WEBVTT
00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:23.920
You're listening to mystic magic, explore your spirit to understand our lives.
00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.160
I'm so listening for your host.
00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:29.760
I'm an ordained minister who embraces all things.
00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:36.719
I've pastored a few spiritual communities, written a few books, performed in various media.
00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.600
I write, produce, and perform.
00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:44.880
I am a visioning facilitator, a diversity, equity, and inclusion facilitator.
00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:56.560
And with Mystic Magic, we explore amazing guests to find out what the divine reveals through us and how we may benefit from this magnificence.
00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:58.000
Stay tuned.
00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:03.600
This is Mystic Magic, exploring our spirit to understand our lives.
00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:12.719
Hey, hey, Mystic Magic Podcast fans.
00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:18.239
We are in for such a treat today because today my guest is Reverend Sherry James.
00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:26.000
She's a proud mother, a spiritual teacher, author, and minister with a deep commitment to live practice.
00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:34.719
For the past nine years, she's been the senior minister of understanding principles for Better Living Church, Up Church, in Englewood, California.
00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:40.719
Her work is grounded in daily practices that quietly transform a life over time.
00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:49.120
She teaches spiritual principles the way they're actually lived, through disruption, repetition, patience, and trust.
00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:57.200
And she is also a wealth coach, financial professional, and founder of the Sherry James Company.
00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.719
Sherry is an avid student of ancient wisdom.
00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:13.680
She draws on her decades of experience as an author, spiritual leader, entrepreneur, financial professional, minister, and mom to help bring people closer to their lifelong goals.
00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.199
So welcome to Mystic Magic, Reverend Sherry.
00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:18.000
Thank you.
00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:19.759
It's a pleasure to be here.
00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:26.560
Yeah, so I know stuff about you, and then I'm discovering stuff about you.
00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:28.400
So let's get into it.
00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:28.960
Sure.
00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:33.599
How did you become an avid student of ancient wisdom?
00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:34.479
Sure.
00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:48.960
I was very fortunate to be the daughter of a very uh radical and radical for the time period that she was in, radical mom, and she was a thinker, and she insisted on me being a thinker.
00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:51.439
Um, she never made it to New Thought.
00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:59.199
Now she's an active part of understanding principles now, but she never made it all the way to New Thought or even knew that term.
00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.000
But she was a seeker.
00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:09.199
And when we were in Texas, you know, growing up in Houston, all you did on Sundays is you went to church.
00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.199
And when I was 13, my mom did something radical.
00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:16.240
She decided not to go to church anymore.
00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:22.479
And she just, you know, said, you know, what those people are telling you down there is just not true.
00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:33.680
And I, you know, that was just to give you a sense of the of the how serious that is, that you know, there was nothing open on Sundays except churches.
00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:41.599
Um, they had what were called blue laws, so even grocery stores were not open, certain things couldn't be sold on Sunday.
00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:46.560
Um, the the restaurants opened in the afternoon after church let out.
00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:49.199
So it was very much a culture of not going to church.
00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.439
So there was no such thing as staying home, not in the world that I lived in.
00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:59.199
And here was this woman, um, single mother of three, who was like, Yeah, I'm not going there.
00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:01.599
And that really influenced me.
00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:07.759
Um, there was a part of me that felt like church matter or something mattered, something about it mattered.
00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:09.439
I couldn't put my finger on it.
00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:14.319
But the beauty is that because she was so adamant, she was like, I can read, I know rhetoric.
00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:17.759
What they're telling you the text says, that's not what it says.
00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.920
And they're saying that's something about women because they just want women to be second-class citizens.
00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:28.319
And so it it empowered me to choose spirituality but reject the parts that didn't work.
00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:29.279
Okay, good.
00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:31.519
And um, and then she exposed me.
00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:35.199
She exposed me to Tony Robbins, she exposed me to Les Brown.
00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.879
Uh, somehow she knew that she knew who uh Dr.
00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:40.639
Johnny Coleman was.
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:48.079
And when I started attending Delaware Church, somehow she knew that um Dela Reese had been ordained by Johnny Coleman.
00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:53.040
So, you know, she did a big part of getting me to where I am.
00:04:53.680 --> 00:05:03.519
Well, uh I'm presuming since you are the senior minister of Up Church, that you also had a relationship with Dela Reese.
00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:12.399
Yeah, that was an interesting relationship because I I always say there were there were two types of people that were at the church.
00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:17.759
There were the people who were the Dela Watchers, you know, they wanted to come see what the angel was doing.
00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:21.839
Um but I was there for the teaching.
00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:35.839
This this message I felt was the the message for the 21st century, that you could go to church and you didn't have to put your brain in the trunk in order to sit in the in you know in the in the congregation.
00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.439
You could learn a spirituality that was embracing of faith.
00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:43.279
You could learn a spirituality that was embracing of other traditions.
00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:50.240
So while I may not practice Islam, I don't believe that people in Islam are going to hell.
00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:58.639
Uh, I may not practice, you know, uh Judaism, but I don't believe that they're Christ killers or whatever, the the stuff that I've been taught growing up.
00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:02.399
So that was deeply, deeply appealing to me.
00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.079
And so I immediately got into the teacher training program.
00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:12.240
I went to study at the Johnny Coleman Institute, and um, and I just got on this path.
00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:22.079
And probably the biggest thing that made a difference was uh summer 1998, I went to Panorama of Truth in Chicago, Illinois.
00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:30.079
And um, I was going, and this was gonna be a big thing because I had just pledged aka and the boole was immediately following Panorama.
00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:34.480
And so I'm like, oh, we're about to have a whole party in Chicago.
00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.560
And wouldn't you know it?
00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:43.199
I got to the Sunday service ready to, you know, just be thrilled by Reverend Dr.
00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:48.399
Johnny Coleman, and someone whose name I don't know got on the platform and said, the Reverend Dr.
00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:52.800
Johnny Coleman will be speaking before the Alpha Kappa Alpha, whatever the gospel brunch is.
00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:55.439
And I was like, Are you kidding me?
00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:04.480
Like, and it was like the distance, like we were at um, we were off of Michigan Avenue, and it the other where we needed to get to to get to Johnny was McCormick Place.
00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:06.639
It wasn't gonna happen, like it was too late.
00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:10.319
And so they said the sermon today will be delivered by the Reverend Dr.
00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:11.439
Mary Ann Tumpkin.
00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:14.000
And I'm like, I don't know, Mary, I don't know, Tumpkin.
00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:17.040
I'm irritated, like irritated.
00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:25.360
And she got up there and I'm grumpy, you know, because I I I paid for Boulet, so I should be at Boole.
00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:28.000
Um, I had no idea Johnny would be at Boole.
00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:29.360
I would have gone there.
00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:35.360
And um, and Reverend Mary opened her mouth, and my life has never been the same.
00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:40.639
Like I was just, I was like, oh um, who is this woman?
00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:51.519
And so I said teacher, and I started traveling around with her, and that people would call me a Reverend Mary Groupie, and I was like, that's fine.
00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.240
That's not a bad thing, that's not a bad thing.
00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:58.959
Um, and then uh and I even toyed with with relocating to Miami.
00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.759
Like I was like, I'm gonna go study with this woman.
00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:11.519
Um, but as life would have it, I I got grounded in LA for different reasons where I couldn't travel as much anymore, and so I was rooted there.
00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:19.839
And in that time frame, the two assistant ministers that we have moved on for different reasons to like the next level in their career.
00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:26.800
And Reverend Della approached me and said, you know, I prayed about an assistant minister and God told me you.
00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:29.120
And I was like, Oh, okay.
00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:30.720
I was like, sure.
00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:43.600
And when I tell you I had no idea what I was saying yes to, like, no idea what I was saying yes to, because I knew what an assistant was in the entertainment industry, which was the world that I was working in and living in.
00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:46.639
So I was like, you know, I get you coffee, I bring you the trades.
00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.519
I don't know what the trades are for ministry, but I bring you the trades.
00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.879
Um and I keep you up on the gossip, right?
00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:57.919
Assistant minister, not assistant to minister.
00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:00.320
Right, right, right, right.
00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:01.279
I had no idea.
00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:13.759
I mean, I like I understood as I did understand that it was the assistant minister, but I I had no concept of like what an assistant minister does, and then it didn't help that Reverend Della Style was she didn't tell me.
