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Nina and Michelle, are best friends with a passion for the Lord. They bring uplifting conversations, encouragement, and shared personal stories of overcoming and victory straight to your screen.
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The Journey to Mercy Ships 0:02 We wanna honor God because He sees everything.0:10 You were born with a plan and a purpose. He's the god of all things possible. He's the god of all0:22 miracles.0:51 Welcome to Grace Grace with Naina Michelle. I'm Michelle Humphries.0:55 And I am Naina Keegan. Welcome to our broadcast today. Today, we have a very special guest on. You're just gonna wanna stick around. He's got some great stuff going on. Michelle, you wanna introduce him?1:04 I sure do. This is a guy who has so many talents. He's been in TV and marketing, and he has a brand new show that you're gonna wanna watch. It is a1:16 series for Mercy Ships. Will you please welcome? He also has feature films. I shouldn't forget the 1 of the main things. Will you please welcome Tracy1:28 Trost.1:29 Hi, Tracy. How are you?1:31 Very well. Very well. How are you guys doing?1:33 Really good. We met Tracy at NRB. He was backstage at the Crown Awards and and, he we just knew we had he's got, some really cool things he's doing, so we knew we had to have you on the show.1:44 So so tell us all about Mercy Ships.1:48 Well, thanks for asking by the way. And I have to say to your viewers, it was fun to meet the ladies because when you're when you're backstage during a a an award ceremony, there's a lot going on. There's a lot to1:59 remember. And many times as you walk in up to the stage you're handed information and you 2 handled it pretty well. You had all your stuff and it was like okay, just breathe deep.2:12 You're very close.2:13 I think that's gonna be on that show will be on CTN. Is that correct?2:16 Yeah. Coming up in April. Yeah. Yeah.2:19 So if you haven't seen it yet, it's worth seeing. It was great. You guys did a great job on that.2:24 Well, thank you. We're we're grateful for you. You were funny. We We had a lot of fun with you.2:28 Funny. That did just make me laugh2:30 a little bit.2:31 So it calms you down. Okay. So2:35 how did you get involved in Mercy Ships?2:38 Well, it's a good story. A long time ago, when I was a very a very young man, I've been in television for a long time. And about 12, 13 years ago, I got involved in fundraising for nonprofits.2:50 And some some it's funny because I'm more known for my commercials than anything else. If you've seen the Shriners Hospitals for Children's commercial.2:58 Is that you? Wow.2:59 That's me. Yeah. Oh,3:00 my goodness. I'm willing to give up my dog. I mean, when I see it. Yeah. Amazing.3:07 Sorry too. Because when I got into it, so I'd done I'd done a lot of television, a lot of documentaries. Hadn't done a lot of commercial work other than way back when I was, gosh, in the nineties doing, you know, like,3:17 car dealership commercials and things like that. But I I had a mutual friend who, was working with Shriners and they were trying to get that program going and they just weren't hitting3:29 home with their messaging. And, so, he asked me to come in and just help a little bit. And so I came in it from instead of a a fundraising, will you please feel sorry for me and give me money3:41 approach to a lender story with you that hopefully you can identify with and it'll intrigue you. Because when you're doing fundraising, not only do I have to get your attention, I've also got to get you to take action3:54 and hopefully give, you know, dollars 19 a month for the next, you know, how many years. And, and it's funny because it's funny how the Lord leads you in different avenues of your life4:06 because I was focusing on doing film at the time. I had done a movie called Find Me, 1 called A Christmas Snow, 1 called The Lamp, and I was just finishing up a movie called Letting Go, which is now called 774:18 Chances with Liberty University. And I got this phone call. And I'm like, I'll help you out. No big deal. Not to realize that that would actually be about the next 94:29 years of my life working with nonprofits, helping raise funds for them. And it wasn't and and at the time you kinda wonder, okay, why am I going this direction when my my desire4:41 and my heart is in narrative? You know, Starkella would be feature or television series. And, you just don't know what God's gonna do with you sometimes. Yeah. And you take a little fork in the road and and4:53 maybe you don't get it, but you feel like, okay, I I'm feeling peace or direction in this situation, so I'm just gonna go