Kristen Shuler President East West Missionary Evangelism Church Planting Finish Line Podcast
Finish Line Podcast Episode 178

Kristen Shuler, President of East West Ministries, on Church Planting in the Darkest Regions of the World

Faithful obedience can feel difficult when you cannot see measurable fruit from the work, giving, or ministry God has placed before you.

How do you pursue meaningful Kingdom impact while trusting God with the outcomes and remaining responsive to where His Spirit is leading?


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Meet your guide

Kristen Shuler, President of East-West Ministries International, has spent more than two decades in Great Commission ministry, from frontline missions in South America to leading efforts that multiply disciples and churches among unreached and unengaged people groups around the world.

Kristen shares how seasons of ministry with little visible fruit taught her to measure faithfulness by obedience rather than immediate results. That conviction shapes East-West’s approach to church planting, local leadership, and obedience-based discipleship, where new believers are equipped to follow God’s Word, multiply their faith, and eventually own the missionary task themselves. She also describes how growing collaboration through efforts like the Coalition of the Willing is helping missions organizations share data, reduce duplication, and pursue unreached places together.

Throughout the conversation, Kristen returns to the foundation beneath every strategy: abiding in Jesus, prayer, and keeping in step with the Spirit. By the end, you may see more clearly how your own next step of obedience can become part of God’s larger work among the nations.

What you’ll gain

  • Why obedience matters even when you cannot see the fruit
  • How discipleship can move from knowledge toward active obedience
  • Why local ownership is essential for multiplying churches sustainably
  • How collaboration helps missions organizations reach overlooked places faster
  • What abiding in Jesus changes about strategy and effectiveness
  • How to find your own next step in the Great Commission

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Inspired? Learn how to partner with ministries well.

A compelling ministry story can inspire you to respond. But wise partnership often begins with better questions.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Focus

What is the ministry really seeking to restore?

Learn to look beyond visible needs toward people, context, relationships, and flourishing.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Fruitfulness

How do you recognize meaningful impact?

Consider how ministries learn, evaluate their work, and pursue lasting change.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Faithfulness

What does genuine ministry partnership look like?

Explore how to foster trust, alignment, and shared mission in your giving.

In our Intervention Series on the Applied Generosity Podcast, we’ll help you become a more thoughtful, discerning, and faithful partner.

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Quotes to Remember

  • “The ministry is not about seeing fruit. The ministry is about obedience.”
  • “Even if I didn’t see the fruit, I could trust that He was at work.”
  • “The Lord uses every step of obedience and every seed that’s planted as part of His ultimate plan.”
  • “Discipleship is not just about gaining knowledge, but about being obedient to the Word of God.”
  • “If I tell somebody what to do, that will fail every time. But when God’s Word and the Spirit lead, that’s where transformation happens.”
  • “The Great Commission is a God-given mandate for every follower of Jesus to find their place in.”
  • “It’s not about choosing what feels comfortable, but responding in obedience to what God is asking.”
  • “The people are waiting to hear. They simply need a laborer to come to them.”
  • “Not a single one of us can accomplish the Great Commission on our own.”
  • “That humility we’re seeing across missions organizations is something only the Spirit can do.”
  • “We want to learn, grow, and come with open hands to see what the Lord might do through unity.”
  • “If I’m not abiding in Jesus, I have very little to offer anyone else.”
  • “Do we want to be known for our strategies, or do we want to be known for loving Jesus?”
  • “If we’re not marked by our love for Jesus, our strategies will be ineffective.”

Links from the Show

Bible References from the Show

Matthew 28:19–20 | Make Disciples of All Nations

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Acts 1:8 | Witness to the Ends

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Galatians 5:25 | Keeping in Step with the Spirit

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Matthew 9:37–38 | The Harvest Is Plentiful

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

John 15:4–5 | Abide and Bear Fruit

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 17:20–23 | Unity That the World May Believe

Matthew 6:21 | Treasure and the Heart

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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