It all started when…

Technically, it all started before I was born. God knitted me together and called me while I was still in my mother’s womb. Fast-forward to 1986, I felt God call me to be a proclaimer of the Gospel. I’d love to say that I readily accepted the call, but that would not be true. The truth is I ran from my calling for a full year before I told anyone.

Why? Well, I grew up in Christian traditions that did not affirm women as ministers, pastors, or preachers. My mother had been a minister for a few years by this time and I had front row seat to the disrespect and challenges she faced. I was newly married and I wasn’t sure how my new husband would feel about his wife being a minister. It took me a year to accept my own calling into ministry. I found a supportive church, my mother was my mentor, and my husband would become — and still is — my biggest supporter. Over the years, I would hone my preaching skills, deepen my understanding of scripture, experience rejection for being a woman, had my calling questioned, had my character questioned, and been silenced for speaking truth. Yes, there were days I wanted to give up. BUT GOD had other plans and God kept saying, “trust Me, your latter will be greater and the tears you have sown have not been in vain”.

Fast forward to 2000, I felt an inner stirring to launch Preach Sista! I had been researching women in ministry and discerned a need for a safe space for women to discern, grow into, and celebrate their calling into ministry. As well as, a safe place to speak of church wounds and hear the Gospel being proclaimed by women on days other than “women’s day” (IYKYK).

Between 2000 and 2002, Preach Sista! was only a website. A website with words of encouragement, devotionals, and a biblical case for women in ministry and church leadership.Preach Sista! has always been committed to advocating for women in ministry and to be a healing space for those wounded by the church. Our heart’s desire is to create spaces and platforms for where people — particularly women, but not excluding me — can deepen their Christian faith and care for their souls.

In 2002 we hosted our first Fresh Anointing Conference and we have been hosting this summer gathering ever since. But, we do more than host conferences. We continue to look for ways to expand our reach with various social media platforms; we partner with and support other ministries who affirm and equip women for ministry; and we continue to seek God’s leading for what is next.

Preach Sista! has evolved over the years. In some ways it is a reflection of my own faith journey and, in other ways, the changes have reflected the my own capacity to add more to a very full life. Yet, with every evolution, I believe that Preach Sista! is becoming ever closer to what God has always intended for it to become.

A Life Beyond Preach Sista!

In 2023 I retired from a 38.5 year career in Christian Higher education. Retirement doesn’t mean that I am sitting at home with nothing to do. Ha ha, far from it. I have a very full life. I am a wife, mother, and grandmother. I am an author, mentor, minister, podcastor, life coach, and consultant.

I call myself a J.E.D.I. (justice, equity, diversity, and Inclusion) Master because I have received awards for my justice advocacy , I continue to steward diversity efforts as a diversity consultant, and because at this stage of life I can call myself whatever I want to.

My church home is Maple Avenue Ministries in Holland, Michigan. I serve on the teaching team and I head the dance and visual arts ministry. I have been licenced to preach since 1986 and I am an ordained minister of the gospel.

I love life. I enjoy Godzilla movies (the older ones). My favorite thing to make for dinner is reservations, but I am actually a pretty good cook. My favorite scripture passage is Luke 1:45. I am a type 9 on the Enneagram and my signature strengths, according to CliftonStrengths are relator, strategic, empathy, maximizer, and developer.