Dec. 16, 2025

Second Act: What To Do When You’re Called Up Front!

Second Act: What To Do When You’re Called Up Front!

Send us a text We trace Catina Parrish Clark’s journey from insurance to education to chaplaincy and pastoring, exploring how obedience, formation, and care shape a faithful second act. We share honest lessons on leaving the familiar, guarding your soul, and leading from presence with people. • salary cap and tuition as guidance signals • discovering a teaching gift and learning God’s voice • saying yes when comfort says stay • moving churches to grow spiritually • divinity school refining l...

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Send us a text

We trace Catina Parrish Clark’s journey from insurance to education to chaplaincy and pastoring, exploring how obedience, formation, and care shape a faithful second act. We share honest lessons on leaving the familiar, guarding your soul, and leading from presence with people.

• salary cap and tuition as guidance signals
• discovering a teaching gift and learning God’s voice
• saying yes when comfort says stay
• moving churches to grow spiritually
• divinity school refining language of faith
• chaplaincy as the heart of pastoral care
• staying with people to fuel the pulpit
• self‑care rhythms that prevent burnout
• accepting elevation before feeling ready
• practical courage for a second act

Please like, please share, please subscribe. If you’re new to the community, please say hello. We love interacting and engaging with you in the comments


00:00 - Welcome & Guest Introduction

03:35 - Defining The First Act

04:55 - Early Career In Insurance

06:20 - Salary Cap And Tuition Provision

08:05 - Discovering A Call To Teach

11:10 - Hearing God Clearly In Daily Life

13:25 - Obedience, Fear, And The Cost Of Yes

16:40 - Middle Adulthood And Overwhelm

18:05 - Ministry Of Care And Avoiding Burnout

21:05 - Leaving A Beloved Church Community

24:15 - Mount Zion And A New Season

27:10 - The Vandy Catalyst And Application Rush

30:05 - Seminary Formation Beyond The Classroom

34:10 - Constructive Theology And Articulating Faith

36:45 - Providence, Grace, And Grit At School

39:05 - Falling In Love With Chaplaincy

41:40 - Preaching Flows From Being With People

45:05 - Intermission: The Backstage Pivot

47:25 - Act Two: Training, Field Ed, And Calling

50:05 - Leading Care In Hospitals

53:20 - Recognizing Pastoral Work In Chaplaincy

56:30 - Personal Self‑Care Rhythms

59:25 - Graceful Elevations And New Yeses

01:02:05 - Courage To Enter The Second Act

01:05:20 - Return To Nashville And Title Shift

01:08:10 - Final Encouragements & Closing CTA

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Hello everyone.

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Welcome back to the Around Podcast.

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This is your host, Jaquita Ross, and we are here at the second act.

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This is the place where we reflect on where we've been so we can redefine our now and rewrite our next.

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Listen, friends, I have a treat for you today.

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I'm not, and I'm not even kidding when I say this.

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This is one of my favorite people.

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Okay.

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She is my big sister, but more importantly, she is a servant of the most high.

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She is a wife.

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She is a daughter.

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She is a pastor.

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Okay, and I can't wait to talk about her journey to getting there.

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Okay, this is none other than the pastor Katina Parrish Clark.

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Hi, Katina.

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Hello there, my sweet Jaquel Rose.

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It is such an honor to be with you on this podcast.

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So looking forward to tonight.

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Y'all, let me tell you something.

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I'm telling y'all, can't y'all hear the pastor?

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It drips off of her commitment to the caring and well-being of people, is just so paramount.

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It spills over in her.

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And that's why I have always, always, always loved her, y'all.

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Um, Katina and I, just as a backstory, we met in Divinity School.

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Um, Katina was there for some of my formative years.

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I was a fresh baby.

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Yes, it was it was a fresh, a fresh beginning for everyone.

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I don't know how many of y'all know about the trials and tribulations of divinity school, but I'm sure we'll talk about a few of those as well.

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But Katina immediately became my big sister.

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She is the one.

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If you're wondering why my Instagram handle is Quita Rose, because since I met her, Katina has called me Quita Rose or Jakuita Rose.

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And I thought it was the cutest thing.

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But Katina, tell them why you were calling me Jakuita Rose.

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Well, you know, the classes were so big in Van Den.

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Sometimes when the students would introduce themselves, you may not get all of what they were saying.

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But I could have sworn she told us that her name was Jakita Rose, and that was her first name, but she was really giving her first and last name Jakita Ross.

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And so I just called her Jakita Rose from day one all the way until here we are in 2025, 13 years later.

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So I like it.

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She likes it.

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It sticks.

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Yes, y'all.

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She thought Jakwita Rose was my real name.

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And now I have adopted it.

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And now I love it.

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I put little roses at the end of my signatures.

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So I absolutely love it, y'all.

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Katina, um, and I just want to say this.

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Okay, I don't know who's in the office now.

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Okay, but I was Katina's first armor bearer.

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Okay.

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I used to travel with Katina from church to church as she preached the good news.

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And I'd be in that back room praying my sister on through.

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So it's been a wonderful journey with Katina.

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Um, I can't wait for you guys to hear more about her life and her journey and her story because truly it is absolutely amazing.

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Absolutely amazing.

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Thank you so kind.

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So kind.

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Yes.

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All right.

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So, friends, we're still in our first season of the second act.

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So I'm just gonna run down how we're gonna roll through this conversation, right?

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We are gonna start off talking about the first act.

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The first act are those formative years.

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It's where God is showing you a little bit about who you are, what's inside of you.

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It's where you are experiencing maybe some different situations, some conflicts, right, that will get resolved as you continue to walk through your journey, right?

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And I, Katina, you didn't start off as a pastor, right?

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You you did not start off as a pastor.

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And and uh just as a note for the people who are wondering, Pastor, where she's the pastor at?

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Katina is the associate pastor of congregational care at the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

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It's also the church I attended when I was at Vandy.

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We went to Vandyville Divinity School together, and so Katina has such a beautiful journey there.

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So, Katina, I want to hear more.

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I want the people to hear more about where we started before we got ideas of pastoring, right?

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And even if you could start, like what led you to divinity school?

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Yeah, so I would have to start all the way back from uh really, I think, was probably my most formative year that I knew of at that particular time, just spiritually.

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Uh, it was a time when I first started being able to discern the voice of God.

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And uh I was um working at my first job outside of college, and uh I was doing insurance.

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Uh I was an insurance, not an insurance agent, but I processed uh life and long-term care insurance claims.

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I did.

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I never knew that, honey.

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I don't know what happened, but uh applied.

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It was the first job I applied for out of college, got the job, and it stuck, right?

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And so uh a lot of us who had graduated from MTSU uh had applied at this particular uh life insurance uh company.

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And uh we were working there, and I had worked there for about five years, the number of grades, right?

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Yeah.

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And uh some things started to shift uh at the insurance company because you know, one of the things about that job that we had, you know, of course, when you get out of college, you think, you know, I'm gonna climb this career ladder because that's what we've all been taught, you know, as we were talking about what what the path looks like or and the trajectory looks like after college.

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And so uh, of course, we had our regular salaries, but there was so much overtime available at this life insurance company.

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Let's take the money.

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We were staying, honey, until seven and eight o'clock at night.

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Yeah, you know, just having your spat check.

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Honey, yes, honey.

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You look, you just order pizza, eat pizza in, and then honey, you're ready to shower and go to bed and get ready for the next day.

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But um, something was happening within insurance at that particular time, and it was about 2000 when uh they had called us in for some meetings to say that you know they were putting a cap on the salaries.

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And I was like, now, God, this is not what I signed up for.

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Now I done went to school, and you know, I'm looking to climb this career ladder.

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Yeah.

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And so, but at the same time, when they had put a cap on the salaries, um, they had also instituted, which did not make any sense.

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I mean, looking back on it now, you would know that it's nothing but God.

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Because as they were putting a cap on the salaries, they also had uh put in place a tuition reimbursement program.

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So I was like, okay, well, let me just see about going back to school, you know, maybe.

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And so, of course, I didn't know what I was gonna go back to school for, but again, this was the time where I was really being developed spiritually and I was being able to hear the voice of God.

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And so the church that I was currently in, uh, I had kind of already been serving uh in ministry there and you know, singing in the choir, but also uh participating as one of the facilitators for um children's church.

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You know, Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.

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Okay.

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Red and yellow, black and white.

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Yes, and so on.

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Yes.

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I would teach um children's church right there within there was a segment right there within the service.

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And so uh people had seen me do that for years.

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And so uh a lot of times people would come up and say, Where did you teach school?

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I really want to try to get my kids in your class.

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And I was like, I'm not a teacher, you know.

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I I process life insurance claims and long-term care insurance claims.

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But people kept speaking this over my life.

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So I would have to say my first calling um that I received from God was my calling to teach.

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Wow.

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As that salary cap was happening uh at the insurance company in which I was currently employed, I went back to school, got my master's, and before um I left the job, I ended up getting my master's from TSU in education and supervision because I was like, well, Lord, if I'm gonna teach, then I am going to have to, you know, be on the other salary scale.

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I'm not gonna be able to go in on the introductory.

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Not no introductory.

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No, no, no.

