"All Missions Begins With Prayer"
VOMRadio
The Voice of the Martyrs
4.9 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John Burrough, CEO of Partners International, is a former mission trip leader and played in the NFL—including playing in a Super Bowl. Listen as he shares how taking a mission trip completely changed his outlook and how that experience could impact and change your perspective in every area of life.
Partners International began in the early 1940s with a missionary to China, Duncan Roberts, and from there continued to support and grow local leaders advancing the gospel in China. Later, the ministry's work expanded into Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The focus today is on reaching the unreached parts of the world for Christ.
John will share how Partners International invests in local ministries and church networks advancing the gospel in the 10/40 window, and how they come alongside locals to help them go further and faster in achieving the mission God has given them. "All missions begins with prayer," John says, and shares how the Lord is mobilizing prayer for the unreached in restricted nations and hostile areas.
Listen for the amazing story of a former Boko Haram member in West Africa who came to Christ while spying on a Christian leadership training session. The former terrorist is now advancing the gospel among the people he used to work with.
The VOM App for your smartphone or tablet will help you pray daily in 2026 for persecuted Christians in nations like North Korea, Nigeria and Bangladesh, as well as provide free access to e-books, audiobooks, video content and feature films. Download the VOM App for your iOS or Android device today.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If I encourage anybody as they're thinking about, do I go on a mission trip? |
| 0:03.9 | Do I go? |
| 0:04.6 | Listen, put all the hesitations away and just go. |
| 0:08.8 | Just go. |
| 0:10.0 | Because it has the opportunity to not only change the trajectory of your life, |
| 0:14.9 | it has the opportunity to change the next generation also of how they think about the world, |
| 0:19.9 | how they think about God, how they think |
| 0:21.5 | about unreached areas in the world. It has an opportunity to have a generation in that. So |
| 0:26.0 | if you're thinking about it, go. Jesus never promised his followers an easy path. In fact, |
| 0:33.5 | he told his disciples that the world would hate them. He sent them out as sheep among wolves. |
| 0:39.4 | Jesus' words came true in the life of the apostles, and they're still coming true today in the |
| 0:44.3 | lives of his followers around the world. Join host Todd Nettleton as we hear their inspiring stories |
| 0:49.6 | and learn how we can help right now on the Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network. Welcome again to the Voice of the Martyrs Radio. |
| 0:56.1 | My name is Todd Nettleton, and we are connected across the internet today with John Burrow. |
| 1:00.9 | John is the chief executive officer of Partners International, |
| 1:04.8 | and we're going to talk about who they are, what they do. |
| 1:08.1 | Before that, he led mission strips, and we're going to talk about that as well. |
| 1:11.9 | And before that, he played in the National Football League. So we may even mention a little bit of |
| 1:16.9 | that too. John, welcome to the Voice of the Martyrs Radio. Todd, it's great to be here. |
| 1:22.1 | Thank you so much for the invitation, have a conversation. I'm sincerely grateful for it. |
| 1:27.1 | And I look forward to having a conversation |
| 1:28.9 | about what God is doing in some really difficult places around the world. Yes, that is what we |
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