Think Global, Do Justice

In this Conversation episode, we are bringing together leaders to talk about care reform and transition support services. We have Elli Oswald from Faith to Action, Jonathan Dowell from Weza Care Solutions, and Hannah Won from ACCI. These leaders come with many years experience from providing direct services in an orphanage to leading organizations committed to supporting orphanages to transition t...

This week we have the co-author of Freeing Congregational Mission , Dr. Hunter Farrell. He served as a long-term missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru and now works as the Director of the World Mission Initiative at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Dr. Farrell brings a wealth of first hand and research knowledge about Christian Mission. After 35 years in intercultural missions, h...

In this Conversation episode, we're joined by four child welfare leaders to dive into the nuances, challenges and triumphs of pioneering foster care throughout the world. On the show is Ian Forber-Pratt from Children's Emergency Relief International, Tara Garcia from Identity Mission, Sebilu Bodja from Bethany Christian Services, and Martus Greyvenstein from Kin Culture. We'll dive into all the ni...

In our second Conversations episode, we're joined by Anna Jackson from Montaña  de Luz in Honduras, Brent Phillips from Cherish Uganda, and Dan Stoehr from Reach Ministries in the US, to discuss HIV/AIDS today. What is the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world today? What are the challenges care providers face? Find out how these leaders are working to overcome stigma and other obstacles. Also, you...

In our first ever Conversations episode, we're bringing together four global care leaders to talk about Central American cultural contexts, cycles of poverty and violence, family separation and the push factors leading migrants to flee the region. Joining the show is Kara Garcia of Project RED in El Salvador, Erica Switzer of Embraced Intl. in Honduras, Levi Bareither of Story Intl. in Guatemala a...

This week we have the privilege of delving deeper into the remarkable life story of Mohamed Emmanuel Nabieu. In his captivating memoir, My Long Journey Back Home , Nabs shares his resilient spirit and unwavering determination to overcome the challenges that marked his childhood and youth. In his second appearance on Think Orphan, Nabs shares more powerful insights. Discover how he is harnessing th...

This week we are joined by Tiffany Bluhm, the author of  Prey Tell  and Never Alone. She  speaks at conferences , companies, and churches, and her work has been featured in Publisher's Weekly, Sojourners, Red Letter Christians, the YouVersion Bible app, Jenny McCarthy Show, and more. She serves at the intersection of faith and culture, humor and women's issues. She lives in the PNW with her husban...

This week, Jason Johnson from Christian Alliance for Orphans returns to the show. Jason is a writer and speaker who encourages families and equips church and organizational leaders on their foster care and adoption journeys. In this episode, Jason names and shares many of the struggles and challenges that foster and adoptive parents go through. He encourages us to find safe spaces and communities...

This week we've got Kim de Blecourt from Nourished Hearts back on the show to talk with us about their ministry in Ukraine, the effects of the war on vulnerable children and the importance of coming alongside indigenous churches. Nourished Hearts is a ministry that encourages, inspires, and creates community around those who are involved with adoption, foster care, or orphan care internationally....

Kimberly Quinley, a pioneer of family-based care, has spent nearly 40 years serving in Thailand. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Step Ahead, an organization committed to see all children in Thailand grow up in safe and nurturing families. Kimberly is a founding leader for Strong Families Alliance Thailand (SFAT), a Christian alliance with the same vision and goals as World Without...

In episode 219, Lindsay Hadley is on to discuss the upcoming release of the documentary "Uncharitable". After many years in the nonprofit sector, Lindsay has become one of the most sought-after consultants and producers. This conversation challenges us to envision an unconstrained nonprofit sector. What if the charities could attract the best leaders, talents, and ideas? What if smaller operations...

In episode 218, we hear from lawyer and professor, Elizabeth Kirk. Elizabeth is the Director of the Center for Law and the Human Person, as well as a research associate at The Catholic University of America. Her work spans a variety of law in child welfare, parental rights, and adoption policy. In addition to her career, her lived experiences as an adoptee and an adoptive parent, give her a unique...

