DRAWN INTO A BIGGER STORY

The Tabers: Quinn, Sage, Elena, Shirin, Clyde

How Clyde & Shirin almost became John & Maria...and were called to live leveraged lives.

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Table of ContentsPage 3 Getting the Names Right: The Clyde and Shirin

story beginsPage 4 You Will Reach Millions: Middle East & Media

Page 5 New Wineskin: The Visual Story Network is bornPage 6 Historic Shifts: Screens, Story and Mobile

Page 7 11 Hours of Media a Day

Page 8 Three Movements: A Response to Three Shifts

Page 9 Middle East Women’s Leadership Network

Page 10 What God Has Done

Page 11 Iran and India

Page 12 Our Century Team

Page 13 Clyde Takes a Beating (Clyde’s story continued)

Page 14 Shirin, Are You Really Iranian? (Shirin’s story continued)

Page 15 The Taber Clan: Quinn, Elena and Sage

Page 16 Contact Us

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Getting the Names Right

Clyde made his debut on September 17, 1962 in Baltimore as the first of Emilie and Clyde’s two kids. Emilie wanted to name him John Glenn Taber after the first American to orbit the earth. Clyde III wanted to keep the streak alive so Clyde Ellis Taber IV was given the name that started in 1895.

Emilie lost the naming battle, but prevailed in the next big decision. Born of Polish Lutheran (Emilie’s side) and West Virginia Baptist (Clyde’s side) stock, Clyde was baptized (and confirmed) in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church north of Baltimore. All was well in Shangri-La until the Warren Beatty movie “Bonnie and Clyde" debuted when Clyde was in kindergarten. The jibe first heard in the alley behind their north Baltimore row home had remarkable staying power, “Hey Clyde, where's Bonnie?”

(continued on page 11)

God is the Great Author of story. He is the Redeemer of stories. He is the Weaver of stories. Here begin two stories that get redeemed and woven together to reveal His purposes to the nations.

Marcia Carmel Madani was born August 17, 1966 in Compton, California to Mahmood and Patricia. When Mahmood, a first-time father, identified his daughter through the newborn window, he thought his daughter had a birth defect. He got a second opinion from their neighbor Vicki who confirmed his suspicion (she had not yet had children herself). Shirin's head was oblong from the passage through the birth canal. Without consulting anyone else, Mahmood had her birth certificate changed to Shirin Marcia Madani. In several Middle Eastern languages, Shirin means “sweet.” Mahmood felt she would need a name to help compensate for her deformity. It did not take long for her head to take a normal shape, but the name change was permanent.

(continued on page 12)

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You Will Reach Millions

From 1993 to 2000 Clyde and Shirin reached Muslim and international students in Paris and through North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. They poured their lives into hundreds of students because someone cared enough to do it for them while they were in college.While on a trip to North Africa in 2000, Clyde met Mohammed, a Muslim student open to the Gospel because of media he found through satellite television. On the same trip, an American pastor he had just met surprised Clyde by saying “I sense the Lord is going to use you to reach millions through media.” Clyde couldn’t dismiss that God was confirming a new desire to use visual media to reach the lost.

In 1988, the east coast boy met the west coast girl in the Middle East. They fell in love while on a one-year mission in Istanbul, Turkey.

For the next seven years Clyde oversaw the development of some of the most innovative evangelistic media in the world through the JESUS Film Project. More than 100 million people have been influenced through these tools and strategies.

1988-89 Istanbul team Clyde led. Shirin is the woman of

mystery on the left.

Paris team Clyde led.

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A New Wineskin

In 2005, two mission agency directors were talking while waiting for a plane in Bangkok, Thailand. Jim Green (Executive Director, JESUS Film Project) and Rob Hoskins (President, OneHope) shared a deep desire for the body of Christ to be more effective in reaching a new generation for the Gospel.

Eventually, 20 people gathered on May 2006 in Orlando, Florida. Amidst the voices of the many gathered, one Voice emerged. There was overwhelming sense that God was saying something needed to be done. At the time Clyde was overseeing the development of new media for the JESUS Film Project when he was asked to lead this new initiative. A partnership was formed that would explore new ways to reach people in our increasingly media saturated world. This partnership became a new ministry called the Visual Story Network.

