November 6, 2024 • 34 mins
Buckle up for a heartwarming ride as we explore the story behind Gigi Car Ride Stories for Kids, a popular podcast sharing God's love through imaginative audio adventures.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Adventist Waves.
(00:14):
Welcome to Adventist Waves.
In today's episode, we explore the story of Gigi Karajic stories for kids.
Stay tuned.
The podcast, Karajic Stories for Kids, comes from a need.
It was born from the heart of two individuals, which you'll hear from in just a second.
(00:39):
The Cynthia Adventist Church finds itself in a very broken world.
We face it every day.
Esther and Steph were very attuned to this need.
That's why they created the podcast.
I asked Steph if her background affected the style of the podcast that they produce.
And this is what she said.
(01:00):
Have you found that to shape your approach to storytelling in any way and the content
and the style of the podcast?
Probably.
I've never thought of that.
I've never been asked that question.
I think it probably has.
I think the other thing is all that's shaped the way I see things is growing up in a public
school since I was in prep all the way to grade 12.
(01:24):
I guess we touched on topics that were taboo.
So smoking or drinking, sex before marriage, abortion.
When we started putting these articles in the magazine, people were shocked saying,
oh, wow, that's amazing.
That's so brave to put that in.
But I'm thinking it's happening.
Not only outside of church, but girls that are in church are cutting themselves.
We get girls writing to us and they don't tell anyone because you're not supposed to,
(01:46):
I guess, do that if you're a Christian girl.
And so I think being able to touch on these topics and talk to kids and weave interesting
stories about real life has helped us because we've been like, we've seen it.
We've grown up with people that are not in church.
That's been our daily life going to a school that's secular and they don't do any church
things.
(02:07):
And so I think that's really helped us see, you know what, we need to touch on this topic
because even though we do believe in God and people are in church, they go through exactly
the same issues as the ones that are out in the world.
But kids, it's great.
We do it through storytelling where the teens were more straight-on.
Because we do have a teen podcast that's just been on hold at the moment.
But for them, it's a bit more straightforward with the kids with like maybe lying or stealing
(02:30):
or being honest or anger or things like that in a nice story way.
But yeah, it's so important because we all go through a human.
Yes.
Yes, that's true.
You are listening to Adventist Waves.
Stories about Adventist audio engineers, musicians and podcasters.
(02:51):
I'm Karn Elmas and this is the story of Gigi Car-Wide Stories for Kids.
Let's start at the beginning.
I'm going to let them explain their story.
Yeah, so I grew up in Central America and we come from a war-torn country.
There was war there all the time.
(03:11):
And so I grew in with a lot of trauma.
And I remember that when I was, what have been about five, I think it is, I started
experiencing severe panic and anxiety attacks because of the trauma of the war.
And when we moved to Australia, I was about seven and I discovered the school library.
(03:32):
So our teacher took us to the library and we were allowed to borrow books.
And I just loved reading.
And by the age of, I think I was in grade three, I was reading books like Narnia.
And Jane Eyre, Green Gables and just reading all these books.
And that was a way for me to escape the trauma, forget about the war.
(03:52):
And so as the years went by and I got older, I discovered more books.
And I started with Mystery Books.
And then that moved on to more spooky books.
So this time, books that I wanted to read had to have ghosts or spirits or something
that wasn't very spiritually constructive.
(04:12):
The more I read, the more I wanted to become a writer and I wanted to start writing these
books.
I thought, if I write these type of books, I'm going to live a legacy and kids will
be able to enjoy them.
And so that's how it started for me.
But sadly, I think even though we're going to church, I didn't enjoy the Christian books.
(04:34):
My mum would tell me to read maybe an Ellen White book or the Bible.
But for me, it was boring.
I thought it was just boring.
It's not exciting like the books that I read.
I started writing as well and sending my books to publishing companies.
I dreamed of the day that one of my scary spooky stories will get published and a child
would have it in their hands.
(04:54):
So that was my ultimate dream.
And one day I remember I took mum to the shops.
She asked me to drive her to buy some groceries and we were coming back and I just received
a letter from a rejection letter actually from one of the publishing companies saying,
I'm sorry, your story doesn't fit with what we're looking for.
(05:15):
And I said to my mum, I'm so disappointed.
Every story that I'm sending off to these publishing houses is getting rejected and
my stories are good.
And mum said, Esther, she goes, why don't you use your talents and write Christian stories?
And I thought, mum, that's boring.
She goes, but Esther, why do you write these books?
(05:35):
Why do you write these stories?
I said, well, they're exciting and they're not even true anyway.
They're just spirits and all these things.
And she says, well, try and write for God.
And I thought, no, I said, that's boring.
I have nothing to write for God.
And she said to me, well, Esther, the devil can use your talent and spread it worldwide.
(05:57):
She goes, you can be a great instrument in his hands.
And those words was like a gentle slap on my face without her going into details.
You're going to miss eternal life or nothing like that.
It was just something so simple, but it was so profound.
(06:18):
And I remember that that week I struggled.
Like I had a literal war going inside of me.
I had God telling me, Esther, write for me.
And then I had the enemy saying, no, write for me.
I'm exciting.
And then I'm thinking, but mom says that I can be a great instrument in the hands of
the enemy.
I don't want that.
(06:38):
So I had that war.
That was so heavy that whole week.
And then on Saturday morning, I woke up and I still had that war going on in my head,
in my heart, everywhere.
And so I was tired, physically, emotionally exhausted.
So what I did was I knelt down in my bed.
(06:59):
And the only thing I said was God, I surrender.
I surrender.
And as soon as I said that, I felt a complete, complete peace.
And he was like, I'm writing for God.
I'm going to write for God.
And I went to Steph.
She was downstairs and I said, Steph, guess what?
You're never going to believe what just happened.
(07:20):
Guess what?
I'm going to write for God.
I'm going to write Christian stories.
And that was it.
That was no turning back.
And from that day, I didn't pick up a secular book ever again.
Every book that I read is Christian.
And the thing is that I was so excited to write for him.
You know, I went from one extreme saying, no way.
I don't want to write Christian stories to the extreme of that's all I want to write.
(07:44):
Yeah.
So after my conversion there, we didn't have anything.
We didn't have a ministry.
We didn't have anything at all.
But one day Steph told me she's been wanting to do, wanting to do a magazine for girls.
And growing up, I went to public school my whole life.
We didn't have money for Christian education.
And the seven of us, it was, you know, money was always tight.
But I saw my friends in high school, they would read certain magazines.
(08:08):
Yeah, well, from the world, obviously.
I knew I couldn't read them.
And the articles in there were quite shocking, very inappropriate.
And one of my friends, unfortunately, became a teen mum.
And I saw this and thinking, well, I can't read magazines.
I'd like to, but I wouldn't read that.
I knew it was wrong.
And so I would go to Christian bookstore, the trade of fine magazines.
There was nothing there for my age group.
(08:28):
And I remember just thinking, you know, I want to do something.
And I started at church with like our little A5 like paper, just like a little bulletin
and a newsletter, newsletter.
