S3E7: Faith, Fear, and God's Timing | Doug Weber

In this episode of The Go and Send Podcast, Cody and Mike sit down with Doug Weber, the Communications Team Leader at SonSet Solutions. Doug spent over two decades serving as a missionary with HCJB World Radio in Ecuador — using his electrical engineering background to keep shortwave transmitters on the air while he and his wife Ruth planted churches in the mountains outside of Quito. One of those nights, an angry mob threatened to burn them out. Only an unbelieving husband stood between them and the crowd — and that moment became a spiritual anchor Doug returned to through every hard season that followed.  He also shares two remarkable stories from his time at SonSet Solutions: A Christian radio station director in Africa who let Muslim imams advertise on his station and saw it lead people to Jesus, and 3,600 solar-powered radios held up for seven months by COVID, arriving in a Ugandan refugee camp at exactly the right moment. If you've ever wrestled with leaving a good career for ministry, waited on the Lord longer than felt comfortable, or wondered whether stories can really change anything — this one is for you.  Contact us at [email protected] Resources & Links:     SonSet Solutions Newsletter: https://www.sonsetsolutions.org/subscribe     Mountain Rain by Eileen Crossman (missionary biography recommended by Doug)      Urbana Student Missions Conference: https://urbana.org   00:00 -- Introduction  00:39 -- Why Storytelling Is So Important in Missions  02:29 -- How Communications People Can Plug Into Ministry  03:00 -- God's Preparation: Looking Back at the Seeds He Plants  03:40 -- 6th Grade: A Broken X-Ray Machine and a Story That Stuck  04:35 -- High School: Friends Coming to Christ Through Evangelistic Musicals  06:03 -- Mexico Mission Trip: Preaching His First Sermon and Meeting His Wife  08:21 -- Engineering at Hughes Aircraft and Sharing the Gospel at Work  09:09 -- His Wife Ruth's Prayers and the Gradual Turn Toward Missions  11:01 -- The Hesitancy: Being a Pastors Kid and Seeing the Backside of Ministry  12:49 -- Leaving a Fast-Tracked Career for the Unknown  14:56 -- How the Decision Came Together: Mission Conferences and the Tug of the Lord  16:02 -- Urbana 87: Exploring Every Kind of Mission Opportunity  18:11 -- Why They Felt Called to HCJB and Skills-Based Ministry  19:49 -- Visiting Ecuador and Seeing the Ministry Firsthand  20:15 -- What HCJB Was: Radio, Hospitals, and Shortwave Broadcasting Around the World  22:08 -- Getting to Work: Doug in the Audio Department, Ruth Editing Reel-to-Reel Tapes  25:20 -- Flexibility in Ministry: Using Your Skills and Adapting as Needs Change  25:58 -- Getting Into Church Planting in Quito  27:12 -- How Teresa Started a Church From a Kids Club in the Park  28:09 -- Parents Ask to Be Taught the Bible Too: The First Church Is Born  29:00 -- Moving to PIFO and Joining the Church Planting Network  31:05 -- El Teblon: The Community the Church Had Tried to Reach for a Decade  34:00 -- The Night the Threat Came: "They're Coming to Burn Us"  38:57 -- Staying When Every Instinct Said Run  40:21 -- What Actually Happened That Night: An Unbeliever Who Stood Up for Them  44:17 -- God Using an Unrighteous Man to Protect His People  45:53 -- The Takeaway: Using El Teblon as a Faith Anchor Through Every Hard Season  47:44 -- Leading HCJB Through Financial Crisis: Layoffs, Fundraising, and Hard Decisions  48:03 -- Returning to the US: Family Needs and Sensing the Lord's Release  50:20 -- Coming to SonSet Solutions and a Role That Took a Curve  51:31 -- The Role of Storytelling and Communications in Missions  52:09 -- Story From Africa: Muslim Imams, a Christian Radio Station, and Unexpected Fruit  55:42 -- Story From COVID: 3,600 Radios, Seven Months of Waiting, and God's Perfect Timing  59:14 -- What the Lord Was Doing All Along in Uganda  01:00:26 -- Encouragement for Anyone Sensing a Call to Ministry  01:01:48 -- What to Do While You Wait: Prayer, Fellowship, and Active Ministry  01:03:43 -- Recommended Resources: Missionary Biographies and Mountain Rain  01:05:27 -- How to Get Connected With SonSet Solutions  01:06:34 -- Closing    To learn more about SonSet Solutions, go to our website or follow us on social media @SonSetSolutions. Website: https://www.sonsetsolutions.org