Welcome Home. Here, Us, Now.
A space for all of us seeking what's real and sacred in a world that rushes past the soul.
Welcome Home. Here, Us, Now.
Mother's Day Beauty Brunch Transformation
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God sent Teesha to another city she didn't know well to learn by doing and take notes. This is a map for her ministry to the unsheltered now.
Welcome And Guest Introductions
SPEAKER_03Welcome home, hear us now, a podcast of the Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, a space for all of us seeking what's real and sacred in a world that rushes past the soul. I'm Eric Engelman, a volunteer at UGMTC, and your co-host, President and CEO of UGMTC, Charles Wolford.
SPEAKER_02Hello, welcome to UGM's podcast Hear Us Now. We are so excited to come with a special edition of our podcast here at Union Gospel Mission. And I cannot be more excited than to introduce my guests to our listening audience. You will be blessed today to meet our guests, one of them you've already met, uh Ocelia Sproul, who is our women's chaplain here at Union Gospel Mission. O'Celia, welcome again to the Welcome Home Podcast.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_02I gotta give you some applause because you are all that. Love it. Then we want to introduce our special guest, Tisha Owens. Tisha, welcome to the Welcome Home podcast at Union Gospel Mission.
SPEAKER_01Woo-hoo! Let me give you the same love and the palm of the.
SPEAKER_02You would see her in all of her splendor. You look amazing. So good to see you.
SPEAKER_01I do, thank you.
SPEAKER_02Now, what is the word you use?
SPEAKER_01Fantabulistic Fantabularistic.
SPEAKER_02Fantabularistic.
SPEAKER_01Fantabulus and then add riffic. I love it.
SPEAKER_02I love it. Well, welcome to the podcast. We are blessed that you are with us. And we just had an opportunity to witness some transformation taking place here at Union Gospel Mission. Uh tell us about your ministry. Where are you outreach? Tell us what God has been doing in that ministry. Introduce yourself to our listening audience.
Living In A Car Sparks Calling
SPEAKER_02How did this even come about?
SPEAKER_01Yes, so you are listening to Tisha Owens, founder and CEO of Where Are You Outreach? Yes. Where Are You Outreach is a nonprofit organization that serves the unhoused. That started back in 2013 after living in my car in 2012. After going through that experience, I had been on a fast, and the Lord clearly said, I want you to take all of your gifts and talents and bless those who are less fortunate. And I've been doing that ever since.
SPEAKER_02Wow, wow. So let's just unpack that. You and I go back a long way. We go back like uh 72 Coupe de Ville with Diamond in the back.
SPEAKER_00Sunrooftop. Yes.
SPEAKER_02So so your ministry was birthed out of a lived experience. Yes, sir. So in you said in 2012 you had a lived experience. You mind just sharing a little bit about that? I want to just connect so that our listening audience understand that God does amazing things in our redemptive story. So tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_01So what happened was I was working at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship for seven years. And in that seven years, even though I was serving at the church, I did not feel like I was pleasing the Lord. So I simply went on a fast and asked the Lord, what is it that you would have me to be doing? I don't feel like what I am giving you is pleasing you. And all he said was, move to Atlanta.
SPEAKER_00Whoa.
