How Debbie Simmons Built a Scalable Ministry That Impacts 3,500 Lives a Year

[0:00]  I think the not alone part is a key thing because pain and suffering or challenges cause us to isolate. And when we isolate, we feel like we're we're abandoned. We're all out there by ourselves and we're on a sinking ship. And the reality is, oh my gosh, if she can survive losing a child, I can survive losing a child. You know, um or if she can build something, then I can do it. And if there's just a, you know, as long as, you know, we can live without food, we can live without water for a long time. But you know, the reality is we can't live without hope.

[0:32]  And as soon as we don't have hope, we're gonna we die inside. And that that is what sharing stories allows us to do is to give a glimmer of hope to that person. Um so that that's been cool. Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and Hustle Podcast. Another great leader is coming on here to the show. Listen, sometimes life just hits you so hard, it forces you to rebuild from the ground up. But what if that pain becomes the blueprint to your actual purpose? Today's guest didn't just bounce back. She built something eternal. Debbie Simmons is the CEO of

[1:21]  Anchorpoint, a ministry reshaping lives through healing, adoption, and innovation. Her story isn't just powerful, it's a masterclass in legacy. Debbie, welcome to the Heart and Hustle podcast. How are you doing today? I'm great. Good to be here. Listen, this is I'm so excited when we had our discovery call um to get to know more about you. You were just so excited and you were just telling me so much. It could have really been a podcast on its own.

[1:46]  And and I really want to kind of start off with how you've turned one of life's deepest heartbreaks into something truly impactful. Can you kind of take us back to that moment that when everything changed for you and what sparked the idea of then creating Anchor Point? Sure. Yeah, it's a it's been a long journey, but it's been a good one. But uh I would tell you the short version of that story is that um all of my life I wanted to be a young grandma and tried to convince my husband to get married early out of before we got out of college. He said no, so we had to wait.

[2:18]  But um once we tried to get pregnant, we had a whole lot of trouble. And then eventually we were able to get pregnant and we thought we were pregnant with twins, which was awesome because I thought I'll just do I'll just do them faster. I'll have two at a time. And uh what happened was I started to looked like I was going to misaryry and ended up in a my high-risisk doctor's office and an ultrasound and went from finding out that we were pregnant with twins to finding out that we were pregnant with quads. And that in itself started this journey of oh my gosh, how do I make it to the next day and the next day and the next day? And so we just kind of went on our way. And the funny thing is I was the bread winner at the time. My husband's in graduate school. So, you can imagine all the things rolling around in our head as we try to figure

[3:06]  life out. And ultimately, um, at 26 weeks, um, I figured out that my water had broken on one of the sacks and the doctor sent us to the hospital and said I would have to stay there. And our goal was to make it to 30. And we went um and I begged my husband to stay the first night with me because I was like just like and it was a good thing that he did because the very next morning um one of the babies was deciding that they were going to come and the boys were born at 26 weeks and unfortunately that was many decades ago. Um unfortunately technology did not exist at that point to help them survive. So they literally were born and placed in my arms and when that happened

[3:55]  um they passed away because their lungs just weren't developed enough. And so what we went to the hospital in hopes that we would celebrate births um we end up planning funerals um at the same time. And I just remember the that night after the boys were born um laying in the bed and going, "God, I don't know how to figure my way through this. I I I'm overwhelmed. This is so frustrating and everything. And I just chose to put a stake in the ground and say, "I'm gonna trust you. I'm going to trust that you're going to fill this heart of mine with love for children. You're going to give me children one day. You're going to show me how to make my way through this." But what I found for most of us is kind of this, you know, why question

[4:42]  that comes up. And that was my deal. I had to figure out if I was going to hold on to this why question or if I was going to change and ask God to show me my way through. And so ultimately that stake stayed in the ground oh I don't know maybe 5 seconds and then I was back to oh wo was me and then maybe I made it 10 seconds then a minute and on and on.

