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This blogpost is inspired by a text I received from a woman this morning @ 6:33 am. I was compelled to write this, this morning. Much love to you sister. My heart is with you. I’ve often wondered what it feels like for my gifts and calling to be immediately accepted with joy and excitement. I know that if I were to say, “I am a singer (which I am – but It’s not my season to be singing) I would love to sing in the choir or on the praise team”, they would make room for my singing gift. And I am absolutely sure that if I said, “My heart is for the next generation (which it is) I want to serve in the children’s ministry, or with the youth, there is no doubt the response would be with enthusiasm, “well after the background check”, come join us! Or if I said, “I love to cook”, I would be introduced to the person over the kitchen and if aprons were handed out, I would receive one. And there is no doubt that if I said, “my gift is hospitality, I want to be a greeter or an usher” that I would be greeted with open arms and handed a name tag and assigned a section where I could help someone find their seat. When I share with Pastors and leaders that I have graduated from seminary, I have a Masters in Spiritual Formation and one in Christian leadership and then I go on to say that my heart is for designing disciple making processes and developing leaders to become spiritually mature rarely is the response, “I want you on our team!” I have tried waiting before disclosing my experiences and education so that I don’t appear “prideful or arrogant”, and I have tried sharing about my seminary training and my heart for making disciples almost immediately so that it doesn’t appear that I am just “sitting on my gifts” and although there may be a bit of conversation, it has been very rare that I have been invited to the table. As a matter of fact, one Pastor said, “I’m just trying to figure out where you fit.” Another one said, “How are you going to do those things and handle your responsibilities as a wife and mother?” Another one said, “The reason you make people nervous when you come to church is because you are a prophet.” And one Pastor wanted to meet with me behind closed doors to hear my ideas, but he wanted to be the one to execute them publicly this was before I was a consultant. And then, there are male children in elementary, middle, and high school who can freely use their gifts in a church where women cannot, simply because they are male. These children are preaching, teaching and being ordained while adult women must sit in pews and recite, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” John 15:18. There is the story of an African American seminary graduate who had been serving in a “white” congregation while attending seminary. When she expressed that she had a heart for racial reconciliation and shared her ideas about what was needed not only in the world, but in that church to make African Americans like herself feel welcomed and not invisible, she was not seen, nor heard. As a matter of fact, what she experienced was a lead Pastor responding as someone who was a racist. The place where she should have felt safe, was not a safe place for her. She had to shake the dust off her feet and take her gift(s) of leadership, shepherding, teaching, and her heart to plant a multiracial church with her. “And Jesus was able to do very little miracles there because of their lack of faith.” (Matthew 13:58). I am starting to wonder if the "four walled" church is a new mission field, where those of us who are called, who have believed the message that we are to “go and make disciples”, and who are rejected, must use the same strategies we use to reach the unchurched, inside the church. Why? Because just like the unchurched what we have to say, and what we have to offer will not be easily accepted within the four walls of the church. What I have found is that these experiences generally happen to women. So, it's the message that isn’t accepted because of the gender of the messenger. And so many women are finding themselves within the four walls of the church reciting the scripture from John 15:18 to overcome their feelings of rejection, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Therefore, it's necessary to cultivate transformative environments within the four walls of the church. so the church will be a safe place for everyone, a place where there is a kingdom-centered disciple- making process, innovative teams are formed, and it is a community where everyone has a sense of belonging. Without those key components, the church will become a new mission field and it will not be a safe place for the unbeliever or the Christian disciple. Let's make sure the church is safe today and in the future. We can do it!

Church growth isn’t about increasing the number of people in a congregation it’s about cultivating spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is cultivated when leaders of churches become intentional about church assimilation. Church assimilation provides an internal accountability structure for making disciples. Every church should have an assimilation Pastor/Director/Leader, whose primary responsibility is to show every person who enters the doors of the church and/or participates in outreach activities the path to become spiritually mature. This is done through making personal connections and by tracking where each person is involved within the assimilation process towards spiritual maturity. Assimilation is a tool that aids the church in being good stewards over the lives that show up. Knowing where people are on the path will help leaders and members maximize relationships. I believe God the Father has an assimilation process. Before the foundation of the world God had a plan for how he was going to bring about redemption. There are scriptures that indicated that He knew us before we even came to exist in this world (Eph. 1:4) and He created a path for us to be redeemed. He was intentional. He was strategic. Scripture says that the Father knows us, he knows our sitting and our rising (Psalm 139:2), and the very numbers of hair on our heads (Luke 12:7), our names are written on the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16). The Father is keeping track of us and as He keeps track of us, He is guiding us along our spiritual journey. I believe it is just as important for there to be a leader in the church who does the same. The church must be strategic and intentional about assimilation. There must be a process for making disciples. Jesus had a process. His process? Go. Teach. Baptize. Go. Teach. Baptize. Etc., I think you get my point. Assimilation creates an intentionality about making connections with people who enter the doors and bringing them into the community of faith where they can grow and help to disciple others. If you are not sure if assimilation is for your church. Do an experiment. Be intentional about assimilation use an assimilation process for a year and see if lives are transformed. You can always stop if it’s not bearing fruit. But if it bears fruit, then your church will be impacting the Kingdom and impacting the world!

