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Fatal Distractions Joyce Rodgers |
Lord, deliver us from distractions, especially the fatal ones
Using biblical characters and principles, evangelist Joyce Rodgers explains the importance of becoming a proactive, solution-seeking woman of the twenty-first century. You must develop a positive, confident attitude and sidestep the fatal distractions that lurk around the next corner.
Lord, enable us to triumph over our adversary!
You do not have to be distracted by the enemy for one more minute of one more day. You are a woman of destiny. The victory is yours; step into it!
Cheerleader for the Lord
By Marcia Davis
Evangelist Joyce Rodgers never runs out of joy. But her positive outlook was forged in the fires of adversity.
With gazelle-like grace, evangelist Joyce Rodgers paces the platform in front of a sea of expectant faces--a myriad of dark brown-, beige- and pink-skinned men and women, youth and seniors. Cheerleader-like, her arm movements punctuate words she boldly delivers in rapid-fire staccato, broken by an occasional emphatic drawl timed to bring home a punch line of inspiration, insight or encouragement.
Unpretentious and upbeat, she almost dances across the stage--energy draped in a black A-line dress. As she preaches, her slender frame poses a marked contrast to the sizeable presence she emanates. Her attitude takes on an air of jubilance as the mood of the crowd peaks from prayer, praise and clapping to foot stomping, laughing-out-loud, near-pandemonium pitch.
"Reach out and tell somebody," Rodgers shouts, "Tell somebody: 'After the storm, I'll still be standing! After the storm, I'll still be standing--maybe not erect or on my own, but still standing!'"
She stops her stage march abruptly, and bright-eyed and smiling, faces the crowd to deliver head-on a key message point. "When you are going through a test, God will always provide a way of escape. ... But God may not show you your way out until the very end. And the only thing He ma-a-ay show you in the middle is your faith!"
Somewhere in the crowded auditorium echoes an "Amen!" In the house, more than a few tears suddenly spill out, and like descending waves across the audience, heads nod vigorously then humbly bow.
Breaking the Mold
Rodgers describes her life story as a Cinderella tale "where God takes nothing and nobody and uses them for His kingdom." While growing up in the small East Texas community of Gladewater, she broke the mold several times, especially when the girl from the projects began pumping up team spirit as a sixth-grade cheerleader.
"God told me I would lead people to victory on the football field and in the church house, and to ultimate victory in Jesus Christ," she recalls.
Rodgers accepted the call to ministry in the late 1980s under the late S.E. Mitchell, pastor of St. Andrew Church of God in Christ, her local church in the north Dallas suburb of Denton. "I heard the voice of the Lord calling me to another level, but I didn't know all that it entailed. I was scared and I didn't know who would train me."
In 1999, the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Bishop C.D. Owens, first commissioned her for the capacity in which she still serves, COGIC's International Youth Department Chairlady. When the church changed leadership, Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson reappointed her.
Today, under the banner of Primary Purpose Ministries, she seems well on her way to becoming one of COGIC's most compelling female quarterbacks for Christ, embraced by a denomination that is expanding the traditional boundaries that have previously defined first-string evangelists as male players.
Rodgers says her denomination is in transition on the issue of women ministers. "My mama is from the old school. She says to me, 'Women don't preach!' About me, Mama says 'She's not preaching, she's expounding on the Word of God.'" But Rodgers says she believes COGIC has moved beyond this traditionalist school of thought.
"I've heard the horror stories, but I don't have those stories. The denomination has taken a different stand, and my opportunities have been good. I think COGIC is in transition, recognizing the gifts and anointing in people with more of a focus on ministry than gender."
Rodgers says she is purposely feminine in dress and manner, but not to distraction. "I believe women in ministry should be who they are. Ministry is about purpose, not person. The focus should be on Jesus, not gender." She believes that because males dominate the ministry they have become the primary role models, so female ministers have a tendency to pick up on the masculinity because that's what they've seen.
