"Church 2 Church" can be found online here.

As managing editor of PreachingToday.com, you're a part of the team at Christianity Today that publishes Leadership Journal. How did you first learn about Church 2 Church?

Actually, I knew nothing about it until Marshall (Shelley, editor-in-chief of Leadership Journal) approached me and asked me to write an article on the program. That's my favorite type of articles—I know nothing about the subject, but other people find it fascinating, so I have to approach it as a learner.

Your piece includes many insightful details. How did you interview the pastors?

I did all of the interviews via phone—although I did ask some of the pastors to elaborate portions of their stories and send them to me. In hindsight, the article would have been stronger if I could have interviewed at least two of the non-American pastors.

Because of some of the locations involved, did you encounter pastors or missions leaders who were reluctant to talk for fear of drawing attention to their efforts? How did you work around that?

All of the pastors were willing to talk about their partner churches, although one pastor wanted to ensure that I did not put any location details in the story (that was the pastor whose partner church is in northern India). He was concerned about persecution issues for his partner church.

Your article discusses the challenges of breaking down stereotypes associated with North American churches and missions efforts that "descend upon" less-resourced locales to work or provide funds. We saw a similar theme in Christianity Today's Round Trip Missions project in 2008 and 2009. What role, if any, do you think Christianity Today plays in helping change these perceptions (real or perceived)?

Honestly, I don't think it's my main job to help change perceptions. My primary task as a journalist/writer is to tell the story and to tell it well. If the story is true and good, it will change people's perceptions.

Did you hear from readers or sources after this published? Anything notable worth sharing?

I did hear from a few of the churches and from someone at Compassion. They liked the story a lot, although I think I tended to minimize some of the challenges in the program, especially the challenges created by distance and communication.

See the story behind the story of other award-winning content from the 2012 Evangelical Press Association convention.