International Student Ministry, Doing Short Term Mission Trips Better, and Growing a Vision for Reaching the World for Christ with Matt Rasch

Matt Rasch, international missionary and church planter, and current Director of Every Nation Campus in Europe, joins in this episode for a trans-Atlantic conversation! We talk about outreach to international students, planning for short-term mission trips that support local ministry, and long-term missions. Matt also shares a number of supernatural experiences he's had throughout his life and ministry. This episode with stretch your faith and expand your vision!

Transcript

David: 0:39

Well, I am here with my good friend, Matt rash, Matt, how are you doing?

Matt Rasch: 0:44

I'm doing? great. Glad to be here with you, Dave.

David: 0:47

Awesome man. So good to have you. Well, Matt, I want to say a brief word of introduction here to our audience, uh, for you, uh, Matt, you and I go way back, but, uh, currently you are serving as the director for every nation campus ministries in Europe. And, uh, you've been serving in Europe for. Goodness. Probably what about 15 years now in church planting and various cities across Europe, from Innsbruck, Austria to Budapest, Hungary to now, currently, and for the past, uh, 10 or so years in Marsay, France, um, Matt, feel free to fill in any of the gaps there, anything that you'd like to say about your history and what you're doing currently.

Matt Rasch: 1:32

Yeah, thank you. Uh, you hit the nail on the head there, bro. Pretty much had my great lots of wonderful experiences from 10 years of ministry in Texas to Austria, Hungary and all over Europe, but primarily the last 10 years focused on France. So that's been what we do. And, uh, that's been what we've been doing and building, uh, starting and campus ministries, church, planting, planting churches, helping others, plant churches, so forth.

David: 2:00

Yeah, definitely. Well, Matt, we're going to be talking here about a variety of things that I think will be helpful to our audience. We're going to talk about some of your beginnings in college ministry in Texas, and about, uh, some of the work you did with international students, and then. Relieving some of the transition that took place in your life, moving from a US-based ministry to international ministry and, uh, uh, even talk a little bit about short-term missions, best practices, maybe with the perception of, of how that can be as a result of. Of short-term mission teams. And so I think, uh, for, for college students, and especially for collegiate ministers listening, it's going to be helpful, uh, whether at the individual level of, of thinking bigger thinking, not just locally, but thinking globally as well as, um, really mobilizing others into global opportunities. So I'm excited, bro. Uh, and man always just such a pleasure to talk to. So Amanda, I guess, just to dive in, bro, would you share a little bit about your background and your story of how you even came to Christ? Cause I know you didn't, you didn't grow up as someone that was, was devoted to Christ, uh, at a young age. Uh, tell us a little bit about how you came to that point in your.