The Lineup (Visual Story Network co-founders).Clyde Taber, Bailey Marks, Stephan Tchividjian, Rob Hoskins,

Jim Green, Paul Konstanski, Rich Sheeley, Bill Sunderland Jim Green

Rob Hoskins

Visual Story Network

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Historic ShiftsAfter 2000 years, the Good News of Jesus has still not reached every person on the earth. The Church has been slow to adopt new forms of communication in our era of rapid change. Critical Gospel opportunities are lost. The world is increasingly…

Screen Dominat

edStory Driven

Mobile Device

Saturated

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11 Hours of Media a Day

This has a profound effect on the youth of the world as they are saturated in media that can warp their souls.

Watch how in the 3-minute story of Yuseff and Andrea at www.visualstory.org/need.

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Three MovementsIn response, the Visual Story Network fosters three fresh moves of God within the global body of Christ. Our 2016 plans to foster these movements are as follows. The detailed plan is available at www.visualstory.org/2016.

Visual Media

MovementStory

MovementMobile

Ministry Movement

2016 Goal: Provide strategic leadership resources to 500 churches and ministries.

Strategy: 1. Reach 2000 leaders monthly with best practices and products communiqué. 2. Introduce 100 leaders to the potential visual ministry partners. 3. Launch first online course on media production.

Outcome: These churches and organizations will develop greater “visual literacy” and more effectively allocate resources to media strategies.

2016 Goal: Train 200 Christian Leaders in 10 countries in the art and ministry application of story.

Strategy: 1. Story Workshops. 2. On-Site Story Training for ministries. 3. Launch first online course on “Story in Ministry.”

Outcome: These leaders will influence 500 others to integrate the key principles of story in the content they create and the ministry strategies they develop. This will help 50 organizations become more effective in their ability to captivate the hearts of non-believers.

2016 Goal: Train 500 Christian leaders in 25 countries to develop local tools and strategies using mobile devices.

Strategy: 1. Four-week Online Course. 2. Introductory Training Resources. 3. Launching regional mobile ministry groups.

Outcome: These leaders will influence two thousand others to adopt appropriate, innovative mobile strategies in their ministry outreach helping reach 200,000 people through their mobile devices.

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Middle East Women’s Leadership NetworkShirin has built a network of 100 Christian female leaders focused on the Middle East. The network provides training and mentoring for women in media and leadership development.

Many of these women are hosts on Christian television broadcast into the Middle East.

Sarah is a 27-year-old Iranian who experienced a radical conversion to Christ. She was profoundly affected by the idea that under Islamic law her voice only counted as half that of a man in a court of law. She immigrated to the United States in 2013. When given the opportunity to host an evangelistic broadcast television into Iran, she did not hesitate. She states, ”since I began to broadcast on television into Iran, my family has not spoken to me.”

Regarding the Visual Story Network, she says,” I love the training and encouragement I receive. There is nothing else like this for women.”

In 2013, Shirin was invited to a gathering of Christian leaders focused on the Middle East. Of the 100 leaders in the room, she was one of eight women...and the only one under the age of 50.

God used that to stir her heart to develop women leaders. She launched the Middle East Women’s Leadership Network. At the next gathering of leaders, 47 of the 100 leaders were women!

It is her burden to raise up a generation of godly, innovative women who will help reach the Middle East for Christ.

Shirin leads a recent women’s media summit for 55 women.

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What God Has Done• The ministry expanded to 1,945 participants in 80

nations reaching an estimated 260,000 people with the good news of Jesus.

By the end of 2014, God used the Visual Story Network in the following ways…

• We trained 147 leaders like Joseph Hovesepian in the use of story in reaching and teaching people in places like Iran.

• VSN resourced Isabella, a media evangelist in Thailand, and 23,000 others who spent 1200 hours on VSN web sites as they sought help for their mission work.

• The ministry helped Frontiers, a church planting ministry among Muslims, develop strategies to use mobile phones in evangelistic outreach. Our Mobile Ministry Forum (expanded to 126 organizations as the world’s leading partnership platform for using mobile devices in ministry.

• VSN launched the Middle East Women’s Leadership Network. Forty female leaders focused on Iran received training and mentoring.

• Pastor Paul Matthews from India committed to creating the first evangelistic film in Halbi for the Halbi people. Forty-four other unreached groups were adopted.

• We trained 345 leaders in the area of mobile ministry like Donna. In turn, Donna led Amira to Christ using her mobile phone. Amira is a young widow in India whose story follows.

