Wednesday, April 20, 2016
How to Find a Purpose Partner 04/02 by Royal Court | Relationships Podcasts
Monday, April 18, 2016
SANA VOICES presents Candid Christian Conversations with Host Lin Johnson 04/05 by SANA VOICES | Spirituality Podcasts
Monday, April 11, 2016
Love Done Right Video
I'll start off with a video I did awhile back. I hope you enjoy it. Pastor Ced video
Stay blessed,
Pastor Ced
Friday, September 4, 2015
Victory Over Defeat! How a SANA Based Group Changed Two Women's Lives.
SANA BLOG
♦ Real People ♦ Real Stories ♦ Real Lives Being Changed EVERYDAY
This Week's Featured Organization: Touch the Hem Ministries
***Being Tried by Fire***
♦♦ Introducing Two Women Who Now Walk In Victory Over Defeat!! ♦♦
STARTING WITH A STRONG FOUNDATION
After a SANA intro video, two ladies connected and Touch the Hem Ministries was formed. This group makes a way for women to press through the crowd to receive their healing. Just as the woman with the issue of blood knew that if she made it to Jesus she would be made whole, (Luke 8:44).
Taneka Young, one of the founding leaders of Touch the Hem Ministries, shared:
“Shamilla Pennington and I was talking through this in the beginning. We noticed we both had the same passion and drive for women. We saw a lot of women were in need, but not talking about it. We both had already experienced a breakthrough in the group. It was laid on our hearts to do something to help other women experience their breakthrough as well.”
After speaking with Reneé LaLond who had expressed the same vision to the founder of SANA, Pastor Ced Reynolds, they knew it was God seeking the three of them to start Touch the Hem. The purpose of the group is to help restore women to their rightful place in the Kingdom. “We just knew SANA was a great place to begin,” Young cheerfully said.
Why They Said YES
They saw so many beautiful women. Their faces! Their struggles! Their heart and their lives. In spite of all their obstacles, those same women stayed in the background and said nothing. They would not even speak up in the crowd. So, Shamilla, Reneé, and Taneka decided something needed to be done to help change the outlook for these ladies.
Women are usually known to be compared, competitive and in many cases -- against each other. But, Touch the Hem was formed in an effort for sisters to support sisters. “When you hurt we all hurt. When you celebrate we are celebrating with you,”Young said.
They have excelled in their mission week after week. In this atmosphere, women have found a place like none other where they receive authentic love, concern, and support for what they are facing. This caused women to open up more, trust each other, bond, and create new healthy relationships with one another.
Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they are now able to reach women who were previously overlooked, abused, misunderstood and even misinformed. God was faithful and delivered the leaders to their breakthrough. Each of them knew they were being called upon to give back to other sisters through Touch the Hem.
The ministry was initially organized within Single and Not Ashamed – a social media group for single men and women who are not ashamed to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Touch the Hem is a platform where women can honestly voice what's going on in their life without feeling they will be judged or criticized.
“We gain our strength from pressing. Sometimes they have to press to get their breakthrough and get their healing,” Young said. The amazing leaders of Touch the Hem Ministries have created an environment that opens the door for every woman who crosses their path to experience spiritual, emotional, mental, relational, physical and even financial healing.
Woman on a Mission
Kim Ussery Transformation
Today she stands as a survivor and a powerhouse in God.
“When I first got on the Touch the Hem call, I just knew there was a need to be surrounded by women (like this) who were mighty in the Lord that would help me out on my journey,” Kim Ussery said.“My life is about being a mighty woman in God, and I knew there would be things I would be able to share. I knew the women were truly mighty in prayer. So I quickly latched on after that first call. It was very powerful.”
Recently Ussery was the victim of a hit and run accident. She was driving and before she knew it, her car was going across a 4 way highway. “I reached out to Touch the Hem, and they started immediately praying for me,” she said. “The women are genuine and when they say they are praying for you, they truly are. Every week we are hearing praise reports from the previous week's prayer requests!”
After the incident, Ussery had plans to get her car fixed and get back on the road again. Then the unfortunate fate happened where she actually received notification that her car had been shot. The gunshots made the car inoperable. It was totaled out by her insurance company. Obviously this was now time to find a new vehicle. However, she had no down-payment money or credit to purchase a car.