Matt Rasch: 3:13

Yeah. So, um, you know, like so many people in America, uh, you know, if you ask them, if they're a Christian, they say, of course I'm American and they kind of equate those two things. But obviously, uh, even though I did grow up, going to church every Sunday, you know, three out of four, at least, uh, I did not ever understand the gospel. Um, maybe when I was 17 for the first time, It was when I actually heard somebody preach the gospel. I think the guy's name was Steve was new ski and he was an All-Pro lineman and happened to be invited to our high school, a young life group. Um, and man, that guy, he preached a strong message of, of the gun. Well, and it just shook me. And I remember for the first time I heard something different, but yet it was the same, this Jesus. And so, uh, it took me a few more times and, uh, but eventually about three years later, uh, I was at the university of Houston running track blue Monday out and had, had kind of a moment before that though in a philosophy class three weeks before my knee blew out. Um, and the philosophy professor was talking about how God didn't exist. And one day he just took it to task to give us his, his greatest arguments for an hour and a half, uh, why God didn't exist. Um, and by the end of that hour and a half, I was shaking. I thought for the first time in my life, I finally know for certain, I have no clue whether God exists. And, you know, you, cause sometimes when you're raised in religion, you mix the two up what true faith is, what true belief is and conviction mixed with just cultural rhythms and rhymes. And so I think what happened, it was the greatest gift I could have ever been given is this atheist philosophy professor telling me why God didn't exist. And I went home that night from a track practice, got home. And I remember it bothered me all day long and I said, I looked up at the ceiling and I just said, God, if there is a. Whoever, you know, religion, I don't care, but prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt, you're real. And I'll give you all my life. Otherwise, I won't keep doing my own thing and try to be a good guy and try not to hurt too many people. And, uh, that was kind of my deal. And, but about three weeks later blew my knee out pole vaulting. Uh, I was at the Catholic there at university of Houston. And as soon as I blew my knee out, I was. No, that don't count for a sign. If you're a God that makes me get hurt, I don't want to serve you. And what was funny is that a few days later, um, you know, had these people knock on my door, uh, some, some amazing, you know, Christian friends that were on the track team who had been witnessing to me and sharing the gospel with me for about two years. And they brought with them these other two. People, a guy named big Tommy and a guy named Leo Lawson. And they said, we're just going around, praying for people. And your buddies here told us she got hurt. Can we pray for you? And so I said, sure, why not? I'll try anything. At this point I had just gotten the bad news that, uh, had an F 50, 50, 50 chance of getting about 80% strength back in my legs. So my dreams for the Olympics were kind of up and up in smoke, if you will. And my backup plan to be a us Marshall, like. I didn't know if I'd be able to chase down bad guys. So I was kind of a little nervous question in life. And of course they came in, prayed for me and big Tommy looked me in the eyes, has, how are you doing with your. walk with God? And man, that was the most convicting question I think I'd ever been asked. And I just, I wasn't walking with God and even if God existed, but man, there was something in his voice. Sincerity that I knew, man, this guy knows something. I don't know. So a couple of nights later, uh, he had invited me to come listen to him, speak at the university, um, at the UC university center. And I went down to this meeting, showed up, you know, on my crutches and everything barely made it to the meeting. I didn't even want to go, but I was like, I told him, I go. Um, and so I show up and I sit in the very back. I got my baseball hat turned, pulled all the way down as low as I can. So I can't look. And he can't look me in the eyes anymore. Uh, I didn't like that. He was like, he looking through me. And so, uh, anyways had a crate, just, I was just sitting there for three minutes, watching some dude, a rap, and somehow this guy finishes his rap and they introduced big Tommy and Tommy starts talking, but it's like, it just dribbled off and. It's it's like, I just entered into this, like a vision into another world. And all of a sudden this other world was more real than the real world. And it was like, I was in a movie or something and, and, and I had this encounter with God and he says, here I am. Now, what are you going to do about it? And, um, you know, a few days before, or a few, few weeks before that, I was saying, God, if you're real, prove it to me beyond a shadow of a doubt and I'll give you all my life. Well, here I am, God shows up and it's very real in my head or in my, in my, in my spirit, wherever it was happening, it was, it was crazy powerful. And the only thing I could say was, I'm sorry. Um, because that was, I just, I'm sorry. I doubted, I'm sorry. I didn't believe that you were real. I, this all it could come out of my, my, in this little movie going on in my, in my world, in this vision, and I heard this voice say, you don't even know what sorrow is. And I began to see a nail. Be driven into the hand of somebody. And as the hammer was hammering it, the cameras zoomed out. Obviously I was a, uh, a radio television major, so everything was spoken to be admitted, video and movie. It was so it's zooming out. And as the zooms out, I can tell it's, it's the man, they call Jesus. And as it zooms out further, it was me with the hammer and I was nailing Jesus to the cross. And the, and I heard like, what I know now is father God's voice saying, he said, You, you nailed my son to the cross through your selfish lifestyle and your sinfulness. But if you'll turn to me a wipe it all away and give you a brand new start, forgive everything. And man, that just, it just broke my heart, you know? And I think it broke my heart that night because, you know, I had always lived by eye for an eye and a tooth by tooth. My dad had raised me for, to be in a great justice system. Somebody slapped you smack them back. I mean, I had spent my middle school years and fights, you know, being Mr. Justice for all my friends who got picked on. Um, and so here I was, and God, I, I murdered his son and yet he's forgiving me. He's choosing to let me off the hook and give me a new life and a new start. And he's the God of the universe. And I'm nobody. And I tell you that revelation right in that moment, it made me realize, love, always try to. Love and mercy always triumph over justice and law and judgment. And, and, and it just broke my heart right there in the moment. And I realized somebody loves me beyond. My sinfulness and probably the only person ever to do so. And, uh, and so it broke my heart and that night I just said, okay, I'm, I'm all in a hundred, a hundred percent. I give you my life. Jesus. And I did that night and it was such a supernatural night. People started getting healed. Uh, supernatural miracles were happening. People had been thrown through cars and head injuries for two years where they couldn't lift their arm above their shoulder. God was just doing miracles and they were able, they get full range of motion back. It was just, uh, a wonderful glorious evening of the power of God. Setting people free from things. And here I was just gave my life to Jesus. Uh, is this what we do? Okay. And next thing, you know, they're laying hands on me and the presence and the power of the holy spirit comes over me. And I begin to this other language comes I'm even never heard of speaking in tongues or praying in another prayer language, all those things, but God did it. He just, he just supernaturally gave me this other prayer language. And from that point on, man, my life was transformed. And, uh, and so we started that night, went around to start telling all my friends what Jesus had done for me. And pretty soon within a few months, we had about a dozen of my friends saved and on fire for Jesus. Uh, Leo Lawson had stayed there to pastor and help lead that campus ministry, starting it off. And, and so that's what we did. We just started, I just dragged him in and Leo helped me lead them to Jesus. And pretty soon he had trained me how to lead them to Jesus. So I didn't wear his house out so much, I think. And so then as I started leading him to Jesus and then we bring them to him to get baptized and he's like, I need to teach how to pap that. So we had such great moments there. And then, um, yeah, so that was kinda my first, you know, year was full of salvation signs and wonders the presence of God, words of knowledge, outdoor meetings, where, whether it was transformed by us proclaiming the word of God. So we could open air preach. I mean, so many crazy things. Uh, I mean, just, I could go on on the stories, but it was a dynamic beginning. For my walk with Jesus. And three weeks after I got saved, I was asked, can you be the president of our student organization? I was like, huh, I, I don't even know. I didn't even know who Jesus was three weeks ago. Now you want me to run a student organization? And while we're just getting started, there's only three of you. I was like, okay, I guess I could do that. Then it was only three of us. I looked at the other two and they'd gotten saved after me. I thought I could at least lead them.

