Paul Martin’s experience spans human rights advocacy, social services, child welfare, music publishing and production, mentoring, politics, thought leadership, and pastoral leadership.
His background includes the corporate sector, general and faith-based non-profits, and government partnerships — from municipal projects with schools and law enforcement to collaboration with the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the White House under both Democrat and Republican administrations.
He has been President, Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director, Managing Director (UK), Vice President, Senior Pastor, and Executive Pastor. He has advised four founders of prominent international faith-based organizations. His geographical span is local, national, and international.
In 2017, Paul formally launched a campaign for United States Congress, running in California’s 48th congressional district. His campaign — largely based on the human rights abuse of Vladimir Putin, particularly his suspension of the adoption of Russian orphans to America — won him the endorsements of international human rights crusader Bill Browder, and chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov. He received national attention from national media outlets, including NPR, The Atlantic, Forbes, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, and NBC.
In 2018 Paul was recruited to serve as President and CEO of a little-known child welfare organization, Royal Family Kids. He worked to build an exemplary board of directors, took the stakeholders through a comprehensive theory of change strategic plan process, and rebranded the organization to For The Children. Under Paul’s leadership, the organization grew to over 20,000 volunteers across 250 chapters across the U.S., working in 45 states, 600 counties, and 12 countries.
In 2022, he stepped down from For The Children to resume his consultancy work and launch www.paulmartin.org, the home for his new podcast and YouTube channel, as well as his blog and other work in child welfare and trauma recovery. He founded the Child Rights Foundation (www.childrightsfoundation.org) and the Critical Thinking Initiative (www.criticalthinkinginitiative.org), both in 2003. He serves as President of both organizations in a volunteer capacity.
Martin moved to Abiquiu, New Mexico on a part-time basis. He works helping rebuild a small city 20 miles north of Santa Fe. Española has historically been recognized for the highest per capita drug overdoses in the nation, and was recently featured in the Los Angeles Times piece, Can this town save itself from fentanyl addiction? The race to turn around a threatened community. He works as a substitute teacher in the city’s high school and with the only homeless shelter.
Throughout his career, Martin has led and been at the forefront of large-scale change initiatives, fundraising campaigns, substantive national project rollouts, and the development of innovative programs. He has advised and worked with multi-national socially responsible corporations, including EMI Music, Bank of America, FedEx, Chevron, and Cisco.
He started his commercial real estate broker career with one of California’s largest firms. He recalls making thousands of “cold calls,” which he deems formative to his future development.
As a musician who believes deeply in the transformative power of music, Paul was recruited to head business development for John Wimber’s Vineyard Music, where he led a restructuring effort that spearheaded domestic and international partnerships with global entities, including EMI Music. His portfolio included the United States and Western Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. He later accepted a multi-year assignment to head the organization’s European operations in London. He served as Managing Director and fostered the publication of Vineyard Music’s first foreign intellectual properties. He has contributed to several albums as a bass player and Executive Producer.
Upon his return to the U.S., Paul amalgamated his professional experience with his deep passion for philanthropy and the Judeo-Christian humanitarian ethos. He founded the U.S. chapter of Soul Survivor, a UK-based ministry that produced prolific artists Matt Redman and Tim Hughes. Soul Survivor events drew hundreds of thousands of youths on four continents and modeled servant leadership, personal integrity, and the importance of giving back to society. Under Paul’s leadership, Soul Survivor U.S. hosted tens of thousands of young people via its events, many being at-risk teenagers. Students from around the country were mobilized to invest in servant leadership projects and the mentoring of at-risk children. Paul worked closely with local law enforcement, the city government, and thousands of volunteers during this time.
During his vocational journey, Paul has continued to invest in his passion for lifelong learning, with particular interests in history, philosophy, religion, sociology, and psychology. His formal studies focused on ethics, epistemology, formal logic, political philosophy, and the influences of virtue and truth within society. He earned a BA in philosophy from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and an MA in the philosophy of religion and ethics from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University.
Paul was recruited to serve in pastoral roles at two Anglican churches, where his duties included family ministries, pulpit teaching, and executive leadership. He advised the late Dr. Robert H. Schuller for two years in his deep passion for uniting faith and science. He has served in various other non-profit assignments, including the March of Dimes and one of Orange County’s largest homelessness prevention agencies, Family Assistance Ministries.
Paul’s volunteer work has included tutoring at-risk children and coaching football, basketball, and soccer for his children’s sports teams. Paul is an avid cook, reader, writer, bass player, traveler, and hot yoga enthusiast. The son of an Italian immigrant mother, and a Mexican/Spanish father, he grew up on a six-acre working ranch in his native Orange County, California.