Transforming Challenges into Opportunities: Jenilee Samuel's Podcasting Journey

What happens when a pastor finds her unique voice in a world where she often felt overlooked? Join me as I dive into the incredible journey of my friend Jenilee Samuel. From managing life with four teenage boys to emerging as a globally recognized podcast coach and host of "Java with Jen," Jenilee's story is nothing short of inspiring. Learn how she leveraged platforms like Pinterest and YouTube to educate herself, and built a podcasting legacy from ground zero. We explore her early podcast days, pivotal moments that boosted her confidence, and the importance of connecting with listeners.

Jenilee shares how she turned her passion into a successful podcast coaching business, offering insights for anyone looking to carve their own path in the digital world. Hear how networking and genuine connections have been instrumental in her journey, leading to collaborations with influential figures like Shawn Bolz. Facing criticism and staying true to her calling are themes that run deep in Jenilee's narrative. She opens up about the fear and vulnerability that come with new ventures and the importance of discernment in sharing personal information. Tune in for an episode packed with empowering insights and stories of perseverance, faith, and the transformative power of using one's gifts to impact the world.

Jenilee's contact info:
Website - www.javawithjenpodcast.com
Instagram - instagram.com/javawithjen

Upcoming event:
Free training -  "5 Things you MUST Know to Start a Successful Podcast" 
Sign Up Here: www.javawithjenpodcast.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:16

Hello and welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm your host, Kristen Kurtz, and I'm also the founder of New Wings Coaching, where I empower and unlock women to soar in their calling and roar with their voices. If you're curious to learn more about how coaching can help you unlock your potential, be sure to explore the show notes for ways to connect with me further. Get ready to dive in as we uncover empowering keys and insights in this episode. So tune in and let's unlock hope together. Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm Kristen Kurtz, your host. I pray this episode is like a holy IV of hope for your soul. Please help me welcome my friend Jenny Lee Samuel to the show. I am just excited for her to share more about what she is doing, a little bit more about herself, and I'm thankful for the connection. I'm all about connections. Mutual friend Krista connected us because she is big into helping people with podcasts. So if you could just tell us a little bit about yourself and then we'll get into what you're doing.

Speaker 2: 1:16

For sure. Hi, I'm generally and I live down here on the Gulf coast in Texas, Southeast Texas, right near Louisiana. I have four teenage boys from 12 to 18, and my oldest just graduated high school, so it's interesting navigating an adult child who still lives in the house. And I am a podcast coach. I have a podcast called Java with Jen Hearing God's Voice for Everyday Life. I'm a podcast coach. I have a podcast called Java with Jen hearing God's voice for everyday life, and I love teaching people through my podcast and through people's stories, whether I'm teaching or whether I'm interviewing. I love to help people normalize hearing and being led by the voice of the Holy Spirit. And my husband and I just became senior pastors and so we pastor a church down here as well and, yeah, I just love helping people get their voices into the world and be faithful with their giftings.

Speaker 1: 2:10

So I love that I share a fellow graduate, so I understand that season of life. Can you just tell us a little bit more, like how long have you had your podcast, what, what got you into podcasting? And, yeah, tell us more about your podcast in general.

Speaker 2: 2:27

For sure. So I've been podcasting. Really, I started it in 2017, but we took a year sabbatical during that time, and we also are house flooded in hurricane Harvey, so we had to rebuild our home for about a year, and so there was two years that were kind of hit or miss, so I really got consistent with it in 2020. And so it's been about four years now and I'm going into season six. I'm almost at my 200th episode, very excited, and and I have Sean Bowles coming on my show next week I'm very pumped and anyway.

Speaker 2: 3:00

So I started my show, though, because it always been in my heart to teach the word of God and to preach when I was young. As a teen, I obeyed the Holy Spirit and went on a missions trip, and while I was there, he, like either awakened or imparted I'm not sure which a gift in me to teach the word of God, to communicate the word, and so, as a teenager, I had leaders that were very good about cultivating that in me and making space for that, and so, as a teenager, I was able to stand in the Arizona Diamondback Stadium and speak on the National Day of Prayer on behalf of the teens in Phoenix. I've spoken in one of the largest stadiums in the nation in Indianapolis, for an event that had 85,000 teenagers. And I've been flown to Chicago to teach in one of the largest youth groups in the US, teaching them about small group leading. And that was all in my teen years and so, with those kind of wins under my belt, I knew I wanted to teach the word of God, and so when I married a pastor, I thought excellent, here's my, here's my promised land. I'm here, this is what we're going to do.

