History
Our History
James R. Eby, the Founder, and President Emeritus of Mission Catalyst International, has more than 50 years of experience as a pastor, church planter, missionary, and trainer of indigenous missionaries. In 2001, he received a divine call from God to help reach the three billion people who have yet to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time and to do his part to see The Great Commission completed in this generation.
In early 2002, Jim and his wife Peggy sold their home in Oklahoma and moved to Houston, Texas, to begin this adventure, using the profit from the sale of their home to open an MCI bank account. Soon after, Jim invited Ken Womack to join him in this venture. Ken had a heart for the nations, years of experience in ministry, and welcomed the amazing opportunity. MCI was formally incorporated in 2002 as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in the state of Texas.
In November of 2002, Jim & Ken went to northeast India, the world’s most unreached country, to conduct their first training for indigenous workers, what we now call a “Great Commission Equipping Conference”. Countless more trips would follow, from Indonesia to Inner Mongolia, the materials were translated into all the major languages of the world, and dozens of “Master Trainers” have been empowered to serve in nearly all of the least-reached nations on earth.
MCI’s current President/Executive Director, B.F. Westen (Ben), first visited China in 2002, then spent more than 15 years serving among the unreached Muslim and Tibetan tribes in the foothills of Tibet. In 2018, Ben was arrested and forced from China, together with his wife and three young kids. After serving in Peru for nearly five years, with a focus on training native evangelists and missionaries, Jim and Ben were providentially brought together by the Lord in 2025 to continue “catalyzing” MCI’s impact worldwide.
Each year the organization has, by God’s grace, grown and multiplied in effectiveness. More than 150,000 indigenous pastors, evangelists, and missionary church planters have now been trained by MCI trainers in 53 countries around the world and are currently engaged in winning the lost, discipling new believers, and planting new house churches among the unreached peoples of the world. To God be the glory, great things He has done!
