Brenda Leavenworth Part 1

[00:00:04] Welcome to Women Worth Knowing, the radio program and podcast hosted by Cheryl Brodersen and Robin Jones Gunn.

[00:00:11] We believe that every woman is a woman worth knowing.

[00:00:14] And it's so fun to have a guest in studio to hear about the things that God is doing in her life.

[00:00:20] Today, our in-studio guest, Brenda Leavenworth.

[00:00:24] And Cheryl, you actually know Brenda.

[00:00:27] I know Brenda.

[00:00:29] We've actually gone out to coffee only once, but it was really fun.

[00:00:33] And I could just talk to her for like the rest of my life, just kind of like I can with you, Robin.

[00:00:38] I know.

[00:00:39] You meet those people and you just have so much in common and you just meet with this mutual understanding,

[00:00:45] this mutual love for Jesus and this mutual desire to minister, especially to the hurting and to those who feel rejected or displaced

[00:00:56] and tell them God's got a place for you.

[00:00:59] And that's why you knew we had to have her come on the podcast.

[00:01:02] So welcome, Brenda.

[00:01:04] Oh, thanks.

[00:01:04] Thanks for having me.

[00:01:05] Anytime we get to sit down and talk about Jesus is always a good day.

[00:01:09] It is.

[00:01:10] So there's so much that Brenda's doing.

[00:01:12] And I want to get into some of the things that she's doing, which are really exciting.

[00:01:16] But I want to start out with one, where you were born and where you were born.

[00:01:23] That ought to give a hint.

[00:01:24] And how you grew up.

[00:01:25] Well, interestingly enough, I am the only Californian born in my entire family.

[00:01:33] Oh, my goodness.

[00:01:34] My dad was born and raised in Scotland, a little town, Lark Hall outside of Glasgow.

[00:01:42] And my mom was born and raised in Northern Ireland in Coleraine, which is, if you know Northern Ireland, you know where Coleraine is.

[00:01:50] And so they, as they came to, they actually came to Canada first and then moved into Michigan, had three of my siblings and then finally moved to California.

[00:02:01] So I was born and raised in California.

[00:02:04] But that was on the outside.

[00:02:06] On the inside of my house, I actually grew up in a British home.

[00:02:11] And all that that entails with the kettle.

[00:02:13] So tea, yes.

[00:02:14] The kettle.

[00:02:15] I mean.

[00:02:16] The cuppa.

[00:02:16] So my, both my brothers played the bagpipes.

[00:02:20] My dad was actually a Scottish drummer in a band.

[00:02:25] Both my sister and I Highland danced for.

[00:02:27] No.

[00:02:28] And ever.

[00:02:29] No.

[00:02:29] Never a dull moment.

[00:02:30] Oh, I love that.

[00:02:32] I love that.

[00:02:34] Yeah.

[00:02:34] So when I say I was in a British home, I was raised in a British home and it didn't actually make sense to me until I went back to Scotland and Ireland.

[00:02:43] The first time I ever went over there, I was 15.

[00:02:46] And then I, I walked into people's houses and it was like, oh, I'm home.

[00:02:51] Yeah.

[00:02:51] Yeah.

[00:02:52] That's, you know, they have HP sauce on their table and malt vinegar.

[00:02:57] And those were mainstays for me.

[00:02:59] So just that whole thing.

[00:03:01] And then my parents also had a really strong, like, Scotch-Irish community in California.

[00:03:07] So not only were we in a British home, but then all their friends were also from Scotland or, and or Ireland.

[00:03:15] So yeah, I grew up in, raised in California.

[00:03:19] I have to ask you, what kind of tea did you drink in your home?

[00:03:22] Only black girl, only black.

[00:03:24] But which?

[00:03:25] OPG tips or Typhu or Yorkshire gold or?

[00:03:31] So right now at this moment, I'm drinking Betty's.

[00:03:35] Oh, are you?

[00:03:35] Oh, so Harrogate.

[00:03:36] From Harrogate.

[00:03:37] Yeah, that's the Taylor's.

[00:03:38] Yes.

[00:03:39] Taylor's of Harrogate.

[00:03:40] Yes.

[00:03:40] Well, you know.

[00:03:41] Tea room blend and English breakfast.

[00:03:43] I kind of switch off.

