ILI: History Makers Leadership Podcast

Ep. 77 | Missions at the Forefront

• International Leadership Institute • Season 1 • Episode 77

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What if your church’s missions ministry could move from quiet support to unstoppable momentum—this month? 

In this conversation, Dr. Dan Slagle (16-year missions pastor at Faithbridge Church, TX) shares a field-tested playbook for keeping missions front and center with both your senior pastor and congregation. You’ll hear how he read church culture, aligned with leadership, and proved value through two metrics—participation and giving—culminating in a month-long “Taking It to the Streets” push that offered 15–20 serve opportunities each week, mobilized 1,500 people, and catalyzed major faith-promise giving.

Dan unpacks the Acts 1:8 balance with a bold 50/50 budget split between local and international work, plus practical “on-ramps” to global trips (think closer, lower-friction destinations first) and rigorous partner selection that aligns with your church’s vision. He shows why stories (and simple video) move hearts faster than statistics, how to build a leadership pipeline—starting local before leading abroad—and what it takes to launch sustainable local impact (including a thriving community nonprofit).

Dan and Shannon break down how to:
✅ Keep your senior pastor excited about missions.
✅ Use simple metrics (participation + giving) to prove impact.
✅ Build “on-ramps” for global trips that actually stick.
✅ Tell stories that move hearts more than stats.
✅ Launch local nonprofits that grow from church partnerships.

Whether you’re a missions pastor, staff member, or key volunteer, you’ll leave with clear steps to grow a genuine movement. Tune in to gain insights you can put into practice this quarter. 

Join a community of leaders who are ready to change history and make an impact in this world. When you take part in ILI training, you will discover how ILI's Eight Core Values will help you transform your leadership. Discover more at ILITeam.org/connect.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the International Leadership Institute's podcast on leadership. Today we are joined by Dr. Dan Slagel, and we are going to be unpacking missions and how to keep that in the forefront of your congregation and senior pastor. Dan, thank you for being here with us. Sure. I think a lot of you that watch a so know him pretty well. If not, go check out some of the podcasts that he's been on. He is a man of great wisdom. And so today we're going to tap into your history and your wisdom and a way to encourage those of you that are leading missions at your church. So, Dan, um, how long did you lead missions for those people that this might be their first podcast?

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Uh, I served as the missions pastor at Faithbridge Church, which is in uh Spring, Texas, just out outside of Houston, for um 16 years.

unknown:

Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. That's a long time.

SPEAKER_02:

From 2006 to 2022.

SPEAKER_01:

That's incredible. And you grew that ministry. You were the very first mission pastor there, is that correct?

SPEAKER_02:

There was one predecessor to me, uh they lasted less than a year. Okay. Uh and then I stepped into the role four years after they departed. Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Um so how do you keep missions at the forefront of the vision and mission for the church?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, uh I'll I'll start with this broad answer. It depends. It depends on your setting. It depends on the disposition of both the senior pastor, uh, the church culture. Uh all of those things have to be taken into consideration before you begin to establish uh a missions mindset or a missions ministry. By and large, this is certainly not true of every church, but by and large, most churches in the United States are focused on what's happening at home, their own situation. Right. Uh missions, particularly overseas missions, is is not a front burner issue. And, you know, to it to a degree that that is understandable. Uh it takes a lot of work to keep a local church alive and and and running well and healthy. And uh as a senior pastor pointed out to me one time, a local church is a mission.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh so there is some legitimacy to keeping the home fires burning. Right. But that certainly should not preclude uh an involvement with and a prioritization of international missions, local missions, any work that's happening outside the walls of the church. So to make that sort of uh ministry a priority, as I said, one first of all has to take stock of what the current situation is, and then begin to develop your strategy based on the challenges that you are facing. In my particular situation, the the challenge wasn't all that difficult. I was fortunate to have a senior pastor who was a missions-minded individual, and Faith Bridge was an outwardly focused church. There was just not a formal representation of that with its own ministry, and certainly not a missions pastor. When I began to sense the Lord tapping my shoulder to fill this role, I I knew that my number one job was going to be to demonstrate to the senior pastor how missions would add value to the local church.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

