Shannon Forsyth 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] Hello, beautiful listeners. This is a good interview coming up today.

[00:00:16] And Cheryl and I are excited about it because we've told you before,

[00:00:19] we always get excited when we have someone in studio with us.

[00:00:22] And it feels really special because it's like a friend you just hadn't met yet.

[00:00:26] And we love doing this because there are so many women that God has used in extraordinary ways.

[00:00:32] And when we hear their stories, it just motivates us and inspires us.

[00:00:38] So I'm glad you're listening with us today.

[00:00:41] And in studio, we have Shannon Forsyth.

[00:00:43] And she is one of the most personable, fun, adventurous women I've ever had the blessing to meet.

[00:00:52] And one of the things about Shannon, I mean, I loved her from the first time we talked.

[00:00:56] And I love her because she got kicked out of a couple of churches for her exuberance for the Lord.

[00:01:04] And that can sometimes happen.

[00:01:06] And, you know, considering that Jesus got kicked out of Israel, you know, on a cross, we're in the right place.

[00:01:13] But I love her exuberance for Jesus and for what His will is.

[00:01:17] It just blesses me so much.

[00:01:18] So, Shannon, I want to get started right with, you know, how you grew up and then how you came to know the Lord.

[00:01:27] Because that is so critical to everything that follows.

[00:01:33] Yeah.

[00:01:34] I was praying about it this morning and I was like, Lord, I need to know what you're going to share or what you want me to share.

[00:01:40] Because there's so much back there.

[00:01:42] But it is important to know that all my life I thought I could never be used by God because of the things I've gone through.

[00:01:51] Early on, I was, I grew up in a Christian home.

[00:01:55] I'm going to put air quotes around that.

[00:01:57] You don't see it, but I'm doing air quotes right now.

[00:01:59] It's there.

[00:02:00] And it is thinking that God was very judgmental.

[00:02:05] He had, I wanted to be this theatrical person.

[00:02:09] I wanted to be a dancer.

[00:02:10] I was in this church that said, you cannot do that.

[00:02:12] That would be a sin.

[00:02:13] And I was like, what?

[00:02:15] You know, and you don't realize how crushing that is because now you feel like you have no place in the body of Christ.

[00:02:21] Not that I was thinking that younger, just I have no place.

[00:02:24] And so, and my family being just Christians on Sundays and not Christians during the week,

[00:02:30] it puts you in these positions where you are.

[00:02:34] I made friends younger and ended up in a sexual abusive relationship at a very young age.

[00:02:40] And that was the moment I realized, even if I wanted to be a famous actor or a dancer,

[00:02:46] this person would always follow me the rest of my life and say, oh, you don't know what she did.

[00:02:51] Wow.

[00:02:51] And so I grew up wanting to harm myself.

[00:02:55] I didn't use razors, but I used my fingernails and scratch down my face and want to peel it off.

[00:03:02] And that was just my early life.

[00:03:05] My family, we grew up and they never said the words, I love you.

[00:03:08] They never hugged us.

[00:03:11] It was, my mom was really young.

[00:03:14] She was 14 when she conceived me.

[00:03:16] Oh my goodness.

[00:03:16] And had me at 15.

[00:03:17] So she was a baby having a baby.

[00:03:19] Right.

[00:03:19] I didn't know that as a kid.

[00:03:21] No, that is not what I understood.

[00:03:23] And so me and her never were on the same page.

[00:03:26] I was the reason that kind of unraveled her life.

[00:03:30] And, and my mom and my dad ended up getting married.

[00:03:34] My dad was 18.

[00:03:36] She was 15 and they ended up getting married and they stayed together and had five more kids.

[00:03:41] But it was just dysfunctional.

[00:03:43] It was, it was dysfunctional and hard with God in the mix.

[00:03:47] So that, that twists you.

[00:03:48] Yes.

[00:03:49] So you don't want anything to do with the Lord.

[00:03:51] And I didn't.

[00:03:51] And at one point when I was younger, I'm like, God, you don't answer my prayers.

[00:03:55] So I'm going to pray to Satan.

[00:03:56] And so I started, you know, kind of Lord Satan, you answer my prayers.