And I would write in there my favorite verse I loved.
I did version of it.
I'd read that inspired me.
A nice natural beauty recipe that all girls like, something to pamper themselves with.
And I started handing it out to the girls at church.
And there was about like maybe 14 of us.
(08:50):
And then some of them told their friends at other churches.
And then I sent it to them.
And then it grew to like 36 girls.
I was in there to 52 girls that were getting this little pamphlet.
And I'm thinking, I want to do something more.
I want to do a magazine.
I want them to have something I didn't have.
And that's how it was born.
But I laughed it off.
I'm thinking, I haven't been to university.
I don't have a degree.
I know nothing.
(09:10):
And I just laughed.
And Esther's like, no, we need to look into this.
And so she investigated and God opened the doors.
Within three months, we had everything set just to get their magazine designed.
And then I started writing the Bible stories from there.
Yeah.
And that in that magazine.
And that was, yeah, that was amazing.
And I loved it.
It was by 2012.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(09:31):
Yeah.
And that's how the magazine began.
But what about the podcast?
We spent some time discussing this during our interview.
It's very inspiring how this all came about, really.
The magazine closed down and the ladies began working on a podcast together.
Here's the story.
Well, I always wanted to write.
(09:54):
So that wasn't my thing.
I've been wanting to write since I was 80 years old.
We're transitioning from a magazine we used to do called Gigi, which is gorgeous in God's
image.
And I still wanted to continue doing part of it.
And so audio seemed to be a place to be.
But when God put in my heart to start a podcast, I said, no, definitely not.
(10:15):
Because for me, I love listening to podcasts, but I listen to people who are doctors or
entrepreneurs or coaches or professional people that have something to offer.
And I'm thinking, I have nothing to offer.
What are we going to do with a podcast?
And one day I was talking to my friend's little girl.
She was six years old at the time.
And she was telling about her trip in the car.
(10:38):
It was great.
She would listen to audio stories with her mom.
And I said to her, oh, I said, what do you mean?
She goes, oh, well, we borrow audio books from the library and we listen in the car.
And that's how she kept entertained.
And I'm thinking, OK, how does that work?
I was so intrigued.
She kept telling me about it.
(10:59):
And I am not exaggerating, but I had goosebumps all over my arms and my legs, my whole body.
And it was God whispering to me, this is it.
This is how you're going to share your gift.
And for me, that was it.
I thought, OK, so I don't have to share anything from a doctor or entrepreneur, but I can share
(11:21):
stories and I can do that.
The next few weeks, I remember I started planning and I talked to Steph and I said, I want to
do these stories, but I just don't want them to be stories.
I want them to have music and sound effects.
I wanted to be really exciting for the children.
So that was my biggest thing.
I get exciting for them.
(11:42):
So that's how the idea was sparked.
And it came from a six-year-old child that God used to bring that idea to life.
So the magazine, Digi, which was for 10 Girls of My Baby.
So when we had to stop printing, my heart was devastated.
Like, honestly, my heart was shattered.
And I'm thinking, well, I've got no purpose in my life.
(12:04):
I can't do anything.
I was gutted.
And so when Steph's telling me about this, I'm like, oh, that's really nice, really
nice.
But I'm thinking, Esther needs help.
I have nothing to do.
Maybe I'll just help her.
I felt this nudging, help Esther, help Esther.
And I'm like, yeah, you know what?
I'm going to do it, even though I was still grieving.
There's a loss of the magazine.
But I said, Esther, I'm going to help you.
(12:25):
You need a host.
You can't be by yourself.
It's exciting.
And I was sure.
I've been a teacher for 17 years now.
And I've learned quite a lot in working with kids how to interact on different levels.
But I actually feel that when I was growing up in church, that's where I got most, I think
of my maybe dramatic flair, if you want to put it that way.
(12:47):
I'm the youngest of seven.
There's at least like 20 years between me and the eldest, 24 years between me and the
eldest.
So they were always very involved in church.
I loved watching them.
And then I participated in dramas and singing and preaching, whatever the church did, I
was always involved growing up.
I loved doing that.
And I think that's where I got my, I guess, I'm fairly shy, but I'm not if that makes
(13:07):
sense, but I love being in character.
So when I was a teacher, I used that if I'm doing storytelling or if I'm interacting
with the kids and then putting in the podcast, I drove back on my dramas when I was in church
and when I'm participating alone in the youth programs.
Yeah.
And so I love it.
So helping Esther in the podcast was great because I didn't want to be Steph.
(13:30):
I wanted to be a character.
And so I became Poppy, her little British friend.
She Car Ride Stories is loved by kids and it's all about characters for anyone who hasn't
listened to the podcast.
And I suggest you do have a lookout for the following characters.
Why don't you come to my glitter box?
(13:52):
Okay boys and girls, in my glitter box today, we're going to have some delicious honeybees.
They are so delicious.
You love them for a sweet treat.
You can take them to school or on a picnic wherever you like.
You just need to make sure that moment that have all the ingredients you need and you
can make about eight to 10 of these delicious little bees.
(14:15):
Well with Poppy, I always loved the British accent and I can actually do the accent.
So I'm like, I want to be someone more interesting, I guess, than Steph.
I want to be fun for the kids.
Esther's best friend that can ask and ask questions, be a little bit naive and make it
okay for the kids to not understand the Bible stories and Esther can go into it and explain
it.
And so yeah, Poppy came from just wanting to be a character that the kids could relate
(14:39):
to and make it fun and engaging.
Excuse me, guide.
But how long is it until we get to where the giant, I mean the fishes are?
Well we're actually not too far off, another 15 minutes and we're going to just be right
there.
And don't you worry little lady, this is going to be a fantastic experience and I bet, I'll
(15:01):
bet you're just going to fall in love with this gentle giant.
15 minutes.
Yeah, we also have Antenina.
So that's one of my older sister, she comes on the podcast now and then so we visit her
on her farm and we draw stories from that.
Like one of the stories that we just recorded, it was the foolish and the wise man that we're
(15:23):
building on the Sunday was a modernized story written for the podcast on that story.
So we went to visit Antenina and she's telling us about the stables that she just had built
and so Poppy's asking her, why didn't you build it over there?
And so she said, oh because that area floods and that could be dangerous for the horses.
She said that the ground was too soft and so she gave an explanation and then Poppy was
(15:47):
still confused and I said, well what about if we talk about this story and then you can
understand it better.
So we try to make it easier for kids to understand by bringing characters that can explain in
an easier way.
And then we just invite different people on the podcast, mainly our family because they're
accessible.
So my brother-in-law, he's Australian and we just use him to be Mr. I don't remember
(16:10):
the name but he owned a fish and tackle shop and so we go fishing and we get him to come
or even my sister, she, that's another sister and she was a cook.
So she was teaching us how to make some pizza, I think it was.
And she was talking about the whole fire oven so we could see the flames in there and we
(16:30):
linked that story with the three guys that were thrown into the furnace, burning the
furnace.
So yeah, we don't bring them all the time because we tend to batch record.
