ReStoried

112. Surrounded: A Sneak Peek at Mobilize Ohio 2026

• Hope Bridge/Adkins Media Co.

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Even though it’s December, we’re jumping ahead to spring to talk about Mobilize Ohio 2026 on March 21st! In this episode, we’re talking into this year’s theme, “Surrounded,” what to expect, and how the conference has grown over the years. 

We’ll revisit the very first Mobilize and the story behind Hope Bridge, then share how this year we’re focusing on foster and adoptive families. You’ll hear from Ryan and Kayla North, who speak and coach in the foster care and adoption space, and Trisha Priebe, an adoptee and advocate from LifeSong for Orphans, who brings incredible wisdom in this space! 

We’ll also hear from Sandra Flach, Reuben Watson, and some of our local leaders leading breakout sessions, giving practical ways to step into the work of caring for kids and families. 

The theme, Surrounded, is a powerful reminder that even when challenges feel overwhelming, we are never alone. We’re surrounded by God’s love and a community of believers ready to support kids and families in need.  

Tune in to hear all about what makes this year’s Mobilize so special! 


Episode Highlights:  

  • Mobilize Ohio 2026 
  • Who is Mobilize for?  
  • The History  of Mobilize Ohio 
  • What to expect this year 
  • Theme: Surrounded   

 

Find More on Hope Bridge: 

Register for Mobilize Ohio 2026!

SPEAKER_00:

Hope Bridge is on a gospel-led mission to transform the foster care landscape in Ohio. We're here to raise awareness and empower churches and communities to step into action by supporting vulnerable children and families in their local communities. In this podcast, we'll be shining a light on stories of hope, redemption, and transformation, and sharing practical ways that you can step in and get involved. Welcome to Restoried, a podcast by Hope Bridge.

SPEAKER_01:

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to another week of Restoried Podcasts. This is Bethany and I'm here with Nicole. Hi everyone. And we are in the month of December. And we actually have our ugly sweaters on today. So if you guys are, I mean, I'm not wearing mine, it's hanging on the chair, but Nicole has hers.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And um it's not so ugly. I'm pretty proud. Yeah, it's actually really cute. I know, right? Like, how is this a thing that now you can have an ugly sweater, but that it's not ugly?

SPEAKER_01:

I I was actually thinking that this morning. Like they've they've cute made ugly sweaters cute and fashionable.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Because back in the 80s, sweaters were just ugly. Yeah. So really we all were wearing ugly sweaters in the 80s if you were alive then. And so no. I don't think you were alive then, were you?

SPEAKER_01:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

91. 91. So you really don't know what an ugly sweater is. I've seen pictures.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, anyway, we are we hope you guys are out there feeling festive and embracing the holidays. I know it's a crazy time of year. Um, we are actually gonna be jumping ahead today to the spring to talk about mobilize. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Mobilize 2026. Can you believe it? I can't. And I'm looking forward to spring already because we've already have entered winter. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

We sure have. First snow day this week.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So excited to talk about um what's coming up next year and just how mobilize has changed and what it's done, and for our uh staff and team and those who've attended.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah. Yeah, so with that, I I know we've recently had some changes. We can even talk about that here with like the social media stuff because it kind of goes into all of the mobilize stuff too. We we actually had posts go out this week about the foster community, social media. And I do feel like it does tie into this because this all started with foster community.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So back in the day, we, you know, we've talked about how we just started as a group of moms around the kitchen table. And um, as we began to gather and sit with one another, we realized there was this huge need for community for everyone who was in the foster care or adoption space. Um, and what was intended just to be something for ourselves as a group of moms kept growing from a small church ministry to a small nonprofit. Um, but the reality was is as I began to work with families, we realized their needs were so much bigger than what we as a group of foster and adoptive volunteers could could do. Yeah. Um, so how how do we support our families well? How do we get support for them? And I remember just thinking one time, okay, God, I'm I'm gonna need some money. Yeah, I'm gonna need something because my the relational piece of our ministry was really how we started. And it's, you know, I feel like it's one of the most important pieces of what we do. But how do we grow this? How do we support more families? So long story short, we were connected with the Christ Foundation, who was able to help us um dream a little bit. And we all sat together and talked about uh attending a conference in West Virginia, and then we talked about how could we just host this conference here in our area. So we hadn't even launched Hope Bridge yet. I think it was just uh a thought. Um, and we began to plan mobilize Ohio four years ago.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So mobilize was really the start of Hope Bridge. It wasn't really Hope Bridge first and then oh, let's do a conference. It was how do we bring these people together, mobilize first? And then of that, yeah, Hope Bridge came, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_00:

It was really cool. And and I do think we like announced Hope Bridge at that conference. Uh at that time, we still had foster our community. We they were like, hey, we're gonna do Hope Bridge, and people were like, What does this mean? What's the difference? And we're like, we don't know. Yeah, because we don't know what we're doing right now. And I feel like finally there is clarity.