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I said, Lord, I'm gonna have to be an administrator.

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Of course, you know, you don't go in as an administrator, you have to, you know, start in the classroom.

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Yeah.

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Um, but I taught um for seven years.

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Uh, and again, the number of completion, right?

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And so um in that season, uh, God showed me a lot.

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I mean, to the point where I could hear God's voice so clearly to at one point it kind of got a little bit scary.

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And I told God I was like, hey, okay, I I know your God.

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But um, you know, the next time I ask you something, you don't have to say it so loudly, you know, uh, because, you know, God was just showing me really in that moment that, you know, the things that I'm calling you to, I'm gonna give you very clear uh instruction.

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I'm gonna give you very clear uh direction.

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You're not gonna have to question it uh at all.

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I'm gonna speak it so loudly to you that it's gonna be undeniable.

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And so those seven years that calling to teach um the kids were my congregates.

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Come on here, you know, the the the you know, my podium inside the classroom was my pulpit.

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Come on here, and so tell people you you're looking for it to happen one way, but God will set you up and any place can become a place of purpose.

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Absolutely, absolutely, and of course, hindsight is always 2020, right?

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Because um in that seventh year of teaching, that's when I also experienced my calling to preach.

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So that starts then the pivot.

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Okay, wait, because I I I there's some nuggets that I don't want to lose because I feel like we're about to shift to the next part of your story.

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But the way, you know, you were saying that you were learning God's voice as you were kind of moving through these different shifts and pivots of your life, right?

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And I think what's so important because people ask me all the time, you know, how can I hear the voice of God?

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You know, what what do I do?

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Or what what you know, what's the secret sauce?

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But it was in his move.

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God was speaking through the moves when they put a cap on the salary, right?

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When they and but that shifted you right into moving towards something else because God one river draw uh uh dried up, right?

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But he he shifted you to another brook that was overflowing with the tuition reimbursement, right?

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So he didn't actually take anything away from you, he shifted you, and that was his speaking.

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And then when you went through that process and got your degree, then you moved from insurance to education.

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That was that was him speaking, and so a lot of times we're waiting to hear, but a lot what God really wants us to do is to pay attention, right?

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And to not allow our emotions, because you know, you could have been in your feelings, salary cap.

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In my feelings, yeah.

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Salary cap.

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Oh Lord never and never wanted to teach, you know, because you know, and not that teaching, I I uh, you know, forsake not that office at all.

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Yeah, but I think that, you know, across the nation, across this globe, we know that teachers are um grossly underpaid for the level of work that they do.

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And so that was certainly not, you know, the path that I wanted to take.

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I was like, no, Lord, no, wait a minute.

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I can't go backwards here.

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You know, you know how much I made, even if it was including overtime, I have got to make more here.

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And so, you know, um, you're right, you know, that was one of the seasons where I was like, no, God, if this is clearly you, I need for it to look like this.

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And I guess God was saying, you know, I know that teaching is not the path that you would have chosen, but you've got to trust that if you if you're obedient to me and you choose the path that I am giving unto you, I'm going to provide for you and make room for you to have what you stand in need of.

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But you know, I think another thing is that a lot of times we think that what what what we're chasing after is what God is putting in front of us to pursue.

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But what God was actually perfecting was your yes.

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That entire time.

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He was putting you in different spaces and and in front of different people and in front of different assignments, but really he was perfecting your yes, right?

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Your trust me when you can't see, trust me when you don't know, trust me when it looks like something dried up, still say yes.

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And so I love that.

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I love that that yes led you to accept a call.

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That by the way, just as a note, when Katina and I met, she had her yes.

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I had not yet found mine.

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Um, and she's part of the reason that I was forced into my yes.

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Okay, but go ahead, talk about your yes, Katina.

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No, uh I think you're absolutely right.

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You know, um, it's such a beautiful thing uh to be able to hear the voice of God because I guess, you know, when I think about um just my life's journey, you know, from the time when I felt like I could first start hearing from God.

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Um, hearing from God um is a is confirming, but it's not always comfortable.

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So the thing about it is right there, y'all.

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I mean, seriously, if you're gonna clock some tea, clock that.

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Yeah.

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Because as much as you say, okay, well, God, I know because you are God, it's your voice that's speaking to me.

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I know you're not gonna tell me anything wrong, but God, I don't understand this.

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You know, it don't look right, it don't always feel right.

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Um, and sometimes, you know, it gets very uncomfortable on the path of obedience, you know, but uh God continues to show himself uh faithful.

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And so even in that time where God was really uh, you know, training my ear to hear, yes, he was also training my yes because once you say yes to God, it's not just one yes, you know, your yes just continues to unfold, it continues to get bigger, it continues to get bigger, it continues to get greater.

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I ain't bringing no Kleenex today, Kate.

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I promise you that yes, uh, you know, the cost of discipleship is great.

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Yeah, the cost of discipleship is great, and so uh, but it's nothing that you cannot afford um because God has deposited himself inside of you, and God has always promised unto us that he will supply all of our needs according to his riches and glory, even when it doesn't look like it's anything that's tangible, if it's not just because it's not money, God will supply everything that you stand in need of, even after you have said yes unto him, to continue to trust him.

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God will supply even that.

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The cost is great, but you can afford it because of who's been deposited in you.

00:15:57.759 --> 00:15:58.159
Yeah.

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Did you just preach that?

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I did not, but I might have to.

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And I might have to too, y'all.

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I give you a little credit.

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Oh, we that was so good.

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Go ahead.

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Go ahead.

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Because you know, I think a lot of times there's a lot of people who are, you know, ambitious or they they have great vision or they have great insight into who they are and what they're called to do, and we chase after these things.

00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:33.279
Um, but when you try to do things off your own strength, your strength is gonna come up short.

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You, me by myself, I can't afford what God has called me to.

00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:40.639
I will, I will get spent.

00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:47.679
I will get, I will get, I will empty myself and still have more to do if I count on my own strength.

00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:56.559
But if you tap into what's been deposited in you, you'll have enough to give out to everything that God has called you to do.

00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:58.720
Because what I'm learning, right?

00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:06.960
You know, we uh on this podcast we talk a lot about being middle adults, okay, because this middle adulting, okay, nobody prepared us for.

00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:12.319
Everybody was preparing you how to be a young adult and telling you to look forward to like retirement.

00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:14.559
Nobody taught you how to do the in-between.

00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:15.519
The in between.

00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:17.920
The in between these middle adult years.

00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.039
I'm trying to tell you.

00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:27.599
But you know, I I think about my I think about my life right now, and it's gotten, it's, it's been like a circle, it's been getting wider, right?

00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:34.319
And so there's more responsibilities, there's more priorities, there's more things that require something of me.

00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:39.440
And when I depend on my own strength, it that's when feelings of overwhelm come.

00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:51.759
That's when feelings of anxiety, feelings of depression, feelings of being unsure, insecure, those are gonna come anyway, but you become overcome by it because you get depleted.

00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:59.359
You have to depend on something that's greater than you in order to be able to put out everything that's being required of you in these agencies.

00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:01.599
Yeah, you are so right.

00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:13.039
You know, that's one of the things that, you know, I have to keep before myself, uh, even as I operate in this space, because the job that I have, uh rarely does anything good come to my office.

00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:19.680
And when I say good, I mean they're not calling me for joyous uh moments and not calling me for joyous occasions.

00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:25.680
I I was able to do a wedding just a couple of weeks ago, but weddings come far and few in between.

00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:29.359
I'm doing more funerals and hospital visits and things of that sort.

00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:37.920
And so um, you know, you find yourself busying yourself doing the work of ministry, and then that's who you become.

00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:42.240
And you have to remember that you're not a human doing, you are a human being.

00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:53.920
And so you have to make sure uh as you pour out to God's people, you cannot do God's work without first being before him because he's a fountain that will never run dry.

00:18:54.240 --> 00:19:01.359
You have to make sure that you load up and that you fuel up uh so that you can be ready for the work that God has assigned to you.

00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:18.880
And yes, never ever uh will I, you know, I I I can say this for me, you know, if if if there's anything that becomes problematic for me, I probably don't give myself enough credit, but I'm always one who's gonna always uh recognize that low is the way, you know.

00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:23.279
Um I trust that God is my supplier.

00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:35.839
I trust that because God has planted me, planted my feet on the path in which he would have for me to go, I am trusting fully uh to for him to stamp his super on my natural.

00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:43.759
There's no way that I can do this or that I can get ahead of myself and you know, uh try to take any glory from any of this.

00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:54.160
Because I see that a lot on these platforms, these you know, star stages, and status is what we call it, a girlfriend of mine and I, because people are seeking that.

00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:59.759
And never ever am I seeking, you know, if there's an opportunity for me to not sit on the pulpit, I'm always.

00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:03.440
Running for that opportunity versus for me to sit on the pulpit.

00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:05.759
Let me sit and act like I'm a worshiper.

00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:21.680
You know, I know I'm a leader and I know that the pulpit comes along with the job, and I know that I have to mount that pulpit at some point or another, but I would rather sit in the audience as a worshiper because I never want to forsake my worship for my work.

00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:23.759
All right, all right, Kathina.

00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:24.960
You you're gonna mess us up.

00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:26.799
Back to the first step.