with it and see see what happens. And when you have to get somebody's5:05 attention, you know, like a a fundraising commercial is only 2 minutes long. And about 80 to 90 seconds of that is really story. And so when you have to get someone's attention,5:17 touch them emotionally enough so that they have a visceral reaction, that they're willing to get up the phone, get on a computer, do whatever, and give you money. That is,5:29 like, the best way to learn how to tell the story, you know.5:32 Oh, that's true.5:33 9 years, I had this intense course on storytelling, really, you know. And, it's And5:40 what actually works because the data doesn't lie. Yes. True.5:43 Yeah. Yeah. And I mean that's that's the funny thing and 1 of the things that we did at the company because when I first came out of that company the question I asked was why does somebody give to this5:55 video and not this video or this mail piece and not that mail piece and because I mean if if people really knew the answer to all that every everybody would be doing it. You know? If you can create a commercial that6:07 people are always gonna give to then everybody would do that. And there's this a bit of a science to it but there's really, it's more of of an art. So we developed a neuroscience lab,6:19 just to just to learn. And I would bring in, donors who are in my demographic age range, political status, or, you know, affiliate, spiritual affiliation, all of that. People6:31 who match the donor of whatever organization I was working with. And we bring them in, hook them up to these machines. We have Galvanox Galvanox skin response, heart rate monitors, oxytocin6:41 bags. You're serious. Wow.6:43 Eye tracking. We had the whole bit so I could see because you could tell me I like it, but I could read your body and and your your biometrics and I could know if you and it's not even so much do you like it,6:55 it's more about are you engaged? Are you connected with the content? And it really helped define how we told our stories and, it's funny because like I had 1 client7:08 where we were showing and I'm not gonna give away details on it, but we're showing a scene of a man who was, wounded and he was missing his legs. And in the video, he comes up, he climbs out of his wheelchair, and he7:19 does some exercises. And the client was like, gosh. It's such a stark image. I don't think people would like that, so we probably shouldn't do that. And I said, well, let's test it in the lab. So we resume because we're7:31 shooting 4 k. We zoomed in past the legs. So you don't see that he's missing legs. You don't notice that until later on in the video thinking that way we won't have such a stark image that will get people give them an7:41 adverse reaction. And we ran through the lab side by side, the 1 with the original image that we had beat the other 1. Now I don't set to say that we won or didn't win, but what I'm saying is we7:53 would have made this, change in a piece of content based on our own personal feelings, not on like you said, the data doesn't lie, not on what the data and what the audience is telling us. So it8:05 really it was a it's I don't know. It was just a great school for those 9 years of of really learning how to tell stories and and learning how to shoot things in a way that, you know, visually captures your8:17 attention as well as8:18 And is compelling. So Mercy Ships. So so this is going to be, how many are gonna be, like, in a season, and and how many shows tell us how that was birthed. What is what8:30 is8:30 it about? How that came out. Yeah. So Mercy Ships was a client of of mine back in the day, and I helped them with their fundraising commercials. So you see those 2 minute fundraising commercials on TV. We8:42 produce a bunch of those for them. And when I was talking with them and looking at how they how they grew in the past, it wasn't through fundraising, it was through the stories that were told8:54 about them. Like, there was a documentary that was done by Nat Geo that was a huge boost to them with followers and donations. And then the big 1 was 60 minutes of the story on them9:06 many years ago, and that just helped them explode. And I was realizing, like, you know, somebody telling a story about you and not ever asking for money or not asking for anything9:18 was more compelling to the audience than somebody saying, okay, here's our here's our mission, here's what we do, here's the lives that we're changing, will you please support us, you know. And so talking to, my9:30 counterpart there, the chief development officer, I'm like, I really think telling stories and creating content that's strictly entertainment and putting