ThinkOrphan, the podcast for orphan excellence, helping you navigate the global orphan crisis with experts from around the world.
We are joined today by global nonprofit leader Gaston Warner who is the Global North CEO of Zoe Empowers. Gaston talks with Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke about their work among vulnerable families, especially child and youth headed households. Over the years, our show has talked a lot about the need for kids to be raised in families and communities and in this episode we learn about a comprehensive model that emphasizes the children's agency to overcome poverty. We talk empowerment, data, promising practices and it's an episode our orphan care diehards don't want to miss.
Podcast Sponsor
Zoe Empowers is equipping orphaned children and youth-led families with solutions to overcome extreme poverty—for good.
Resources and Links from the show
Data and Research from Zoe Empowers
Conversation Notes
Theme music by Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License
In this 3+1 episode, we're getting into recent news about ways that Russia is getting around economic sanctions to buoy their economy during their war of aggression as well a couple Asian countries where pollution and contamination is having widespread effects on people's health and wellbeing. We've got Amanda Erne joining us for the conversation. Amanda is on staff with World Concern, is an associate with Canopy International and has a wealth of understanding around climate and sustainable agriculture. We discuss if the term "climate change" is still of use in Christian circles or if it turns too many people off and then get into a documentary recommendation focusing on a Malawian farmer advocating for change.
Podcast Sponsor
Child Hope International reunites families in Haiti by providing pathways for children in orphanages to return home with the necessary support to thrive. If you need help transitioning your orphanage or are looking for an organization to support in Haiti, reach out to Child Hope International.
Visit Child Hope International Online
Conversation Notes
Resources and Links from the show
Al-Jazeera : Parallel Economy - How Russia is Defying the West's Boycott
Mongabay : Beneath the surface, a toxic tide threatens Bangladesh’s water lifeline
The Ants & The Grasshopper Documentary
Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License
"We stand together at the foot of the cross and we will work for peace." Dr. Karen Fancher from Multnomah University joins the show today to walk us through the profoundly Christian field of peacebuilding. In her conversation with Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke, Dr. Fancher walks us through what it means to promote peace within the humanitarian space with direct application to situations in Palestine and Sudan as well as explores the biblical foundation for Christians to be actively engaged in bringing God's Kingdom of peace and justice.
Podcast Sponsor
Child Hope International reunites families in Haiti by providing pathways for children in orphanages to return home with the necessary support to thrive. If you need help transitioning your orphanage or are looking for an organization to support in Haiti, reach out to Child Hope International.
Visit Child Hope International Online
Resources and Links from the show
Visit Multnomah University Online and the Graduate Peacebuilding Certificate Program
Strategic Peacebuilding by Lisa Shirch
Conversation Notes
We are privileged to be joined today by a Christian leader that really embodies the ethic that we are all striving for as we pursue justice, mercy and shalom in the nations. We're grateful to have Eugene Cho join Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke on the show today talking with us about the work of Bread for the World and what it looks like to advocate for the poor and hungry both in the US and throughout the world. Eugene shares a pastoral word for those of us engaged in global justice work and offers his own reflections of how he remains grounded in Christ in the midst of busy lives of pursuing justice.
Podcast Sponsor
Zoe Empowers is equipping orphaned children and youth-led families with solutions to overcome extreme poverty—for good.
Resources and Links from the Show
Thou Shalt Not Be A Jerk by Eugene Cho
Visit Bread for the World Online
Conversation Notes
Conversation Notes
In this 3+1 episode, we're talking the good (malaria vaccines), the bad (slavery) and a whole lot of Haiti. We've got Mac Archer back on the show to share with Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke what she's seeing on the ground in Haiti and what's getting missed in larger media outlets. We talk through the utility of violence by those running the country and look at some potentially similar dynamics in other countries. We also discuss forced labor in Asia, the rise of malaria vaccines in Africa and get a book recommendation for a book that just released in the last couple of months.
Conversation Notes
Resources and Links from the Show
Al-Jazeera : Could new vaccines end Malaria in Africa?