[00:03:44] We drink berries from Ireland.

[00:03:46] Oh, yeah.

[00:03:47] Oh, yeah.

[00:03:47] Berries Irish tea.

[00:03:48] Yes.

[00:03:48] So in California, if we can't get those, which I usually have shipped, I will do either Tetley's British blend or PG tips.

[00:04:00] Those are my sort of backups.

[00:04:02] You know, when we lived in England, every guest, it just seemed, had a different preference for the tea.

[00:04:09] And I would make a big pile of cookies every week and put them on my table for whoever stopped in.

[00:04:15] They could have these cookies that I'm kind of famous for.

[00:04:18] So I would come in and my landlord would have let himself in.

[00:04:23] He would be sitting at my table.

[00:04:25] He would have used my kettle.

[00:04:27] No.

[00:04:28] He would have made himself a cup of tea with my milk and my tea bag with one of my mugs.

[00:04:32] And he'd be eating a cookie and he would have gotten a plate for it.

[00:04:35] And he's like, oh, I noticed you needed to hoover the carpets.

[00:04:40] And you'd just be like, I can't believe you're eating my cookies and drinking my tea.

[00:04:45] And he said, would you mind getting PG tips for when I stop by?

[00:04:49] Oh, dear.

[00:04:49] And you're just like, I thought that was just the landlord relationship.

[00:04:53] That's the problem when you come from America and you, you know, you've only rented from other Americans.

[00:04:57] You're just like, oh, I guess this is the British way.

[00:05:01] And then I had some friends that said, it is not Cheryl.

[00:05:04] It is not.

[00:05:05] But that's when I finally learned.

[00:05:07] But who's going to tell your landlord?

[00:05:09] I was visiting a friend in Belfast and I went to the grocery store with her and I bought a box of PG tips to bring home, a large one.

[00:05:16] And she said, oh, those are just terrible.

[00:05:19] She said, they just sweep up the leftovers on the floor of the tea cutting room and put them in the tea bag.

[00:05:25] I said, well, I really like it and I can't always get it at home.

[00:05:29] And then she showed me all the others.

[00:05:31] Berries.

[00:05:32] Berries was the one she preferred.

[00:05:33] Berries, yes.

[00:05:34] She had it.

[00:05:34] It's very strong.

[00:05:35] Every time I go to every time I go to Ireland, somebody says, could I've got like three friends that request berries.

[00:05:41] You must have milk.

[00:05:42] And every.

[00:05:42] Yes.

[00:05:43] And every time I go to England, everyone asks me to bring back Yorkshire gold.

[00:05:47] Oh, yes.

[00:05:48] So there you go.

[00:05:49] And they're both very strong.

[00:05:51] Yeah.

[00:05:51] I mean, you can sing after you have them.

[00:05:53] So, Brenda.

[00:05:54] No, we love tea.

[00:05:55] So you can't mess with the tea.

[00:05:57] It has to have the milk.

[00:05:58] And, you know, it does.

[00:05:59] Yes, you can't.

[00:06:00] But see, my favorite is almost shameful.

[00:06:03] It's Earl Grey.

[00:06:03] And everyone's like, oh, Cheryl.

[00:06:05] Earl Grey.

[00:06:06] That's a dessert tea.

[00:06:07] And I'm like, okay.

[00:06:09] But I want to ask you, Brenda, how, were your parents Christian?

[00:06:13] And how did you come to know the Lord?

[00:06:16] My parents, my mom, so my mom was Protestant, Irish.

[00:06:23] And she said she used to have a priest that would stop by.

[00:06:27] Well, I guess it wouldn't be a priest.

[00:06:29] It would be a reverend.

[00:06:30] Stop by their house.

[00:06:31] And he would offer her mom a cigarette.

[00:06:34] And they would stand on the porch and smoke together.

[00:06:38] And then he would take her at like four or five years old.

[00:06:40] Just take her from the house and take her to the church.

[00:06:43] And she learned like a little bit about Jesus.

[00:06:47] Would I say I was raised in a Christian home?

[00:06:49] No.

[00:06:50] We were the type of Christian.

[00:06:53] So I thought Presbyterian was part of my nationality.

[00:06:56] I was Irish, Scotch, and I was Presbyterian.

[00:06:59] Oh, yeah.

