart. They've been called to start something new. They've been called to join with something that's already been established and, maybe for whatever reasons they've been hesitant. They haven't taken that step to embrace that ministry that they know that they're called to, and it could be an additional ministry or it could be the main ministry they're looking at.

And so what I'm really speaking to here for missionaries is, What is that ministry that has been there in the forefront of your mind, or maybe even in the back burner, but that, in this year, in 2025, this is the year that I need to step out into this? I need to have that conversation. I need to join that team. I need to step out in this gifting and I need to let this come to fulfillment in my life in 2025, because we we can't waste time, Stephanie, right? Like,we want to be good stewards, and we want to honor the Lord. And then if the Lord is calling us, Stephanie, to step out into something. And he's given us this vision or this contact or this relationship or whatever it is,  we want to act upon that. And so if you've been on the sidelines, if you've been spectating a little bit, I'm saying this year is God calling you to jump into the game in this, in that specific ministry, whatever it is, and get plugged in.

And so this is more of like a…coming from a director of a missions organization, like it's that gentle push of like, hey, let's get out there and let's do it. Yeah, let's embrace it, and let's walk through that door. 

[00:16:33] Stephanie Gutierrez: It will be exciting to see what God is calling each one of you who's listening into. You're probably sensing something in your spirit or feeling like you need to have a conversation with somebody. Something's stirring. So what will that be? Okay. What's our next question, Marvin?

[00:16:48] Marvin Slaton: The D part of the acronym is obviously we're talking about Christ death. And so the question is, are there things God is calling you to put to death? To learn from and move on from in 2025?

And I don't want that to feel like a morbid question. Anytime we're talking about death, it can kind of take us to a, to a challenging place. But my question is, what is it God is calling you to put to death, learn from, move on from? And I think this can be in any area of our life as missionaries, but I know so many times, whether that putting to death is a habit. Whether that putting to death is  some type of sin entanglement, whether that pudding to death is even an unhealthy relationship, whatever it is. Maybe that pudding to death is a ministry that the season has closed. Whatever it is, what is God calling us to there as missionaries in 2025?

Because I think so often as we take inventory and as Stephanie, we, we recalibrate each year. I think inevitably there are things that God is wanting us to pay attention to and it's like what, this, this thing here, it needs attention and really, it needs to be put to death? We need to put it to death.

We need to, we need to learn from it and then we need to move on from whatever that is,  and I think there's. can be a multitude of different things that, that fall into that camp.  but I think that it's important that we're asking ourselves that question and, and we, we're looking into this because inevitably we're all going to have something in our life.

It's like what, here, there is this thing in my life and it's not, it's not a fruit producer? It just doesn't produce fruit and it can be destructive. It can be a destructive tendency or habit or discipline or whatever it is. And, and we know, we know from the Lord, the Spirit's told us it's time to move on and what he's saying is that you need to put that to death. The beautiful thing is that when we put stuff to death, Stephanie, is that what that does is that it brings forth life, you know. It brings forth a greater life in different areas.

[00:19:28] Stephanie Gutierrez:  I think I've mentioned on the podcast before, but my dad's a master gardener. And so as you talk about this one, it's really making me think about gardening because I think there are things like you said, there's an obvious cutting away or putting to death of things that are dead.

I picture my dad showing me how when certain flowers have bloomed and they're done, you uproot them, you get them out to make space for new growth or so that they're not robbing all of the water in the soil so it can go to other growth. But then I also think about the times where he had me clip off the little blossoms on a tree or a flower that maybe is still alive, but there's some blossoms, like a rose bush, for example, we'd, what do you always call them? Deadhead them or something where you're popping them off because you're making room for other flowers on the same bush. 

And then there's the times where he would tell me to cut things that were still alive and like thriving. Like you have a big bush or something and he's like, you just go in there and you cut. I'm like, but Dad, it's not dead! There's not, it's not even brown. He's like, you have to prune it back because then it comes back fuller afterward. And so for everybody there, there might be things that are obviously so dead that are stealing water and resources from other things in your life, like sin or bad habits.

