Personal Narrative: My Work Experience With Heaven's Gate Ministries

Tears poured down my face like I was in a rain forest, hugged my mom tightly as if she was a cuddly stuffed animal and I prayed, prayed like I’ve never prayed before. Not really knowing what was going on or what was going to happen. My sister arrived home, followed by my dad shortly after. While we waited to hear back from the hospital, we sat on the couch in the living room bawling our eyes out probably. Don’t worry, I will tell you about what is going on.

To say my faith life has been completely revamped in the last year would be an understatement. I had views and ideas about faith that seem somewhat vile to me know with the experiences I’ve had. From just lectures to the retreats my spiritual side has gone from that of a holiday catholic to a Campus Ministry Student. From little things to big ethic topics I’ve changed in a multitude of ways, my Spiritual Autobiography looks like looks like someone else wrote it compared to any year before it. I think faith is one of the most important aspects of our life and it took me until last year to realize it.

I knew one thing for certain: Tennessee was a very stupid state filled with stupid people and I would never drink their stupid sweet tea. Thus was my twelve year old opinion.

Church, temple, sanctuary, or the Lords’s house, these are just a few names that your average person might call the place you come to worship God, I have always called it home. The Church I have been attending, Memorial Baptist Church, which is also where I attend high school, I have been attending since I was the age of three years old. Moving to the area that my family lives in now, I do not believe is any accident. At the age of two years old, my father was stationed in Tennessee for the military. After passing away from brain cancer, my Mother moved my two older sisters and me to Killeen Texas, to be closer to her family. Memorial Baptist Church was the only church we have ever been members of since moving to Texas, it has always felt like

I go to Mt. Zion Baptist Church. I’m on the praise team and today, we are having an affable concert. We are inviting all churches in Albany and surrounding towns to come and revere with us. My sister is also on the praise team. She is having an indolence attitude. She says she doesn’t want to go even though she committed to earlier this month. As her sister and captain of the pre team, I encouraged her to come along. The whole way to the church she was being desecrate.

For many years, I have worked in ministry as a support ministry member. In 1993-1997, I served as Administrator at Beacon Light Full Gospel Baptist Church under the leadership of Bishop Darryl S. Bister. I was responsible for all of his appointments, drafting of documents, and overseer of additional staff members and responsible for the day to day operations. In 1997, I was called to Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church with my husband under Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr. I served in many capacities in this ministry from worship leader to Administrator to the Registrar for Greater St. Stephens School of Ministry. My husband along with our 3 children was then called to Denver, Colorado to serve at Heritage Christian Center under Bishop Dennis Leonard. We serve in that ministry

For this paper, I choose to interview Jean Proll, Elijah Purnell, Alex Synder, Zach Perry, and Cynthia Bring. Jean Proll has been working with children ministries in her church for many years. I thought that she would be a good choice because she grew up in a completely different American culture than I had, so I thought she would have some good advice on how to deal with things changing, and different types or kids. I then decided to interview Elijah Purnell, because he lives in New Zealand and I thought it would be interesting to see how they lead the ministries and work in groups. I also thought it would be a good idea because I don’t know who God will bring into my path or where he will take me, so I would have some insight into another country’s culture when it comes to leadership in groups. Alex Synder has started a lot of groups around the community to help many people and she has also helped her brothers find Christ. She also has helped out the Christian students in our high school and help them start a before school Bible Study. Zach Perry was one of my choices because he led many small groups in his church and he helps many people get back on track with God. Cynthia Bing has been a devoted Christian from a very young age. She has started a women’s ministry at her church to bring the women of the church together.

I attend Gospel Light Freewill Independent Baptist Church in Thomasville, NC. It’s a relatively small church, with about 50-70 people on a Sunday morning. My grandmother, my aunt, and my uncle attend this church as well. I consider myself to be a child of God and a true “born again” Christian. Being “born again” means that one has accepted God into their heart and has been changed on the inside. I accepted him into my heart on October 9th, 2012. Growing up strictly in an independent Baptist church, I didn’t know that other churches were different, at least not until I visited my boyfriend’s church which is Southern Baptist. My pastor preaches heavily on hell-fire and brimstone. He walks up and down the altar, yelling and jumping. There are

or those who know me, they know that nearly every Sunday morning I’ll be sitting next to my wife, on the front row of Topeka Baptist Church. To be clear though, I’m not implying that I’m super-spiritual, nor am I trying to impress anyone by my seating preference. Truth be told, I’m an avid people-watcher and easily allured by my surroundings, so sitting on the front row gives me the best opportunity to pay attention since the only person I can see is the pastor. I can’t tell you the day, month, or even the year when we started attending our church, nor can I tell you exactly how long we’ve sat on that front row now. However, I do know that I’ve listened to the pastor faithfully deliver sermon after sermon, Sunday after Sunday. Although I

With renewed devotion to the miracle of the gospel and a desire to meet with my fellow saints, I searched for the church in the phone book. I called the bishop and organized a ride to church the following Sunday for Reggie and me. Reggie decided not to attend anymore. I waited for my ride that never came. I was unaware, but I lived in a very dangerous neighborhood. Once the person at the other end of the phone found out where I lived, it must have deterred them. It was a blessing in disguise. What I did not know was there existed another latter-day Church, The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now called the Community of Christ. I had called a splinter group that had nothing to do with the church I had joined. If someone

Praise and testimony opened day two of the Conference. Even the outside dampness of the rain could not interfere with the warmth and praise in the beautiful sanctuary. Bible study, taught by Rev. Annette Hoskins-Satterfield, Pastor of Pierce Chapel AME Zion Church, was powerful, practical, and soul stirring teaching. In her message, “Stewardship,” she dealt fiercely with the four principles of stewardship: we do not own it, responsibility, accountability and reward. She reminded us that we are seeking to hear God say, “Well done!” As she closed, she shared that stewardship is a place of leadership, not grunt

Cindy Lamar is a volunteer Chaplin at South Pointe Hospital under the Pastoral Care Ministry Department. In the interview, she shared with me how their church evangelism ministry witnesses in the community. She said tht after she introduces herself and shows herself friendly, she watches the person and listens to the person attentively before asking them if she could pray for them. If they say yes, all is well and if no, she blesses them and keeps it moving.

My journey with God started in February of 1993, when I went to a ladies’ conference in Columbus, Texas. It was while the speaker was explaining that she knew there were some of us out in the audience, who felt guilty about something they had done in their past, and they did not feel that God could forgive them for it. But then she quoted from God’s word; “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, not principalities, no things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39 NASB) The speaker continued on to say that all we need to do is

My call to ministry was actually not my own doing. At the start of my Christian life, my mother and grandmother raised me in the church where I would sacrifice my life to be a part of ministry. I participate in different ministries as a child. I became a choir member at an early age. Then, I became a praise dancer, a junior deacon, and a Sunday school teacher. This transition to different ministries became a part of my true purpose for God: to fulfill His purpose in my life.

Interviewing several pastors can be eye opening in that you will begin to see different character qualities, disciplines and where they are in their spiritual journey. My intention was to interview several pastors, however, I was unable to obtain the responses needed to complete a study such as that. I did get to meet with one pastor, and I believe that it was truly difficult for him to answer most of the questions even after giving him some time to think about each question. My interview was with a very intelligent and spiritual man named Les Harvey. He is currently serving at the Church of the Highlands Greystone campus under many great leaders.