00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:15.279
It was like, make it up.
00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.639
You're the assistant minister, may you make up what to do.
00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:20.639
And I'm like, Yeah, I get it.
00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:29.919
I I had a similar experience, but I wanted to talk about uh you as an entrepreneur, yeah.
00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:37.120
What aspect of your life uh brings you into being an entrepreneur and what kind of business is that?
00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:38.000
Sure.
00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:49.840
So when I was 15, I went to a camp uh offered by the Rotary Club in uh Houston, Texas, which is where I'm from.
00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:52.480
And I I didn't know any of this.
00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:53.919
I just I it was a camp.
00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:59.919
I applied, I got in, I went, and the guy said, Um, does anybody know what an entrepreneur is?
00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:01.200
And nobody can really answer.
00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:02.960
And he said, Well, can anybody spell it?
00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:04.480
Well, I was coming.
00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:06.879
So I spelled it correctly.
00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:21.200
And um, and then he goes on, and just that explanation of you know, people who solve problems, people who make life better for other people, um, people who write their own ticket, like that just resonated with me.
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.600
And it was like I was hooked.
00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:25.519
I was absolutely hooked.
00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:29.759
And so it's just it's a part of who I am.
00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:47.440
Um, I I believe that, you know, part of sitting in this role as senior minister, um, you know, whereas maybe other senior ministers kind of, you know, um are chafed by the administrative part of church or the business part of church, um, that's the part that I dive into.
00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.320
Like, let's get into these numbers, let's figure this out.
00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:53.120
Um, those are that's the part that I really enjoy.
00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:54.000
That's good.
00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:00.799
And that's part of part of the culture of Upchurch because I I think uh Della was very much about prosperity.
00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:02.399
Yes, 100%.
00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:08.960
And outside of being a minister, I am a financial professional.
00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:12.159
So I am a licensed California insurance agent.
00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:12.559
Okay.
00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:25.919
Um, so I work with retirees, I help them to um basically take what they have earned or saved, not earned, what they have saved and set aside and stretch it across the rest of their lifetime.
00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:32.639
Um, and I have a particular heart for women in but uh in particular, one because we outlive men.
00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:43.519
Uh, and often when it's our turn to receive the caregiving, there's no one around to do the caregiving, uh, which means that we often have to, you know, pay for some type of support.
00:11:43.759 --> 00:12:13.759
Um and it means and then we're often the ones that come out of the workforce to take care of parents, um, which then cuts, uh-huh, which then cuts into the amount of money that we put aside because oftentimes in those years where we have come out of the workforce to caregive, um, not only are we not contributing to our um, you know, 401k or 457B or whatever your plan is, but now um, you know, you're you're coming, you're long lagging behind in skills.
00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:19.919
So then when you go back into the workforce, you're not necessarily going back in at the same salary rate.
00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:23.200
You may have to take a haircut as far as like your pay.
00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:29.440
Um, and all those things are just a recipe for disaster.
00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:38.399
Um, the other thing is, and this is something I've just learned just you know, being in the in this industry, is the tax code is written for married couples.
00:12:38.639 --> 00:13:03.519
And and when I learned it, I was like, I might need to get an arranged marriage because and it I'm I'm joking, but I'm also half serious because what happens is that in the tax in the in the tax code, the way your money is taxed in when you're in the what I call the working class, um, you just have more money that you can shelter as a married couple rather than as a single person.
00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:09.840
Well, if women are outliving men, once they're widowed, they're back in that single tax filer bracket.
00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:12.799
And so the same money just doesn't go as far.
00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:17.360
So I have a heart for helping women to um make smart decisions.
00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:22.960
Um, you can't beat Uncle Sam, but you can make some smart decisions to get around Uncle Sam.
00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.360
Um, so that's some of the work that I do.
00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:29.039
Wow, I need to have a conversation with you about that kind of stuff.
00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:37.200
Yes, and no, outside of the financial professional world, you've been writing.
00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:39.759
You got a book called The Hair Paradox?
00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.000
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:44.879
So um I love writing.
00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:47.759
I'm a journaler, I journal every day.
00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.440
Um, it is the way that I learned to pray.
00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:57.840
So when I first became a spiritual teacher, I just didn't feel comfortable with my voice.
00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:03.200
And so praying out loud just felt like, you know, like I didn't like it.
00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:08.639
But I I I stumbled across a book from Catherine Ponder called The Prospering Power of Love.
00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:15.519
And in this book, she writes about writing to the angel in the other person, in another person that you may be having trouble with.
00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:30.080
And I um I started doing that, and and I was at the time I was going through my uh a divorce from my first husband, and I started to write to the angel, or I I would use the term Christ, angel really wasn't my term.
00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:34.559
I would write to the Christ in him, you know, just really trying to reach a state of peace.
00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:42.399
And then it occurred to me, you need to write to the Christ in yourself, and that practice turned into these daily letters to God.
00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:57.200
Um, they became really, really just a phenomenal um healing force in my life, and and I came to see them as my daily conversation with God where I would just sit down and write out the letters.
00:14:57.440 --> 00:14:59.679
Now, what's interesting is I never looked back.
00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:01.039
I only just wrote forwards.
00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.799
I just had these piles and piles of journals that I never went back through.
00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:14.639
And probably around 2005, 2006, I had the idea that these might make a good book to help somebody because it had been so instrumental in my life.
00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:19.679
And for the first time, I actually went back and transcribed the journals.
00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:26.240
And what blew my mind more than anything else was how many things had come to pass.
00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:43.360
That experience really taught me that every prayer is answered, that prayers have what I call gestation periods, meaning that a gestation period might be two weeks, um, another one might be two years, another one might be two decades, right?
00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:52.720
But every prayer has a time period that it goes through before it's fully a part of your lived experience.
00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:59.519
And the other thing that really blew my mind was just that there were prayers that I had prayed that I forgot about.
00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:01.279
I just I just didn't think about them.
00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:10.399
You know, uh in the moment that it was pressing and it was what I desired, but then life happened, another fire popped up, something else caught my attention and I moved on.
00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:19.120
And I I found that there were many times that I was actually walking in the results of something that I had prayed about that I just didn't remember.
00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:23.840
And so um the prayer paradox comes out of that experience.
00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:28.159
Um, the stories, all of the stories in the book are true, like literally true.
00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:36.240
Um, but I fictionalized it with a character named Tracy to you know kind of tease that out and illustrate these principles.
00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:40.399
Um and one last thing about that.
00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:48.559
The other thing that blew my mind about the prayer journals and the the um what happened with them was the level of detail.
00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:54.480
So there were things that came to pass exactly as I had written them.
00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:15.359
And that was mind-blowing to me because it really taught me one, it was like I was writing my life into expression, but it also taught me that spirit is into the details, and and it was it was painstaking detail as if it was like, okay, this is the color that you want, this part of the picture, okay, this is the texture that you want, this part of it.
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:21.920
Like it was that level of uh exactitude uh that I experienced.
00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:27.920
So when you've been writing, you did you write other books?
00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:34.960
I did, I do, I have tell us tell us just the titles of the other books.
00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:35.599
Yeah, yeah.
00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:41.519
So I have a uh a youth book uh called Elisha and the Widow with the Oil.
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:52.480
Um, and and that really grew out of wanting to have uh brown faces that our children can look at for these Bible stories.
00:17:52.880 --> 00:18:00.000
Um, Elisha with the Widow with the Oil is actually also my favorite story uh from the Bible.
00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:13.279
Um I I got turned on to it by Reverend Mary, and when I was in my kind of dark night of the soul, uh I read that story every day, and my challenge to myself was to find something new in the story.
00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:28.720
Um and living with that story for you know six months at least, um, writing on it every day and challenging challenging myself to find something new, what I really began to see was the agency that this woman had.
00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:34.079
Um, I started to understand that she was not the destitute, it was nothing that says she was destitute, she was broke.
00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:41.599
But broke doesn't mean destitute, and broke doesn't mean that you're like, oh law, she's the you know, forgotten child.
00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:44.240
No, she maybe she made some bad financial decisions.
00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:46.240
Well, I've been there, you know.
00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:49.200
So it helped me to start to see her as a whole person.
00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:56.079
So I wrote this story, Elisha and the Widow with the oil, um, mirroring the the story for for young children.
