The God and Gigs Show | A Podcast for Christian Creators · Allen C. Paul, Christian Creative Coach

From Piano Keys to Camping Sticks! How Trusting God Grows your Impact w/ Joleen Steel

·45 min·3 clips

Jolene says, “whose is this?” and frames her work as belonging to God, not her brand.

Alan C. Paul opens by asking whether God may be leading someone out of a current assignment. He welcomes Jolene Steele and starts where his interviews usually start, with the backstory behind the person before the title, giving her room to name the parts of life that matter most to her. She identifies herself as a mom of three boys and mentions her husband. From there, the conversation moves into the path that shaped Camping Stick Kids and the unexpected way a family story became a ministry tool for children. Her father had been working with the Fellowship of Christian Farmers. That work involved handing out hiking sticks at fairs and similar gatherings, along with a leather strap, colored beads, and a gospel story told in simple terms. The sticks were never meant to stay neutral. They were meant to open a door for conversation, prayer, and a tangible reminder that faith can travel into ordinary places where children and families are already gathered. Safety concerns made some organizers hesitate. Rather than let that end the idea, Jolene and her father looked for a version that children could receive, keep, and use with clearer purpose. The result was the Camping Stick Kids concept. A story was written around the five colors, and medallions were created so children could earn them one by one for the hiking stick. Gold, black, red, white, and green all became part of the teaching pattern. What began as something she thought would stay small became a much larger invitation to think beyond modest expectations and toward the reach of thousands of children. That widening of vision is one of the episode's central turns. Jolene talks about how Christians can confuse ambition with vanity, then reframes the goal as reaching children for Jesus Christ so they can grow into faithful influencers in a broken world. The conversation keeps returning to trust. Instead of treating a successful piano-studio season as the only valid outcome, the episode treats change as part of obedience and names creative work as stewardship, calling, and formation. Alan closes by affirming the partnership between ministries and by noting the shared connection that brought them back together. The ending leaves the listener with a simple, durable idea: the Lord can redirect work without erasing the gifts that built the first season.

As heard by us

A faith-led pivot story about moving from piano studios to a wider calling through Camping Stick Kids.

Jolene Steele's story is less about brand building than about following a calling. She started thriving piano studios twice, then left that lane for Camping Stick Kids, where a family idea became a ministry.

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Why you'd press play

If you need permission to outgrow a good thing, start here.

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