So we record three, four months, only one go.
But yeah, so that's how characters and it just makes it really exciting.
But the kids do love Poppy.
(16:52):
They do.
When we meet them, she has to do the voice because they just, yeah, they just love her.
They're so cute.
They're cute.
They're a friend of ours that we do know and we know the little boy.
He knows I'm Steph but he only refers to me as Poppy and he just talks to me as a character.
He is, he's cute.
(17:13):
I know you also have another young girl on the podcast.
Is that your niece, Esther?
Yes.
So that's Valentina, that's my brother's daughter.
She was about six or seven when we started the podcast.
She's now 14.
Yeah, so she doesn't do the podcast anymore because she has grown up and she lives over
an hour away.
(17:34):
But yeah, it was fantastic having her there and the kids could relate to a child being
on the podcast.
Our podcast about car ride stories surely must be produced by people who love driving,
right?
It turns out that that's exactly the case.
Love driving long distance.
Like I really enjoy it.
She loves driving six hours.
Six hours.
(17:54):
Six hours.
They do.
What's the longest one you've done so far?
I would have been in April.
We went down to Avondale for the Hive conference.
And so we took turns driving.
Esther, the morning person, she always takes the morning one.
I'm not a morning person.
So we drove 11 hours.
(18:15):
Yeah, 11 hours and he was pouring the whole way.
It was really scary and exciting.
And yeah, that's the longest one we've done.
Was our first time there.
We had tried to go the year before or last year.
And God didn't open the door for us to go.
But this year he did.
And he was so quick and it was an amazing, amazing conference.
(18:39):
So well worth it.
I wonder what inspired you guys to go down there and to share your podcast with the people
at Hive.
Well, what encouraged?
I had seen it and he said he had two things that have really attracted me.
One was that if you're a business, you could be more missional.
And the other one was if you're missional, you can be more business.
(19:00):
And that's us.
We're very missional and entrepreneurs.
We've been in education for years.
And so we're like, OK, we need Gigi to grow.
And how do we do it?
This place sounds like amazing brains will be there that we can talk to.
We believe the same thing.
Because we're very creative.
We can create content.
Like as much as you want, business, we're completely lost.
(19:22):
Yes.
It was definitely worthwhile because it was good to see a business perspective as well
as, you know, it's still missional.
So yeah, it was really good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
While driving together on this creative journey, the couple faced creative challenges.
And during our conversation, I set out to know what they were.
(19:45):
I think in everything like in ministry, the enemy always attacks and you have your lows
where you feel like it's not going anywhere.
And we've had a few of those moments.
And in that exact moment, an email comes through either from a child or their parents
saying, this has encouraged me so much.
And like it's God sending this affirmation for us saying, no, keep going.
(20:06):
I've got this.
Don't listen to them because the enemy wants to stop it.
And so God sends it exactly at that time.
And we're like, OK, it just lifts us up.
Like, yes, we're going to keep going because it does.
It gets tiring.
I would love to do it full time, but I still work full time.
So this is sort of like the side thing.
Some working at night and sometimes you don't want to.
I've already done my work day during the day.
So I'm tired.
(20:26):
I'm like, no, no, I do a little bit at night and on Sundays on the podcast.
That's been, I think, a struggle because we're time poor.
Well, I'm tired.
Yeah, we're time poor.
The other thing has been writing the stories.
When we started the podcast, I was writing a lot of the stories and then instead of writing
some, but as the podcast grew and other parts, like other things in the ministry started
(20:46):
growing, like we started producing books and other things, I didn't have time to write
anymore and Steph didn't have time to write.
So we were praying about, God, what do we do?
And he sent us three ladies that are helping us write the stories.
Even though it was a challenge for us, he gave us a solution.
And these women have been a blessing to the podcast and to the kids.
So Ashley, for example, she has finished high school.
(21:09):
So she's about 18 and she has the gift of writing like she loves to write.
So I stood nicely and she was so willing to write because she loves that.
Then I had another girl, Maritza.
She's a young mom.
She's got two little ones.
And now she's a journalist.
So she had never written for children before.
This was like her first time and she is amazing because she writes them with her children
(21:32):
in mind.
But the way she writes them, seeing that she always said, oh, I've never written for children
before.
It's always been journalism and news and that kind of thing.
But yeah, she's been amazing.
And then Rosie, she's got three children as well.
And she's always loved writing and does a lot of, I think, for the general conference,
a lot of writing for them and everything.
(21:53):
And she was just willing to help the podcast.
And a lot of them, for example, Rosie's one, she, I think she emailed once and just said,
I love to write.
If you ever need anything, and I needed someone urgently.
And God sent her at the right time.
So they're all women in different areas, different age groups, but they wrote amazing.
(22:14):
They've been a huge blessing, blessing to us.
Hmm.
So any other challenges that you guys have had?
Financial.
I think financial has been another challenge because there are so many costs in producing.
And it's not only the podcast, we also do books.
(22:35):
So there's a lot in the editing, the illustrations, the formatting.
We've got a guy who does our podcast editing.
He does all our science sounds.
So we sent him the scripts and say, this is where we want the, you know, the music and
the sound effects.
And he's amazing.
He does a great job.
(22:56):
And God sent him as well to us.
So that's been a huge blessing.
All right.
We have had our challenges where we look into the account and we're like, God, how are we
going to pay for this project?
And suddenly there is a sale or there's a donation or there is something and it's like, it's
(23:17):
right there.
So, especially me, I think Steph has been a little bit more, she hasn't had such issues
me, but for me, it's been a struggle where he was like, God, you know, the financial part
has been an issue for me.
God, how are you going to provide?
God, how are you going to do this?
God, how are you going to do that?
And in the last three years, God has been refining that side of me.
(23:39):
And I have gone into a place, thank the Lord, where I'm not even concerned about the money
anymore.
He has come to a stage where I'm thinking, this is God's project.
He gave it to us.
So he's going to provide somehow and God provides and we're like, wow.
And that's the project and by faith, nothing, I'm like, no, God's what, let's just do it
(24:01):
because we need to do it.
It needs to be done.
And so halfway through or maybe and the money comes through.
Like, thank you, God.
So he's teaching us to trust him.
This is his project, his work and we can be like in the face.
Yeah.
I think it's good.
It keeps you like not humble as such, but it keeps you dependent on God.
(24:22):
This is his ministry and when he's being used for it, it's not asked like, oh yeah,
we've sustained it and we've done it.
It's definitely God.
Yeah.
So he definitely has faith for sure.
I have a feeling that there's got to be a reason why this podcast is popular and has
weathered these storms.
And in part, that could be because of the immersive sound design and music that are
(24:46):
embedded into every episode that they produce.
The sound effects and the music has been big for the children, like for the popularity.
I think it makes us stand out because how could you say?
It helps them like that.
They can see the story in the mind.
You're like the part of it.
They can hear the sound and also things going on adventures.
We do that a lot.
(25:06):
So sometimes we travel the world or from a certain bedroom because that's where the recording
studio, I guess, is a mic on a desk.
It's nothing fancy.