00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:08.160
And then I also wrote a book, um, the I want to stop with that one and just I love that story too, and I've done you know, some some material off of that in terms of my sermons and stuff.
00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:11.599
So um, I'm glad you're offering that to children.
00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:18.799
Um and you know, you can talk about faith, but she's like the evidence of faith.
00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:20.319
She is the evidence.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:29.039
My my my biggest insight from her was that she too was a disciple or a uh a prophetess of Elisha.
00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:43.680
Um we think of her as just the wife of the prophet, but she models for us the uh the way a true student would, and she executes to the letter, and no one executes to the letter unless they've been a student.
00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:48.640
Yeah, and and so it's just really breathing life into her.
00:19:48.720 --> 00:20:05.039
I'm I'm interested in that in terms of scripture, breathing life into the women because they are often flat on the page and sometimes hidden and they're on the page, and so I'm interested in breathing life into these characters that are um you know that really have been overlooked for a long time.
00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:08.240
Okay, I'm I'm seeing spiritual cinema next.
00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:10.079
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:21.200
You know, that's the the background is uh is um the background is is in movies, and um, and I do well that that's where that's the what my master's degree is in.
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:30.559
So yeah, we'll we'll we'll talk we'll talk offline about that too, because that that's been that's been uh in my mind as is part of my finale.
00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:37.200
So um uh other other titles you want to share with the audience?
00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:43.119
Yes, um, I wrote a book uh in 2009 called The Money Poems.
00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:51.519
And this book, again, same kind of format as the prayer paradox, where there is a story and then there's the principle outside of the story.
00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:53.839
Um, and so these were poems.
00:20:53.920 --> 00:21:05.119
I was working with an artist, uh Mark Allen Felton, uh, his stage name is Panther, and we were good friends and we were students uh of Della and he's from Chicago, students of Johnny.
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:17.440
And um it really just started sitting down one day and riffing, and out comes these seven poems, and and and one for each day of the week.
00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:23.599
And uh, and then when we after we wrote them, we started talking about okay, how do we utilize them?
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:40.400
And we built this story that was kind of an amalgamation of both of our lives, um, that introduced the the poems and how they uh could be used through this you know fictionalized family that often pulls from you know my life and his life as if it were a mashup.
00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:45.759
And um, and the this book has has had an incredible life.
00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:53.359
Um the uh Unity Church of Flint uh actually uses it as an ongoing book study.
00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:59.839
Um and and I I went to um to sit in on it because this book was written in it was written in 2009.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.319
It was republished in 2017.
00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:03.839
It was written in 2009.
00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:16.319
And so I went and just sitting with them, and this is like, you know, almost two decades later, like, wow, like this, like it, this life that this thing has, that like it keeps finding a new audience.
00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:28.640
Um, but it's a great abundance system to help reprogram the mind to write new tapes uh on um to write new tapes on uh your money story.
00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:29.599
Yeah.
00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:44.480
So listen, I know that you have been in the new thought movement for quite a while, and I imagine that you have like some type of elevator pitch in terms of telling people what new thought is.
00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:45.200
Sure.
00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:48.720
Um but here's my question.
00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:52.640
Um, and this is the central question for mystic magic.
00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:56.880
Can you think of a mystical moment that changed your life?
00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:03.359
It would have to be my prayer journals.
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:15.440
The um so uh I in 2010, so being an entrepreneur, um it is I can the job is like a cuss word.
00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:20.079
And in 2010.
00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:22.559
I'm not gonna work for nobody else.
00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:23.759
Just listen.
00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:36.880
In 2010, this is this was two years after the housing bubble, the industry had gone through a um a restructuring with like the the writer strike and and the actor strike.
00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:38.160
I mean, it was just a mess.
00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:45.759
And so the two things that I was doing, real estate investing and working in entertainment, had ground to a halt.
00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:50.640
And I I had tenants, but I had a tenant that stopped paying.
00:23:51.359 --> 00:24:02.160
And um, which taught me the value of multi-unit properties versus single family homes, because if you don't have the cash flow, if they stop paying, where are you gonna get the money from?
00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:04.880
So it was just that's what I call my dark night of the soul.
00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:06.079
It was the worst.
00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:08.000
This is when I was reading The Widow with the Oil.
00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:15.680
Because I'm like, the creditors are at the door, and I don't have two sons, but they coming to take whatever looks like two sons.
00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:21.519
And so I broke down in uh October 2020, 2010 and got a job.
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:26.640
And I my a friend of mine was working at a call center, which raised uh a nonprofit call center.
00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:33.440
So we raised money for Habitat for Humanity, uh, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, organizations like that.
00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:39.599
And I took the job and I was so like it was an identity crusher type thing, right?
00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:43.200
Because my identity was I'm this entrepreneur, but this entrepreneur had failed.
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:56.079
And so I was working this job, hated it, like hated it, didn't talk to anybody because I don't, it was like you're not my peer group, and I and I don't want to become friends with y'all in case I accidentally start become a worker.
00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:59.519
Like I'm just like I'm not gonna invest my time in you, right?
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:00.079
Right.
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:05.200
And so um, you know, the thing with that makes an entrepreneur is sales, right?
00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:12.000
Every you're in sales, um, because you're selling whatever it is that you're trying to get someone to invest in or buy or whatever.
00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:14.160
I'm failing at this job.
00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:16.160
This sales job, I'm failing at.
00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:21.680
And so before they fire me, they bring me in to just kind of have a little conversation.
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:24.799
I'm like, okay, all right, see if they can salvage me.
00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:32.160
And so at this point, I am a uh uh Reverend Della has asked me to be her assistant minister just to give a timeline.
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.000
So I've got these principles.
00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:35.039
I'm like, okay.
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:43.119
And what we diagnose was what's happening is that when someone would tell me no to a pitch or a request for money, it would sink my energy.
00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:48.160
So that by the end of the shift, I'm like emotionally like on the floor.
00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:53.680
And so what we diagnose is that I gotta get my recovery time better behind the nose.
00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:55.039
And I was like, okay, that makes sense.
00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:59.440
Well, I know something I can do, I know affirmations, I know the power of affirmations.
00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:10.240
And so I have these yellow legal pads, I would bring one in per shift, and in and I'm on an auto dialer, and in between calls, I would write out affirmations.
00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:16.480
Uh there's an affirmation at the end of Seed Money in Action, one of my favorite, favorite books.
00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:18.400
Um, just it's phenomenal.
00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:21.519
I recorded it on my phone because again, these are not my friends.
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:25.920
So on my on my break, my lunch break, I would go sit in my car because I ain't playing with these people.
00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:29.599
They're not gonna be, you're not gonna turn me into a worker.
00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:35.200
And I would go sit in my car and listen to this affirmation just over and over and over again.
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:39.440
And when the break was over, I would go back, sit at the dialer, and write out affirmations.
00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:43.119
And what happened was that it helped my energy to just stay even.
00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:47.039
So you could tell me no, but I wouldn't sink emotionally, I would stay even.
00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:54.000
Um what happened that I didn't realize was happening was that I was building spiritual momentum.
00:26:54.640 --> 00:27:03.440
And about six months into this job, which I had really taken just to stop the financial hemorrhaging, is that I got promoted.
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:05.839
And then I got promoted again.
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:15.839
And inside of a year, I'm sitting in a corporate office with an expense plan, uh expense account, corporate profit sharing, a door with a lock.
00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:31.039
And the way that my trajectory went, I became less and less reliant on the legal pads because um it's just timing, like the way the calls that I got assigned, I got bigger and bigger accounts, you know, so I just didn't have time to do the affirmations the way that I had been doing.
00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:38.240
So when I'm moving into my office, I find these yellow legal pads, and I'm like, oh, I remember this.
00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:40.319
This is when I was about to get fired.
00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.599
And I go back through and I read them.
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:50.319
And one of them says, uh, you know, people love to give me their credit card because we're doing credit card sales on the phone.
00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:54.160
Um, I'm the number one caller in this call center.
00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:56.960
Like that became true.
00:27:57.119 --> 00:27:59.920
Um, I'm promoted through the ranks very quickly.
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:07.599
Um, the guy who trained me, who uh, you know, was there, we were sitting down one day just talking about, you know, chopping it up.
00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:12.160
And he says to me, Sherry, I have never seen anybody move this fast of this company.
00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:23.440
Like, it's my mystical experience has been married to my writing, and I am confident and convinced that anything I put on paper is coming to pass.