[00:04:02] And that was my thought as a child in the midst of going to church on Sundays and this thinking.

[00:04:08] So the enemy really got a foothold.

[00:04:11] Take me fast forward into high school.

[00:04:12] And I, I would lie to my parents saying I was going out and my friend would pick me up and I'd be going to see a boyfriend or, you know.

[00:04:19] And so it was, I was unraveling.

[00:04:21] I was unraveling.

[00:04:22] And then I ended up going, they sent me off to a Christian college.

[00:04:26] And I was like, great.

[00:04:28] So I would go there.

[00:04:29] My friends were doing drugs and I didn't do the drugs, but I hung out with the worst of the worst.

[00:04:33] People thought, and I was so exuberant and so loud.

[00:04:35] So everyone thought I was the problem, which maybe.

[00:04:39] And so there were a couple of people that were started praying over me, but I didn't know that.

[00:04:44] Wow.

[00:04:45] And they, I ended up giving my life to the Lord from a girl who, who would meet me at the end of my dorm.

[00:04:51] And as I'm sneaking out to not go to chapel, she was, because it was a Christian school.

[00:04:56] And she was like, hey, you want to go to chapel together?

[00:04:59] I'm like, no, I do not want to go to chapel with you.

[00:05:02] And she's like, do you want to know what the Lord shared with me?

[00:05:05] I'm like, no, I don't want to know what the Lord shared, but I was kind and just pretended.

[00:05:10] And she was like, well, the Lord said this.

[00:05:13] And I was, every time I would leave, she'd be down there.

[00:05:15] I'm like, how does she know my schedule?

[00:05:17] I like, how, how is she always here?

[00:05:20] And she'd get me into chapel.

[00:05:22] And at some points I would lie.

[00:05:23] I'm like, oh, I know scriptures.

[00:05:25] I was, I was raised in a Christian home.

[00:05:26] John 3, 16, for God so loved the world.

[00:05:28] He showed me that this morning.

[00:05:31] Again.

[00:05:31] Yeah.

[00:05:32] Every day he shows me that.

[00:05:34] That's the one verse I know.

[00:05:35] And, and she ended up leading me to the Lord.

[00:05:38] And because she had, she, and oddly enough, she went to a Calvary chapel.

[00:05:42] And so she had her guitar with her.

[00:05:45] She was always singing worship songs, but I was drawn to her.

[00:05:49] And, um, but in my heart, all my life, I knew it doesn't matter if I give my life to

[00:05:55] the Lord.

[00:05:55] If everyone knew what I've done and what has happened to me, there is nobody that would

[00:06:02] want to use me.

[00:06:04] God doesn't even want to use me.

[00:06:05] And that carried over.

[00:06:07] Even today, it carries over that belief that I cannot be used.

[00:06:11] But as I gave my life to the Lord, my relationship with Christ was radical.

[00:06:17] It was as if Jesus, she would pray this prayer, you know, Jesus, you know, or dad.

[00:06:23] And I'm like, what?

[00:06:23] You don't, that is so disrespectful.

[00:06:25] You need to end it with my father, son, the Lord, Holy Spirit.

[00:06:29] Amen.

[00:06:30] That's how you should end it.

[00:06:31] Yeah.

[00:06:32] But it was so personal that I wanted that.

[00:06:34] And to find out that I could call him Jesus, I can call him by name.

[00:06:39] And that was probably the most transforming that a God who I always believed in, but didn't

[00:06:46] think that I was worthy to be sought after calls me by name and I can call him by name.

[00:06:51] You know what, Shannon, just that this young woman was so obedient to the Lord to just

[00:06:58] pursue you.

[00:06:59] I think we need to just pause there because you look at your childhood and there are so

[00:07:03] many listeners that can say, I had the same experience or similar, or I know someone.

[00:07:08] And it just kind of makes their life curl in and go away from God.

[00:07:14] But here's this little light in the darkness.

[00:07:17] And, you know, I guess what kept coming to mind is how many of us can be that little light

[00:07:23] and yet we're timid as well because we don't think if anybody really knew me, they wouldn't

[00:07:28] really like me.