that on TV would be more compelling to an9:42 audience to be interested in an organization. But I said it's got to be it's got to be entertainment otherwise you know nobody would be interested in it. You know can I build a TV show that fans, you9:54 know, people become fans of it and want to support it? Because fans will tell other people about it. And, like, hey, have you seen this show? Have you done this? Have you done that? So I approached Mercy Ships with this10:02 idea, and then where the idea came from Crazy.10:05 Can you hang on 1 1 second? We're gonna take a quick break, and then tell it take it up pick pick it up from there as soon as we get back. Stay right there. You're watching Grace10:14 Grace with Nina and Michelle. We'll be right back. Hello, everyone. I'm excited to announce the next generation of energy drinks, Rev 7. It has no sugar and no caffeine. Instead, Rev 7 uses go10:26 b h b. Go b h b is 1 of the body's primary ketones, and it provides the most efficient and clean fuel that your body needs. It also helps you stay energized all day with10:37 no crashes. Not only that, it produces 3 times more brain energy than sugar, which helps boost your memory, focus, and mental sharpness. It also helps reduce stress and helps10:49 balance your mood. Rev 7 does all that while being the best tasting energy drink ever. So go to my pillow dot com or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code to save 20 percent11:01 today. I'm so sure you're gonna love Rev 7. For a limited time, you get our introductory 3 pack absolutely free. I drink Rev 7 every day, and I absolutely love it, and11:13 so will you.11:15 Welcome back to Grace Grace with Naina and Michelle. We have our guest on Tracy Trost. We just wanna know, like, what was the final thing? How did how did Mercy Ships come to be? What what determined that?11:27 The television Mercy Ships came about because I was on 1 of the ships in Sierra Leone, Africa, and I was getting to experience what it's like to to be on the ship that is 1 of the world's largest11:39 floating hospitals bringing their their phrase is bringing hope and healing to the world's forgotten poor. Basically what that means is bringing medical care to those who have no opportunity to get medical care at all.11:50 And the interesting thing about Mercy Ships is the the ship is run completely by volunteers. So from the captain on down to the human resources to the cooks to them to the housekeeping to everybody12:02 on there is volunteer and they're basically I believe from what I've noticed is fulfilling their the great commission for them and and serving God through their different talents and their abilities to help12:14 bring these you know free medical care and operations to these different people and throughout mostly throughout Africa because that seems to be where the need is greatest. But we were on the ship12:26 working on doing a different project, and we're talking to the different people that are volunteers. And 1 of the guys on my crew says, man, this is just so interesting. This would make a great show. And that, like, was12:36 beep. You know, 1 of those light bulb moments. It's like12:39 you were in the right place at the right time. Find appointments.12:41 I'm like, this would make a great show. Mhmm. And I'm like, not a documentary and, you know, not a I don't know, behind the scenes, but really to me a reality show. And not in the not in the12:53 normal sense that we think of reality shows today with drama and you know if we're sleeping together and all the garbage of television but the the highlighting lives that are of people who are13:05 like focused on helping other people and serving God with their lives. I mean fully committed you you go there people go from anywhere from 2 weeks to years there are some people we met on the ship that have been there13:16 you know 14, 15, 17 years you know. Wow. It's incredible some people raise their families because you can understand when you have a it's like a floating city, you know, and you've got a supply of food and sanitation13:28 for families. You've got housing and then for people who've got kids, you've got school. I mean it's everything. When I say human resources up to operating the ship, it's pretty amazing. So that's where the impetus of13:39 the show came from. And so when we came back to Mercy Ships and said, hey, this this would be a great idea because it would be great entertainment, and it would also let the world know about you, who you are, what you13:50 do, and why you're doing it. And I I thank God because they they jumped on the idea of it. And and, I mean, you'll see here very shortly, you