Speaker 2: 4:11

And unfortunately, moving to the south and being a woman and having children, I actually found quite the opposite, where my husband was the one acknowledged as the minister and I was just the wife and I frequently was left in the background. Or people would acknowledge our ministry that we had built together, but they would always credit it to Stephen and my name was always left off, or they would call up the pastors and just all the men would go up, you know, and I just always felt so lost in this gray zone is what I call it of, where I was never the one on paid staff, but I was called pastor, but I had no responsibilities, but I was expected to help a lot, and so it's just this weird space that a lot of pastor's wives find themselves in. It was very, very painful, if I'm honest. And so, after about 10 years of just feeling lost as far as how to use my gifts, waiting for an invitation, waiting for an opportunity, waiting for someone to see me and want to cultivate what was inside of me, which I realized was a little bit presumptuous to think that would carry on into adulthood but after 10 years of just crying, feeling like my gifts were shriveling up inside of me, I decided you know what? I'm going to stand before the Lord one day and I'm going to answer for my life. And I can't blame the culture around me, I can't blame my husband, I can't blame the church culture, I can't blame anybody but myself. And so I am responsible to steward and manage and grow my gifts.

Speaker 2: 5:46

And so I decided, on a whim, to start a podcast, and I thought it sounded like a quiet, discreet way to like develop myself. And now it has grown into a top 1% globally ranked show. It's listened to in over 107 countries and I've just had some incredible guests on my show and I've been on about 18 or 19 other shows as well, and it's opened lots of doors, like being a red carpet host for a movie premiere and doing Barbara Walter style interviews with the cast and crew, and so it's become a really neat journey, and the Lord has just blessed it, and I'm so grateful for this outlet.

Speaker 1: 6:29

Well, you face some opposition in the church and using your gifts outside of the church, outside of the walls of the church, have you faced any opposition? Using your voice, speaking the word on your podcast, even?

Speaker 2: 6:46

Thankfully not a whole lot of opposition with the podcast, which I feel like probably makes it feel a little safer to me. I don't have, I haven't had a lot of those like trolls or haters that jump on and are like you should not be teaching the word of God, you're a woman. I haven't had a whole lot of that. I think I've had maybe maybe two instances where someone would comment on something I posted on Facebook. Um, but so minimal. So, so, so minimal, and I'm thrilled about it because I do have quite a large male listening base the the men who listened to my show probably make up 30 to 40% of my listeners, and um, and so I I'm always honored by that. I feel like it's great that they listen to me, even though my show is geared towards women.

Speaker 1: 7:30

Yeah Well, so you, you started the podcast on a whim.

Speaker 1: 7:34

So, how did you know, like, how to get it started? Did you, like look in a book? Did you follow a trainer of some sort? I'd love to hear just how you got started, cause I know, I know, there's people out there that, um, you know, have have it maybe in the back of their minds and they're like, oh I, I can't do that. I don't think that's for me, I'm not good enough, my voice isn't powerful enough, or you know what I mean. Did you face any of those, even internal, struggles to get started?

Speaker 2: 8:01

Oh yeah for sure. Like, oh, my goodness, I wish there had been coaches then, which, to be honest, there probably was and I didn't know them. Or maybe they came across my desk, but I didn't want to hire them. You know, because I was new to the whole online coaching space and back then I had the mentality anyone selling something online is a scam artist. Well, I have thus matured out of that thinking. That is very wrong thinking, because the online space is the largest e-commerce industry in the world, you know.

Speaker 2: 8:35

So I've grown, but I didn't have anyone to show me what to do, and so I just did a lot of scrappy. I didn't have a lot of money to put into it. I think I had. I had prayed. I said, lord, if you want me to do this podcast, I need money for a microphone. And so that week, I think, my mom sent me a hundred dollars out of the blue and I found my microphone set for $80 and it came with the headphones and I'm literally still using it, and I well, I have upgraded. I am on a new microphone now, but I'm staring at my old one.

Speaker 2: 9:08

It's still on my desk and, and so the Lord was faithful. I didn't put a lot of money into all kinds of tools because I was really worried I was going to waste money not knowing what I needed. So I just kept things as streamlined as possible and I just had a philosophy that if there's a way to do it paid, there's probably a way to do it free. Also.

Speaker 2: 9:29

And so I found a platform to host my show and I did research. Like I had to do so much research. I didn't know what an RSS feed was and most people listening probably don't either. It's basically your social security number or your address for your podcast in digital world and I didn't know what that was. So I had. I did a lot of learning on Pinterest, a lot of learning on YouTube, a lot of listening to other podcasts, a lot of blogs, and that's how I learned. So it was definitely scrappy and it took me about three years to get my footing and figure out what I was doing, and I don't think I even felt like a legit podcaster until maybe I had been in it for quite a few years. I mean, I don't know what it was that made me start to feel like, well, maybe once I hit a hundred episodes, that's when I started to feel maybe more legit 75 to a hundred and yeah, and started hitting charts and ranking and stuff. That's when I was like, oh, maybe I am doing the thing that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 10:30

I love it. Yeah, and I mean I don't know if you guys are picking up some keys here, but from what I'm hearing, anybody can do this If God is leading you to start a podcast. You know, that was one of the things with me too. I was like I don't know how to do this and he said I'll show you. Yours is going to be different. I said, okay, what's in my hands already and that's how it got started, because we don't have to have all the bells and whistles to get started. Maybe eventually down the road you might add some things that sound wonderful. And yeah, I mean, even at this point, do you feel like you have a lot of bells and whistles to have your podcast up and running?