That it would not become uh an albatross around his neck, that uh it wouldn't in any way detract from uh the good work that was already going on, but it would actually enhance it and that it would help the church grow, both spiritually, numerically, uh also financially. And so in our first conversation about it, he he was somewhat reluctant, not because he was opposed to missions, but because I already had a role there that I was doing well and he was happy with, and he didn't know if I should make that jump. And so the two um measures that he gave me to meet in order to justify developing a missions ministry and me becoming a missions pastor uh were uh participation, actual involvement in serving and giving. Would the congregation be motivated to give to this opportunity? And so that was where I focused my efforts, but that was my situation. I think, as I've said now a couple of times, it's imperative you really study and understand your current culture before you develop your strategy.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. What advice would you give to someone on staff who also feels that pull towards missions, but maybe their senior pastor uh is neglecting it for various reasons. But how do you become an encourager and lead up, for example, um in regard to missions for a church?

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Let me begin by first of all suggesting what you should not do. Uh you should not attempt to argue your senior pastor into uh accepting your proposition. Yeah, you know, and and by argue, I don't only mean uh being belligerent, but just taking a purely logical approach is isn't going to work. You you can talk to your blue in the face, but he or she is still facing the same realities that they already have.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

You have to bring something to the table that will demonstrate this this will add value to the church. This this is going to be good for us, and have an initial plan anyway to back that up. Right. Uh the worst thing you could do is is you know lay out this marvelous rationale for it, showing how it adds value. And then the senior pastor says, Well, okay, how are you gonna do it?

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh haven't figured that out yet. No, you you really want to have thought this thing through. My experience was um discovering the importance of grassroots. I couldn't just stand up in front of the congregation and say, we're gonna have missions ministry, y'all come. Because when a broad announcement is made like that, uh there's a psychological principle. What's everybody's business is nobody's business. If you just make this broad appeal, most people are gonna think, oh, well, that doesn't apply to me, but person next to me probably. I had to go and find the individuals in the congregation who I suspected were passionate about missions, have that confirmed, and then begin to work with those individuals to create a movement from within, not me stepping in and trying to persuade people from the outside. Wow. Uh that was the ticket uh to enlist the support and the leadership of the laity in making this happen.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Because even though I was a longtime colleague of my senior pastor, we'd known each other for over 25 years, he is a lot more, was a lot more likely to listen to a group of laity who are passionate about something. And by group, I mean 15, 20 folks who are passionate about something than just me.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh that that's going to get his attention. It did get his attention.

SPEAKER_01:

That is really great advice. I know some of the church partners we have here at ILI are part of our community of donors and partners because of people at the church who were pushing it, who were excited about it, who wanted to travel with us, um, and do history makers, you know, training events. And so they really encourage the senior pastors. We've had senior pastors call us and say, I've got so many people talking about you to me. Uh, what is it that you guys do? There you go. You know, and so that's been that's nice and it's great. It's exactly what you're saying, though. When your church gets excited about something, or you're whenever the people in your congregation get excited about something, it's easier for the senior pastor to grab onto that for them and champion what they're doing. It doesn't seem like it's just another program or another thing that is just a part of the church. Yeah. Um, so that's that's really timely and great advice.

SPEAKER_02:

I I was given a month to demonstrate that Faith Bridge needed a missions ministry the month of October.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02:

