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Inside Missions

Maranatha Volunteers International

30 episodes

1 week ago

President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Erton Köhler joins us in-studio in one of his first long-form interviews since being elected during the General Conference Session in July 2025. Pastor Köhler talks about his journey to pastoral leadership, the growth of missions in his home country of Brazil, and the importance of Adventist media to connect the global Church. He also discusses his passion for missions, his experience serving on Maranatha mission trips, and how Mar...

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Religion & Spirituality

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President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Erton Köhler joins us in-studio in one of his first long-form interviews since being elected during the General Conference Session in July 2025. Pastor Köhler talks about his journey to pastoral leadership, the growth of missions in his home country of Brazil, and the importance of Adventist media to connect the global Church. He also discusses his passion for missions, his experience serving on Maranatha mission trips, and how Mar...

Show more...

Religion & Spirituality

Episodes (20/30)

Inside Missions

Episode 30 - Erton Köhler - President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Erton Köhler joins us in-studio in one of his first long-form interviews since being elected during the General Conference Session in July 2025. Pastor Köhler talks about his journey to pastoral leadership, the growth of missions in his home country of Brazil, and the importance of Adventist media to connect the global Church. He also discusses his passion for missions, his experience serving on Maranatha mission trips, and how Mar...

1 week ago

55 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 29 - Elmer Barbosa - Jungle church construction, starting from scratch in a new country, and leading a large mission trip for teens

Our country director for Peru and Paraguay returns as the show’s first repeat guest after an abbreviated first appearance in Episode 5. Elmer shares how the work in the Amazon jungle region of Peru progressed since then, and talks about his new responsibility in also overseeing Maranatha’s work in Paraguay, including the anticipation of leading Maranatha’s teens-only mission trip, Ultimate Workout, in summer 2025. Having established Maranatha’s efforts from scratch in four separate cou...

5 months ago

1 hour 8 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 28 - Eddie Heinrich - Breaking his neck on a mission trip and why he keeps taking youth on projects

As Youth and Pathfinder Director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Northern California, Eddie has decades of experience taking youth on mission trips around the world. He recounts his first experiences with Maranatha, talks about the importance of doing a pre-trip site visit, and explains how he broke his neck in Costa Rica. He shares how he has grown as a leader, his goal for youth on these projects, and how he’s seen prayer literally influence events on his mission trips. Eddie shares...

5 months ago

39 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 27 - Marcos Paseggi - Adventist Review’s senior news correspondent on reporting on the mission around the world

As Adventist Review’s senior news correspondent, Marcos has traveled the world covering stories for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and has the unique experience of coming to the mission of Maranatha via journalism. Early in his time at Adventist Review, he was asked to cover the dedication of a Maranatha-built sanctuary in Cuba. He went, and was impressed with the dedication of Maranatha volunteers, donors, and staff. Since then, he’s been on more assignments involving Maranatha, and talks...

7 months ago

38 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 26 - Leo Macias and Sidney Needles - Debriefing a TV production trip to India

What is it like to produce a television program in another country? Maranatha’s media production manager Leo Macias and communication specialist Sidney Needles debrief their recent trip to India. Come behind the scenes and learn how TV is produced in the field, and hear about specific challenges these two faced while filming across multiple states in India. Sidney describes her role as a field producer, and Leo explains how professional camera equipment makes a difference in filming. The two...

7 months ago

52 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 25 - Kenneth Weiss - The Mission in Communist Cuba

Maranatha’s chief operating officer talks about his earliest impressions of Cuba from the mid-90’s, how Maranatha got involved, some of the challenges of the Seventh-day Adventist Church there back then, and how Maranatha worked to construct or renovate more than 200 churches on the island over the years. He shares what it’s been like to build rapport and work with Cuba’s Minister of Religion long-term, the challenges of having periods of abundant government project approval, followed by seas...

8 months ago

48 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 24 - Loretta Spivey - “You’ll be in a wheelchair the rest of your life,” and leading thousands of teens on mission trips

Long-time Maranatha mission trip leader, Loretta Spivey, shares her journey to the mission field, from becoming the first Seventh-day Adventist in her family as a result of a visit from a literature evangelist, to a year-long missionary assignment in Indonesia. She’s been heavily involved with Maranatha’s mission trip for high schoolers, Ultimate Workout, initially as a correspondent for Insight Magazine, a publication for Adventist youth, and later as a project leader. She explains why this ...

8 months ago

56 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 23 - Danny Poljak - Explosives, Escaping War, and Mission Field Construction

After serving as a Maranatha volunteer for years, Danny now works for Maranatha to ensure our buildings are constructed soundly. But his journey to Maranatha starts as a child in the former Yugoslavia, the son of a Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor there. He remembers international Church leaders passing through, talking about what God was doing around the world. As a kid, Danny wondered if he could travel and serve around the world one day too. As a young man, Danny fulfilled mandator...

9 months ago

34 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 22 - Susan Woods - Air raids, riding a refugee train, mission field pregnancies/raising kids

Maranatha’s medical services coordinator grew up as a missionary kid in Asia, and later took her own family into the mission field to serve in several countries around the globe. Over her lifetime she’s experienced a wide range of danger and harrowing situations, from wartime air raids to local violence, and even attempted break-ins and muggings. But she’s also seen how God has been faithful to her and her family as they have worked to expand God’s kingdom. There are three themes she’s found ...

10 months ago

52 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 21 - Lisandro Staut - Troublemaker turned ministry leader talks overcoming labels, why he left a successful career path, and a criticism of short term missions

Maranatha’s vice president for volunteers explains his unlikely path to missions, from his reputation as a teen troublemaker to pursuing ministry—much to the surprise of those around him. He reflects on the labels others put on him, and a crucial moment where he tested God with his future. Lisandro went on to study theology and journalism in Brazil, working in marketing for his academy alma mater, his university alma mater, a local conference, and eventually, Adventist media giant Novo Tempo....

