A CALLING FOR CROSS-CULTURAL MINISTRY AND MISSIONS

Featuring Glen Gibson, Executive Director, Open Doors Libraries

Glen Gibson has had lifelong calling in cross-cultural ministry and missions, both on and off the mission field. His wife Wendy also serves in missionary care and partnership development coaching. Together they have 35 years of experience in missions, leadership, and equipping others.

Glen was raised in Southern California in the Los Angeles areas. Through his early adult years, he developed a God given passion for the unreached and a love for other cultures. His passions led him to minister cross-culturally for most of his adult life. 

Glen first served as the youth minister at his home church in the Los Angeles area. Thereafter he lived and ministered for 17 years as a missionary in the Philippines, where their three daughters were born. After returning to the United States in 2003, Glen served as the VP of Training at Team Expansion and oversaw several teams of field missionaries.

Throughout those years, Glen developed his missions knowledge and training through education. He holds a Masters in Missions from Hope International University, and a Masters and Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. His Ph.D. research focused on Leadership Development, Church Effectiveness, and Urban Ministry.

From 2008 to 2015, Glen utilized his missions experience and academic credentials in higher education. He served as Chair of the Intercultural Studies Program at William Jessup University in the Sacramento area where he continued to live out his passion to inspire and equip others to give their life to sharing the gospel of Jesus with the unreached people of the world. 

Glen currently serves as serves as the Executive Director of Open Door Libraries since October, 2017. ODL’s primary goal is to reach people with the gospel message. They provide venues that are non-threatening to people or even governments where people have access to Christian literature and the opportunity to interact with Christian people.

Glen Gibson is a great example of living out his calling for the unreached through cross- cultural experiences and understanding.

TAKING ACTION AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Featuring: Ashlie Bryant, Co-Founder/President & CEO, 3Strands Global Foundation

Ashlie Bryant is a leading anti-trafficking advocate who has been dedicated to combating human trafficking for 11 years. Her journey to advocacy began when a friend’s 17-year old daughter was lured from a grocery store in her Sacramento suburb. Inspired to act, Ashlie co-founded 3Strands Global Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on mobilizing communities through prevention education and reintegration.

As 3Strands Global Foundation’s President and CEO, Ashlie’s diverse responsibilities include developing external facing relationships for 3Strands Global and collaborative opportunities, including major donors, partner organizations, government agencies, and other non-profits combatting the crime.

Ashlie also expanded 3Strands Global Foundation’s direct services program to include domestic opportunities. The Employ + Empower program has served over 300 survivors and at-risk clients since 2016 in the greater Sacramento and San Francisco regions. The goal is to reintegrate survivors or those at risk of trafficking into sustainable jobs.

In 2011 Ashlie was instrumental in creating and overseeing a human trafficking education program designed to educate students. In 2015, PROTECT, an online training and curriculum launched. This national prevention program has educated an estimated 500,000 students about the dangers of human trafficking and trained over 70,000 adults. PROTECT is a trauma-informed, systematic and scalable training and curriculum that was designed to increase the protective factors of our youth and increase knowledge in adults to identify and provide resources to students who may be victimized. With prevention as a missional focus, Bryant also led AB1227 (Bonta), The Human Trafficking Prevention Education and Training Act, through the CA Legislature, which the Governor Brown signed into law.

Ashlie has utilized her business experience and educational training to support her work with 3Strands Global Foundation. Her professional experiences include serving as a marketing communications executive. Her academic credentials include an EMPA from Cornell University, Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a degree in Women’s Corporate Board Readiness from Santa Clara University’s School of Business.

Ashlie Bryant has modeled how one person can take action and make an impact in the fight against human trafficking in our communities.