Speaker 2: 11:11

Yes and no with the direct podcast. No, like I probably, I only spend about two hours a week running my podcast. Um, give or take depending on how many interviews I have that week, but about two hours a week to do my podcast. So no, in that. I do believe in simple. The more complicated it is, the usually the more expensive it is and the more time consuming. And ain't nobody got time for that Right?

Speaker 2: 11:35

So, I keep it as simple as possible, but yes, there's bells and whistles in that. It has become a business for me and so I have added to the business side of it, and that's where the bells and whistles are is like email lead magnets and email sequences and websites and going on other shows and working with people and doing webinars and all that kind of stuff. That's where the bells and whistles come in for me. Awesome.

Speaker 1: 12:01

Well, tell us a little bit more about being a podcast coach, because you went from, you know, starting your own podcast to then coaching what started you on that pathway?

Speaker 2: 12:24

this is amazing, so I'd share it on Facebook and um, you know, and I would start running into people Like I had bought business cards every season. I make new business cards with my new artwork on it and I leave them places or I give them to people or whatever. And so I would run into people that are like hey, I listened to your podcast. I'm like, in fact, this, this one, blessed my heart. I was in California a couple of years ago and my sister's sister-in-law was there and so I was meeting her for the first time and she's introducing herself to me and I'm like yeah, I'm Jen. And she was like you look really familiar to me. And I was like I don't know. And my sister chimes in and she goes she has a podcast, it's called Java with Jen. And then this girl looks at me and she goes oh my gosh, I listened to your podcast and I was like and so she didn't know she was related to me and she didn't know. I mean, it was just so crazy and I wish I'd gotten a picture with her, because that was the first encounter where I had met somebody who listened to my podcast, that I didn't previously know, and it was just really fun. And so I've met a number of more people that way recently and it's just a lot of fun.

Speaker 2: 13:28

So the way I got into coaching was, as my show was building momentum and people were seeing it gain traction and become successful, people started coming to me saying can you help me start a podcast? And so I was like, sure I'll help you, sure, I'll help you. And so I helped probably I don't know six to eight people or whatever. And then I realized you know, this is actually a little time consuming. And then I had, in a short period of time, about six people asked me to help them, and so I was. I was about to start putting them all in my calendar and my husband was like, are you charging for this? Like you're doing a lot of work? And I was like, well, no, but maybe I should. And so I went ahead.

Speaker 2: 14:10

I was looking for a way to bring in some income, and so I said you know, let me do a group coaching. We'll make it small and intimate and I'll build a basic curriculum and I will coach these people. I'll charge them very minimally. So, cause I know I'm learning too, and so I did my beta round, which actually was about was a little more than a year ago and I had 12 people in there and I literally in three weeks time, built the program, filled the program, marketed it, got it online, sold the spots and launched it in three weeks. And that's crazy and I was not stressed out at all. So that's how I knew the grace of God was on it.

Speaker 2: 14:48

And those, a lot of those students who came through that first round, are still in my podcast network. Um, and it just blesses me because it was such a successful program. That's where Krista Krista was a part of that first group that you mentioned earlier. And and the podcast network came because those students, after they all built their shows and they loved working with me, we'd all become like a family. They said we don't, we don't want to say goodbye, do you have a graduate program or something we can do to continue learning? And I said, well, let me think about that.

Speaker 2: 15:21

And so I put together a podcast network for a much for real, minimal yearly fee and and they, we just I coach them once a month and I continue to put resources in front of them and help them stay up to speed with stuff, and they'll reach out and message me with questions and and it's just a really neat community, that um, that I love, and so it's kind of evolved on its own and I just feel like the Lord was very much in it. And uh, so I've done multiple rounds now of podcasters and I just had a session earlier with someone who I'm doing one of my two-day coachings with, where I help them get their show up in two days and anyways. So yeah, it's just taken on really cool twists and turns and I just love it.

Speaker 1: 16:06

Yeah Well, can you tell a little bit more about the two-day coaching experience that maybe somebody that's listening might be able to kind of tap into?