00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:27.279
Okay.

00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:27.920
All right.

00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:36.799
We were teaching, we were discerning the voice of God, and you you had made a move and you made another move.

00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:46.319
And then what led you from God feeling that call, right, and and knowing that it was God, what came next?

00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:54.480
Like what informed how you moved from being in a really comfortable space to again going to an uncomfortable one?

00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:56.319
Because divinity school was uncomfortable.

00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:57.200
I just want y'all to know.

00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:12.240
Divinity school was uncomfortable, but even you know, what preceded uh divinity school and its discomfort was when I received the calling um to preach in my seventh year of teaching.

00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:19.119
Wow, that calling to preach was also a calling away from my church and to Mount Zion.

00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:20.160
Yeah.

00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:25.599
Now that calling was um, that was, I did not understand it.

00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:33.599
You know, first of all, I had to bear the weight of you know, God confirming for sure that He was really calling me into ministry.

00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:39.039
And that's a heavy weight to bear within itself because you're like, God, who am I?

00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:46.640
You know, to be able to be entrusted with such a uh beautiful work as this, but a heavy work.

00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:51.279
Uh and to be able to represent you, God, I have a history, you know.

00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:53.359
I haven't always been who I am today.

00:21:53.440 --> 00:22:04.720
I know, God, that you have, you know, uh smoot out some rough edges and that you've, you know, washed some things clean, but God, you know, wash you are making baby purge you with hissing.

00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:05.519
Did you hear me?

00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:10.000
Baby, your sins were like scarlet, but you will be as white as snow.

00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:11.440
White as snow, come on here.

00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:13.440
I promise you.

00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:14.240
Yes.

00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:28.799
But, you know, that season um for me was probably uh one of the most difficult seasons of my life because again, uh I could not really wrap my mind around what all this calling meant.

00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:40.480
Uh, but for you to now call me away from the church where my faith was developed, where I had people who loved me, you know, I could get the keys to the church.

00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:46.480
You know, I always had very good relationships with uh I had only had two pastors uh at the time.

00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:56.079
Uh the pastor, of course, um that uh for first introduced me to God and then he passed away, and then the pastor who who took his place.

00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:58.480
So I had very good relationships with that church.

00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:06.400
And so, God, how can you call me to preach the gospel but pull me away from the church?

00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:12.799
The people again who had uh, you know, watched me in my formative years grow up, these people have supported me.

00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:15.920
You know, I need their support now more than ever.

00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:30.640
Um, but then, you know, God was saying to me, if you're spiritually dying in this place, how are you going to preach my word to people and you have nothing inside of you to give unto them?

00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:31.119
Yeah.

00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:36.559
So yes, I am calling you to this, but I'm calling you away from that.

00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:41.200
And so uh it was, it was, it was, I promise you, it was it was a fight.

00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:46.319
Man, God, we wrestled um like Jacob, you know, with that one.

00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:54.400
We did, you know, because not only was I, you know, again taking on this new calling to ministry, but moving.

00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:57.200
And I knew he wanted me to go to Mount Zion, right?

00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:03.599
And uh I did not want to go to Mount Zion, you know, it was this huge church, all these people.

00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:09.440
And again, I had been, you know, uh, I don't want to say the center of attention at my church.

00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:13.440
I that is not what I'm saying, but yeah, people knew me, people loved me.

00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:24.880
I mean, you know, they again, I had grown up in that church, and so uh the people respected me there and they trusted the leadership that I already had.

00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:27.279
Now you can really take me to this foreign place.

00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:31.680
I'm doing ministry, nobody knows me, so I'm trying to figure out this new path.

00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:38.960
Don't you think, God, that that would be much easier for me to figure that out amongst people who are already, you know, on my side?

00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:41.519
I have nobody over here to cheer for me.

00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:45.440
So that was, yeah, that was the the biggest pivot.

00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:57.279
It's such an Abraham moment, you know, it's such a, you know, yes, they did know you, but would they have been able to sustain and uphold who God was calling you to become?

00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:00.400
You know, and not that there's anything wrong, you know.

00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:08.799
I I love giving honor to the places that formed me, that that filled me, and they I carry them with me everywhere I go.

00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:22.799
There's no dishonor in that, but it is a I know that for where God is calling me and what he is intending to pull out of me, that there are places that I have to go and get connected to.

00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:32.559
You know, again, it is, and this was again you learning the voice of God because in one season he dried the brook up, right?

00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:37.759
It was, hey, they literally said we're putting a cap on the salaries, right?

00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.319
So that was a clear indication.

00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:50.400
But as you were growing with God, now he's speaking and he's saying, it may not look like it's dry, but you are gonna have to operate in obedience now, right?

00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:56.400
Like you're gonna have to move because I told you to and not because the circumstances are pushing you out.

00:25:57.119 --> 00:26:08.720
And so, you know, as we are moving and walking with God, especially in this first act, where we're, like you said, learning to hear him, we're learning who we are, we're learning what's really inside of us.

00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:16.079
And I love the journey that God took you on, where you know, you are always kind of in this care role, right?

00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:17.119
Like with insurance.

00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:26.079
That's a very like taking care of people, taking care of their properties and their homes, and then moving into this teaching space where it's more direct care.

00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:31.759
And now you're learning how to have congregants and you're learning how to give messages daily.

00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:33.039
And preparation.

00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:33.519
Yeah.

00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:34.000
Yes.

00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:44.160
I mean, it was uh, you know, it was when I look back on it, you know, it was preparation for because ministry never stops, you know, like a teacher's job, you know, they never stop.

00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:57.440
They just have to, you know, cut it off, um, you know, when they've had enough because you never stop caring, you never stop pouring into um the ones that God has entrusted, uh, you know, entrusted into your care.

00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:07.119
So um, yeah, yes, it was definitely uh a moment where God was forming me and shaping me for uh where I am now.

00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:29.599
But one of the things as I even listened that I don't think I ever really gave thought to is in that first season where God was drawing up the brook uh and he was giving me another job to go to, that next pivot, God was uh had matured me to the place of me giving up a job to go back to to go back to school, right?

00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:36.880
Because once God was calling me uh to ministry, I I had no idea other than I knew God wanted me to preach.

00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:38.720
That was the only thing I knew.

00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:41.039
I didn't know much more about any other politics.

00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:53.839
When she knew God was calling her to preach, we weren't necessarily thinking time for me to go leave congregational, you know.

00:27:54.240 --> 00:28:03.839
We'll get to that in a minute because I promise you the pastor was nowhere, it was nowhere on my uh what are these things that the the people make?

00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:07.920
Uh the vision boards, it was nowhere on a matter of fact.

00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:08.880
I had burned it off.

00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:13.279
If anybody else had put it on there, I was like, that is not my I and I told God.

00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:17.599
I and this is how God says, you know what, you can say whatever you want to say to me.

00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:18.799
I'm God, I'm your father.

00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:20.960
You don't tell me what to do, I'm telling you what to do.

00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:25.279
Baby, you hear me, and you better get back in the child's place.

00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:35.519
But I told God's place when I said, I said, God, I'm gonna tell you yes, because I know that if I do not say yes at this point, this is complete disobedience.

00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:37.680
This is not delayed obedience at this point.

00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:47.839
You have confirmed to me that I'm supposed to be your uh hands and feet in the earth, and I'm supposed to be your woman of God and to be able to carry uh out your word into your people.

00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:58.000
But God, I just I just I wasn't feeling it at the particular time, but I said, God, I will say yes to you as long as you never ever ask me to pastor.

00:28:58.079 --> 00:28:59.359
And that's what I told God.

00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:00.640
Will you be trying it?

00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:08.720
I'm telling you, when I went, I I had not yet received the call because remember, when you met me, I was still denying that there was any call.

00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:11.359
You were the only one that was denied.

00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:13.599
It doesn't matter.

00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:23.200
But when I was in undergrad and I heard the Lord tell me that I had to change my major to religion, I remember I was so emotional.

00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:26.160
I I walked out, got my keys, went to my car.

00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:33.599
I was driving around campus, I drove to the chapel and I cried and said, Lord, I don't want to be a pastor.

00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:49.279
Okay, now he ain't caught me like he caught you, but I'm just resonating with the fact that, like, for those of us who have been called, I feel like there's a lot, there's a lot of us who said, just so you know, Lord, I want to put this out here.

00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:50.880
I want to put this out here.

00:29:51.200 --> 00:30:13.599
And I I don't I know God hears everything that we say, but you know, the the way that God brings things about, um, you know, it does make it easier for us to say yes, because once you have said yes to him and you've cried out to him in the middle of your yes, because you know, even once you tell God yes, it's still not gonna always be easy.

00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:16.160
You know, the climb is not always comfortable.

00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:21.519
Uh, you get out in the middle of the water and you're like, Lord, you have called me out on the face of the deep.

00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:25.680
And I heard you, and I was trusting you from point A to right like point L.

00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:28.400
But right here at point R.

00:30:28.880 --> 00:30:30.000
Let me tell you something.

00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:33.519
This is not, I believe I'm getting ready to start sinking, you know.

00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:43.119
But God continues to not just stretch your faith, but God continues to strengthen your faith along the way so that you trust him all the more.