Which we are in now.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And uh I gathered together 12 individuals who I knew were passionate about missions and who I knew had leadership abilities. And uh we set two goals for ourselves based on our senior pastor's requirements. We were going to maximize congregational participation in any way we could. We wanted to create as many opportunities for people to serve as as we could find. And we were going to challenge people uh to put their money where their mouth is to help people understand that uh the missional efforts of this church are worth your extra giving. And so we came up with a plan. We uh called it uh taking it to the streets, the Doobie Brothers song. As a matter of fact, we even sang that one Sunday in in church. And every week throughout that month, we had a minimum of 15, maybe even 20 missional opportunities for people to participate in. And it culminated the last Sunday in October with a faith promise Sunday, where we challenge people to make a commitment, whether they had those extra dollars or not, but just a trust that God would provide. And uh I'll never forget we're walking into to Ken's office, my senior pastor, and he said, Well, how did it go? And I was able to tell him uh throughout the month of October, we had 1,500 faith bridgers participate in missional efforts, and over$300,000 were pledged that first Sunday.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

And he stuck out his hand and said, Congratulations, you're my new missions pastor. The only reason that happened is because I involved lay leaders who had influence and who could think bigger thoughts than me and who could expand our vision and involve other people. If it had just been me trying to convince Ken and then trying to convince the congregation, it would have flopped.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I guarantee it. But because those people jumped in with both feet and uh worked hard and led well, now um what almost 19 years later, uh missions ministry at Faith Bridge is bigger than it's ever been. Uh, I want to say the budget now, or the budget when I left there in 22 was uh 1.3 million.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And I'm sure it's only grown since then. That's incredible. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

300,000 turned into 1.3 million. Yeah. That's incredible. Yeah. Wow. That's gonna make some people's eyes get big when they realize that, you know, like you don't realize what you're not tapping into. You had so many reservations, but uh, we talk about it so often. Acts 1.8 uh is a great mission strategy locally and globally. And so what what kind of wisdom would you have? Um, I personally I don't know if you were oversaw the local and global missions. So you may be able to talk about the friction with that from the same seat, or maybe there's another person you had to work with. I see a lot of churches have a local missions pastor and a global mission, international mission partners uh pastor. And so oftentimes the church heavily focuses on that local mission piece, right? Leaving the international missions to the side, which is, you know, to the ends of the earth of the Acts 1.8 scripture. So, how do you balance that? How do you add fuel to the international piece, which is harder to convince people to use their vacations, to go overseas? Why do we have to travel so far? We have people here that are hurting and in need. So maybe you can add some wisdom to some of that tension that those pastors feel.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. So the first decision we made that that helped with the problem you're speaking of was from the get-go, we decided that the budget would be cut right down the middle, 50-50. Local would get X and international would get X. One would not be prioritized over the other.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh that helped a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

To raise uh the uh awareness of the importance of international missions and uh opportunities to participate. We we did a couple of things. I I was given just about every October from there on to preach about it. And stories were the key in my sermons. Stories and video images and you know, all of those things that that speak to people.

SPEAKER_01:

You're also a great communicator. No one likes teaching with you because you're like top of the line. Well, thank you. You're very kind of we don't like, but we can we learn so much from you when we're at training events or watching your messages online. It's just incredible.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you. You're very kind, I appreciate it. I I I took advantage of my preaching opportunities to raise that banner. Then we provided international opportunities that we called on-ramps. We didn't start out going to Africa or India. We started out going just down the road, so to speak, uh, from Houston to Honduras. A one-hour flight out of Houston, I believe, not much more than that, maybe a couple hours. Uh we partnered with a a ministry there that very was very effective, is still effective, hope for Honduras, uh, but didn't create uh culture shock for the participants.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

But it did touch their hearts. And they were able to see, oh wow, poverty is real. We get blind to it here in the U.S. We do. And uh there are people suffering every single day in in these situations. So uh Honduras, El Salvador were our two sort of on-ramp trips where people could go and begin to discover I can I can do this. You know, I I can leave my home, and it's worth using a few days of vacation even to do it. And then we built from there. Uh we began to find partners uh in further countries, in Africa, in South Asia, in Europe. And the key there was partner identification. You want to be very picky, very selective. Right. You want to choose partners that are in line with your vision, your priorities, your mission. Uh, partners that will be uh a joy to work with rather than creating headaches for you. Partners that understand what you're up against and who will work with you to lower those barriers and and make it um not easy. I don't I don't I don't want to w use the word easy, but welcoming for individuals who aren't accustomed to international travel to come and and be involved and most of all to see I really am making a difference. What what I did here was impactful.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. God really did send them that far away for that time to make an impact.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Um, those sorts of things we found to be very, very helpful.

