MTM - Interview with Corey Schmidlkoffer Part One

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What if you reached 24 without ever hearing the gospel in a way that made sense? That’s the question at the center of Corey’s gripping story—an Alaskan childhood marked by addiction, years in juvenile detention, and a November night under bright stars that felt like a crossroads. Two surprising messengers—a man in a drug house and a grieving father—tell him the same thing: give your life to Jesus. In treatment, Romans 5:8 lands like an arrow, and the room shifts from shame to hope. Corey can’t keep quiet. He starts meeting new arrivals at the front desk, telling anyone who will listen that Christ died for people like us.

From there, the journey turns to the church itself. Corey loves the Book of Acts and longs to see its heartbeat—shared meals, Scripture, generosity, and mission—alive in real time. With a mentor’s nudge, he opens his home. What begins as ten friends around a table becomes a living-room church packed with people coming out of addiction, prison, and camps. No programs. Just worship, the Word, and names that matter. For eight years he pastors that growing community, measuring success by transformed lives rather than polish.

Then a moment in a homeless camp reframes the mission. Many faces are Alaska Native, and a woman from Unalakleet asks the clarifying question: do you want to do something? The answer points to the villages—over a hundred communities with little or no gospel presence, many accessible only by plane or river. Corey and his team embrace the challenge, honoring culture, building trust, and choosing presence over spectacle. This is frontier ministry in the truest sense: slow, relational, and relentless, aimed at bringing clear hope where it’s rarely heard.

If stories of raw redemption, simple church, and bold mission stir you, press play, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find it. Subscribe for part two as we head into the villages and the practical realities of reaching Alaska’s remote communities.

https://www.frontieralaskamissions.com/

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