2/25/26 - 2135: God is Writing Stories

Jim: You've tuned into iWork4Him, 13 years of covering the Faith and Work Movement.

Martha: We are your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg, and our mission is to release the testimonies of workplace believers who have learned to unleash their vocational and cultural contributions for the flourishing of the world. What can that look like in your workplace? Well, let's find out right now.

Jim: You know, for the last eight years, 365 Christian Men have released a daily, several minute video, including an inspiring story about a Christian man living out his faith in the 365 of the wildest stories on Earth. Christian women have been crying out for equal treatment and access to the same caliber of encouragement.

Introducing today, 365 Christian Women where this month a new story will release each week. I was gonna ask 365 Christian Stories founder Blake Mattocks, to tell us about it, but what does a man know about great stories of Christian women? Today, Gabrielle Christie, next gen pastor from Landing Place Church in Commerce City, Colorado, joins us to tell us why she decided to be one of the narrators of these incredible stories of great women.

We might have a few more questions for her too, about her job. Gabrielle Christie, welcome to iWork4Him.

Gabrielle Christie: Hi guys. So nice to meet you. Just excited to be part of this opportunity. It's really amazing.

Jim: What a great platform, 365 Christian Women. So excited about it. Gabrielle, all of our first time guests get asked this question: tell us your Jesus story.

Gabrielle Christie: Oh my. Wow. Such a great question. Jim and Martha, so for me, I grew up in the church my whole entire life. And I am adopted, and I was adopted at birth, and my parents really were intentional about having Christ as the foundation of our household. And so for me, falling in love with Jesus looked a little bit differently.

I have an older brother who is biologically theirs, who's 11 years older, has special needs. And my brother Brandon, has taught me how to love people unconditionally with really like the true Jesus love, the raw, unfiltered love. Not the one that's been impacted by culture itself, but just because of who he is, who God has innately made him to be.

And so growing up around that and having a family who really served people well, my dad was really passionate about homeless ministry and my mom currently has been running a nonprofit for homeless ministry for 15 years, my Jesus story is about really reaching the people that Jesus reached - the people who were oppressed, the people who were not seen.

And it just really resonated with me as a person who was chosen as, just as Jesus chose the people who were not the most like shiny people of in the religious leaders. That's how my parents really modeled that beautifully. And so for me, I fell in love with Jesus by watching my parents live on mission, not only on mission trips outside of our country, which is what my mom did, but also for my father, to see him do that and picking up bags and filling 'em up with supplies and taking them out into the streets and having homeless people live in our house to giving them a second chance and giving them jobs.

And so for me, I fell in love with Jesus by seeing what it looks like to serve like Jesus. And so by the time I was in middle school, I went to summer camp like, you know, most Christian goers do when you're part of a church. And I, you know, got that, you know, that Christ High. And I go to camp and they're like, who wants to get baptized? And I'm like, I do. And, they were like, okay, get baptized today. And I said, no, I'm going home to get baptized by the person who showed me what it looks like to live like Jesus.

And so my father baptized me. I was 12. And so that is how I got to know Jesus, was through the actions of my family, seeing them serve in the church and outside the church. And that is truly been my Jesus story, is watching my parents model it really well.

Martha: Wow.

Jim: Give a shout out. Go ahead.

Gabrielle Christie: Yes. Shout out to my mom. My dad passed away 10 years ago from cancer. But he definitely is with our Heavenly Father and I'm extremely thankful for it every day, for all that he did.

Martha: Aww. Very good.

Gabrielle Christie: In my 21 years of living, I'm very blessed for his impact.

Martha: That's so good. So good. Okay, so Jim was talking about in the intro a little bit about 365 Christian Women. How did you get connected to 365 Christian Stories? What's that story?

Gabrielle Christie: So that's actually super crazy. So we talk about it actually like in our church, like in our time of generosity for some seasons, because we also give the church to it because we love the mission that they do and trying to partner with Blake. So Blake Mattocks, like him and his wife, go to our church. And it was actually funny. I like saw him one service and something about it, I was like, man, I need to talk to Blake, but I don't know why.

And then we met out in the lobby, that same service. He says, Hey, can I approach you about something? We're starting 365 Christian Women. And I said, finally! I was like, because I see it all the time, and I'm like, I asked him, I was like, where is it for the women? I hear about this thriving thing for all these guys. And I was like, hello. (laughing) Like there's some ladies, we also would like something to listen to and to be able to experience for ourselves.

