I just got off a call with a former Anderson Consulting executive who coaches aspiring cross-cultural workers how to start legitimate businesses in countries where religious visas don’t exist. And I thought — he is not at all what I imagined a global goer would look like.

That’s what this episode is about. After a lifetime of living among cross-cultural workers and walking alongside hundreds of families moving overseas, I’ve noticed that there are five distinct types of global goers. Five different motivations. Five different ways God wires people to make a difference in the world.

If you’ve ever thought “I’m not sure I’m the right TYPE of person for this” — this episode is for you. And if you’re a church leader or mobilizer trying to find and recruit the right people — this one’s for you too.

In this episode:

• Why your image of a global goer might be way too small
• The difference between community development and pioneering disciplemaking movement work (and why it matters)
• Why knowing your Global Goer Type gives you permission to be who God wired you to be
• How mobilizers and church leaders can use the five types as a recruiting tool
• A full walk-through of all five types:
  • The Bleeding Heart,
  • The Strategic Thinker,
  • The Meaning and Purpose Champion,
  • The Adventure Seeker,
  • and The Obedient Disciple
• A behind-the-scenes peek at the book I’m writing about this

Resouces:

Take the Global Goer Quiz (before you listen — seriously, do it first!):

Free Chapter 9 download — Wrestling With Calling, Gifting and Personalities

Across the Street and Around the World (my book):

Listen to:

• Episode 14: Discerning Your Calling — Part 1 How to Know if You Should Go (Apple Podcast)
• Episode 15: Discerning Your Calling — Part 2 Called to a Who, Not a Where (Apple Podcast)
  
  

Find me on Instagram and DM me — which Global Goer Type are you?

And is the Five Global Goer Types book something you’d want to read? I really want to know.

This is Part 2 of my two-part series on discerning your calling as a Global Goer. If you haven't listened to Episode 14 yet, I recommend you start there first.

In this episode I tackle the question that trips most people up once they think they might be called: where? I make the case that calling is probably not a where first — it's a who. And once you know your who, the where starts to take care of itself.

In this episode I cover:

• Why asking "where" might be the wrong first question
• Paul's example — apostle to the Gentiles, not apostle to Rome
• How to narrow your "who" and let the "where" follow
• The difference between a calling and your next directional step
• The green light vs. red light framework for moving forward

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Breakthrough Prayer Course
• Across the Street and Around the World book

Connect with Jeannie Marie:

🌐 Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com

📱 Instagram: @jeanniemmarie (DM me which of the 15 resonated most!)

📖 Take the Global Goer Quiz: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/quiz

🎥 Watch the free one-hour training: Share Jesus Naturally With the Nations Near You

What's Next:

Next week: Episode 16 - Change the Way God Wired You with The Five Global Goer Types

Leave a Review and Subscribe:

If this episode helped you discern your calling, would you leave a review on Apple Podcasts? It helps others who are considering the journey find this show! New episodes drop every Tuesday. Don't miss one!

🍎 Apple Podcasts

🎤 Spotify

A couple of years ago, I sat in a room with about 50 cross-cultural workers living in South Asia — veterans, people with 20+ years on the field. We asked the ones who stayed: what kept you here? Every single one of them said the same thing: calling. Not strategy, not a great organization — a deep sense that God had called them to a specific people, a specific work, and hadn't released them yet.

I know that people going to the field for the first time know they need a calling. But often they're searching for it so much that they don't even go — because they don't know what it looks like, or how to define it, or even what a calling actually is. So that's what I'm talking about in this two-part series.

In this episode I cover:

• What apostolic yearning is and how to recognize it in yourself
• What apostolic conviction is and why one long-term worker said he'd rather see conviction than calling
• The difference between spiritual gifting and personality (and why it matters)
• Why ordinary people — not superstars — are the ones who end up on the field
• A practical listening prayer exercise you can do today
• What to do with your language fears

This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2 — Called to a Who, Not a Where — drops next week.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Free Chapter 9 download — Wrestling With Calling, Gifting and Personalities:
• Across the Street and Around the World book:
• Uncharted Mission — stories of workers discovering and living out their calling:
• The Raw Mission Podcast

Connect with me!

