Pastoral Interview Paper

Introduction

For this pastoral interview, I interviewed Andrew O’Brien. He has been serving as the missions pastor for North Ridge Church for two years. O’Brien lives in Falls City, Nebraska with his wife, Emily, and two young sons. Being a child of missionaries in Mexico, he has always had a heart for missions. In obtaining higher education, O’Brien attended Philadelphia Bible College (now Carin University), to obtain a degree in Bible as well as a minor in missions. I talked with O’Brien his doctrinal position, strategies, opinions, and practical applications of the church with missions.

Doctrinal and Spiritual Positions

The church has an obligation for global evangelization. In Matthew 28:18, Jesus told his disciples not only to proclaim the Gospel in their neighborhoods and communities, but to the ends of the earth. In the book

However, believers should not use the lack of “calling” for an excuse of not participating in missions. Believers should actively seek God and scripture to figure out how God is going to equip them to participate in missions. God calls different people to accomplish different tasks within missions. Some Christians may be called to be on the field, whiles others are called only to support missionaries. However believers should always be open to the possibility of being sent on to the mission field.

Goals and Strategy

Currently North Ridge Church supports fourteen missionaries. Ten of the fourteen, are members of North Ridge. Each missionary has a designated fund set up by the church as well as money allotted by the church’s missions budget. Some missionaries are given more support than others. One particular missionary is almost fully funded through the North Ridge Church. Although North Ridge’s mission outreach is not concentrated toward a specific people group, the church does try to target unreached people groups around