We've done a lot of things like a sort of saying we've been cooking.
We were on the Nile.
Yeah, that's right.
We're on the Nile.
So we were on a Nile.
We were on our cruise there.
We've been diving as well.
So kids can imagine that they're part of that.
(25:27):
We're making them part of the adventure.
And they actually feel like, I had a parent ask me, do you actually go diving to all
those exciting places?
I'm like, no, it's in my bedroom.
It's got the sound effects.
And she was like, wow, because they feel like they are traveling with us and we're bringing
them along on this journey.
Well, what's happening today is we are going snorkeling and we're listening to our snorkeling
(25:52):
guide.
So we need to have our listening is on, but we just want you to say hello and we want
you to come on an adventure with us as we go snorkeling under the sea.
It is so great to be here with you guys today.
I am so privileged to be your guide for your first time snorkelers.
Welcome.
Now, it is really exciting that we are going together on this amazing adventure.
(26:16):
But remember, we must stay close together as our...
We want God's word to be attractive.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And everything we do for God, I believe has to be top quality in the sense of exciting,
make the children or not making, because you come forth from God does the changing, but
get them to feel excited when they're going to listen to a story by Jesus.
(26:38):
Not like me where I thought, oh, I'm so boring because everything when I was growing up felt
monotonous.
Yeah.
And I think in my little mind, when I was a little girl, I was very creative from beginning.
So the stories had to stimulate me all the time, and I think it's important for children
to see that Jesus is awesome and he's exciting and he's not boring.
(26:58):
So we want to project that in everything we do.
And people are responding.
People are really being blessed by the work that Esther and Steph are doing.
Esther explains.
And I also think 100 percent can't...
I really, really believe that it's not us.
It's God.
It's the one that's taking this little podcast to places that we never thought are possible
(27:25):
to make it.
So you could say addictive to the children because we get parents telling us that there's
tantrums at night because I have to turn off the podcast.
Oh, wow.
We're like, okay, that's not us.
There's also a mom who was in the car and the little girl.
She's three years old, listening to it.
And she was screaming because mom had arrived home and she had to take her out.
(27:45):
And she didn't realize that in her little mind, it was only in the car that she could
listen to the stories.
So mom said, no, I'm going to put it while you have some lunch.
Or parents saying there's peace in our car because all the children are so quiet and
they're just listening to these stories.
And so we feel that the Holy Spirit is taking this little creative space and he's just expanding
(28:08):
it to places that it's not nothing we do because we make sure that before we record
anything we pray and when we finish, we pray because we don't want it to be our our efforts.
Yeah, we want it.
We want them to hear God.
Like that's our priority.
And I think that's what's made it really popular.
(28:28):
And exactly how popular do they think their podcast is?
Well, for me, I would love for it to reach a million children who are learning about
Jesus.
So we're almost at the 600,000.
So it's not long to go, but you think of touching so many little lives because the devil, sadly,
is trying to distract our children and bring so many things to them, distracting them from
(28:52):
God, distracting them from, you know, who he is and stimulating them with so many crazy
things out there for our children, books and and videos and movies and everything.
And so to thank God, we want to reach a million children.
That's my selfie.
I don't know if it's selfish, but it's my desire to reach a million children.
(29:14):
You said about 600,000 children are listening to your podcast right now.
Do you have any idea where your main listeners are from?
USA, Australia.
I'm not sure about the third one, but I know those two because they always come up the
highest.
But we have had emails coming from children in Austria and Costa Rica, England or US.
(29:37):
Romania.
Yeah, Romania as well.
Canada.
So just around the world, children are writing from.
So we don't know how many children from this area, but yeah, just growing.
So it's it's really international ministry that you guys are doing.
Who would have thought we started?
Our goal was to reach the children in our state in Queensland.
(30:00):
And I thought, oh, yeah, 10 children listens would be great.
And the first time we had 12 downloads and we were so excited and then you went to 25
and then one day you reached a thousand and something.
I'm thinking, what was this?
How is this going?
And it just kept going and going and going and God hasn't stopped.
(30:20):
So yeah, it's exciting.
It's a grow.
And along the way, they've had some little tokens from the audience that shows that they
really are growing worldwide too.
We get testimonies from children who are learning more about Jesus, from parents telling us
how much their children are learning about Jesus and growing spiritually.
When we get children sending $20 notes or $50 notes, they fund raised so that we can continue
(30:47):
because the stories are free.
They're not free for us to produce, but they're free for them to listen.
And so they just sent little gifts and even a $1 Canadian note.
He sent it all the way from his savings in Canada.
He goes, it's from my savings and he sent $5 Canadian and it turned out to be $5.20 Australian.
It's not so sweet.
(31:08):
Things like that, you think, wow, that's incredible.
The kids are just amazing.
And kids at that age are very sincere, they're very honest, they don't mince the truth and
they don't sugar-create.
If they like you, they like you.
And if they don't, they don't.
And they tell you that.
So when they tell us that they love us and they like what we're doing, it's really humbling
because we know that it's not a fake, it's true.
(31:32):
And so, yeah, it means a lot to us.
We know God's working in the ministry.
And they're growing spiritually, which is our number one thing.
We want for the kids to be in God's Word every day.
That's our main goal.
And through the podcast, it's happening.
They can listen to Christian or Godly stories or power of prayer, answer to power of prayers,
(31:53):
and children love that.
So yeah, it's wonderful.
We love it.
We love our kids.
Yeah, we do.
It has worked really well.
That brings us to a close of this story today.
I hope that you have enjoyed it as much as I did.
I think they're doing a fantastic job in sharing Jesus to children.
Here's a few ways that you can help.
We pray.
That's our number one thing because we need prayer.
(32:15):
As always, the enemy is always attacking somewhere or another.
So pray is one of the biggest ones.
Sharing it, Word by mouth, the podcast, as well, to get that to grow, visiting our website
or donation, which we always appreciate.
It goes 100% back into the ministry.
Yeah, so on our website, we have different things.
And I think with the podcast is a really, like if listeners don't have families and
(32:39):
of our God, and their children want to learn more, it's a really uninteresting way to reach
them because it's audio, stories, entertaining.
And ultimately, like our goal is for children to learn about Jesus.
So this is all about learning about God.
It's a priority because when children learn about Jesus, then everything changes.
(33:01):
And so we didn't want it to be just doctrine of this or keep this or do this.
We wanted to be Jesus is the ultimate God, the Holy Spirit.
Calling in love with God and who He is, what He is, out on earth.
And then God will do the rest.
We just serve a little bit and He can do the rest.
They're little half.
(33:23):
We hope this episode of Adventist Waves has given you a fresh perspective on how media
can be a powerful tool for ministry.
If you enjoyed today's conversation, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and connect
with us on social media.
You can also support our work directly by becoming a patron at patreon.com forward slash
(33:45):
Adventist underscore waves.
Your generosity enables us to produce more high quality content and reach a wider audience.
Special thanks to our production team at Blue Vineyard Audio and our producer, editor, mixer
and sound designer, Khan Elmuz.