And so he approached me with that conversation and I felt instantly, I was like, well, obviously this is what God's asking me to do because I see Blake always at church, but like, I never felt that pull of like, I need to talk to Blake. And then he approached me right after service. And to know that that was the ask.

And you know, I was just like, this is an opportunity. And it really wasn't about like using my voice, it was just being a part of something bigger than that. And to be obedient and to say yes to serving alongside these amazing women and to get to share stories of women throughout generations. I honestly just felt honored and privileged to just continue to talk about God's children past what happened biblically to be able to really continue to just narrate the testimony of what God did in their lives.

Martha: Well, let's talk about that for a minute then. So for those that don't know, and I know on sheWorks4Him, I've been sharing about it with my followers through the email, podcast, or emails that we send out and everything, but what is the whole idea behind 365 Christian Women? And then let's talk about maybe one that you've narrated.

Gabrielle Christie: So the whole idea behind the 365 Christian Women is that women every day really are like looking and seeking for other women in life who have been impacted by the Lord. I think we obviously see how scripture was written, and we see all the amazing stories of what God did through the generations of people that he created, and yet we're always looking for more, right?

And so then you're also looking for that in women. You see all these amazing male pastors, and we see Billy Graham and we see all these inspirational men in our history. And then we're wondering, are there any women who also had that? Because as we've seen in scripture, sometimes women's stories were not told, or they were not allowed in spaces to be able to proclaim the gospel. And so you're still like yearning for that where my voice is, and you see that Jesus used that beautifully and continue to now add women into it.

And so 365 Christian Women is really all about showing the generations of women that were impacted by Christ as God called them to do many miraculous things. Some of them coming out of cults, some of them God called, like inspired the woman who wrote Uncle Tom's cabin for the sake of being that voice of the oppressed. I'm going to talk about Clara Barton. She's one of my favorites. She's the one who created Red Cross and you need to see that God was a part of those things.

I think sometimes when you hear the stories of these women in history, you don't hear about the church part where they're sitting in church and God gave them this revelation. And so that is what the 365 Christian Women stories is all about. It's telling about the God part that's been misplaced outta history where we talk about who these women are in the history books but forget to talk about the reason why they did it is because God had a calling on their heart to do so. And so that is what it's all about.

Jim: That's so great. I love the way you summarized that, and for all of you women listening today, you know, "where are all the women?" As Gabrielle just said. Behind every great Christian man, there's always a powerful woman of God. Because that guy wouldn't be a great Christian man without a powerful woman of God next to him. And so it's unfortunate in culture's past that wasn't celebrated. I love the fact that today we can openly celebrate what God is doing all over the place and love the stories. I mean, the first one for the first week was Bethany Hamilton.

Martha: Mm-hmm.

Jim: What a story! Movies made about her life. And what I also loved about the fact that 365 Christian Women has video. 365 Christian Men is just like, stop gap, just, you know, photos behind it. This is actually videos. It's much more high tech than the men's stuff. So you women should feel very privileged.

 (chuckling)

Martha: Okay. So tell us about, so you've already done some recording, and tell us about one that that you've done personally.

Gabrielle Christie: So I was like reviewing them as I was preparing for this and I was like, man, 'cause we did it probably in early October, so it's been a while, before the next set that we have to record.

But one of them that stood out for me was actually Clara Barton. I didn't really know Clara Barton's story about the woman from Red Cross, who created Red Cross. And seeing her valiant effort that God had called her to be really walking alongside, during war, being able to be in the hospital with the wounded, and not only care for them physically, but mentally and emotionally.

And my favorite part about her story was there was a man that she was treating and she's gonna talk about how, like, he was calling out for a woman named Mary, and she was obviously not Mary, but she embodied who Mary was in that moment because he was dying and was shot in the stomach and only had a few like days to live and really advocated for him because God was like, he needs to go home and see his family before he passed. Like, I wanna see my sister, I wanna see my mom.

And you see this valiant woman doing whatever it takes, like pushing back, advocating like as a nurse, which, you know, like nurses were really in that, in that historical piece of time, wasn't really like a big voice and really pushed back on her commanding officers and was like, he has to go home. He has to get on the train. Like talking to doctors, doing whatever it takes for him to have his dying wish because God is like, that is where he needs to, like he needs to be, is with his family.

