Inside Missions

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...

How do you curate a volunteer experience that makes people want to come back time after time? Our VP of Advancement shares how Maranatha has worked to provide mission trips that make a difference in the lives of project recipients, as well as the volunteers doing the work. Karen’s journey with Maranatha started in 1989 in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and in this episode she shares what projects were like in those early days and how they’ve evolved. She recounts the first large-scale project for...

Laura has worked for Maranatha in Donor Relations for years, but there was a time when she never thought she’d work for such a ministry. Her early career in software sales was lucrative, allowing her to rub shoulders with California's rich and famous. Yet, she wasn’t happy. Her job lacked purpose, she couldn’t find meaningful connections in her relationships, and the faith of her youth was a faded memory. In a low point, she was reminded of an influential figure from earlier in life, Don Nobl...

Our VP of marketing shares her journey in telling the story of Maranatha through print, TV, and more. What’s it like to capture the essence of people in need halfway around the world? What goes through the mind of a field producer as they’re curating a story for television? Julie shares her experience in navigating delicate topics and intentionally writing to help broaden her readers’ worldview, as well as some of the most impactful stories she’s worked on and how all of these experiences hav...

Go behind the camera with our director of television, who breaks down how we produce a TV program in the mission field. It’s a balance of logistics, planning, and keeping your eye open for just the right story. Christina has been filming and producing programming for Maranatha since the early 2000’s and has experienced it all, from embedding with a well-drilling crew in the bush of Mozambique, to rescuing a Maasai girl in Kenya from female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage. She...

In our first field episode, Dustin Comm talks to our country manager for Zambia under a mango tree at the Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church, during a mission trip where Maranatha volunteers were constructing a medical clinic in October 2023. Luke’s career started in India’s corporate world, but the toll it took on him prompted a change. Working in construction for Maranatha offered him the chance to travel and take photos, one of his passions. Luke started off working as a construction...

Maranatha's country director in Peru shares how he started in the mission field as a 20-year old missionary to Mozambique. Elmer recalls how he constructed hundreds of Maranatha's One-Day Churches in both Mozambique and Brazil, and how the COVID pandemic affected the work in Peru, including dramatic escapes by two Maranatha volunteer groups before the country shut down in March 2020. He also talks about the exciting work Maranatha is beginning in the Amazon jungle of Peru, where, without road...

Our country director for the Dominican Republic shares his lifelong journey in missions, from a missionary’s kid in the north of Brazil, to Africa and the Middle East as an administrator for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and now in the Caribbean for Maranatha. Gilberto talks about the advantages and challenges of raising kids in the mission field, the unique blessings and difficulties it presents, and the lessons he’s learned from a full career of service abroad.Gilberto also reflects on ...

Dustin Comm sits down with Maranatha’s country director in India, who shares his journey from a Himalayan town in northern India to becoming a Seventh-day Adventist and eventually working for Maranatha for the past 23 years.Vinish talks about his initial experience with Maranatha as a translator for a large project called “India 2000,” working as a volunteer support person thereafter, and the big-picture impact Maranatha has had across the country since then.The guys discuss the recent work i...

Dustin Comm sits down with Maranatha's country director in Kenya who talks about her journey to Maranatha and how she's seen God's leading no matter the challenges. From moving to Africa with a two-year old, to facing an ebola epidemic with her family of four, Anu has overcome many obstacles while serving with Maranatha in a number of countries. She talks about the loneliness that missionaries can feel while abroad, and reflects on how the trials she's faced over the years have made her a str...

Dustin Comm sits down with Maranatha's country director for Zambia and North America, who talks about his journey with Maranatha, including what it's like to move a young family to Africa, and the challenges of living in the mission field. He shares the projects he's been involved with through Maranatha in the past, as well as his current work in Zambia over the past several years. David also recounts a harrowing night break-in early on in his family's time serving in Africa, and how God answ...