This was indeed her opportunity to lean on the sisters in Touch the Hem and to trust God. The leaders' recent teaching series on 31 days of Unquestionable Trust, equipped Ussery to drive away from a local dealership as the owner of a new 2013 Nissan Maxima, which is an upgrade from the Altima she had in mind.
All we can say is look at God!!
“So when you see me praising Him, now you know more about the story. My confidence has grown in myself and my own prayers from being involved with Touch the Hem, Ussery said. Two years ago, Ussery tried to commit suicide. “It was the worst 36 hours of my life,” she said. “I had so many problems piled on top of each other.” The enemy was trying to get her to drive into that lake as she sat there contemplating taking her life.“The battlefield of the mind was vicious, but now two years later I have the victory!”
Ussery gushed of God's goodness, saying: “It's nice to have nice things, but are we learning a lesson while we are going through it? When I had nothing, I watched God bring people in my life that sowed into me. I was never homeless or had my electricity turned off. God remained faithful!”
An earlier series in Touch the Hem titled “40 Days of Worship” started the process of taking her life to unimaginable heights. It set the stage and prepared her to overcome the battles she would face. There's still more that God has in store for her future. She also was promoted to help out and minister as part of Touch the Hem's leadership team for a period of time as well.
To partake in this amazing experience, connect with any of the leaders including; Shamilla Pennington, Taneka Young, Reneé LaLond or Ta'Nikki Graham. Their passion to bring a fresh Word every Thursday is fueled by knowing “as women we don't think we are worthy of love. We want you to know that you are already validated even though you don't think you are,” Taneka Young said.
“We are excited about the lives being restored. When you come willing to press you will receive virtue.” Touch the Hem Ministries is where women can find everything they need – from better friendships to her life’s purpose. Don't miss another opportunity to Touch The Hem!!
In Faith and Love,
Tami Anderson, Editor-In-Chief
Special thanks to Del Carter for editing services.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
The Leader in Who? by Joy R. Wilson
Thursday, May 28, 2015
What Leaders Can Learn from Abram by Tremayne Moore
During my quiet time I was reading Genesis 12 & 13. As I started reading, this was dropped in my spirit. I’ll give you the first 4 verses of Chapter 12 and then share what was dropped in my spirit:
Genesis 12:1-4 says this:
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Now many times we talk about prosperity, and all that when we read those verses. Let's look at this from a leadership perspective. Abram was called out of his comfort zone (or we could say comfortable place), leaders when they want to be effective, will step out of their comfortable place. Abram had faith in God to obey; leaders step out into the world of the unknown. But a leader that's grounded in Christ can leave a legacy like Abram.
Let’s look deeper into those verses: God said to Abram that He will make him a great nation, bless him and make his name great. Sometimes when God wants to bless you, He has to get you away from your comfortable place like He did with Abram. Abram had nothing to lose but everything to gain when He stepped out and left his country. Leaders when they’re going for something big, they have nothing to lose going in. I’m sure Abram counted the cost before leaving. They say that leaders aren’t born, and every leader that has left a legacy counted the cost. So I ask every child of God, do you want to be used to the fullest? Count the cost and be open to His Spirit and what He’s trying to say to you. Don’t be alarmed if He pulls you from your surroundings. He has so much for you. I’m willing to believe that every leader can testify to that.
Let’s look down in Chapter 13 (I promise you that I won’t be long). Let’s start at verse 10 when Lot and Abram split up. I want you all to see this.
Verses 10-13:
And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.
I want to stop here for a minute. As you are walking with the Lord, don’t think that everything that looks good is what is supposed to be in your life. Pray, get alone with God, fast, before making a hasty decision. Leaders carefully count the cost and discern before making decisions that could have an impact that’s either good or bad. Lot lifted his eyes and saw that the land was well watered. And he went for it. Now Abram gave Lot the first choice. That is what you call serving – giving other people a voice. That’s what good leaders do. But I also want to bring out here is the power of choice. We live and die based on choices we make.
Now watch what God does after Lot leaves Abram (starting at verse 14):
And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”
A godly leader always gets alone to let God speak to Him because he knows that God is a leader’s provision. It doesn’t get better than that. In fact, faithfulness to God always brings promotion. Think about it, Abram left his country, and always trusted God as his provider and God elevated Abram – which you’ll find as you read on in Genesis.
