Stephen M. Coats was born in Portland, Oregon and at the age of 4 he moved with his immediate family to Sana’a, Yemen, where he spent five of his formative years enjoying the sights and sounds of Yemen’s rich culture and heritage. Moving back to the United States in 1980, he lived in Midvale, Idaho and during his high school years his interest in story, filmmaking and the media was cultivated. This eventually led Stephen to enroll at Biola University in La Mirada, CA graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications with an emphasis on Radio/TV/Film.

After college Stephen continued pursuing his passion for story, the visual/audio mediums, culture, language and spirituality in a variety of media production and story development roles at Warner Brothers Television, Sony Pictures Studios, Craig Anderson Productions, & Kevin Gill Productions. Stephen currently works for SIL International as an International Media Consultant as well as serving as the Director of Sabeel Media, a Michigan based 501(c)3 non-profit. Sabeel is A WELLSPRING OF MEDIA ARTS telling God’s story artistically using films, audio dramas, music, poetry, and documentaries through the power of mobile phones and the Internet. With a strong value for collaboration with both Muslims and Christians to ensure that the message of the Holy Scriptures is understandable, relevant and accessible to a modern audience. https://www.sabeelmedia.com/ https://www.sil.org/

As a husband and father of three children they lived cross-culturally serving their diverse immigrant and refugee neighbors in Dearborn, Michigan for 17 years. He currently resides in Greeley, Colorado.