And he got to be able to with them for two days before he passed. And so seeing that was her like, really her origin story of like Red Cross, not only being able to aid people and their health, but also to be, how do I partner with families to make sure that they get the help that they need? Like she wasn't just thinking about this man who was serving his country, she was thinking about the family who was waiting to hear a response from their loved one. And to see that as the heart of, as a daughter of the king, and knowing how like valuable that is for Christ, I was just really inspired by her love for that.

Because I think for me, like as a woman who's like also lost her father, I can only imagine like not having that advocacy to be able to be like, how can we be able to be walking alongside as a caregiver, as a care worker, as a nurse with the family, to be able to make that connection and to be able to give him a last dying wish? Which wasn't part of her job description.

Like she went above and beyond. Because that was her heart and compassion. It was more than just a job. It was a calling. And I think that's what I really resonated with her, for me, was the calling that she had on her heart. And she didn't just leave it there and she went above and beyond and it's now affected us.

I mean, Red Cross is well known across the world. Like this is a huge thing. And so the thing that's where God called her from, from the very beginning, from something that she didn't expect, something that's absolutely extraordinary and affected medical culture as a whole. I'm looking forward to you guys hearing more about it.

Jim: I can't wait to hear that one. So, speaking of touching people's lives, imagine attending an event in 2026 that just might catapult you spiritually and in your work. We hope you'll prayerfully consider joining Martha and I at a couple of events that are on the calendar. A couple in the weeks ahead, whether you find a local event or a group to get involved with, or a national event like the US Christian Chamber of Commerce swc2026.com event in Orlando in April, or the National Faith and Work Summit in Cincinnati in June, there's something out there that might catapult your year.

Check out our events page for all the details and special promo codes for a discount at iWork4Him.com/events.

Martha: So Gabrielle, it's obvious that God is on the move in the next generation. So I wanna talk about that for a minute. There seems to be a solid wave of new believers that are, that's really sweeping the nation on college campuses and things like that, that we are hearing you know, from all different angles. How did you end up being a pastor to the next gen, which is for you, the 5th through the 12th graders?

Gabrielle Christie: The Lord told me to.

 (laughter)

Martha: Alright. And you were obedient, huh?

Gabrielle Christie: Yeah. It took me a while to get here.

Martha: Okay.

Gabrielle Christie: I was like, pushed back a little bit. No. Growing up at the church, I had no idea I was gonna end up here. And I remember I was at a volunteer appreciation back at home. I'm from Virginia Beach, Virginia, so I'm an East coast girly. God had called me into youth ministry and I laughed and I was like, I just don't feel qualified. I was in a really hard place emotionally, still grieving, like the loss of my father.

I grew up in the church, but I was like working with babies because I was like, I don't want no one to talk back to me and be sassy. (laughter) I have no filter. My facial expressions give away way too much. And my youth pastor was great. But we also had, like everybody in the culture, even in ministry now, the turnover for youth ministry is really hard and very real.

So going into this, I had no idea what I was doing. I was mortified and I seek counsel and with my lead pastor and executive pastor and children's pastor at home. And I got into a residency program right as COVID hit, like February of 2020 is when I moved out here to Colorado, moved cross country. My whole family's still at home in Virginia, so I'm here by myself.

And God called me into youth ministry and I said, where do I go and like, who do you want me to serve? And I told the organization that I worked with, I was like, I don't want any limitation on where God wants to lead me so you can put out my information everywhere in the country, I don't care. And that's what led me to here.

And as I've been, you know, now I'm going into year six of youth ministry. There's something about this generation that is indescribable. I think it is vibrant. It is raw, it is hungry. There's a sense of urgency to know and actually understand who Jesus is and what scripture is. They're trying to do more than just go on Sunday and check off a box.

This generation truly wants to understand not only to like understand the Lord for themselves, but how do they go out in there and tell their friends? Because they do not want their friends to not know who Jesus is. And so to see that, for me, it's like really invigorating and it's an opportunity, it's an honor to do that.

And so I do NextGen because I see what God is doing in this age group, and I will always be in all of them. They challenge me, they stretch me. They give me gray hairs, so many gray hairs, (laughing) but they're absolutely worth it. Like they, they are worth it because they are, they are. We always call the next generation, but they are the now generation.

They're the ones who are going to impact the church. They're already impacting the churches, we can see globally, and their voices are louder than any of us, any previous generation, honestly. Like they're not just asking for like, oh, let me just find a church and just check off the box and go into service. These kids are like, no. How can we find clubs and organizations and go out there?