SPEAKER_01And I was like, What's what's in Atlanta? I I don't have family, or I knew a few people there, but I didn't know enough to make it my home. But I remember going to my pastor, and uh it was two pastors, actually, Pastor Evans and Pastor Gibson, and I said, The Lord is telling me to go to Atlanta. And both of them said, We trust the God in you. If the Lord is telling you to do that, go. I packed my car up. I asked my mom to watch my children for the process of me getting situated there. Once I arrived to Atlanta, I thought I had a plan of staying with a friend. I thought I did. When I got there some kind of way that did not work out the way it was supposed to, even though it had been planned for at least a month. When I got there, it didn't happen the way it was supposed to. So that left me in my car. In the process of living in my car, I did not realize I was homeless. In my mind, I thought, I just don't have a place to stay. So what I was doing, I remember sitting in my car and I heard the Lord again say, write it down. Write it down meant taking my phone out, keeping notes of everything that I was experiencing. I was seeing people pushing baskets at two and three in the morning, walking around with backpacks, and I was looking at them like, how are they living like that? Now, of course, I understood what homelessness was, but still was not making the connection of my own experience. All I was doing was paying attention to what I saw around me and making note of it. So I remember going through the process of trying to figure out, well, where do I get dressed? Where do I clean up? Where do I go? So again, writing all these things down, all these places I'm having to find out about and learn who provides these services. And so over time, uh, there were some months that had gone by, and I remembered a young lady who had moved to Atlanta that was a former neighbor of mine. I reached out to her and I said, uh, I've been staying at a hotel, which I was in the parking lot. I've been staying at a hotel and I'm just trying to figure out where I can stay for a minute. And she was like, Well, you can come and sleep on my couch. She said, But the thing is with these apartments, the controls that they have for you to get in and out of the gate, when I leave, you have to leave. And when I come home, you have to come home. So that was me getting up at six in the morning, going out with her, going to work, not having a place to go, roaming the city, and then when it was time for her to come back home, I had to come home. So that was my indoor experience of shelter living. That's how I perceived that. So I wrote those things down again, and I remember over time going, Lord, where are you? Like, I know you told me to do this, but where are you? And I kept writing that down in my notes. And so over time, I started volunteering with different organizations because something within me, I know it was the Holy Spirit, but at the time I was trying to figure out why do I want to serve? Why is it that I want to be a part of this world and understand it? Well, once I went through that process, I kept hearing from the Lord. He was talking to me through this entire time because I was in his face. I was like, okay, Lord, I'm doing this. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know where the resources are gonna come from. I don't have a job, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I had a little money, and that was the thing. I didn't want to pay for hotels or things of that because my money would have been gone. I didn't have a job, so I had very limited funds. So the mindset was my car is safe. That's what I believe. My car is safe, so I'll be fine. Well, months went on, and then I got a call from Priscilla Shire who asked me if I come back to Dallas to do some makeup for her because I do makeup as well. Well, I came back and I did makeup for her, and in the process, and I'm not name-dropping, these are really my friends. Fred Hammond called me and said, Hey, I need you to come and redesign my warehouse where I do music. I go to the warehouse, I spend time with him, and he was like, So what have you been up to? And I said, You wouldn't believe it. I said, I've been living in my car. And he was like, What? You've been living in your car? I said, Yes. So I tell him the whole experience, and this is what he said. He said, Let's write a song about it. I said, Okay, what does that look like? And then that's when I heard the Lord say, I told you to write it down. Hand him your phone.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_01I gave him my phone to remind you, y'all heard me saying, I kept asking the Lord, where are you? Well, that's where the song, Where Are You and the Ministry was birthed. After writing that song, the song is Where Are You? And it says, Where do you go? What are you gonna do? I know you're confused. How do you make it through? I know you feel so lonely, though the tears come down your face. You feel so lost without you, but I give you grace. And I just was like, Okay, Lord, this is you. Then this was the kicker. Now, Fred Hammond is a world-renowned artist. He says, We're gonna do this song together. You're gonna sing the lead, and I'm gonna sing the background. I said, huh? Yeah, you're gonna what? He said, I want you to sing the lead and I'm gonna sing the background. So I felt so honored to have that. So that birthed the anthem, where are you? And then from that point on, I served for a year, just serving organizations, volunteering, understanding what it meant to serve, trying to see what was a plus or minus so I could serve well. And I just took note for a whole year. I just followed different organizations and served with them. And then the Lord said, Again, I allowed you to go through this because you said you aren't pleasing me. This pleases me. Yeah, you take in all of your gifts and talents and blessing those who are unhoused.