[00:06:59] Because on the Scottish, John Knox and then the Irish, right?

[00:07:04] Yeah.

[00:07:04] And it was, if you know Ireland's history, it was kind of a nationality for me.

[00:07:09] And so I never really understood.

[00:07:11] So we belonged to a church in Redondo Beach.

[00:07:15] I grew up in Carson, which is another story we'll get into.

[00:07:18] But we never went.

[00:07:21] We were members of the church.

[00:07:23] So that was about my experience.

[00:07:24] But then I did have occasionally God put just families in my life that knew the Lord.

[00:07:31] And I was so bored on a Sunday.

[00:07:34] Like I would actually call like people that I knew were going to church and I would say,

[00:07:39] can I come with you today?

[00:07:41] Really?

[00:07:42] And they were so sweet.

[00:07:43] They would like stop by and like pick me up.

[00:07:46] Like they obviously knew, you know, what their commission was from the Lord.

[00:07:51] And they would take me.

[00:07:52] But I can tell you, like, I didn't understand anything.

[00:07:55] And I felt so dumb, like just going into like youth group and all the kids were answering the questions that had been in church for so long.

[00:08:03] And I knew nothing.

[00:08:04] I didn't quite understand it.

[00:08:06] I think someone took me to a crusade at some point.

[00:08:09] I remember being in a big baseball arena singing songs.

[00:08:14] I didn't know, but I didn't I couldn't even comprehend like what I was at.

[00:08:19] So I didn't get saved till probably after I got married.

[00:08:25] I met my husband, Ted, who's a senior pastor now, been in ministry 33 years.

[00:08:31] But I when I met him.

[00:08:34] So we were dating.

[00:08:36] I ended up pregnant.

[00:08:37] That's part of my testimony.

[00:08:39] And then right before we got married, he like cornered me.

[00:08:41] And he's like, do you believe in Jesus?

[00:08:43] And I was like, sure, of course.

[00:08:47] But I don't think it was till we were sitting in the Presbyterian church.

[00:08:52] And because, you know, when you get married, those are change events, right?

[00:08:55] When you have a baby, you want to say, how am I going to what are we going to do now?

[00:08:59] And he was raised Catholic.

[00:09:00] So it was like this battle.

[00:09:02] And, you know, what my parents thought of him being Catholic.

[00:09:05] Right.

[00:09:05] So there was this melding of like, OK, what are we going to do now?

[00:09:10] What religion are we going to be?

[00:09:12] And I remember sitting in the Presbyterian church because the Catholic church wouldn't have me.

[00:09:17] And looking at the communion elements and the Lord is saying, this has to be real.

[00:09:23] Wow.

[00:09:24] And I remember thinking like, OK, what does what does that mean?

[00:09:28] I didn't even know what that meant.

[00:09:30] But I knew if I took it, that that meant I was in.

[00:09:34] I needed to make sure that I knew about him.

[00:09:37] And I knew like shallow amounts about the Lord, like just a little bit.

[00:09:42] I didn't know anything.

[00:09:44] If you would have said, what's the Holy Spirit?

[00:09:47] I would have been like, OK, you're one of those holy rollers.

[00:09:50] Yeah.

[00:09:50] So it was a very long process from that point on just learning little by little.

[00:09:56] Now, you said you were going to touch on what it was like to grow up in Carson.

[00:10:00] So what's it like for a Scottish Protestant Irish girl to grow up in the hood?

[00:10:08] Yes.

[00:10:08] In Carson.

[00:10:09] Yes.

[00:10:09] So my parents, my dad worked at UCLA.

[00:10:14] And so they were just looking for housing and whatnot.

[00:10:17] And we ended up in Carson, California.

[00:10:20] And I guess I didn't know like actually where I was at until I got older and like reflected back on some of my more traumatic experiences.

[00:10:31] I remember once on the way to school and I walked to school myself and I remember cops like throwing us behind a building.

[00:10:40] And there was like a standoff in the intersection where two people had guns on each other.

[00:10:46] Oh, my.

[00:10:48] And then wild, wild west.

[00:10:50] Wow.

[00:10:50] It really was.

[00:10:51] And then I remember another time where there was a murder on my street and the chalk marks and our fun was we all went and like laid in the chalk mark.

[00:11:04] Wow.

[00:11:05] So I didn't really.