SPEAKER_01:

There's been so many transitions over the last four years, and there is so has been so much clarity over the last, I would say, six to nine months. And so with that, what's up with foster our community?

SPEAKER_00:

So foster our community again was just really the foster care program of Hope Bridge. So we took that piece of it, the social supports for families, that relational piece for foster adoptive families, and we've like just plopped it right down in Hope at Hope Bridge. Um it's be continued to grow. It needs to grow a little bit more. And I've kind of been over that for the past so many years. But as our organization continues to grow, uh the reality is I can't do all things and be all things because I'm I'm also a busy mom. And um my brain space is just it's human. So how do we do this well? How do we support our families well? Continue to support them. How do we grow Hope Bridge? How do we continue to engage churches and the community into this space? And so we've done some internal restructuring. Um, and you know, what I what I think I scoffed at three years ago when somebody mentioned me letting go of the foster care program. Um I think that was you. I think I just like was like, what are you talking about? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

There's a lot of scoffing at my suggestions, mostly because they're crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

Um you know, God just really laid it on my heart. Like, I need to let this go and hand it off. And, you know, so it will be moving under programming, which is under our director uh of programming now, Melanie Montgomery. And then we will have a foster care coordinator, and that will be Ann Pace. That's amazing. Yeah. And so uh with that shift, we just kind of realized having all these different social media accounts put a lot of work on our social media, gal. And sure, you know? Yeah. And so it's time to go ahead and like shut that down and put to bed the initial starting of the foster care programs.

SPEAKER_01:

And so the heart of it still all remains the same. And you're still gonna be a face to be seen. You're gonna be at some of the events, you're you're not going away, you're not leaving, but it's just it's actually amplifying it all. And it's all under the umbrella of Hope Bridge now with with the foster care program. So, yeah. So, with that, were you gonna say something else?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'm just gonna say I I am director of engagement, so I'm still engaging people because I like to talk.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is what you're so good at, and that's like truly the gifting God has given you.

SPEAKER_00:

And gift of gap.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, don't give me the paperwork, just give me a microphone.

SPEAKER_01:

I've never seen you in your element more than when we go to CAFO and you're just gone, and you're just talking that you're like a social butterfly.

SPEAKER_00:

I just can't I see these people once a year. I have to say hi. Whereas everybody else is like hiding in the corner, like, don't talk to us.

SPEAKER_01:

My battery just gets drained so much faster than yours. I love people, but it's just yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Anyway, it's we all have our gifting. We do, we do.

SPEAKER_01:

So with that and going into mobilize a little bit, it's kind of transformed over the last several years. We've kind of spoken to different audiences over the years and made some pivots. So I want you to talk about that and then talk about who is invited to mobilize this year.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So, look, guys, I'm the one person that they always have to kind of rein in. And when we started talking the first year, it's like, let's do this, let's do it for free, let's um invite everybody to bring their children. And uh it was amazing. Our first year was absolutely amazing. On half of the church building was amazing. The other half, I think we might have traumatized the volunteers because we had 150 children. Um, but it was really good. I think it was just a great launching of our conference of Hope Bridge. Uh, we were able to provide child care for everybody. Again, I think the volunteers were slightly traumatized from an all-day event with children who have come from trauma. Um, and then it was really geared towards foster families, adoptive families. Uh we had Jamie Finn, she's well known. She came and spoke, Jason Johnson. Actually, we packed out the speaker list, um, and it was just an exciting time. And then the following year, we scaled back the child care just so that the church continued to love us and welcome us in. Um, and you know, and then eventually last year I said, okay, it's okay if we don't have child care. Last year we invited Kurt Thompson to come speak, and he really appealed to a wide variety of audiences. And so we really had a lot of social workers and therapists attend. Um, this year we're kind of going back to our roots of speaking directly to the foster care space and the adoption space. So our speakers, Ryan and Kayla North, um, are well known uh for speaking and coaching those who are in foster care and adoption, as well as Trisha, Trisha Preebee, who is an adoptee with Life's Long for Orphans. She's from that uh that organization. And she just really has a lot of wisdom when it comes to uh the adoption space as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's awesome. And so in years past, like you said originally, it was for foster adoptive kinship families. Then we did invite pastors and ministry leaders. Um, if for everybody listening, how is that working this year?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So everybody who is interested in the space is welcome. So if you're a foster parent, adoptive parent, kinship caregiver, if you're a social worker, a therapist, or if you're a church or ministry leader who really wants to understand the space and how you can step into the space, um, the conference really is for you. Um, it's, you know, there's so many different breakouts that you can sit in on and learn different things from different people, different voices. We have a couple of different adoptees who are speaking, um, people who understand the foster care space, people who um work in this space and really understand different types of um issues that you may encounter as in a parent or a therapist. Yeah. Um, and the day before we're going to actually host a pastor and ministry leader brunch that will be geared towards those who are in ministry in a church, whether you're a pastor or a lay leader or children's ministry leader.