00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:28.160
The only thing I don't have control over is how fast it happens or when it happens.
00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:30.960
Well, great.
00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:46.240
I know that um you have had quite um a rich experience as a career person in that you know that you're a mother now, and I know that's fairly recent in the scope of things.
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:48.720
How did that change things for you?
00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:50.160
Sure, sure.
00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:56.319
Uh it turned everything upside down, so I became a tell you another story.
00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:06.319
So February 2015, or a little bit before I go and I go home, my uncle has made transition and I'm officiating the funeral.
00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:13.759
And my niece, who's a teenager, has had a baby and is not doing very well with this kid.
00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:19.119
And so when I see him, I pick him up, I pray over him, and I just let it go and I come back to LA.
00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:24.000
And then in January, my family says, Hey, you know, we need you to help.
00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:26.000
And I said, Okay, sure.
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:27.519
And so at this time.
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:29.440
So help meant write a check?
00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:32.640
No, help meant, help meant take him.
00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:36.079
Okay, okay, so I knew that part, and I was like, sure, absolutely.
00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:41.119
What about if I say, no, I'm not gonna watch this kid sink or or fail or whatever.
00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:50.640
So um, so I know he's coming in February, that was February 6th, and all of a sudden, so February 6th, I had there was a baby, like he was 14 months, right?
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:55.759
There's a baby who can't talk, like, you know, there was no like getting ready.
00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:59.200
The my gestation period was like a week.
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:03.200
Okay, you know, well, most people get nine months, I got a week.
00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:09.599
And a week later, February 15th, Reverend Dello threw a party, and she never told me when she planned to retire.
00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:11.359
She threw a party on February 15th.
00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:13.680
I was late getting there because I was locking up the church.
00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:17.920
And when I walk in, everybody's like, Congratulations, congratulations.
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:19.599
I'm like, for what?
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:22.799
She passed the tour, the church to you, and I'm like, really?
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:26.160
She didn't want to tell nobody that this is what was gonna happen.
00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:30.079
And so inside of a month, least of all you.
00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:39.440
Yes, it was completely upside down, and so um, you know, I had gone to seminary, I had already done that, and I finished my practicum.
00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:43.440
I had not yet been ordained, the the ordination didn't happen until 2017.
00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:47.599
So I was still in the middle of my practicum when all this happened.
00:30:47.920 --> 00:31:01.759
Um, and I was like, okay, and I got this infamous, and I am when I tell you, Celeste, at the end of days, and I'm like, I'm teaching Bible class, and and and and then the the corner starts smelling, and I'm like, okay, hold on, y'all.
00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:06.319
Let me go change this type of my book, just the poop.
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:22.960
You know, and he went everywhere with me because I didn't I didn't have a village, I didn't have I didn't have any of that because this was, you know, like all of my friends' kids are were like middle school or high school, like they were just older.
00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:35.440
So, and then so then now I'm the old mama going to the school, to the to the nursing school with the um, you know, with the uh uh the little 20-somethings with the and I'm like, oh, this is just not a good look.
00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:41.599
And so um it was it's been it's been a whole journey to like build a village.
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:46.960
Like I get why people have children together because now you can there was nobody to squat with.
00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:48.720
So he went to conferences with me.
00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:50.400
He was always around grown-ups.
00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:55.519
Um, we were at an INTA conference, and I'm up speaking.
00:31:55.599 --> 00:31:56.799
I don't have no babysitter with me.
00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:00.000
I can't, at that point, I couldn't afford a babysitter, couldn't afford to leave him.
00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:01.920
And so he's at INTA with me.
00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.359
And while I'm taught speaking, Celeste, he is running up and down the aisle.
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:07.200
So I'm like, oh my God.
00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:08.640
Oh my God.
00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:10.799
Wow.
00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:13.359
So, so yeah, so it's been a it's been a journey.
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:15.039
But he's 12 and a half now.
00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:25.440
He is gifted, he's talented, he knows who he is, and uh and he knows the power of his words, and I'm extraordinarily proud of the young man that he has become.
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:31.039
Well, the first time I saw him was at Celebrating Our Soul in 2024.
00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:37.519
Yes, and that is what I want us to talk about next before we leave this conversation.
00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:55.119
Celebrating our souls um, you know, started back in 2022 for the public, started for me in 2020, but you know, um, this is the third one that's biannual, and you've been, and now you're part of the planning team.
00:32:55.359 --> 00:33:06.160
And what made you first want to come as an audience member and then want to become part of the visionary team?
00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:08.799
So great question.
00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:14.079
Um, so the first one, I don't even know if I really understood what was happening.
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:24.000
The um, but I had um people who were in my peer group who were going, and so that's what really made me decide to you know to go.
00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:40.720
Um, and so I I was a participant in 22 and then a masterclass presenter in 24, and um uh Reverend Jerry reached out and asked if I would become a part of the planning team, and I thought, I got so much on my plate.
00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:41.920
Wow.
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:48.640
Yeah, I gotta, but you know, they said if you want something done, give it to a busy person because they know how to figure it out.
00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:53.519
And so I said yes, and I said yes to to just um contribute.
00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:56.480
I think that uh gatherings like this are important.
00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:07.440
I believe that spiritual community is important, and I I really I believe that new thought, I just I feel like we are the spirituality for the 21st century.
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:24.159
I believe that the you know, this, you know, where science is going, uh we're at the place that we can regrow limbs, uh, we're at the place where scientifically there's no reason that we need to exit the body short of getting hit by a bus.
00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:33.199
Um the the ability to clone, the ability to travel to other parts of the galaxy.
00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:47.920
Um I feel like that's like it's the perfect time to be a part of a spirituality that doesn't think that that's the work of some evil force or you know, but just understands that that it's an expansion in the mind of spirit.
00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:51.199
It's an expansion in the mind of the I am.
00:34:51.760 --> 00:35:02.480
Um, and so I, you know, I'm I am committed to seeing us nurture that next generation, you know, that comes through and encouraging them to pick this up.
00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:10.239
Well that sounds like part of your like master plan, but specifically in terms of celebrating our soul, yeah.
00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:14.559
Um and and it's produced by people of African descent new thought group.
00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:30.880
So this is um this is something that has only happened in like this this decade, and it's kind of new, and so what prompted you to come to the first one?
00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:35.440
Uh again, people in my peer group going.
00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:40.239
Um, but there was something and then when you experienced it.
00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:41.199
Sure.
00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:50.320
So when I experienced it, there were it was it was such a rich and warm and inviting experience.
00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:59.119
Um you know, so being in the UFBL, I have a version of that experience already.
00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:00.960
Universal Foundation for Better Living.
00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:01.840
Right, exactly.
00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:08.559
So whereas um maybe others in other organizations, they may be in settings that are more mixed.
00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:21.840
But in our organization, so I I wasn't fulfilling that need, and I think that that's an important need, which is we're in we're in mixed company, um, and I have a lived experience that people that I'm worshiping with can't relate to.
00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:23.440
I don't have that experience.
00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:44.880
But I think for me, it was valuable to meet other people in New Thought that were not a part of UFBL, and to be in community with people from centers of spiritual living, to be in community with people from divine science or unity or an independent organization, I think that that is um powerful.
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:49.039
I think that it deepens my own personal experience in New Thought.
00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:55.039
Um, I think that it's a central part of it and why it's um why it's important.
00:36:56.400 --> 00:37:18.639
Well, I just want you to know that um even though uh we haven't spent like personal time together, um, your vibration is one that is always fascinating, and that you know, your your warmth is is palpable, and uh your leadership and clarity is evident.
00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:24.239
And so I appreciate all that you do for yourself and for the planet.
00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:26.880
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:28.239
I say the same for you.
00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:28.639
You're right.
00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:40.960
I haven't had a chance to really, really hang out with you, but I appreciate every interaction that we have had, and it has been uh wonderful, and I'm I'm grateful to just be a part of this and to be a part of this experience.
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:44.079
Yes, this is Mystic Magic, thank you.
00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:47.840
Exploring our spirit to understand our lives.
00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:53.840
Thank you for tuning in today.
00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:59.039
Be sure to check out our show notes for more information about today's episode.
00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:10.079
You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and all of your favorite podcast venues.
00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:13.199
This is Mystic Magic.
00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:16.880
Exploring our spirit to understand our lives.
