This is HIS Story Podcast

Harmony Grillo, victim of exploitation turned UCLA honor student, her goal is to help women and girls entrenched in sexual exploitation find freedom.As a survivor, Harmony is passionate about assisting women in their journeys of healing and transformation. In 2003, she founded Treasures, a faith-based outreach and support group to women in the sex industry and victims of sex trafficking.Armed with personal experience, a Master’s Degree in Social Work and evidence-based theories, Harmony sheds light on the impact of a pornified culture and the lives of women trapped within it. She has received Congressional recognition for her work and has had the opportunity to train LAPD, LVPD, Department of Justice, and the FBI in best practices for working with victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking. Her memoir, Scars and Stilettos details her harrowing account of moving from victim to survivor to liberator.Interviewer:Todd TurnerCreativeDigitalGuide.comI'm Todd Turner, Creative Digital Guide. I come along side Christian Non-Profits and churches and help them tell and fund their God-Sized missions using their digital channels. Listen in to learn how we tell our stories with integrity and ask people to join our kingdom stories. As a former Executive Vice President for an International organization,  I have traveled the world learning and teaching digital strategies in various countries and languages. I have gathered the essentials of Digital Strategies and spend my day helping organizations cut out the fads and trends and learn the simple blocking and tackling of their online fundraising strategies.FaceBook Group for Executive Pastors and Executive Directors:https://creativedigitalguide.com/facebook/Want to be Interviewed on this podcast?https://creativedigitalguide.com/podcast/

Wayne Stiles is the host of Walking the Bible Lands (www.walkingthebiblelands.com), an online video experience of virtual tours of the Holy Land. A former pastor and veteran traveler to the Holy Land, Dr. Stiles has served in full-time ministry for more than 30 years. He is the author of  Going Places with God,  Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus, and  Waiting on God. Wayne and his wife, Cathy, have two grown daughters and live in Texas. Visit waynestiles.com for more.Interviewer:Todd TurnerCreativeDigitalGuide.comI'm Todd Turner, Creative Digital Guide. I come along side Christian Non-Profits and churches and help them tell and fund their God-Sized missions using their digital channels. Listen in to learn how we tell our stories with integrity and ask people to join our kingdom stories. As a former Executive Vice President for an International organization,  I have traveled the world learning and teaching digital strategies in various countries and languages. I have gathered the essentials of Digital Strategies and spend my day helping organizations cut out the fads and trends and learn the simple blocking and tackling of their online fundraising strategies.FaceBook Group for Executive Pastors and Executive Directors:https://creativedigitalguide.com/facebook/Want to be Interviewed on this podcast?https://creativedigitalguide.com/podcast/

Shannon McGraw is a woman in love with God and excited about her faith. But it wasn’t always that way. She was only 3 years old when the abuse began by a family member. While still a teen, her boyfriend was tragically killed in an auto accident, and she began to question a God who would claim a young man with so much life yet to be lived. At the fragile age of seventeen, she was raped and she began to distrust a God who would allow such a thing. Again, as a freshman in college, she was raped a second time, and she began to earnestly put as much distance between herself and God as she possibly could.It has been said that the best thing about hitting bottom is that, when we do, we have no place else to go but up. Such was the case with mcGraw. Growing up with such evil it is no wonder she struggled with low self-esteem.  At the age of 27, having run from God as far as she could go, she found herself at the bottom of a life that was no longer tolerable. Having no place to go but up, she looked to Heaven. And there was God, surrounding her with His peace.It was the beginning of a love story that has grown more beautiful with each passing day.Shortly after her love affair with God began in earnest, Shannon felt a distinct calling to begin teaching the teens at her local church. Not only did this give her an opportunity to share her own struggles as a teen and tell others how God changed her personal tragedy into triumph, but it also allowed her to look beyond the traditions to more deeply explore the intricacies of her faith.Interviewer:Todd TurnerCreativeDigitalGuide.comI'm Todd Turner, Creative Digital Guide. I come along side Christian Non-Profits and churches and help them tell and fund their God-Sized missions using their digital channels. Listen in to learn how we tell our stories with integrity and ask people to join our kingdom stories. As a former Executive Vice President for an International organization,  I have traveled the world learning and teaching digital strategies in various countries and languages. I have gathered the essentials of Digital Strategies and spend my day helping organizations cut out the fads and trends and learn the simple blocking and tackling of their online fundraising strategies.FaceBook Group for Executive Pastors and Executive Directors:https://creativedigitalguide.com/facebook/Want to be Interviewed on this podcast?https://creativedigitalguide.com/podcast/

