Tenacious. That word kept coming to mind as I read this book. I met Burns when we were students together. He was the one leading spontaneous prayer meetings for the nations and speaking about the glory of God. Neither would let him go. This work represents that happy union of theology and mission after two decades in the meat smoker of study and experience. Here is a book on the church and her mission and a theology of both; a book that holds onto the doctrine of sola scriptura and to the practice of global missions as though everything depends on it. Let this book convince you—or re–convince you—that indeed everything is at stake.

It is refreshing to once again have available for mission practitioners a strongly biblical approach to and subsequent evaluation of, the praxis of missions. Written by a perceptive ‘missionary–theologian,’ Burns guides missionaries how to be theologically adept as they perform their high calling as God’s global message bearers. I cannot recommend this book enough.

The Missionary–Theologian is a must read for all Christian leaders, even more so for those called to serve as missionaries. Since the Bible is the Word of God, it contains the self–sufficient content and strategy for missions. The missionary should know how to properly handle, proclaim, and obey it. This book is a clarion call for lives that bear fruit that last.

The Missionary–Theologian cuts like a surgeon’s scalpel, graciously excising the disease and bringing wholeness to form a theology and philosophy of missions that is emphatically biblical.  As a pastor in the local church, this work brings great hope to my soul for the future of missions and its enduring legacy, rooted in fidelity to sound doctrine. For too long, we in the West have minimized the heart of gospel ministry as being profoundly and primarily theological. Instead we have substituted biblical truth with the temporary, pseudo–spiritual remedies of man–centered experience and emotion. Dr. Burns has written with clarity, boldness, and accuracy to call all who value the glory of God among the nations to reconsider and retool for a ministry founded upon the power of the Word of God. His writing here cannot be missed or overlooked in our churches, our seminaries, or on the field. Read it and apply!