🌐 Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com

📱 Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

📖 Take the Global Goer Quiz: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/quiz

🎥 Watch the free one-hour training: Share Jesus Naturally With the Nations Near You

What's Next:

Next week: Episode 16 - Discerning Your Calling Part Two: Called to a Who, Not a Where

Leave a Review and Subscribe:

If this episode helped you discern your calling, would you leave a review on Apple Podcasts? It helps others who are considering the journey find this show! New episodes drop every Tuesday. Don't miss one!

🍎 Apple Podcasts

🎤 Spotify

In this episode, I get personal about my physical health journey — what woke me up, why it matters specifically for global goers, and the practical changes I'm making now. From walking and strength training to learning to see food as medicine, this is a candid, encouraging conversation about taking care of the body God gave me for the long haul.

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Across the Street and Around the World
• Free Video Training : 3 Secrets to Share Jesus naturally with your Neighbors and Nations

Key Takeaways:

• Physical health is a spiritual discipline — our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit
• Global goers push their bodies in unique ways; physical reserves matter for the mission
• 30-40 minutes of daily movement transforms mood, clarity, and energy
• Strength training matters — especially post-50, muscle loss is real and preventable
• Learn what foods fuel YOUR body — food journal, Whole30, or work with a nutritionist
• Aim for: 30 min movement daily, 9 servings of fruit/veg, 100g protein, 90 oz water
• Living overseas can make you healthier — cooking from scratch beats processed food
• No shame, no guilt — just honest conversations with God and yourself

This Week's Challenge: Keep a food and exercise diary for 7 days.

Then ask: what do I have to do to make it to 92? Pick one change. Get a coach, group, or app if you need accountability.

Connect with me!

🌐 Website: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com

📱 Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

📖 Take the Global Goer Quiz: www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/quiz

🎥 Watch the free one-hour training: Share Jesus Naturally With the Nations Near You

What's Next:

Next week: Episode 16 - Discerning Your Calling Part One: How to Know if You Should Go

Leave a Review and Subscribe:

If this episode helped you discern your calling, would you leave a review on Apple Podcasts? It helps others who are considering the journey find this show! New episodes drop every Tuesday. Don't miss one!

🍎 Apple Podcasts

🎤 Spotify

If you grew up overseas — or you're raising kids who are — this episode is for you.

Jeannie Marie is a classic TCK who grew up in the Philippines and moved to the US at 18. In this first episode of a planned TCK series, she talks about:

• what we all have in common,
• what shapes us,
• what we struggle with,
• and what an incredible gift this life really is.

IN THIS EPISODE

• What a third culture kid actually is — and why MK is no longer quite the right term
• The invisible "third culture" and the traits we all share
• Why TCKs make fast, deep friendships — and why goodbyes feel like death
• The question we all dread: "Where are you from?"
• Why coming back to your passport country can feel like culture shock
• What parents of TCKs can do to raise healthy, grounded kids
• Why TCKs often make incredible global goers as adults — and why mobilizers should be paying attention

BOOK MENTIONED

Third Culture Kid by David Pollock

COMING UP IN THIS TCK SERIES

• How to prepare your kids to go overseas
• Moving overseas with a teenager
• Special needs TCKs — should you go?
• Reentry: what coming home really looks like

RESOURCES

• Take the Global Goer Quiz
• Jeannie's book, Across the Street and Around the World

CONNECT WITH JEANNIE

• Instagram
• Website
  

What's Next:

Next week: Episode 13 - What I'm doing to Stay Physically Healthy as a Global Goer

Leave a Review and Subscribe:

If this episode helped you discern your calling, would you leave a review on Apple Podcasts? It helps others who are considering the journey find this show! New episodes drop every Tuesday. Don't miss one!

🍎 Apple Podcasts

🎤 Spotify

Have you ever thought about creating an online business to help fund your life overseas or supplement your nonprofit work?

What if your years of training and knowledge could reach people while you sleep — and outlive you long after you’re gone?

In this episode, I’m sharing one way I have funded my own global passion and helped others do the same — through digital courses, memberships, and coaching programs built on an all-in-one platform called Kajabi.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you may remember that I used to partner with Amy Porterfield and her Digital Course Academy to help people learn how to create and launch online courses. That was a big investment. Amy isn’t doing that program anymore—so now I want to help you. I have a much lower-cost way to test this idea before you spend a lot of money. We’re talking $99 for three months, plus coaching from me, to see if this is even right for you.

