The Stories Collective

We have a wonderful conversation with Lori McHugh to share with you! Lori begins her story by sharing about where the foundation of her faith came from. Her parents were both strong believers and she shares many stories about how her Mom in particular modeled faith and trust in God as she grew up in Pittsburgh. Lori caught onto this faith as a child and shares a heartwarming story about how even a...

An encouraging testimony from Greg Moore is being shared today! Greg grew up in a small midwestern town with his family. All of the family were deeply involved in the Catholic church and those beliefs and principles really laid a foundation for Greg and how he wanted to live his life. He speaks very highly of his parents and admires the way that they consistently lived their lives. When Greg got t...

Michelle Flores is sharing her incredible testimony with us today! Michelle has been attending Desert Springs for a little over a year. It is special that this episode is being released at this time as this time last year is when Michelle repented and surrendered her life to Christ. Before you listen, we do want to give a trigger warning for this story as drug abuse, sexual abuse and demonic activ...

Today you'll get to hear from Aaron Holland! Aaron's Dad Rich co-hosts the Resident Strangers podcast and actually both of his parents have been featured on this podcast! We appreciate Aaron's willingness to share with us as his story is still very much unfolding. He was born in North Carolina and eventually moved with his family to Virginia as his Dad had been asked to plant a chur...

This week we are joined by Ashley Nochevich! Ashley and her husband have been attending Desert Springs for 6 years with their precious children. A fun fact is that Ashley is our producer Brittany's older sister! What we love about the story shared today is the power of what walking with Christ in His church can do. Ashley moved around a lot as a child before her family eventually settled in A...

We are excited to share today's story with you! Ed Simpson joined us in the studio for a very vulnerable, heartfelt conversation. Before you listen, we do want to give a trigger warning for this story as combat trauma and suicide ideation are discussed throughout. Ed is fourth generation military having served as a military police officer in the Air Force. It is an incredible legacy to be a p...

Special guest host Hailey Keller joined by Sarah Schalow invites you to reflect on the 3rd quarter of this year! Hailey is a senior at Grand Canyon University who interned with us at Desert Springs this past summer. But she is no stranger to our church as she has been attending since the age of 2 years old! Hailey and Sarah reflect on the summer starting with how Hailey's internship began. Th...

Today on The Stories Collective we have a special guest host, our Missions Pastor Jamie Engram! Jamie is talking with one of the missionaries we help to support, Steve Robenalt. He was actually one of the first missionaries our church began supporting. Steve and his wife Patty have been working as missionaries right here in Arizona for over 20 years. Steve recounts his early years in ministry to c...

Craig describes himself as "double adopted." He grew up knowing his parents had adopted him but also recognizes that he was adopted into the family of God. We love how Craig describes his experience of being adopted and how it helped him to understand His identity in Christ. You can hear Craig's understanding of God's plan for his life as he begins to share his story, including...

Sarah-Ann Chaddick joined us in the studio to kick-off the month of September! Sarah-Ann starts her story by sharing about coming to know Jesus through Cubbies in the AWANA program. It was a special time because her family was all coming to know Jesus around the same time. In college Sarah-Ann met her husband Bradley (he was on the podcast back in June!) and they ended up moving to Colorado early...

Brock and Nancy Baker are back with us this week sharing part 2 of their amazing story! Last week we left off with a big cliffhanger. After Brock and Nancy experienced devastating financial circumstances in 2008, they were left wondering what God had for them next. Through everything they were experiencing the Lord was providing and also preparing. The Perspectives class they had taken at their ch...

We are joined by Brock and Nancy Baker in the studio today for Part 1 of their incredible story of God’s faithfulness in their lives! Brock and Nancy have a very sweet love story as they have been married for 31 years! They were both Christians from an early age and have a deep love for the Lord which is so evident throughout this conversation. Shortly after college Brock and Nancy started their o...

Manny Rojas joined us in the studio for another episode of The Stories Collective podcast! We think this is a really great conversation as we are in back-to-school time. Manny is a husband and father and one of his biggest passions is pursuing physical fitness in a Christ-centered way. However, it wasn't something that he was always passionate about. Manny begins his story by telling us how h...

