The Launch of The I.S.L.A.N.D. Movement

It's been a few weeks since I last blogged...not because nothing has been happening worth blogging about, but because so much has been happening that I've had trouble finding the time to blog. So I ask for your patience, and if necessary, your forgiveness, if this blog entry runs a little longer than normal. I have to catch you up to date...
Believe it or not, after my last entry that chronicled all of the challenges I had faced to date, even more road blocks popped up that had the potential to hinder the birth of the I Shall Not Die book and the I.S.L.A.N.D. (I Shall Live And Not Die) Movement. Once the book was finally produced and shipped to me from the printer, I encountered a battle with the company that was outsourced to bring the books to me. For hours, the driver of the delivery truck held the books hostage, actually refusing to bring them to my home, stating that he didn't like delivering to residential areas. I won't blast the company by name on my public blog, but believe me when I tell you the temptation is there. I had paid for shipping and delivery, yet the truck driver told me that if I wanted the books, I'd have to rent a pick-up truck from somewhere and meet him in a business district because he didn't like delivering to residences. Really? Are you kidding me? You're a delivery man! After several telephone conversations with the people at the delivery company's headquarters and my ultimate threat to call the printer and report the incident so that they'd never use their delivery service again, I got my books. I waited from 8:30 in the morning (the scheduled delivery time) until 6:30 in the evening to receive them, but they finally arrived. And yes...I still reported the company to my printer.
When I first broke open the box and held the book in my hand, I cried. Okay, I'll admit that I tend to shed a few tears each time I am blessed to hold a new release for the first time, but this one was different. This book is personal...and it represents a new level of ministry for me. Plus it seemed as if that moment would never come. With all the adversity I'd faced, there were days when I felt paranoid as I wondered what the enemy would come up with next. I'm so glad the God I serve is omniscient. No adversity could arise that He didn't know about beforehand. With that being the case, God knew that the delivery issue wouldn't be the end of it all.

Can you beleive that once again, we would be forced to change the location of the pending October 2nd I.S.L.A.N.D. Conference where we would officially unveil the book and the accompanying motivational ministry? We'd already had to change it once because someone who (for reasons that are still unclear) did not want the conference to manifest took it upon themselves to cancel our first venue booking and demand that the pastor not allow it to be held there. Now, due to more "church drama," we were forced to go for Plan C. And that plan had us taking the celebration out of the church altogether, and moving it to an events building instead. As God would have it, someone who had booked the building for the same time and date that we needed it, called and cancelled their booking just moments before I called to ask about the building's availability. (I told you HE was omniscient!) And with a venue secure, we were moving forward once again.
Because the books arrived several weeks prior to the official release date, two "early release" events took place. The first one was held at Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta, GA, and was hosted by Bossettes. It was a wonderful event that came with live entertainment that included spoken word by EbonyJanice and song ministry by recording artist/stage actress, Alicia Robinson Cooper. The second "early release" event was a speaking engagement and book signing wherein I was blessed to be asked to be the keynote speaker at the 85th church anniversary service of East St. Paul United Methodist Church in San Antonio, TX. What an honor it was to share the "I Shall Not Die" message with the attendees there, and then to sell and sign copies of the book afterward. I took my youngest daughter along with me for that appearance. It was her very first flight and she got the opportunity to reconnect with a friend that she hadn't seen since she was a four-year-old Pre-K student. They are both now thriving 17-year-old high school seniors, and it was good to see how quickly they gelled. They even sang a duet at the worship service. Additionally, I was blessed to reunite with a sister-friend that I had not seen in more than ten years. It was marvelous! San Antonio made for a great tour stop on many levels.
Finally, the day of the official book release and ministry launch arrived. October 2nd was the date of the I.S.L.A.N.D. Conference, and it was with great excitement that I and a car load of family and friends took the 3.5 hour drive to Valdosta, GA for the celebration. En route, another curve ball blindsided me when I received a call from the booking manager of my featured artist, telling me that he would not be at the event. The immediate disappointment was heavy. I had been announcing for months that he would be there, and just a couple hours before "showtime" I was informed that he would not. Determined not to let the blow be a TKO for me, I regrouped my emotions and prayed that God wouldn't allow the absence of the national recording artist to cause those who would be there to turn around and leave. God answered my prayer, and the conference that commemorated the book and the ministry was a wonderful affair.
Those who attended the I.S.L.A.N.D. Conference were blessed with music and arts ministry that included praise dancing, singing, and a featured appearance by Agape Award winning mime minister The Master's Mime . The highlight of the night was an awesome (and I do mean, AWESOME) Word from the Lord that was delivered by Bishop Q.S. Caldwell of Celebration of Praise Ministries. The capable emcee for the evening was Pastor Bernard Robinson of Abundant Life Ministries. I can't say that our featured recording artist wasn't missed. He definitely was. He was on program to sing a couple of very key songs...plus he's one of my personal favorites, so I still wish he would have been there, but I was more than a little relieved that none of the audience members expressed any disappointment in his absence. And God provided a "ram in the bush" when one of the attendees (her name was Nicole), who I'd never even met before, agreed to fill in on a moment's notice and sing I Won't Complain, which was a poignant song for the program. And boy, did she sing it!
To top off the evening, quite a number of books and other I.S.L.A.N.D. ministry products were sold, and the wonderful reviews from readers have been pouring in via email, telephone calls, and by way of feedback posted in the guest book on the ministry website. Despite all of the ditches, mud puddles, and even dung hills that we had to leap over to get there, God made us victorious, and I am eternally grateful. He promised to be faithful, and He is and continues to be. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness!
And now the main tour begins. For the next few weekends, I can be found fellowshipping, promoting, speaking, and signing books in Jacksonville, Florida, West Haven, Connecticut, Chicago, Illinois, Lenox, Georgia, and Jackson, Mississippi. I hope to see some of you as I make stops through your area, and I request the prayers of the righteous as I continue to use this platform to empower, encourage, and edify.