We'll see you next week as we continue to explore the art of sharing the gospel through
(34:07):
sound.
Welcome to Adventist Waves.
(00:14):
Welcome to Adventist Waves.
In today's episode, we explore the story of Gigi Karajic stories for kids.
Stay tuned.
The podcast, Karajic Stories for Kids, comes from a need.
It was born from the heart of two individuals, which you'll hear from in just a second.
(00:39):
The Cynthia Adventist Church finds itself in a very broken world.
We face it every day.
Esther and Steph were very attuned to this need.
That's why they created the podcast.
I asked Steph if her background affected the style of the podcast that they produce.
And this is what she said.
(01:00):
Have you found that to shape your approach to storytelling in any way and the content
and the style of the podcast?
Probably.
I've never thought of that.
I've never been asked that question.
I think it probably has.
I think the other thing is all that's shaped the way I see things is growing up in a public
school since I was in prep all the way to grade 12.
(01:24):
I guess we touched on topics that were taboo.
So smoking or drinking, sex before marriage, abortion.
When we started putting these articles in the magazine, people were shocked saying,
oh, wow, that's amazing.
That's so brave to put that in.
But I'm thinking it's happening.
Not only outside of church, but girls that are in church are cutting themselves.
We get girls writing to us and they don't tell anyone because you're not supposed to,
(01:46):
I guess, do that if you're a Christian girl.
And so I think being able to touch on these topics and talk to kids and weave interesting
stories about real life has helped us because we've been like, we've seen it.
We've grown up with people that are not in church.
That's been our daily life going to a school that's secular and they don't do any church
things.
(02:07):
And so I think that's really helped us see, you know what, we need to touch on this topic
because even though we do believe in God and people are in church, they go through exactly
the same issues as the ones that are out in the world.
But kids, it's great.
We do it through storytelling where the teens were more straight-on.
Because we do have a teen podcast that's just been on hold at the moment.
But for them, it's a bit more straightforward with the kids with like maybe lying or stealing
(02:30):
or being honest or anger or things like that in a nice story way.
But yeah, it's so important because we all go through a human.
Yes.
Yes, that's true.
You are listening to Adventist Waves.
Stories about Adventist audio engineers, musicians and podcasters.
(02:51):
I'm Karn Elmas and this is the story of Gigi Car-Wide Stories for Kids.
Let's start at the beginning.
I'm going to let them explain their story.
Yeah, so I grew up in Central America and we come from a war-torn country.
There was war there all the time.
(03:11):
And so I grew in with a lot of trauma.
And I remember that when I was, what have been about five, I think it is, I started
experiencing severe panic and anxiety attacks because of the trauma of the war.
And when we moved to Australia, I was about seven and I discovered the school library.
(03:32):
So our teacher took us to the library and we were allowed to borrow books.
And I just loved reading.
And by the age of, I think I was in grade three, I was reading books like Narnia.
And Jane Eyre, Green Gables and just reading all these books.
And that was a way for me to escape the trauma, forget about the war.
(03:52):
And so as the years went by and I got older, I discovered more books.
And I started with Mystery Books.
And then that moved on to more spooky books.
So this time, books that I wanted to read had to have ghosts or spirits or something
that wasn't very spiritually constructive.
(04:12):
The more I read, the more I wanted to become a writer and I wanted to start writing these
books.
I thought, if I write these type of books, I'm going to live a legacy and kids will
be able to enjoy them.
And so that's how it started for me.
But sadly, I think even though we're going to church, I didn't enjoy the Christian books.
(04:34):
My mum would tell me to read maybe an Ellen White book or the Bible.
But for me, it was boring.
I thought it was just boring.
It's not exciting like the books that I read.
I started writing as well and sending my books to publishing companies.
I dreamed of the day that one of my scary spooky stories will get published and a child
would have it in their hands.
(04:54):
So that was my ultimate dream.
And one day I remember I took mum to the shops.
She asked me to drive her to buy some groceries and we were coming back and I just received
a letter from a rejection letter actually from one of the publishing companies saying,
I'm sorry, your story doesn't fit with what we're looking for.
(05:15):
And I said to my mum, I'm so disappointed.
Every story that I'm sending off to these publishing houses is getting rejected and
my stories are good.
And mum said, Esther, she goes, why don't you use your talents and write Christian stories?
And I thought, mum, that's boring.
She goes, but Esther, why do you write these books?
(05:35):
Why do you write these stories?
I said, well, they're exciting and they're not even true anyway.
They're just spirits and all these things.
And she says, well, try and write for God.
And I thought, no, I said, that's boring.
I have nothing to write for God.
And she said to me, well, Esther, the devil can use your talent and spread it worldwide.
(05:57):
She goes, you can be a great instrument in his hands.
And those words was like a gentle slap on my face without her going into details.
You're going to miss eternal life or nothing like that.
It was just something so simple, but it was so profound.
(06:18):
And I remember that that week I struggled.
Like I had a literal war going inside of me.
I had God telling me, Esther, write for me.
And then I had the enemy saying, no, write for me.
I'm exciting.
And then I'm thinking, but mom says that I can be a great instrument in the hands of
the enemy.
I don't want that.
(06:38):
So I had that war.
That was so heavy that whole week.
And then on Saturday morning, I woke up and I still had that war going on in my head,
in my heart, everywhere.
And so I was tired, physically, emotionally exhausted.
So what I did was I knelt down in my bed.
(06:59):
And the only thing I said was God, I surrender.
I surrender.
And as soon as I said that, I felt a complete, complete peace.
And he was like, I'm writing for God.
I'm going to write for God.
And I went to Steph.
She was downstairs and I said, Steph, guess what?
You're never going to believe what just happened.
(07:20):
Guess what?
I'm going to write for God.
I'm going to write Christian stories.
And that was it.
That was no turning back.
And from that day, I didn't pick up a secular book ever again.
Every book that I read is Christian.
And the thing is that I was so excited to write for him.
You know, I went from one extreme saying, no way.
I don't want to write Christian stories to the extreme of that's all I want to write.
(07:44):
Yeah.
So after my conversion there, we didn't have anything.
We didn't have a ministry.
We didn't have anything at all.
But one day Steph told me she's been wanting to do, wanting to do a magazine for girls.
And growing up, I went to public school my whole life.
We didn't have money for Christian education.
And the seven of us, it was, you know, money was always tight.
But I saw my friends in high school, they would read certain magazines.
(08:08):
Yeah, well, from the world, obviously.
I knew I couldn't read them.
And the articles in there were quite shocking, very inappropriate.
And one of my friends, unfortunately, became a teen mum.
And I saw this and thinking, well, I can't read magazines.
I'd like to, but I wouldn't read that.
I knew it was wrong.
And so I would go to Christian bookstore, the trade of fine magazines.
There was nothing there for my age group.
(08:28):
And I remember just thinking, you know, I want to do something.
And I started at church with like our little A5 like paper, just like a little bulletin
and a newsletter, newsletter.
And I would write in there my favorite verse I loved.
I did version of it.
I'd read that inspired me.