Want to hear a modern miracle story? And see what loving the widow and the orphan really looks like? Look no further than the largest family in the world and Mully Children's Family in Kenya.  Charles and Esther Mully are saving and changing lives in Kenya.. and the ripple effect is going world wide.Mully Children’s Family is committed to  the:Rescue children from hostile environmentsNourish development with proper food, shelter, and educationHeal through counseling, mentoring, and spiritual developmentPrevent future tragedy through advocacy and awarenessCharles Mulli was the firstborn son of a poverty-stricken Kenyan family of ten children. By age 6 he was abandoned by his parents to live on the streets for the next 12 years. Through diligence, hard work, and faith, Charles rose to become a very successful businessman. He, his wife Esther, and their eight children lived very comfortably as Charles became a multi-millionaire.In 1986, Charles began to hear a call on his life to care for the thousands of abandoned children he encountered on the streets of Kenya, especially as he remembered his own struggles there as a child. In 1989, Charles and Esther began to take street orphans and vulnerable children into their home to be raised alongside their own biological children. Those numbers grew so that over the last 33 years, the Mully Family has given their entire lives and considerable fortune to rescue, adopt, house, feed, clothe, and educate well over 13,000 Kenyan orphans who have graduated from the program as well as an additional 3,500 in the program currently.Additionally, Mully Children’s Family (MCF) is the #1 employer, the sole source of clean water, and the main source of healthcare for the Ndalani and Kithimani Divisions in the Yatta District in which MCF resides. They have provided free education and a daily lunch for over 1,000 children in five other locations. During the 2007 post-election violence, MCF provided daily hot food for over 7,000 children in the camp and food rations for 20,000 displaced persons at the Eldoret IDP Camp as well as education for the children there.Listen to learn about this amazing man and ministry.

Linda Gunter has been changed... and now she is changing others through the ministry work of Love Him Love Them.  Hear what makes her passionate in this insightful interview. Throughout her career alongside her husband as a real estate investor  in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, Linda Gunter was faced with homelessness, drugs and prostitution daily. In choosing to make a difference the only way she knew how, in 1998 Linda and her husband turned one of their rental properties in Vine City, Atlanta, the 5th worst crime ridden neighborhood in the United States, into a homeless shelter. They named the shelter and the non-profit George’s Place in honor of Linda’s daddy, and they operated with funding from their friends and family. As years passed, they moved out of the Atlanta area and closed the shelter in 2003. Love Him Love Them became their new name, and their new ministry in northeast Georgia included an after-school program, jail ministry, providing for foster children, hosting community activities for special needs adults, and an annual Thanksgiving meal delivery for the local homeless and homebound. In 2004, a tragic event occurred that left 5 children who just happened to be Haitian without a mom and dad. On the 17th day of the 7th month of the year 2007, Linda’s family grew from the size of 2 to 7 with children ranging in ages from 7 to 17. Because of their new Haitian children, the Gunter’s were soon to have an encounter in Haiti that would change their lives and their ministry forever. In 2011, the year after the devastating earthquake rolled through Haiti, the Gunter family decided together to forgo their traditional American Christmas to travel to Haiti instead. What they saw, smelled, and experienced throughout their trip completely wrecked them.On a whim, Linda decided to stop into an orphanage on Christmas Day with a meager suitcase of flip flops in hand. Sitting on a urine- stained daybed cradling one of the newly orphaned babies, Linda and her husband listened to 30 children with no possessions and no parents sing praises to the Lord for fulfilling their prayers over the past 3 months and what happened to be their greatest need – a simple pair of 99 cent flip flops. It was then that the Gunter’s knew something had to be done and chose to put much of their ministry focus on Haiti. With Linda’s gift for vision and commitment to turn every obstacle into an opportunity and her husband’s prayerful guidance and heart that people come to know and grow in Jesus, their ministry continued to expand. In the summer of 2017, their dream for the children they met at LifeSaver orphanage just a few years prior became a reality when the doors finally opened for the children to travel to the United States. With $128.00 remaining in the ministry’s bank account, Linda and her husband took another leap of faith and toured with the children throughout the southeastern United States to raise funds to support the orphanage and mission work in Haiti. For the first time, the children were able to share their joy with the countless people they encountered. Paired with the Gunter’s story and Linda’s vibrant and magnetic personality, the Love Him Love Them Haitian Orphan Choir Tour quickly became a source of inspiration and a place for life change. Today, Linda Gunter continues to change lives through the ministry work of Love Him Love Them. Its ministries on the ground in Haiti include a newly built hospital, church construction, a vocational school, transitional housing, storefronts for job creation, sponsor schools, and orphan care, to name a few. Linda is now an author to two books that share stories of miracles she encountered in Haiti and during the choir tour in the United States. Linda continues to minister to the families of northeast Georgia through many of the programs that accompanied Love Him Love Them’s start.