You Hear That, Elizabeth???

Remember the classic comedy, Sanford and Son? Sure you do. Its original run ended in the late 70's but you don't have to think back that far or even have to have been born at that time to recall it. This show, starring the late Redd Foxx (as Fred Sanford) and Demond Wilson (as his son, Lamont), still airs in daily reruns over thirty years later.
On this sitcom that Time magazine once listed as one of the 100 best television shows of all time, Fred, a 60-something-year-old widower (whose deceased wife was named Elizabeth) would often feign heart attacks when something major, unexpected, and normally unpleasant would happen. At the onset of his attacks, Fred would place one hand on his chest, stretch the other out in front of him, and while staggering around the room gasping for air, he'd say, "This is the big one. You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm comin' to join you, honey!" Oh, how many hours of laughter my generation and many generations that followed got (and still get) from watching his antics.
Well, I had my own "You hear that, Elizabeth" moment just a few days ago. Over the course of writing my first nonfiction, I Shall Not Die, I've used this blog to keep a public journal of the journey. And what a journey it has been! In my most recent posting, I talked about how I've had to "fight" every step of the way to get this God-ordered book in print and the partnering ministry (The I.S.L.A.N.D. Movement) launched. I spoke of the latest struggle just to get the book files to the printer, and nearing the close of that posting, I said that I was expecting the enemy to come back again with something else as a means of stopping the birth of this movement. Lo and behold....it happened. It was totally unexpected, and I was completely unprepared. By my measuring stick, it was the BIG ONE!
What I was expecting was a glitch with the printer or maybe an issue with the shipping or some other problem on that same level. But no. This time, it wasn't an issue with the book at all. The printer received the files that I mailed to them, they sent me a proof to approve the cover and page set-up, and as I type this blog entry, the book is in the print stage (thank you, Jesus!). So while I was expecting another problem to come from an outside source...it came from within...from a place that is very dear to my heart. People that I love, for reasons that are still not clear to me, stepped in and pulled the plug on the worship service that had been set up to commemorate the book and ministry launch. That's right...they cancelled it. I kid you not. Family members who were helping me to plan the event had donated funds to get thousands of marketing items printed to pass out and publicize the upcoming service, and because of the enemy's newest stunt, all of those dollars were flushed down the drain. Even to this day, those who stopped the program have not spoken to me to offer an explanation for their drastic actions, but because of them, for a few days, I walked around hurt, stunned, and quite frankly, angry beyond words. Like Fred Sanford, I felt like putting my hand over my heart and staggering from the blow of it all. But when I allowed myself to calm down and I began to place it in God's hands, the Spirit spoke to me. And the words He spoke to me, I relayed to the supporter who had called to inform me of the cancellation. "This won't stop it," I told him. "God has ordered this, and if He said it, He's got to bring it to pass."
So we joined in faith and believed God to provide a ram in the bush. We rolled up our sleeves and got to work (because faith without works is dead). For the past several days, I, along with people who are in my support system, have been working tirelessly to find a new location for the worship experience. Door after door was closed in our faces. Either the contact people were not returning our calls, or the facilities were unavailable on the date we needed to use it. Finally, as I was conversing with a friend and we were brainstorming other options, I mentioned a former acquaintance in the area that used to fellowship with our church when we were both teenagers. As an adult he became a preacher and ultimately, a pastor. I asked about his church and the friend that I was speaking to informed me that he no longer lived in the area. For a moment, I felt a twinge of discouragement. And then she mentioned the name of the person who now pastored that same church. As God would orchestrate it, I knew him as well. I hadn't seen or spoken to him in years, but I used social media to send him an email, and he responded with these words: "I'd be honored to host this service at our church." Thank God for Facebook! :-)
And so, we press on. We are having to get more promo material printed, but God is still good. We didn't have to cancel or even reschedule the date of the event. The I.S.L.A.N.D. Conference is still set for October 2nd, and while I am fully aware that there is still time for more adversity to arise, I feel that the worst of it is over. And even if other things do come my way, the fact that God got me through the big one, assures me that He'll get me through anything else. He's on my side, and I'm on His, and nothing can stop us now. You hear that, Elizabeth? NOTHING!