A nice natural beauty recipe that all girls like, something to pamper themselves with.
And I started handing it out to the girls at church.
And there was about like maybe 14 of us.
(08:50):
And then some of them told their friends at other churches.
And then I sent it to them.
And then it grew to like 36 girls.
I was in there to 52 girls that were getting this little pamphlet.
And I'm thinking, I want to do something more.
I want to do a magazine.
I want them to have something I didn't have.
And that's how it was born.
But I laughed it off.
I'm thinking, I haven't been to university.
I don't have a degree.
I know nothing.
(09:10):
And I just laughed.
And Esther's like, no, we need to look into this.
And so she investigated and God opened the doors.
Within three months, we had everything set just to get their magazine designed.
And then I started writing the Bible stories from there.
Yeah.
And that in that magazine.
And that was, yeah, that was amazing.
And I loved it.
It was by 2012.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(09:31):
Yeah.
And that's how the magazine began.
But what about the podcast?
We spent some time discussing this during our interview.
It's very inspiring how this all came about, really.
The magazine closed down and the ladies began working on a podcast together.
Here's the story.
Well, I always wanted to write.
(09:54):
So that wasn't my thing.
I've been wanting to write since I was 80 years old.
We're transitioning from a magazine we used to do called Gigi, which is gorgeous in God's
image.
And I still wanted to continue doing part of it.
And so audio seemed to be a place to be.
But when God put in my heart to start a podcast, I said, no, definitely not.
(10:15):
Because for me, I love listening to podcasts, but I listen to people who are doctors or
entrepreneurs or coaches or professional people that have something to offer.
And I'm thinking, I have nothing to offer.
What are we going to do with a podcast?
And one day I was talking to my friend's little girl.
She was six years old at the time.
And she was telling about her trip in the car.
(10:38):
It was great.
She would listen to audio stories with her mom.
And I said to her, oh, I said, what do you mean?
She goes, oh, well, we borrow audio books from the library and we listen in the car.
And that's how she kept entertained.
And I'm thinking, OK, how does that work?
I was so intrigued.
She kept telling me about it.
(10:59):
And I am not exaggerating, but I had goosebumps all over my arms and my legs, my whole body.
And it was God whispering to me, this is it.
This is how you're going to share your gift.
And for me, that was it.
I thought, OK, so I don't have to share anything from a doctor or entrepreneur, but I can share
(11:21):
stories and I can do that.
The next few weeks, I remember I started planning and I talked to Steph and I said, I want to
do these stories, but I just don't want them to be stories.
I want them to have music and sound effects.
I wanted to be really exciting for the children.
So that was my biggest thing.
I get exciting for them.
(11:42):
So that's how the idea was sparked.
And it came from a six-year-old child that God used to bring that idea to life.
So the magazine, Digi, which was for 10 Girls of My Baby.
So when we had to stop printing, my heart was devastated.
Like, honestly, my heart was shattered.
And I'm thinking, well, I've got no purpose in my life.
(12:04):
I can't do anything.
I was gutted.
And so when Steph's telling me about this, I'm like, oh, that's really nice, really
nice.
But I'm thinking, Esther needs help.
I have nothing to do.
Maybe I'll just help her.
I felt this nudging, help Esther, help Esther.
And I'm like, yeah, you know what?
I'm going to do it, even though I was still grieving.
There's a loss of the magazine.
But I said, Esther, I'm going to help you.
(12:25):
You need a host.
You can't be by yourself.
It's exciting.
And I was sure.
I've been a teacher for 17 years now.
And I've learned quite a lot in working with kids how to interact on different levels.
But I actually feel that when I was growing up in church, that's where I got most, I think
of my maybe dramatic flair, if you want to put it that way.
(12:47):
I'm the youngest of seven.
There's at least like 20 years between me and the eldest, 24 years between me and the
eldest.
So they were always very involved in church.
I loved watching them.
And then I participated in dramas and singing and preaching, whatever the church did, I
was always involved growing up.
I loved doing that.
And I think that's where I got my, I guess, I'm fairly shy, but I'm not if that makes
(13:07):
sense, but I love being in character.
So when I was a teacher, I used that if I'm doing storytelling or if I'm interacting
with the kids and then putting in the podcast, I drove back on my dramas when I was in church
and when I'm participating alone in the youth programs.
Yeah.
And so I love it.
So helping Esther in the podcast was great because I didn't want to be Steph.
(13:30):
I wanted to be a character.
And so I became Poppy, her little British friend.
She Car Ride Stories is loved by kids and it's all about characters for anyone who hasn't
listened to the podcast.
And I suggest you do have a lookout for the following characters.
Why don't you come to my glitter box?
(13:52):
Okay boys and girls, in my glitter box today, we're going to have some delicious honeybees.
They are so delicious.
You love them for a sweet treat.
You can take them to school or on a picnic wherever you like.
You just need to make sure that moment that have all the ingredients you need and you
can make about eight to 10 of these delicious little bees.
(14:15):
Well with Poppy, I always loved the British accent and I can actually do the accent.
So I'm like, I want to be someone more interesting, I guess, than Steph.
I want to be fun for the kids.
Esther's best friend that can ask and ask questions, be a little bit naive and make it
okay for the kids to not understand the Bible stories and Esther can go into it and explain
it.
And so yeah, Poppy came from just wanting to be a character that the kids could relate
(14:39):
to and make it fun and engaging.
Excuse me, guide.
But how long is it until we get to where the giant, I mean the fishes are?
Well we're actually not too far off, another 15 minutes and we're going to just be right
there.
And don't you worry little lady, this is going to be a fantastic experience and I bet, I'll
(15:01):
bet you're just going to fall in love with this gentle giant.
15 minutes.
Yeah, we also have Antenina.
So that's one of my older sister, she comes on the podcast now and then so we visit her
on her farm and we draw stories from that.
Like one of the stories that we just recorded, it was the foolish and the wise man that we're
(15:23):
building on the Sunday was a modernized story written for the podcast on that story.
So we went to visit Antenina and she's telling us about the stables that she just had built
and so Poppy's asking her, why didn't you build it over there?
And so she said, oh because that area floods and that could be dangerous for the horses.
She said that the ground was too soft and so she gave an explanation and then Poppy was
(15:47):
still confused and I said, well what about if we talk about this story and then you can
understand it better.
So we try to make it easier for kids to understand by bringing characters that can explain in
an easier way.
And then we just invite different people on the podcast, mainly our family because they're
accessible.
So my brother-in-law, he's Australian and we just use him to be Mr. I don't remember
(16:10):
the name but he owned a fish and tackle shop and so we go fishing and we get him to come
or even my sister, she, that's another sister and she was a cook.
So she was teaching us how to make some pizza, I think it was.
And she was talking about the whole fire oven so we could see the flames in there and we
(16:30):
linked that story with the three guys that were thrown into the furnace, burning the
furnace.
So yeah, we don't bring them all the time because we tend to batch record.
So we record three, four months, only one go.
But yeah, so that's how characters and it just makes it really exciting.