There is a great organizations whose purpose is to transform developing communities through their entrepreneurs. The focus is on the whole community, not just individual entrepreneurs. To do this, they must help entrepreneurs grow businesses in a way that inspires more people to try new ideas, connects the entrepreneurs to other entrepreneurs, and grows not just a few businesses but a culture of growth-oriented business creation. This is why ECatalyst grows entrepreneurs through an ever-expanding community process that is open to anyone with growth-oriented ideas who is willing to work hard and try something newFor nearly 22 years Thomas was a serial entrepreneur. He founded or co-founded six businesses in both the US and overseas in fields as diverse as construction, graphic design, and water bottling. He has an extensive cross-cultural background which includes living 10 years in the Middle East, traveling with significant cultural exposure in over 50 countries, and operating at different times in four other languages. He is fluent in Arabic. Thomas has also served as a professional educator, teaching recently as a Professor of Philosophy at CSU-Pueblo and PPCC. He has given guest lectures in many academic and professional contexts over the last 25 years on topics like business, startup principles, philosophy, theology, world religions, and cultural intelligence.Before starting ECatalyst, Thomas trained on the MIT method of entrepreneurship and set up for-profit ecosystems with LIFE (The Leadership Institute for Entrepreneurs).  Thomas has his BA from Cornell University in Mathematics, Psychology, and Religion, and graduated summa cum laude in his MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He currently lives in Colorado Springs with his wife Stephanie and his two amazing red-headed kids.Listen in to his WHY and how God has wired him for this unique challenge and ministry opportunity. 

On a recent trip to Kenya, I met an incredible woman who took charge of a room full of children like I have rarely seen. She balanced firm and grace well and spoke clearly and demanded attention without having to ask. After watching her work with the children of the World's Largest Family, I just had to interview her.We sat on the porch of a classroom (You can hear the background noise) to pick her brain and to learn a little more about her and her ministry at MCF. Listen in to this prized employee of Dr. Charles Mulli of Mully Children's Family. 

Join Zander Turner and Todd Turner as we give the Cliff Note version overview of Klife.KLIFE is a ministry focused on providing discipleship for students in cities across the country. Through a variety of activities (large group gatherings, small group Bible studies, mission trips, retreats, and other events), KLIFE kids grow in their faith and have lots of fun in the process! Our hope is that we would equip students to live the rest of their life for Jesus and make Him known to others.KLIFE works alongside churches and families in the community to teach and encourage kids to be strong in the Lord in spite of all the negative pressures they face as teenagers. KLIFE networks kids from different churches, and those without a church home, to build positive, Godly relationships that can withstand the negative peer pressure so prevalent in today’s youth culture.

