Welcome to the unSeminary podcast. This month we’re focusing on key “Unpredictions”—timeless truths that church leaders need to be focusing on in 2025 and beyond. In this episode, we’re hearing from Mike Mantel, the President and CEO, and Jonathan Wiles, the Chief Operating Officer, of Living Water International (LWI), a faith-based global humanitarian organization. Together we are talking about how the poor will still be among us.

How can churches effectively combat poverty and make a lasting impact on communities around the world? LWI focuses on addressing the water crisis by providing safe water, sanitation, and hygiene to impoverished communities. Tune in to learn about the transformative effects of these efforts on thirsty communities and partner churches alike.

Water, for life, in Jesus’ name. // Living Water International has been involved in over 25,000 water projects, impacting 7.1 million people globally. The organization partners churches in the US with local churches in thirsty communities to deliver water interventions that also involve teaching sanitation and hygiene, with a strong emphasis on sustainability.
Celebrate the progress made. // The mission to provide clean water is seeing encouraging results. In 2001, 1.1 billion people lacked access to basic water, but in 2024, that number decreased to 703 million, even with a growing global population. The collaboration between various organizations has accelerated this progress. However, the remaining challenges are more difficult due to the increasing complexity of needs in poorer, often disaster-stricken regions.
Focus on a community. // LWI has learned from past experiences that water projects need to be long-term and community-centered, which led to the development of their “WASH Program Areas” (WPA). This model focuses on geographical areas, with a commitment to stay for 5-7 years to ensure that communities have lasting access to clean water and that local churches are strengthened as discipleship centers.
The local church is key. // In WASH Program Areas, local churches are uniquely positioned to serve their communities due to their influence and knowledge of local issues. When LWI partners with these churches, they are not bringing God to a new place, but rather supporting the work that God is already doing through the local churches in these communities. This approach fosters long-term, mutual transformation both in the WPA and the partner church back in the US.
Partnering with LWI. // US churches can engage with LWI’s work through knowledge-building, experiential learning, and co-investing in projects. Church members can raise awareness through education, take part in “discipling trips” to communities in need, and help fund projects. LWI encourages churches to go beyond just sending money, urging them to make the partnership a part of their ongoing mission.
Mutual transformation. // The goal of discipleship trips is not mission tourism but mutual transformation. These trips provide opportunities for both US churches and WASH Project Areas to learn from each other and deepen their relationships. The trips are a step in a long-term process of engagement and discipleship, not a one-time event.
Get involved. // For church leaders who are interested in engaging with LWI, Jonathan explains that churches already committed to specific mission areas can easily integrate clean water initiatives into their existing efforts. By linking their mission work to the pressing need for safe water, churches can create meaningful connections and foster a deeper sense of purpose within their congregations.

Visit water.cc to learn more about Living Water International and how they can plug into what God is already doing at your church. Check out the Advent Conspiracy that Mike mentions here. Plus, don’t forget to download the unPredictions Team Playbook for this podcast episode.

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Episode Transcript

Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. Man, I am super excited that you have decided to join us today. You have joined us amidst these Unpredictions episodes. These are a set of special episodes that we’re kicking off 2025. And today we’re focusing on this idea that the poor will be among us. This was true last year. It will be true this year. It will be true next year. My question is how are our churches dealing with that globally, if the numbers are still correct?

Rich Birch — 700 million people live in extreme poverty. Churches, your church and mine, can and should play a role in addressing this through partnerships, both locally and globally, advocating for social and economic process ah ah policies and just creating opportunity all around the world. And and today I’m excited to have our friends from Living Water International on. If you do not know them, they’re faith-based global humanitarian organization. They link arms with churches around the world to serve thirsty communities through access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. ah And an experience with Living Water is just, it’s amazing. These guys do an incredible job. I deeply respect them. I’ve been on the field with LWI, see the work they do. I highly recommend them.

Rich Birch — Today we’ve got Mike Mantel. He ah has since 2008 served as the president and CEO of LWI. And we’ve also got Jonathan Wiles with us. He serves as the chief operating officer. We got the big guns with us today. Welcome to the show, Jonathan and Mike. Glad you’re here.

Mike Mantel — Rich, what a delight, man. Been following you forever. And thanks for doing this podcast and letting us chat with you this morning.

Jonathan Wiles — Absolutely.

Rich Birch — This is going to be great. I’m excited. Jonathan, glad you’re here as well. Why why don’t we start with you, Jonathan? Fill in your story a little bit. Tell us about your connection to LWI. Tell us about ah Living Water as well a little bit.

Jonathan Wiles — I’ve been involved with Living Water for going on 25 years in various roles, but but really my focused engagement on staff and in leadership has been since 2007. Mike came on in 2008 and the two of us have been working together to to really kind of develop this organization in a direction that we feel is really honoring to God and and helping build his kingdom. And yeah, love getting to make a difference with Mike every day.

Rich Birch — Love it, so good. John ah um Mike, why don’t you tell us a little bit about, what does LWI do? you know I kind of gave the boilerplate, but if you were to bump into somebody, maybe you’re you know you’re at a conference or somebody and says, oh, Living Water, I think I’ve heard of you. What what do you do?

Mike Mantel — Like you said, we’re a faith-based organization. We believe that water is the fundamental intervention in people’s lives. If they have access to water, kids get healthy, healthy kids are in school, educated kids have a chance to lift themselves out of poverty. But what’s special about Living Water is we work with and through local churches. Wherever we work, the church is really at the center of what we do.

Mike Mantel — We’ve been doing this for 35 years. We’ve completed about 25,000 water projects. We call them WASH projects, water sanitation hygiene. About 7.1 million people…

Rich Birch — Wow.

Mike Mantel — …now i have access to safe, sustainable water in the name of Jesus because of our partners and churches in the United States and around the world.

Rich Birch — Yeah, this is amazing. Now, the thing about the water ...