Then there might be things that are just not…their season's done. You walked them out, they had their fruit, but it's time for something else. And then I think the hardest ones are the other ones where God aks us to lay something down that is actually producing some fruit that looks good, but maybe it's time for us to delegate that to somebody else.

It's not ours to carry anymore. Or maybe we're just not supposed to be doing that because he has something else that's coming ahead and there won't be space for that. And he has this new fullness of life that he needs us to step into, but unless we let go of what's in our hand, it's not going to happen.

So again, another very wise question. So what is God asking you to cut out, to prune, to put to death? 

[00:21:29] Marvin Slaton: Let me, let's jump in the way back time machine here, Stephanie.  and we're gonna go back to,  my high school days, very applicable story to this question.

[00:21:42] Stephanie Gutierrez: I wish you had a photo of yourself in high school to accompany this high school story. So we have to just picture it. 

[00:21:48] Marvin Slaton: No one needs to see that bleached hair! And so,  so in high school, my main passion was basketball. And so I was made the varsity team as a sophomore, which was a great accomplishment. My junior year, I earned some accolades. Okay. And they were very good accolades. And,  with those accolades came a lot of pride, came a lot of arrogance, came a lot of selfishness. And man, I thought that I had arrived.

Okay. And our team was good and all of the things. And so that's my junior year. So the summer going into my senior year, the head coach pulls me aside and he says, Marvin, he says, here's kind of my vision for the team. And here's kind of what I'm seeing for the team. He said, but for you personally, he said,  what I think we're going to need from you,  to improve on in this coming year is I think you're going to need to score more. You're going to need to increase your scoring average. And he said, the thing that's going to help you do that, and what I want you to do every day you're in the gym this summer is I want you to play one on one against your best friend, Daniel. 

Okay, now I need to tell our audience here. I'm 5'10 I was a point guard. My best friend Daniel was 6'4, nd his arms are about 10 feet longer than mine. And he was a much better basketball player,  but coach said, you need to play him. He said, because here's the fact, if you can score on him, then you're going to be able to score on people who guard you in the season. Now I mentioned Stephanie, I was full of pride, arrogance, selfishness. Coach told me that, and I shook my head, but inside I thought, there is no way I am doing that this summer. And you know what? I didn't, I didn't do it.

[00:23:42] Stephanie Gutierrez: Really?

[00:23:43] Marvin Slaton: Yes. Fast forward to my senior year and we end up winning 16 games, losing 16 games. We made the playoffs. We went to the second round. It was a good season, but we lost about 7 or 8 games that year by about 2 or 3 points. My scoring average that year barely increased at all. At all. 

And so I look at that and we're talking about putting to death something in our life that would allow more life to come forth. Because I didn't put to death the pride, the ego, the selfishness, because I didn't, inevitably, it affected not only me, Stephanie, it affected my whole team.

[00:24:33] Stephanie Gutierrez: Hmm.

[00:24:34] Marvin Slaton: You see where I'm going with this for our missionaries. When we don't put to death the things that we know, like you said, good or bad things, when we know need to be put to death. It doesn't mean that it's just going to affect us personally. Like my basketball story, it affected our whole team. I know if I would have done that, it would have helped my whole team. 

And so that's my encouragement to all of the missionaries out there is that as God's calling you in 2025 to put to death the good and the bad things, it's not only going to positively affect you, it's going to affect your, your, your, marriage, your family, your team, or your church community around you as well.

[00:25:15] Stephanie Gutierrez: You're right. It actually makes me think of a time where I did do that. And I think about the effect that it had on my family and our daughter specifically. I remember serving in Peru. We served with a local church. We were on the executive team there and had just all different kinds of hats and roles that we played there.