[5:01]  Um but ultimately the questions that God wanted me to ask were not why but how do I survive? And then he taught me the next best step. you know what's the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and then the question became okay how do I thrive in this situation I've kind of figured out survival but I don't want to be 30 years down the road and still kind of stuck I want you to make something good of my story and so ultimately I started asking that how do I survive question and then how do I thrive and when I started asking that question that's a great space that God can work in our lives and begin to change us and he began to redeem that story for me. And that story includes ultimately adopting um and then after adopting, God challenged us and put a a

[5:51]  seed in my heart to say, "Hey, what about building something bigger that can outlast you?" And so this concept for anchor point kind of came into being and I was like, "No, no, no, no, no, no. That's a lot of work." But he just kept on and you know, he just wouldn't relent. And finally, I just said, "Okay, I'll do it. I'll do it." And so we started building it. It's 15 years old now. It impacts thousands of lives. Um and I will tell you it is it all comes out of the fact that I walked through a difficult situation. I trusted him with it and I allowed him to take it and turn you know my pain into someone else's gain. Um as we continue to go through and impact lives both now and for eternity. So that is how we ultimately got into the anchor point piece of what

[6:39]  we do. Man, a lot a lot. And and I love how you were able to shift the question from, you know, why me, but but how do I get through this? Right. That's the answer I really wanted to know. Not so much why me. There had to be something greater. And that's just kind of how you were, you know, kind of coping with it at that moment because I can only imagine that it was it was a tragedy.

[7:00]  Mhm. But then you also continued and then you wrote uh the book The Heart of Legacy. I imagine that was kind of both healing and heavy. What's actually something from the book that surprised you even during the writing process that maybe you weren't even thinking of? You know what's been most amazing to me? I think and I think I was telling my son this uh last night because my oldest son, it's interesting. You think your kids know everything about you. my oldest son, he's 33, got on the phone last night and he was like, "Mom, I finished the book." And I had to read it because I had to figure out if you said anything about me in it. Um and and I was like, "You survived it, didn't you?"

[7:38]  And he was like, "Yeah." And but he goes, "You know what? I get you now. I there are things that I didn't know that he learned in the book." And so I was telling him, I said, you know, I feel and I think a lot of people feel like our story maybe isn't as valuable or as important and so we don't we don't share our stories. And actually there's power in sharing the story so that other people are encouraged and everything.

[8:04]  And I go, you know, the more I've shared it and the more people tell me, "Oh my gosh, that really made a difference or that stuck out to me." That's been for me the most eyeopening thing in the whole process is that God is using that in other people's lives. And if I would have kept that story just to myself, you know, I talk about it, but putting it in writing and putting it on Amazon and putting it out there for the world to see, um, it's like people are like that that mattered. That makes a difference.

[8:34]  And that has been exciting for me to watch God use that and continue to redeem that story for me. Yeah, I'm a big believer that um you know, we go through life for those testimonies. You know, I and for you, right, sharing that story, there's somebody else that is going to um deal with what you have had to deal with or have already dealt with that and um never seem to find anyone that understood them. And I think that's usually the hardest part and that's why it's so common. It is not common but it should be common that we start to tell our stories more because that in itself is so inspiring. There's so much education behind it, right? You experience so much things that you can actually help people become a resource to someone. So I love that you said you know I want to tell my story because I can really imagine you tell your story

[9:22]  to someone and it's like man if I and they start to open up and tell you their story, right? because we all have a story and uh I'm a sucker for stories which is why I love doing this podcast here is because we get to hear some amazing stories but give a platform to people that never even knew that someone like them exists that someone that went through their pain exist right and like you mentioned it makes all the difference in the world when you realize like wow I'm not alone in this world yeah I think the not alone part's a key thing because pain and suffering are challenges cause us to isolate and when we isolate we feel like we're we're abandoned. We're all out there by ourselves and we're on a sinking ship.

