Amanda Stubbert: Welcome to the SPU Voices Podcast, where we tell personal stories with universal impact. I’m your host, Amanda Stubbert, and today we sat down with Michael Henry. He’s a retired pastor and missionary. Michael’s ministry included serving as a missionary in Mexico, where he encountered intense spiritual warfare, and planting and pastoring churches here in Washington state. Now retired, Mike pursues writing novels, screenplays, and film production, including an award-winning documentary film entitled Kidnapped Redemption, the story of missionary Phyllis Sorter’s harrowing adventure in Nigeria. Mike, thank you so much for joining us today.
Mike Henry: Thank you very much, Amanda. It’s a privilege and I’m just proud to be a part of the program.
Amanda: Well, we’re so glad to have you and we’re going to talk about the film in a little bit, but let’s start with your time in Mexico. How do you and your family make a decision to go live and work abroad? Because it’s not just your job, right? This is a whole family situation. Tell us about that.
Mike: Well, thanks. Yeah, I felt called to mission work at a pretty early age, in my teens, and began to explore what that meant. When I met Shelly at Seattle Pacific, it was actually during a conference week or spiritual emphasis week with Luis Palau, and both of us were talking to him at the same time. That’s how we met, knew we had an interest in missions, and things grew from there. Even when we got married, we had our first anniversary in the Dominican Republic, where we were volunteer missionaries. So it’s been part of our wide style, and then they asked us at that point if we would consider going to Mexico to work at a Bible institute to train pastors. That was very much a part of what I was feeling called to. Professor Frank Kline, this was back in the late ’70s, I was talking to him about my call to ministry and he planted a vision for me to actually teach and train pastors in a foreign setting, and the Lord just opened those doors for us to go to Mexico. By the time I did seminary and then a couple years pastoring in Seattle, the Burien Free Methodist Church, then we moved to Mexico. Our daughters were three and five, so we started language school. They were with a babysitter. That just began our time in Mexico, and so for the sake of our family, it was a wonderful experience. And then the ministry was life-changing and life-challenging and just an overall great experience.
“When I met Shelly at Seattle Pacific, it was actually during a conference week or spiritual emphasis week with Luis Palau, and both of us were talking to him at the same time. That’s how we met, knew we had an interest in missions, and things grew from there. Even when we got married, we had our first anniversary in the Dominican Republic, where we were volunteer missionaries.”
Amanda: I can imagine your kids grew up bilingual, then, moving to Mexico that young.
Mike: Yes. Shelly and I did five hours of language school a day for two semesters to learn Spanish, and they just picked it up by hearing it from their babysitter. Once we got settled in our home in Hermosillo, then they would go to church and just chatter away with other kids and their Sunday School teacher and so forth, and we were amazed. It has stayed with them. Our boys were born during our time in Mexico, but we left before they really developed that bilingual ability. But they both understand Spanish quite well.
Amanda: So it wasn’t that you and your wife and the girls could speak in Spanish around the dinner table and keep secrets from the boys? That didn’t work?
Mike: (laughs) No, that’s right. We still can’t. It’s like, we have a secret and we can’t cheat and speak Spanish because everyone knows it. It’s fun to have that be part of our family experience.
Amanda: So you had that wonderful experience in Mexico. You came back to Washington state, pastored here for some years. When and why did you decide to retire and begin this third chapter of your life?
Mike: Well, when we left Mexico, they were adjusting things in Latin America, and so it just made it so the door was closing for us to go back. And so the Lord helped shift a vision for us to plant a Hispanic church in Sunnyside, Washington, and then later, after nine years, move to Wenatchee to be on staff and did that for, I guess, 12 years. That also was a great experience. Then I just thought it was time. That’s all I can say is, we just knew it was time for me to retire. Shelly is a public school teacher. She taught for one more year and then retired. It just felt like that was time, that it was time to make that transition.
Amanda: I think a lot of people would say, okay, a career as a pastor, as a missionary, and then to retire and dive into all this storytelling, to writing novels and producing films and writing screenplays, that that feels like a huge shift. And yet for me, I feel like there’s something so similar there. I mean, isn’t that what pastors do, is tell stories? All really good storytellers are trying to tell stories that will impact their readers or their listeners or those who hear their stories. What made you want to dive in and do all this storytelling?