David: 12:23

Yeah. Wow. That's

Matt Rasch: 12:25

that was kind of my I'm not crazy because.

David: 12:29

Man. That's cool. I, I, there's a lot of elements of that. I don't even think I've ever heard before. So that's fantastic, man. Um, well, I guess the fast forward in your journey, you know, you ended up serving in ministry vocationally. Uh, and I know at, at one point, um, you were having had a pretty thriving international student ministry. Uh, could you talk a little bit about.

Matt Rasch: 12:53

Yeah. So just on a, on a big picture thing, we started a student ministry which began to grow and multiply as soon as I kind of got my bearings straight and learn how to love people. Well, and not just smack them around with truth. Uh, it took about two years to kind of get our rails on, but after about two, two and a half, three, Things started moving forward, growing and multiplying and our student ministry, as well as our champions for Christ little athletic ministry. Um, and then, and then at about the same time we started the ministry for the athletes. We, we felt like, you know, there's enough of these international students around. Maybe there's some people, some other adults and other people in my, um, sphere of influence, maybe partners, as well as people at a church where I was going would be interested in helping me start hosting events for international students. MI, uh, Leo actually helped me get it started. And we, uh, got some student leaders from our student group. They were willing to be the officers. And, um, what it ended up being was, um, a man named Ben Brooks and his wife, Diane, uh, Dr. Rice Brooks, his brother, uh, was, was a part of this with me and starting up a first ever like a week. Uh, meal and studying the Bible in English, studying the gospel. I think of John in English. It may have been mark. I can't remember. But, uh, and basically what we did is we got the student leaders myself. We went out and recruited international students. Who'd like to practice their English by studying the Bible with a group of people and they can all bring food and you know, it doesn't take long, but we had good 10 to 12 international students come in every. And Ben and Diane were gracious to host that and to make sure that it went well every week. And I came as much as I could. Uh, but once they started running with it, I really just made sure the students that were the student leaders of it were healthy and doing well, uh, and then made sure Ben and Diane had everything they needed. And of course they went and recruited another couple and we at the church, other people heard about it, said, Hey, we want to be a part of that. And so the next thing you know, we had about three couples. For even at one point helping run this little simple, I mean, and I'm telling, I'm telling you it was the simplest thing. Uh, people would show up and we just eat and drink and greet people and get to know each other. And people from China, people from the communist party of China were going to come in from every crazy walk of life you could imagine. Um, and, and we just had fellowship and food for 30, 45 minutes and we'd all sit in the living room. I mean, break open. All right. We're going to pick it up. And John and we pass out Bibles to everybody there. And everybody would get to that spate and go, okay, we're going to read a verse and then we're gonna talk about it. And that's literally what bin and Diane trained, uh, David and Beverly Evans who took it off of them after about a year and then David and Beverley and a few other couples. Uh, they took it and ran with it for years. Um, and I don't know that that thing ever had more than about. 15 people on a single Thursday night, but the power of it was that it was every Thursday. All school year from September 1st until end of may or whatever it was. And then of course, we always tried to help international students move and find their apart, get, get them apartments and get them supplies. However we could when they first got there. And so we had a link with the international student office on campus and they would always help us know who the new students are that needed help and so forth. So between our connection with international student office mixed with a free food and a little Bible study, there was plenty of work to do. Um, and, and, and my counted it up after 10 years of just doing this faithful little, Thursday night Bible study, uh, that we had people from over 40 nations come to Jesus, have a good foundation late in their life. Some of them that were only there for six months, three months, six months, some of them were there for six years or longer, and some of them still are in America. They never went home. Um, but all of these people had an opportunity to hear the gospel. Come to Christ and then get plugged into a local church and get disciple, have a good foundation laid with the purple purple book. So what we used back then, uh, and, um, and, and, and like added it up after 10 years. And we were in, we'd sent people back, saved an old fire with a decent foundation to over 40 different nations of the world. And some of them close to the gospel. I thought what an amazing strategy, you know, Never over 10 or 12 people though. Maybe maybe 15 on a, on a really great Thursday night. Simple

David: 17:24

Yeah, that's so cool. I mean, honestly, just, it kinda reminds me, it makes me think of Jesus and his ministry, you know, handful of, of young men and, and just how, you know, fast forward, you know, those, those band or fishermen turned the world upside down, you know? And so I know for me, and maybe, maybe, maybe for many, uh, have a tendency to. Be overly impressed with crowds and you know, to miss at times the significance of just meeting with a few. And I think that certainly is what we see with Jesus approach to ministry. And. Very much the case with what you're describing there as well of just a few international students, but man, global impact, so many people's lives changed. So, uh, man, that's awesome. Um, so, and I'm kind of tracing your journey here a little bit. I know there's so much that God has done in your life. And so I hope we're not skipping over too many important points. Matt, feel free to just interject, uh, you know, our hope is that this is going to be encouraging, inspiring to those that listen and really help to give a broader. Vision for reaching the world, both reaching the world, uh, through international student ministry, uh, as well as to even go to. And so, um, really to even pick up with your, your own journey, Matt. How did it come about that, that you moved overseas? And again, I know there's probably a lot that went into this, uh, but if you could just talk a little bit about that transition and, uh, cause I'm sure it was a big move for you, you know, going from being in Texas college ministry to then moving internationally to Europe. Uh, talk about that transition and, and you know, what was in your heart that, uh, led you to make that move?

