Ben, Jared, and Scott are joined by Steve Dowling, interim coordinator of Mission to North America (MNA), as the RAO series continues through the committees and agencies of the General Assembly. Steve marks one year in the role (he started October 1, 2025) and explains why the interim period was extended by a year, through next June, and what has changed inside MNA along the way.

Steve gives the thirty-thousand-foot view of MNA as a program committee rather than an agency, and how his review of decades of Assembly minutes sorted its work into three categories: planting, mobilization, and restoration. The conversation moves from birthing babies to geriatric care: how MNA supports presbyteries and churches in planting, what planter assessment and coaching look like now, how a mission church moves toward particularization (including an English-speaking church in Germany particularizing with the Ministry to the Military and Internationals), and why the recent rise in church plants belongs to presbyteries and mother-daughter plants.

Steve also walks through why MNA's many specialized ministries exist and how each ties back to the Assembly's mandates, with the PRCC and its Reformed chaplains as one example. Looking ahead, he names Canada as a major area of need and prayer, introduces MNA's new one-stop website, and invites listeners to get involved, including through Ministry to State and Metanoia Prison Ministries.

Links and resources

• Mission to North America (new website)
• Plant
• Mobilize
• Restore
• Get involved
• PRCC Chaplain Ministries
• Metanoia Prison Ministries
• Ministry to State
• Ministry to the Military and Internationals
• 40. GA Overtures Committee (with Steve Dowling)
• 72. Chapter 27 is Chiastic (BCO 27) (with Steve Dowling)
• 80. Until I Read Them Out Loud (BCO 33) (with Steve Dowling)
• 89. Crash Course on the PCA General Assembly (with Steve Dowling)

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Ben and Jared are joined by Lloyd Kim, coordinator of Mission to the World (MTW), as the RAO series continues through the committees and agencies of the General Assembly. Lloyd shares his path from Southern California and Westminster Seminary to the Philippines and Cambodia, and how he came to serve in his thirteenth year as coordinator of MTW, the sending arm of the PCA.

The conversation looks at what the BCO says about foreign missions, including the powers of an evangelist in places with no presbytery and the provisional presbyteries of BCO 15-6. Lloyd explains why MTW often works with like-minded Reformed bodies and a "proto-presbytery" rather than using that provision, and how the 1984 NAPARC "Golden Rule" comity agreement still shapes cooperation among sister denominations. He also describes how churches and sessions help discern a missionary call, how MTW assesses, trains, and cares for missionaries, and how its Cultivate program helps churches move from being "ATMs" to catalysts for the Great Commission.

Lloyd unpacks the 1% challenge as a "tithe" mentality, explains MTW's low administrative fee of about 6.5%, and shares his prayers for the future: new missionaries, a pipeline of leaders, and healthy teams. The episode closes with missionary biography recommendations from Lloyd and Jared.

Links and resources

• Mission to the World
• Cultivate: Creating a Culture of Missions in Your Church
• The 1% Challenge (Lloyd Kim)
• NAPARC Comity Agreement
• Swift and Beautiful: The Amazing Stories of Faithful Missionaries (David B. Calhoun)
• Westminster Reader

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Ben, Jared, and Scott are joined by Stephen Estock, coordinator of the PCA's Committee on Discipleship Ministries (CDM), as the RAO series continues through the permanent committees and agencies. Stephen shares his path from Birmingham to the Air Force, Covenant Seminary, and the pastorate, and how he came to lead CDM, formerly Christian Education and Publications.

He describes CDM's mission to strengthen the local church as it makes disciples, organized around five streams: children, youth, women, men, and older adults. CDM calls itself "a broker of relationships and resources," connecting people to people and people to resources through ministry teams drawn from local churches. The conversation covers CDM's conferences, including the first men's ministry conference and the Pressing On conference for the wives of elders. It also covers how presbytery committees can encourage non-ordained ministry workers, and the fifty-year joint ministry with the OPC in Great Commission Publications.

Stephen also recommends resources worth knowing about, including Heirs of the Covenant, the Road Talk, Meal Talk, and Soul Talk booklets, Children's Ministry 101, the Westminster Confession in everyday language, and the BCO Basics video series. He closes with encouragements and challenges in discipleship ministry and three prayer requests: keep us faithful, keep us grounded, provide for us.

Links and resources

• Committee on Discipleship Ministries
• CDM conferences: Men's Ministry Conference, Pressing On (women), Children's LEAD 2026, Student ministry conference
• Great Commission Publications
• Heirs of the Covenant (Susan Hunt)
• Westminster Reader
• Road Talk and Meal Talk (John Kwasny)
• Children's Ministry 101 (CDM children's resources)
• The Westminster Confession of Faith in Everyday Language (Jimmy Agan)
• BCO Basics (free video series)

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