SPEAKER_02Wow. That is absolutely amazing. Absolutely. Thank you so much for sharing that. And you we can see the God in you, and it's just expressive when you show up. We see the God in you, and he shows up along with you. You don't leave them behind, you bring them everywhere you go. Hallelujah. So thank you so much for sharing that and for your testimony. But let's dig into what happened today
More Than Pretty And Identity
SPEAKER_02here. Let's talk about UGM and Fort Worth, something amazing. Uh, we're so grateful. Uh, Reverend Asselia Sproul, we uh started, you know, uh from our conversation with you, talking about how we can bless these women. But we we we I would be remiss if I did not also mention uh Reverend Sproul has a book called More Than Pretty, and it's so just connected with what we do here. Uh just real quick while we're here, tell us a little bit about your ministry that we talked about your More Than Pretty book, and let's just make the bridge, let's build this bridge of what happened today. So let's talk a little bit about that because it's about inner beauty.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, absolutely. Well, many, many moons ago, as I say, when I was a 20-something year old, I was in the pageant world and I competed in pageants, and I was a Miss Black Texas and went all the way to winning Miss Black USA. And that platform allowed me to travel the country speaking at schools, churches, ministries, conferences to young girls. And one of the things that I kept coming into when I was working with young girls and speaking to young girls is a lack of identity in Christ and just not feeling that they were beautiful beautiful enough because they were so focused on external beauty and the pressures from the culture. And so I kept hearing these things over and over and over again. And I started praying about it, and the Lord led me to start speaking about being more than pretty. I I looked up the definition of pretty versus beautiful, and when you look up the definition of pretty, it is external beauty, it is something that is attractive on the outside, but when you look at the definition of beauty, it is appealing to all the senses. So that includes more than just the visual. And so I created a whole workshop around it and then connected with Lifeweight, and I was able to publish a Bible study curriculum for young women. Fast forward to years later coming here to UGM when we were starting the women's ministry here. I recognized that there was a need for discipleship for our ladies who felt unseen, who wasn't sure where they fit in the kingdom of God, and if God really still cared about them and if they were even beautiful anymore. And so I took my girls' curriculum, my six weeks girls' curriculum, and expanded it into a 12-week discipleship program for our ladies here at the mission. So that's where the More Than Pretty discipleship program comes from here. And we just graduated a cohort of 18 ladies two weeks ago. Congratulations. Woo!
SPEAKER_02Jesus is good.
SPEAKER_00Yes, so it is one of the things that the ladies really, really love, and I love being a part of it and having them to discover who they are in Christ and having them to discover biblical beauty, that multifaceted biblical beauty and the character traits that scripture teaches us about as a woman of God and helping them to walk in that radiance that they only get from Jesus Christ. So that is the work that I do. So when I heard about this, I was like, this would be perfect, especially for our moms. It would be a great opportunity to merge some of the work that we've been doing internally with an external uh reflection. I always teach them, this is what I tell them. Your outer beauty is just the external radiance of the inner radiance you have from Christ. It's just the outer reflections of what's on the inside. Yes, it is. That's what it is.
SPEAKER_02So let's unpack Beauty Brunch.
Beauty Brunch And Dignity Restored
SPEAKER_02I think we've just started something here, the beauty brunch at Union Gospel Mission. And let me tell you, see, I've this is to all my brothers who may be listening to this. I try to be a thug, I try to be hard sometimes, but let me tell you, uh, I was um overwhelmed with emotions with seeing one, the transformation of so many of our women and seeing them, how they just lit up with their faces now being made up and beautiful, their hair being done, and the uh the fashion show, watching them just parade and feel so excited about that. And so let's just when you uh do these ministries, uh, Sister Owens, tell us a little bit about your heart to dig into that inner beauty with them and and the expressions, because we got a chance to witness today, but it seems like this is something that you do regularly. Let's talk a little bit about how that gets transformed in the ministries that you're doing around the country.