Isabella

Joseph Hovsepian

Pastor Paul

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Today, according to Operation World, the church in Iran is the fastest growing church in the world. David Yeghnazar is the 42-year-old leader of ELAM Ministries based in the United Kingdom. ELAM is the largest outreach into Iran through television broadcasts, leadership training and church planting. David had us provide story training for their 25 staff on several occasions. He recently shared, “The Visual Story Network training on story telling has concretely helped us communicate and engage our audience more clearly and effectively.” David is the kind of leader we train to be more effective in his mission through media.

Amira is a Muslim widow raising two sons in India. During a visit, Donna shared with Amira, “I was just given some films on the life of Jesus that you can watch on your phone. Would you like to see them?” Amira hesitated, “Well...sure. I don’t know much about Him.” Donna gave her a micro SD card with the films. When they met a week later, Amira said, “Every evening the boys asked to watch more films about Jesus.”

After some discussion, Donna asked, “Amira, do you want to be clean before God by accepting Jesus as the sacrifice for your sins?” “Yes, I want this gift,” she replied. Donna led her in prayer to receive Christ. Donna and Amira continue to meet and encourage one other to obey what they are reading in the Bible. Donna learned how to use a mobile phone in ministry through the Mobile Ministry Forum initiative.

Iran and India

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Our Century Team

Shirin and I have been empowered to “make disciples of all nations” the last 30 years through the faithful prayer and financial support of families, individuals, businesses and churches.  These partners have grown with us and our family as the ministry has expanded.

The team includes nurses, pastors, a Navy admiral, entrepreneurs, single mothers, teachers, accountants, retirees, producers, software developers and more. These saints are very dear to us.

We are building our Century Team. This is the 100 partners that support us monthly through prayer and finance. We currently have 89 partners who give between $30 and $500 per month.

Would you consider joining our Century Team?

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Clyde Takes a Beating(continued from page 2) Clyde and Emilie provided a stable home for Clyde and his sister Elaine. When he was in second grade, his parents traded the red brick row home for a red brick rancher on a cul-de-sac with three quarters of an acre in the suburbs. Always the tallest in class, he leveraged his height and work ethic to excel in baseball, basketball and volleyball. As the son of an engineer, academics came to him naturally as well.When he organized neighborhood whiffle ball and kick ball games, he found a way to let kids of all ages play. He felt the pain of those on the outside. Decades later, the Strengths-Finder test told him his greatest strength is Includer. At Fallston High School, sports, academics, a posse of three friends and a series of girlfriends kept him confident and content. He balanced the plates while adding in the weekend party scene. After graduating near the top of his class of 225, he strode off to the University of Maryland with proud shoulders and greedy hands. As a computer science major, he knew there was a pot of gold at the end of the four-year rainbow.When he arrived in College Park, his shoulders slouched and his head spun in a mass of 36,000 students. In a sloping lecture hall with 500 others, he couldn't crack the calculus code and dropped the course. He retook it his sophomore year and squeaked by with a "C." To overcome his isolation, he pledged the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity his sophomore year. The parties were great, but the lifestyle was detrimental.

 On a gray day in late December in 1982, he stood alone in his parent’s kitchen. He forced himself to open the dot-matrix printout of his grades. He knew it wouldn't be good. Fourth on the list was CMSC 211 – Computer Architecture. Staring back at him was the unmistakable mark of his humanity… a "D." He had never gotten anything less than a "B" and now he had a "C" and a "D." For the first time in his 20 years, he saw the universe as something large and wild. He had to admit ”I’m not as great as I thought I was.”

He dug up the thick, forest green Living Bible he received for confirmation and started at page 1. The stories were ancient and distant, but he hoped for an answer hidden in those pages. With a new awareness of his limitations, he began to ask, "God, if your real and if your relevant, would you let me know?” The stage was set and a battle began in the heavenlies for a lost son. The next 12 months included...two demonic encounters, unexplainable answers to increasingly specific prayers, Campus Crusade for Christ staff giving a presentation in his fraternity, getting jumped by four vicious guys after leaving the most well-known bar in the area (“the Vous”) at 1:00 a.m. on Good Friday (which required a weeklong hospital stay and two surgeries to put his jaw back together). One year after his “inciting incident” (opening the grades), he had joined in a small group Bible study, went to a Campus Crusade conference with 1000 students, committed his life to Christ and received a missionary calling.