This episode is for you if:

• You are heading overseas, and support raising feels hard
• You need income that travels with you
• You want a business that could serve as your visa identity in another country
• You have years of training and knowledge that need to outlive you
• You mobilize others and want to know about new ways to fund global work

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

1) Free Info Session: Fund Your Passion and Leave Your Legacy with Kajabi
Is Kajabi Right For You?

2) Examples of successful online businesses using courses, memberships, and coaching:

• Gospel Conversations That Connect by Jerry McCorkle from Spread Truth
• Getting Started in Disciplemaking Movements by Cynthia Anderson

3) Neighbors and Nations Course:

4) Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course

5) Travel Hacking Course with Tim Walker

6) Theology of Women Academy with Dr. Cynthia Hester

7) All of the above, plus the Kajabi signup link, can also be found at: jeanniemarieacademy.com/kajabi

8) Across the Street and Around the World book

Easter is one of the most important celebrations in the Christian faith — but do you know how to explain it to someone from a different faith background? In this episode, I walk you through how I explain Easter to my Muslim friends, my Hindu friends, and even culturally Christian people who have grown up with Easter eggs and bunnies but aren’t quite sure what it all means.

And even if Easter has already passed when you’re listening to this, these frameworks work any time of year — because we always need to be able to explain why Jesus had to die and why it matters that he is alive right now.

• How I explain Easter to my Muslim friends using Arabic words they already know — like Isa al-Masih (Jesus the Messiah), corbani (sacrifice), caliph (king), and malakoot (kingdom of God) — and even why I avoid the phrase “Son of God” in those conversations.
• Why the honor and shame framework matters when talking to people from Eastern cultures, and how to explain forgiveness and acceptance in a way that truly resonates.
• How I explain Easter to Hindu friends using concepts they already love — light over darkness, life over death, God becoming man, and freedom from the endless cycle of karma and reincarnation.
• Why Hindus might actually be more open to hearing the Easter story — and even attending an Easter service — than you might expect.
• How to explain Easter to culturally Christian people using the innocence and guilt framework most Westerners naturally understand.
• Why food, stories, and personal invitation are universal bridges, no matter who you are talking to.

🎧 Listen to Episode 8 now:

🍎 Apple Podcasts
🎤 Spotify
🌍 Global Goer Podcast Page

• Free 10-Minute Video: Three Mistakes Most People Make When Reaching Out to Muslims
• Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course (get $50 off after watching the free video)
• Disciple Making Among Hindus: Making Authentic Relationships Grow by Timothy Shultz
• Ramadan Episode

Connect with Jeannie

• Website: jeanniemarieacademy.com
• Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

Some news stories you can scroll past. This isn't one of them.

My father and I were in India when the war in Iran broke out — my tickets routed through Qatar, checking flight apps every hour, eventually driving five hours to a different airport and routing home through Thailand and Japan just to get back to the US. Qatar is still closed. That experience sent me deep into every news source she could find. And what I learned from my international network, my Persian friends, and workers on the ground is a story most Americans aren't hearing.

In this episode, I’ll share my raw, personal take on why this war matters to every Global Goer — and why the Persian people need our voice right now.

In This Episode

• What's actually happening inside Iran that most US media isn't covering
• The difference between Persians and Iranians — and why it matters
• A biblical case for why peace sometimes has to be fought for
• The explosive growth of the underground church in Iran
• Nowruz — the Persian New Year and the prayer for light over darkness
• Is this World War III? Is this the end times?
• What every Global Goer can do right now

🎧 Listen to Episode 9 now:

🍎 Apple Podcasts
🎤 Spotify
🌍 Global Goer Podcast Page

Resources Mentioned

• Follow Elica Lebon on Instagram for the inside Persian perspective: @elicalebon
• Follow Jeannie on Instagram for clips from inside Iran: @jeanniemmarie
• India episode — click here to listen
• Group Training Plan — Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus
• Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course

Connect with Jeannie

Website: jeanniemarieacademy.com

Instagram: @jeanniemmarie