Cindy Morrison is in the studio with us today! Cindy kicked off the episode by reminding us that saying yes to God opens us up to the beautiful things He has in store. Despite being saved at 12 and growing up in a Christian environment, Cindy struggled with a consistent relationship with God and felt frustrated by the overbearing legalism around her. Some of you may have experienced similar circum...

Welcome back to The Stories Collective! It is such a privilege to have Jon Gleason share with us today! We hope his story encourages you that God is the provider and protector. Jon first shares with Sarah that he loves to travel with his wife in their RV. As you listen to his story, you will find that traveling is a prominent theme throughout his life. Jon grew up in a Christian family, and his pa...

Today's episode is one that was two and a half years in the making. We are so excited to be sharing our conversation with Janelle Smith! Janelle and her family have been a part of Desert Springs for almost 20 years. The first 20 minutes are so sweet as Janelle shares about her life in California, detailing how she fell in love with a motorcycle mechanic named Rex and became a mom. Though ther...

Joel Sinclair joined us in the studio to share his testimony with us! Joel and his wife Rebeccah serve a lot here at Desert Springs, you've probably seen their entire family serving on the Welcome Team together. Joel begins his story by sharing about his life growing up in small town Indiana. His family attended church, but Joel struggled to fully commit his life to Christ. He believed in God...

Sarah and Julie Osmundsen begin their conversation with talking about their love of east coast beaches, specifically the beaches in Delaware that they have both vacationed at many times. Another fun fact they talk about is that Julie and her husband Gary used to teach natural child birthing classes! You will get a sense of the ease that comes with talking with Julie. When they get into her story J...

It was a privilege to have Kyle Moore join us for this episode of The Stories Collective! Kyle was born and raised in Arizona and he and his family began attending Desert Springs last summer. You may have even seen Kyle baptized back in May! In today's conversation Kyle really takes us on a journey through his life. Shortly before he was born his parents had come to know the Lord. Their famil...

Sarah Schalow invites you to reflect on the 2nd quarter of this year! The last 10 episodes on this podcast have covered a wide range of topics but have certainly highlighted the importance of having faith in God. The stories shared have included loving the Lord through deep thinking, freedom from intense physical and emotional abuse, a marriage saved, mission work in the Philippines, miraculous he...

We are really looking forward to you hearing this conversation with Jan Maruska! Jan has been a part of Desert Springs for many years and truly lives a life of service. Jan is a mom of three boys and has eight grandchildren. Some of her grandchildren even attended VBS at Desert Springs years ago and that is where they gave their lives to the Lord. Jan takes us back to her early life growing up in...

Today's conversation with Bradley Chaddick is a great one! Sarah and Bradley begin with a classic Arizona conversation - complaining about the heat. Bradley starts his story by sharing about his childhood growing up in southern California and attending a mega church. He has many sweet memories associated with that time in his life, but he also says he feels some key elements of a walk with Ch...

We are excited to share today's conversation with Sarah Schraeder with you! We are especially thankful she made time to share as she was 34 weeks pregnant at the time of the recording! This is a unique and miraculous testimony with lots of layers. Sarah and her husband Jared moved to Arizona two years ago from Washington state. Sarah loves being a stay-at-home mom but if you had told her even...

We are blessed to be sharing today's conversation with Ninfa West with you! Ninfa starts by giving us some background and context for who she is. A unique part of Ninfa is that she is a Sephardic Jew (who knows Jesus as her Savior 🙂) and can trace her lineage all the way back to the tribe of Levi as a descendant of Aaron. That's pretty amazing! Ninfa was raised by a single mother and re...

Josh and Rachel Fricovsky joined us in the studio to share their testimony of how the Lord saved and redeemed their marriage. This is an episode you're going to want to share with people! Josh and Rachel were married in 2021 after meeting at their office jobs in Colorado. They fondly remember their side conversations on Slack and how they fell in love at work. After getting married Josh and R...