NACLA : Haiti as Empire's Laboratory
BBC : North Koreans working in China 'exploited like slaves'
Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti by Jake Johnston
Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License
Today, we're releasing our podcast collaboration with our friends at Theology in the Raw. Brandon had a chance to sit down with Preston Sprinkle and dive into all things global orphan care and discuss the realities of that children in orphanages face worldwide. Our conversation weaves between a theology of calling and mission and how American Christians intersect with orphans in the Global South. We discuss the reality of life within orphanages, why kids end up there and what risk factors and vulnerabilities arise when kids are raised in that environment. This is a good Ethical Orphan Care 101 type episode and we're grateful for the chance to collaborate with Theology in the Raw to raise awareness and education.
For additional follow-up check out Brandon's four part orphan care blog series on Theology in the Raw. Here's the link.
Resources and Links from the show
When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett
In Pursuit of Orphan Excellence by Phil Darke and Keith McFarland
Check out our friends at Cherish Uganda
Get help to transform your orphanage with Canopy International
Global nonprofits are notorious doers, always thinking, planning and taking action. In all of our intentionality for programs and justice endeavors, are we being equally intentional to pray? Peter Greer is back on the show, along with new friend Ryan Skoog, to share about the new book that they wrote (along with Cameron Doolittle) called Lead with Prayer. This is a conversation for everyone, because without God's intervention, nothing would happen anyway. And here's the secret that our guests share with us, "even better than answered prayer, is the very presence of God." Let's think, let's do, but let's also pray.
Resources and Links from the show
Join us for the first ever CarePortal Conference
Lead With Prayer Website (Includes Free Prayer Tools)
Conversation Notes
In honor of the World Without Orphans Global Forum and in honor of awesome work being done in the Philippines, we've got Chrina Cuna Henson joining the show. Chrina runs the Manila-based organization Generations-Home and talks with Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke about what it's like to promote foster care and adoption in the Philippines. We discuss the reality of violence against children and the pervasive online sexual exploitation of children in the country and learn how Generations-Home is promoting the care and protection of Filipino children.
Resources and Links from the Show
Join us for the first ever CarePortal Conference
"Constance" by Mr. J Medeiros (Music Video)
Conversation Notes
In this 3+1 episode, we're catching up on some global stories that you might have missed and have a recommendation of the pop variety. We're continuing last month's conversation on elections by looking at El Salvador, talking through localization efforts in global development, the scandal surrounding UNRWA-Hamas and then get Brandon's take on Bono's recent biography, Surrender. Dr. Greg Burch of Multnomah University joins Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke for the conversation.
Get support for your nonprofit team or project with our team of professionals at Canopy International
Resources and Links from the show
Foreign Policy : What Bukele's Rise Means for the Region
World Relief : Three Trends We're Seeing in Global Development in 2024
USAID : Communicating through a Localization Lens
The Media Line : Hamas Sacrifices Gaza Children, and UNRWA Complicit in Crimes
The Locust Effect by Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros
God of the Empty-Handed by Jayukumar Christian
Conversation Notes
Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License
What does it look like to meet the needs of very vulnerable people in the face of glaring global disparity? What does it look like to bring God's Kingdom through improving access to healthcare in the Global South? These are the questions we're looking at today as we dive into conversation with CEO of CURE International, Justin Narducci. Justin and his team CURE are distinctly rooted in Luke 9:2 where Jesus commissioned His disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God and heal the sick. For them that means running hospitals in eight countries, providing over 330,000 surgeries and sharing the gospel with 1.5 million people. We get to learn from their experience in this episode of the podcast.
Resources and Links from the show
Get Support for Yourself or Your Team with Canopy International
Conversation Notes
Podcast music by Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License
You cannot have a conversation around global issues without considering the state of the earth itself. We are talking today with educator, author and climate advocate Dr. Forrest Inslee to learn, "what on earth is happening with the earth?" Dr. Inslee brings a distinctly Christian viewpoint to the conversation as we consider the damage being done to the environment and how Christians that are engaging vulnerable communities around the world have a role to play in supporting not just people, but all of God's creation.
Resources and Links from the show
Re-imagining Short Term Missions
Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe
Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land by Norman Wirzba
Conversation Notes
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