Mike: You know, I don’t have a simple answer for that. All I know is that’s how my brain works, is all the time a story would be forming in the back of my head. My imagination would just build on it and build on it. Even back when we were in the Dominican Republic, I was kind of writing storybooks in the back of my mind. I wrote one out but never pushed to get it published. It’d just been there, but I never thought of myself as a writer per se. I thought, “Oh, you have to be an English major to claim that.” But that wasn’t the case. It was just a very natural interest and natural expression for me. So I was doing my studies for my doctorate of ministry through Fuller, and I was pushing on that writing and technical stuff and ministry-focused stuff. In the back of my head, this story was building, so I promised myself, “When I’m done with the doctorate, I’ll jump in and write this novel that’s brewing in the back of my mind.” And so that’s what I did. I wrote that out and got it out of my brain, started to do all the rewriting, find a publisher. It took a long time. Took several years. But it triggered something in me that I really enjoy this. I like waking up and looking forward to getting to the computer and getting all those images and stories out of my head and onto paper.
Amanda: Those first two books are period pieces, right?
Mike: Yeah, it’s a trilogy. They take place in 1840. Two Rivers is the first novel. It’s about a young Methodist preacher who leaves New York to go be a missionary to the Native Americans, and he joins a group that goes West with that same purpose. Allen Hartman is his name. He has some experiences of a spiritual warfare nature along the way that really starts building his faith and building his awareness and intensity in praying and intercession. So by the time he gets out there, engages with the Arapahoe tribe, and they encounter some sorcery and witchcraft, and he’s able to overcome it because of how he was prepared. That is what engages him with the tribe so that he can speak the gospel or communicate it and be welcomed by them and become a part of the tribe. So it’s very much cross-cultural experience, but I guess spirit-led engagement. So that was the first story and then the second story just came out of that. It’s called Down the River. Do you want me to talk about that now?
Amanda: Well, sure, but I also want you to talk about your third book, because that is just coming out this month, which is June of 2023, when this episode is airing. So I want to make sure you whet people’s appetites for the new book coming out as well.
Mike: Okay, I’ll try to keep it brief. (laughs)
Amanda: (laughs)
Mike: The second book is Down the River, and so Allen is called back to Baltimore, the denominational headquarters, to answer the question why he’s not fulfilling all of his responsibilities as a missionary, because there had been miscommunication and so forth. On the way back, he stops to visit his friend, an African American pastor, a former slave who had taught him the spiritual warfare in the beginning. So he stops to visit and discovers that he had been kidnapped and taken down the river to a slave plantation. So then Allen changes his journey and goes to rescue Deacon Abraham. The story is how he gets down there, how, having no idea where to go but being led by the Lord and by faith he is able to rescue him. And then the third book picks up there. It’s called The River West, and it’s the journey of how they get Deacon Abraham back home and then get Allen to clear his name and get back out to his Arapahoe village. And so that book, The River West, should be out this month and we’re moving very quickly in that direction.
Amanda: Let me ask you this. Spiritual warfare, cross-cultural situations, even slavery. These things are still around today. Why did you choose this particular time period to set all your stories?
Mike: Well, I was doing ministry in Mexico and we were encountering demonic situations, demonized people. I had to learn how to help with that, to learn how to cast out demons and do inner healing work and the deep level of discipling to get people to walk in new faith with Jesus rather than falling back into their old habits and patterns. So in learning all that, I thought, “Wow, maybe I should write a book,” but at the time, in the ’90s, there were a lot of books out about spiritual warfare, and I thought, “Oh, there’s just no point in adding to that. But I should maybe write it in a fictional way. But then I don’t want to look like I’m copying Frank Peretti’s books. Maybe if I put it in a missionary setting .…” And my interest, just as a hobby, is researching the Old West and the fur trade era and the Native American spirituality. So I thought, “Oh, that’s a good fit.” And then I learned in that research that the Arapahoe are very spiritual people, like many native groups, but they, in particular, were known for being religious or very spiritual, and so it just made an easy connection. And so I did all that research and put it together, but it just felt good to me to do it that way.
Amanda: That’s where you felt comfortable, that time period.
Mike: Yeah.
Amanda: I totally get that. Let’s talk about how you ended up producing this award-winning documentary about Phyllis Sorter, which is back to cross-cultural situations, back to ministry, and such an exciting story. Tell us how you got to be a part of that film.