00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:53.680
Because God is gonna call you even from that place, that deep place, to another place of elevation that's gonna require even more trust from him.

00:30:54.240 --> 00:31:06.079
And so you have to continue because but because it may not be that even in that place of elevation where he's calling you to at that particular time, that you're just like, okay, God, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I'm ready for this.

00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:15.200
But because God has shown you who He who he is and who He will be, even along the way, it's easier for you to trust God, God.

00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:18.480
I don't know what in the world you are leading me into now.

00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:20.000
But God, I trust you.

00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:32.799
You've shown yourself faithful to me so many times that God, I have no choice now, God, but to say yes to you again and knowing that even you know, as you hash out these details, that you're still gonna be faithful to me.

00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:34.319
Oh, we need it.

00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:35.200
That's so good.

00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:36.319
That's so good.

00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:38.319
Okay, so you're trusting God.

00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:42.319
I I love just your journey of discovery.

00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:55.440
And I think it's just such a testament that a lot of the times the questions we have about you know who we are and what our purpose is and what has God called me to, it is found on the journey of obedience.

00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:58.480
It is found on the journey of yes.

00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:08.079
Um, and a lot of times the things that we're asking God for we haven't seen yet because there's an area in our life where we where we forsook that yes.

00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:12.799
Um, but if you find your yes, you'll find your next place, your next step.

00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:16.720
Um, and so I love how your journey is unfolding thus far.

00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:18.960
So I'm guessing we're still in the first act.

00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:19.759
What happens?

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:21.200
What happens next?

00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:23.200
I wish I had more on.

00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:27.599
Well, you know, this, you know, it's good now.

00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:36.880
You know, I thank God that um, you know, I've been able to just be on the front row and watch this because I promise you, you know, my faith has been developed.

00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:44.319
There's nothing that I will not trust God to do, you know, in my life now because I have watched God work.

00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:47.039
You know, God has almost said, watch and see.

00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:48.160
Yeah.

00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:50.720
When you do this, watch me do this.

00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:56.559
And so the path of obedience for me has proven to be the path of blessing.

00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:04.960
And so um, once I left uh teaching, uh I was like, okay, God, I mean, I didn't have a job at all.

00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:17.680
I didn't have a job at all, but I was like, I cannot commit to the school where I was teaching again for another year because I was like, I don't want them to start the year off.

00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:22.960
I was more concerned with, you know, how they were gonna start their year off than what was gonna be next for me.

00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:31.039
And so I did not want to start a year with them and then have to leave because I was like, I know God is calling me to ministry, like I cannot deny this anymore.

00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:39.839
So once I left uh teaching, went to Mount Zion, joined their MIT Ministers and Training uh program.

00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:51.279
And uh I was in that program for I want to say a year, and then uh I had met uh well one of the guys who was at uh who was a member of the church.

00:33:51.359 --> 00:34:00.319
We both already knew each other and we had just kind of served in ministry alongside each other in like Christian education or whatever, but we both started MIT together.

00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:03.440
And uh yes, he was so crazy.

00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:12.239
It was um this guy, Lord, I can't I'm forgetting his name, uh, not really important, but um, we both started MIT together.

00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:20.400
And uh his wife was always a great support uh to the both of us because she knew that we were both scared, but we were both we were certain that we were called.

00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:28.639
And so uh right he told me in that first year uh at the close of that first year of MIT that he was gonna apply to Vandy.

00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:30.079
And I said, Well, you know what?

00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:31.039
Rob was his name.

00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:31.840
Rob was his name.

00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:36.719
I said, Well, Rob, you done with I said, Um, I'll help you with your paperwork.

00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:39.119
I said, but I'm not applying to Vandy.

00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:41.360
MIT is good, it's working for me.

00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:45.599
And uh I was like, Vandy, gosh, that is, you know, awesome.

00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:47.519
Uh and he applied.

00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:52.239
The three days before the application process was gonna close.

00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:58.000
God spoke to me one night and God said, I'm speaking.

00:34:58.159 --> 00:34:59.280
Are you listening?

00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:05.840
And I got a phone call that said, Katina, I just have one question for you.

00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:09.039
I'm sitting here working on Rob's application.

00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:12.320
I'm wondering why I'm not working on your application.

00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:14.400
And I just went to tears.

00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:20.480
And that weekend, it took me three days, as long as it took Jesus to get up out of that grave.

00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:25.920
But he'd been working on his stuff for six, like six months, because you know, it was a whole packet.

00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:26.559
Well, you know.

00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:27.119
Yeah.

00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:35.920
And so um, three days I uh worked on my uh application and all the stuff that I was supposed to submit.

00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:37.039
I submitted it.

00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:46.639
I got into Vandy, he did not because I remember Rob was not, he was not with us, he was just my catalyst.

00:35:48.719 --> 00:36:03.599
He was my catalyst to get me into Vanderbilt for me to get there, and again, another yes to God, because I promise you, I thought for sure I was like, God, you are leading me out here to make a complete fool out of me.

00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:06.320
I can't hardly spell Vanderbilt, and you want me to do what?

00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:08.800
You want me to go to Vanderbilt Divinity School?

00:36:11.039 --> 00:36:15.360
Yeah, so yeah, wow.

00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:18.320
Yeah, again, you know, it's funny.

00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:27.440
I have a similar, you know, the Lord just if you go to Vandy, if you went to Vanderbilt Divinity School, you know the Lord called you there and He meant what He said.

00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:28.480
Do you hear me?

00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:30.559
It is something about that school.

00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:34.559
When I, you know, I became a religion major, you know, because the Lord told me to.

00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:36.960
And then I had no idea what I was gonna do next.

00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:40.800
But I asked my professors, you know, I was starting to get interested.

00:36:40.880 --> 00:36:43.920
I said, Hey, what do people with religion majors do next?

00:36:44.079 --> 00:36:45.760
And they were like, they go to seminary.

00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:47.280
And I said, Where did y'all go?

00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:48.960
They said, We went to Vanderbilt.

00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:51.679
I said, Okay, y'all gonna do some reference letters, what y'all gonna do?

00:36:51.840 --> 00:36:59.840
And they wrote me reference letters, and I put my application into Vandy, and I was like, let me have a backup plan because, you know, I don't know.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:03.119
And so I tried to put in an application to do.

00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:06.079
I tried no less than four or five times.

00:37:06.400 --> 00:37:13.440
Every time I went to go to see my app my Duke application, you know, because it takes a long time to fill those applications out.

00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:17.280
It would be completely erased, blank, like I had never started.

00:37:17.360 --> 00:37:23.599
I would hit the save button five million times, I would go back that day and check, it would still be there the next day gone.

00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:26.559
And the Lord would tell me no.

00:37:29.440 --> 00:37:31.280
When I got there, I said, You said what?

00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:34.159
This is what you said.

00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:36.400
I am confused.

00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:37.280
Right.

00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:48.480
As much as I wanted to um hear from Bandy for them to say yes, because I was like, that meant, you know, that was something that I could be proud of.

00:37:48.639 --> 00:37:53.840
I also wanted them to say no, because I was like, I, you know, I won't have to go.

00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:57.119
I said, God, really?

00:37:57.280 --> 00:38:05.199
Okay, I had by the time I had gotten through all those tears, um, you know, I I think I told God uh one evening, I was like, okay, God, you know what?

00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:06.400
I figured it out.

00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:08.239
Because, you know, I'm wise, right?

00:38:08.400 --> 00:38:10.880
I I I know God, I know how God's gonna work.

00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:11.679
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:16.000
So I was uh, you know, in my driveway and I said, God, okay, I figured it out.

00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:18.480
You didn't really want me to go to Vanderbilt.

00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:24.800
You were just testing my obedience to see if I was gonna follow what you asked me to do.

00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:25.920
So it's fine.

00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:27.519
Let them send the no paperwork.

00:38:27.599 --> 00:38:30.719
I'll stay at MIT and we'll work this thing out for what we had planned.

00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:31.840
It was real cute.

00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:36.400
And honey, I got that letter in the mailbox and I was like, Lord, now I got to go.

00:38:36.719 --> 00:38:37.840
Lord in mercy.

00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:38.320
Yeah.

00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:43.840
And the other thing, you know, with that, of course, you know, like I do, it was a full-time program.

00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:44.400
Yeah.

00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:53.440
And so um, you know, I was saying, Lord, we were in that I was a full adult, you know, God was with real adult bills.

00:38:53.760 --> 00:39:01.679
Katina, Katina was in in our close to middle adult years when we were in, and she did not fool around with us.

00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:06.800
We'd be like, y'all, we gotta uh we gotta stay up all night, all night.

00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:11.119
Five and ten minutes before class.

00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:13.440
My paper has been done all since last week.

00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:14.079
Let me tell you.

00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:15.840
I wasn't fooling with these children.

00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:18.880
Katina was leaving us around about seven o'clock.

00:39:19.119 --> 00:39:22.719
Katina be like, All right, babies, I got to go.

00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:26.159
We be like, Katina, you I'm done with mine.

00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:28.159
And we be like, how she do that?

00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:29.599
Just that middle adult.

00:39:29.840 --> 00:39:34.559
We ain't got time to be wasting, we ain't got time to be lolling looking around.