00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:23.920
You're listening to mystic magic, explore your spirit to understand our lives.
00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.160
I'm so listening for your host.
00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:29.760
I'm an ordained minister who embraces all things.
00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:36.719
I've pastored a few spiritual communities, written a few books, performed in various media.
00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.600
I write, produce, and perform.
00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:44.880
I am a visioning facilitator, a diversity, equity, and inclusion facilitator.
00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:56.560
And with Mystic Magic, we explore amazing guests to find out what the divine reveals through us and how we may benefit from this magnificence.
00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:58.000
Stay tuned.
00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:03.600
This is Mystic Magic, exploring our spirit to understand our lives.
00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:12.719
Hey, hey, Mystic Magic Podcast fans.
00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:18.239
We are in for such a treat today because today my guest is Reverend Sherry James.
00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:26.000
She's a proud mother, a spiritual teacher, author, and minister with a deep commitment to live practice.
00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:34.719
For the past nine years, she's been the senior minister of understanding principles for Better Living Church, Up Church, in Englewood, California.
00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:40.719
Her work is grounded in daily practices that quietly transform a life over time.
00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:49.120
She teaches spiritual principles the way they're actually lived, through disruption, repetition, patience, and trust.
00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:57.200
And she is also a wealth coach, financial professional, and founder of the Sherry James Company.
00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.719
Sherry is an avid student of ancient wisdom.
00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:13.680
She draws on her decades of experience as an author, spiritual leader, entrepreneur, financial professional, minister, and mom to help bring people closer to their lifelong goals.
00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.199
So welcome to Mystic Magic, Reverend Sherry.
00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:18.000
Thank you.
00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:19.759
It's a pleasure to be here.
00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:26.560
Yeah, so I know stuff about you, and then I'm discovering stuff about you.
00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:28.400
So let's get into it.
00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:28.960
Sure.
00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:33.599
How did you become an avid student of ancient wisdom?
00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:34.479
Sure.
00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:48.960
I was very fortunate to be the daughter of a very uh radical and radical for the time period that she was in, radical mom, and she was a thinker, and she insisted on me being a thinker.
00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:51.439
Um, she never made it to New Thought.
00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:59.199
Now she's an active part of understanding principles now, but she never made it all the way to New Thought or even knew that term.
00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.000
But she was a seeker.
00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:09.199
And when we were in Texas, you know, growing up in Houston, all you did on Sundays is you went to church.
00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.199
And when I was 13, my mom did something radical.
00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:16.240
She decided not to go to church anymore.
00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:22.479
And she just, you know, said, you know, what those people are telling you down there is just not true.
00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:33.680
And I, you know, that was just to give you a sense of the of the how serious that is, that you know, there was nothing open on Sundays except churches.
00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:41.599
Um, they had what were called blue laws, so even grocery stores were not open, certain things couldn't be sold on Sunday.
00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:46.560
Um, the the restaurants opened in the afternoon after church let out.
00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:49.199
So it was very much a culture of not going to church.
00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.439
So there was no such thing as staying home, not in the world that I lived in.
00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:59.199
And here was this woman, um, single mother of three, who was like, Yeah, I'm not going there.
00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:01.599
And that really influenced me.
00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:07.759
Um, there was a part of me that felt like church matter or something mattered, something about it mattered.
00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:09.439
I couldn't put my finger on it.
00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:14.319
But the beauty is that because she was so adamant, she was like, I can read, I know rhetoric.
00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:17.759
What they're telling you the text says, that's not what it says.
00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.920
And they're saying that's something about women because they just want women to be second-class citizens.
00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:28.319
And so it it empowered me to choose spirituality but reject the parts that didn't work.
00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:29.279
Okay, good.
00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:31.519
And um, and then she exposed me.
00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:35.199
She exposed me to Tony Robbins, she exposed me to Les Brown.
00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.879
Uh, somehow she knew that she knew who uh Dr.
00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:40.639
Johnny Coleman was.
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:48.079
And when I started attending Delaware Church, somehow she knew that um Dela Reese had been ordained by Johnny Coleman.
00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:53.040
So, you know, she did a big part of getting me to where I am.
00:04:53.680 --> 00:05:03.519
Well, uh I'm presuming since you are the senior minister of Up Church, that you also had a relationship with Dela Reese.
00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:12.399
Yeah, that was an interesting relationship because I I always say there were there were two types of people that were at the church.
00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:17.759
There were the people who were the Dela Watchers, you know, they wanted to come see what the angel was doing.
00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:21.839
Um but I was there for the teaching.
00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:35.839
This this message I felt was the the message for the 21st century, that you could go to church and you didn't have to put your brain in the trunk in order to sit in the in you know in the in the congregation.
00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.439
You could learn a spirituality that was embracing of faith.
00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:43.279
You could learn a spirituality that was embracing of other traditions.
00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:50.240
So while I may not practice Islam, I don't believe that people in Islam are going to hell.
00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:58.639
Uh, I may not practice, you know, uh Judaism, but I don't believe that they're Christ killers or whatever, the the stuff that I've been taught growing up.
00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:02.399
So that was deeply, deeply appealing to me.
00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.079
And so I immediately got into the teacher training program.
00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:12.240
I went to study at the Johnny Coleman Institute, and um, and I just got on this path.
00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:22.079
And probably the biggest thing that made a difference was uh summer 1998, I went to Panorama of Truth in Chicago, Illinois.
00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:30.079
And um, I was going, and this was gonna be a big thing because I had just pledged aka and the boole was immediately following Panorama.
00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:34.480
And so I'm like, oh, we're about to have a whole party in Chicago.
00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.560
And wouldn't you know it?
00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:43.199
I got to the Sunday service ready to, you know, just be thrilled by Reverend Dr.
00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:48.399
Johnny Coleman, and someone whose name I don't know got on the platform and said, the Reverend Dr.
00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:52.800
Johnny Coleman will be speaking before the Alpha Kappa Alpha, whatever the gospel brunch is.
00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:55.439
And I was like, Are you kidding me?
00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:04.480
Like, and it was like the distance, like we were at um, we were off of Michigan Avenue, and it the other where we needed to get to to get to Johnny was McCormick Place.
00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:06.639
It wasn't gonna happen, like it was too late.
00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:10.319
And so they said the sermon today will be delivered by the Reverend Dr.
00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:11.439
Mary Ann Tumpkin.
00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:14.000
And I'm like, I don't know, Mary, I don't know, Tumpkin.
00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:17.040
I'm irritated, like irritated.
00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:25.360
And she got up there and I'm grumpy, you know, because I I I paid for Boulet, so I should be at Boole.
00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:28.000
Um, I had no idea Johnny would be at Boole.
00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:29.360
I would have gone there.
00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:35.360
And um, and Reverend Mary opened her mouth, and my life has never been the same.
00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:40.639
Like I was just, I was like, oh um, who is this woman?
00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:51.519
And so I said teacher, and I started traveling around with her, and that people would call me a Reverend Mary Groupie, and I was like, that's fine.
00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.240
That's not a bad thing, that's not a bad thing.
00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:58.959
Um, and then uh and I even toyed with with relocating to Miami.
00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.759
Like I was like, I'm gonna go study with this woman.
00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:11.519
Um, but as life would have it, I I got grounded in LA for different reasons where I couldn't travel as much anymore, and so I was rooted there.
00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:19.839
And in that time frame, the two assistant ministers that we have moved on for different reasons to like the next level in their career.
00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:26.800
And Reverend Della approached me and said, you know, I prayed about an assistant minister and God told me you.
00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:29.120
And I was like, Oh, okay.
00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:30.720
I was like, sure.
00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:43.600
And when I tell you I had no idea what I was saying yes to, like, no idea what I was saying yes to, because I knew what an assistant was in the entertainment industry, which was the world that I was working in and living in.
00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:46.639
So I was like, you know, I get you coffee, I bring you the trades.
00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.519
I don't know what the trades are for ministry, but I bring you the trades.
00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.879
Um and I keep you up on the gossip, right?
00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:57.919
Assistant minister, not assistant to minister.
00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:00.320
Right, right, right, right.
00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:01.279
I had no idea.
00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:13.759
I mean, I like I understood as I did understand that it was the assistant minister, but I I had no concept of like what an assistant minister does, and then it didn't help that Reverend Della Style was she didn't tell me.
