Steve Thurston (born May 15, 1974) is a

Chilean-American Chilean Americans ( es, chileno-americanos, ''chileno-estadounidenses'', or ) are Americans who have full or partial origin from Chile. The Chilean population from the U.S. census was 126,810. In the United States, Chileans are the fourth sma ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, humanitarian photographer and co-founder,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

and

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

of Integrity Ministries (Integridad Network, Inc.), a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

media organization. Thurston also founded the spiritual lifestyle website InterVizion.net in October 1997 which was subsequently rebranded and relaunched as Integridad.com, a Spanish Christian Lifestyle Community website on November 5, 2001. He also founded EnlaceMusical.com, an electronic magazine dedicated to the diffusion, promotion and distribution of Christian music on December 11, 2002. EnlaceMusical.com was rebranded as ZonaVertical.com in 2016. He also writes a column for ZonaVertical.com on leadership, ministry and inspirational thoughts as practical help for those struggling to live faithfully in a rapidly shifting culture.

Biography

Family and education

Steve Thurston is the second born of three children to

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

James and Lina Thurston. He was born in

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

in 1974. His father James Edward Thurston, was a representative of

Campus Crusade for Christ Cru (until 2011 known as Campus Crusade for Christ—informally "Campus Crusade" or simply "crusade"—or CCC) is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by ...

International, appointed to work in the Chilean university campuses. James later married Lina Yerin Gallegos Suñer and a decade later, after their work with

came to an end, they remained in Chile as independent

. Thurstons' education began in grade school at The

International School Nido de Aguilas The International School Nido de Aguilas is a private, non-profit co-educational international school in Santiago, Chile. Founded in 1934 as the main international school in Santiago, it provides an English language education to both the city's ...

, in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. He continued his basic elementary and high school studies at Santiago Christian Academy from 1980 to 1993 in Santiago, Chile. He then studied Radio, Television and Film and attended

Messiah College Messiah University is a private interdenominational evangelical Christian university in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. History The school was founded as Messiah Bible School and Missionary Training Home in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. ...

as well as

Asbury University Asbury University is a private Christian university in Wilmore, Kentucky. Although it is a non-denominational school, the college is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The school offers 50-plus majors across 17 departments. In the f ...

, formerly Asbury College in the United States. Through a specialized partnership between Messiah College and

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...

, Thurston also attended

and received enhanced course offerings in Film and Media Arts. He later received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from

in 1998. During his studies at

, He participated in a program through

and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) where he received training, and later worked in paid broadcasting positions at the

Centennial Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

in 1996 with

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the governme ...

and

National Broadcasting Company The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

Personal

In high school, Thurston became interested in various artistic endeavors, and began to write and became an amateur photographer. For several years, he continued to develop his photography skills while working various volunteer and paid jobs. Most notably, his work is primarily focused on live music events for Enlace Musical magazine at such events as

Creation Festival Creation Festival, commonly shortened to Creation, is an annual four-day Christian music festival in the United States. According to its organizers, it is the "Nation's Largest Christian Music Festival." Average attendance is between 50,000 a ...

, Premios ARPA and Expolit. Thurston currently volunteers his time as a humanitarian photographer, covering countries such as Chile, Nicaragua and Mexico.

Career

In 1998, he started his career as

Web administrator A webmaster is a person responsible for maintaining one or more websites. The title may refer to web architects, web developers, site authors, website administrators, website owners, website coordinators, or website publishers. The duties of ...

for the

Law School Admission Council The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) is a nonprofit organization whose members include more than 200 law schools throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. Its headquarters are in Newtown, Pennsylvania (about 15 miles north of Phila ...

, a nonprofit corporation that provides products and services in the admissions process for

law schools A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, l ...

. He also was

adjunct faculty An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

Valley Forge Christian College The University of Valley Forge (UVF) is a private university in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 8.8 miles from Valley Forge National Historical Park. It is affiliated with the Assemblies of God and offers several Bachelors and Masters programs. H ...

from August 2006 through May 2010 and taught Digital Media Photography, Design and Visual Language, and Advertising and Brand Leadership courses. He also served as

Webmaster A webmaster is a person responsible for maintaining one or more websites. The title may refer to web architects, web developers, site authors, website administrators, website owners, website coordinators, or website publishers. The duties of ...

until March 2011. Thurston is an alliance partner with Global Christian Internet Alliance which includes partners from

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evan ...

(United States), Top Chretien (France) and Kommunion (Norway). He is also one of the Christian leaders who have endorsed and supported the Internet Evangelism Day, to help develop strategies needed to use digital media for evangelism. Thurston currently serves as associate director of marketing at

, an accredited

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

college A college ( Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

of Arts, Sciences and Professions, and continues his work with Integrity Ministries. He is also a member of the

National Association of Hispanic Journalists The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the advancement of Hispanic and Latino journalists in the United States and Puerto Rico. It was established in 1984. NAHJ has approxi ...

Awards and recognition

Chilean newspaper,

El Mercurio ''El Mercurio'' (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's newspaper of record and it is considered the oldest daily in ...

, through its supplement, Zona de Contacto, awarded Thurston second place at their first annual video and film contest in 1992. In 2000, Thurston was awarded the Hispanic

National Religious Broadcasters National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is an international association of evangelical communicators. While theologically diverse within the evangelical community, NRB members are linked through a Declaration of Unity that proclaims their joint com ...

Presidential Award for his work serving Hispanics. Thurston is also the recipient of three Premios ARPA

awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An aw ...

for his work on EnlaceMusical.com. The awards were given by the National Academy of Christian Music and Arts Association in 2005, 2007 and 2008.Premios ARPA 2008 - Winners list
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References

External links

IntegrityMinistries.net

EnlaceMusical.com

Integridad.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurston, Steve American evangelicals Chilean Christians Chilean emigrants to the United States Messiah University alumni Asbury University alumni Temple University alumni Leaders of Christian parachurch organizations Christian writers American bloggers American business writers People from Santiago People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania American photographers Christian music festivals 1974 births Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers Chilean photographers