Matt Rasch: 19:08

Yeah, well, I think. Number one, you know, being a part of an Epistolic international ministry that wants to go, go, go, obviously that stirs the fire up on a regular basis to go, Hey, where are we going? Where are we going? And, and, you know, when, you know, just my personal story is that when I was in fifth grade, probably around 11 years old, uh, I had a teacher who taught us about the re the Renaissance, uh, You know, a period or epic. And he was talking about what the Renaissance man was a man who was gifted in multiple things. And he may not be the best in any one thing, but he was really good in a lot of things. And so there's something in my heart that just leapt out at that. And I just, I just felt like, Hey, that's me. I'm supposed to be good at a lot of things, but I'll probably never be the best at anything. Um, you know, that may sound like, uh, you know, like I'm ducking out, but it just felt like it was. For me, you know, like I felt like, Hey, that I could, maybe I could learn a few languages. Maybe I could, uh, you know, hold my own in some scientific, uh, you know, arguments and battles and philosophical, philosophical, you know, um, discussions and so forth. And, and I think that was my first touch with Europe in a sense. That whole idea of the Renaissance man, a European man and stuff. There was something in me that kind of went off. And then when I was at college, I competed against a lot of Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, um, as well as some other Europeans, but primarily those three nations. And every time I would be competing and you know, the decathlon last two days. So you're with these guys for two whole days. Uh, there's no way you're like just going out for a race and then going home. You're T you're warming up together, then you're competing together and then your next thing, you know, you're encouraging each other, Hey, way to go, man. That was awesome. And pretty soon you're kind of like, wow, this was, this was great. I'm trying to win, but it kind of got this comradery with these guys. And, and so I really enjoyed the. Something and something in me was like, man, one day I want to go live in one of these European countries. And I would remember those Renaissance things, uh, that Renaissance man, uh, thing that happened way back when I was like 11, 12. And so the more I hung out with the Europeans and then we had some that we got recruited to university of Houston and next thing you know, I started becoming friends with all the Europeans and then I found there were more on campus. And, and then I got, you know, of course I get saved. And then now I'm trying to, anyways, I just kind of always felt like. I was called. Two missions in Europe. And even after a couple years of being saved, I was at a conference and they were talking about the call to the nations. Are you called to the nature? He called to be a missionary. And I remember the holy spirit on me. So strong saying that is what I've called you to do. I've called you to the nations. And, and there was a moment where I just, I surrendered my life. As a safe board. Again, spirit filled believer said, I'm now dedicated my life to missions. And I was probably, you know, 22 years old when that happened. 23 maybe. And, and you know what? I never even left the nation until I was 29 or whatever, 30 I, God never let me leave America. I just kept reaching the internet. There at Houston and you know, anybody else that God led me to around Texas, but, uh, the bottom line is there was something in my heart stirred up all that time. And then finally there was a call to, is, are there people wanting to go to. For every nation to do campus ministry, church planting anything. And so I filled out a little card and eventually somebody called me says, Hey, I see you filled out this card. Are you interested in going to Europe? Yes, I am. And my wife would love to live in Europe and do ministry there one day. And, okay, well, we're putting together a list of people who are interested and if you want us, we'll put you on the list. I said, sure. Yeah, put me on. And this is why I filled the thing out. So within, um, not too much longer, I got another call and said, we want you to help lead. Lead a team over to Europe to help stir and catalyze campus ministry throughout Europe. That's awesome. I'm ready to go. Let's do it. And so that's kind of how it all came to pass. Um, the night I got saved, though, just to kind of tell you about another supernatural thing that happened was, uh, Leo ha Bester Leo Lawson. He had at that time. I didn't even know the man, but, but after I gave my life to Jesus, he came down to me. He goes, when you gave your life to Jesus and you were praying to receive Christ, the Lord gave me a vision of a map of Europe. And I saw you with a torch like Paul Revere lamp, and you were running around and you were lighting fires throughout Europe until all of Europe was on fire, especially in the Western parts. And I thought to myself, That's interesting because I have all these European friends I've been thinking about moving to Europe one day, then I get saved. He speaks his word over me. So yeah, naturally a few years later I'm answering the call to missions. And then I think it was 2003. I got a call asking if I would help lead a team to, to come catalyze campus ministry throughout Europe and so forth and so on. So that's kind of how that all got started. And the first place we landed was Austria because it was kind of right in the middle of. Uh, a decent size European church there that could welcome us. And we brought over several families and single people on our team. And then we just built out, uh, we revamped, we restarted ins books, campus ministry had kind of faltered for a few years there. We re crank that thing back up and we started a new one in Salzburg and then another one in Nuremberg, Germany. And so within two years we already had Germans and Austrians leading all three of those. And so we kind of looked around and like, well, what are we supposed to do? I guess we'll move to Budapest now. And so then we moved to Budapest to help plant a church there. And once again, we were doing campus ministry. I found myself probably in a job. I didn't really like as much there. Cause I was, I was primarily just going to bars three nights a week, hosting English, conversation groups. And I just thought, man, I do not. I learned one thing if I didn't learn anything else in Budapest. Don't put Matt rash in front in charge of just running English conversation groups three nights a week. You know, it's a miracle. I didn't turn to the drink, you know? Cause it was all around me. No, on a serious note, uh, after, you know, you just do an English and you feel like, Yeah. we're here to serve you. We're at home, help you with your English, but then, you know, Like, you're not being true, you know? And you feel like, you're not saying, listen, I'm here to teach English So that you can know Jesus, but that's what that was. I wasn't permitted to do it like that. So I kind of felt handcuffed. And so, uh, you know, years go by and you, you look back and go, okay, well, God uses all that and taught me some good things about myself. Cause he gave me a lot of boldness when I came to Marsay to just let the chips fall where they may, you know, I don't mind doing some things. Conversation stuff. But at some point it turns to Jesus, you know, this is, this is not the next 30 years of my life. I want to be an English teacher. Now I'm an evangelist and you need Jesus. What a great matchup, you know, let's talk English and then let's talk Jesus.