SPEAKER_01:

So we will have that opportunity as well. Yeah, that's awesome. I think the bottom line is that the state and the nation continues to be in a crisis with the with the child welfare system. And so even if you want to just learn more about that crisis, and just this just made me think of this. Last night I had dinner with my sister who was adopted, and she came when she was um 10. And she was just sharing parts of her story with me that I still am learning. And it's just so enlightening to sit down and hear from those people. Yeah. Even if you have no desire to be a foster parent, adoptive parent, or you know, work in this space, just to have that information, even being educated makes a difference in the crisis.

SPEAKER_00:

For sure. I feel like there are many times we misjudge people because we don't understand where they come from. And so behaviors are usually just the result of something that they've been through or something that's going on in their life. But yet we judge somebody's behaviors. And, you know, just having an understanding of where somebody comes from really does help you to have empathy and compassion and also understanding and how to work, walk alongside people in in your workplace, in the schools, you know, wherever you are. So I do think it's valuable information to have. Um, the reality is is you know, the breakdown of families is increasingly getting worse. Um the foster care system's in a crisis. There are not enough safe and stable homes. So children aren't finding that safe place to go to while their parents are getting the help that they need. Um and so it's just it's just a big fat mess. It is so and there's so much to learn. There's so much to learn. And and we once invite people in. We don't, we know from firsthand experience we cannot do this ourselves. Yeah. As a foster parent, we cannot fix the entire broken system. It's spiritual warfare. We're fighting uh big things here. But we fully believe that the church and the community and individuals can come together and we can collaborate and and work together to make a difference in this this crisis. Yeah, you know, yeah, I think it can be done. It just takes everybody. Power and numbers.

SPEAKER_01:

For sure. Want every person makes a difference for sure. Um, this is just a totally random thought before I move on to my next question.

SPEAKER_00:

But there Do you have these questions in your head? Or yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

She doesn't have notes or anything. She just looks like she's reading from a list and she doesn't even have notes. Everybody has their gift things.

SPEAKER_01:

Mine is podcasting. No, I'm just kidding. It is. Um so this is more of a practical thing, but there are credit hours, right?

SPEAKER_00:

For foster families. For sure. So if you are a licensed foster family during the breakout sessions, you can get um for each breakout session an hour of training hours.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's just something that I even will forget sometimes as a foster family because I or a foster parent, I'm consuming this stuff. Like we go, we go to that conference every year. And I've never turned them in just because I forget. And so something to remember. And also what made me think of that was the child care piece. Because when you do turn those credit hours in, you get reimbursed for that time. So it does kind of help with that. Some counties will reimburse you for training. Not all though. Yeah. Okay. So what I'm really excited to talk about is the theme. Oh. And you, I mean, can you be credited with all of the themes?

SPEAKER_00:

I've yeah. I mean, I usually say what I want the theme to be for the year.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you're a visionary. Yeah. And I I was, I mean, we work together. So I have been working alongside you as you prayerfully like prayed through and like wrestled through this year's theme. And so it was really cool to see you go from like, I'm not sure, I feel like I have this idea, this is what I'm thinking, and like truly take it to God over several weeks, months, even. And then it's like you had it and it and you shared it. And so, will you share about this year's theme?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I think it kind of just happens every year. I when I try really hard to think about something, it doesn't come. It's usually when I'm like listening to a worship song or driving in the car, and um, I don't remember what I my initial thought was. For me, it's like when I'm in the shower and I can never write it down. Yeah, right. Well, that's usually how it is for me too. So um, and I made sure like I went back and wrote this down because I didn't want to forget the next day when I'm like, oh, I have my theme. What is it? I don't remember because that's how my brain is. But I was on the back porch listening to some worship music, and um, you know, this song I used to play before some of our first Care and Connect group groups, I would play it, and it was surrounded. And I think it was just that reminder that so many of our families are surrounded by so many hard things. And it is so easy to look at what the enemy is doing, right? Like everywhere you turn, there's a financial battle, there's this person who's um coming at us, there's this behavior, this is diagnosis, there's marital problems, there's stress and anxiety, and I'm tired and I don't feel like anyone sees me and I'm isolated, and we can just look everywhere and just see the enemy and feel like okay, like I can't fight this battle. I can't. God, how are we going? How am I gonna make it? Right. And we and we're it's because we're trying to do this, we're looking through the eyes of a human, like that. I have to carry this, I have to fight this battle. Yeah, and the reality is is none of us are equal in ourselves can fight these battles. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I have goosebumps just hearing that because it's so real.

