S3 EP 20 The Voice That Speaks Your Purpose: A Profound Dialogue with Adrena Sawyer on Faith, Courage, and Entrepreneurship

Hello, hello, welcome back one more time, god's diamonds in the rough, amen. We hope all is well. We hope that you're having a great day. Amen, we are over here and we are always excited and ready to get into God and see what he has to say to all of us. Amen. Y'all know Michael is typically here, amen, but he has to work today. So we have a guest today that's with us. It's going to be, she is my guest, but she's, in a sense, going to be co-hosting with me. Amen, and her name is Adriana. Adriana, I'm sorry. I knew I was going to tear it up. Y'all know how I do sometimes. I'm so sorry, adriana.

Sawyer.

Will you say hello to everybody?

Sure, sure, and it's okay. You know everybody always calls me anything but Adriana, but it's okay. But yes, hi everyone, thank you so much for having me on today.

I'm excited about this conversation yes, me as well. So we always do this before we get started. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Thank you, god, for allowing us to see it and bringing us together one more time. We pray for every heart, every mind, every one that is here striving and seeking out a word from you. Father, I pray that you will speak to each one of us in your own unique way, speaking such a way, God, that we won't miss it. Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus, lord, that you will get your glory out of us on today. We pray, god, that you will speak a word that we might see the diamond that is within all of us. Father, we bless your name and we say thank you, god. In Jesus Christ's name, we do pray, amen, amen.

Amen.

Amen, amen. Again, I'm so, so excited, amen that you are here. Madam, tell us a little bit about yourself, sure?

And again I thank you for having me on, of course. Yes, ma'am, for a little bit about me. I'm Angelina Sawyer. I am currently in the Baltimore Maryland area, but I was born in Treetown, sierra Union, small little country on the west coast of Africa, grew up in New Jersey. Currently I'm working as a nonprofit leader. I started an organization for women. I'm also I also do some consulting for nonprofits. 12 years ago I quit my job and followed what I believe God was calling me to do with full-time entrepreneurship, and really at the heart of it is I love God and I love people.

Amen, that is awesome, I see you. You started at a very, very young age. You started at 15,. You started Team Mad. What does that stand for?

Yeah, so at 15, I started a Triple T Mad team trying to she's a three team Mad make a difference and it was a community organization trying to get the kids in my neighborhood to be productive. So we would volunteer at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, through the age wall, the March of Dine, but all we would do is we would gather together and just volunteer as a unit once a month and we did that for a few years.

That's awesome. So is this still active now, or no?

It's not. Unfortunately, I had my sister, my younger sister keep it alive for a few years after I graduated in left Jersey, but then a couple years after she left as well. It just kind of died down a little bit.

Well, you know, the Lord works in seasons. You know what I mean. Look, we try to oftentimes make things last for a lifetime when it's really only supposed to last for a season. So that's all right. You know what I mean. And that's a word to anybody who started something. It just kind of seemed like over the years it just kind of passed away. Look, ain't nothing wrong with that, because, look, seasons come and seasons go. Hallelujah. So be in coverage with that Hallelujah. So she has. This young lady has a host of things that she does and, you know, definitely being used by God. But it was something that just really drew me to her. And the main thing that really drew her to me is that she talked about purpose and if you've been here long enough and if you've been here long enough, you know that Michael and I were big on purpose. You know that ELCM, which is Exposed Like Change Ministries, is a church that I pastor, founder, well co-founded and pastor, that was birthed out of purpose because we went to the traditional church. We went to a Baptist church all our life and one day God just brought it home to us. Look, without a vision, you're a parish, like what are you doing? You know what is going on? I mean, and we were all it was my sister and law and my brother and myself and we just kind of looked at each other like what is going on? What are we doing? You know what I mean? People go to church Sunday after Sunday, oh, bible study after Bible study, and you ask them what is your purpose? Do you know what you're doing? Do you know why you're here? And they have a blank face. You know what I mean. What's your thought on that?

I think you're 100% right. I think a lot of us, I think society has conditioned us to just get by, whether that's because, like you're just so used to like survival mode, or because you're too scared to take a leap of faith and go outside of your comfort zone. But I think you know the system in society likes it when we just get by and we don't really learn who we are and who God calls us to be. It takes a lot of courage. You know, one of the things I've learned in entrepreneurship is that, yes, it feels good, right, the freedom. Everybody likes to talk about the freedom, but what nobody talks about is the amount of courage it takes to step out Absolutely, because you know, I'm sure for you, you guys, when you stepped out to start a church, even for me, people look at you like are you sure? Are you sure?