But what I wanted to show was that in order to discover that God is not a man that He should lie, that He watches over His Word to perform it; He will fulfill every promise to us, we have to take that step of faith to Him and allow Him to direct our paths and be obedient to Him no matter the cost. That’s how you can be a leader after God’s heart and get this: in the Bible, when Abraham, Isaac & Jacob passed away, you’ll find that people always made reference to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac or the God of Jacob. They’ll remember you and want to serve the God that you serve.
Blessings.
The Mayne Man
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Don't Forsake Your Purpose because of Your Past by Tremayne Moore
Don’t Forsake Your Purpose Because Of Your Past
During a prayer call with some of the SANA member and when #SANAMama Mary Smith was speaking near the end, this topic dropped in my spirit. Considering we have over 1200+ members and we only hear from a very few, one has to wonder what’s going on. As a man with Aspergers Syndrome, I have a tendency to ask a lot questions within my own mind. So with that, here’s what is floating through my mind as it relates to this wonderful group: I believe many of you are here with the purpose of growing in the knowledge of God, how to be a leader in your community as a single man/woman of God. If this is you, then you’re definitely in the right group. Some of you are here for the mere fact of trying to sniff out the brothers to snag (or to sniff out the sisters to snag one). On behalf of the leadership, men’s prayer team and women’s prayer team, you’re in the WRONG group. Now, here’s the final reason why some of you are here (which will be the focus of this blogpost): I believe some of you reading this are sitting on the sidelines holding onto a lot of baggage stemming from multiple things (abuse, divorce, used, neglected, low self-esteem, personality/mental issues, and the list could go on). Some of you have a phobia of rejection, and a need for acceptance.
Can I take a moment and be transparent with you as a single man of God? I know this is not the norm for a man to be transparent in front of everyone, but you know there’s nothing wrong with testifying of the goodness of God. Some of the items I mentioned above I have actually lived through and yes, I still have struggles (which I’ll share some of them with you). OK, I grew up in a two-family home (my parents stayed married until the day my father passed – September 2012), and I have a younger sibling. Things seemed pretty normal until I was psychologically tested in pre-school; the end result was that I had Aspergers (a lower version of Autism). When I was 8, my mom’s half-brother came to live with us because he failed 4th grade. Although he’s two years older than me, he started physically abusing me, and two years later, he started sexually abusing me (which lasted for 7 months). Now keep in mind, I was on the verge of thinking this lifestyle was normal. It wasn’t until I was 11 that my female cousin introduced me to sex. Now watch how God does something in me. Although this was going on, there was always a hunger for me to know who Jesus is.
Now let’s stop and take a look for a minute at what’s going on: here’s a child at 11 pretty much being sacrificed to the devil (my mother handing me over to my uncle) in the natural. But in November of 1986, my female cousin & I stopped being involved – which brings me to my first testimony: since that month to the time you read this blogpost, I’ve been abstinent. Now, I lived my teenage years pretty much alone and I started writing poetry to get what’s on my heart out. I did graduate high school (my second testimony). Many kids who have been abused struggle with life. My mother was against me reading the Bible every day in the home, so God provided me a way of escape via the military in 1994 and I got saved in 1996 (my third testimony). In 2001 I graduated with my degree in Accounting.
So far, it sounds like God really brought me out. I know many people have stories similar where God brought them out.
What are some of my struggles? In 2008, I was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of the abuse I suffered from childhood. So, I’m in therapy. Even with that diagnosis, I released my first book a year later and would share a fictional version of my story 4 months before my father passed away.
The message is not to promote me, but to promote God and to encourage you to not forsake your purpose because of your past.
P.S. Perhaps you’re on the sidelines because you believe you need a mate to complete your purpose? That will come, God will provide as you get moving on your purpose. If you continue to sit on the sidelines, you are not only robbing God, you’re also robbing yourself and others your gift! God will give you more, as you get moving in your purpose.
In closing, know that in order to be effective in your community and fulfill the great commission of Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20, you have to GO!!!
If you’re hurt because of what happened in your past, you’re in the right group. We want to pray with you, fast with you, intercede for you, because we are family!!!!
Besides, you can’t say you’re part of the team if you’re constantly on the sidelines. Get in the game, we need you!!!!
Blessings.