Episode 32: Balding, Bodybuilding, and the Houseless: Kristen Theile

There are times when we aren’t paying attention, we might just miss a lesson. Kristen Theile is a person who often pays attention to what is happening around her, takes what she learns and runs with it. Kristen talks with Kara about her experiences helping those without homes and how they have helped shape her life. They also discuss how her love for service also lent her into experiencing first hand the sexist nature in beauty standards for women and how she keeps herself healthy and thriving through bodybuilding. Kristen is a Coordinator of Discipleship and Congregational Care at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Largo, Florida. Previously, she was a Youth and Children’s Minister in outreach ministry in Las Vegas.  Her experiences include creating a youth ministry called Growth Through Service (GTS) where they ran a weekly park outreach meal program for middle school kids with food insecurities, a food pantry for youth, made 30,000 kits for people experiencing homelessness, Feel Good Fridays with the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, and holiday meals for kids experiencing homelessness. GTS is a youth ministry that is socioeconomic diverse, racially diverse, and openly inclusive of LGBTQ+. Kristen has partnered with communities and helped to coordinate and lead mission trips in the states and internationally. She has spoken at many conferences for Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (WELCA) about Sex Trafficking, serving our neighbors, and creating ministry around serving.  In 2020, she and her former youth group spoke at a conference with Father Gregory Boyle from Homeboy Industries, the largest gang outreach ministry in the world, and is an organization GTS has worked with. Through her work she hears the call in Micah 6:8 -- “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”   If you want to reach out to Kristen, email her at [email protected]