Listen as we learn about Ron's upbringing and life events and how God wired him to dive into ministry and serve in the Kingdom.Hear about the Upper Room Presents and his new project, a LOVE SONG Documentary. Ron Strand along with his wife, Kathy started the Upper Room in 2009. Ron is no stranger to ministry. From 1977 to 1981 he served as the college & career pastor at Calvary Chapel of Whittier.  In 1986 the Strand’s started Calico Building Services, which has over 500 employees in multiple states.  From 1990 to 1999 Ron served as the worship leader at a church in the City of Orange, California.  In 2012 Ron  started, and continues to lead a monthly men’s group . He has served on the board of directors of several faith-based, non-profit organizations. Ron began a weekly livestream show on 2020, now called “REAL TALK with Ron Strand”, which airs weekly on the Upper Room Presents media platform.  In March 2022, Ron & Kathy celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary. They have 3 adult daughters, and two son’s-in law. The Strands make their home in Laguna Niguel, California.  

We are making changes to this podcast. Listen to hear WHY and how you will be enjoying a LOT more God Stories along the way. 

Want to know more about What is a Gap Year? What is Link Year in Branson Missouri? Well today, we interview a person, Zander Turner, who has been through the program and talks about how he spent his year between high school and college.While Gap Year programs can focus on specific goals, talents, and skills, they are generally a non-academic experience in between two very academically rigorous experiences – High School and College.Everyone you know is a disciple of something. You’re either a disciple of a culture that’s attempting to force you into its image, or a disciple of Jesus Christ – being molded and shaped into whom He desires you to be.Link Year may be a place for you to discover the foundations of your faith, to better understand how God has wired you and seeks to work through you.

Sara is Founder and CEO of Taproot Charities, a non-profit ministry which provides school fees, supplies, and uniforms to support girls in secondary and college level education in rural Uganda, Africa.  After serving in Arua, Uganda on two medical mission trips, and seeing first-hand how the young women in Arua are culturally marginalized and overlooked, Sara felt a special calling to help provide a secondary education to the young women of Arua.  And thus, Taproot Charities was born.  When Sara is not advocating for teen girls in Uganda, she is working as an occupational therapist in hand rehabilitation in San Luis Obispo, CA.  She has been married 24 years to her husband, Travis. She is the mother to her 18 year-old son, Riley, who is currently studying engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obisp and to her 15 year old daughter, Berkeley, who is a freshman at Templeton High School.  Sara resides along the central coast of California in the small town of Templeton, which is about half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco along beautiful highway 101!Interviewer:Todd TurnerToddTurner.comI'm Todd Turner, Creative Digital Guide. I come along side Christian Non-Profits and churches and help them tell and fund their God-Sized missions using their digital channels. Listen in to learn how we tell our stories with integrity and ask people to join our kingdom stories. As a former Executive Vice President for an International organization,  I have traveled the world learning and teaching digital strategies in various countries and languages. I have gathered the essentials of Digital Strategies and spend my day helping organizations cut out the fads and trends and learn the simple blocking and tackling of their online fundraising strategies.FaceBook Group for Executive Pastors and Executive Directors:https://creativedigitalguide.com/facebook/Want to be Interviewed on this podcast?https://creativedigitalguide.com/podcast/

Let's talk about the Meta Verse and how the church can or will or might spread the gospel and even make disciples in the virtual world. Jeff is already deep down the rabbit hole of a world many Americans and church leaders have not even considered. If you are a pastor or church leader, you need to listen in.Listen in to hear what makes Jeff tick and how God has wired him... then we will jump into the new virtual world. About Jeff: Founding THECHURCH.DIGITAL in 2018, Jeff’s passions have evolved into helping churches (and individuals too!) find their calling through digital discipleship, releasing people on digital mission, and planting multiplying digital churches. This pursuit is realized through DigitalChurch.Network, an organic, decentralized network for digital expressions of church. The DCN vision is achieved by working with the team NewThing Network. Jeff also champions Meta Church development as the Director of META for Leadership Network, and works closely Exponential and other globally facing, multiplication friendly, gospel-centric organizations.Jeff married his high-school sweetheart, Amy, and has two kids, and a dog, They live in Miami, Florida.