David: 25:52

Yeah.

Matt Rasch: 25:53

And that's what it has to be.

David: 25:55

So it sounds like, yeah. And that's a great, great point, Matt, about just ministry methods and finding what works for you and just in general, where you feel. The kind of fruit that you want to see. Uh, so just to drill down on that, just briefly, it sounds like if I'm hearing you right then the main takeaway was you you'd like a more direct approach, something where you feel like you can kind of get to talking about Jesus sooner rather than later, is that the main takeaway that you had.

Matt Rasch: 26:24

Yeah. You know, I think I've always been one of those people. Who's willing to love people and endure with them and we've done our fair share of that and Marsay that's for sure. Uh, some people, you know, we have a lady didn't come to faith until six years into building relationship with her and sharing the gospel over and over, but yet doing it through love. So I'm not adverse to build relationships and enduring with people and so forth. Uh, that being said, it's not the kind of evangelism I do. I'm not looking for. Hey, is there another piece of fruit here? That's going to take 10 years. Praise the Lord. I'm not looking for all of that. I can, I can live my life and still be friends with all those people and keep selling along the way. But what I'm looking for as an evangelist is low hanging fruit. I'm looking for the people because Jesus said the harvest is. Either he's lying or it's true. Uh, I just take him at his word. It's true. The harvest is ripe. So if the harvest is ripe, I just have to find the right Parvis. So I go around and I'm a fruit test, or, you know, I just, I just feel the fruit on the tree. You squeeze it, it feels a little soft. You pull and it'll come right off if it's ripe, but if it's not right, it's not the season for the fruit to be picked. You can sit there and yank on that thing and pull on it all day long. And you're just going to sit there and be frustrated. I mean, you can come with some Clippers and cut it down, but now you're going to have another problem on your hands, you know? So, so when we're talking about evangelism, uh, Yeah. most evangelist in general, I hate. Stereotype evangelist, you know, but I think we are all looking to find that fruit that's right. We're like, Hey, did you know? Jesus loves you? Did you know, he's got a plan for your life? Um, do you know what the gospel is? man. let me help you understand it better. Okay, cool. Would you like to give your life to Jesus? Repent of your sins and, Yeah, man. Okay, great. Let's go for it, man. Come on. It's a new day for you, bro. You a new creation in Christ Jesus, and I mean, what evangelists doesn't want to have that. We're not, we're not going. How long do you think it's going to take to you come to Christ five to 10 years? Never. Yes. Praise the Lord. I met one of those people today that I'm going to get to endure with for the next 5, 10, 15 years of my life. And maybe, and maybe they'll never come to Christ. Nobody rejoices over that.

David: 28:36

Yeah, that's a pretty, pretty average experience to say the least. That's not, definitely not what you're looking for, but I hear what you're saying. Yeah. I mean, that's obviously, that's a part of the journey. There's lots of people out there that are in that spot. So what I hear you saying is, Hey, you're, you're trying to be a little bit more selective and a little more intentional with how you're focusing your time while on the one hand, Hey, you want to be gracious. You want to take the time with the people that are not yet in a place where they're ready, really looking. And so,