00:39:34.639 --> 00:39:35.039
Uh-uh.

00:39:35.119 --> 00:39:35.599
I got it.

00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:43.039
I was 37, 37, had already been out here adulting for a little bit, and then started divinity school.

00:39:43.119 --> 00:39:51.360
I was like, no, God, you have uh really, really done your big one this time because now you're saying, okay, I gave you a job, you gave up a job.

00:39:51.519 --> 00:39:55.199
Now you're getting ready to go back to school and volunteer for poverty.

00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:56.400
Let me tell you something.

00:39:56.559 --> 00:40:02.800
Them divinity school years, that was the only time in my life that They put that little pink slip on my on my apartment door.

00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:06.239
And I was like, Y'all, I'm waiting on the refund check.

00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:06.719
Okay.

00:40:07.119 --> 00:40:07.840
Let me tell you something.

00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:09.119
We used to be calling each other.

00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:11.920
Hey, did your refund check come through yet?

00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:13.679
Where the refund check at?

00:40:13.920 --> 00:40:16.480
Because we literally were living off of that.

00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:17.199
Yeah.

00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:20.000
Living off, living off of the leftovers.

00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:21.920
Living off, girl.

00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:22.880
Wait a minute.

00:40:23.039 --> 00:40:26.480
Y'all, Katina's gonna preach about five, six sermons before we done.

00:40:26.639 --> 00:40:31.199
Because living off of the leftovers, I see people scribbling that down right now.

00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:34.320
They about to take that to the pulpit this Sunday.

00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:36.320
Okay, because that is good.

00:40:36.480 --> 00:40:44.400
Um, Katina, what, you know, divinity school, what were maybe like top five takeaways from your time there?

00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:48.239
Oh gosh, top five takeaways.

00:40:48.480 --> 00:40:55.119
Um, you know, I have to still, oh one, I I will say I have to still give all the glory to God.

00:40:55.199 --> 00:41:03.360
Um, because one of the things I think uh it may not have been taught specifically in the classroom because you you don't get a lot of Jesus when you go to divinity school.

00:41:03.440 --> 00:41:05.599
Now, had I known that we need to pause.

00:41:05.679 --> 00:41:06.880
We need to pause.

00:41:07.199 --> 00:41:12.320
We need to pause because I remember people saying, I'm coming to divinity school to find God.

00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:15.760
And we were like, this ain't the this ain't the place.

00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:17.519
No, this ain't it.

00:41:17.679 --> 00:41:17.840
No.

00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:19.519
I had no experience.

00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:35.519
You know, I do have uh another pastor in my family, uh, of course, on my paternal side, but still just right in my maternal siblings that I was raised with, I didn't have a lot of experience with with ministry and what that would look like.

00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:42.800
And so uh I had no idea that divinity school was quite different than um church, you know.

00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:48.480
Yes, it it looked nothing like I'm thinking I done grew up in the church, all I know is Jesus.

00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:52.000
I'm getting ready to get a better understanding of Jesus when I get over here.

00:41:52.159 --> 00:42:00.159
But you know, one of the things um, you know, that I feel like you know God continued to show me is just try me.

00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:01.199
Wow, yeah.

00:42:01.440 --> 00:42:06.159
I didn't get that, you know, out of uh any of the classes that we attended at Vanderbilt.

00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:11.119
But if you just try me, I will prove myself unto you over and over again.

00:42:11.280 --> 00:42:11.519
Yeah.

00:42:11.679 --> 00:42:25.519
I think one of the other things too that was really uh transformative for me because uh I had a lot of faith, um, you know, entering into divinity school, and I had a pretty good understanding of uh of my faith.

00:42:25.760 --> 00:42:31.679
But I think one of the things that was very uh critical for me was that constructive theology class.

00:42:32.079 --> 00:42:33.760
She loved that class that we had.

00:42:33.840 --> 00:42:36.079
That was that was by far my favorite.

00:42:36.320 --> 00:42:39.760
She loved that class because yeah, you have faith, but do you?

00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:42.559
You know, do you know how to really explain your faith?

00:42:42.719 --> 00:42:56.639
And so by the time that um constructive really destructed all of what you thought that you knew and what you thought that you believed, and you had to build back up on that foundation that they had put taught, they got you down to ground zero.

00:42:56.800 --> 00:43:05.519
Yeah, uh, you have to start uh explaining like what soteriology looks like and all these things, yeah.

00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:06.639
Yeah, yeah.

00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:09.599
Anthropomorphism of God, all of those things.

00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:13.039
I love now that was a good class, honey.

00:43:13.280 --> 00:43:14.400
That was a good class.

00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:15.840
So yeah.

00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:25.679
I always tell people that Vanderbilt, you don't go to Vanderbilt to get faith, you but it did teach me how to articulate my faith.

00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:33.039
Articulate and deep it, you know, because I when I when I got there, I was like, I believe because I believe.

00:43:33.199 --> 00:43:40.320
You know, I don't need reasons to believe, I don't have, you know, an analytical argument for why I believe.

00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:41.920
I believe because I believe.

00:43:42.079 --> 00:43:48.239
But Vanderbilt really did force me to to be able to pull out to defend.

00:43:48.639 --> 00:43:50.559
To defend it, right?

00:43:50.719 --> 00:43:57.519
And to become, to become a um, when we talk about being a mouthpiece of God, right?

00:43:57.760 --> 00:44:10.239
It gave me the foundation to say, I know, I know what God sounds like, not just because of my personal experience, but because I know the I know the foundation of the word in order to really give it.

00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:11.519
Now, it did not teach me the word.

00:44:11.679 --> 00:44:12.960
I just want to be clear.

00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:17.119
Now we took a little New Testament and class and a little Hebrew Bible class.

00:44:17.519 --> 00:44:20.400
I was afraid that that was gonna come up on this podcast.

00:44:20.800 --> 00:44:21.599
Let me tell y'all something.

00:44:21.679 --> 00:44:28.880
One of the most traumatizing experiences of my life happened in New Testament and Katina was there to say it, honey.

00:44:28.960 --> 00:44:32.960
Uh, you talk about a uh a master student's nightmare.

00:44:33.119 --> 00:44:34.960
It's finals, all right?

00:44:35.199 --> 00:44:38.079
And I am fast asleep on the couch.

00:44:38.320 --> 00:44:40.239
The sun has now woken me up.

00:44:40.400 --> 00:44:43.679
I look at my phone, and the final is almost over.

00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:47.920
Okay, it is it is like 9:30, and the final started at eight.

00:44:48.079 --> 00:44:50.239
I'm driving across town.

00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:52.800
I walk in, everybody's in the hallway.

00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:56.480
They've already finished taking their final exam.

00:44:56.719 --> 00:44:58.239
And I bust into tears.

00:44:58.320 --> 00:45:03.360
And I went to probably the hardest professor we had at Vanderbilt, Dr.

00:45:03.440 --> 00:45:07.920
AJ Levine, who is a Jewish woman who can teach the baby.

00:45:08.159 --> 00:45:11.679
She knows more about G she know more about Jesus than Mary.

00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:14.000
Please.

00:45:14.239 --> 00:45:16.159
But no, but for real.

00:45:16.400 --> 00:45:17.039
But for real.

00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:21.280
And I I bust into tears, and that woman showed me so much grace.

00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:23.440
And there wasn't a lot of grace that semester.

00:45:23.519 --> 00:45:26.960
Um, but that day I got grace to take that test back to my feet.

00:45:27.440 --> 00:45:29.199
You never experienced grace.

00:45:29.280 --> 00:45:38.320
You you experienced and we were in there, you didn't know this, but we were in there dragging out our tests to just see, okay, is she gonna come in?

00:45:38.400 --> 00:45:42.000
Let's write these answers a little bit slower because surely you're quick.

00:45:42.079 --> 00:45:48.079
Because we had called you, we had done everything that we could do other than send a smoke signal to see where you were.

00:45:48.159 --> 00:45:57.760
But um, I saw those were, oh my gosh, those were some years that um you will never have they were not all, they were not easy, you know.

00:45:57.920 --> 00:46:10.639
Um, but God continued to prove to us over and over again that because he had called us to that place, that he was gonna see us fully through to the end, and we crossed the finished line.

00:46:10.719 --> 00:46:18.400
You know, the the thing about uh being there though, it is very formative still, and and we're always growing, we're always developing.

00:46:18.559 --> 00:46:20.159
God never takes his hand out of us.

00:46:20.239 --> 00:46:23.039
We've never uh, you know, arrived in God.

00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:25.920
God is always taking us from war to glory.

00:46:26.159 --> 00:46:35.519
And in those spaces, as we were there, I don't think that, you know, a majority of us really knew exactly what our path was gonna be afterwards.

00:46:35.599 --> 00:46:41.519
And and for me, like I said, I had no idea uh that God was calling me to anything but to preach.

00:46:41.679 --> 00:46:50.000
But it was there in that space that I fell in love with chaplaincy because I did a field education course and chaplaincy.

00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:56.000
And I mean, I fell in love with chaplaincy when I in six weeks.

00:46:56.559 --> 00:47:02.000
Let me tell y'all something, Katina, chaplaincy oozes out of her pores.