Christian Non Profit Organizations can feel like panicking, locking down spending, changing strategies when times are tough or when their donors are watching every penny.But some of the best practices for digital fundraising do not change during a recession... some do.Let's discuss what your faith based organization needs to do online to help weather the storms of fundraising during a recession.

Christians come to the table with many lenses and theological assumptions. Today, I am going to challenge a few.Today's episode will have some things you may or may not agree with. I am poking at some traditions in a way to challenge YOU and your thinking. I do not know if I am 100% right but I am ok with pointing, observing, and looking under some traditional rocks, if you will.Churches benefit from a tradition and the phrase "tithing."Pastor teach give to church first then additional goes elsewhereHigh Profile Pastors have NOT helped. Prosperity GospelChurches Spend what they collect by hiring more staff or building more buildings or bigger programs.Many do this spending in the vein of "Seeker Sensitive."Companies that help... wealth giving (taxes & strategies)Companies that help fundraise for projectsPeople like me.... Move church from passing the plate to digital collection of generosity.Listen in as we discuss churches, fundraising, money, pastors, and giving to churches.

Today we discuss the top 3 things Executive Directors should make sure is happening on their organization's websites. Super important stuff to increase engagement with potential donors. 

Chris Sicks pastors One Voice Fellowship, a new multi-lingual church in Northern Virginia. They gather to experience a foretaste of Revelation 7:9, and to make Jesus known among their new neighbors.Their logo and leadership reflect the diversity of the church. The leadership team speaks English, French, Persian, Amharic, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Punjabi, Uyghur, Chinese, and Urdu.Chris Sicks has been a pastor for over 20 years. As Pastor of Mercy, he labored to show compassion in Word and deed to the congregation and community. He is founder and board president of For the Nations DC, offering English classes to refugees and immigrants four days a week, to help our new neighbors acclimate and discover the truth and love of Jesus.Chris is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary DCPreviously, he worked at Gospel Rescue Mission (homeless shelter and drug treatment program in Washington, DC) and ran a scholarship/mentoring program for inner-city youth. He’s been a newspaper editor, restaurant manager, and Army officer.Chris lost his first wife, Sara, to breast cancer. Now married to Naomi, they have four teenagers. Chris wrote Tangible: Making God Known through Deeds of Mercy and Words of TruthHe now pastors One Voice Fellowship... A gospel-centered church that glorifies God as “a light for the nations—so that all the world may be saved.” (Isaiah 49:6). We intentionally cultivate cultural and linguistic diversity, working to reduce barriers that often separate people. United in Christ, our voices and lives harmonize in a chorus of praise to God and service to one another. Compelled and enabled to love sacrificially for Jesus’ sake, our unity in diversity is a testimony to the world of what Christ alone can do as we “declare his glory among the nations!”Listen as we discuss how God has prepared him for his unique ministry at a multi cultural church. https://onevoicefellowship.org

Web Vendors generally build websites that are too formal and sterile. When speaking with nonprofit directors who don't feel confident in their web presence, there's almost always the same issue at play:The way the organization talks about their mission face to face is totally different than how it's described on their website.In other words, the way they talk about their work in normal conversation is clear, compelling, and interesting. Let's talk about how a non profit can build a website that moves people to action.  Let's discuss must haves for a Non Profit Website.

Your web team is running digital campaigns out of order and it is hurting your online donations.Ever try to bake a cake? You must mix the ingredients in the right order. Adding an egg at the end won’t produce the same results of mixing it at the beginning. The order of the ingredients is just as important as the ingredients themselves.The same concept is true with words. Same three words out of order changes EVERYTHING.Jonny bit the dog vs The dog bit JonnyAs I work with faith based non profits I see the same thing over and over again. Well-meaning web and marketing teams trying a “best practice” idea they just read about or learned at a conference. Hoping this new campaign will somehow create more donors or new names.Listen as we discuss the reality that "not all Digital Strategies Work for Non-Profits"

Ask 100 people and you might get get 99 answers to "what should be the top priorities of a non profit?" We'll today we tackle this subject in a short and simple episode... What strategies and tactics should a non-profit make their top priority and goals?