[10:00]  And the reality is, oh my gosh, if she can survive losing a child, I can survive losing a child. You know, um or if she can build something, then I can do it. And if there's just, you know, as long as, you know, we can live without food, we can live without water for a long time, but you know, the reality is we can't live without hope. And as soon as we don't have hope, we're going to we die inside. And that that is what sharing stories allows us to do is to give a glimmer of hope to that person.

[10:28]  Um so that that's been cool. And you're not just helping people save uh survive trauma, Debbie. You're really teaching them to to break cycles. Do you actually have a story that maybe you can share with us of someone who walked through your doors and left um transformed? Yes. Yeah. Always. We have thousands of them. But the really cool I just got I grabbed a couple for you um because I think they're they're pretty good. Um, and one of them has to do with our Pathway to Hope camps, which are therapeutic camps for families who have kids that are struggling. So, um, you know, teaching these kids to use their words versus their behaviors to get their needs met.

[11:05]  And if you have a trauma background, you're going to use behaviors a lot of times because you just can't figure out words. And the whole family comes to camp. Okay? And what I find is that when the families, I have one particular family in mind that when they came to camp, they just did not get their kid.

[11:21]  They had an adopted child and uh he just was wired different. His trauma was in the way and what happens is what we see is this dynamic of the kid loses it, the parent loses it, and then they go back and forth and everybody ends up damaged in the end. And the reality is is what the kid was doing was maybe using bad language, things like that. Um, and argumentative and all this stuff. And what we had to teach the parents is to teach the parents to be able to look in that child's eyes, still see his preciousness, even though we got this maladaptive behavior going on. and for them to hear what he's really saying.

[12:03]  And what he's really saying is, "Mom or dad, I need you now more than ever, but I don't know how to tell you." Now, he's cussing at the same time, right? So, you got to hear this, you know? And if I am not healthy, then I'm going to get triggered. If I'm in a pretty good place and my kid's losing it and I can I can hear, "Mom, I need you now more than ever, then this family can learn to connect with that child and lean into the difficult behavior because what we need to do is help that kid learn how to maneuver through the behavior so he has resilience when he loses it." And you know, these parents came and the dad was like, "I just don't get him." And in the end, they were so connected. Um, and you know, when you think about this kid's

[12:52]  future, this kid's future, you know, his future boss that he doesn't get, you know, along with, if he can can get it right with his dad, he can get it right with a boss. And this makes a difference for eternity for that kid. Um, and then for the parent to go, okay, I'm not so bad. I can do this. I can lean in. I can figure my way and I can stay in these hard places and it's okay. you know, and so when they're sitting there with me as a mom of nine adopted children that have trauma and I'm going, you're gonna be okay. Just breathe and lean in. You know, that is a beautiful scenario. It doesn't mean this family is not going to have hard things that they go through, but now they have a process and a system for going through it. Um, and that is where the sweetness is, is how they can

[13:41]  grow and continue growing through it. because the resilience piece is actually more important than getting it right every time. Um, so from that perspective, that's one example of a family. And then we had another young lady that came to us one time. She was pregnant. She was overwhelmed. She didn't know what to do. She was trying to decide whether she was going to carry the baby or she was going to choose abortion. And we let her see the heartbeat and talked to her and just gave her hope. And she ultimately chose to move forward with carrying the child.

[14:12]  Well, then our next step is, okay, you do want to be a good parent, right? And she's like, yeah, everybody says yes to that. And we're like, okay, well, good parents do what's best for the child. So, let's talk about what skill things do you need? Okay, so let's do prenatal classes. Let's do parenting classes. What do you need material-wise? How can we help you with that? Okay, what about a job? Let's talk about a job. And so, she went through the whole process with her pregnancy. And when we do the case management, it just brings the pressure down. Just having someone that sees hope in you and calls it out in you and walks alongside you and gives you the resources, doesn't do it for you, but does it with you um is empowering. And this young lady went through that. And then she came back and went took her kids through the pathway to hope camp.