Mike: Well, the same month that I began work on staff at the Wenatchee Free Methodist Church, now called Sage Hills, Phyllis came to be a missionary speaker. I was the missions pastor among my responsibilities, and so I said, “Hey, what can we do?” And she said, “Why don’t you bring a team to Nigeria and help build a school?” At first, I thought, “Wow, I’ve just heard all of these adventures and I can’t say no,” because I didn’t want to seem like I wasn’t brave enough to join Phyllis in this work. And so I said, “Sure, we’ll do it,” and put together a team, and within nine months we were there. We were at the ground level of starting construction of a school in a Muslim community. So there was some tension there, but it worked out beautifully.
“[T]he same month that I began work on staff at the Wenatchee Free Methodist Church, now called Sage Hills, Phyllis [Sortor] came to be a missionary speaker. I was the missions pastor among my responsibilities, and so I said, ‘Hey, what can we do?’ And she said, ‘Why don’t you bring a team to Nigeria and help build a school?’ At first, I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve just heard all of these adventures and I can’t say no,’ because I didn’t want to seem like I wasn’t brave enough to join Phyllis in this work. And so I said, ‘Sure, we’ll do it,’ and put together a team, and within nine months we were there. We were at the ground level of starting construction of a school in a Muslim community. So there was some tension there, but it worked out beautifully.”
Each year I’ve gone back and it’s been beautiful. So it was meeting Phyllis then and getting to know her, working with her, and then when we heard… She was going to come and speak at our church for a missions conference, but she was kidnapped, and so we began praying and engaging with a thousand of her people to pray for her safety and her release, and then she was released and wrote a book about it, came back and told the story and I said, because my oldest daughter, Audrey, was working with a film producer, I just thought, “Well, Phyllis, why don’t you make a movie?” And she said, “Well, can you look into that for me?” And so I thought, “Well, why not? It sounds fun.”
So I got in touch with my daughter and the producer she worked with and one thing led to another and then it was decided, “Let’s go with a documentary.” And then I connected with Andy Yardy, who became the director and editor and one of the videographers, because he does a lot of missions videos. And I said, “Hey, I don’t know how to make a documentary. Can you work with me?” And he felt led to join that team. We hooked up with another cinematographer that we both knew, Yayo Ahumada. His family lived in our town, went to the church that we went to, and so we have a lifelong connection with him. So it just came together. We went over to Nigeria, did the filming, and put it together. And with those guys and their amazing talent, it just flowed together. Andy did the editing and we worked together on that and just came out with a beautiful film that tells her exciting story. I’m proud of it and I think it really shows what courage and faith can do when they work together.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah, that’s a pretty amazing combo, isn’t it?
Mike: Yeah.
Amanda: The film is fantastic, and by the time this podcast airs, you will be able to find Phyllis Sorter’s film, Kidnapped Redemption, streaming, so Google that now and make sure you watch it soon. It’s fantastic.
Mike: It has been on YouTube for a while, and there might be some other platforms where it will be out soon. So yeah, you can watch it, and I think it’s very inspirational.
Amanda: I agree. I think it’s extremely inspirational for everyone who wants to take a few minutes to just absorb that story. I think someday that documentary will be picked up and turned into a major motion picture, and I think maybe Meryl Streep could play Phyllis Sorter.
Mike: (laughs) Yeah.
Amanda: That’s my casting choice. Someone else said Glenn Close. But someone awesome.
Mike: Yeah.
Amanda: Someone awesome can do it.
Mike: Well, I was just going to say she was 72 when she was kidnapped and went through that ordeal, and so I think you’re right. Meryl Streep or Glenn Close or someone like that could maybe pull it off.
Amanda: I always put myself in the position of someone going through whatever they’re going through, and you think, “What would I do in that situation?” I can’t imagine going through it the age I am today, much less in my 70s. It’s pretty amazing. Talk about courage and faith married together. It’s such a good story.
Mike: Phyllis is just a woman of courage and tremendous faith, yeah
Amanda: And the 2023 SPU Alumna of the Year, so congratulations to Phyllis. All right, so I’m fascinated by your seemingly divergent careers, but like we said, I also see that major overlap of storytelling, and then the vocations of your children. Let’s make sure I have this right. You have a nurse, an actor, a Coast Guard officer, and a firefighter, your four children.
Mike: Yes.
Amanda: Do you think your love of story and aiding humanity and the community has rubbed off on them? It sure seems like it, just by looking at their careers.