In episode 217, we have a special on the ground episode to share how one organization's journey and commitment to reunifying families has inspired others. Trust for Africa's work in Lesotho has gone beyond their own organization and now supports other organizations to transition to family-based care. Naomi Schalm, Mafusi Semethe, Mbele Horoto, and Bokang Lipholo all join us in this conversation to...

In episode 216, we hear from US care reform leader, Sarah Winograd from Together for Families. Sarah speaks passionately about the complexities in child welfare and foster care as a system, how poverty contributes to family separation, and the problematic ways we've seen and judged birth families. She asks the hard questions- if most children aren't coming into foster care because of abuse, what r...

In episode 215, we have the privilege of sitting down with Jenn Hook to glean from her experiences in the foster care system and hear about her newly released book, Thriving Families . Jenn is the Founder and Executive Director of Replanted. She's also the author of Replanted: Faith Based Support for Adoptive and Foster Families .   Attachment and Trauma Focused Therapy Course by Deborah Gray - Li...

In episode 214, we've got filmmaker and justice advocate Jeff Rogers on the show. Jeff talks with us about his work over the years that has highlighted and advocated for children outside of parental care and communities that have been impacted by HIV/AIDS. Jeff shares with us about the new feature documentary Beyond the Island which tells the story of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea and highlights th...

In episode 213, Brandon and Phil reflect on 2022 and look forward to 2023 for the podcast and orphan care ministries. This is our annual show to share the state of Think Orphan and what exciting things are coming down the pipe for the podcast. We want to hear from you while we do it all! Full show notes can be found at thinkorphan.com 

In episode 212, we've got a panel of executive directors that oversaw the transition of their orphanage to family based care. We'll be asking them the hard questions of how they worked with their board of directors and their donor bases to take the journey with them. Brandon will be interviewing past Think Orphan guests and orphan care leaders, Brent Phillips of Cherish Uganda, Ashlee Heiligman of...

In episode 211, we're talking with foster care alum, entrepreneur and advocate Justin Black about the new book he co-wrote with his wife Alexis called Re-Defining Normal. Justin shares with us his experience spending some of his childhood and adolescence in care and the importance of supporting foster youth as they exit care. It's a great conversation to think through family, community and what it...

In episode 210, we're talking with Adrien Lewis and Jake Barreth of the Global Orphan Project to learn about their ministry and dive into the Care Portal platform. We get into conversations on youth that are aging out of care, hear about the crisis in Haiti and learn how Care Portal is changing communities throughout the US and Canada. All that, plus Brandon and Phil subject our listeners to point...

In episode 209, we've got our buddy Craig Greenfield back on the show to catch us up on the Alongsiders movement and tell us about his new book Subversive Mission. We talk with Craig about the five fold ministry framework that he adapted from Ephesians and get our questions answered about ethical cross-cultural missions. If you are doing missions work overseas, this is an episode you don't want to...

In episode 208, we're in conversation with author and preeminent attachment expert Deborah Gray. Deborah shares from her decades of experience serving children and families through therapy and sets baseline understandings on trauma and attachment. In addition to the stack of books that Deborah has written, she also shares about the Attachment-Trauma Focused Therapy post-graduate course that is now...

In episode 207, we're talking with Nick Runyon, Ashlee Heiligman and Julie Ann Walton about their new media series called Reimagine Orphan Care. Nick from The Archibald Project shares with us about storytelling and the power of media to help orphans and vulnerable children and Ashlee and Julie from Global Child Advocates share some of the misconceptions they've encountered when talking with others...

In episode 206, we're talking with Peter Mutabazi about his childhood growing up through various challenges in Uganda and how learning from those experiences propelled him towards foster care and adoption. Peter shares with us about his new book, Now I Am Known , which really encapsulates a lot of what we talk about on Think Orphan. Not to mention, we've got Phil back in the fold after a couple of...

For our final summer compilation episode, we'll be looking at foster care in the United States - an area that many of our audience members has some familiarity with. We've all heard the triumphs and the challenges of engaging in foster care and this week, we'll be hearing from three guests that are leading the way towards better practice in foster care. Each of our guests have a lot of personal ex...