00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:15.279
It was like, make it up.
00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.639
You're the assistant minister, may you make up what to do.
00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:20.639
And I'm like, Yeah, I get it.
00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:29.919
I I had a similar experience, but I wanted to talk about uh you as an entrepreneur, yeah.
00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:37.120
What aspect of your life uh brings you into being an entrepreneur and what kind of business is that?
00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:38.000
Sure.
00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:49.840
So when I was 15, I went to a camp uh offered by the Rotary Club in uh Houston, Texas, which is where I'm from.
00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:52.480
And I I didn't know any of this.
00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:53.919
I just I it was a camp.
00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:59.919
I applied, I got in, I went, and the guy said, Um, does anybody know what an entrepreneur is?
00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:01.200
And nobody can really answer.
00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:02.960
And he said, Well, can anybody spell it?
00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:04.480
Well, I was coming.
00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:06.879
So I spelled it correctly.
00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:21.200
And um, and then he goes on, and just that explanation of you know, people who solve problems, people who make life better for other people, um, people who write their own ticket, like that just resonated with me.
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.600
And it was like I was hooked.
00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:25.519
I was absolutely hooked.
00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:29.759
And so it's just it's a part of who I am.
00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:47.440
Um, I I believe that, you know, part of sitting in this role as senior minister, um, you know, whereas maybe other senior ministers kind of, you know, um are chafed by the administrative part of church or the business part of church, um, that's the part that I dive into.
00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.320
Like, let's get into these numbers, let's figure this out.
00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:53.120
Um, those are that's the part that I really enjoy.
00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:54.000
That's good.
00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:00.799
And that's part of part of the culture of Upchurch because I I think uh Della was very much about prosperity.
00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:02.399
Yes, 100%.
00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:08.960
And outside of being a minister, I am a financial professional.
00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:12.159
So I am a licensed California insurance agent.
00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:12.559
Okay.
00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:25.919
Um, so I work with retirees, I help them to um basically take what they have earned or saved, not earned, what they have saved and set aside and stretch it across the rest of their lifetime.
00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:32.639
Um, and I have a particular heart for women in but uh in particular, one because we outlive men.
00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:43.519
Uh, and often when it's our turn to receive the caregiving, there's no one around to do the caregiving, uh, which means that we often have to, you know, pay for some type of support.
00:11:43.759 --> 00:12:13.759
Um and it means and then we're often the ones that come out of the workforce to take care of parents, um, which then cuts, uh-huh, which then cuts into the amount of money that we put aside because oftentimes in those years where we have come out of the workforce to caregive, um, not only are we not contributing to our um, you know, 401k or 457B or whatever your plan is, but now um, you know, you're you're coming, you're long lagging behind in skills.
00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:19.919
So then when you go back into the workforce, you're not necessarily going back in at the same salary rate.
00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:23.200
You may have to take a haircut as far as like your pay.
00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:29.440
Um, and all those things are just a recipe for disaster.
00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:38.399
Um, the other thing is, and this is something I've just learned just you know, being in the in this industry, is the tax code is written for married couples.
00:12:38.639 --> 00:13:03.519
And and when I learned it, I was like, I might need to get an arranged marriage because and it I'm I'm joking, but I'm also half serious because what happens is that in the tax in the in the tax code, the way your money is taxed in when you're in the what I call the working class, um, you just have more money that you can shelter as a married couple rather than as a single person.
00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:09.840
Well, if women are outliving men, once they're widowed, they're back in that single tax filer bracket.
00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:12.799
And so the same money just doesn't go as far.
00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:17.360
So I have a heart for helping women to um make smart decisions.
00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:22.960
Um, you can't beat Uncle Sam, but you can make some smart decisions to get around Uncle Sam.
00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.360
Um, so that's some of the work that I do.
00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:29.039
Wow, I need to have a conversation with you about that kind of stuff.
00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:37.200
Yes, and no, outside of the financial professional world, you've been writing.
00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:39.759
You got a book called The Hair Paradox?
00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.000
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:44.879
So um I love writing.
00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:47.759
I'm a journaler, I journal every day.
00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.440
Um, it is the way that I learned to pray.
00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:57.840
So when I first became a spiritual teacher, I just didn't feel comfortable with my voice.
00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:03.200
And so praying out loud just felt like, you know, like I didn't like it.
00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:08.639
But I I I stumbled across a book from Catherine Ponder called The Prospering Power of Love.
00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:15.519
And in this book, she writes about writing to the angel in the other person, in another person that you may be having trouble with.
00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:30.080
And I um I started doing that, and and I was at the time I was going through my uh a divorce from my first husband, and I started to write to the angel, or I I would use the term Christ, angel really wasn't my term.
00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:34.559
I would write to the Christ in him, you know, just really trying to reach a state of peace.
00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:42.399
And then it occurred to me, you need to write to the Christ in yourself, and that practice turned into these daily letters to God.
00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:57.200
Um, they became really, really just a phenomenal um healing force in my life, and and I came to see them as my daily conversation with God where I would just sit down and write out the letters.
00:14:57.440 --> 00:14:59.679
Now, what's interesting is I never looked back.
00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:01.039
I only just wrote forwards.
00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.799
I just had these piles and piles of journals that I never went back through.
00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:14.639
And probably around 2005, 2006, I had the idea that these might make a good book to help somebody because it had been so instrumental in my life.
00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:19.679
And for the first time, I actually went back and transcribed the journals.
00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:26.240
And what blew my mind more than anything else was how many things had come to pass.
00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:43.360
That experience really taught me that every prayer is answered, that prayers have what I call gestation periods, meaning that a gestation period might be two weeks, um, another one might be two years, another one might be two decades, right?
00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:52.720
But every prayer has a time period that it goes through before it's fully a part of your lived experience.
00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:59.519
And the other thing that really blew my mind was just that there were prayers that I had prayed that I forgot about.
00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:01.279
I just I just didn't think about them.
00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:10.399
You know, uh in the moment that it was pressing and it was what I desired, but then life happened, another fire popped up, something else caught my attention and I moved on.
00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:19.120
And I I found that there were many times that I was actually walking in the results of something that I had prayed about that I just didn't remember.
00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:23.840
And so um the prayer paradox comes out of that experience.
00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:28.159
Um, the stories, all of the stories in the book are true, like literally true.
00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:36.240
Um, but I fictionalized it with a character named Tracy to you know kind of tease that out and illustrate these principles.
00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:40.399
Um and one last thing about that.
00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:48.559
The other thing that blew my mind about the prayer journals and the the um what happened with them was the level of detail.
00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:54.480
So there were things that came to pass exactly as I had written them.
00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:15.359
And that was mind-blowing to me because it really taught me one, it was like I was writing my life into expression, but it also taught me that spirit is into the details, and and it was it was painstaking detail as if it was like, okay, this is the color that you want, this part of the picture, okay, this is the texture that you want, this part of it.
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:21.920
Like it was that level of uh exactitude uh that I experienced.
00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:27.920
So when you've been writing, you did you write other books?
00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:34.960
I did, I do, I have tell us tell us just the titles of the other books.
00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:35.599
Yeah, yeah.
00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:41.519
So I have a uh a youth book uh called Elisha and the Widow with the Oil.
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:52.480
Um, and and that really grew out of wanting to have uh brown faces that our children can look at for these Bible stories.
00:17:52.880 --> 00:18:00.000
Um, Elisha with the Widow with the Oil is actually also my favorite story uh from the Bible.
00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:13.279
Um I I got turned on to it by Reverend Mary, and when I was in my kind of dark night of the soul, uh I read that story every day, and my challenge to myself was to find something new in the story.
00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:28.720
Um and living with that story for you know six months at least, um, writing on it every day and challenging challenging myself to find something new, what I really began to see was the agency that this woman had.
00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:34.079
Um, I started to understand that she was not the destitute, it was nothing that says she was destitute, she was broke.
00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:41.599
But broke doesn't mean destitute, and broke doesn't mean that you're like, oh law, she's the you know, forgotten child.
00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:44.240
No, she maybe she made some bad financial decisions.
00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:46.240
Well, I've been there, you know.
00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:49.200
So it helped me to start to see her as a whole person.
00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:56.079
So I wrote this story, Elisha and the Widow with the oil, um, mirroring the the story for for young children.