Are you?

sure Like God calls you to that. So to face that and then face your own fears, it just takes a lot of courage. A lot of people don't do it.

Absolutely so. We can definitely agree that. You know it has to be prompted by the spirit in order for it to do what it has been birthed to do Amen. We oftentimes we're looking, we're looking for a crowd right, we're looking for people to champion us. On the paddocks, on the back, would you say, that God sometimes, often, leaves us out here, not leaves us, but has us to be alone in order that His will be done.

Absolutely. You know what I think? I think that that is the right of passage for anybody that's going to be used for God and I think anybody that never goes through that season of isolation or process, I don't trust it. I don't trust it Because I think you know, we look at the Bible from Genesis to Revelation every single person that God called out to do something amazing in their generation. They had to go through that. If Jesus himself was not exempt, right from being in a season of isolation, in a season of process, who do we think we are that we wouldn't have to go through it? You know it's uncomfortable, it is uncomfortable. None of us like it. But from Abraham to Jesus himself, to Paul to David, every single person has to go through that. It's where you learn the voice of God for yourself. It's where you learn, like, how far your faith is willing to go. You have to go through it, that's right, yeah, and you learn your purpose.

You know, in that period of isolation, you learn why. You learn your why. If you don't have a why as to what you're doing, then what's the purpose? You know what I mean. It's like why, why did you put me here in this earth? You know people trying to figure out life and they're like, well, I don't even know why I'm here. Well, I mean, you got to talk to the creator to find out why he put you here. You know what I mean. Yeah, especially when he decides, when we leave this earth, why we can't ask him what is our purpose? You know, it seems such a simple thing to do, but so many people don't do it. They, you know, get into this and they get into that Instead of talking to the one that put him here. You know what I mean, yeah.

I know exactly what you mean. We live in a very godless culture, like we live in a very egotistical, arrogant, godless culture where people feel like they don't need God anymore and so they don't want to go through that process Because they know what's going to happen when they go to God. When you go to God, he's going to tell you a couple of things. He's going to tell you it's going to require faith, it's going to require submission, it's going to require a bunch of things that are unnatural to us, and so a lot of people choose to not have that hard conversation with God. You know, you said something earlier where you said if you're going to live in purpose, you're going to need God, and I think a lot of people. They want the benefit of a blessing, of a purposeful life, but they don't want to have to bring God in it because they know that if he's at the center of it, it means that it has to look his way and not their way.

Oh man. So I'm assuming that purpose is your focus in regard to entrepreneurship. I'm sure, because I'm an entrepreneur myself, that in this, in it, we all know faith, but you've got to have your why. You've got to know why you're doing it off, why do you continue to do it? Can you speak to that?

Let's focus on some other questions that you have here. Yeah, I mean. So there are seasons right For me and entrepreneurship, even in ministry, and not every season is good, but I'll tell you that what keeps me going when it's hard and when it's good, is that why there are things that are bigger than me. When I started entrepreneurship I think some people who are listening might relate to this I was intrigued by like, oh, I could make money, I could build generational wealth with this, I could, you know, do whatever. Like it was so much of like the external factors. And then, the deeper I got into it, the more I saw no, this is about people's lives. This is about legacy. These are like spiritual heritage, right, that I'll pass on, god willing, and so that why that's not about the money and the frivolous stuff is like what anchors me. So when I want to give up, I'm like, nah, too many lives are depending on this, you know. When it's like frustrating, I'm like, no, because God called me to this, he's going to see me through. Obedience, you know, kind of fuels me. So that why is really finding a why that's bigger than you is really important.

I like it. That's good, finding your why that's bigger than you, oh man. So and I would think that this goes hand in hand with you, know, it'll flow like honey. How are faith and purpose are connected, and your point of view, how are they connected together, you think?

you can have one without the other.

I'm sorry, go ahead. I said do you think you can have one without the other?