[00:11:06] Can I get this shape right?

[00:11:08] Wow.

[00:11:08] It was half on the curb and half off.

[00:11:10] Oh, my goodness.

[00:11:12] And I didn't really realize like like.

[00:11:15] That's kind of dangerous.

[00:11:16] Yes.

[00:11:18] Until like older.

[00:11:19] Yeah.

[00:11:19] And I never felt unsafe or.

[00:11:21] Yeah.

[00:11:22] Yeah.

[00:11:22] So it's it's you know, I've met more people when you ask them, you know, what's the moment that you received Jesus or that?

[00:11:29] And I have I've had him say, oh, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:11:32] You see, it was his dawning awareness.

[00:11:34] And looking back, I can see him all throughout my life, the preservation.

[00:11:38] And I had a man who had fought in World War Two and he had been on not as a Christian.

[00:11:45] He had been on those huge aircraft carriers.

[00:11:48] You know, some of the few.

[00:11:49] And he said he remembers 40 foot waves just seeing a wall of water on each side and not knowing if he was going to survive it.

[00:11:56] And then he was on the the flagship that went into Okinawa Harbor to get the surrender.

[00:12:02] And he said that they were there to make sure there were no landmines for the big ship that was coming in.

[00:12:10] And so all these times and he he just talked about how he realized then that all the way the Lord had been with him protecting and saying, I'm here.

[00:12:21] I'm here.

[00:12:22] I'm here.

[00:12:23] And I and I think that's exactly what God was doing while you were in Carson.

[00:12:27] Yes.

[00:12:28] In the white chalk.

[00:12:29] Really.

[00:12:29] In the white chalk marks.

[00:12:31] Yes.

[00:12:31] Yeah.

[00:12:32] Dusting him off your black shirt.

[00:12:34] I got a little chalk on me.

[00:12:36] Well, and that you were drawn to ask people, may I go to church with you?

[00:12:39] Yes.

[00:12:39] So sweet.

[00:12:40] Like the Lord was drawing you to himself.

[00:12:43] So where did you meet Ted?

[00:12:45] Like where was your meeting?

[00:12:46] So in high school, we could take like these career path type classes.

[00:12:54] So I became a dental assistant in high school and right next door to the dental office that I worked at was a hospital.

[00:13:02] And so I applied for a position in the emergency room.

[00:13:05] And so when I started because I was about to go into pre-nursing, I was taking classes at college and I was just about to go into my nursing program.

[00:13:14] And so I got this job at the emergency room.

[00:13:18] And Ted was the emergency tech at the time.

[00:13:21] He went on to become a paramedic firefighter.

[00:13:23] But at the time and and I had just broken up from a four year relationship and I had been engaged for two years.

[00:13:32] We were getting married, broke it off.

[00:13:34] And I met Ted and I was like, we are not I'm not dating.

[00:13:38] I don't want anything to do with boys.

[00:13:42] And then he walked in his uniform and he had been water skiing that day.

[00:13:46] So super tan.

[00:13:47] And and then he would just keep coming by and talking to me.

[00:13:50] So he wore me down.

[00:13:52] There goes your heart.

[00:13:53] Yeah, there goes my heart.

[00:13:55] So we got married really quick.

[00:13:57] We met like in October.

[00:13:59] We got engaged in February, which like four or five months.

[00:14:03] And then I ended up getting pregnant in March and we moved our wedding up.

[00:14:08] Yeah, it's my story is kind of scandalous.

[00:14:12] So I have a story of redemption.

[00:14:15] Redemption.

[00:14:16] And you are like our favorites.

[00:14:18] Yeah, we we do too much.

[00:14:20] We do too much judging of what the author and finisher of our faith has chosen to write.

[00:14:26] In our lives instead of just it.

[00:14:29] Yeah, it is what it is.

[00:14:30] So we receive it.

[00:14:31] Oh, yeah.

[00:14:31] And you know, Robin's a writer.

[00:14:34] So and I, I, I love those stories.

[00:14:38] I just, you know, I grew up with these stories of redemption.

[00:14:41] And, you know, my dad used to say nobody's too far from the grace of God.

[00:14:44] And, you know, my mom has a she had a few scandals, too.

[00:14:47] In fact, we just thought, oh, my mother, you know, like I was so proud of her.