[00:07:28] Or we get scared of the culture that we're in.

[00:07:30] Sure.

[00:07:31] Because, yes, we...

[00:07:32] What's she going to think of me?

[00:07:32] Right.

[00:07:33] We do have a culture where light is darkness and darkness is light.

[00:07:38] You know, missionaries are bad and Satanists are cool.

[00:07:42] You know, we do live in that kind of culture.

[00:07:44] You know, vampires...

[00:07:46] Last night I was at a conference and the guy was showing this was what vampires looked

[00:07:50] like in 1930.

[00:07:51] This is what they look like today.

[00:07:53] And, you know, it's very handsome as opposed to somebody you like want to keep clear up,

[00:08:00] right?

[00:08:03] You see that there's this subtlety of, you know, witches are good and, you know, we're,

[00:08:08] you know, channeling is good and what spirits want to speak to you.

[00:08:12] And instead of saying, here's a cultural revelation to the mission field that we're being sent into,

[00:08:20] we're like, okay, this is it.

[00:08:22] I'm out of here.

[00:08:23] I don't want to deal with these people.

[00:08:24] Bring down the wrath of God.

[00:08:27] And God is saying, I am showing you your mission field.

[00:08:30] And this is the mission field.

[00:08:31] And here's this girl.

[00:08:32] And how did she counteract, you know, Shannon's rebellion and all that?

[00:08:37] Not with judgment.

[00:08:38] Just love.

[00:08:39] But with love.

[00:08:39] And we forget that love is the door.

[00:08:43] And availability.

[00:08:44] And pursuing you.

[00:08:46] Yeah.

[00:08:47] And I think another key word is as that was attached to love is mercy.

[00:08:52] Yes.

[00:08:53] Because I had, I needed mercy.

[00:08:55] Yeah.

[00:08:56] And grace.

[00:08:56] Yeah.

[00:08:57] We'll throw them all in.

[00:08:58] Yeah.

[00:08:58] So good.

[00:08:58] It is true.

[00:08:59] Right.

[00:09:00] Because I just went hardcore into anti-God that I knew when I gave my life to the Lord, I knew the truth.

[00:09:08] Yeah.

[00:09:09] And I needed that.

[00:09:10] I needed mercy.

[00:09:11] And I needed grace.

[00:09:11] And I needed love.

[00:09:12] I needed all of that.

[00:09:14] And, you know, I was telling people about the Jesus revolution because I lived through it.

[00:09:19] Frontline spectator, literally.

[00:09:21] And I remember, though, that it was the grace and love and the mercy that was the draw.

[00:09:27] And then we undergirded them with the Word of God.

[00:09:31] And so often we're like coming first with the Word.

[00:09:34] And I love the Word of God.

[00:09:37] But sometimes we need to come first with the love of God and the grace of God.

[00:09:44] You know, Paul begins every epistle with grace and peace.

[00:09:48] Because he knows that's what's going to allow you to draw close to God.

[00:09:52] And that is so important.

[00:09:53] But, you know, Shannon, I think it's very, very telling that she met you with love and mercy and grace.

[00:10:00] Because this is really the capstone of your ministry.

[00:10:04] But before we get to your ministry, we have to talk about, you know, how you kind of began and then how you met your husband.

[00:10:14] And so begin, run to rescue or to begin?

[00:10:17] Well, let's start with my husband.

[00:10:18] Like what you were doing in Hollywood.

[00:10:20] So how did you get to Hollywood and what were you doing there?

[00:10:24] So, well, when I met my husband, he was in L.A.

[00:10:28] So he accepted the Lord back at Promise Keepers.

[00:10:33] And he walked in and just it was like an angel just showed up and had him sit next to him because he was there by himself.

[00:10:40] And the Lord just kind of just captured his heart.

[00:10:42] So he ended up being in L.A., which happened to be the church that we were helping church plant back out there.

[00:10:48] So I had a heart for Los Angeles and was always out there doing all kinds of crazy.

[00:10:53] And tell us a little bit about the crazy because this is crazy.

[00:10:56] And I love I love her crazy.

[00:10:58] I love her crazy.