Speaker 2: 16:16

Yeah for sure. So I used to have the mastermind, which was that beta round where in 10 weeks I would take them week by week, we would go through a different step of the process. But this last round that I was going to do in April, I felt the Lord just kind of asked me to close the door on that model. And so now I just have two paths. One is a two-day coaching where I work with them for two solid work days. So that's my higher ticket package and it's for people that they've got the money to spend and they're like I just want to get this done now and I want your help the whole way through it. Let's make this happen.

Speaker 2: 16:50

And so that's the two-day coaching. And then they automatically are their first year's membership into my podcast network is free. And then I also give them access to the digital course, because two days is a short amount of time to take in a lot of information. So I give them access to my digital course. That way, if they wanna go back and dive deeper on any particular aspect of growing their show or email marketing or whatever, they can do that. And then, aside from that, the digital course that I have is all the classes that I taught through my mastermind that's the whole workbook and all those classes just in a digital course so that people can kind of do it at their own pace in their own time, and then they have the ability to enroll in my network as well once they get their show up. So there's kind of two pathways that people can work with me to get their podcast started.

Speaker 1: 17:41

I love it. Yeah, it definitely sounds like his hand has been on this and there's just kind of a wind beneath your wings on this right. For sure, For sure, In fact.

Speaker 2: 17:50

I'm really excited because when I was starting, I did get on webinars a lot when people would do like you know, here's a webinar on how to grow your email list or whatever, and, and so I would do free webinars to learn how to podcast the different aspects of it. And so I just did my first free webinar last month. I want to say and I have one coming up June 18th, 19th and 20th it's a, it's just a one hour class. It's not three days but it's one hour and they can pick which time works best for them over those three days. And, um, so, if anybody was interested in my free coaching, uh, that is coming up and that's going to be available June 18th, 19th, 20th. They can just go to java with Jen podcastcom and it should be there right at the top. They can register for it for free.

Speaker 1: 18:39

Okay, awesome, yeah, and for sure we'll have your website and contact information, the show notes too, so people can reach out to you and see what's coming for you. So, if you're to look back on all the episodes you've done, if you were to look back on all the episodes you've done, which episode has been your favorite? Let me think of one that's so hard.

Speaker 2: 19:00

Oh my gosh. I meet so many fascinating people. There is one that I do love and it was another fellow Chi Alpha pastor and we were talking about how to teach your kids to hear God's voice and I just remember re-listening to that episode and it fed my soul so much that I was like. Oftentimes I will share that out to people to give them a good taste of my podcast, but I would say any of the episodes where I talk about learning to hear God's voice, of course that's the fundamental focus of my podcast, um, and once I record with Sean Bowles, I'm sure that will become my new favorite.

Speaker 1: 19:40

Yes, that's amazing. Well, tell us a little bit more about how you even connected with him, cause I think that's even amazing, just how like even was it last fall that you were on his podcast.

Speaker 2: 19:51

Yeah, yeah. So I worked with a, a coach, a business coach, and they taught me how to pitch myself to larger shows, larger audiences for the, with the goal of growing my business. And so I just decided to go for Sean Bowles because you want to look for people that you have a connection to initially, not just not just cold calling. You know, and I have followed Sean's ministry literally for probably 15 to 20 years, like I have followed him forever, and I have read a number of his books. I've had encounters with the Lord reading his books and in prophetic encounters, where I was reading his book God's secrets by the pool in California one day and this guy came and sat down next to me and I looked over and the Lord started downloading a word of knowledge for him in my heart. And so I just I was trying to figure out how to start the conversation, you know, and so I eased into it and I just asked him. I was like, hey, are you a, are you a musician? By chance? And he looked at me and he was already impressed just with that. He's like oh, how did you know that? And I was like, okay, this'll be easy. And uh, and so I proceeded to share the word with him. It was pretty detailed and his mind was just blown.

Speaker 2: 21:05

And so I took that story and I shared it in my email that I sent to Sean Bowles and I I shared with him what his ministry has meant to me. I shared a little bit about that story, shared a couple screenshots of me like reading his book by the pool and of me sharing his content online. So I like definitely I loaded it with like here's how much I love your ministry, thank you for what you do. And then I just pitched myself and I was like, hey, I would love to add value to your audience on podcasting and how getting your voice in the world really matters. And, to my surprise, the first email he never responded to. But I followed up on it and I was like, hey, just bumping this to the top of your inbox. And, sure enough, he replied and he was like generally, thanks for sharing your story. I think you'd be a great fit for my Exploring the Marketplace audience. I would love to have you on the show. Here's my assistant, you can communicate with him and um, and so since then, of course, I went on his show. It was.