No, I don't think so. I think you need faith to move in godly purpose, right? I think that if you can handle it, then I question whether or not it's God that called you. But it's got to have called you to it and it's a godly purpose. It's going to require your faith because it's going to be something bigger than what you're able to do for yourself. So I don't think it's possible. I think about you know, people who are called to reach the masses and the resources that it takes sometimes to get to that the money, the time, the influence, you know, the, the, the um, we call them divine helpers, right, like the people that it takes to carry stuff out. All of that stuff will rest on the favor of God, the provision of God, and you have to have faith in order to get to that, that place. And then I think you know, put faith also like, what fuels our faith is knowing like I'm in right standing with God, and that's really what purpose is about.

Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. Girl, you're preaching to me. Lord, have mercy, that's good, that's good, it's, it's, it's good, but it's complex because you know to have a business, to have a ministry, people kind of looking at you like well, well, you can't be doing it right if you're going through this and you you're going through this, this happen and that and that, and have no idea how much faith, how much discipline, how much sacrifice, how much is involved in truly walking in the purpose of God. Have no idea. The requirement that comes with it. You don't know until you're doing it. You know because faith it takes faith to even step into the purpose. And once you step into the purpose comes your discipline. It comes to sacrifice. It comes to the willingness. It comes to a whole lot of things that most aren't willing to give up. They're not, they're not ready or willing to relinquish control, because at the end of the day, he still gives us the choice, even in surrender. He gives us a choice of whether or not we're going to do it the way he tells us or not.

Yeah, so good, so good. I remember, let me tell you there's something that changed for me in my in my journey, and it was when I realized that God cared more about my character than my accolades. I'll tell you, it can completely change the way that I viewed entrepreneurship and purpose. And I remember writing an article, a blog article, that said God does not care about you chasing your dreams. And there were people that were offended to say what do you mean? Oh, god cares about our dreams. And I said well, of course he cares about your dreams, but he does not want your dreams to become an idol, because what he really cares about is your character and how you represent him when he takes you to that place. It is nothing for God to promote us, it is nothing for God to give us the resources that we need for business and ministry. The Bible says he owns a cattle on a thousand hills. He could breathe a word today and a million dollars will show up at your doorstep because he puts you on somebody's mind. You know what I mean. Like he's that big, he's that good. But if he gives you that million dollars and you fall away from the faith, or you become prideful, or you become arrogant, or you become addicted to something. All of a sudden, that blessing now has them follow attached to it. And so God is constantly working on our character, because his goal is to promote, his goal is to bring it to promotion, to completion, but he wants to make sure that we can handle it and that's uncomfortable, but he needs that from us. He needs that.

Oh man. So what you're saying is, you know, the greater, the greater the call, the greater the requirement as much as given much as required, wow. No that's a word. You know that's a word because we want people want to snap my fingers, give it to me. I asked for it. Now I want to see it. Okay, you're at what you're really asking for, as you're asking for process.

Yeah, absolutely Really.

That's what we're asking for. Process.

Absolutely, and the process matters. The process is. I'm sorry, I don't mean to cut you off.

No, no, no, no it's fine.

You know what I mean, because when God elevates us, all of a sudden, you go from having 10 people looking at you to 100 people looking at you, or 1000 people looking at you, and all of these are now souls that are looking at you and God has put you in position of stewardship and influence and you've got to represent Him. You've got to represent Him well, and sometimes that's what the process is about. Don't bump with a bag, like you know what I mean. Yeah, it's like telling you make sure that you're somebody who he's taken through the fire, he's refined and you're ready Jesus.

Oh, so, so you know, diamonds, listen, listen, listen with. What we're saying is that you know it might be taken a long time. You might be waiting, you might be waiting, you might be waiting. But look, we're also saying don't be in a hurry to shine, because while you're shining, you ain't the only one that's going to shine. You heard me, god, at the end of the day, when they see that shine, that ain't you, that's Him, jesus. Come on, somebody, look, if you ain't prepared to give Him the glory, if you ain't prepared to let Him shine, then you might, he might hold back on you because he already knows what you're going to do with it. Amen. I wonder why our process is taking so long. Why is it taking so long? Why I'm not like? I've been doing this 20 years. I've been doing this for half a long. Like she said, your character might not be in check yet. Hey, man, come on.