know, there'll be 10 episodes in the first season14:03 and we just follow the lives of these people, these incredible people doing these incredible things.14:07 Where will we be able to see it?14:10 Well, we're we're we're in the last stages of putting a deal together with Angel Network, so that's where it'll be14:15 for the Oh, great network.14:17 Is it mostly, like, medical or is it you talk about the school or the volunteer captain? I really don't know how I feel about a volunteer captain. I would at least like for someone to get paid.14:28 Maybe the captain.14:29 Well, the thing that's interesting though is is captain O'Shea was a captain for over 50 years and he retired and now that he's, and he's still young, but so in his14:40 retirement he's now captaining the ship. So he's he rotates with another captain so he's 3 months on 3 months off. And so the guy brings, you know, 50 years of experience and ability.14:51 That's amazing.14:52 Yeah. So we trust him. So these14:53 Oh, yeah. And all the all the parts, like the electricians, I mean, and anybody who's doing anything is they're good at what they do.15:00 Yeah. You15:00 know? It's not like you're just, hey. I wanna be an electrician. I wanna be15:04 So so where so so when you park these ships, like, you know, when you pull into a port, do you stay a while? Do you stay out at sea? How are you protected? You know? Because, you know, there's that too because15:16 you get into some of these areas where you never know what's gonna go on or15:20 A vertical unrest.15:21 So, you know, how is that all go down? And is it primarily, like, are you doing surgeries on board? And, you know just you know how give us just how this all works?15:32 Lots of questions there. So they come in to a different country currently in Sierra Leone in Madagascar, they're there for 10 months in ports. There's also a15:45 compound on the land as well called the Hope Center and so before the ship even gets there they've got different offices throughout the the country, whatever country they're in, and they're meeting15:57 people and seeing, can we help these people? Is there something they they basically build their schedule. And it's everything from cleft palate work to goiter work to tumors to hernias to orthopedics,16:09 you name it. They do a little bit of everything and it just depends on which doctors are lined up. And so they're there for 10 months in, they call it a service, a field service, and then every 2 year or every every 1016:20 months they have to go back for upgrades and repairs and certifications. Because it is a ship. Mhmm. And every every year, a ship has to go through maintenance and and, make sure that it's, you know, it's seaworthy16:32 and all the other things that have to happen.16:34 Wow. So what was your favorite experience on the Mercy Ships?16:41 Honestly, not to sound too cheesy, but meeting the people, because they're they're walking inspiration. I mean, I believe that I'm serving God with my gifts and talents by telling16:53 these stories. These people, like I say, it's everything from there was 1 girl there who was there for 2 weeks. I walked by every day. She was cleaning the hallways. I go, hi. What's your17:05 name? What do you do? She goes, yeah. I come here every year for 2 weeks and I just clean. And she goes, this is how I serve God so these people can give operation. Sweet.17:12 Wow.17:13 Yeah. It's amazing. And there's some, like, say, some there for 2 or 3 weeks, some that have been there for years and years.17:18 That's amazing. People Yeah. It's pretty incredible. Somebody wants to sign up for that or, you know, people watching that maybe want, you know, want to offer nursing skills or doctor skills or whatever. Is there a way17:29 that you the people are chosen to be able to come on board and do they go through a screening process?17:34 Or Yeah. There's a process. So you can go to mercy ships dot org forward slash go. And there you can see a list of different, opportunities anywhere. Like I said, anywhere from mechanics to I mean, they need17:46 people working on the cars. They need people cleaning the places, human resources, IT, you name it. Anything it takes basically to operate a small city. And then you also have, of course, nurses, doctors, surgeons.17:58 And that's what most people think of when they think of Mercy Ships, but really it takes everything to keep the ship going. So go to mercy ships dot org forward slash go, and you can sign up there and go through the re18:08 the, the onboarding process.Show more In this video 0:00 The Journey to Mercy Ships18:10 Embracing God's Call
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