Speaker 2: 22:01

I was nervous as all get out. I thought I was going to pee myself and um, and then a few weeks, a few months later, he reached out to me and was like hey, I'd love to have you come co coach some of my podcasts or some of my Christian entrepreneurs in my mastermind and I'm going to talk to them about podcasting and I would love to have you on to help me coach them. And I was like absolutely, yes, please. And so I went ahead and did that just a couple months ago and that was amazing. So actually, some of the students I'm working with now came from his mastermind and anyways, and so I just got an alert yesterday that he's on my calendar to come on my show now. So I'm just thrilled because if not for podcasting, I would never have made that connection, you know and.

Speaker 2: 22:52

I have met so many incredible people authors, speakers, influencers even no namers from around the world whose stories have impacted my life, and their friendships have impacted my life, and I've got people in my phone that I never thought I'd have in my phone, you know. So it has become a really cool experience. Just starting on this journey and keeping with it that's the trick.

Speaker 1: 23:17

Amen, yeah, continuing on, and I love that you took that step to reach out to him, right, yeah?

Speaker 2: 23:24

it was terrifying.

Speaker 1: 23:25

It wasn't just hey, will you be on the podcast. It was hey. This has been my experience with following you, reading, you know, listening to what you have to say. It wasn't just will you be on my podcast, which is maybe what I did with you.

Speaker 2: 23:40

That's okay, we already know each other, so it works.

Speaker 1: 23:43

Well, you shared story right and I think that's a key for for many people out there. If you have a podcast and you want to talk to somebody out there, right, yeah, well, to be to be fair, it was very humbling.

Speaker 2: 23:54

I mean, I'm telling you when, when I got the email that Sean was like, yes, I'd love to have you on my show, I can't even tell you my heart was exploding Like I. I was dancing and screaming, like silent screaming in squealing in my living room for like two solid minutes, just to get all the excitement out of my body. Um and so, when I was riding high on that high, I was like, shoot, I'm going to go pitch myself to Chris Vallotton, we're going all in, you know, and uh, and Chris Vallotton read my email. I don't even know if you read it. He responded so fast. He was like not interested. I was like, okay, well, you can't win them all, that's okay.

Speaker 1: 24:29

Well, how is the Lord stretching you, even this year and beyond, with podcasting, with podcast coaching? Is there something that maybe is on the back burner? You don't have to share what it is yet, but are you being stretched and what is it that's stretching you?

Speaker 2: 24:46

Oh yeah, I would say there's a few things. One is starting anything new is scary period. No matter how brave and courageous and adventurous of a person that you are, when you're doing something new it will feel scary at some point, because that's how your brain is wired If it's not familiar territory, your brain is going to push back against it. And so, as I look back over the podcast, the podcast network, starting the coaching program, launching the two-day coaching program, pitching myself to Sean, having bigger people on my show, all of those things every single one of them I have done scared, every one of them. And the beautiful thing is over that process. It's developed in me this. I don't know if I can call it courage, but just an awareness that fear is not as real as we think that it is, and anything can be learned if you just keep pushing at it.

Speaker 2: 25:46

And one of the barriers, though, that I had to grow through was when the people around me not all the people, but a few very important people were some of my biggest critics and people that I would have desperately wanted in my corner because of their role in my life. One of them was just a very close personal relationship, and this person would frequently criticize what I was doing or try to reduce it to me being delusional that anything was going to come of it, you know, and and would try to um convince me that I just needed to give it up and go get a job, you know, or whatever. And so that that was rough and that was hard, especially given the voice that it was coming from. Um, I would have to pray through that. And then there was a secondary voice that was a spiritual leader. She was a pastor in my life and she would frequently tell me like you should be up here at the church more, I think you're putting your business ahead of God and ahead of ministry, not realizing my business is part of my ministry Right, and my business is part of me obeying God in my life, and she just couldn't wrap her mind around it. No matter what I shared with her, she was always entirely unimpressed and almost would roll her eyes.

Speaker 2: 27:08

When I got a prophetic word from someone that just blew my mind and gave me so much peace in my heart that I was on the right track, I shared that prophetic word with her and, mind you, she's my spiritual leader. She literally rolled her eyes when I shared this prophetic word, and so I had to learn the importance of holding people whose voices of authority in my life are important in my life are important, holding that authority with respect and still honoring the position they hold in my life, without giving up like, without letting them hold the place that only God's voice should hold, if that makes sense. So in fact, there's a place in I think it's first John two, 27, where it says it says but you have received the Holy spirit and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true, for the spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true, it's not a lie. So, just as he has taught, you remain in fellowship with Christ. And so what I took away from that was and the context of that passage is about false prophets actually, or false teachers and essentially teachers who will try to get you off track from the Holy Spirit and essentially what he's saying is no one's voice gets to replace my voice in your life. And I feel like we have to walk that road delicately, because the way that I handled it was I said Lord, because of the position of these people in my life. I'm never going to tune out their voice altogether. I don't feel like that would be wisdom. You establish leaders and you establish spiritual authority and I trust that you put them in my life for a reason. So I'm still going to hold space for them to speak in an inspired way in my life. But I have to use my discernment to recognize when they're speaking in alignment with the Lord and when they're speaking out of their flesh. And that's what that journey became.