[00:14:51] You know, she's got a little bit of scandal.

[00:14:53] You know, my dad was such a good old boy.

[00:14:54] And then there was my mom.

[00:14:56] And we just like, you know, she has scandal.

[00:15:00] And she grew up in L.A.

[00:15:01] So, yeah, there you go.

[00:15:03] Yeah.

[00:15:03] Yeah.

[00:15:03] Well, in L.A., and I think because my parents, they had me older.

[00:15:09] Right.

[00:15:09] I was a menopause baby.

[00:15:10] And so it was like three siblings, then me five years later.

[00:15:15] But when I grew up, it was just this, like, I was probably in seventh grade the first time I smoked pot.

[00:15:24] And then they switched high schools on me because I was supposed to go to Banning High.

[00:15:30] And my dad wanted me to go to this school in Torrance.

[00:15:33] And so they switched me, which was a culture shock for me.

[00:15:38] And then then the drugs just changed.

[00:15:42] Yeah.

[00:15:42] Then it was cocaine.

[00:15:44] Oh, man.

[00:15:44] And so then I began to use that.

[00:15:48] And so but the funny thing was when Ted and I, when I got married, I had to call the church to move our date up.

[00:15:55] And then I had to tell them, can you change the groom's name?

[00:16:03] Oh, my goodness.

[00:16:05] I told you.

[00:16:06] OK.

[00:16:07] I've never heard that one before.

[00:16:09] I've heard wearing the same bride dress before.

[00:16:11] You know, like, well, I thought it was for this person, but it's for that person.

[00:16:15] But I've never heard changing the name.

[00:16:18] Save money on the invitations, line out the old name right in the new one.

[00:16:22] Yeah, that was quite interesting.

[00:16:24] And I just remembered it like right on the phone.

[00:16:26] I'm asking her, oh, change the date.

[00:16:28] And then it was like, oh, by the way.

[00:16:31] And the groom's a little different, too.

[00:16:32] So now after you got married and you settle in, you begin to, you know, settle in, have your baby, settle into married life.

[00:16:40] And what about church?

[00:16:42] What about, like, how did you begin to the discovery and growing in the Lord and kind of the call to ministry?

[00:16:49] Interestingly.

[00:16:50] Oh, and how old were you when you got married?

[00:16:52] I'm 20.

[00:16:53] 20.

[00:16:54] OK.

[00:16:54] Yeah.

[00:16:55] Yeah.

[00:16:55] I was 20 and then just turned 21 a month after.

[00:16:58] And then we had three kids by the time we were 25.

[00:17:01] So it was like game on from the beginning.

[00:17:04] But we started going to church.

[00:17:06] We ended up moving way out to like Merino Valley and had a really horrible experience there.

[00:17:12] I'm almost separated, like weren't walking, didn't know the Lord, didn't have any family around.

[00:17:20] It was just a really first five years were really tough.

[00:17:23] And then we moved to Menifee.

[00:17:27] But there were no churches there.

[00:17:29] We were going.

[00:17:30] A Presbyterian church cold called me in Temecula.

[00:17:34] And we started going.

[00:17:35] And that's where I would say that pastor would come over.

[00:17:39] And that was my foundation.

[00:17:40] He would take us through little booklets.

[00:17:42] And he would spend time with us.

[00:17:45] And he would make me pray out loud.

[00:17:47] And I would tell Ted, if he makes me pray out loud one more time, he's not coming back.

[00:17:53] But then we realized there was no church in Menifee.

[00:17:57] So you know what we did?

[00:17:59] We called Costa Mesa.

[00:18:01] And we said, you have a pastor's wanted list.

[00:18:04] And we want a pastor.

[00:18:06] Do you know we never stepped foot in a Calvary Chapel when we started one?

[00:18:11] How did you know to call?

[00:18:12] Well, our friends, they were like, oh, we went to this Calvary Chapel in like Ontario or something.

[00:18:17] Like, okay.

[00:18:19] So we like literally started a church in our living room when we never had been to a Calvary Chapel.

[00:18:24] We barely knew.

[00:18:26] We had a guy come in.

[00:18:27] He's like, have you considered Hebrews 6?

[00:18:29] And we're like, where's that?

[00:18:32] We don't even have Bibles yet.

[00:18:34] Wow.