00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:03.199
You hear me?

00:47:03.280 --> 00:47:06.639
I remember distinctly one of my favorite memories of Katina.

00:47:06.719 --> 00:47:11.840
We used to have to park in a parking garage and then walk over to uh the divinity school.

00:47:11.920 --> 00:47:13.840
We had to cross the street, which I had never done before.

00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:19.039
I went to a very small, you know, liberal arts college and I got like parking garage, this is new.

00:47:19.360 --> 00:47:21.840
But I remember I was parking next to Katina.

00:47:21.920 --> 00:47:24.960
I looked over in the car and Katina was deep in prayer.

00:47:25.039 --> 00:47:25.840
I mean deep.

00:47:25.920 --> 00:47:29.199
And she got out of the car, said, Katina, you was praying for the saints.

00:47:29.280 --> 00:47:33.039
She said, I'm always lifting up the soul.

00:47:33.599 --> 00:47:35.840
And I found that to be very true.

00:47:36.079 --> 00:47:41.920
One, but when Katina found chaplaincy, I it was like hand in glove.

00:47:42.159 --> 00:47:46.480
You know, it was it was such a perfect fit, you know.

00:47:46.639 --> 00:48:13.119
And I think when God calls you to something or when God starts pulling something out of you that you've never seen before, you know, so God tells you, you know, I'm calling you to preach, but then on that journey to preaching, you found chaplaincy, which is care, which is, you know, covering people in their hardest, toughest moments, you know, like I'm sure that that answer that gave you a sense of the why, right?

00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:16.880
Because God gave you the what, he said ministry, preaching, right?

00:48:17.039 --> 00:48:32.239
But the why became care, chaplaincy, covering the saints, you know, and I just I think that's so beautiful how because again, this journey of obedience in your first act, it really carried you through.

00:48:32.400 --> 00:48:44.400
You know, you didn't we didn't see pastor then, we didn't see I'm gonna be standing on one of the biggest pulpits in Tennessee, you know, day after day, but we saw development there.

00:48:44.639 --> 00:48:59.039
Um, and so I think there's a lot of people who know that there's greatness on the inside of you, but you have to be a you have to be willing to take these steps in the development process and saying the small yeses before anybody sees your big one.

00:48:59.599 --> 00:49:01.440
Absolutely, absolutely.

00:49:01.679 --> 00:49:07.360
You know, I never um I still never thought that I would be where I am today.

00:49:07.440 --> 00:49:10.079
You know, chaplaincy was was good for me.

00:49:10.159 --> 00:49:21.760
You know, I loved it because one of the things, you know, um for me as I operate in ministry is I never want to be away from from God's people.

00:49:21.920 --> 00:49:31.840
I always want to be connected to the people, you know, people uh again who operate in ministry are looking to pull away from the people, which is why God called us to ministry anyway, right?

00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:33.679
To meet the needs of the people.

00:49:33.760 --> 00:49:38.880
Um so I'm always wanting to be boots on the ground with the people.

00:49:39.039 --> 00:49:51.280
Um, and so as much as elevation sometimes kind of um, you know, separates you from that, I find myself always uh not wanting to disconnect from that space.

00:49:51.440 --> 00:49:53.280
The the pulpit is fine.

00:49:53.440 --> 00:50:04.719
Uh I love preaching God's word, but one thing about it, I want to be ambidextrious there because um I have nothing to preach about unless I've been with the people.

00:50:05.440 --> 00:50:07.280
Katina, that's good.

00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:09.360
I'm so serious.

00:50:09.920 --> 00:50:19.920
You know, when you have spent time with the people of God, it just the word of God, uh, of course, uh, you know, it's rich enough by itself.

00:50:20.159 --> 00:50:21.360
Yeah, for sure.

00:50:21.679 --> 00:50:35.280
But when you have walked it out with people and you have seen the word of God uh be what the people need, you know, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted, the Lord saves those who are crushed in spirit, you know.

00:50:35.440 --> 00:50:39.360
We being may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

00:50:40.320 --> 00:50:52.239
When you have walked that out with people, that makes whatever you get ready to say or what you attempt to say on that pulpit, because you have a greater revelation of it now.

00:50:52.480 --> 00:51:12.559
And so I don't understand how people want to mount that pulpit and forsake God's people because you don't have a platform to stand on unless you have been with God and been with the people of God to be able to get up there on that on that pulpit and have anything to now say to the people who you have not been with?

00:51:12.719 --> 00:51:15.440
Yeah, absolutely not.

00:51:15.599 --> 00:51:22.559
And so um it it it you know that's one of the things that I I kind of find myself, you know, worn with.

00:51:22.719 --> 00:51:41.119
Yes, uh accepting all of the elevation that God wants because promotion does come directly from him, but God, how can I maintain my connection and my connectivity to his people, uh, and also accept the level of elevation that you would have me to accept at the same time.

00:51:41.440 --> 00:51:42.239
Well, I love that.

00:51:42.400 --> 00:51:43.199
I love that.

00:51:43.440 --> 00:51:48.000
I I again I love the way that your story is unfolding, right?

00:51:48.320 --> 00:51:59.920
So as we're thinking about how we move through the different acts of our lives, you know, we have the first act, which I think you've done just a beautiful job of just walking us through your journey.

00:52:00.079 --> 00:52:07.199
But then there comes a time where we really feel like God has pulled us backstage, right?

00:52:07.280 --> 00:52:08.880
It's the intermission, right?

00:52:09.119 --> 00:52:28.000
For the people, they are the lights have gone uh gone back up, the people are not paying attention to what's happened happening on stage because the actors have now gone backstage to do costume changes, to do, you know, to change their makeup because they're preparing for what is to come, right?

00:52:28.320 --> 00:52:41.119
So as you thought about how God has moved you through these formative years, what do you identify as the moment where God caught kind of brought you backstage to really do a significant pivot in?

00:52:41.519 --> 00:52:59.199
You know, I I think Draquita, as you know, when I think about my journey, I really think I really think that backstage moment really was the transition from um from teaching uh to experiencing that call to preach.

00:52:59.360 --> 00:53:17.280
I think that was that was the the intermission for me because it was the the place where you know God was allowing me to to really understand in that particular season that, you know, even though I am allowing you to climb in this space, this climb is not gonna be comfortable.

00:53:17.840 --> 00:53:42.719
And so behind the scenes then is when God was kind of teaching me about, you know, like you said, just that Abrahamic experience, leaving all of the things that were comfortable and familiar behind, um and moving towards uh a place of transition uh in him and a transition that was required that was going to require me to trust him like never before.

00:53:42.880 --> 00:54:01.039
So if I had to count a season uh to be uh that place that was the intermission in my life where God was taking me through this change for me to come back out and then say, Okay, I'm back again, and now ready to to move forward with the next act.

00:54:01.199 --> 00:54:08.880
I believe it was that, and I believe that the you know, act two was the piece really of me going um uh to vanity.

00:54:09.840 --> 00:54:11.679
Well, to vanity, period.

00:54:11.840 --> 00:54:21.119
Yeah, uh, you know, because that um, you know, God had to prepare me uh in the classroom to even say yes to the call to ministry.

00:54:21.280 --> 00:54:29.760
But that call to ministry again required me to leave the church and then come to the church that where nobody knew me.

00:54:30.079 --> 00:54:58.880
And then uh act two, I believe, was uh me then going to Vandy and then allowing that Vandy experience to reveal unto me uh what was gonna be next uh you know in life for me, the the the role of chaplaincy, and then moving from that role of chaplaincy uh to uh even relocating uh to Chattanooga uh for them to take on that position.

00:54:59.679 --> 00:55:04.960
Oh my gosh, and it's one of the most beautiful, sweet, quaint places.

00:55:05.119 --> 00:55:18.159
And you talk about trusting God again because I never thought uh that I I never really gave much much thought to relocating, but again, God was calling me again away from everything that was familiar.

00:55:18.320 --> 00:55:38.960
But when I look back on it now, moving into that place of being a director of pastoral care in uh Chattanooga again, uh they had made me the lead chaplain uh at the hospital where I was serving uh here in Nashville, which was a uh it was a community hospital.

00:55:39.039 --> 00:55:44.880
It was a nice size, but but but but it was one hospital with four, four or five floors.

00:55:45.119 --> 00:55:45.440
Yeah.

00:55:45.679 --> 00:55:55.840
And so uh it was as much as you know, I I think I had said early on and in uh as we got started that I told God I would say yes if you never call me to be a pastor.

00:55:56.400 --> 00:56:14.559
One of the things in the hospital, as I was, you know, uh taking care of the uh patients in the bed, but I had to learn in that space that my patients weren't always in the bed, you know, that my staff were also my patients.

00:56:14.800 --> 00:56:20.239
Because again, if you don't take care of the people who take care of the people, then the people won't get taken care of.

00:56:20.400 --> 00:56:43.360
And so the staff comes to work with issues, you know, from their home life, you know, their own spiritual walk with God, but also as they are caring for patients and they're uh dying, you know, and they're having to deal with death and dying on the job, you know, I I took care of a lot of the staff in my office just as much as I took care of patients on the floor.