But the kids do love Poppy.
(16:52):
They do.
When we meet them, she has to do the voice because they just, yeah, they just love her.
They're so cute.
They're cute.
They're a friend of ours that we do know and we know the little boy.
He knows I'm Steph but he only refers to me as Poppy and he just talks to me as a character.
He is, he's cute.
(17:13):
I know you also have another young girl on the podcast.
Is that your niece, Esther?
Yes.
So that's Valentina, that's my brother's daughter.
She was about six or seven when we started the podcast.
She's now 14.
Yeah, so she doesn't do the podcast anymore because she has grown up and she lives over
an hour away.
(17:34):
But yeah, it was fantastic having her there and the kids could relate to a child being
on the podcast.
Our podcast about car ride stories surely must be produced by people who love driving,
right?
It turns out that that's exactly the case.
Love driving long distance.
Like I really enjoy it.
She loves driving six hours.
Six hours.
(17:54):
Six hours.
They do.
What's the longest one you've done so far?
I would have been in April.
We went down to Avondale for the Hive conference.
And so we took turns driving.
Esther, the morning person, she always takes the morning one.
I'm not a morning person.
So we drove 11 hours.
(18:15):
Yeah, 11 hours and he was pouring the whole way.
It was really scary and exciting.
And yeah, that's the longest one we've done.
Was our first time there.
We had tried to go the year before or last year.
And God didn't open the door for us to go.
But this year he did.
And he was so quick and it was an amazing, amazing conference.
(18:39):
So well worth it.
I wonder what inspired you guys to go down there and to share your podcast with the people
at Hive.
Well, what encouraged?
I had seen it and he said he had two things that have really attracted me.
One was that if you're a business, you could be more missional.
And the other one was if you're missional, you can be more business.
(19:00):
And that's us.
We're very missional and entrepreneurs.
We've been in education for years.
And so we're like, OK, we need Gigi to grow.
And how do we do it?
This place sounds like amazing brains will be there that we can talk to.
We believe the same thing.
Because we're very creative.
We can create content.
Like as much as you want, business, we're completely lost.
(19:22):
Yes.
It was definitely worthwhile because it was good to see a business perspective as well
as, you know, it's still missional.
So yeah, it was really good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
While driving together on this creative journey, the couple faced creative challenges.
And during our conversation, I set out to know what they were.
(19:45):
I think in everything like in ministry, the enemy always attacks and you have your lows
where you feel like it's not going anywhere.
And we've had a few of those moments.
And in that exact moment, an email comes through either from a child or their parents
saying, this has encouraged me so much.
And like it's God sending this affirmation for us saying, no, keep going.
(20:06):
I've got this.
Don't listen to them because the enemy wants to stop it.
And so God sends it exactly at that time.
And we're like, OK, it just lifts us up.
Like, yes, we're going to keep going because it does.
It gets tiring.
I would love to do it full time, but I still work full time.
So this is sort of like the side thing.
Some working at night and sometimes you don't want to.
I've already done my work day during the day.
So I'm tired.
(20:26):
I'm like, no, no, I do a little bit at night and on Sundays on the podcast.
That's been, I think, a struggle because we're time poor.
Well, I'm tired.
Yeah, we're time poor.
The other thing has been writing the stories.
When we started the podcast, I was writing a lot of the stories and then instead of writing
some, but as the podcast grew and other parts, like other things in the ministry started
(20:46):
growing, like we started producing books and other things, I didn't have time to write
anymore and Steph didn't have time to write.
So we were praying about, God, what do we do?
And he sent us three ladies that are helping us write the stories.
Even though it was a challenge for us, he gave us a solution.
And these women have been a blessing to the podcast and to the kids.
So Ashley, for example, she has finished high school.
(21:09):
So she's about 18 and she has the gift of writing like she loves to write.
So I stood nicely and she was so willing to write because she loves that.
Then I had another girl, Maritza.
She's a young mom.
She's got two little ones.
And now she's a journalist.
So she had never written for children before.
This was like her first time and she is amazing because she writes them with her children
(21:32):
in mind.
But the way she writes them, seeing that she always said, oh, I've never written for children
before.
It's always been journalism and news and that kind of thing.
But yeah, she's been amazing.
And then Rosie, she's got three children as well.
And she's always loved writing and does a lot of, I think, for the general conference,
a lot of writing for them and everything.
(21:53):
And she was just willing to help the podcast.
And a lot of them, for example, Rosie's one, she, I think she emailed once and just said,
I love to write.
If you ever need anything, and I needed someone urgently.
And God sent her at the right time.
So they're all women in different areas, different age groups, but they wrote amazing.
(22:14):
They've been a huge blessing, blessing to us.
Hmm.
So any other challenges that you guys have had?
Financial.
I think financial has been another challenge because there are so many costs in producing.
And it's not only the podcast, we also do books.
(22:35):
So there's a lot in the editing, the illustrations, the formatting.
We've got a guy who does our podcast editing.
He does all our science sounds.
So we sent him the scripts and say, this is where we want the, you know, the music and
the sound effects.
And he's amazing.
He does a great job.
(22:56):
And God sent him as well to us.
So that's been a huge blessing.
All right.
We have had our challenges where we look into the account and we're like, God, how are we
going to pay for this project?
And suddenly there is a sale or there's a donation or there is something and it's like, it's
(23:17):
right there.
So, especially me, I think Steph has been a little bit more, she hasn't had such issues
me, but for me, it's been a struggle where he was like, God, you know, the financial part
has been an issue for me.
God, how are you going to provide?
God, how are you going to do this?
God, how are you going to do that?
And in the last three years, God has been refining that side of me.
(23:39):
And I have gone into a place, thank the Lord, where I'm not even concerned about the money
anymore.
He has come to a stage where I'm thinking, this is God's project.
He gave it to us.
So he's going to provide somehow and God provides and we're like, wow.
And that's the project and by faith, nothing, I'm like, no, God's what, let's just do it
(24:01):
because we need to do it.
It needs to be done.
And so halfway through or maybe and the money comes through.
Like, thank you, God.
So he's teaching us to trust him.
This is his project, his work and we can be like in the face.
Yeah.
I think it's good.
It keeps you like not humble as such, but it keeps you dependent on God.
(24:22):
This is his ministry and when he's being used for it, it's not asked like, oh yeah,
we've sustained it and we've done it.
It's definitely God.
Yeah.
So he definitely has faith for sure.
I have a feeling that there's got to be a reason why this podcast is popular and has
weathered these storms.
And in part, that could be because of the immersive sound design and music that are
(24:46):
embedded into every episode that they produce.
The sound effects and the music has been big for the children, like for the popularity.
I think it makes us stand out because how could you say?
It helps them like that.
They can see the story in the mind.
You're like the part of it.
They can hear the sound and also things going on adventures.
We do that a lot.
(25:06):
So sometimes we travel the world or from a certain bedroom because that's where the recording
studio, I guess, is a mic on a desk.
It's nothing fancy.
We've done a lot of things like a sort of saying we've been cooking.
We were on the Nile.
