The Stories Collective

We are happy to share today's interview with Teri Sellers! Teri has been a part of Desert Springs for over 10 years. She has been a huge part of our Care & Support ministries as she facilitates our Alzheimer's support groups. Teri has always had a passion for helping people. She was born in Chicago and her family moved to Oklahoma when she was 12 years old. Teri describes herself as...

Today on The Stories Collective we are so excited to be sharing an interview with our first mother-son duo Janna and Luke Montgomery! This story starts in China with Luke's earliest memories being in an orphanage. He has no memory of his birth mother and describes what life was like in the orphanage. Unfortunately, it was a rough and dingy environment with very little adult supervision or eve...

We are excited to share another story featuring one of our missionaries we help to support! Melissa Crawford joined our guest host Missions Pastor Jamie Engram in the studio to talk through the ministry she does through sports in The Philippines with Global Surge. Melissa takes us into the specifics of what ministry looks like but first she shares about how she even got to the mission field. This...

We have a powerful conversation to share with you today. We had the privilege to talk with our new friend Felicia McCurry.  ⚠️ Before you listen, we do want to give you a trigger warning for this episode. Details of domestic violence and attempted murder are discussed in this conversation. ⚠️  Felicia and Sarah share a commonality, both being from the south. They reminisce on what they miss about...

We are looking forward to sharing today's conversation with our friend Gary Osmundsen! Gary and his family have been attending our church for a little over eight years. Gary is a husband, father, runner (a very serious one) and philosophy professor at Grand Canyon University. But this was not always the description of Gary's life. He was raised in Cape May, New Jersey with his career all...

Today our host Sarah Schalow invites you to catch up and reflect on 2024 so far. Think of it as a recap of Quarter 1 😉 Since the turn of the year we've been able to share 14 stories of God's amazing faithfulness. The episodes have covered feeling forgotten by God, healing from addiction and abuse, hope in hard times, grieving while walking with the Lord and a whole lot more. We've...

Today we are featuring Geri Tanzer! Geri's story is one that offers a unique perspective about recognizing the community around you and taking steps to cultivate it. Geri was raised Catholic and shares that she did come to a true understanding of who Jesus is at a young age. She felt a hunger for God and church and attended on her own. However, in college church was not so much of a priority,...

Sarah is excited to be sharing another special interview as she had the opportunity to record an episode with one of her real-life close friends, Megan Bomar.  ⚠️ Before you listen, we do want to give you a trigger warning for this episode. Murder and crime are discussed in this conversation. ⚠️  Megan is originally from Iowa, but after attending Grand Canyon University, she decided to plant roots...

Today on the Stories Collective Sarah is excited to be sharing a special interview as she had the opportunity to sit down with her co-worker and brother-in-law Pastor Trevor Schalow! Sarah and Trevor begin the interview with a lot of laughs, reminiscing on the summer of 2015 when they first met having no idea that they would one day be family. Trevor shares about life growing up in the small town...

Today on The Stories Collective we have a special guest host, our Missions Pastor Jamie Engram! Jamie had the chance to sit down in the studio with missionaries that Desert Springs helps to support in The Philippines, David and Kenda Jerome. If you were with us at church this past weekend (Feb. 24/25) you probably saw David + Kenda speaking in our services! David walks through what their journey t...

 We are excited to welcome our friend and ministry leader Randy Donithan to the podcast today! ⚠️ Before you listen, we do want to give you a trigger warning for this episode. Pornography and sex addiction is discussed throughout this conversation. ⚠️  Randy was born and raised in Arizona growing up in the 50s and 60s. His family life was very difficult as his father was an alcoholic, and this cau...

We have a story to share with you today that will surely warm your heart! We were joined by our new friend Dacia Gordon. Dacia and her husband Lowell started attending in 2021 after they purchased a part-time home in Goodyear. They haven't quite embraced the term "snowbird" yet 😉 Dacia walks us through not just one but many stories from her life where she experienced God's fai...

We have a wonderful story of healing and hope to share with you to kick off the month of February! We were joined in the studio by John Ricciardelli.  ⚠️ Before you listen, we do want to give you a trigger warning for this episode. Domestic violence involving children is discussed throughout this conversation. ⚠️ John and Sarah begin their conversation by discussing some mid-2000s reality TV but d...