00:56:43.760 --> 00:56:50.079
But they were calling me Pastor Katina in the hospital, and I was like, you know, y'all stop, y'all stop, you know, chance chaplain Katina.

00:56:50.159 --> 00:56:51.679
She was like, girl, you all have so fight.

00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:53.920
That is what it is.

00:56:54.559 --> 00:56:56.480
It was what it was, you know.

00:56:56.559 --> 00:57:02.239
As much as I did not want to, I didn't want to hear it, I didn't want to accept that, you know.

00:57:02.400 --> 00:57:07.039
But I sat in my office one day and I was like, I really am pastoring these people.

00:57:07.119 --> 00:57:09.119
You know, I'm writing sermons every week.

00:57:09.280 --> 00:57:27.440
We were having uh chapel service every week, and the chapel service was filling up inside of the hospital because we actually had space enough to where, you know, on every Wednesday at 12 o'clock we had chapel service right there in that chapel, and people were not just coming from uh their lunch break and off of the floors.

00:57:27.519 --> 00:57:38.320
There had been people even kind of coming from the community who had kind of heard, you know, Southern Hills has a new chaplain over there, and uh, we're gonna go check out uh the service.

00:57:38.719 --> 00:57:42.960
So um Katina, stop wait a minute.

00:57:43.280 --> 00:58:02.480
I mean, when I talk about it now, it you know, I don't I don't even know how how many times I've probably said that out loud, but but that's that's amazing to me because your stage kept getting bigger and bigger, and you probably weren't even realizing it, you know, because you were just operating in your gift.

00:58:02.719 --> 00:58:04.559
Yeah, you were just pouring out.

00:58:04.719 --> 00:58:11.440
Now I'm wondering how the associate pastor of congregational care, right?

00:58:11.920 --> 00:58:22.880
What does your own care routine look like that that helps you to upkeep Katina in order to keep showing up in these spaces?

00:58:23.360 --> 00:58:46.960
Well, that's an excellent question, and let me tell you, um, most times I do pretty well uh with that, but then there are times where I where I'm a little bit off track, and I can always tell when I'm off track with that because uh I become a little um bitter, you know, because I've poured out and poured out, and I'm I'm pouring really from an empty cup.

00:58:47.039 --> 00:58:47.280
Yeah.

00:58:47.440 --> 00:58:50.880
Um, but I also recognize I'm not as effective.

00:58:51.199 --> 00:58:56.800
Uh again, because I'm not I'm operating in my own strength and not uh God's strength.

00:58:57.280 --> 00:59:09.280
Um so most times though, I I do keep a pretty good tab on my own self-care because I do recognize that if I don't care for myself, I cannot care for God's people.

00:59:09.440 --> 00:59:11.360
And certainly that means rest.

00:59:11.760 --> 00:59:16.719
Uh, you know, so I do um try to get to bed at a at a pretty decent hour.

00:59:16.800 --> 00:59:20.079
And if my husband's like, you was doing that before you had any titles.

00:59:20.480 --> 00:59:26.639
Definitely, definitely, but you know, you know, I would at least uh be able to stay up and see the news, Jaquita.

00:59:26.880 --> 00:59:29.599
I I never see the the 10 o'clock news anymore.

00:59:29.679 --> 00:59:33.760
So my husband is like, baby, you you say you go to sleep about 9 or 9.30.

00:59:33.840 --> 00:59:38.159
He said sometimes it's about 8 or 8:30 when you are falling asleep.

00:59:38.400 --> 00:59:39.920
But I'm up early, right?

00:59:40.079 --> 00:59:43.280
So another one of my um self-care routines.

00:59:45.280 --> 00:59:53.599
I have to catch the I will catch it at seven, but uh I work out, you know, at least three times a week, at least three times a week.

00:59:53.679 --> 00:59:59.760
So I I exercise, I make sure I take care of that because that gives me fuel, that allows me to clear my head.

01:00:00.800 --> 01:00:07.679
One of the other things that I do for self-care, of course, spiritually, is my devotional.

01:00:07.760 --> 01:00:13.599
You know, I'm gonna do a devotional uh, you know, at least, you know, once or twice a day.

01:00:13.679 --> 01:00:25.519
Uh, I'm always just trying to, you know, hear what the Lord is saying or speaking to me in in in through that devotional through his word or you know, in this season for my life, or maybe even for God's people.

01:00:25.679 --> 01:00:28.559
So I have to make sure I take care of myself uh spiritually.

01:00:28.639 --> 01:00:37.760
And then of course I'm gonna add a little uh you know, the things that I really enjoy as far as massage or you know, travel and things of that nature.

01:00:37.840 --> 01:00:44.239
But banking, I've also learned that baking uh is one of my self-care activities.

01:00:44.400 --> 01:00:46.079
It is very therapeutic for me.

01:00:46.320 --> 01:00:48.079
What do you mean when you say banking?

01:00:48.400 --> 01:00:51.760
Baking, baking, like oh, you always bake.

01:00:57.920 --> 01:01:01.199
Not a good come on, pound cake, come on, pound cake.

01:01:02.480 --> 01:01:03.440
Okay, I'll be crazy.

01:01:03.599 --> 01:01:05.599
I'm becoming a pound cake lady.

01:01:05.920 --> 01:01:06.960
Okay, okay.

01:01:07.119 --> 01:01:12.159
Uh just uh do you do like a sour cream pound cake or seven up or no?

01:01:12.239 --> 01:01:18.159
It's a uh like sweetened condensed milk, and you know, I don't want to give out all my secrets.

01:01:18.239 --> 01:01:28.639
I got a little bit I've seen a little Queen of Rose uh pound cake shop in the making.

01:01:31.280 --> 01:01:35.280
I'm gonna give me a little, I'm gonna give me a little label and put me a little something out there.

01:01:35.440 --> 01:01:38.880
I see the roses on your box, Queen of Rose cakes.

01:01:39.519 --> 01:01:41.760
Oh come on, Katina.

01:01:41.920 --> 01:01:43.760
I might have to say another yes.

01:01:43.920 --> 01:01:46.239
Yes, I might have to say another yes.

01:01:46.639 --> 01:01:57.840
I love Katina that you know you have allowed God because I I think what people don't realize is that it is not always easy to go from one stage to another in God.

01:01:58.400 --> 01:02:12.559
It is not always easy to say yes when you're standing on one stage that you were shaking in your boots saying yes to that one, and then you just got comfortable there for God to pull you and say, Now I want to put you here.

01:02:12.800 --> 01:02:20.159
Um you you have so gracefully gone through your seasons of elevation.

01:02:20.400 --> 01:02:26.239
Um, and I I really appreciate that about your story and about the way that you're telling it.

01:02:26.559 --> 01:02:50.159
I'm wondering, because you know, we're we're thinking through kind of our act one, our intermission, and now as you've just been kind of walking through your reinvention, how you've allowed God to reinvent you, you have literally, you know, I uh the the imagery is so strong that you really just allowed God to put you in the potter's hands and said, make me into something new.

01:02:50.320 --> 01:02:53.679
You know, I'm willing to be made new in your hands.

01:02:53.840 --> 01:03:17.840
You know, I think that there's so many people out there who are wondering how they're gonna say yes to what they feel God calling them to, and and knowing that they're gonna have to submit to the to the making, to the to the forging, to the to the fire, to the you know, all of the processes that come with being in the hand of God and allowing him to mold you into something new.

01:03:18.079 --> 01:03:29.199
I'm wondering what words of inspiration, encouragement for people who are waiting to step into their second act, um, what what can you give them in this moment?

01:03:31.280 --> 01:03:40.320
You know, the one thing, you know, the the Bible tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind.

01:03:40.559 --> 01:04:07.840
That does not mean that everything that uh God calls us to that is gonna be absent of having that feeling of fear, but you just have to talk that fear down and call it out, uh, you know, to be call it out to be what it is, and then ask God to again allow his power, his love, and the sound mind that he has given to you to completely override and overcome what is showing up as fear.

01:04:08.079 --> 01:04:26.719
Because, you know, and and here's the thing, you know, as much as you know, fear can be a healthy thing to, or let me say that feeling of fear can be healthy because it lets you know again that you're not putting all of your trust in you, you are trusting now, God.

01:04:26.800 --> 01:04:27.440
You know what?

01:04:27.599 --> 01:04:29.280
I don't feel really equipped for this.

01:04:29.360 --> 01:04:36.000
So God, I'm getting ready to call on the strength that I know that you have because greater is He that's in me than He that is in the world.

01:04:36.239 --> 01:04:42.639
And so uh, you know, God, I'm calling up on you to do the things in me that I cannot do for myself.

01:04:42.880 --> 01:04:56.480
Um, so I would just say to anybody who God is trusting with uh the bigger things, you know, and trusting you to do the greater things than that you've ever felt like you could do, uh, trust God, you know, trust God.

01:04:56.719 --> 01:05:03.360
God will never ever call us to anything that he has not already prepared and equipped us for.

01:05:03.519 --> 01:05:22.559
The word of God tells us that, you know, those whom He who whom He's called, He's already equipped, He's already justified, He's also qualified us, and so we just have to be willing to walk it out and to trust that God is going to take us, not just part of the way, but all of the way.

01:05:22.800 --> 01:05:23.119
Yeah.