[15:00]  Okay? And that's super cool. And she went to the pathway to hope camp not because of her kids. she went because she said, "Okay, I just got to get better as a mom, right?" And so she started doing that and then her baby daddy um she eventually got married. Um they are now in one of the Bible study groups going through together. They do a communication course together and ultimately this has been about a six-year process with her and ultimately she's now coming back and starting to be a volunteer but she's also one of the biggest cheerleaders to help other women and girls find the ministry and so I just think it kind of comes full circle in like the breaking of cycles uh is so important for what we do and uh empowering them because they can do it they just don't believe yet and So, we

[15:49]  need to help them see how they can do it and the next step, you know, what just one step, you know, we can do. So, if the Heart and Hustle podcast has ever sparked any idea or made you think differently, do us a favor. Make sure to guys share this, post it on LinkedIn, or even text that nonprofit friend that you just have. Whatever works. This is what keeps the conversation going and allows us to just grow this community together.

[16:15]  Seriously, we appreciate you. I like that. help them believe. You know, I I do I I believe that a lot of people just do not believe in themselves. They don't know their their worth, right? They don't understand the value they truly have. And then there's individuals like you, Debbie, that help them understand that and what that actually looks like.

[16:34]  So, and I love that you're in the space, but you you I don't want you to pass by something. You mentioned you adopted nine children while still running this mission. I really got to ask, what fueled that decision and and what did it teach you about love and leadership? two things that I feel are prominent in in what you're doing today. Yeah. Okay, that's a good question because after we lost the boys, uh we went through a series of um trying to figure out what was next. And for me, losing the boys was this stake in the ground that said I wanted to be about eternity and I wanted to be about significance because at that point I was an engineer at Exxon and I loved my job. tanks, pumps, made sure you had gasoline at the gas station, all those good things. It was very fulfilling, but it wasn't eternal. And

[17:23]  everything when you go through a loss like that is now it becomes about significance. Um, and my time here is so short that I want to make sure that I'm doing the things that are right. So, it realigned my priorities in a lot of ways. Caused me to walk away from that. um go and get a ministry degree and some other things that God called me to do.

[17:43]  But after we had gotten um I had graduated from my master's program, I was looking at my husband. I'm like, I still want to be a young grandma and so we got to figure this out, right? And I was like, do you want to try and get pregnant again? Do you want to maybe consider adoption? Um we had never really talked about it. And um we sat down and when we came our conversation ended up being I we could literally spend thousands and thousands of dollars and try and have a baby or we could spend thousands of thousands of dollars on children that need loving homes and end up with children. And so our eyes were open to that option. And we didn't really know what we were doing when we first entered into that season, but we sat down. There was questions like, you

[18:31]  know, okay, can I love someone if they're not my blood? And I was like, I think so. Um, and but then, you know, what dawned on me is, you know, I really love my husband and he ain't my blood. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and so I'm like going, okay, I can probably God can probably work that out.

[18:49]  And so we went through that and then like if we would look at different races or ethnicities and stuff like that, we would be open to multiple children or single children and we just started going through the process and we just were really open and said, "Hey, we will take multiple children. We'll take any races. We'll deal with a lot of issues that these children may have." And we just said, "We're going to go for it."

[19:14]  And uh lo and behold, God placed in our arms five children, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10 at the time, a basketball team is what we call it. Uh and there was there was a lot of cold learnings. One is, oh my gosh, that's a lot of kids to move in your house at one time. And we had been married maybe 11 or 12 years, and we were very set in our ways.

[19:35]  And I remember Yeah. I remember the first day they were there and they like to play together. So, you know, they have their whole basketball team. So, they're playing and the youngest one comes in and he says, he's standing right in front of me and he looks up in my face and I'm like, "Okay." And he's like, "What's for dinner?" And I'm looking at this kid and I look down at him and I'm like, "Dude, do you ask this every day?" I said, "Because I am sorely unprepared."