SPEAKER_00:

It is real, and it's it's just life. It's just life. You know, the enemy is on every side of us. And Paul talked about there were times that everywhere he turned, he was in distress. And you know, it's just that is life sometimes. And it it doesn't mean that your faith isn't good. It doesn't mean that it just the life of a believer, the life of a human being can just be really hard. And the and the enemy would love to destroy those who are created in God's image. And so um, as I was listening to the song, This is how I fight my battles, it's called Surround It. Um, and it even goes into the song See the Victory. It was like a medley mix, and um I just kept thinking about that. And I went back to 2 Kings, the sixth chapter and the 15th verse, and read, you know, about the servant who just didn't couldn't understand how they were gonna win this battle because everywhere they turned, there was the enemy. You know, when Elisha prayed, God open his eyes, just open his eyes so he could see who was really there to fight this battle. And that we don't have to sometimes go to the extremes that we think we have to, and that sometimes we don't have to do all the work. We can just know that God's fighting it for us. And sometimes in turn, we we go to our enemies and we actually feed them, you know. I mean, you don't feed marital distress and stuff like that, but you know, you you love them. You love them, you love your enemies, you you start to work with those who are really causing harm to your life and and blessing them and just praying for them. All the things that you know Jesus talks about on the Sermon of the Mount comes back to you know, to that comes back to that, just how do we do this life well and not feel like we need to fight against the things that are of this world?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you know, yeah, and the Bible says it um that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but it's against the spiritual forces. And so often the enemy makes it feel like it is flesh and blood, and that is one of his tactics because he wants to cause divide, he wants to cause division, he wants us to feel surrounded. They God wants us to feel surrounded, and the enemy wants us to feel surrounded, but what they want us to feel surrounded by are two very, very different things. For sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

And I do think there's such value in being with others and being surrounded by other people who can remind us to look up and to look to where our help comes from. You know, one of my favorite psalms is always I look, I lift up my eyes to the hills from where comes from my my help, my help comes from the Lord, you know, and it's that's where our help comes from. Our help comes from God. And and while our our breakout sessions will have like helpful resources and very practical. We will give you practical tools and and we can point you to uh different things that you can read that will help you. Um, our main goal for mobilize is really for you one to feel surrounded by others who get it, to be surrounded by other believers who are going to encourage you and lift you up, and also to just know that you're not alone on this journey. Like there are others here in this space. And more importantly, you know, God is the one who called us to care for the vulnerable, right? And he's not gonna call us to do this hard work and then leave us there. Yeah, you know, he's given us the privilege of doing this work. We honestly, you know, he's the one who does the work, he's the one that makes the changes, he's the one that heals and delivers and redeems stories.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he's giving us the privilege. Yeah, and we just get to be the conduit through which he does the work, which is so cool when you look at it through that lens and relinquish the control. And so hard. So hard. I'm preaching to myself because I'm not good at that.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, it's a struggle that we all have. And I think, you know, what can God do with that that tendency for us to want to control situations and step in? And like I feel like in in in our foster care journey and our adoption journey, and just in this work, I've learned um really uh the belief that we can control things or my belief about how much we can control actually has changed, right? You know, I feel like there's so many things that I used to think that we could control in life. Yeah. And kind of like order up from God and you know, and I'm like, oh wow, God, you are way bigger than he humbles us.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I love it. Okay, so excited. I mean, that's an incredible theme. I can't wait to hear more on the day, which what is the day and where can people buy tickets? When are tickets out? All of the things.

SPEAKER_00:

Registration opens tomorrow. You can go to hopebridgeohio.org to our events page, and also there'll be linked in our show notes to buy tickets. There's a discount if you buy two. So if you are a couple coming, you'll get a discount. We have some amazing speakers coming. Ryan and Kayla North, Trisha Preebe, Sandra Flack is coming from Justice for Orphans. We have Ruben Watson, who is an adoptee from foster care. He's amazing from the Lexington Foundation. And some of our own local people are going to be doing breakouts. So it's quite a lineup. It's gonna be a great day. You never know. I might just have Bethany do a breakout or something. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, thank you. I am so I have been so impacted by Mobilize, and I know others are as well. And I would just encourage you guys if you want to bring a friend or you're thinking about coming but don't want to come alone, this episode would be a great opportunity for you to just text it to somebody because it would give them the whole feel of what mobilize is, all the way down to where to get the ticket. So it would save you a lot of breath work, and nobody says it better than Nicole. I know, and and there'll be coffee, like a coffee bar.

SPEAKER_00:

So and good lunch. And a good lunch. So if anything, just ask them to meet you for coffee all day. March twenty first, twenty twenty six, and uh, we will hope to see you there.