Yeah, that's right.
We're on the Nile.
So we were on a Nile.
We were on our cruise there.
We've been diving as well.
So kids can imagine that they're part of that.
(25:27):
We're making them part of the adventure.
And they actually feel like, I had a parent ask me, do you actually go diving to all
those exciting places?
I'm like, no, it's in my bedroom.
It's got the sound effects.
And she was like, wow, because they feel like they are traveling with us and we're bringing
them along on this journey.
Well, what's happening today is we are going snorkeling and we're listening to our snorkeling
(25:52):
guide.
So we need to have our listening is on, but we just want you to say hello and we want
you to come on an adventure with us as we go snorkeling under the sea.
It is so great to be here with you guys today.
I am so privileged to be your guide for your first time snorkelers.
Welcome.
Now, it is really exciting that we are going together on this amazing adventure.
(26:16):
But remember, we must stay close together as our...
We want God's word to be attractive.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And everything we do for God, I believe has to be top quality in the sense of exciting,
make the children or not making, because you come forth from God does the changing, but
get them to feel excited when they're going to listen to a story by Jesus.
(26:38):
Not like me where I thought, oh, I'm so boring because everything when I was growing up felt
monotonous.
Yeah.
And I think in my little mind, when I was a little girl, I was very creative from beginning.
So the stories had to stimulate me all the time, and I think it's important for children
to see that Jesus is awesome and he's exciting and he's not boring.
(26:58):
So we want to project that in everything we do.
And people are responding.
People are really being blessed by the work that Esther and Steph are doing.
Esther explains.
And I also think 100 percent can't...
I really, really believe that it's not us.
It's God.
It's the one that's taking this little podcast to places that we never thought are possible
(27:25):
to make it.
So you could say addictive to the children because we get parents telling us that there's
tantrums at night because I have to turn off the podcast.
Oh, wow.
We're like, okay, that's not us.
There's also a mom who was in the car and the little girl.
She's three years old, listening to it.
And she was screaming because mom had arrived home and she had to take her out.
(27:45):
And she didn't realize that in her little mind, it was only in the car that she could
listen to the stories.
So mom said, no, I'm going to put it while you have some lunch.
Or parents saying there's peace in our car because all the children are so quiet and
they're just listening to these stories.
And so we feel that the Holy Spirit is taking this little creative space and he's just expanding
(28:08):
it to places that it's not nothing we do because we make sure that before we record
anything we pray and when we finish, we pray because we don't want it to be our our efforts.
Yeah, we want it.
We want them to hear God.
Like that's our priority.
And I think that's what's made it really popular.
(28:28):
And exactly how popular do they think their podcast is?
Well, for me, I would love for it to reach a million children who are learning about
Jesus.
So we're almost at the 600,000.
So it's not long to go, but you think of touching so many little lives because the devil, sadly,
is trying to distract our children and bring so many things to them, distracting them from
(28:52):
God, distracting them from, you know, who he is and stimulating them with so many crazy
things out there for our children, books and and videos and movies and everything.
And so to thank God, we want to reach a million children.
That's my selfie.
I don't know if it's selfish, but it's my desire to reach a million children.
(29:14):
You said about 600,000 children are listening to your podcast right now.
Do you have any idea where your main listeners are from?
USA, Australia.
I'm not sure about the third one, but I know those two because they always come up the
highest.
But we have had emails coming from children in Austria and Costa Rica, England or US.
(29:37):
Romania.
Yeah, Romania as well.
Canada.
So just around the world, children are writing from.
So we don't know how many children from this area, but yeah, just growing.
So it's it's really international ministry that you guys are doing.
Who would have thought we started?
Our goal was to reach the children in our state in Queensland.
(30:00):
And I thought, oh, yeah, 10 children listens would be great.
And the first time we had 12 downloads and we were so excited and then you went to 25
and then one day you reached a thousand and something.
I'm thinking, what was this?
How is this going?
And it just kept going and going and going and God hasn't stopped.
(30:20):
So yeah, it's exciting.
It's a grow.
And along the way, they've had some little tokens from the audience that shows that they
really are growing worldwide too.
We get testimonies from children who are learning more about Jesus, from parents telling us
how much their children are learning about Jesus and growing spiritually.
When we get children sending $20 notes or $50 notes, they fund raised so that we can continue
(30:47):
because the stories are free.
They're not free for us to produce, but they're free for them to listen.
And so they just sent little gifts and even a $1 Canadian note.
He sent it all the way from his savings in Canada.
He goes, it's from my savings and he sent $5 Canadian and it turned out to be $5.20 Australian.
It's not so sweet.
(31:08):
Things like that, you think, wow, that's incredible.
The kids are just amazing.
And kids at that age are very sincere, they're very honest, they don't mince the truth and
they don't sugar-create.
If they like you, they like you.
And if they don't, they don't.
And they tell you that.
So when they tell us that they love us and they like what we're doing, it's really humbling
because we know that it's not a fake, it's true.
(31:32):
And so, yeah, it means a lot to us.
We know God's working in the ministry.
And they're growing spiritually, which is our number one thing.
We want for the kids to be in God's Word every day.
That's our main goal.
And through the podcast, it's happening.
They can listen to Christian or Godly stories or power of prayer, answer to power of prayers,
(31:53):
and children love that.
So yeah, it's wonderful.
We love it.
We love our kids.
Yeah, we do.
It has worked really well.
That brings us to a close of this story today.
I hope that you have enjoyed it as much as I did.
I think they're doing a fantastic job in sharing Jesus to children.
Here's a few ways that you can help.
We pray.
That's our number one thing because we need prayer.
(32:15):
As always, the enemy is always attacking somewhere or another.
So pray is one of the biggest ones.
Sharing it, Word by mouth, the podcast, as well, to get that to grow, visiting our website
or donation, which we always appreciate.
It goes 100% back into the ministry.
Yeah, so on our website, we have different things.
And I think with the podcast is a really, like if listeners don't have families and
(32:39):
of our God, and their children want to learn more, it's a really uninteresting way to reach
them because it's audio, stories, entertaining.
And ultimately, like our goal is for children to learn about Jesus.
So this is all about learning about God.
It's a priority because when children learn about Jesus, then everything changes.
(33:01):
And so we didn't want it to be just doctrine of this or keep this or do this.
We wanted to be Jesus is the ultimate God, the Holy Spirit.
Calling in love with God and who He is, what He is, out on earth.
And then God will do the rest.
We just serve a little bit and He can do the rest.
They're little half.
(33:23):
We hope this episode of Adventist Waves has given you a fresh perspective on how media
can be a powerful tool for ministry.
If you enjoyed today's conversation, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and connect
with us on social media.
You can also support our work directly by becoming a patron at patreon.com forward slash
(33:45):
Adventist underscore waves.
Your generosity enables us to produce more high quality content and reach a wider audience.
Special thanks to our production team at Blue Vineyard Audio and our producer, editor, mixer
and sound designer, Khan Elmuz.
We'll see you next week as we continue to explore the art of sharing the gospel through
(34:07):
sound.
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