Matt Rasch: 29:03

It's both. And Dave and, and I'm not negating one style of evangelism or the other, and I'm not definitely not saying we don't do tons of pre evangelism and appropriate preparing the terrain, all that stuff. There's so much work that goes evangelists. It's not just cookie cutter simplistic. So don't hear me in the wrong sense. And I hope nobody does, but. At, at the, at the root of it, it's kinda like when you're starting a brand new work in a new country and you know, no one, um, and you're looking for signs, wonders and miracles. You're looking for some encouragement. You're looking for somebody who just says, I'll be your first. Um, you know, and that's the story. When we, when we got the call to come to Marsay, we were living in Budapest and we got the call. It was a vision I had in the shower and I knew it was Jesus. And we prayed and asked God to give us confirmation supernatural confirmation within 24 hours. And you know what, God did it. He did supernatural signs and wonders, moved, moved mountains for us to prove to us that he wanted us in Marsay. But the next thing he said is, and I don't want you to recruit any. I was like, well, that's not fun. I know I'm a team player. I love working as a team. I love hearing everybody's thoughts, ideas. I love playing off each other's gifts and talents, complimenting each other. Ah, man, that was a killer, but you know what it did, it gave us an opportunity to actually go to language school by ourselves and learn the language as a family. And then it gave us a chance to get on the ground as a family. And trust God to start building relationships with people from scratch. And so, yeah, no, I didn't start off doing evangelism in the streets of Marsay the first day off. I mean, I just got out of language, school, language, school is hard. You don't speak fluent, anything, um, straight out of language school, even if you've been doing intense courses for a year. Yeah. You understand pretty decent and yeah, you can express yourself a little bit, but fluency. Minimum of three years. And for the average person, about four to five. To gain and that's working at it pretty much. Full-time living in the culture. So to get to a place where you're teaching the Bible and not making stupid mistakes, it takes a long time that being said, we show up, we're looking for friends or like looking for listen. I'm no, Jesus, you told me this and I know you confirmed it like that. And I know you did like this, but. The rubber just hit the road. We are living here now. I have completely moved my whole family into the middle of a town. That is one third Muslim, one third in the poverty zone. People getting shot daily. I mean, I am not exactly going, this is exactly what I thought this was going to be highly Lou. Yeah. Praise the Lord. No, it's low. Show me a sign, show me some comfort. Tell me somebody who's going to love me around here because so far not so good. And so I remember the first day of, of taking our kids to school and we walk up there and I'm sitting there waiting for the doors to open to the school. And some lady comes and walks over to me. Maybe it was the second 30. Some lady comes up and says, Are you, uh, the new American family that I heard about here. And I said, yes. And she said, oh, that's great. We love America. And I was like, I'll take it, Lord, I'll take it. And she said, my name is Emmanuel. And I went, oh Lord, thank you. Thank you. Her name is Emmanuel. I said, she said, and this is my husband. His name is Christophe, you know? And I just thought, you know, God Christ and Emmanuel have just said, they love Americans. I'll take it. Jesus. I don't know if that's you or not, but man, And I'm telling you when you're all out there all alone and, and you know that God's told you to do it, you and then he comes through like those little signs, man. It's enough to just go, okay, we're right where we need to be. We're doing exactly what we need to do.

David: 32:47

Um,

Matt Rasch: 32:48

Not to say that all the stuff we learned in Austrian Budapest, wasn't powerful, but, and great. And we did learn a lot. The man when you get there. Yeah. You're, you're looking for friends, so I'm not like just looking for low hanging fruit from day one. I'm looking for some friends, some friendly people, some kindness I'm looking for bridge people that are gonna just, you know, they may not get saved right away. In fact that couple still has not come to. They've come to church like two or three times in the last 10 years, we've known them. They've come to alpha course. They've done it. They've done a few different Bible studies, but man, they are the longest lasting. They've been able to resist Jesus and Matt rash for a lot longer than most people. And so, Um, anyways, that. I think just coming back to that point of, of looking at people and trying to judge whether this is low hanging fruit, it depends. Depends what season you're in and your ministry too. So starting off. Yeah. I need bridge people. I need friends, I need people. And then once we kind of feel like, okay, we're understanding things now we're going to start experimenting with some things. And so yeah, the first thing we experimented with was an English conversation group just for the summer. But at the end of three months or two months of summertime English group with six guys, I looked at him and said, Hey, I'm starting an alpha course, English conversation groups. Who wants to do it starting in two weeks. And three of them said yes. And three of them said no. And I said, okay, well, it's been nice knowing you three. And I just let Jesus do what he wanted to do. And from that three, all three of them got saved, got spirit-filled. And then several of their friends started coming and then we did an outreach and then more came and next thing you know, Uh, the campus mission. In fact, you were there on that mission team when we actually got those six guys to be a part of that initial thing. So in the beginning, no, I'm not looking for low-hanging fruit, but there was a point where I stopped the English thing and said, that's enough of that. Now I'm going for, I'm taking to the next level, who wants to talk about Jesus?

David: 34:43

Yeah, man. Yeah, I get it. Yeah. It's, it's, that's clarifying and it's encouraging and I think that's just where it's helpful to get practical. Uh, I know, even for me, Matt, I mean, just to be honest, uh, I I'm really wanting my local ministry to, to grow in fruitfulness and advance. And, you know, you hear a lot of different things out there. Some things like when is this working? And, and so, uh, yeah, part of me at times just wonders how much of it is individual gifting of the various emphases? How much of it is just, Hey, this is this way is better than that way. And so, yeah, I think it's helpful to just drill down on that a little bit more. So thanks for clarifying. Um, If we could just stay with that, maybe just for a little bit longer. Um, Matt, I mean, you made reference to, and again, I know this is a metaphor. We talk about kind of looking at the, the fruit and, you know, Hey, is it soft? Is it ready to be plucked to that sort of thing? What are some things that you do, if you, if you can think of them off the top of your head, uh, that that really help you to assess like, Hey, is this a person that I really want to spend more time with? And again, I know your heart, isn't transactional. It's not like, Hey, you're just looking at people as a commodity or something. I know that that, that is the farthest thing from who you are and what you do. But again, just in trying to get specific, uh, with the aim of, of helping people and helping, helping me to even. More wisely about evangelism. What are some of the things that you do or that you look for, or that you say to try to assess, Hey, is this a person that I want to, you know, right now, try to, to pursue a deeper level of engaging.