But one of mine for years was being a part of our worship team. And it was something I just loved. I mean, it bore great fruit and it was fun. I helped train our vocalists and was just very, very involved and loved it. I can't even tell you how much I loved doing it. But I remember when our daughter Macy got to be of an age where she was asked to join the youth team. And what I loved about our church and what they still do there is they'll even have teenagers and youth, once they've trained them in, be a part of the weekend service team. 

And I remember when she joined, something in me knew this is the beginning of the end. Like it's going to be time for me to move aside. And so I enjoyed that first year of us kind of being in it together. It felt special, but I noticed 

she was kind of hesitant. She kind of hide behind me in a sense because I was there and I really felt the Lord say, Hey, it's, it's her turn now. I've got something else for you. And that was tough. That was a really tough thing to let go to in one sense. But in another sense, it was okay. Because I could see, I could just sense that good things were going to happen. And I remember, man, as soon as I took a step back, it's like she felt free to establish her own relationships at the church and flourish. 

And before I knew it, she was singing on the weekend and got to lead the single for our church's youth song that they released. And then actually I got asked to join the speaking team after, and that's not something that would have happened had I stayed on the worship team. Not that one is better than the other, both super valuable types of ministry, but it was just a different season and a different time. And for me, that was such a good reminder of how God knows. And even when something looks like a death,  there can be so much joy on the other side of it. So such a good one. 

And we spent some more time there, but I think, I think it's one that can be tougher for people to sometimes recognize. I will say if, if someone is struggling with knowing when to end something, a book that's been really helpful for me is Necessary Endings by Cloud and Townsend.

That won't apply necessarily to all of these. Oh my gosh. And that book is outstanding in helping you discern if it might be time to move on from something.  so yeah, that's a resource that you can pick up. 

[00:27:48] Marvin Slaton: Yeah. 

[00:27:49] Stephanie Gutierrez: Now into resurrection! 

[00:27:50] Marvin Slaton: Yeah. Well, so, so the fourth question is, is God wanting to resurrect an area of your life that was thriving before, but currently needs new life? 

And I think as we ask that question, people's minds will go in a lot of different directions because all of us have had things in our past that were thriving before, but for this, that, and the other reason, other reasons isn't thriving now, even though we know inside that it should be. It's something that needs to be resurrected, Stephanie. And so I think about just a practical example in my own life, and these can range from smaller things to very, very important relational things. dynamics in your marriage, even leadership dynamics in your ministry as a leader.

But for me, the past several years, I had gotten away from reading like Christian how-to self-help books. And I just kind of was just like, it's me and the Bible? And, and, and that's good because I read the Bible a lot and, and I still do, but I felt going into 2025 that for me personally, I was supposed to resurrect that kind of Christian self-help how-to. I was noticing that there are authors and different book titles. It's like, I need to I need to bring that back to my life. I need to resurrect that and bring that back into my life. And that's going to be beneficial? And so it's not necessarily that I was sinning or off course before. It was just the gentle nudge of the Lord saying, Hey, let's bring that back. Let's get some of this extra reading in here in addition to, in addition to the Bible. And so that was kind of like, Oh man, God, I can feel you resurrecting that. In my life in this in this new year, and so and then the resurrection we know it's like, I mean, it's the it's the completion. Right. And I know Tim Keller, he has so much great commentary on Christ's resurrection and I encourage people to read Tim Keller stuff on the resurrection. But man, if Christ didn't resurrect, that the resurrection was the game changer. 

And so I bring that up because there could be something in a missionary's life, Stephanie, where you're resurrecting it through, through God's leadership to resurrect it, that you're resurrecting it. It could be the game changer. It could be the game changer for marriage, ministry, everything in between. And so I think it's such a valid question as we celebrate Christ's resurrection. And as we are anchored into his resurrection, that we're continually thinking in our life in this new year, God, what is it? It could be a relationship. It could be a friendship. It could be a past dream or desire or goal, and again, a lot of times this could be things that were thriving in our past. So I'm not necessarily looking at negative things here, but positive things that were helpful and supportive of us in our past and God is reminding us, hey, go back to that, go back to that.

