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This is HIS Story

This is HIS Story

Written by: Todd Turner Creative Digital Guide
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Welcome to This Is HIS Story, a podcast featuring honest conversations with people whose faith, calling, hardship, and life experiences have become a mission to serve others.


Host Todd Turner talks with nonprofit founders, ministry leaders, Bible teachers, counselors, missionaries, advocates, and everyday people who are pouring out God’s grace to hurting people around the world.


Each episode explores the moments that shaped their story: the calling they could not ignore, the need they stepped into, the people they serve, and the ways they have seen God work through ordinary obedience.


From those feeding the hungry and serving the vulnerable to those teaching Scripture, counseling the wounded, building ministries, and pulling people out of dark places, This Is HIS Story points listeners back to the true Author of every redemptive story.


Todd Turner has spent much of his life helping faith-based organizations communicate clearly, grow generosity, and build ethical digital fundraising strategies that support Kingdom work.


Listen in to discover meaningful ministries, inspiring people, and real stories of God at work.

www.toddturner.com

© 2026 This is HIS Story
Christianity Ministry & Evangelism Social Sciences Spirituality
Episodes
  • From Corporate Success to Kingdom Purpose | Bill Gemaehlich
    Jul 23 2026

    Can you pursue business success and still live completely on mission for Christ?

    Bill Gemaehlich has spent decades leading global Christian ministries, serving alongside Chuck Swindoll at Insight for Living, planting a church, mentoring leaders, and traveling the world to advance the Gospel.

    But his story didn't begin in ministry.

    It began with a young businessman whose dream was simply to make money... until God completely redirected his life.

    In this conversation we discuss:

    • Growing up in Oregon
    • Finding Christ after being raised Catholic
    • Business, leadership, and ministry
    • Working with Wycliffe Bible Translators
    • Serving at Insight for Living
    • Church planting while working full time
    • Mentoring the next generation
    • What American Christians can learn from believers around the world
    • Why serving Jesus is worth a lifetime

    If you've ever wondered how your career can become your ministry, this episode is for you.

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    55 mins
  • Where does the mission money go?
    Dec 1 2025

    When you write a check for “clean water” or “orphans in Africa,” what actually happens on the other side of the wire?

    In this episode, Todd Turner sits down with longtime Africa practitioner Jason Miller to talk honestly about the dark side of global generosity: dependency, staged photo ops, buzzword-driven proposals, broken “sustainability” projects, and a charity mindset that quietly damages the very communities we say we care about.

    Jason has been working in East Africa since the mid-90s, from backpacking and hauling fax machines into Tanzania to walking slums, village wells, schools, farms, and “sustainable” projects across the continent. Together, Todd and Jason unpack how Western money interacts with local culture, government corruption, and survival ethics on the ground. They tell real stories of empty chicken houses, stolen wells, abandoned greenhouses, and ministries that exploded with donor money and then collapsed under the weight of it.

    Most importantly, they explain why U.S. oversight tools like Guidestar, ECFA, and clean audits are necessary but not enough. Once money leaves the country, the paper trail gets fuzzy and the real story is told in dusty fields, rural schools, and village churches, not on a glossy PDF.

    In this conversation, you’ll hear:

    • Why “don’t feed the bears” is a painfully accurate picture of some mission models
    • How well-intentioned donors can destroy local businesses and jobs without realizing it
    • Why buzzwords like “sustainability,” “water is life,” and “women’s empowerment” raise money but often hide shallow work
    • How cultural views of truth, honor, and family boards can completely change what “accountability” looks like
    • Why schools, wells, fish farms, and orphanages often fail once the team flies home
    • The limits of 501(c)(3) audits, Guidestar stars, and ECFA seals when funds are wired overseas
    • What real donor due diligence looks like when you actually “watch the money in action”
    • How Open Trust Global helps close the gap between donor stories and donor reality

    If you’re a pastor, foundation leader, missions pastor, family office, or everyday giver who supports overseas work, this episode will help you ask better questions, fund better projects, and avoid doing unintentional harm with generous gifts.

    Open Trust Global exists to put eyes and boots where the dollars go so that every gift has a fighting chance to become the good it was intended to be.

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    58 mins
  • William Booth: The Untold Story Behind The Salvation Army
    Nov 26 2025

    William Booth didn’t set out to build a global movement. He walked into the slums of London with a Bible, a stubborn faith, and a burden for people the church had learned to ignore. Out of that simple conviction came The Salvation Army, one of the most influential Christian missions of the last 150 years.

    In this episode of HIS Story, Todd Turner sits down with Booth for a first-person conversation that brings his world to life. You’ll hear what shaped him, why he refused to look away from suffering, and how holiness, courage, and compassion fueled a ministry that changed cities across the world.

    This episode explores:
    • Booth’s early ministry and calling
    • The spiritual and social crisis in 19th-century London
    • How The Salvation Army began and why it grew
    • Booth’s passion for the poor, the addicted, and the forgotten
    • What today’s church can learn from his bold, practical faith

    If you enjoy Christian biography, church history, classic revival movements, or stories of ordinary believers doing extraordinary things, this conversation will pull you in. It’s a fresh look at William Booth, The Salvation Army, and the kind of faith that still speaks today.

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    10 mins
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