10 months ago

58 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 20 - Dina Ramirez - From volunteer to staff member, how God uses people to answer prayers

Long-time Maranatha volunteer turned staff member talks about her transition from serving with the organization to working for it. She recounts how she first got into short term missions, how it has impacted herself and her family, and why she has a passion for using service to reach youth. She describes Maranatha’s 2024 high school mission trip to the Andes mountains of Peru, Ultimate Workout, including an extraordinary story of answered prayer. You can watch Ultimate Workout volunteer, Mary...

12 months ago

31 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 19 - Maranatha Volunteer Support Staff - Behind the scenes of sleepless nights, contingency plans, and the power of prayer

Three of Maranatha’s volunteer support staff join us for our first-ever panel! Maria Molleda from Peru, Alice Danla in India, and Kotesh Rao in Kenya, talk about the other side of the mission trip from what volunteers see. From booking hotels and excursions, to orchestrating outreach opportunities like medical clinics or Vacation Bible School, these people go to great lengths to make sure everything is ready for our volunteers when they arrive. They talk about the lack of sleep during pr...

1 year ago

1 hour 8 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 18 - Don Noble - Taking over Maranatha Flights International in 1983, food poisoning, car attacks, and doubters saying he was the wrong guy for the job

Maranatha’s president since the early 80’s, Don tells the story of how God called him to a small, fledgling organization called “Maranatha Flights International,” the original name for Maranatha. He shares how he listened for God’s leading in that initial decision, and how he has stayed attuned to God’s direction in every decision for Maranatha since. He explains how Maranatha interacts with the Adventist World Church, from the division level down, to respond to official requests for help thr...

1 year ago

48 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 17 - Kyle Fiess - First reactions to girls escaping child marriage and female genital mutilation, and managing the six-year project to improve their school's infrastructure

Maranatha’s vice president of projects describes his first day visiting the Kajiado Adventist School and Rescue Center in Kenya, in what would become a six-year project he oversaw. He recalls his initial reactions to the plight of these Maasai girls who ran away from their homes to escape female genital mutilation and child marriage. The guys discuss what it’s like for these girls as they escape, not knowing where they’re going, and somehow end up at the Kajiado center. It becomes their new h...

1 year ago

51 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 16 - Mission to Kajiado: An Audio Story - How Maasai girls escaping child marriage and female genital mutilation found a home and new family

This audio story is about the Kajiado Adventist School and Rescue Center in Kenya. It’s a haven for Maasai girls, sometimes as young as six years old, who are escaping child marriage and a dangerous ritual called female genital mutilation (FGM). Maranatha dedicated the campus in July 2024 after six years of completely transforming the property, but in this story you'll hear what life was like at Kajiado closer to the beginning of Maranatha’s involvement. You'll also take in the depth of the c...

1 year ago

25 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 15 - Jason Blanchard - Growing up as a missionary kid in Malawi and returning to the same country as the CEO of Malamulo Adventist Hospital

Jason is the Executive Director of Clinic Operations at Loma Linda University Health in California, but talks about life as a missionary kid in Malawi, and his subsequent return in adulthood as the CEO of the Malamulo Adventist Hospital. He describes his journey in-between and how volunteering on short-term mission trips ignited a passion to help facilitate medical care for others as a career. He reflects on his first Maranatha project in Zimbabwe and the second in Malawi, where God confirmed...

1 year ago

33 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 14 - Greg Hatch - Escaping the COVID shut down in Ivory Coast, food poisoning, and pre-mission trip site visits

A long-time Maranatha volunteer and leader, Greg explains how he first got into missions, influenced by his parents and uncle, Maranatha board member, Roger Hatch. He reflects on the first mission trip he led solo, how he’s improved in handling interpersonal conflicts on a project, how he’s become more efficient in anticipating needs on the construction site, and how he delegates leadership tasks amongst his team. Greg shares how crucial the pre-mission trip site visits are, why it’s importan...

1 year ago

52 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 13 - Nancy Davis - Growing up in a missionary family in Thailand and the challenges of being a "third culture" kid

At the age of 11, Nancy’s family moved to Bangkok, Thailand, to serve as missionaries. She reflects on what it was like to grow up as a missionary kid, how her identity came to be more Thai than American, and how she struggled to assimilate into American culture as a young adult in the United States. Thinking she was more Asian than American, she signed up to be a student missionary in Hong Kong, only to realize that she didn’t really fit into Asia how she thought she could either. This start...

1 year ago

49 minutes

Inside Missions

Episode 12 - Joelle Chinnock - Escaping the 2018 Camp Fire and helping in the aftermath

Currently the coordinator for the Ending Homelessness Initiative for the Northern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Joelle previously served as the Director of Disaster Recovery & Development for the Paradise Seventh-day Adventist Church in California. She worked closely with Maranatha after the Camp Fire of 2018, which at the time was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history, and the most expensive natural disaster in the world in 2018 as far as ...

1 year ago

1 hour

Inside Missions

Episode 11 - Steve Case - Why missions is important for teens and the fundamental goal of mission trips

Since 1992 Steve has run his own ministry, “Involve Youth,” speaking for youth events, conducting training seminars for youth leaders, creating youth ministry resources, and teaching youth ministry professionals. He’s an author of many books and coordinates the Intergenerational Church cohort for Andrews University’s Doctor of Ministry program. He’s been instrumental in helping to craft the experience for Maranatha’s annual mission trip for high schoolers, Ultimate Workout (UW), and helped to...

1 year ago

1 hour 3 minutes