Says Rodgers: "I'm from the old school. Women don't open doors in the presence of men. Lady Diana didn't do that. I believe you can cast out demons, lay hands on the sick, but I don't think you have to be masculine. Dainty women can cast out mighty demons."
Rodgers is no powder-puff player. She estimates she traveled 47 weeks out of 52 last year, honoring about 250 speaking engagements across the country, seeing more than 1,000 people come to Christ and more than 500 youth drop to their knees at the altar.
During those months, she completed her first book, Fatal Distractions, and nursed one of her sisters through the final stages of terminal cancer. "It's been a season of loss in which I could choose to be bitter or better, and I chose to be better. I can't figure it out but I trust Him."
Defining Moments
Her life has been marked by potentially fatal distractions. As the middle child in a family of eight, wearing hand-me-down clothes and playing with toys from Salvation Army shelves, poverty could have kept her down. Instead, she says she's not just survived, she has thrived.
Elected cheerleader and the first black homecoming queen at her high school, and graduating from both high school and college are not the typical pathways of kids from the projects. "God told me that is what my life would be, treading into unfamiliar, uncomfortable territory where I would be different. He said, 'You will always go where you don't necessarily qualify.'"
Perhaps that could explain why Rodgers attended Oprah Winfrey's televised 50th birthday celebration. Says Rodgers: "In high school, my best friends had money and prestige; I was from the projects, and my life was totally opposite."
A few years ago when she married the love of her life and was widowed the same year, that tragedy could have counted as distraction enough to dissuade her from God's calling. But it didn't.
The death of a close friend a few years back, and--this last Christmas--the death of her older sister Rose, were tough times for her, but not the fatal distractions, she says, that they could have been. "I was raised to love God and know that He had a plan for me."
"All of those defining moments provoke levels of anointing and commitment to God.
"In shedding things and shedding people, whether voluntary or involuntary, we become more dependent on Him," she says.
"I never wanted to be a victim: of the projects, of death, of being alone--no husband, no children. Instead of being a victim, I am victorious ... learning how to walk in victory," she explains.
Her struggles have framed what she describes as her life and ministry message: "There's hope in Christ Jesus, no matter what the circumstance ... and that God has a plan and His plan holds no defeat, only victory."
So she tells her audiences: "All those distractions are designed to ruin your goal or dream, but you must keep your focus. There is a map, God's map, and He's got it already figured out for you."
It's not that she hasn't struggled with the distractions. The voluminous amber eyes that dominate her face cloud with remembered pain as she describes defining moments of anguish and growth.
"There was a time four or five years ago when I was trying to find God's real plan, searching for who I was, who God wanted me to be, depending on friends and the church to give me identity; and everything seemed to be warring against me instead of giving me clarity. Then I lost my closest friend and I remember driving to the lake to end it all, but the Spirit of the Lord stepped in and spoke to me. He told me that all is well with my soul. ... And it was and it is."
Now, she says she's clear that her validation comes from God's plan for her. "I tell women, it's OK to say no, to back away and shut down to take time to hear the voice of God."
Breaking the Mold
Rodgers describes her life story as a Cinderella tale "where God takes nothing and nobody and uses them for His kingdom." While growing up in the small East Texas community of Gladewater, she broke the mold several times, especially when the girl from the projects began pumping up team spirit as a sixth-grade cheerleader.
"God told me I would lead people to victory on the football field and in the church house, and to ultimate victory in Jesus Christ," she recalls.
Rodgers accepted the call to ministry in the late 1980s under the late S.E. Mitchell, pastor of St. Andrew Church of God in Christ, her local church in the north Dallas suburb of Denton. "I heard the voice of the Lord calling me to another level, but I didn't know all that it entailed. I was scared and I didn't know who would train me."
In 1999, the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Bishop C.D. Owens, first commissioned her for the capacity in which she still serves, COGIC's International Youth Department Chairlady. When the church changed leadership, Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson reappointed her.