[00:11:00] I would go down street witnessing down to Boys Town again, air quotes.

[00:11:04] It is in West Hollywood.

[00:11:05] So we go down to the the gay community and go street witness.

[00:11:09] And I realized when I was down there and I'm like, this is not working.

[00:11:14] People are passing out flyers and holding their big Bibles.

[00:11:18] And I'm like, dude, this is you guys have a form of godliness, but not his power.

[00:11:22] So I'm like, Lord, what do you want to do?

[00:11:24] So I go down there and I would dress like them.

[00:11:27] And so I look like I was from L.A.

[00:11:29] I was, you know, and I would go.

[00:11:32] So you did kind of an incarnational ministry.

[00:11:34] Right.

[00:11:34] My Bible was in my backpack, always with me.

[00:11:37] And one guy came up to me and he's like, you know what?

[00:11:39] I'm so tired of Christians.

[00:11:40] You won't even go into the nightclub with me.

[00:11:42] I'm like, dude, I totally will go in there with you.

[00:11:44] And he was like and he took me in there.

[00:11:46] Now, the nightclubs are kind of interesting there.

[00:11:48] But I did.

[00:11:49] And I bought him a beer.

[00:11:50] Now, I'm not saying that that I'm not saying every Christian should do that.

[00:11:54] But I felt like I needed to cross a barrier.

[00:11:56] I wasn't going to drink.

[00:11:57] So I bought him the beer that then set off in motion this relationship for months that guys were getting saved.

[00:12:06] You know, people are getting saved.

[00:12:08] But then another group started coming down and they were a big group and they would come down and they would plaster this place with with tracks everywhere.

[00:12:18] Everywhere, all over the ground.

[00:12:19] I mean, they were and they were in your face.

[00:12:21] And I'm like, dude, and we're incognito.

[00:12:23] And these guys would I would be eating that eating dinner with them every every week.

[00:12:29] I'd spend my half my paycheck on this on on the men and women down there.

[00:12:34] And so at one point it got so bad with this other group that Queer Nation and Act Up started showing up and they started driving the Christians out.

[00:12:44] Now, nobody now the guys that were there that were regulars were hiding me and my friend and so that they wouldn't know who we were because we looked like them.

[00:12:52] They didn't they couldn't say who we were.

[00:12:56] At one point, a guy came up to me and he says, I want you to know I can see who is with you now.

[00:13:01] I'm walking by myself.

[00:13:03] And he's and I'm like, well, what are you talking about?

[00:13:05] I know who's with you.

[00:13:07] I can see him.

[00:13:08] And and and about 30 minutes later, I sat down and came back in and he says, I need you to deny Christ.

[00:13:15] And I'm like, dude, I'm not denying Christ as from, you know, I'm going to be serving the Lord.

[00:13:19] And that is what I'm going to be doing.

[00:13:22] And I'm going to you know, you have no authority here.

[00:13:24] He literally takes the table, throws it across the restaurant is there's really small down there in West Hollywood.

[00:13:30] And so it flies and he gets in my face and I'm like, I'm not denying Christ.

[00:13:36] And, you know, he has more authority over you.

[00:13:38] And he literally sat down.

[00:13:39] He says, you're the real deal.

[00:13:40] Wow.

[00:13:41] You know, and it was.

[00:13:42] And then later on, they ended up showing here at Calvary.

[00:13:45] Oh, yeah.

[00:13:46] Hundreds of them.

[00:13:47] Yes.

[00:13:48] Because I was in Vista then.

[00:13:50] I was OK.

[00:13:51] And they I so I knew they were coming the night before.

[00:13:54] I tried to warn people.

[00:13:55] I was calling Odin Fong and I was like, hey, you just need to know.

[00:13:59] I don't know who to tell that they're going to show up here.

[00:14:03] And and so I came down with donuts and everything and just started witnessing to them down there.

[00:14:07] Now, an interesting thing that day that nobody knows.

[00:14:10] The person that molested me when I was little was there that day when they all showed up and we they showed up here at the church all around the entire city.

[00:14:21] And I walk up and I'm witnessing to them.

[00:14:24] They're like, they won't let us in the church.