00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:08.160
And then I also wrote a book, um, the I want to stop with that one and just I love that story too, and I've done you know, some some material off of that in terms of my sermons and stuff.
00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:11.599
So um, I'm glad you're offering that to children.
00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:18.799
Um and you know, you can talk about faith, but she's like the evidence of faith.
00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:20.319
She is the evidence.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:29.039
My my my biggest insight from her was that she too was a disciple or a uh a prophetess of Elisha.
00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:43.680
Um we think of her as just the wife of the prophet, but she models for us the uh the way a true student would, and she executes to the letter, and no one executes to the letter unless they've been a student.
00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:48.640
Yeah, and and so it's just really breathing life into her.
00:19:48.720 --> 00:20:05.039
I'm I'm interested in that in terms of scripture, breathing life into the women because they are often flat on the page and sometimes hidden and they're on the page, and so I'm interested in breathing life into these characters that are um you know that really have been overlooked for a long time.
00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:08.240
Okay, I'm I'm seeing spiritual cinema next.
00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:10.079
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:21.200
You know, that's the the background is uh is um the background is is in movies, and um, and I do well that that's where that's the what my master's degree is in.
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:30.559
So yeah, we'll we'll we'll talk we'll talk offline about that too, because that that's been that's been uh in my mind as is part of my finale.
00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:37.200
So um uh other other titles you want to share with the audience?
00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:43.119
Yes, um, I wrote a book uh in 2009 called The Money Poems.
00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:51.519
And this book, again, same kind of format as the prayer paradox, where there is a story and then there's the principle outside of the story.
00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:53.839
Um, and so these were poems.
00:20:53.920 --> 00:21:05.119
I was working with an artist, uh Mark Allen Felton, uh, his stage name is Panther, and we were good friends and we were students uh of Della and he's from Chicago, students of Johnny.
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:17.440
And um it really just started sitting down one day and riffing, and out comes these seven poems, and and and one for each day of the week.
00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:23.599
And uh, and then when we after we wrote them, we started talking about okay, how do we utilize them?
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:40.400
And we built this story that was kind of an amalgamation of both of our lives, um, that introduced the the poems and how they uh could be used through this you know fictionalized family that often pulls from you know my life and his life as if it were a mashup.
00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:45.759
And um, and the this book has has had an incredible life.
00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:53.359
Um the uh Unity Church of Flint uh actually uses it as an ongoing book study.
00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:59.839
Um and and I I went to um to sit in on it because this book was written in it was written in 2009.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.319
It was republished in 2017.
00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:03.839
It was written in 2009.
00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:16.319
And so I went and just sitting with them, and this is like, you know, almost two decades later, like, wow, like this, like it, this life that this thing has, that like it keeps finding a new audience.
00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:28.640
Um, but it's a great abundance system to help reprogram the mind to write new tapes uh on um to write new tapes on uh your money story.
00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:29.599
Yeah.
00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:44.480
So listen, I know that you have been in the new thought movement for quite a while, and I imagine that you have like some type of elevator pitch in terms of telling people what new thought is.
00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:45.200
Sure.
00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:48.720
Um but here's my question.
00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:52.640
Um, and this is the central question for mystic magic.
00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:56.880
Can you think of a mystical moment that changed your life?
00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:03.359
It would have to be my prayer journals.
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:15.440
The um so uh I in 2010, so being an entrepreneur, um it is I can the job is like a cuss word.
00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:20.079
And in 2010.
00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:22.559
I'm not gonna work for nobody else.
00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:23.759
Just listen.
00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:36.880
In 2010, this is this was two years after the housing bubble, the industry had gone through a um a restructuring with like the the writer strike and and the actor strike.
00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:38.160
I mean, it was just a mess.
00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:45.759
And so the two things that I was doing, real estate investing and working in entertainment, had ground to a halt.
00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:50.640
And I I had tenants, but I had a tenant that stopped paying.
00:23:51.359 --> 00:24:02.160
And um, which taught me the value of multi-unit properties versus single family homes, because if you don't have the cash flow, if they stop paying, where are you gonna get the money from?
00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:04.880
So it was just that's what I call my dark night of the soul.
00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:06.079
It was the worst.
00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:08.000
This is when I was reading The Widow with the Oil.
00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:15.680
Because I'm like, the creditors are at the door, and I don't have two sons, but they coming to take whatever looks like two sons.
00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:21.519
And so I broke down in uh October 2020, 2010 and got a job.
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:26.640
And I my a friend of mine was working at a call center, which raised uh a nonprofit call center.
00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:33.440
So we raised money for Habitat for Humanity, uh, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, organizations like that.
00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:39.599
And I took the job and I was so like it was an identity crusher type thing, right?
00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:43.200
Because my identity was I'm this entrepreneur, but this entrepreneur had failed.
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:56.079
And so I was working this job, hated it, like hated it, didn't talk to anybody because I don't, it was like you're not my peer group, and I and I don't want to become friends with y'all in case I accidentally start become a worker.
00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:59.519
Like I'm just like I'm not gonna invest my time in you, right?
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:00.079
Right.
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:05.200
And so um, you know, the thing with that makes an entrepreneur is sales, right?
00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:12.000
Every you're in sales, um, because you're selling whatever it is that you're trying to get someone to invest in or buy or whatever.
00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:14.160
I'm failing at this job.
00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:16.160
This sales job, I'm failing at.
00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:21.680
And so before they fire me, they bring me in to just kind of have a little conversation.
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:24.799
I'm like, okay, all right, see if they can salvage me.
00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:32.160
And so at this point, I am a uh uh Reverend Della has asked me to be her assistant minister just to give a timeline.
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.000
So I've got these principles.
00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:35.039
I'm like, okay.
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:43.119
And what we diagnose was what's happening is that when someone would tell me no to a pitch or a request for money, it would sink my energy.
00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:48.160
So that by the end of the shift, I'm like emotionally like on the floor.
00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:53.680
And so what we diagnose is that I gotta get my recovery time better behind the nose.
00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:55.039
And I was like, okay, that makes sense.
00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:59.440
Well, I know something I can do, I know affirmations, I know the power of affirmations.
00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:10.240
And so I have these yellow legal pads, I would bring one in per shift, and in and I'm on an auto dialer, and in between calls, I would write out affirmations.
00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:16.480
Uh there's an affirmation at the end of Seed Money in Action, one of my favorite, favorite books.
00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:18.400
Um, just it's phenomenal.
00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:21.519
I recorded it on my phone because again, these are not my friends.
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:25.920
So on my on my break, my lunch break, I would go sit in my car because I ain't playing with these people.
00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:29.599
They're not gonna be, you're not gonna turn me into a worker.
00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:35.200
And I would go sit in my car and listen to this affirmation just over and over and over again.
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:39.440
And when the break was over, I would go back, sit at the dialer, and write out affirmations.
00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:43.119
And what happened was that it helped my energy to just stay even.
00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:47.039
So you could tell me no, but I wouldn't sink emotionally, I would stay even.
00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:54.000
Um what happened that I didn't realize was happening was that I was building spiritual momentum.
00:26:54.640 --> 00:27:03.440
And about six months into this job, which I had really taken just to stop the financial hemorrhaging, is that I got promoted.
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:05.839
And then I got promoted again.
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:15.839
And inside of a year, I'm sitting in a corporate office with an expense plan, uh expense account, corporate profit sharing, a door with a lock.
00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:31.039
And the way that my trajectory went, I became less and less reliant on the legal pads because um it's just timing, like the way the calls that I got assigned, I got bigger and bigger accounts, you know, so I just didn't have time to do the affirmations the way that I had been doing.
00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:38.240
So when I'm moving into my office, I find these yellow legal pads, and I'm like, oh, I remember this.
00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:40.319
This is when I was about to get fired.
00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.599
And I go back through and I read them.
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:50.319
And one of them says, uh, you know, people love to give me their credit card because we're doing credit card sales on the phone.
00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:54.160
Um, I'm the number one caller in this call center.
00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:56.960
Like that became true.
00:27:57.119 --> 00:27:59.920
Um, I'm promoted through the ranks very quickly.
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:07.599
Um, the guy who trained me, who uh, you know, was there, we were sitting down one day just talking about, you know, chopping it up.
00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:12.160
And he says to me, Sherry, I have never seen anybody move this fast of this company.
00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:23.440
Like, it's my mystical experience has been married to my writing, and I am confident and convinced that anything I put on paper is coming to pass.