And so it's kind of like, you look in the Old Testament, Stephanie, and you think about how God encouraged the children of Israel to create the altars, the stones of remembrance. And I think sometimes we have to go back to those altars, to those stones of remembrance, and sometimes God is saying, Hey, I want you to pick this back up. I want you to embrace this for this next season. And so I think for the missionaries, as amazing as missionaries' lives are and as diverse,  and as talented as they all are, man, it would be so exciting just to hear…I would even love in the comment section as missionaries listen to this or watch it on YouTube, just to comment with something that they feel God is resurrecting in their life in 2025 and the encouragement of how we as a community could encourage each other. So I love the question. 

[00:32:19] Stephanie Gutierrez: I do too. I mean, I'm thinking how for me, for me, it doesn't sound spiritual, but God resurrected an exercise routine for me this year and for like five years. I was so, I had such a great routine for years, and it completely fell off. And now finally I've gotten my rhythm back and it, it feels good. And so for you, it could be anything.  from something physical like that, or, or the way that you eat,  that's spiritual too, because God gave us these bodies of the temple of the Holy Spirit to anything, like you said, to a relationship. 

And,  I love when we think, when I think about the word resurrection, I think sometimes we can confuse it when we think about our own lives. Like, reheat it, as if it's leftovers. And it was really good the first time I ate it. And oh yeah, I forgot I put that in the freezer. Let me take that out and nuke it and see if I can try it again. No, it's new, fresh life. I mean, think about Jesus. When he was resurrected, he had a whole new body. When God brings that back into your life, he's going to do it better than ever.

Like a relationship, like you said. That one that keeps coming back to me. Maybe that's for somebody who's listening, but God wants to, to not only restore that relationship to you, but resurrect it in a way that it has fresh new life and it's better than ever. It might be your marriage relationship or your relationship with your kids or, or a friend. But yes, God wants to bring that not only just back into your life, like reheated leftovers, but no, he wants to make it completely new and fresh all over for you again. So that's so good, Marvin. 

How about our last question? 

[00:33:49] Marvin Slaton: So we got birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and the last one is ascension. So what is God calling you to ascend? In 2025, what is he calling you to complete, fulfill, overcome, and conquer? And of course, when we look at this question, we think about, the mountaineer on the mountain, and he's descending the mountain. He's going to conquer to reach the peak of the mountain. He's going to overcome the fears and the challenges and everything that it is. He's going to conquer the mountain. He's going to fulfill his own desire to get to the top. And so the question is, when we look at Christ, there was the resurrection and then there was ascension, his ascension, where he had come back to the disciples and spent the 40 days with them.

And then he ascends and into heaven where we know now that he's making intercession for us and all of, all of the things. And so this is the fun one to me, Stephanie. is that––and I think this can really apply to missionaries' lives as they've made New Year's resolutions and as they've set goals in 2025––is that God is calling his missionaries to ascend. He's calling them to complete things. He's calling them to fulfill things. He is calling them to conquer in 2025. 

And so this, this is the one that's very exciting to me and I'm so passionate about it because I know that missionaries are near and dear to God's heart. We always hear that they're frontline workers and that they are in, so many,  are in places where it can be so challenging to bear fruit,  and to overcome what's in front of them. And it seems like life is just challenge after challenge after challenge. 

And so I think just my encouragement in this, Stephanie,  to the missionaries is that God has for you in 2025, the power and the authority that comes to us from Matthew 28 and the Great Commission. He's given us all, all, all authority to go forth and to make disciples of all nations. So he has given us the missionaries, all authority in any nation they're in, in any ministry they're in to go forth and make disciples. I don't know what the mountain is that is in front of people. And I think Stephanie, when we say mountain,  when we, when we think metaphorically, we always think of, Oh, it's hard. Oh, it's difficult. Oh, it's a struggle and it's a challenge. But I don't know about you, Stephanie, but I've been on, I mean, so many times when I've gotten to climb a mountain, those things are true, but there is such beauty in the journey. There's such beauty. And so many times there's such revelation in the journey, and there's such growth in maturity. 