[20:04]  And so you talk about my organizational management masters p, you know, picked up, you know, we got laundry systems, we got food systems, we got, you know, all these things that we had never had to do before in our home. And so we started putting systems and processes in because these kids need high nurture. They need high structure. Um, and both of them need to work together. I think we ate on paper plates the first six months of our new lives together because I just couldn't do all the dishes. Um, but we figured it out. A lot. Yeah. But every I would like to always say a lot of the things always went through my home and we had five children at the time when God planted the seed to do anchor point and I was working a full-time ministry job and um I said, "God, you got the wrong girl." Um I said, "I do full-time

[20:55]  ministry. I got a full-time mission field in my house and you're telling me to go start. I'm like, "No, this takes too much time, money, all this stuff." But he wouldn't relent. And finally, my job went away. Um, and he's like, "Do you have time now?" And I'm like, "Yes, I think I do. I got plenty." Um, and so I'll do whatever you ask. And what I've learned is that sometimes I hold out for a long time, but I've gotten much better at saying yes faster. um because my faith muscle is growing stronger. And so I think you know you and I have lots of opportunities that come our way that sometimes we just don't want to lean into but when we lean into them is when the significance can start. Um and I think that that is you know and

[21:43]  sometimes it requires getting structure in place so that you can see it. Uh but it those those children have been a blessing but they've stretched and grown us as parents um and as leaders because the things that I do with my kids, it comes into leading my staff the same way being sensitive to them and to know that they need structure. They need nurture.

[22:06]  Um and we're going to figure our way through it all and they need to know I'm committed to them. Um so those are those are some key points that I've kind of taken away over the years. I um how big have you been able to um grow the organization now? Um it it has uh well it we we raise probably about for 1.4 million a year. So um it's a fairly large organization. Um and the impact is probably about 3,500 u people a year when you look at everyone that's attached to the different systems. So it's just gotten bigger and bigger. And what I found is I've had to be very um wise to understand that I need to know what I need to be focused on and what I can delegate. Um because if I don't then

[22:55]  the size of the organization is always limited by the people at the top. Um and if I'm staying in the like I love being in the client room, right? But if I'm in the client room, who can be out raising money or who can be out, you know, helping churches come alongside of us or others? And a lot of people can't do that. Only the CEO can do that sometimes. And so I've got to make sure that I'm doing the right things and then we're empowering uh people to step up and fill the gap, whether it's volunteers, other staff, things like that. So I love it. And what do you see as you're scaling and you're growing? we now everyone is kind of being affected by AI whether some are understanding what it looks like some of them don't but I think last night we spoke you you mentioned that AI is something that

[23:42]  you're actually peeking around the corner figuring out how it helps what does that look like for your organization we're definitely figuring it out I will tell you though that there are days that I go oh my gosh this is so much great stuff and and so it can become it can become so overwhelming that it becomes paralyzing okay so you have to you have to figure you have to take a little piece and figure out how to implement it. A little piece and figure out how to implement it. And don't worry that the whole world's already got all the rest of it figured out. Even though they don't, you know, but I feel that way. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I should have a funnel for that and I should be doing this and it should automate this and uh and a staff member and I were talking this morning and she was like, I'm just overwhelmed." And I'm like, "Okay, let's just do the next best step and I need you to get this piece automated. Can you do that this week?"

[24:30]  and she's like, "Yeah." And I'm like, "Okay, then that will take that off of our list of things we have to constantly monitor." So, the ways that we have ended up using it currently is I do use it for quite a bit of research. It makes researching so much faster. Um, and the better I am at asking good questions uh for it is helpful. So, that's a skill that I have to learn. My husband does that really good. I he writes some crafty little thing and it pops up with a billion things and I write why do you do this and it pops up with two things and I'm like okay that's not helpful you know but I'm learning that because it is a great way to grasp a lot of information in a very short time it can also tailor for me kind of what are the things that are trending out there that

[25:18]  people are struggling with in the arena in which we work. So tailoring how we write blogs or how I uh do public speaking in different situations. So it's very helpful for that for speeding up some of the process that we do in that. And then we are looking as my staff's getting more as I'm getting better and I'm training them. Um, we are we're looking at pulling it down into the client experience and kind of beginning to move that in a direction to relieve some processes off of people um to be able to let them have more time.

