The Stories Collective

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 but was not walking in that way de...

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 Julie shares that she was the younge...

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 family began attending church and incorp...

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 healing from cancer, seeking authenti...

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 Minnesota. Church was a part of her...

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 Christ were missing. The community fe...

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 just five years ago that she would...

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 reflects on how that shaped her into ...

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 Rachel wanted a fresh start and made...

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 someone who always moved around a l...

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 even care. Luke also shares about an o...

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 goes back to her childhood in Kansa...

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 that part of the country before getti...

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 laid out for him in his family&apo...

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 also been able to share testimonies...

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, but she always felt she had that p...

We had the opportunity to continue our conversation with Dra Rogers, this time getting into the specifics of what ministry looks like with Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). We have a special guest host, our Missions Pastor Jamie Engram who leads the conversation. Jamie and Dra met in the studio to talk through day-to-day life and ministry with FCA here in the West Valley. A lot of this ministry happens so close to our church!...

Dra Rogers joined us in the studio to share his story! Dra and his family are a big part of ministry here at Desert Springs and he is also a missionary that we help to support through Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Sarah and Dra begin their conversation with a "sports segment" but quickly turn to how God has worked so greatly in Dra's life. He moved around a lot as a child and though his grandparents were ve...

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 and after attending GCU decided to put roots down here in Arizona. She was raised Catholic but became a Chris...