Speaker 2: 29:09

So when my pastor's wife had been speaking real critically of my business, I took the. I held space. I said you know, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I'm going to go pray about this because I don't want to tune out your voice, just because I feel like I'm doing what the Lord has asked. I don't want to tune out your voice. And so I went to the Lord and I said Lord, here's the deal. I will do whatever you ask me to do. But I know I do hear your voice and I know you can speak to me. And right now her voice is causing me confusion. So I'm asking you to confirm what your voice is asking me to do.

Speaker 2: 29:47

If I need to quit my business and I put out a fleece. I was doing like that's when I had a styling business, a wardrobe styling business, and I was doing an event that night where I would have a booth set up somewhere, and in the past my booths had been totally unsuccessful, like minimal sales, minimal traffic, really not so successful. And so that's kind of what I was counting on again, you know. And so I said, lord, if you want me to stay the course of business, then I want you to make tonight's booth so successful in every way possible. I want to grow my email list. I want to. I want to pre-sell my course that's not even up yet. I want to take on some clients. I want to get some models for my next runway show. I want to sell the stuff on my table.

Speaker 2: 30:31

Like I put all these fleeces out, like I made it hard for God to be able to answer that. And then I said but if I need to listen to my pastor's wife and and hear what she's saying, if she's saying what you're wanting me to pay attention to, then I need this to be a total bust. And so, sure enough, that night, literally God answered all five of those and even added an extra one. So it was successful plus some. And so I just felt assured in my heart okay, then I am hearing the Lord.

Speaker 2: 31:03

And then, shortly after that, a prophet was in town and prophesied over me and he said generally, here's what I see on your life. I see your call to business and your call to ministry. You have a. You have a Joseph anointing and a Judah anointing. And he said you will do both and you will always have a foot in both. And not everyone will understand this, but that's okay, because you're leading God's church in an, in a realm and an area where he's wanting to take more of his children. But he needs those who will champion the way, and you are one of those people who is championing Christians getting back into the workplace in a way that is missional.

Speaker 2: 31:39

And when he said that it just freed my heart from any kind of conflict, I was able to recognize I can hold my pastor's wife in regard and love her and still respect her voice in my life and just recognize I have to have a boundary here. And so I just held my boundary with my business and she eventually adapted. She eventually realized OK, I'm not going to be able to expect Jen to be here at the church all the time. She has a business and it eventually, in one of our final conversations before they phased out of the church, she we were having coffee and she asked me. She said, how's your business going? And she actually showed interest in what I was doing and so I feel like the Lord honored that situation and, uh, it was a huge list, a huge lesson learned for me.

Speaker 1: 32:24

So amazing and and just you know, even getting back to the the name of your podcast, you know, even getting back to the name of your podcast, you know is really the essence is hearing his voice and in some ways it almost felt like a test right.

Speaker 1: 32:38

And yeah, it's to help you. Yes, I do hear your voice. Yes, I'm following, yes, I'm going your way Because there are and I know that maybe some of the listeners out there. You've got something. Maybe you're thinking about birthing and people are like questioning you and maybe thinking like they're like you're crazy, what are you even thinking? So did you have? I know that the verse that you mentioned um so on point. Was there another verse? Or even like a verse that you have kind of anchoring over your business?

Speaker 2: 33:11

I mean, aside from just um, romans 8, 14, that says those who are sons of God are led by the spirit of God. I feel like that's just kind of like a life scripture, um. But when it comes to like discerning, even like you and I were talking beforehand about, about how much will I share, about what I'm doing with certain people, you know there's, there's some people that can handle it, like when my husband and I had all of our babies at home, we had home births. We recognized very early on you can't just tell everybody that not everybody can handle that information, because here come all the horror stories and all the things they're saying and speaking over you that I don't want spoken over me, you know. And so we learned to exercise care in who we share things with.

Speaker 2: 33:54

And so one scripture that the Lord brought to my heart for that is that in Proverbs it says that he who is given a trust must prove trustworthy. And so it's actually wisdom for us to not just share everything with everybody. It's wisdom it's that whole in Matthew seven it talks about don't cast your pearls before swine, like, otherwise they may turn and trample on them and destroy you and tear you to death, tear you to pieces. And so God is like hey, use wisdom, don't just share everything with everybody. So God is like hey, use wisdom, don't just share everything with everybody.