[00:14:26] I said, if you don't storm the pulpit, because they did do that, if you go in and be act normal and not crazy and disruptive, I'll take you in.

[00:14:34] And this girl was backing up, backing up, backing up.

[00:14:37] And I didn't know what in the world who she was and why she was acting so ridiculous.

[00:14:43] She kind of looked familiar, but I just assumed I met her in West Hollywood.

[00:14:47] And then a couple of nights later, the Lord woke me up.

[00:14:50] And the person that molested me was a girl who took the kids in the in the neighborhood and was watching over all of it.

[00:14:57] And he says that was the girl that was part of all of this.

[00:15:01] And then I see her face and I recognize her.

[00:15:05] And I believe she recognized me.

[00:15:07] Wow.

[00:15:07] And he says, I needed you to have a heart for this community so that you could learn what forgiveness is and forgive this in your past.

[00:15:17] And because I didn't recognize her, she had short hair and she didn't have glasses where before she had long hair and glasses and I was young.

[00:15:24] And so that was so that was a key component of all of this, that through this ministry, the Lord ultimately wanted us to reach that community, but ultimately wanted to heal my heart.

[00:15:34] That is so powerful.

[00:15:37] But, you know, to again, this is our mission field.

[00:15:39] Yep.

[00:15:40] And, you know, I think about Jesus saying, if those in Sodom and Gomorrah had heard the words that you've heard and to to speak as Jesus did, repentance was so much love.

[00:15:55] And, you know, of course, repent means just turn around.

[00:15:59] Just turn around.

[00:16:00] Follow Jesus.

[00:16:01] You're running away from God.

[00:16:03] Turn around and run after God.

[00:16:05] Yes.

[00:16:05] And he's he's there.

[00:16:07] So I absolutely love that because, you know, the hippie movement and the Jesus revolution, we had every type of person.

[00:16:15] You know, one guy claiming to be Anton LaVey showed up and another guy.

[00:16:19] I'm his son.

[00:16:20] And, you know, we had, you know, well, Odin himself, as you mentioned, you know, used to be, you know, with Timothy Leary.

[00:16:27] And we had a.

[00:16:28] Well, I will just throw it out there.

[00:16:31] One of Robin's best friends delivered drugs to Timothy Leary.

[00:16:35] So, you know, we've.

[00:16:36] She loves Jesus.

[00:16:37] She does.

[00:16:39] Yes.

[00:16:39] And she's she's a lot like you.

[00:16:41] She's the older version of you, Shannon.

[00:16:43] You have to meet you have to.

[00:16:45] Oh, I would love it.

[00:16:46] Yes.

[00:16:46] My friend Marlene Rice.

[00:16:48] She's amazing.

[00:16:49] But, you know, I love that.

[00:16:50] So then in all of this kind of like adventuresome mayhem, you get to know your husband.

[00:16:57] I do.

[00:16:57] I meet him at the church that we were helping church plant.

[00:17:00] And he was unique because he had just given his life to the Lord.

[00:17:03] But he was a powerhouse immediately.

[00:17:06] Like the Lord had just captured his heart.

[00:17:08] And I had what I loved about him was that he wasn't the type of guy who said, oh, you know, as women, you can't be on the mission field.

[00:17:18] Or I had heard things like that.

[00:17:19] Or if you're going to be on the mission field as a single person, then you can be a teacher maybe.

[00:17:22] And so even when I was going down to L.A. by myself, people were saying things.

[00:17:27] And I had a couple of people like, no, follow the Lord, follow the Lord.

[00:17:30] So when I met Bartley, it was kind of cool because he came.

[00:17:33] I was doing this ministry that we used fashion and did shows for Christ.

[00:17:38] And he wanted to come help.

[00:17:40] And he's like, how do I serve you?

[00:17:41] And I was taken aback by those words.

[00:17:43] How can I serve you?

[00:17:44] And he started fasting and praying over me and watching me to see how my walk was with the Lord.

[00:17:50] I mean, this is a young believer kind of wanting to make sure, you know, who I was kind of intimidating because there are sides of me that aren't very beautiful.

[00:17:59] And he's really handsome.

[00:18:01] Yeah, he is.

