Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E52 | Everyday Eurasia | Joshua Haun

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S1-E52 | Everyday Eurasia | Joshua Haun · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Faith for Every Day. Each day we are on a journey
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  with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
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  many different places around the world.
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  Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
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  him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
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  all and stands at the very center of our lives day after
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  day. Through this podcast, you'll
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  hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals that
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  reminds us of God's presence in our everyday moments.
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  This week on the Everyday Eurasia podcast, we are grateful
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  to be joined by Tester Joshua Hum.
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  Joshua and his wife Katie have been serving for the past four
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  years as pastors and church planters with the Church of the
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  Nazarene in Sofia, Bulgaria. Throughout this week, Joshua
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  will be reflecting with us on the topic of church planting.
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  Why does church planting still matter?
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  With so many churches already around the world?
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  What makes this work so important today?
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  If we listen together this week, Joshua will help us explore
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  these questions and discover God's heart behind planting new
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  churches. Hello, my name is Joshua Hahn
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  and I'm a church planter and pastor serving in Sofia,
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  Bulgaria. And today I would like to finish
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  our series on church planting with a call to action or a call
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  to obedience. Early in our church planting
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  discussion, we talked about how important it is to realize that
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  the life of a church begins before birth.
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  In other words, the life of any new church starts before there
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  are songs, members, chairs, or offerings.
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  The life of the local church, Her inception, is actually in
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  that moment in which a call is received by God and an obedient
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  response is given. I believe this is so important
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  for us to understand. These days.
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  We have a new baby in our house. He was 10 days late, but he did
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  arrive just a week ago as I'm making this recording when my
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  precious wife gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.
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  And now our house is filled with love and joy and lots of
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  snuggles and smiles and so much gratitude for this new life.
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  But this is, in a way, simply the next chapter in an
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  incredible journey that actually began back in March 2025 when my
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  wife walked up to me holding a pregnancy test.
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  You see, from the day we discovered this pregnancy, a
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  journey began. It was a journey filled with
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  prayer and planning and anticipation.
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  We knew that our baby, our new life, was on its way.
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  And although there has been much that is out of our control, we
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  have been careful to do all that we can do in order to be
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  responsible with this new life. And again, that did not start
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  the day he was born, but the day we discovered that God had
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  created a new life and that it was on its way.
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  I really do believe that the same is true with church
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  planting. I mean, the moment that God
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  calls us to the great and glorious ministry of church
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  planting, we can know and believe that a new life is on
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  its way because the Spirit of God is creating, moving, and
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  working in our heart and in our community.
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  And this call is an invitation simply to be responsible with
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  this new life. And we can be certain that many
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  things will be out of our control, but we can also be
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  certain that in the moment we are called, our great and
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  glorious task is 1 of obedience. It is obedience to pray, to
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  hope, to plan, to sacrifice, to prepare and believe that God is
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  indeed doing what God says God is doing, bringing to life a new
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  member of the family of the church.
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  It Can you imagine if, having discovered that a new baby was
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  on the way, my wife and I had simply continued as if nothing
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  had happened? What if we'd not acted on this
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  news? What if my wife had not been
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  careful to care for her own body in terms of her diet habits and
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  seeking the wisdom and knowledge and guidance of others?
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  How could we be so irresponsible with the promise of a new life
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  so as to go on with life as usual?
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  Well, I remember the moment that I first received a call to be a
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  part of a church plant, a new life in a new community.
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  I was sitting in a sanctuary waiting for the beginning of the
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  evening worship service at our district assembly in East
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  Tennessee. A pastor came up and sat down
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  next to me and said, Joshua, what do you think about church
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  planting? I told him that I thought it was
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  incredibly important and that we needed more churches in broken
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  communities and that it seemed to be perhaps the most
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  significant ministry and strategy of the Apostle Paul.
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  Needless to say, I was feeling really good about proving my
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  passion and belief in the importance of church planting.
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  But then he asked a really shocking question.
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  He said, oh, Joshua, I'm so glad to hear you say that our church
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  has been fasting and praying and we believe that God wants our
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  church to start a new church plant in our city.
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  And I started to tell him how really wonderful that was until
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  he stopped me and he said, and Joshua, we really believe that
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  God wants you to lead it. And I immediately broke out in a
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  flop Swift. I mean, when I think back on
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  this, I'm reminded of that story we talked about from Acts
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  chapter 16. In this chapter, Paul receives a
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  call in the form of a vision from God to go into Macedonia in
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  response to the desperate outcry of the Macedonian man.
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  And there, in that moment of call and response, the church in
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  Macedonia, in Philippi, in Thessalonica, in Berea, and in
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  Athens was conceived. Paul knew it and believed it and
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  responded in obedience. In fact, he responded
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  passionately and decisively. The church was coming to life
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  and he would be a passionate participant.
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  I just look at the descriptions of his response in Acts 16.
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  It says quote. We immediately crossed over in
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  quote and being convinced that God had called us, we took a
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  straight course, decisive, obedient response.
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  Well, as I said, when I heard the call of God in the
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  invitation of that pastor, I immediately broke into a sweat.
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  And I'm now I'm sure Paul never sweated when called, but maybe
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  some of the people with him did. Anyways, I mean me, I was
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  already pastoring a stable church and had never considered
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  church planning before. It was so easy to talk about how
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  important it was and how it needed to be done and how I
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  hoped there would be many more churches in our country and how
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  I believed God was on the move to do it.
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  And there was a vision, but, but all this was theoretical.
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  It was just talk, which is always much easier than actually
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  being responsible in active obedience.
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  I mean, I would have to quit my job.
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  I would have to leave my lead past her position.
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  My wife would have to quit her job.
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  And we would have to move to a new place, a new city, away from
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  family to find new jobs and build a new life.
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  Plus, I was just 25 years old and I didn't have a university
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  degree in church planting. How could I be qualified?
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  I'd never even been to a church planting training.
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  There not been a church planted on our district in over 16
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  years. Surely this was a job for
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  someone else to specially qualify.
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  But then God had called out to that pastor and to that church,
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  and now He certainly was calling me.
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  And that day the first church plant that I was a part of was
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  conceived not in strategy or planning, before the people,
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  before the songs or the offerings or the chairs.
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  The church was conceived in the call of God and an obedient
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  response given in fear and trembling.
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  Later in his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul challenges
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  the church to consider whether their lives bear the fruit of
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  obedient response to the calling of God.
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  Paul says in Second Thessalonians chapter 1, verses
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  11 through 12. Quote.
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  With this in mind, we constantly pray for you that our God may
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  make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power He may
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  bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your
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  every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of
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  our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him,
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  according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  End Quote. Dear brothers and sisters, do
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  you believe that church planting matters?
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  Have you best discovered the love of Jesus and the love of
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  the body of Jesus? Do you believe that God wants to
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  bring new local churches to life in the broken communities where
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  you live? You see, more than talk is
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  needed. If the answer is yes, then what
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  are you waiting for? The church is coming to life
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  right now, right where you are, and God is calling.
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  The time is now for the church to be borne by the gracious call
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  of God and your obedient response.
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  Let's pray together. Dear Lord of the Church, You are
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  the vine and we are the branches, and we know that in
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  you all things are possible, but that apart from you we can do
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  nothing. And so now, dear Jesus, we hear
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  your voice calling. Whom shall I send and who will
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  go for us, 'cause us to say, here am I, send me.
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  We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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  Thank you for listening to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Fate for everyday. For more Everyday Stories,
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  subscribe on this podcast channel, follow our socials,
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  region, visit our website, eurasiaregion.org.