It Was A Set-Up!!

That's right...it was a set up, and boy, did He set me up good! I'm not talking about a friend or a relative, I'm talking about God. And believe me when I tell you that there is no better "setter upper" than He! Every time I think that I have fulfilled His order as it relates to I Shall Not Die, He points out an unfinished area of the puzzle, and then points me in the right direction to help me create the piece that will fill the slot. There's a popular saying that states: "The will of God won't take you where the grace of God won't protect you." I have found that to be very true throughout my life and certainly throughout the process of birthing I Shall Not Die. What started out as what I thought would only be a book has evolved into more. Much, much more.
I've shared the story behind the I Shall Not Die book throughout this blog. Faithful followers of this online journal are aware that when I embarked upon the mission of writing this book, that task alone was intimidating. I had my moments of doubts and disobedience. Getting beyond the fear to reach the point of taking God at His word and trusting Him to not only walk with me, but lead and guide me through the process was fourteen years in the making. But even as I moved beyond the lurking shadows of fear into the lighted path that faith provided, I had no idea of where this walkway would lead. I thought I knew, but I have come to the realization that I hadn't the slightest notion. And in the process, I also now realize that this is just the way God planned it. He set me up!
God knew that if He allowed me to see the entire view from the onset, I would have frozen in place. It's quite possible that the writing of the book would still be on the back-burner if I'd known then what I know now. So instead of giving me a panoramic view of what He had planned, God showed it to me in snapshots that He knew I'd be able to handle. That allowed me to complete the I Shall Not Die manuscript in five months after fourteen years of procrastination. When God revealed that the I Shall Not Die book was actually a puzzle piece of a larger platform that was to be the I Shall Not Die Motivational Ministry, I was somewhat taken aback, but it wasn't an assignment that paralyzed me. However, when another puzzle piece turned the ministry into a movement that God inspired me to title The I.S.L.A.N.D. (I Shall Live And Not Die) Conference, I was like...WHOA!! It took me totally by surprise, and the reveal of it all momentarily overwhelmed me, but there was no turning back, and God gave me the reassurance that if He assigned it to me, He would equip me with the wherewithal to carry it out. And I wouldn't have to do it alone because he promised to put people in place who would recognize it as a vision that He'd given and be willing to assist in making it a reality. And so He did. Every phone call I made...every email I sent out requesting the involvement of others were answered with an unquestionable "Yes."
God is so faithful. His mandate (the book) broadened into a ministry (the motivational ministry) and then into a movement (the conference)....and it all happened before the book was even sent to the printer for production. He...set...me...up!! But what a blessing and an honor to be used of God to bring about a change in someone's life, someone's heart, someone's soul! The official launch of the ministry in it's entirety (including the book) is scheduled for Saturday, October 2, 2010. Join me in Valdosta, Georgia for The inaugual presentation of The I.S.L.A.N.D. Conference where our keynote speaker will be Bishop Q.S. Caldwell, Chief Apostle of Celebration of Praise Ministries, and our featured music guests will be Stellar Award recognized, national recording artists, Lowell Pye (of Men of Standard) and Marcus Cole (formally of Commissioned). The evening of glorious celebration and radical worship will be hosted by Pastor Bernard Robinson, the voice behind the mic of the Bernard Robinson Morning Show on WJEM-1150 AM gospel radio station in Valdosta. Admission is FREE and the public is urged to attend.
I am trusting God to do mighty things through the movement as a whole. That is my most earnest prayer. The book, the ministry, and the conference - I want it all to be to man's edification and to God's glorification. I speak it in faith and in Jesus' name that it is already done. To God be the glory!
To obtain more information about the mandate, the ministry, and the movement, visit the official website by clicking HERE. The book that started it all will officially release on October 1, 2010. Orders can be placed now through the ministry website. Shipping is free for advance orders, and the books that are ordered in advance will be shipped in the month of September.