[00:18:02] I scored.

[00:18:03] Yeah.

[00:18:03] And so did he.

[00:18:05] And so we just kind of got together with the Lord in the center.

[00:18:09] And as soon as we got married, it was quick.

[00:18:12] We just knew there's so many scriptures the Lord had given me.

[00:18:15] I'm like, Lord, how do I know if this person's from God?

[00:18:17] And then he says in my devotions, if this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

[00:18:21] And I'm like, dude.

[00:18:22] Okay.

[00:18:22] Yeah.

[00:18:23] Okay.

[00:18:23] Done deal.

[00:18:25] So here we are.

[00:18:26] And he is the reason that we are where we're at today because the Lord knew I needed someone who wasn't, who didn't look at my personality that was so big.

[00:18:37] I mean, and not intimidated.

[00:18:39] Exactly.

[00:18:39] Exactly.

[00:18:40] And, but I could tuck under and have a covering and a security and be able to go out and do things.

[00:18:47] Now, when I've gone to the streets and my phone died, he'll be all over me like, you know, that should never happen.

[00:18:54] But yeah, it is.

[00:18:55] Or when you run out of gas, it's like.

[00:18:58] Yeah, exactly.

[00:18:59] Exactly.

[00:18:59] And we were being followed by a pimp one time and I'm texting him, but then my phone dies and he's like, dude, really?

[00:19:06] This is never again.

[00:19:07] So he's all in security.

[00:19:08] So we all tuck under that, make sure we follow that protocol.

[00:19:11] Which is just so, so wise.

[00:19:14] Yeah.

[00:19:15] Yeah.

[00:19:15] Just so wise.

[00:19:16] So now you didn't like go straight into ministry once you got married or did you, were you kind of plunged in or did you kind of settle?

[00:19:23] We still were in the ministry that with the fashion show that we were, that we were involved in.

[00:19:28] And so we weren't plunged into ministry.

[00:19:30] It was called Fashion Forward.

[00:19:31] Yeah.

[00:19:32] And then we start our own production company, which means we were helping ministries and churches get to do videos for their information videos.

[00:19:42] So we did that for a minute and then we were called to go to Hollywood.

[00:19:44] And the thing was, is we were intimidated by it.

[00:19:47] We would drive all around the L.A. and pray over Los Angeles and cover it in prayer.

[00:19:54] And so we went out and that was the foundation.

[00:19:57] Even though we look at it and we think it was a failure, you know, you look back and you're like, oh, that was another failure.

[00:20:02] You know, we only had at the most at one time 20 people in our church, you know, so it felt like a failure.

[00:20:07] But we see the foundational component of what God was doing today there.

[00:20:14] And planting seeds.

[00:20:15] Yes.

[00:20:16] You think about how some crops sprout up right away and some take longer.

[00:20:19] I think it is like the asparagus has to grow for seven years before you can harvest it.

[00:20:24] Really?

[00:20:24] I didn't know that.

[00:20:24] Yeah.

[00:20:25] And there's certain, you know, trees that when you plant the seeds, there's no harvesting for three years.

[00:20:32] And you really have to let it get strong and grow.

[00:20:36] But we're so used to like, oh, he opened a church and 3,000 people showed up.

[00:20:41] And you're like, okay, well, we're going to continue to minister to all five, you know, which happens to be family members.

[00:20:47] But we will keep doing this, you know, as long as the Lord leads.

[00:20:51] Something that I was thinking of, though, is, you know, Amy Simple McPherson, when she came to L.A., Hollywood, Echo Park, she really took a cultural assessment and said, what will work in this city?

[00:21:05] And though she was a very dramatic teacher, when she began to teach, she's like, this is a community that responds to drama.

[00:21:13] So she put on these live plays and she would even have at times live animals.

[00:21:18] And in fact, one of the stories was she wanted to do something that was kind of like Little Bo Peep.

[00:21:24] But Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and how she goes after them, just like Jesus, the shepherd, goes after.

[00:21:30] Well, this farmer brings these sheep in from the San Fernando Valley and the sheep just were like, oh, where are we?

[00:21:37] And they all just were rushing all over the stage and leaving little droplets.