Speaker 2: 34:32

And so I have had to learn, and it actually established a sense of self-respect in my heart to be able to say I don't have to share everything with everybody. And just because they ask doesn't mean I'm obligated to answer. If I don't feel that they will handle my precious pearls with care, I don't have to share it. I can answer in some simple way that allows me to maintain discretion. And that was actually really liberating and helpful, for I think some of the things I handle now that I'm more in a public platform and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 35:05

So good. It kind of reminds me of just something he was showing me years ago. You know, speaking of birth, you know there's things that you know maybe we're carrying and it's not ready to be shared yet with the world, and we can't always allow everybody into the birthing suite, right? There might be your family, and maybe even just your spouse, and maybe a child, maybe not, but then there are some people that maybe you may not even tell them about it until 18 years later.

Speaker 1: 35:32

You know, what I mean it's kind of this, it's this. It's a lot of discernment too. So over the years, you know you've you've been releasing your voice and really stepping out again. This, this season, is launching Pioneers. Do you feel like, even since you were young, that you've kind of had that pioneering spirit?

Speaker 2: 35:56

Yeah, I did. I did realize that in this process, looking back over my life, I realized I've always been I guess I can. I don't know if you want to call it a pioneering spirit or entrepreneurial, maybe they're the same. But I remember when I was young I wanted to buy a stereo right and dating myself and it was like it had two tape decks in it and it had the ability to do cds on the top and had two big speakers on the side, and I feel like it's like the iconic radio of the 90s and I I just remember it was $99. And I had to save my little pennies for that.

Speaker 2: 36:33

And so I decided to start making jewelry and I sold earrings and jewelry around the neighborhood for $5. And we lived on an Indian boarding school for Native Americans and so I did beadwork. I beaded these earrings, school like for Native Americans, and so I did beadwork. I beaded these earrings and I sold them and I earned my money and I earned enough for tax and I went ahead and did it and then, when I was 12 years old, my mom and dad told us OK, you guys are on your own. You got to buy your own clothes. Now, if you want clothes, you've got to save your money and buy your own clothes.

Speaker 2: 37:03

12 years old is a little young for that, I'm not going to lie, but it did teach me to get scrappy. That's probably where my scrappiness began to get scrappy and find ways to make money. And so I started a babysitter's club and I made business cards and I made flyers and I got trained with the city on CPR and first aid and I put out flyers and I started a business being a babysitter. And so I feel like when the Lord called me into entrepreneurship, I was like I am not an entrepreneur, why are you calling me into this space? And I felt like the Lord had to show me. He took me back through my life and showed me all these instances where, indeed, I was an entrepreneur. I'd made cookies and sold them at the Bible school because I wanted to buy gumballs, you know. And so, like the Lord was like no, you've, you've always been pretty entrepreneurial and I was like oh well then, okay, yes, I love it.

Speaker 1: 37:57

Well, what is your favorite part about being an entrepreneur? Speaking of that, Honestly it's.

Speaker 2: 38:06

I'm very passionate about the parable in the New Testament of the talents and where you, if anyone's unfamiliar, it's the parable of the talents, where this master has money and he's leaving, and he has these three servants and he says I'm leaving, but I'm leaving for a while, and so I'm going to give you each a portion of money and I want you to multiply it, and when I return I will settle accounts. And so the first guy was given one. Second guy was given three, third guy was given five. There's another version of the story where it's like one and five and ten or something, and so each of them handled it differently. The first guy was afraid of the master, and so he went and buried it so that when the master returned he was able to return his money to him, which sounds savvy, like, oh, that's smart. He made sure nothing happened to it.

Speaker 2: 38:57

Well, the other two went and invested it, they turned it into businesses and they multiplied the money, and when the master came back they had double what he had given them. And so the master's response to them, to the two that multiplied it, was good and faithful servants, what you have done, with a little, I know, I can entrust you to do with more. And then the guy with the one he called him a wicked, unfaithful servant. He said you went and buried it. He said if you knew that I'm this harsh master, you should have at least put it in the bank so I could have gathered interest. He was like you didn't even try.

Speaker 2: 39:32

And so to answer your question, I love being an entrepreneur because it gives me an opportunity to take what the Lord has put in my hands and multiply it into other people's lives, and I feel like that is the thing that God asks of us If we want to stand before him and he call us faithful. The two that were called faithful over here were only faithful because they multiplied it, not because they gave back what he gave them. It's because they multiplied it, and we have a mandate on our lives to multiply what God has put inside of us, and I believe entrepreneurship does that. It says, hey, I can teach you this. Let me teach as many people this skill as I can, and that's multiplication.

Speaker 2: 40:13

And so there's something that the word says that those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. There is some kind of a natural inbuilt reward that, in our hearts, comes alive. When you are able to pour yourself into someone and watch them come alive, it's just a reward in and of itself, and so I love working with my students. I love seeing people who have a message and a voice that they want to get into the world and they don't know how to. I love being able to play a part in helping them give birth. It literally feels like I'm helping them give birth so many times, and so that's what I love about it.