SPEAKER_01Well, what's so beautiful about it is you get the opportunity to have them sit in your chair and just learn about them first and foremost. So even as I'm sitting there with them and going through the process of adding or applying makeup, I'm finding out who they are and learning about what they're doing with themselves, what they would like to be doing, some of the dreams they may have had. So they're already feeling very comfortable in the chair and they are enjoying sharing about themselves, just being able to let me know what they're thinking or what they would have liked to have done or what have you. And so that softens them to a place to where when they see the application of the makeup, it's transforming because it's like not only is she listening and hearing to me, she cares about what I look like, how I feel about this experience. And that's what I'm trying to do. I'm wanting to uplift them and know that you are seen, you are heard, and you are cared for. And so when the makeup is applied and they look at themselves in the mirror, they are blown away because that is an honor for me to be able to see them and know, oh my God, when they are in the mirror, they're gonna feel so beautiful because they're gonna be inspired by I can wear this makeup. Because sometimes you just feel like, why would I wear makeup? Or what would be the purpose? You don't have to wear it, it just enhances beauty. And so when they see that, it just gets them so excited. So I'm always honored to have that experience.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. One of the young ladies was sh just beaming when she was in your chair and just seeing that glow um and seeing just the this transformation that happened. So uh, on behalf of Union Gospel Mission, we're so grateful to you and to your ministry. Uh, and we want to have many more beauty and brunches for our mothers here at Union Gospel Mission. Uh, I want to close with one of the stories that uh Reverend Sproul shared with us. And if you mind telling a story about a young lady who couldn't look at herself in a mirror, because I think that uh shares the essence of what it means of looking at yourself through the lenses of Jesus Christ. Would you mind sharing that story as we get ready to close our time?
Learning To Face The Mirror
SPEAKER_00Yes, absolutely. Last year, when we were going through the More Than Pretty Discipleship program, um, we started, and one of the things, the exercises I had for the women each week was we would take these little mirrors and they would declare the word of God over themselves and their identity in Christ. And I had one lady in the back who had come here after surviving and escaping a domestic violence situation. And she would not look at herself when it was time to do it. And I remember her coming to me at the end of class and saying, I'm she's like, I'm sorry, Pastor. Oh, I just I'm just not able to do it. I haven't looked at myself in the mirror in years. She says, To do my hair, if there's something on my face, I just have my kids to tell me. If there's something on my face, just tell me, and I and I just know where to wipe it off. Just give me direction. You do my hair. I've just learned how to do it without looking in the mirror. I don't look at myself in the mirror at all. And so I told her, I said, It's okay. But I said, by the end of this program, my prayer is that you'll be able to look at yourself again. And by the end of our program, she was one of the ones leading the affirmations and able to look at herself again. That is something we take for granted, looking in the mirror before this woman who had survived abuse and and survived so much. It was something that she had uh she had just diminished herself and and shrunk and um been hurt to a point where she couldn't even face herself anymore, and we were able through the power of Jesus Christ to help her to see herself again.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Thank you so much for that. Uh Sister Owens, I'm going to ask if you would not mind. I always lend these opportunities to have our partners and our uh visitors to pray over our women and our men. But this is Mother's Day. So would you close us out in a word of prayer and just pray over our women here at Union Gospel Mission and the work that we're doing
Mother’s Day Prayer And Closing
SPEAKER_02here?
SPEAKER_01Yes, Father, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for this time that you've allowed us to come together. Thank you for the providers here, for the workers, for the servers, for all those who have come together to be a blessing, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Lord, we thank you for Union Gospel Mission and the mission that it provides to love on these individuals, to provide resources, love, and anything that they may need to take them forward in life. We ask, Lord, that you would just continue to breathe life into this facility, into this campus, and to the leaders here because we know that there is more work to be done. We pray that each and every person, every woman, every man feels loved, seen, admired, and adored, and feel like they are filled with dignity. We're so grateful for how you have used each and everyone here. We ask that you will continue to provide all the needs that need to be met. And again, remind each and every one of these individuals that they are not forgotten about. So we thank you in advance for how you're gonna use this facility, how you're gonna use the leaders. We thank you for Pastor Wolford and all of his staff, for Miss O'Celia. She has a last name, but that's my girl, so I call her Miss Ocelia. So I'll just thank you for her and the baby that she's carrying. And Father, just continue to give her strength during this journey and process. Let her just feel loved and adored like she is blessing these women here at this shelter. And so we thank you in advance for how you're gonna use this place in a mighty way. We bless your name in the name of Jesus. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Sister Tisha Owens, thank you so much for being our guest. Reverend O'Cilious Raoul, thank you as well. To our guests, we remind you to please join us at Union Gospel Mission at UGM T C dot or R G. You can follow us on all of our social media platforms. You can see other podcasts. We thank you for joining us at our Welcome Home podcast. Hear us now. God bless you, real good.
