Matthew Sonke and his wife Ashley spent the first years of marriage working and living among college students. This experience gave them a first-hand perspective of the shackles that come with college debt and a strong desire to mobilize this generation.

You can feel his passion for developing missionaries and helping churches create a healthy missions focus on today’s 95Podcast. His desire to reach the unreached will definitely touch your heart. This passion is what lead the team at AIRO to create The Missions Course.

Matt has a Bachelors in Christian Studies and a Masters in Counseling Psychology. He loves sports, and will invite you over only if you root for the Dodgers or Lakers.

Description

A candid conversation between host Dale Sellers and guest Matt Zanke (AIRO, The Missions Course) on why many U.S. churches underemphasize global missions, the barriers that keep the gospel from unreached peoples, and a practical, church-ready course designed to reawaken a biblical missions vision and mobilize action.

Key Points In Brief

• Many churches rarely discuss missions; competing pastoral urgencies and a comfort/safety bias crowd it out.
• Awareness gap: many churchgoers do not know the Great Commission; missions often feels tired to younger generations.
• Funding patterns and short-term trips can unintentionally weaken relational connection and long-term impact if not reframed.
• AIRO launched The Missions Course (6 lessons, video or live) to serve churches at cost, turnkey, and doctrinally centered on essentials.
• Outcomes reported: new interest in long-term missions, renewed prayer, giving, and sending cultures when senior leadership is personally engaged.

Key Takeaways

• Missions is woven from Genesis to Revelation and modeled in Acts; it must be Spirit-empowered, not merely programmatic.
• Proximity and relationship matter: supporting named missionaries cultivates prayer and endurance more than faceless giving alone.
• The unreached problem is vast: billions lack access to the gospel; only a small fraction of missionaries focus on them.
• Senior leader participation is the tipping point for church-wide traction.
• A healthy church embraces both local disciple-making and global sending, shifting from reservoir to river mentality.

Notable Quotes

• “People go through their whole Christian life without realizing there’s a whole side of the world with no access to the gospel.”
• “Missions is tired… same stories, and the younger generation isn’t part of it.”
• “The harvest is plentiful and laborers are few… If you go or send, God will bring people from the harvest.”
• “Giving begets more giving; sending begets more sending.”
• “There’s not a more rich, beautiful life than to participate with the King in bringing the kingdom here.”

Next Steps

• [ ] Pray corporately each week for unreached peoples and persecuted believers; model it from the platform.
• [ ] Preach the biblical thread of God’s heart for the nations as it appears in the texts you’re teaching.
• [ ] Host The Missions Course and personally attend; invite elders and key influencers to join the first cohort.
• [ ] Reframe support: adopt named missionaries or specific people groups to deepen relational connection and prayer.
• [ ] Rework short-term trips: partner to serve on-field strategies, emphasize exposure, learning, and long-term pathways.
• [ ] Offer on-ramps: “Go there” (long-term), “Go here” (local internationals), “Send by praying,” and “Send by giving.”

The Missions Course — 6-Lesson Outline

1. The Thread: God’s heart for the nations across Scripture.
2. Acts: Spirit-empowered patterns for mission.
3. Missionaries to Know: Carey, Judson, Carmichael, Taylor, Paton—faith and perseverance.
4. State of the Unreached: 10/40 Window, scale of lostness, deployment disparity.
5. Church Planting Story: Principles learned while planting among the unreached.
6. Your Role: Go there, go here, send by praying, send by giving—with church-aligned applications.

Link To Podcast Audio: 95Podcast 309

 

Link To Podcast YouTube:

Q & A Transcript (condensed)

Q: Why do most churches not think about missions?

A: Competing pastoral urgencies, distance/proximity issues, and a cultural pull toward comfort and safety displace global focus.

Q: Do cooperative giving and short-term trips help or hurt?

A: They can help, but without relational connection and long-term vision, they risk decreasing compassion or becoming experience-centered. Reframe them toward relationship, exposure, and on-field strategy support.

Q: What is AIRO’s role and how does the course work?

A: AIRO tackles barriers to reaching the unreached, from student debt relief for vetted missionaries to a turnkey, six-lesson Missions Course for churches, delivered at-cost with marketing, workbooks, and facilitation guides provided.

Q: What moves a congregation from awareness to action?

A: Senior leader participation, regular prayer for the nations, biblical preaching on mission, relational support of named workers, and clear next steps for going and sending.

Q: What results have churches seen?

A: Immediate interest from members exploring long-term service, revived short-term engagement, and stronger prayer and giving cultures—especially when pastors attend and invite personally.