[00:18:35] So a guy from Pacific Beach came out for the first year and just helped us plant a church.

[00:18:41] We were in a building within six months.

[00:18:43] Someone got saved in our first service.

[00:18:46] And I remember people just like driving around the corner from little flyers we threw on people's lawns and thinking, oh, my goodness.

[00:18:56] That's crazy.

[00:18:57] Wow, this is actually happening.

[00:18:58] You know, it's interesting, too, because, you know, we lived in Vista in the 80s, which I figure this is about the 80s.

[00:19:04] And I remember there was nobody in Temecula.

[00:19:07] This is when –

[00:19:08] That's right.

[00:19:09] We were just talking about that.

[00:19:10] Yeah.

[00:19:10] When – oh, what's his name?

[00:19:12] He used to be on the police show.

[00:19:14] Eric.

[00:19:15] Anyway, he would do these things, come to beautiful, you know, Temecula, Murrieta.

[00:19:20] And I remember that if you bought a house out there, you got a free landscaping.

[00:19:25] Oh, wow.

[00:19:26] And, you know, with the houses and they'd even throw in a boat with some of them.

[00:19:30] And, you know, we were living in Vista going, what in the world is going out there?

[00:19:34] So –

[00:19:34] We went on a hot air balloon ride.

[00:19:36] Oh, yeah.

[00:19:36] And they still do that.

[00:19:37] Because it was so open.

[00:19:38] Yeah, they still do that.

[00:19:39] Yeah.

[00:19:40] But there was nothing.

[00:19:41] Yeah, no.

[00:19:42] You go up and you look down and there's nothing to look at.

[00:19:44] Somebody offered to give a house to Calvary way back when.

[00:19:48] And I remember we went out there and there's like – it's on the top of the hill.

[00:19:51] It was a beautiful house, but there's nothing.

[00:19:53] It's like my mom's going, how far is the closest Alpha Beta, which was a market, you know, from here?

[00:19:59] And they're like, oh, 45 minutes.

[00:20:02] Lake Elsinore.

[00:20:02] Yeah, Lake Elsinore.

[00:20:03] Pretty much.

[00:20:03] Right.

[00:20:04] It was really nothing.

[00:20:05] And you've been there and still are there.

[00:20:07] That's been such –

[00:20:09] A change.

[00:20:10] You've seen so much happen.

[00:20:11] Radical change.

[00:20:12] Yeah, there was nothing.

[00:20:12] I had to drive three exits when we first moved to Menifee.

[00:20:16] And it was like – well, we moved in 89.

[00:20:19] So we rented the church in 92.

[00:20:22] Okay.

[00:20:22] So there was life then.

[00:20:24] There was a little bit.

[00:20:26] But we were from Redondo Beach.

[00:20:27] Oh, yeah.

[00:20:28] Oh, no.

[00:20:28] That's crowded.

[00:20:29] Yeah.

[00:20:30] I don't know if we had even texts then.

[00:20:32] But I remember telling Ted, like, I was driving the kids to school.

[00:20:34] And it was like, sheep in a field.

[00:20:36] Yeah.

[00:20:37] Then we get, like, reports home, like coyote warnings.

[00:20:40] I was like, where are we?

[00:20:41] So once you start this church and you've got a pastor, it begins to grow.

[00:20:45] And so did – like, the understanding began to dawn.

[00:20:50] And, you know, where did the – do you remember when you got an appetite for the Word?

[00:20:55] I think that – I mean, it was right about then.

[00:21:00] But I'm going to be honest.

[00:21:02] It was through things like the conferences that we do, the pastor's wife's conferences really grew me up in the Lord.

[00:21:12] Following – I remember people making us go to, like, schools of ministry.

[00:21:18] Right, right.

[00:21:19] I think it was during those early years where I really had a hunger for Jesus.

[00:21:26] I got baptized in the church we planted.

[00:21:28] And so I think it was through those years and just everybody pouring into us and just the Lord giving us that chance.

[00:21:39] I mean, like, we literally do nothing.

[00:21:42] We didn't know what we were doing.

[00:21:45] To be honest, that one was easier to plant than the second one when we knew what we were doing.

[00:21:50] That one was like, I have a stomachache, and I'm pretty sure I had one for two years.