We had the opportunity to continue our conversation with Wade & Shannon Cooperrider, this time getting into the specifics of what ministry looks like in Nicaragua. Sarah gets us into the interview, but we have a special guest host, our Missions Pastor Jamie Engram who leads the conversation. Jamie and The Cooperriders met in the studio to talk through day-to-day life and ministry in Nicaragua....

Welcome to Episode 100 of The Stories Collective! 🎉🎉 We could not think of a better interview to share for our 100th episode than the conversation we got to have with Pastor Steve Engram. Steve was born outside of Detroit as his Dad was leading Youth for Christ. The Engrams were becoming a ministry family and when the ministry led them to northern Ohio that became what Steve refers to as home. S...

This week we're continuing our series in sharing Part 3 of The Cooperrider's story! Wade and Shannon's story picks up with them preparing to attend language school in Costa Rica. As soon as they felt they had received affirmation from God and their community they began to take steps to get to the mission field. They knew it would be a process to get there but very quickly God made i...

This week we're continuing our series in sharing Part 2 of The Cooperrider's story! Wade and Shannon's story picks up in the fall of 1998. Moving back to Arizona felt like being in survival mode as they were lost and struggling with their purpose. They struggled to acclimate back to life in Arizona and it felt like their dreams of being missionaries were slowly fading away. Things f...

Happy New Year! This is our first episode of 2024 and we're excited to tell you that we are kicking off a series with our dear friends and missionaries to Nicaragua, Wade & Shannon Cooperrider! Over the next couple of weeks, you'll get an inside look into the lives of Wade and Shannon. This week we're starting from the very beginning. Wade and Shannon were essentially high schoo...

It is hard to believe that this episode of The Stories Collective is the last one being released in 2023. But don't worry, we'll be back next Wednesday, starting a series involving God's incredible faithfulness to kick off 2024! We invite you to settle in as our host Sarah catches you up on all that the Lord has done in 2023. Think of this episode as a one-on-one coffee meeting. Sar...

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear! We have another fun Christmas episode to share with you! We were joined again by our friend Sam Brown to battle our host Sarah Schalow in Christmas song trivia. Our wonderful producer Brittany Petry joined in on the fun by moderating the games. This episode has a little bit of a chaotic feel so buckle in and get ready to sing...

Merry Christmas! God bless us, everyone! With Christmas approaching we wanted to share a fun and light-hearted Christmas episode with you. Our host Sarah Schalow is once again joined by her friends (and co-workers) Manny Hernandez and Daniel Calderón to share their favorite Christmas stories and play a Christmas story version of the game Balderdash. Daniel and Manny both take some time at the top...

We have a wonderful, hope-filled story to share with you today. This is our last interview of 2023 but don't worry, we have some fun and light content for Christmas (with some special guests) coming to the podcast over the next few weeks. Then we'll be back right at the top of 2024 with more amazing stories of God's faithfulness! But today, our host Sarah Schalow is talking with our...

We invite you to join in for a transparent conversation about a journey with Christ through sexual identity. It was such a blessing to have Estefany Rodriguez join us in the studio! ⚠️ Before you listen, we do want to give you a trigger warning for this episode. Childhood sexual abuse is discussed in this conversation. ⚠️ Estefany begins her story by sharing about the sexual abuse she experienced...

We were glad to welcome Dave Hauser into the studio with us! Dave and his wife Cheryl began attending Desert Springs in 2022 after moving to Arizona from Oregon. Dave grew up in a big family as a pastor's kid in the Pacific Northwest. Both Dave and Cheryl had long careers as teachers in Oregon and as they reached retirement eligibility, they wanted to seek the Lord about what was next. What i...

Welcome to the 90th episode of The Stories Collective! Today we are joined by our friend, worship volunteer and Care Ministry leader Deb Uhrberg. Deb and her husband Andy have been attending our church since 2019 and almost immediately became a big part of the ministry here. We are so thankful for Deb's willingness to share her story with us today.  ⚠️ Before you listen, we do want to give yo...