And so when I say the mountain before us that we, we are going to ascend, I say that in a way of like, this isn't like this cold, dark, black mountain? I mean, that could be applicable if that's something that God is saying, but I'm more looking at this as like, man, you have, we have a beautiful mountain in front of us, missionaries.

[00:37:29] Stephanie Gutierrez: I'm picturing Machu Picchu because that's the mountains that I've been to in Cusco, the Camino del Inca. So that's the kind of mountains I'm picturing and those are cool mountains to ascend. They were hard, but we made it.

[00:37:45] Marvin Slaton: But the journey, the experience, who you were able to do that with, the memories that were made, and that's really what I'm talking about here in 2025 is God has beautiful memories, beautiful experiences, wonderful stories, testimonies that he's wanting to create as people ascend the mountain that's in front of him.

And again, I see a lush mountain. I see a beautiful mountain. I see wonderful views. I see waterfalls, I see great animals that people enjoy. I spent a summer in Alaska and was able to hike––this was many, many moons ago––was able to hike so many different mountains and enjoy the terrain.

And this is what I see from missionaries, just a beautiful experience. Challenge, struggle, yes. But it's like, man, the point is, is that with Christ’s ascension, I think, he has given us all power and authority to be able to ascend what's in front of us as well. So it's more of like the coach and the, the inspiration is like, man, we can do this in 2025, Stephanie, and it can be beautiful and we can enjoy it, and have so many memories and testimonies.

And so I'll get off my soapbox, with that, but I hope that missionaries can feel the passion and the desire that I have for them. And I really feel like that this was planted by the Lord in me for them. 

[00:39:16] Stephanie Gutierrez: Yeah, well, I'm guessing a lot of missionaries as they were listening, either straight up did the activity with us or had certainly a lot of ideas that were popping into their mind as you were talking. So I would just love to close this episode by asking you to pray over all of our missionary listeners and those things that God has been putting in their hearts while you've been speaking right now, Marvin.

[00:39:38] Marvin Slaton: Yeah. And I would just want to include again, Stephanie, I know I said this before, but we have so many people that watch us on YouTube, and I would love to get some interaction so that we could encourage each other in this community of these five questions. And so, if you normally listen, go over there to YouTube and like and subscribe and  jot down how the Lord is leading you in those five questions.

We would love to read, we can be praying for them. And I know that other missionaries would be encouraged too. But,  yeah, let me pray. 

Jesus, we love you so much. And we thank you that we are anchored in your life and in your truth. And these five questions that we've posed here today, may they serve as a plumb line and guidance for us and for the missionaries and everyone that's listening in 2025. What's cool, God, is as you call us to things, is you didn't leave us alone. You sent us the Holy Spirit. You said He’s the great helper. And we know that the Holy Spirit represents power in our lives, power to live a godly life,  to ascend and to conquer God. And so we just ask, Holy Spirit, that you would just so gently lead all of these missionaries, encourage them, strengthen them, inspire them along the way.

God bless them, Lord, as we thank you for each one of them. May 2025 be full of favor, blessing, and grace. Testimonies, growth and maturity in all of the missionaries' lives. And we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen. 

[00:41:14] Stephanie Gutierrez: Amen. And like Marvin said, head on over to YouTube, subscribe if you'd like to receive these regularly. And also remember, I haven't mentioned this in a while, but we have an email that goes out every Monday in which we promote the new podcast, put all the information about that, and also put out free weekly resources of different things available to the missions community all over the world. So if you'd like to receive that, head on over to https://mdmpodcast.org/, pop in your email address and we will add you to that list. And we look forward to seeing you on an upcoming episode.