SPEAKER_01:

Good. So did you feel any tension between the the congregation wanting to invest more locally than internationally, or were they?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, in in my situation, I I I suppose I was very fortunate. Not once. Yeah, not not one time did anyone say anything remotely to me, like, well, we've got needs here. Why are you that that was never an issue for us because we uh demonstrated our efforts were being put forth equally on both sides. Our local missions were fantastic. As a matter of fact, uh perhaps the the highlight of our local mission efforts was the cultivation of our very own nonprofit ministry to a lower-income neighborhood, not far from where Faith Bridge is located. Uh, bridging for Tomorrow. It it works with families primarily in a multitude of ways. Uh, mentoring their children, uh, English language skills, job training, right? Just a whole host of things that that benefits and blesses that community. Uh, that ministry now uh has its own budget uh in approaching a million dollars. Wow. Yeah, that isn't raised strictly from within Faith Bridge.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh it it grew to a point where it could begin to have its own fundraisers. Incredible. Yeah. Wow. Uh and so I think because we created equal opportunities on both sides that were equally impactful, equally meaningful. I I I just never had to deal with that tension between the two.

SPEAKER_01:

That's that's great to consider what are your standards? How are you um starting each year, knowing where to go? So, how do you know who to champion? So you have certain people that are really encouraged about missions. How do you really decide and differentiate between someone who's just excited and someone who can actually champion a trip and lead a trip for you? Because I know you didn't go on all the trips. Right. Right. So how how did you kind of handle that?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, uh initially, uh we looked for people who exhibited, had already exhibited some leadership skills in general.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh and we required people to to prove themselves. Uh somebody comes to me and says, you know, I want to lead a trip to Kenya. Well, how about we um start with something local?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, let's see uh how passionate are you about serving people right here?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

And if that individual demonstrated that, yeah, they they could make it happen. They could lead, they could recruit, they could deploy, uh, they could solve problems, they could uh create energy around this, I'd be a lot more inclined the next time to say, okay, how about if we try this? Uh giving people an opportunity to prove themselves, not not only prove themselves as individuals, but to prove their ideas. Right. People would frequently come to me passionate about something they had bumped up against in in Houston, either another potential partner or or a need. Come to me and say, Pastor Dan, we ought to do something about this. Well, how about we start with you? You've obviously got the passion.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh give it a go and let's see what happens. Rarely would we give them seed money. I would want to see, can you do something without resources?

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

If they demonstrated, oh yeah, I I can make it happen, then seed money might be forthcoming to begin to develop that. And I would say most of our local partnerships were born that way. I didn't I didn't think them up. I didn't have to go out and find them. Right. Faith Bridgers brought them to me.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

Because they were excited or passionate about human trafficking or you know, poverty or or what have you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Man, I really love that because then you're championing what their passion is.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, if God's given them a vision, like say human trafficking, if God's given them a vision to meet a need there, they go and start meeting that need, and then you come alongside and financially resource them and spiritually resource them and send others who have the same need, same uh passion for that ministry. Right. Uh that's beautiful. I love that. Yeah. I'm glad y'all did that. Um, earlier I was thinking of a question and I forgot what it was, but it just came back to me. Um, so you split the resources 50-50. And I know some people watching might think, wow, that's a lot to give internationally. Uh, potentially, shouldn't you invest more in your own community? And um, I wanted to kind of unpack that somewhat because statistically, the United States only gives a fraction of a of 1% internationally. And so it that's actually really sad if you think statistically we should give more to international missions to make up for it. Yeah. Um, and so I how did you rationale the 50 split? Um, any encouragement to someone who's watching that might be creating their new budget, or maybe they're feeling, oh wow, we do like 75-25. How can we get to a 50% nationally?