Today, under the banner of Primary Purpose Ministries, she seems well on her way to becoming one of COGIC's most compelling female quarterbacks for Christ, embraced by a denomination that is expanding the traditional boundaries that have previously defined first-string evangelists as male players.
Rodgers says her denomination is in transition on the issue of women ministers. "My mama is from the old school. She says to me, 'Women don't preach!' About me, Mama says 'She's not preaching, she's expounding on the Word of God.'" But Rodgers says she believes COGIC has moved beyond this traditionalist school of thought.
"I've heard the horror stories, but I don't have those stories. The denomination has taken a different stand, and my opportunities have been good. I think COGIC is in transition, recognizing the gifts and anointing in people with more of a focus on ministry than gender."
Rodgers says she is purposely feminine in dress and manner, but not to distraction. "I believe women in ministry should be who they are. Ministry is about purpose, not person. The focus should be on Jesus, not gender." She believes that because males dominate the ministry they have become the primary role models, so female ministers have a tendency to pick up on the masculinity because that's what they've seen.
Says Rodgers: "I'm from the old school. Women don't open doors in the presence of men. Lady Diana didn't do that. I believe you can cast out demons, lay hands on the sick, but I don't think you have to be masculine. Dainty women can cast out mighty demons."
Rodgers is no powder-puff player. She estimates she traveled 47 weeks out of 52 last year, honoring about 250 speaking engagements across the country, seeing more than 1,000 people come to Christ and more than 500 youth drop to their knees at the altar.
During those months, she completed her first book, Fatal Distractions, and nursed one of her sisters through the final stages of terminal cancer. "It's been a season of loss in which I could choose to be bitter or better, and I chose to be better. I can't figure it out but I trust Him."
Defining Moments
Her life has been marked by potentially fatal distractions. As the middle child in a family of eight, wearing hand-me-down clothes and playing with toys from Salvation Army shelves, poverty could have kept her down. Instead, she says she's not just survived, she has thrived.
Elected cheerleader and the first black homecoming queen at her high school, and graduating from both high school and college are not the typical pathways of kids from the projects. "God told me that is what my life would be, treading into unfamiliar, uncomfortable territory where I would be different. He said, 'You will always go where you don't necessarily qualify.'"
Perhaps that could explain why Rodgers attended Oprah Winfrey's televised 50th birthday celebration. Says Rodgers: "In high school, my best friends had money and prestige; I was from the projects, and my life was totally opposite."
A few years ago when she married the love of her life and was widowed the same year, that tragedy could have counted as distraction enough to dissuade her from God's calling. But it didn't.
The death of a close friend a few years back, and--this last Christmas--the death of her older sister Rose, were tough times for her, but not the fatal distractions, she says, that they could have been. "I was raised to love God and know that He had a plan for me."
"All of those defining moments provoke levels of anointing and commitment to God.
"In shedding things and shedding people, whether voluntary or involuntary, we become more dependent on Him," she says.
"I never wanted to be a victim: of the projects, of death, of being alone--no husband, no children. Instead of being a victim, I am victorious ... learning how to walk in victory," she explains.
Her struggles have framed what she describes as her life and ministry message: "There's hope in Christ Jesus, no matter what the circumstance ... and that God has a plan and His plan holds no defeat, only victory."
So she tells her audiences: "All those distractions are designed to ruin your goal or dream, but you must keep your focus. There is a map, God's map, and He's got it already figured out for you."
It's not that she hasn't struggled with the distractions. The voluminous amber eyes that dominate her face cloud with remembered pain as she describes defining moments of anguish and growth.
"There was a time four or five years ago when I was trying to find God's real plan, searching for who I was, who God wanted me to be, depending on friends and the church to give me identity; and everything seemed to be warring against me instead of giving me clarity. Then I lost my closest friend and I remember driving to the lake to end it all, but the Spirit of the Lord stepped in and spoke to me. He told me that all is well with my soul. ... And it was and it is."
Now, she says she's clear that her validation comes from God's plan for her. "I tell women, it's OK to say no, to back away and shut down to take time to hear the voice of God."
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