And the thing about God is that His patience is long. I think about you, know. I think about about the Israelites, like this isn't Israel, and it's like you got to stay in that desert. You got to keep walking and walking and walking, and what should have taken you a couple of days is about taking you decades. Come on, Because we want you to get it. Come on, we want you to get it. Come on, he doesn't care. He doesn't care About how you handle it, not because it God, because we are the estimate God. Like some of the things, we cry and we sleep over. Yes, it hurts, right, we're not going to downplay that it hurts, but it's like if we really believe our God is that big that we know it's nothing for Him to do it, but if he hasn't done it and that there's something else he needs for you to get to protect Him, yes, and girl, I was getting excited while you was talking. But I was thinking about it.

I said you know we be crying and be mad and all that stuff, and God, he don't care nothing about you crying because you got to wait. Waiting is going to make you. It's going to make you stronger. Look they that wait upon the Lord. He says I'm going to renew your strength. We got our eye, the folk got their eye so far and so deep in the waiting part they can't even see that he's giving them strength as they wait, they're running, running, running. You know why you can run and you can keep on running. Keep on doing that thing. You're into it. 10 years, 11 years, 12 years. You're into it and you're able to keep doing it. It's because he's giving you what you need in order to keep on getting where you've asked them to take you, or taking you where he wants to take you. Jesus come on somebody.

Oh God, that's so good. Oh girl, yes. Hey, man, he's so patient and he's so good, he's going to stick it out with you, he's going to stick it out.

Yes, If we just give Him, give Him the time give Him everything. Hallelujah, you give it all to Him and he's going to. What did he say? You're abiding me, I'm abiding you.

We got to trust Him totally.

I trust.

Him.

You know, I know and we all know that it's not an easy thing to serve the Lord. At times, especially once the newness has worn off of it. It's not such an easy thing. But what you got to know is that the enemy is always on attack. He's always ready to make you question God. He's always ready to make you challenge God in His authority.

You know what I mean Always.

He's going to do that. This is what we got to realize is that, you know, Satan is really our enemy. He is, but the thing we also got a flip side of that. He is a defeated foe, If you let him be Amen, if you let him be and if you're walking, and this is the thing if you're walking in your purpose, god's purpose for your life being Amen, then you're walking in victory. Hey man, you are absolutely walking in the victory that Jesus died and rose for Amen.

Oh, that's so good and that's to make us move a little bit different. Because you know, whatever he tries, you already know I always think of it like the enemy. He's patient, right.

He's patient.

He's going to wait that thing out until he catches with it. But what he's not is brilliant, because he's been using the same tricks over and, over, and, over and over again. And so once we recognize him for what he is you know, defeated foe, a liar then we know that we can move a little bit different, because he doesn't reinvent the wheel. He uses the same tricks, yeah, and we just need to be returning.

Yeah, and that's you know, that's the telltale. Look, if we know what his character brings, then we ought to be able to recognize him when he comes. Yeah Amen, that's a word in itself, because just like. God. He deals with our character. He deals with our character and he's already showed us the character of the enemy and so when he comes, you ought to be able to recognize him. It's kind of like this, you know, as he was going through Matthew, mark, luke and John, he's just kind of looking at the disciples like what are you doing? What are you thinking? I'm telling them the parables because you're walking with me. You should know, you should be able to recognize the tricks and the tactics of the enemy. You know, and if we are walking with him, we ought to be able to recognize the tactics of the enemy. I'll just take an example in your church family and you know there's, you know there's an issue, there's a question, and you know nobody's listening and it's going back and forth, back and forth, and the argument is getting worse and worse and worse. Can't you see that the devil is at the work, right at work, right now there ain't no peace. So God ain't in the midst of that. He's in the disconfusion. You ought to be able to recognize the enemy is at work in this moment. I don't care if you yeah, you are in church, but the enemy's sitting in there too. Come on, come on somebody. Jesus.

My God, my God, it's so funny. Sometimes we miss it, like because we just are not discerning. But you're right, he's sitting right there trying to cause all kinds of chaos and confusion, and that's really where he thrives is when he could cause a little bit of confusion and you start to question God. Like you said earlier, you start to question people and you forget the battle is not against flesh and blood, against the power of these empowers and wisdom and high places. You know, like he'll try it. He'll definitely try it.