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to learn Spiritual Leadership Inc.’s (SLI) generative change methodology while I was in seminary. I was invited to be a coach for SLI; however, I couldn’t join the SLI team as a coach due to circumstances beyond my control. However, I did have the privilege of being taught the SLI methodology in seminary. There is no doubt in my mind that the churches that committed to SLI’s methodology for the purpose of fostering transformation, developing spiritual leaders, and establishing processes that bear fruit were able to be sustained during the pandemic. SLI’s methodology is based on what is called L3, Loving, Learning and Leading. It’s the process in which an SLI coach journeys with the leaders in a church that have a commitment to grow spiritually mature disciples. A covenant group is created, and that group enters a journey that results in SLI’s vision and mission being fulfilled. See SLI’s vision and mission below: Vision: Joining Jesus in His revolution to transform leaders, communities, and the world. Mission: Discover, develop, and deploy passionate spiritual leaders & teams for the transformation of churches, organizations, and communities. Values: · Developing spiritual leaders who model community that loves, learns, and leads together. · Creating environments that foster transformation · Establishing processes that bear fruit. I am not sharing this information with you as a commercial for SLI, I am sharing it because I want you to know that creating environments that foster transformation is happening in other spaces where churches, organizations and communities need transformation. SLI’s methodology has been proven to work based on biblical principles. This methodology is what ignited my soul for fostering transformation in the church. Through SLI’s methodology I discovered that there is a plan and there is a process for developing spiritual leaders and establishing processes that bear fruit. If you are the leader of a struggling church, let’s begin the journey of fostering transformation in the congregation where you lead. You and your leaders will receive tools that will sustain your congregation thru its present challenges and for the next generation. Let’s get started….together….we can do it!

What keeps me up at night is a deep sorrow that makes me long to help the institutional church be healthy. I have been praying and fasting for the institutional church for a very long time. This morning the Lord revealed something to me as I was drifting back to sleep. I had listened to part of a message about the church needing to be awakened. And the Lord said to me as I drifted off to sleep. Some churches can’t be awakened because they have C.O.V.I.D. (Consistently Overlooking Vital indicators of the Death (the disempowered, the depressed, the discouraged, the disenfranchised, the disillusioned and a lack of depth of teaching and preaching styles that penetrates and transforms hearts for the purpose of making disciples.).” Some churches just aren't safe. To overcome C.O.V.I.D* the church (body of believers) must C.A.R.E thru: o Helping one another discover and live out their Calling, o Creating a community of Accountability, o Spending time discerning the voice of God thru intentional reflection and Retreats o Empowering the people to lead In doing so the local church will experience the C.U.R.E. thru o Open and honest Conversation about what God is speaking to them, and their experiences within that body, o Unity without conformity (is it okay to respectfully disagree without being called a Jezebel or rebellious? Or to respectfully say no if asked to do something by a leader)? o Repentance for not recognizing the vital indicators o A willingness to become Equipped. When churches overcome C.O.V.I.D*, it will thrive and impact the Kingdom and lives will be transformed. Let’s make the church safe again. *Consistently Overlooking the Vital Indicators of Death

On July 31[a] of my thirtieth year,[b] while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. Ezekiel 1:1 More than 20 years ago I was sitting in my car waiting to take a young woman to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. I had brought her a Bible from home to give to her because she said she didn't have one. I had selected the New Living Translation because I thought it would be easier for her to read and understand. While waiting, I asked the Lord a question you may have asked, "Lord, are you calling me into ministry? Are you calling me to preach?" And the thought came to my mind, "Turn to Ezekiel 1:1 and all of chapter two." When I read the first line of Ezekiel 1:1, I froze. I had never seen a specific date written in scripture before. But what made the date so significant was that it was the date of my birthday and I was in my 30's. There was no doubt that God's answer to my question was, "Yes." It's July 31st, 2023, and I am 55 years old today and the call continues to compel me. It has been true to it's instructions. I have been sent to numerous "Israel's" (Ezekiel 2:3) where they have refused to listen to anything I had to say, neither my words, nor my presence had any value. I have had the experience of feeling like an exile. There were some days, I stood firm and other times I have become discouraged seeing Matthew 13:58, "And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." become their reality. It has grieved my soul. I have had to shake the dust off of my feet leaving numerous places,, yet in spite of it all, I knew that God was with me. Even though I've had some difficult times, I've had some incredible moments, like having the opportunity to baptize a woman who accepted Christ, hearing the testimony of women who discovered that they are deeply loved by God, meeting Pastors and leaders who have a sincere heart about being a disciple and making disciples, being able to facilitate a formative spirituality retreats to women because they wanted to have an encounter with the Divine Forming Mystery, - (Father, Son & Holy Spirit. The Father who formed them, the son who reformed them and the Holy Spirit who transforms them). Traveling overseas to spread the gospel, mentoring women, interceding on behalf of others, seeing prayers answered. I have indeed experienced some incredible times of joy in my 55 years of living out this call that was placed on my life before I was even born. Every year, I reflect on this compelling call, and every year I say, "Yes Lord."