Mike: Yeah, well, certainly adventure is part of our lifestyle, I guess. And they’ve all stepped out in faith. Audrey is the actor and she graduated from SPU. She said, “I don’t want to wait. I need to move to LA.” So I took her down there and our little church commissioned her as a missionary to Hollywood, and she just plunged in. And Anna is a nurse and then later she did three years of mission work in Spain. Alexander in the Coast Guard just stepped out on faith to do that. They’re now moving from Puerto Rico to Alaska. You can imagine the adventure that takes. And then Aaron, the youngest, is a firefighter right now in the Puget Sound District and doing great. And his wife is also adventurous. They do a lot of rock climbing and backpacking, and so it just has rubbed off, but they share faith. They share stories. It’s just part of what keeps our family together, I guess you can say.
Amanda: Yeah, wow. Just a note to self as a parent. Give constant chances for adventure, because, boy, will that lead to great things. Great things.
Mike: Yeah.
Amanda: Well, Mike, what’s next for you? What’s the big dream
Mike: Well, a couple of levels. Shelly and I have done two thirds of the Camino de Santiago in Spain, so one dream is to finish that, and that’s a 500-mile trek, so we just have the middle section to finish. But I guess a bigger dream is to see one of the screenplays I’ve written become a feature film. I’m working with my daughter Audrey on that, and just see that actually come to life so I can go to a theater and watch something that I’ve worked on, and a film that has a message to it. So like the novels, if I write something that’s a faith-based Western and want to present the heroes as people of faith and not as psychotic bad guys, like many preachers are depicted. So just want to speak some life into the cinema, and that includes a solid voice of the Gospel in there.
“I guess a bigger dream is to see one of the screenplays I’ve written become a feature film. I’m working with my daughter Audrey on that, and just see that actually come to life so I can go to a theater and watch something that I’ve worked on, and a film that has a message to it. So like the novels, if I write something that’s a faith-based Western and want to present the heroes as people of faith and not as psychotic bad guys, like many preachers are depicted. So just want to speak some life into the cinema, and that includes a solid voice of the Gospel in there.”
Amanda: Well, that is music to my ears personally, both the way that you are describing that thought, sending your daughter off to Hollywood with the blessing and support of your church. I also have a theatre degree from SPU, psychology as well. But I remember church shopping once when my husband and I were first married, and an older couple invited us to lunch after church, as couples do, right? As you’re trying to be hospitable.
Mike: Mm-hmm.
Amanda: And we’re going around the table. There was another new couple from the church invited as well, and we were just sort of going around, “What do you do?” Right? “What do you do for a living?” And I said, “I’m an actor,” and it was like all the oxygen got sucked out of the room.
Mike: Right.
Amanda: And someone said to me, “Well, you aren’t going to Hollywood, are you?” I was like, “I hope so?” You know? I mean, it just was such an odd reaction to me because I thought, “Wouldn’t you want me to go to Hollywood if I could bring some light and some hope with me?” It just seemed like such a strange attitude to me. And yet, I found that over and over again. So your family’s and your church’s view on Hollywood and storytelling is such a breath of fresh air. I think it’s what the church really needs.
Mike: Oh, yes. I agree. That’s very true. And Audrey was really good at that, just engaging with fellow actors and crew people and not being shy about her faith, but also at the same time having to be kind of underground about it, because saying you’re a Christian can get you blackballed right away.
Amanda: Yeah.
Mike: But that’s breaking apart.
Amanda: Yeah, for sure, it is. And those lines are being blurred as you don’t have to go the mainstream way to get something produced anymore. We have a lot more options. And so, yeah, let’s all be in prayer for how those stories of hope can really break through into that media that is then accessible to a much wider audience.
Mike, I have had so much fun chatting with you today and can’t wait to go watch Phyllis’ documentary one more time, even though I’ve seen it multiple times. But let’s wrap up with our favorite last question. If you could have everyone in Seattle do one thing differently tomorrow that would make the world a better place, what would you have us all do?
Mike: Well, I think I would say to do a study, both a biblical word study, but use spiritual discernment and do a study on the difference of compassion, grace, and tolerance, just so the church, a body of believers, and any people of faith can just be true to the faith and not let worldliness impose itself on us and cause us to weaken our faith in Christ or trust in God and our hope for making Seattle, making Washington state a wonderful place to live and raise kids.
Amanda: Amen. All right, Mike, well, thank you so much and thank you for joining us on campus as we celebrated Phyllis Sorter this month, and please do come back and join us as soon as that first feature film hits the red carpet.
Mike: Well, I’d love to, Amanda. I sure appreciate the time.