Matt Rasch: 36:25

So, so first thoughts that come to my mind are, yes, you're right. That gifting does come into account and some people are definitely have the gift of the evangelist and they're going to be what I would call, you know, maybe a little more intuitive on figuring out where people are at and what they can handle and what they can handle. Uh, but on a bigger scale, I think understanding your culture. And the culture and the background of the people you're talking with actually helps you to create a scale. So if I know the average French person has heard these 10 stories has grown up with this. These five jokes has seen these kinds of TV programs and has been trained in a secular humanist environment. Then I can F I can eventually, after so many different engagements, I start gauging where they're at and like, ah, They're not interested at all. And I'm able to just look at and go, listen, I can tell this is a subject that maybe you're not interested in right now, but if ever you change your mind, bro, here's my. Never hesitate. Give me a call and I'm happy. And I feel like I've done my job. So I think part of it is it's intuitive, but sometimes the intuition is based on the more experience you have too. So I think some people can just figure out and, but I don't want to lean it on just intuition and gifting and experience, but. Uh, clearly the holy spirit can, can, can be speaking to you and lead you. And I think where there's peace and there's joy and you sense momentum and, and like, there's that this person is happy to be talking with me. I think there you're looking at, Hey, this is a good thing. Let's keep going with this. I think there's there's room to take it to the next step here. Um, where you feel there's hostile. Where people are just wanting to be arguing with you. I think you can just go well, okay. Let me, let me give you another way of thinking about that. Or let me ask you another question in a different way, and you can play with the person a little bit to try to just maybe make them look at things a little differently, but I'm going to be backing down from my expectation that they're going to get saved in the next 20 minutes. I'm going to be going, Hey, my job here is to make them think differently. My job here is to make them, uh, to hopefully, uh, have them lay down on their pillow at night. Man. What that, what did that guy say?

David: 38:42

Hmm.

Matt Rasch: 38:42

I've never heard anybody talk like that. I've never heard that question. What do I think? Where do my beliefs come from? Why do I believe? What, uh, why do I think that? Do I really. Uh, rose colored glasses and the, in the, in the shade of, of secular humanism, have I been formatted in France? I've I've been, or in whatever country I'm from, if I can make them question their, their, their background. Well, maybe that's the goal of the day is to make them just rethink what is truth and why I believe what I believe. And so I think, you know, I learned that lesson real early on this person isn't ready to get safe, but I can, I can definitely give them a quick challenge here and they, and I'll give them my card and go call me when you. And meanwhile, they're acting all tough, but I know they're going, whoa. It just happened to me. I just got derailed. I thought I believed all this stuff so strong, but now I'm not sure what the heck to think.

David: 39:32

Yeah. Yeah. Matt. Yeah, that's really good, man. Appreciate that. Well, the change gears just a little bit, uh, want to talk some about short-term missions and, you know, you mentioned just a minute ago, uh, even me being involved in a team, you know, there w with Marsay and actually, uh, I led a team to Budapest as well, but I think you

Matt Rasch: 39:52

That's

David: 39:52

a way at the time that, that the team was

Matt Rasch: 39:54

Oh, I remember you've been there, but I kept remembering you looking at this girl that was there So I don't know what you were doing on missions or, or missionary dating. One of those two things.

David: 40:03

That's right. Budapest was, it was a key part of my, uh, my courtship with, with my now wife, Katie. So you're, uh, remembering correctly. Um, well, we'll not. Yeah. And so even just to look at short-term missions, uh, My heart as a college minister. And I believe even one of the things that makes college ministry, such a strategic opportunity is, uh, you're reaching people at the, as Steve Shadrack says the most recruitable trainable, sendable time in their lives, where they've got availability to really, to go there, their lives, aren't already fully committed. And in other ways they're not locked in. And so there's this. And availability there and a potentially a sensibility as well. Uh, whether that's for short-term mission trips or even longer term opportunities. Um, but, uh, you know, I, there there are challenges with doing that well, right. And, and so we, you know, you hear these stories about short-term mission teams at times. You know, the well-intended maybe being a little bit more of a burden than really a true help. And so I know this is something that's in my heart. This is something that's in our movement's heart of, Hey, we want to reach every nation for Christ every, just about every collegiate minister. I know this is something that they care about, uh, but maybe struggle to deal with. And so I want to ask you, what are your thoughts on that? Both having been on both sides, you've been a college minister in the U S and you know, now you've been serving internationally and even hosting teams for, uh, a number of years. What are your thoughts on this? And what can. What can we do better? You know, the person that's, that's here saying, Hey, I want to make sure I'm sending the right people and sending them in the right way. And or maybe even the kind of denominational leader or organizational, uh, leader that that's overseeing a short-term missions program. Um, what insights or suggestions would you give to help short-term missions be done better?

Matt Rasch: 42:02

oh, great question. Huh? It's really big. And it feels like a trap I'm I'm I'm sensing a trap.

David: 42:09

This is not a trap speak, speak freely, or you can plead the fifth man. If you don't want to speak to this, we can, we can pass.