Jesus see we supposed to be all here talking about entrepreneurship, aren't we? It's just like God to have us somewhere else. This is where we saw a post of me talking about entrepreneurship. When you know, you know right, look right. But you know, to God be the glory. Is his plane, is his world Out of ours? You know, we just follow in his footsteps. So, but you know, we're coming down to the last five minutes. Now I'm just going to leave the door open for you to speak whatever you feel in your spirit to speak, whether it's about entrepreneurship, purpose, whatever God is giving you right now. I want you to speak to the hearts of our diamonds here.

Yeah Well, first of all, I love, I love that that we're called diamonds on the platform, right. So that's really who we are, and I think for anybody that wants to walk in their purpose, you have to recognize who you are and who you are. So, no matter what your circumstances look like at the heart, right, like it's like if you find a diamond and it's covered in mud, or you find a diamond and it's stuck anywhere, it doesn't change the value of that diamond, and so recognizing who we are helps us to navigate our purpose differently. Like it means a little bit more to me. I can't just be reckless with my career, my life, my relationships, my resources, because I belong to somebody and I'm something valuable. So I love that. So anybody that's listening that you're trying to identify and find your purpose, I will say this I believe that the landscape is changing and I believe that people who are truly after the heart of God this is a season for a lot of us to finally just be unapologetic and to be bold and courageous. I believe that so many people have perverted purpose, they've profited off of purpose. They've said all the right things that sound like it's God, but it's not necessarily always been God. But I think that those of us who have been praying, like God, I just want you to use me. I just want you to use my story, use my mouth, use my feet, use my whatever. I believe that we're into a season now where God is really going to do that. So, if you're struggling with your purpose, I'm going to encourage you and challenge you. Get on your knees before God and ask Him and really listen. Be quiet for a second, just really listen to Him, to what he tells you, and he's not going to tell you the whole picture. He's going to tell you one baby step and you'll be obedient in that step. And He'll tell you the next step and you'll be obedient there and tell you the next one. So that's for the people who are not sure, for the people who God has already told you. Now is the time to war for it. It's not the time to like, at least to age. It's the time to try to copy what other people are doing. This is the time to really hone in and say God, you already told me what I need to do. I'm going to trust you that the provision and the pieces are going to come together, but I pray that you give me grace to walk this thing out. Send me the right people, pray very specific prayers about what you desire and what you need, and just watch Him. Just watch Him. Watch Him work.

Yeah, yeah. So there you have it. I mean, that was a powerful, powerful eye, this love, when we just move in the spirit. I mean it happens all the time with my husband and I, we just move in the spirit and just whatever he want to do he does here. And you know, I'm just so grateful that he allows us to just be us without any apology. And you know, because it's a sad thing that in our churches we have to apologize for who we are, because it offends people, because of who we are. It is so crazy, but I'm again a place where we can just simply be us, and I'm grateful for it. So I want to ask you to pray us out, and I'm going to do what my husband typically does and you're doing what I typically do.

Can you pray us out, please? Sure, sure. So I thank you, lord. I thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity to just even just connect and just share God. It's so beautiful, god, how you connect us as your children. So many different parts of the world, so many different spaces in life, but what we all have in common, god, is we want to see you glorify God. So thank you for the opportunity to just share and connect God. We pray for every listener right now, father. You see the needs that are represented, the desires, the desperation, god, and we pray that you continue to move, that you would show yourself strong in every situation, oh God, every, every listener. Oh God, that's the need of encouragement, that's the need of something, a touch when you die, we pray that you would meet them and then your faith would not be disappointed, according to your word. So I thank you for this platform, oh God, I thank you for what you are doing to reach so many people through it, god. So much so, father, that we probably don't even know the end of it. The analytics probably don't really show the reach and the impact of what's happening. God, so that we pray for more grace, more grace, more. Favor, god, that you will continue to put it in front of the right people at the right time. Oh God, father, we trust you, god, that the seeds that are sown will not be in vain. God, the seeds that are sown for this platform, oh God, the seeds that are sown for the businesses that are represented, will not be in vain, oh God, but that they will bear good. Oh God, that's father, may your name be glorified. Oh God, give us the grace of God to stand, even in this crazy generation, in Jesus name, amen.

Amen, amen. Now y'all know what to do. Y'all, please remember that you are a diamond in the rough. Amen, amen, amen.