I had a student last week who like asked me, he said, I want a Bible. I said, okay, here's a new Bible. Like this is gonna be really good for you. And then it didn't stop there. He was like, I also wanna start a club. I also wanna give out Bibles at my school. How do I do all those things? And luckily we have like the resources and organizations that we partner with to do those things, for him to start a club legally in Colorado, which is pretty tricky. And also a resource that Life Books, which gives out little mini bibles for kids to give out for free.

And so that is what's different than my generation like. We just went 'cause our parents told us to. We had no choice. We had to get in the car. This is not the same. Like these kids are intentionally even driving, choosing to come and be a part of the church and want to get after it and serve in every area of the church, which is pretty amazing too.

Jim: You're part of the next generation. When I look at life, you're part of the next generation, which also looks at life very differently, the people that are your peers. I understand. People 20 and younger, we're hearing about that, that they're like, no nonsense. Don't gimme religion. I only want things that are real.

But yet the people 20 to 40 also are having a, there's a paradigm shift there. They're not necessarily looking for church as a placebo. They only want real, they wanna see real and genuine. How do people 20 to 35 look at life and faith differently from your perspective?

Gabrielle Christie: I think they look at faith and life differently. Like the church is not the only place to find it. I think the difference is, is like they have a lot of like religion hurt, if I'm being honest. And I think they want the community, they want the realness, they want the support and comfort, but the religious rules and laws and things like that, like especially in different denominations, kind of rubs them the wrong way because they feel like they weren't, it wasn't a choice for them.

And so this deconstruction like is really in my window where a lot of kids like have like my age group is deconstructed. I'm like one of the few people from my youth group that actually still believe and pursue Jesus.

Martha: Hmm.

Gabrielle Christie: And there's probably maybe 40, 50 of us growing up in my youth group.

Jim: Hmm.

Gabrielle Christie: And I'm like one of the, maybe five I can count on my hand. All the rest of them no longer believe in Jesus. Some of 'em actually are agnostic and atheists. So it is like this interesting dynamic of "the church didn't really love me and my family well therefore I gotta go seek it out somewhere else in community" but then they, as they get older and their kids start asking questions and they start having kids, then the question comes back up like, do I want my kids to experience this for themselves? And then we have seen in the church kids bringing their parents back to Christ.

Martha: Wow.

Gabrielle Christie: And there are people my age, because their kids are not asking the God questions, that they felt like they were not equipped to answer. And that is also a way that God is still redeeming his children and coming after his kids. Their kids. And also like that is also a part of it, which is pretty amazing to see.

Martha: So, you know, you talk about the generations between just the parents and the children and on our audience, we actually have the iRetire4Him audience, which is those that are either entering or in what we call in America, retirement, which is really just a stage where you may not be earning an income, you may not be punching a clock, but you're not done. You have a calling.

And I believe that there is a huge gap between those generations and yet such a need. God created us for this generational wisdom to be passed on down. Do you see that the younger generations have a desire to be mentored and discipled by those that are, what you might call your elderly?

Jim: No, we call them chronologically superior.

Martha: That's true. But looking at that, you know, do you see a desire by those younger people that maybe don't have a good mature influence in their life? Are they looking for that?

Gabrielle Christie: I think they're looking for a mixture of both. I think they wanna see people who are a few steps ahead of them, like young adults, but I also have people on my team who are in their seventies. So the youngest volunteer I have on my team is a freshman in high school working with fifth graders, and the oldest person on my team is about 74, maybe 73. Because I do see the value of generations and for people who maybe their grandparents have passed and they miss that like grandmother grandfatherly love. They genuinely, it's something that they desire and also like it's starting to break down barriers for them 'cause they feel like, oh man, like my grandkids, I have a tough time relating to them.

But by working in student and children ministry, they're able to also start building conversations because they're around other kids who are around the same age bracket. And I love it because I'm 30, I'll be 31. And I like people in my team who are younger and older than me. And I find that to be a gift.

Martha: Hmm.

Gabrielle Christie: Because it's all of God's children that we have to work together as the body of Christ to help one another. And you know, you said, "chronically," what'd you say?

Jim: Not chronically! (laughter)

Martha: Chronically older.

Jim: Chronologically superior.

Martha: We'll get her there. We'll get her there.

Jim: Grant Skeldon from Dallas, Texas, wrote a book called The Passion Generation, and he's one that brought that up. That's chronologically superior.

Martha: There you go. While she's recovering from that, I'm gonna talk about one of our core values here at iWork4Him, and that is excellence.

