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What We’ll Cover

Jared Nelms is the CEO of The Timothy Initiative (TTI), a missions organization dedicated to discipleship, church planting, and reaching the unreached. Jared’s father was a pastor, so he grew up around the church. But he wasn’t so sure what he believed until God got his attention on a mission trip in Zambia as a young adult. His experience eventually led him to a career as a missionary abroad.

The Timothy Initiative was born out of the church Jared grew up in, however it quickly grew well beyond the capacity of one church body. TTI now works in countries all over the world with the goal of raising up 7000 pastors and planting 7000 churches. In particular, TTI focuses on empowering the local Christians in unreached regions to become leaders who train other leaders and to plant churches that plant other churches.

Jared is also a founding member of the Coalition of the Willing, a collaboration of many missions organizations who have agreed to share all their tracking and mapping data to answer the question: “Where is the church now and where is the church missing?” This coalition has rapidly accelerated and quantified the work that remains in reaching everyone everywhere with the gospel.

And according to Jared, finishing the task in our lifetime is certainly within reach.

Jared had plenty to say about strategy in missions, the importance of indigenous leaders, adapting to different cultures, the acceleration of collaboration in the missions space, and the work that remains. Listen now to hear all he had to share.

Quotes to Remember

• “When you can get behind strong local leaders, you can maximize the kingdom impact so much more quickly than if you are trying to do it on your own from scratch”
• “The key to reaching the world is not through trained missionaries and professionals, it’s through the average Joe and Sue and any other local person”
• “Most powerful testimony is the transformation from death to life”
• “We’re not going after the result, only God can change the heart of somebody”
• “The fruitfulness is in God’s hands; the faithfulness is up to us.”
• “Every is believer called to be a disciple, every disciple is called to be a disciple maker”

Links from the Show

• The Timothy Initiative
• The Coalition of the Willing
• Church Planters Circle See our interview with David Johnson, founder and CEO of Doulos Partners.
• See our interview with Bekele Shanko, president of GACX
• See our interview with Jim Wise, financial advisor with Ronald Blue Trust
• The Finish Line Community Facebook Group
• The Finish Line Community LinkedIn Group

Bible References from the Show

2 Timothy 2:2 | Entrust to faithful men, who will teach others

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

Matthew 10:16 | Sheep among wolves

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Matthew 9:37 | Harvest is plentiful, workers are few

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few”

Matthew 28:20 | Promise to be with us

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

We Want to Hear from You!

If you have a thought about something you heard, or a story to share, please reach out! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also contact us directly from our contact page. If you want to engage with the Finish Line Community, check out our groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.