[00:21:55] But, yeah, I think it was during those early years when we just began to get Christian community around us in the leadership realm

[00:22:04] that would train us to become leaders and have a hunger for God's Word and just began to devour it.

[00:22:13] And, you know, that will be such a great segue to when we go to part two because part two really is why you do what you do

[00:22:23] and what you're doing is what I really want to explore a little bit in our next week when we go into this.

[00:22:31] And then we'll also put some of the websites and some, you know, the title of the conferences that you do and kind of the heart behind it.

[00:22:40] But before we go there, so how many years before you started the church?

[00:22:48] You know, because you were at the church that you were part of starting, but then when you actually, when Ted was called to be a pastor.

[00:22:55] Now, was that a shock?

[00:22:57] When Ted's called, you know, you've got this fireman and everything's going good and there's good money.

[00:23:02] Right.

[00:23:02] And then he's called to the ministry.

[00:23:04] Was that a shock?

[00:23:05] It, you know, it wasn't a shock.

[00:23:07] We couldn't wait.

[00:23:08] People would tell him, how are you, why are you giving up your retirement?

[00:23:12] Because firemen, paramedics have good retirement.

[00:23:14] Why are you giving that up?

[00:23:16] We couldn't wait.

[00:23:17] Every, every month he'd go to the elders meeting and they knew that they were going to bring him off.

[00:23:22] And he was coming on as an assistant pastor.

[00:23:24] It wasn't even, you know, a senior pastor because we weren't ready.

[00:23:29] But every month he would go and he would come back and go, oh, they can't, you know, they can't afford it this month or, you know, and it would just be like every month.

[00:23:39] And I ended up being the holdout because God wanted me to just surrender.

[00:23:44] If, if he can't come on, will you still be faithful to me?

[00:23:50] And then I had to just lay that down and go, if he has to be a paramedic firefighter his whole life and we get to do ministry, I'll be fine in the next month.

[00:23:59] They brought him on.

[00:24:00] Yeah.

[00:24:01] And that was our journey.

[00:24:02] Interesting how that happens.

[00:24:03] Yeah.

[00:24:03] I love those surrenders that the, that the Lord, the heart surrenders, you know, and we do find out that there's, there's something maybe holding it back.

[00:24:13] But, you know, to admit that, I mean, Ted was, was like, Brenda, why didn't you do that soon?

[00:24:19] I'm like, sorry for the last 11 months.

[00:24:21] That might've been my fault.

[00:24:23] Okay.

[00:24:23] Now, before we end this, I want to know the name Leavenworth.

[00:24:28] What nationality is Leavenworth?

[00:24:30] Because I know it's not Jewish, right?

[00:24:32] Because you have to do unleavened bread with it.

[00:24:34] Right?

[00:24:35] I always say Leaven, like heaven with an L.

[00:24:39] Cheryl.

[00:24:39] Oh, sorry.

[00:24:40] There you go.

[00:24:41] Not like Leaven, this, you know, the sin or the yeast.

[00:24:44] Yeah.

[00:24:44] Yeah.

[00:24:45] We've had his DNA done.

[00:24:47] So he's actually English, a lot of Norwegian, German.

[00:24:52] He's kind of a European mutt.

[00:24:54] Oh, that's excellent.

[00:24:55] Yeah.

[00:24:55] Okay.

[00:24:55] So this is a call out for you.

[00:24:57] Join us next week as we continue, because this ministry that Brenda's involved in, it might be something that you're going to be drawn to and want to be a part of.

[00:25:07] So join us next week for part two.

[00:25:09] Thank you for listening to Women Worth Knowing with Cheryl Broderson and Robin Jones-Gunn.

[00:25:14] For more information on Cheryl, visit CherylBroderson.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:20] For more information on Robin, visit RobinGunn.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:25] Join us each week for a lively conversation as we explore the lives of well-known and not-so-well-known historical and contemporary Christian women.

[00:25:34] If you think there is a Women Worth Knowing, we'd love to hear from you.

[00:25:38] Email us at WWK at CCCM.com.

[00:25:43] We hope you've enjoyed today's episode.

[00:25:45] Make sure you rate us on your podcast app, subscribe, and share it with a friend.

[00:25:49] Thank you again for listening to Women Worth Knowing with Cheryl Broderson and Robin Jones-Gunn.

[00:25:55] Women Worth Knowing is a production of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.