[00:21:41] And I guess it was just.

[00:21:43] And so at one point she just sat down in her like hoop skirt and just started laughing.

[00:21:49] And the whole audience just joined in.

[00:21:52] And, you know, she knew how to do it, but she was in trouble for going to the bars.

[00:21:56] But she would go in there to share Jesus.

[00:21:59] And she felt like these are the lost.

[00:22:02] These are the people that need to hear the gospel.

[00:22:05] And she was highly, highly criticized.

[00:22:07] There was one pastor especially that took her on and decided just, you know, she was of the devil and just everything.

[00:22:14] And yet thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people, including my grandparents, both sets, got saved through the ministry of Amy Simple McPherson.

[00:22:24] And if you don't know, that's a woman's name.

[00:22:28] And, you know, for those who say, you know, I suffer a woman not to speak.

[00:22:31] And that's why any time that they would ask my father, you know, you know, is it all right if a woman preaches?

[00:22:37] He'd be like, well, you know, my sister-in-law is one of the best preachers I've ever heard.

[00:22:42] He wouldn't draw a hard line because he recognized that God uses everybody.

[00:22:50] He uses everybody.

[00:22:51] And he wants to use everybody.

[00:22:53] There is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

[00:22:59] So I love that.

[00:23:00] And, you know, I love Bartley already, but I love that.

[00:23:03] So now I want to bring up one more thing.

[00:23:07] We've got about three minutes.

[00:23:08] But, you know, often people, once they have children, they step away from ministry or they mellow it out.

[00:23:14] How is that for you?

[00:23:15] Did you go through some crisis of conscience in all of that?

[00:23:19] Like I am living, I'm kind of like this is kind of dangerous.

[00:23:22] And now I've got these children, which I mean, their names.

[00:23:25] Wait till you hear their names.

[00:23:26] Yes, yes.

[00:23:27] And yes.

[00:23:28] Yes.

[00:23:28] So crisis of conscience, feeling guilty, wanting to back down.

[00:23:32] And so my kids names are Sage and Courage and they literally live their names.

[00:23:35] But yeah, we did.

[00:23:38] And we thought we were going to have our listen.

[00:23:41] I know we have one minute.

[00:23:43] So our kids were part of the ministry at 12 and 10 when we started.

[00:23:48] And my daughter would give up her room.

[00:23:50] My son would have Dalton's Bakery or Dalton's Delights, because that's his middle name, to bake goods for the girls in our home.

[00:23:56] And they would sing happy birthday to them once they were rescued off the street the next morning.

[00:24:01] They're like, it's not my birthday.

[00:24:02] But we're like, when's the last time you had a birthday?

[00:24:04] They didn't remember.

[00:24:05] So these are the things my kids were involved in.

[00:24:07] So when the Lord called me, he called my husband and then he called our entire family.

[00:24:12] So we're going to get more into what this ministry is, how it's formed, where you're at.

[00:24:17] And we definitely want to hear some stories.

[00:24:19] And I know you've got a lot of stories and we'll leave out the names.

[00:24:22] In fact, we've got one of those stories in studio just observing one of my favorite stories, one of the grace trophies of Jesus.

[00:24:31] And so we want to talk about some of those stories when we come back for part two, because this is begging for a part two.

[00:24:40] Don't you think so, Robin?

[00:24:41] Yep.

[00:24:41] We knew we couldn't squeeze it all into one.

[00:24:44] No.

[00:24:45] And I want to also, at the end of part two, tell the women how they can, or those who are listening, be part of this ministry, how they can donate, how they can give, how they might be involved.

[00:24:58] And so we've got lots of stories coming up, part two.

[00:25:01] You do not want to miss it.

[00:25:02] So please come back next week.

[00:25:05] And if you're just dying and dying, dying, come back next week.

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

[00:25:15] For more information on Cheryl, visit CherylBroderson.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:21] For more information on Robin, visit RobinGunn.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:26] 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.

[00:25:44] We hope you've enjoyed today's episode.

[00:25:46] Make sure you rate us on your podcast app, subscribe, and share it with a friend.

[00:25:50] 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.