Matt Rasch: 42:17

No, I think it's a great subject. I'll just answer it as briefly as I can though. Cause it is a big subject and it's, it's worth bigger discussion, but I do believe in missions, short terms and long-term uh short-term and long-term missions. I believe in it with all my heart. I do believe that sometimes the purpose may be more about the people coming, uh, and getting their lives trained, changed, uh, more so than maybe actually adding value to the local situation. That's why I'm willing to host mission teams to this day, because at some point I go, that's great. If we get anything. But I'm more committed to the idea that young people need to go on missions trips, um, because it transforms the way you see yourself. It transforms the way you see God. And those two, those two views, the view, your view of God and your view of yourself are the most important to live the life that God's called you to live here on. Um, and if those are inappropriate and they're messed up because you have no clue what the rest of the world is going through, uh, even just a simple little, two week trip, maybe, maybe a cross, a single border didn't even, maybe even just take a bus across the border, but it's, it's, it's getting out of your context, getting out of your world. It transforms. Think and act and how you go forward. So I believe in them wholeheartedly, I do believe some of the best practices are to come in with a servant's mindset. I do believe you, you know, when mission teams say, Hey, we're going to come, bless you. It's a, it's kind of like a warning light goes off that. Uh, what do you mean by that? What do you mean by we're going to come bless you? Um, it, it kind of reminds me of, of, of, of somebody with a plan and an agenda, and we're going to come and bless you and you kind of go, well, why don't you ask me who we are first and what we do and how we do it. And then let's see if that's a blessing or not, you know, let's, let's re recap because what a blessing is to a person thinking I'm going to. You know, whatever nation pick a nation this summer and I'm going to bless them. Well, what does that mean? What does that mean to be a blessing in this tribal village, up in the Andes mountains? What a blessing is for them may look different than a blessing for somebody in Rio de Janeiro, right. in the heart of the city, it's going to be different. So I think this attitude of saying, Hey, we're the point leaders trying to lead a chain. We want to come. Do you want a team? Would you like us to come to starting off with, would you like us to bring a team? Yes, we would love for you to bring. What would you like us to do? What kind of a team do you want? Do you want us to do construction renovation of homes? Do you want us to help the poor and feed the homeless? Do you want us to go, uh, take care of lepers in the streets or do you want us to go preach on a university campus? Uh, do you want us, what do you want us to do? Where can we be the greatest benefit to you? And then all of a sudden, now it's no longer about the mission team, but it's actually about the locale getting something they need to move forward in their outreach. And they're, they're, they're trying to reach their community for Christ and whatever that is. So I think it's that one attitude that. Stop thinking, you know what you need to do on this mission team and start over. And I mean, you could've led 20 mission teams already start over every time. Hi, my name is Matt rash. I would like to bring a mission team to your country, to your city. Does that interest you at all? And if it is. What kind of a team would you like and what would you like us to do? How could we be a blessing? And when people come with that approach, all of a sudden she militaty, there's a learner attitude, there's flexibility, there's adaptability. And then the team actually comes with a purpose. That's lined up with the purpose of the local, uh, work. And everybody's happy that way. I mean, even in some of the harder, uh, teams we've had with some tough people, who've come on them. If there's a of. With the T team coming and the team receiving, uh, the expectations are clearly outlaid and, and, and, and, and Yeah. they're just clear then all of a sudden, even problematic people who are on the team become easy to deal with. It's like, well, you're Just going to go home. Here's your ticket. Go get on the plane by, by, you know,

David: 46:26

Yeah. Just because the expectations were clear on the front end that, you know, even though it's an unpleasant situation, there's clarity about what's going to happen.

Matt Rasch: 46:34

That's right. And I think so. So if you want to say it, it's, it's the humble attitude to say haka, we serve you. And then number two, you know, just clarifying all the expectations upfront. Um, those two things right there, I think are the simplest best advice I could give anybody whether you're hosting or you're or you're, or you're bringing it, you're leading a team. Um, come in as a learner. I don't know everything. I got questions and I'd like you to help me understand your culture and what's best for you.

David: 47:01

yeah. Well, Matt, this has been fantastic. So appreciate you just generously sharing your story, sharing some of your experiences. I know. Uh, it's always inspiring to talk with you. It's it's often challenging to talk with you. Uh, no, it's in a good way, in a good way. Uh, Matt, as we wrap up any, any final words that you would want to share with.

Matt Rasch: 47:24

You know, I just really want to stir people up for missions. You know, I really want to challenge you if you're listening to this podcast and whether you're a campus minister or you're a, a student or somebody else that's just kind of fell upon this as podcasts. Maybe, maybe you came into this podcast for such a moment as this. To hear God calling you onto the mission field. Maybe you have a call a long-term or short-term I don't know, but maybe God's putting his finger on your chest right now and saying it's time. It's time for you to rise up and answer the call to go to the mission field. Maybe, maybe you'll leave in five years. Maybe, maybe it's like eight years later. Like it was for me or maybe it's next week. I don't know. I just know, you know, you, God has put as his putting his finger on people's hearts right now. And in even if you don't feel called to be a mission. Get on a missions team, go somewhere, get out of your locale and go make a difference for some other people where you get no benefit other than just laying your life down for them. That'll transform your life. It'll give you great perspective. And sometimes it even looks good on the resume. That was a joke.

David: 48:31

Absolutely. Well, Matt, thanks again so much. This has been great.

Matt Rasch: 48:35

I'll bless you guys. And thanks for.