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Well, uh, I'm Wesleyan in my theology. And John Wesley used to say, the world is my parish, not just this little corner of England. Right. But he understood the whole world needs Jesus. And so my mindset going into it was that perspective that Faith Bridge was not called just to minister to Spring, Texas or Houston, but to the whole world because the whole world needs Jesus.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

Um I would expand the international uh ministry, mission ministry at Faith Bridge through involvement. You take someone on a life-changing mission trip, they're gonna come back and talk about it. And the more successes we had overseas, the easier it was for people to buy into it and and participate. As I said, I I was fortunate enough to not have that tension between the two. Um, but stories became my best friend. We never went on a mission trip that we didn't take a video camera.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, or at least a camera and come back and be able on any given Sunday to be able to tell the story of this is what happened in this particular slum of India, or this is what happened when we began to feed children in Honduras, or this is what happened when we had an open-air evangelistic opportunity in Mozambique. You know, just on and on. Never underestimate the power of story, and when you can aid that storytelling visually, all the better.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's incredible. Yeah. Um, you're right, stories get our hearts, you know, the statistics get our minds, but to really draw someone in with their heart, boom, you need those stories. Absolutely. It's a both and, not either or. That's right. You know, really. That's right. Um, so someone watching might be struggling with all the things that we've talked about. Um, and you have a lot of wisdom and a lot of success in this area. How would you encourage them to continue being faithful? And I'll add this caveat. Um, I feel so often, some I feel, and I know oftentimes when we start to feel that tension in in ministry, we look for the exit door. Um, it's not often that someone sticks it out through really difficult seasons, especially transition seasons, or you're being told no every single time the budget cycle comes around.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, and so I want to encourage people watching that the exit door might not be the strategy. Uh, it might be enduring a season of difficulty and just continue being that squeaky wheel that eventually one day will get the attention. And so, how would you encourage someone in that seat just to continue being faithful and in what God is putting in their heart passionately for missions?

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Well, uh maintain your own passion for what God has placed on your heart by maintaining the health of your soul.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Being faithful in prayer and in study of the scriptures and in uh, you know, community, being involved in the life of the church, keeping your own heart healthy.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Because the quickest way to get discouraged is to neglect your own heart.

SPEAKER_04:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

So m make that a priority. Bloom where you're planted. Don't start out suggesting that we take a team to India. Start right where you are.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

And if if where you are is a member of a hundred and fifty member church who has an annual budget of let's say$80,000, well, okay, great. There are needs right there in that community that can be addressed and won't even require a single penny of the church's budget. Find the one, two, three, however many God brings, like-minded people who will rally around and not only address the situation, but even provide resources to be able to do that. As you grow that grassroots movement, eventually it's going to get to a size where the pastor and the leadership of the church can't ignore it.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

It's it's almost being demanded by the participation and the giving of the congregation.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

So uh be faithful in tending your own soul, be faithful in involving others and giving them a chance to exercise their leadership gifts and let the uh results speak for themselves. Yeah. That those will speak so much louder than any uh argument, complaining, whining, begging that you could do on your own. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Great. Well, thank you for being on today. It's been a great conversation. I hope those of you watching have found some encouragement in what we've been discussing. Um, and I do want to address one thing I realize at the end of this. We are talking a lot about mission pastors and local mission pastors. And I want to encourage those of you that, like Dan said, you may be attending a smaller church. You may not even have a missions pastor. Maybe you're on staff in a different role at the church. Maybe you're just a key influencer in your church. If you have a passion for missions, we want to encourage you with everything we've discussed. Don't let the title mission pastor throw you off from our conversation today. Because if you have that passion, it's for a reason. God has shown you a need and he will show you the ways to meet that need and he will back it up with the resources financially, but also with the people that will champion that with you. So I want to encourage you as you've watched today, you know, keep championing missions however God puts in your way and keep championing the people that He surrounds you with that will walk that path with you. If you've enjoyed the show today, if you enjoyed the conversation, then give us a like, share it, tell your friends, thanks for joining us.