00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:28.160
The only thing I don't have control over is how fast it happens or when it happens.
00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:30.960
Well, great.
00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:46.240
I know that um you have had quite um a rich experience as a career person in that you know that you're a mother now, and I know that's fairly recent in the scope of things.
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:48.720
How did that change things for you?
00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:50.160
Sure, sure.
00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:56.319
Uh it turned everything upside down, so I became a tell you another story.
00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:06.319
So February 2015, or a little bit before I go and I go home, my uncle has made transition and I'm officiating the funeral.
00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:13.759
And my niece, who's a teenager, has had a baby and is not doing very well with this kid.
00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:19.119
And so when I see him, I pick him up, I pray over him, and I just let it go and I come back to LA.
00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:24.000
And then in January, my family says, Hey, you know, we need you to help.
00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:26.000
And I said, Okay, sure.
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:27.519
And so at this time.
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:29.440
So help meant write a check?
00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:32.640
No, help meant, help meant take him.
00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:36.079
Okay, okay, so I knew that part, and I was like, sure, absolutely.
00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:41.119
What about if I say, no, I'm not gonna watch this kid sink or or fail or whatever.
00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:50.640
So um, so I know he's coming in February, that was February 6th, and all of a sudden, so February 6th, I had there was a baby, like he was 14 months, right?
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:55.759
There's a baby who can't talk, like, you know, there was no like getting ready.
00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:59.200
The my gestation period was like a week.
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:03.200
Okay, you know, well, most people get nine months, I got a week.
00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:09.599
And a week later, February 15th, Reverend Dello threw a party, and she never told me when she planned to retire.
00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:11.359
She threw a party on February 15th.
00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:13.680
I was late getting there because I was locking up the church.
00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:17.920
And when I walk in, everybody's like, Congratulations, congratulations.
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:19.599
I'm like, for what?
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:22.799
She passed the tour, the church to you, and I'm like, really?
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:26.160
She didn't want to tell nobody that this is what was gonna happen.
00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:30.079
And so inside of a month, least of all you.
00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:39.440
Yes, it was completely upside down, and so um, you know, I had gone to seminary, I had already done that, and I finished my practicum.
00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:43.440
I had not yet been ordained, the the ordination didn't happen until 2017.
00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:47.599
So I was still in the middle of my practicum when all this happened.
00:30:47.920 --> 00:31:01.759
Um, and I was like, okay, and I got this infamous, and I am when I tell you, Celeste, at the end of days, and I'm like, I'm teaching Bible class, and and and and then the the corner starts smelling, and I'm like, okay, hold on, y'all.
00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:06.319
Let me go change this type of my book, just the poop.
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:22.960
You know, and he went everywhere with me because I didn't I didn't have a village, I didn't have I didn't have any of that because this was, you know, like all of my friends' kids are were like middle school or high school, like they were just older.
00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:35.440
So, and then so then now I'm the old mama going to the school, to the to the nursing school with the um, you know, with the uh uh the little 20-somethings with the and I'm like, oh, this is just not a good look.
00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:41.599
And so um it was it's been it's been a whole journey to like build a village.
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:46.960
Like I get why people have children together because now you can there was nobody to squat with.
00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:48.720
So he went to conferences with me.
00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:50.400
He was always around grown-ups.
00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:55.519
Um, we were at an INTA conference, and I'm up speaking.
00:31:55.599 --> 00:31:56.799
I don't have no babysitter with me.
00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:00.000
I can't, at that point, I couldn't afford a babysitter, couldn't afford to leave him.
00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:01.920
And so he's at INTA with me.
00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.359
And while I'm taught speaking, Celeste, he is running up and down the aisle.
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:07.200
So I'm like, oh my God.
00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:08.640
Oh my God.
00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:10.799
Wow.
00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:13.359
So, so yeah, so it's been a it's been a journey.
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:15.039
But he's 12 and a half now.
00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:25.440
He is gifted, he's talented, he knows who he is, and uh and he knows the power of his words, and I'm extraordinarily proud of the young man that he has become.
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:31.039
Well, the first time I saw him was at Celebrating Our Soul in 2024.
00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:37.519
Yes, and that is what I want us to talk about next before we leave this conversation.
00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:55.119
Celebrating our souls um, you know, started back in 2022 for the public, started for me in 2020, but you know, um, this is the third one that's biannual, and you've been, and now you're part of the planning team.
00:32:55.359 --> 00:33:06.160
And what made you first want to come as an audience member and then want to become part of the visionary team?
00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:08.799
So great question.
00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:14.079
Um, so the first one, I don't even know if I really understood what was happening.
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:24.000
The um, but I had um people who were in my peer group who were going, and so that's what really made me decide to you know to go.
00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:40.720
Um, and so I I was a participant in 22 and then a masterclass presenter in 24, and um uh Reverend Jerry reached out and asked if I would become a part of the planning team, and I thought, I got so much on my plate.
00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:41.920
Wow.
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:48.640
Yeah, I gotta, but you know, they said if you want something done, give it to a busy person because they know how to figure it out.
00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:53.519
And so I said yes, and I said yes to to just um contribute.
00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:56.480
I think that uh gatherings like this are important.
00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:07.440
I believe that spiritual community is important, and I I really I believe that new thought, I just I feel like we are the spirituality for the 21st century.
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:24.159
I believe that the you know, this, you know, where science is going, uh we're at the place that we can regrow limbs, uh, we're at the place where scientifically there's no reason that we need to exit the body short of getting hit by a bus.
00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:33.199
Um the the ability to clone, the ability to travel to other parts of the galaxy.
00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:47.920
Um I feel like that's like it's the perfect time to be a part of a spirituality that doesn't think that that's the work of some evil force or you know, but just understands that that it's an expansion in the mind of spirit.
00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:51.199
It's an expansion in the mind of the I am.
00:34:51.760 --> 00:35:02.480
Um, and so I, you know, I'm I am committed to seeing us nurture that next generation, you know, that comes through and encouraging them to pick this up.
00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:10.239
Well that sounds like part of your like master plan, but specifically in terms of celebrating our soul, yeah.
00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:14.559
Um and and it's produced by people of African descent new thought group.
00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:30.880
So this is um this is something that has only happened in like this this decade, and it's kind of new, and so what prompted you to come to the first one?
00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:35.440
Uh again, people in my peer group going.
00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:40.239
Um, but there was something and then when you experienced it.
00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:41.199
Sure.
00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:50.320
So when I experienced it, there were it was it was such a rich and warm and inviting experience.
00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:59.119
Um you know, so being in the UFBL, I have a version of that experience already.
00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:00.960
Universal Foundation for Better Living.
00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:01.840
Right, exactly.
00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:08.559
So whereas um maybe others in other organizations, they may be in settings that are more mixed.
00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:21.840
But in our organization, so I I wasn't fulfilling that need, and I think that that's an important need, which is we're in we're in mixed company, um, and I have a lived experience that people that I'm worshiping with can't relate to.
00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:23.440
I don't have that experience.
00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:44.880
But I think for me, it was valuable to meet other people in New Thought that were not a part of UFBL, and to be in community with people from centers of spiritual living, to be in community with people from divine science or unity or an independent organization, I think that that is um powerful.
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:49.039
I think that it deepens my own personal experience in New Thought.
00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:55.039
Um, I think that it's a central part of it and why it's um why it's important.
00:36:56.400 --> 00:37:18.639
Well, I just want you to know that um even though uh we haven't spent like personal time together, um, your vibration is one that is always fascinating, and that you know, your your warmth is is palpable, and uh your leadership and clarity is evident.
00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:24.239
And so I appreciate all that you do for yourself and for the planet.
00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:26.880
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:28.239
I say the same for you.
00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:28.639
You're right.
00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:40.960
I haven't had a chance to really, really hang out with you, but I appreciate every interaction that we have had, and it has been uh wonderful, and I'm I'm grateful to just be a part of this and to be a part of this experience.
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:44.079
Yes, this is Mystic Magic, thank you.
00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:47.840
Exploring our spirit to understand our lives.
00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:53.840
Thank you for tuning in today.
00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:59.039
Be sure to check out our show notes for more information about today's episode.
00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:10.079
You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and all of your favorite podcast venues.
00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:13.199
This is Mystic Magic.
00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:16.880
Exploring our spirit to understand our lives.