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Jim: All right. So, let's give you freedom to just speak words of encouragement to everyday Christian women who are under 40 today. Just speak some encouragement to them.

Gabrielle Christie: Oh my. Wow. What an honor. Thank you. Man, I think I would encourage He's not done with your story yet. I think that's something that's been on my heart lately, to be able to come to the altar to remind ourselves that God's not finished with our story. He has so much more to offer and he's continuing to offer, to remind ourselves that God's doing a lot of work behind the scenes that maybe we don't see at the surface or don't understand or comprehend.

But man, like being able to read these stories of these women just really reminds me of what God's doing behind the scenes that we don't even recognize. It reminds me of Esther. You know, you don't see any words of like direction in that book of the Bible from " God says this." And yet you see her obedience because God was innately doing something in her heart.

It might not have been written exactly, but like you see it in her actions. And I think that's such a reminder because sometimes we're looking for that audible voice to tell us direction, but it might be in a story, in a conversation, in an interaction, in a moment of silence or looking outside or just reminding ourselves daily in our walk with the Lord that God is not done with our story.

And that's really what I've really been encouraged by being part of 365 Christian Women stories, is that he's not done with us yet. And there's so much to offer until your very last breath. And also you will always be on mission. Your mission might look like your family. Your mission might look like your coworkers. Your mission might even look like your spouse right now in this season.

But I am encouraging you that you might be like, I'm a stay at home mom. What is my mission field? Your kids are your mission field. It might be the other moms when you're going out and you're going to do play dates, that is your mission field. If you're not working in the workplace, if you are retired and you're like, I'm already retired at like 35, like I already did military, I'm good to go. Well, your friends who are still serving the country, they also still need Christ.

So I think for people who are under 40, I just really encourage them that your mission field, like I tell my students, like their mission field is already their friend groups, their family, their clubs, their neighbors, like we are all called to go and make disciples. That is assignment and until the nets are full, until your very last breath, that is what God has called us to do, first and foremost. Not all the other labels and titles. Those are great and it's amazing, and we have all of those things that God has also gifted us with, but the first and foremost is to be a daughter of the king, and the second is to be on mission.

Martha: Hmm.

Gabrielle Christie: So, if we live like that, it will shape out everything else that we do every single day.

Martha: I love that. So good. You said so many powerful things in that synopsis there. So I wanna just talk logistics here as we close out. How do our listeners get connected to 365 Christian Women and start listening to that? How do they, how do they go about it?

Gabrielle Christie: Oh my gosh. Well this team is amazing by the way, and it's also like a global team. Like it's not just people in the US. The one who's like editing the videos - like a kid here did 'em but then the editing and the video part is from the guys in the Philippines, like super amazing. So there's multiple platforms. So you can find it on YouTube, you can find it on 365 Christian Stories, on their website. You'll find it on there. Also, the Facebook page with 365 Christian Women. It's a tongue twister, that one. They also have it on Instagram and they also have it on every platform possible. Spotify, Apple.

Martha: We'll put all those links in the show notes.

Jim: It's available in the App store for both Google and Apple. I found it the other day. You can get both 365 Christian Men on the app store and 365 Christian Women in the App store.

Martha: I would assume all of those links are on the websites, but we'll make sure and get that on the show notes as well for everybody. I just think it's so important one thing to be inspired, but another thing to start engaging with it and to get the notifications when the new story is out so that you can listen. I am a huge proponent of this and thrilled to share it with the sheWorks4Him audience as well.

Jim: Wow. Gabrielle Christie, that was a lot we packed in, in just a few minutes. We're so grateful for you joining us today to talk about your life, your ministry, 365 Christian Women. Thank you for being with us today.

Gabrielle Christie: Thank you guys for having me. Absolutely appreciate it.

Jim: And if you're in Colorado and you feel like visiting a great church, check out Landing Place Church online at landingplacechurch.com. It's near, what was it again? Commerce City?

Gabrielle Christie: Yes.

Jim: I have no idea where that, is that near Denver?

Gabrielle Christie: No. It's closer to the airports, like closer to DIA. Hence landing place 'cause.

Martha: Landing place. The airport. Got it.

Jim: Ah.

Martha: See we're not from there. We didn't know this.

Jim: Nope. We've been in that airport though. But you know, didn't know there was a church nearby. All right, Gabrielle, thank you.

You've been listening to iWork4Him with your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers. Our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately iWork4Him.