She Just Wanted to Preach

By Kennedy

This dynamic book will show how the author was able to triumph through oppositional forces of gender bias in the ministry.

Phyllis Kennedy is an associate minister and minister of music at New Community Baptist Church Houston, Texas, where her father, Dr. L. A. Kennedy, is the pastor. She has been in the music ministry for forty years and the preach ministry for over twenty-five years. Her desire is to help encourage women of God who are struggling with the call on their lives and help them with godly directions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524523046

Kennedy

At twenty years old, KENNEDY became an MTV VJ, a position she held for nearly six years interviewing a range of celebrities on MTV News and at events like the Grammys and VMAs, as well as hosted a series of specials called “How-To With Kennedy.” Featured as a pop-culture/political pundit on Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel and TV Guide Network, E! and VH1, she now hosts Music in the Morning with Kennedy on 98.7 FM, one of the biggest alternative radio station in the country, and joins Discovery's hit show "Pitchmen.”

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Kennedy.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5245-2305-3

                eBook           978-1-5245-2304-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, The Promise Bible: New Living Translation, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 07/01/2016

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

Acknowledgements

In the Beginning

First Encounter

She Just Wanted to Preach

Another Transition

Full Circle

Validation

The Do’s and Dont’s

About the Author

Bible Citation

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Website

Acknowledgements

I would first like to thank God who is the head of my life, Jesus Christ my Lord, and the Holy Ghost who is the keeper of my soul. Thank you for such an awesome anointing that could only come from you. You are Faithful! To my parents, Pastor L.A. and Ann Kennedy, because of your Christian upbringing and clear-cut examples you taught me how to love God with all my heart, mind, and soul. I love you. My children, Lekesha (Rod) and Airika (Curry), I thank my God for such great Gifts! You guys light up my life. I cannot imagine my world without you. To my grandchildren, Mia, Myles, Steven (Deuce), and Kyren, you guys are the apple of my eye, and you keep me young. Marquis Smith, cousin thanks for your encouragement. To my wonderful sisters, Stacey (Lawrence) and Angela, we have a relationship people dream about. SISTAS! That’s what we are. I am proud to have you as my sisters. Pastor and Cynthia Skelton, thank you for being great mentors as well as spiritual parents, while God was taking me to another level. You encouraged me and I appreciate you. Adriane Frieson, my best friend, I could not have made this transition without you. Also, you are a pure example of a Friend. We are friends for life! To all my aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews, I love you all. To New Community Baptist Church and the New Community Music Department, thanks for allowing me to be your Minister of Music. I am humbled. To Spirit Life Church, my other family, thanks for loving me. To Michael Skelton you did a great job on the cover. Thanks for all your help. Sheila Miller you came in and made it happen. Thank you. Blessings on you all!

In the Beginning

As I think of my wonderful childhood, a smile comes on my face. Just thinking about living at home with my parents, Pastor Leo and Anna Kennedy … and my younger siblings Stacey, Angela and Mark, it was wonderful. We really enjoyed each other so much. Before my dad started working full time as a pastor, he was a steelworker in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I was born. He would get up early every morning, and by the time we got up for school, he was already gone. My dad is not a very tall man, but at the time it seemed as if he was one of the biggest and tallest men I knew.

My mother, who worked in the hospital system, also left for work early. We had a nanny who would make sure we got to school, and she was there when we came home. I really remember the winters, because it was so cold. Our nanny would have hot cocoa waiting on us when we would return from school.

Back to my dad, I can remember looking up at him and thinking, That’s my daddy! I loved him very much, because he was always there. We never had to wonder if Daddy was coming home.

I will always remember that our favorite times were on Fridays, because it was PAYDAY!

Dad would come home with pockets full of cheese popcorn, candy bars, gum, and potato chips. He would walk in the door, hold his arms up, and then we would attack him, like a bunch of hungry wood rats. We would get what we wanted, hug and thank daddy, then go to our separate corners to eat our treats. My favorite was the cheese popcorn. We knew that this was his way of saying he loved us.

Mom would do the same thing. She would call us on the phone and say, I’m on my way home and I have a surprise for you, but you’ll have to clean your room or no surprise. We would immediately start cleaning up … well, not immediately––but when we thought it was time for her to get home, we would get busy. As promised, mom would show up with these wonderful chocolate covered ice cream bars on sticks. God bless my mother.

Another memory I have of my childhood is that we always had to share our parents with the church. We never went to church with just each other. We always had to pick up someone or someone else’s children. There were already four of us in the back seat, and before we got to church, we would have added three or four more people. One would be in the front with my parents and two more in the back with us. It didn’t make a difference that we where all sitting on top of each other; that wasn’t the point. The point was that everybody got to church. One of my sisters would complain, and my dad would