WHEN THE NUMBERS DON'T ADD UP — Trace Roth on Leadership, Haiti, and Trusting God in the Impossible. (S5E39)
The Shepherd at Work
Saturday, September 26, 2026 - 25 minutes
What happens when a leader who has spent his career making sense of numbers is called by God into a place where almost nothing makes sense?
Meet Trace Roth.
Trace began his career in corporate America, working in computer science and finance—fields built around data, logic, systems, and answers.
Then God led him into global missions.
And eventually into places like Haiti, where tomorrow can be anything but predictable.
In this powerful episode, Krystal sits down with Trace Roth of Mission Possible for an honest conversation about leadership, uncertainty, human need, and what it takes to follow God when there is no spreadsheet capable of giving you the answer.
Because some leadership decisions simply don't add up.
Imagine having enough food to feed the children entrusted to your schools...
While knowing there are hungry families immediately outside your doors.
Who do you feed?
How do you steward what God has given you without becoming hardened to the needs you cannot possibly meet?
How do you say yes to one person knowing it may mean saying no to another?
And how does a leader carry the weight of those decisions without allowing the weight to crush them?
These aren't hypothetical leadership exercises for Trace.
They're real.
Mission Possible has spent decades serving communities in Haiti and the Dominican Republic through education, meals, churches, leadership development, and meeting both physical and spiritual needs. Over time, its mission has evolved from simply providing handouts to creating hand-ups—equipping Christ-centered local leaders who can transform their own communities for generations.
That became especially important through COVID-19 and the governmental collapse in Haiti, when growing national leadership allowed the ministry to continue even with little North American presence on the ground.
Because Mission Possible believes something powerful:
One Christ-led leader can create a ripple effect that extends for generations.
Trace also opens up about the tensions leaders in missions carry that most of us never see.
Resources are finite.
Needs aren't.
Plans change.
Circumstances can become dangerous.
And sometimes faithful leadership means making the best decision you can—and trusting God with everything you cannot control.
In this episode, you'll discover:
- How a corporate leader wired for numbers and logic found himself leading in global missions.
- What Haiti taught Trace about leading when certainty disappears.
- How leaders wrestle with needs far greater than the resources available to meet them.
- Why Mission Possible shifted from handouts to hand-ups.
- The importance of developing local Christ-centered leaders rather than creating dependency.
- How to steward resources faithfully when there is no perfect answer.
- Why multiplication—not simply meeting today's need—can transform communities for generations.
Perhaps that's why God chose someone like Trace for this assignment.
His analytical mind wasn't something he had to abandon when he entered ministry.
It was something God could use.
The spreadsheets still matter. Stewardship matters. Strategy matters.
But eventually every leader encounters a place where the numbers stop providing the answer—and faith has to take you the rest of the way.
🎧 Listen. Lead wisely. Steward faithfully. Trust God when the numbers don't add up.