The hoopster

Fraternity guy

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Shirin, are you really Iranian?(continued from page 2)

Mahmood Madani was a direct descendent of Mohammed, the founder of Islam. This honor earned him the title “Seyed.” While on an academic scholarship in Los Angeles from his home country of Iran, he met Patricia, a striking Roman Catholic from Long Beach. Mahmood was not a practicing Muslim so he agreed to allow Patricia to raise Shirin and her two brothers as Catholics.  After completing his degree in aeronautical engineering, he returned to Iran where he rose in the ranks of Iran Air. For the first 10 years of Shirin's life, the family alternated between a year in Tehran and a year in Seattle. Mahmood oversaw the purchase of Boeing aircraft for Iran Air. When Shirin was 10, Patricia decided to move back to Seattle with the kids. Though still two years before the Iranian revolution, she did not feel the Middle East was a place to raise a tall, attractive daughter. Shirin never quite fit into either culture. This came to a head when she was in junior high during the Iranian hostage crisis. Try as they might, she and her brothers could not hide their ethnicity. It was one thing to get teased by kids, but she felt a new level of shame when her PE teacher stopped her one afternoon and said, "Shirin, is it true? Are you really Iranian?”

After the Iranian revolution in 1979, Mahmood left his prominent position in Iran Air and settled in Seattle selling cable-television door to door. Patricia's health had been declining, but the family doctor kept telling her she was experiencing menopause.  

One night Patricia was so ill that she was unable to get off the couch. Shirin, in 8th grade, helped her father carry her mother to the car to take her to the hospital. Within three weeks, Patricia was in a coma. Three weeks after that she passed away from advanced leukemia.

Mahmood was crushed. He had recently lost his country and his career and now had lost his wife. He was left alone with children ages 11, 12 and 14. To find himself, he left on extended trips to Iran. Sometimes there was supervision and sometimes there was not. Shirin become a mother and head of a household before high school.

Pam McPoland, Patricia's best friend from across the street, eventually had the kids move in with her family. Pam and Dennis had three kids the same ages as the Madani's. While the household was chaotic, it provided a family for Shirin, Thom and Cameron.

On Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings everyone piled into the station wagon and went to church. Not only did Pam share the gospel with her life, she did so with her words. Each of those kids came to faith in Christ. (NB: Shirin tells this story in detail in chapter 1 of her book, "Muslims Next Door.”) One Wednesday evening, Pam directed Shirin to the world map in the lobby of the church that showed where the church had missionaries. She said, "Shirin, maybe God will use you some day to be a missionary to the people in the Middle East."

Shirin, Pam and Dennis

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The Taber Clan

Quinn, Age 22 graduated in May, 2015 with a degree in economics from Pepperdine. He is serving with Horizons International in Beirut, Lebanon as the Creative Media Director. He has been capturing stories of the refugee crisis in camps in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan. Long term, he would like to use business as mission throughout the Middle East.

Elena, aged 19, is a sophomore at Point Loma University working on an International Business degree. She recently completed a semester abroad in Paris where she was way too close to the Paris terrorist attacks. You can watch her story at www.visualstory.org/parisattack.

Sage, age 14, is in her freshman year of high school at Trabuco Hills. She runs cross country and track. She loves her not-so-small small group at Saddleback Church (17 girls). She is a budding portrait artist whose work can be seen on Instagram at artsty_Sage.

Meet the Tabers in a Minute25 Years of Marriagewww.visualstory.org/25years Tabers in 2012 www.visualstory.org/tabers2012 Tabers in 2013www.visualstory.org/tabers2013 Tabers in 2014www.visualstory.org/tabers2014Tabers in 2015www.visualstory.org/tabers2015

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Contact UsVisual Story Network: www.visualstory.orgMobile Ministry Forum: www.mobmin.orgMiddle East Women’s Network: www.mideastwomen.org

Clyde Taber, clyde@visualstory.org, 949.310.8733Shirin Taber, shirintaber@gmail.com, 949.235.5148

Online Giving: www.visualstory.org/give

Contributions: Send your check payable to Visual Story InternationalP.O. Box 2120Orange, CA 92859

Office: Visual Story Network27631 La Paz Road, Suite ALaguna Niguel, CA 92859