01:05:24.159 --> 01:05:25.360
Tina, that's so good.

01:05:26.000 --> 01:05:30.000
Anything else that we can talk about with your journey here today?

01:05:31.280 --> 01:05:46.159
You know, um, I think we've covered it all, you know, um, because I mean, seriously, you know, God has been uh just so faithful and even to the point now when um, you know, I was called for the role.

01:05:46.239 --> 01:05:56.079
I was called back from Chattanooga uh to come back to Nashville to the church um, you know, that I had uh attended, Mount Zion, uh, before I left.

01:05:56.159 --> 01:05:57.679
And the thing about it's so crazy.

01:05:57.760 --> 01:05:59.840
I was only in Chattanooga for 18 months.

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:11.199
My plan was to stay at least uh three years, and this role opened up and I was like, you know, God, you know, how in the world am I getting ready to go back and be there?

01:06:11.440 --> 01:06:23.280
Well, and that particular time I when I accepted the position, it was not for the associate pastor of congregational care, it was for the executive director role.

01:06:23.440 --> 01:06:31.360
I probably would not have accepted the role had it said associate pastor, because I probably would have said, God, I'm not ready for that.

01:06:31.519 --> 01:06:32.639
I don't think I can do that.

01:06:33.280 --> 01:06:37.199
Talk about that P word as God would have it.

01:06:38.559 --> 01:06:48.719
I had already accepted the position, and then the title change came probably within the first three months.

01:06:48.960 --> 01:06:50.639
And I'm in that thing now, right?

01:06:50.719 --> 01:06:58.159
I'm getting ready to get married in like seven months, and uh, there's no way that I can back back up out of this, right?

01:06:58.320 --> 01:07:09.360
So I had already accepted a job, and God said, I know this little knucklehead child of mine is not gonna accept this job if it's got the associate pastor title attached to it.

01:07:09.519 --> 01:07:18.639
Let me go ahead and get her in here, and then I will allow the role that I have already assigned to her, the title that I have already assigned to her.

01:07:18.880 --> 01:07:19.599
Oh my God.

01:07:19.840 --> 01:07:20.880
It's gonna be assigned.

01:07:20.960 --> 01:07:24.079
And so, of course, on my door, that's exactly what it says.

01:07:24.400 --> 01:07:40.639
So I'm having to continue to um embrace and so that was that would be one of the other things that I would share with people who uh God is calling to to greater responsibility and uh you know uh a greater anointing, a greater calling.

01:07:40.880 --> 01:07:56.719
Uh, you're you're not gonna always be ready for, but God says if all he needs for you to do is to say yes, he continues to shape you and make you and mold you into who you would have whom he would have you to be, even as you say yes.

01:07:56.800 --> 01:08:00.000
So you don't have to always be a hundred percent ready.

01:08:00.320 --> 01:08:13.199
God gets you ready as you go, and it's so funny because you may not have felt ready for it, but the Lord put you in the position before he gave you the title, and I think that's key.

01:08:13.360 --> 01:08:21.279
You were already doing the work, he just transformed the way that you do it, the breadth of it, he widened the scope of it.

01:08:21.359 --> 01:08:23.600
Yeah, um enlarge my tent.

01:08:23.680 --> 01:08:30.720
Yeah, and listen, people, we pray these prayers so casually, but God is so serious in this hour.

01:08:30.800 --> 01:08:43.119
You know, I, you know, the Bible talks about how, you know, your young men and your daughters will prophesy, and how there is a generation coming that I believe God is raising people up.

01:08:43.359 --> 01:08:51.600
He is raising, he is raising up those that will lead the next generation into one of the most glorious seasons the church has ever seen.

01:08:52.079 --> 01:08:52.399
Right.

01:08:52.560 --> 01:09:01.920
There there are people coming, and there are people who have been lying in wait who are gonna go through journeys similar to what Katina talked about today.

01:09:02.079 --> 01:09:07.439
They're gonna go through journeys of I was working in insurance and the Lord called me.

01:09:07.520 --> 01:09:10.800
I was teaching in the public schools and the Lord called me.

01:09:10.880 --> 01:09:16.000
And right now, what we see in a lot of different areas, it looks like a great resignation.

01:09:16.159 --> 01:09:37.119
It looks like people are leaving these fields, but I believe that God has territories and He has uh purpose-filled assignments that we're about to step into, and there has to be people like Katina in place to take care of those people who are coming because they are gonna be ready to move in the yes of God.

01:09:37.279 --> 01:09:49.439
They're gonna be ready to prophesy, they're gonna be ready to preach, they're gonna be ready to pray, they're gonna be ready to get out there because they're they're gonna be finding God with that enthusiasm that a lot of us in the church have lost.

01:09:49.680 --> 01:09:56.239
They're gonna be coming in with that zeal that a lot of us who have been here for a long time, we've slowed down in.

01:09:56.560 --> 01:10:27.439
But I I don't know where everybody who's listening to this to this podcast today, I don't know where you find yourself at on your journey, but this is the season to begin to get in place because whether you are a person that's gonna be on the wall and you're gonna have to call out to the people to keep the people of God safe, or whether you're gonna be the person that's gonna be counseling the people, or whether you're gonna be the person caring for the people or preaching to the people, whatever your thing is, the body is coming together.

01:10:27.680 --> 01:10:31.520
And not just the people that we've known, but the people that we haven't seen yet.

01:10:31.680 --> 01:10:40.079
And I just think that the work, Katina, that you've done since I've known you, I did not know pre-call Katina.

01:10:40.159 --> 01:10:45.680
You know, I met Katina as she was moving forward into what God was calling her to do.

01:10:45.840 --> 01:10:48.319
So that's the only Katina I've ever known.

01:10:48.479 --> 01:11:14.640
But I can tell you that even in my own life, in times where I doubted myself, in times where I didn't want to acknowledge a call or acknowledge who I really was, that it was the love and care that poured out of you as a servant of God, as a minister of God, and as a big sister that allowed me the opportunity to believe that I could actually be everything that God was calling me to be in that season.

01:11:14.960 --> 01:11:18.399
So I thank you for who you've been in my life.

01:11:18.640 --> 01:11:29.760
And I know that there are some thousands of lucky congregants at Mount Zion who are so grateful for your service and grateful for your yes.

01:11:29.920 --> 01:11:36.880
I know everybody that knows you and is around you knows you to be a gem of a person as you've always been.

01:11:37.119 --> 01:11:52.800
And I want you to know that just like I prayed for you back then, I'm gonna be praying my sister through, and I'm still interceding and praying on your behalf because the work and the impact of your life is really so significant in the body of Christ and in the lives of people.

01:11:54.239 --> 01:11:56.159
I appreciate that, Jaquita.

01:11:56.479 --> 01:11:57.680
I really, really do.

01:11:57.840 --> 01:12:01.840
Thank you so much for your intercession just over the years.

01:12:02.000 --> 01:12:04.720
We're uh 13 years in uh now.

01:12:06.159 --> 01:12:10.000
So I know, Lord, look how far the Lord has brought us.

01:12:10.319 --> 01:12:12.479
Look at what the Lord has done.

01:12:12.800 --> 01:12:15.279
You have been a blessing to my life for sure.

01:12:15.520 --> 01:12:26.319
And so uh I appreciate you guys allowing me to be able to share just a little bit about my journey with God, uh, just in this calling and this journey that He has had me on.

01:12:26.399 --> 01:12:35.600
And so I just pray that what I've shared tonight will be a blessing to many and that people will step out onto the face of the deep and trust God to take them higher.

01:12:35.920 --> 01:12:36.479
Yes.

01:12:36.640 --> 01:12:37.600
Listen, y'all.

01:12:37.760 --> 01:12:43.119
If you have not yet, I hope that you guys watch this whole thing because this was absolutely amazing.

01:12:43.279 --> 01:12:47.760
If you hadn't have not yet, please like, please share, please subscribe.

01:12:47.920 --> 01:12:50.399
If you're new to the community, please say hello.

01:12:50.560 --> 01:12:53.600
We love interacting and engaging with you in the comments.

01:12:53.840 --> 01:13:00.640
Y'all, you have had the privilege of hearing the story of none other than Pastor Katina Parish Park, right?

01:13:00.720 --> 01:13:03.840
And so I want you guys to continue to move with us.

01:13:04.000 --> 01:13:09.279
We're gonna continue to engage in these stories as the God will as God will have us to do.

01:13:09.520 --> 01:13:16.000
But for tonight, I want to let you know you do not have to stay stuck in your intermission.

01:13:16.399 --> 01:13:19.760
You can raise the curtain and step into your second act.

01:13:19.920 --> 01:13:20.479
Bye, guys.

01:13:20.560 --> 01:13:21.920
It's been a pleasure.

01:13:27.039 --> 01:13:30.079
Thank you once again for listening to the Unlearned Podcast.

01:13:30.159 --> 01:13:34.319
We would love to hear your comments and your feedback about the episode.

01:13:34.560 --> 01:13:40.960
Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and to let us know what you think.

01:13:41.119 --> 01:13:47.359
We're looking forward to the next time when we are able to unlearn together to move forward towards freedom.

01:13:47.680 --> 01:13:48.399
See you then.