Speaker 1: 40:52

You're a podcast, midwife, so true, we need more of you. Like we need you. I'm actually part of the podcast network. I've been part of it since I think it was the beginning of the year I gifted it to myself for Christmas network. I've been part of it since I think it was the beginning of the year.

Speaker 2: 41:09

I gifted it to myself for Christmas. I do remember that's true.

Speaker 1: 41:12

So it's very fun. I'm so excited for just everything the Lord's doing in your life and there's there's a massive multiplication coming on on your work. Um, I did a post today talking about super blooms and I just see that for you. So, um, is there anything that you'd want to share? I, I, I I think I've shared this with you before but, um, when I do these podcasts, I literally see one woman who's listening and I, I visually see her. Um, is there anything that you'd want to say to her today? And then would you just pray over her as well.

Speaker 2: 41:44

Yeah for sure. Yeah, if I had your one, your one person standing right in front of me, I would just tell her to a tomorrow is not promised and we are going to give an account for today. And and you're not asked to feed the multitudes, you're just asked to bring your loaves and fishes right. In that story in the new Testament, jesus didn't say who can feed all of these people. Jesus said who has food, and he took that food, just the little loaves and fishes from that little boy. That little boy, when he was packing his food, he didn't think that day I better pack enough for 12,000 people, you know, he just thought I need to pack enough food for myself. And Jesus took that food.

Speaker 2: 42:28

And when you take your, your simple offering of obedience, and you combine it with the anointing and the multiplication power and the favor and the grace of God, you have no idea what God can do with what you're bringing to the table. No idea. But the key is to just move on it. And the urgency is tomorrow's not promised, but we are going to answer for today. And so I just encourage women, like all over the place take yourself seriously.

Speaker 2: 43:01

Women are prone to shrink back and wait until they feel fully qualified or to be invited to the table, and I don't know why we tend to shrink back as opposed to jump out there. Men are more prone to jump out there, and I just I frequently encourage women do not let fear cause you to lean back on your haunches, but instead let faith drive you to lean forward, into the gifts that are in your inside of you, because you have no idea who is waiting for you to show up with your gifts, ready to multiply them, because your life does impact others. People are waiting for you to play your part, the people that have shaped my life. I needed them to show up, and if they hadn't shown up, I would have been lacking something you know, and so that's it. I just want women to take themselves seriously. They don't realize how crucial they are to the plan that God has for the earth right now.

Speaker 1: 43:57

Yes, oh my gosh. So like I felt a release on somebody with that word.

Speaker 2: 44:04

That's good. Well, let me pray then. Pray for the women that are listening, or the people that are listening, father. I asked the Lord that, even as people are listening, even as I share that word, father, I asked that you would be stirring up in the hearts of women that you, you want them to take action on. And some of the women listening are taking action.

Speaker 2: 44:25

And so, god, for those that are walking in that space of obedience and they are being faithful in that way, I ask that you would bring a peace and assurance and an encouragement that they are exactly where they should be.

Speaker 2: 44:39

And for those that you're wanting to step out of the boat a little bit and to take that leap and to take that risk and to take themselves more seriously, I ask, father, that you would cause a fire to light up inside of their heart that would burn and burn and burn until they just cannot ignore it any longer.

Speaker 2: 44:59

I ask that you would bring the people around them who would help cultivate that. I ask that you would bring the resources to them that would help them to take action. But I ask more than anything, god, that you would cause a tenacity and a resilience to stir up in their hearts that they would pursue the thing that you have put in their heart, even if they don't know how to do it. They don't know where to look. They don't know which direction to go first, whether it's starting a nonprofit that rescues women out of trafficking, or whether it's starting a ministry to help children, or whether it's going after this degree so they can get into this career field, or if it's getting into government, because they see the corruption and they want to protect the family unit. Whatever it is, god, I ask that you would put them in connection with the right people, put the Boaz's in their lives. That would help them accomplish what you've put inside of their hearts. Lord, in Jesus name, Amen, amen.

Speaker 1: 46:00

Girl, you have a fire, keep going. Thank you for being a brave voice who's setting others free. You definitely are a brave voice who's setting others free you definitely are a brave voice that's unlocking other voices.

Speaker 1: 46:13

So, um, thank you for doing that. I'm going to close with our anchoring verse over hope. Unlocked it is. May the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace and, believing so, by the power of the holy spirit, you may abound in hope, and that's romans 15 13. So thank you, jenna Lee. I appreciate so much of what you've shared today. I just love everything that you're doing. As I mentioned before, I'll have all of her contact information in the show notes. Definitely check out her upcoming webinar coming up here this month and maybe I'll have you back again.

Speaker 2: 46:44

You can share more Sounds good. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: 46:48

Thank you, I'll see you guys next week.