[25:52]  It doesn't get rid of the process. It's just like you get to manage it now. So, the more we can pull those in, uh, I think the better off that we are. And um I just when I get paralyzed is when I just like want to throw my hands up, but if I just go, okay, let me just look at this one piece. That's the best way it's been for us to implement. Um right now, yeah, some really cool AI tools. And I'm happy that you're actually at least on board of like, hey, I I know it's good.

[26:20]  It's just trying to figure out how do we get it in here so that I can I can deal with it, right? Like I can talk to it, the basics of it. No, I love it. And you know, we're coming here short on time and I I just really want you to kind of um share where could people find information about more about your organization and the book that you've also um have out. Sure. Yes. So, Anchorpoint is anchorpoint US. Very simple. And they can go and find out about the camps and all the different things that we do and how you volunteer.

[26:48]  You can be on the 911 prayer team, those types of things. Um or there's a 30-day prayer guide if you like to pray for the ministry. Um, so there's definitely ways there and then you can also and it will connect you to all our social media tags. So Facebook, Instagram, uh, I don't know what all they have. I'm like, okay, that's another place where it will paralyze me. And then for me, for speaking and the book, The Heart of Legacy, it is thedebies.com. Um, and it connects you with all the handles that I have there.

[27:19]  But, uh, they can definitely get straight to the book. And then uh as a special preview on May 8th, we have another book coming out. I'm I am a co-author with about 50 other authors on a parenting book. So it's the perfect imperfect family or so. So amazing. Yeah. So that'll be cool. So good. So I leave you with a blind question. This is always for every leader that comes on to um the heart and hustle podcast. And I ask you, you've done so much to help others heal and lead, but if you had a conversation with the younger Debbie self right now after your loss, what's one sentence you would say to her? One sentence.

[27:58]  Okay. I think here's what I would say. I would say trust God above everything and then there are no worries if you get that right. I love that. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, that was that was so good. Um, now for the next leader that decides to join the Hearts of Podcast and have a conversation, what is your blind question to them? Okay, so my question was actually the question you asked me, so I'm coming up with one cold now, but that's all right. Uh what I would say is uh for a leader, what I would want to know is what I think ultimately helps us be successful in ministry work and everything like that is what are we what are you doing to take care of yourself so that you can be available for others.

[28:46]  Oh, that's a good one. Okay, I like that one to everybody on the spot. That's good. Well, I mean, it's the big thing God's been teaching me now is, you know, I if I don't take care of my health and I don't take care of, you know, the stresses in my life that compound on us, then I am not going to be here um for long and I want to give it as good a run as I can. And so, if I don't focus on those things, um and as you get older, some reason things don't work as well sometimes. So, uh you got to get that right.

[29:17]  Debbie, I truly appreciate your time. I appreciate everything that you're doing um just for for everyone. I mean, from the kids that you adopted and and you created a home and a safe place for them, you know, we we shared that adoption story and we talked about a little bit. So, I I commend you on something like that. But even in what you're doing for those that you never um had any relationship with, but but still pouring into, right, and and sharing that faith story and what it looks like to be a leader and sharing your journey, which is to me it a lot of people don't do enough of and that itself changes the world. So, thank you so much for what you're doing and for taking the time to really pour into us to allow us allow me to ask you questions. It's never easy to be in the hot seat and answer all these questions, but it's definitely been amazing and I can't wait to see what you do three, five years from now. There's

[30:04]  more books, there's more people, right? Yeah, always, always. There's always a lot of people to reach. So, definitely. So, well, Debbie, thank you so much, guys. This has been the Heart and Hustle Podcast. Make sure that you guys do go ahead like, subscribe, and comment so we can continue to share the testimonies, continue to share the stories like great uh leaders like Debbie Simmons continue to share. Remember that our stories truly make a difference. All we got to do is continue to share them. This has been the Heart and Hustle Podcast. We'll catch you guys on the next episode.