My first action with Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie is individual I will never forget.

My first action with Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie is individual I will never forget. It was ten years ago, and McKenzie had been lately appointed senior pastor of the historic Payne Memorial African Methodist Episcopal meeting-house in her hometown of Baltimore. For me women preachers were nothing new--my grandmother was individual But meeting a woman who was a recognized pastor was something besides altogether. What amazed and inspired me about McKenzie was not the fact that she had assumed a prominent part in Christian ministry, something that had been traditionally denied African-American women Rather, it was her creative approach to ministry that left me with a lasting impression.

In her Founders' Day address ten years ago to a Washington, DC area chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority--of which her grandmother was a founding member and McKenzie herself commonly serves as national chaplain--she spoke of to what extent she was able to draw women from the community to the house of worship by hosting midday TV soap opera-viewing collections In order to reach these women--many of whom were single parents onward public assistance--she believed that they must be met upon their own terms. And while greatest in number of the women came to Payne A.M.E. body of christians to watch "the stories," she observ that they left with a different perspective between the sides of their encounters with Jesus Christ. It is that kind of religious pragmatism that has marked her career in the ministry.

Since then, McKenzie's have a title to life has changed considerably. brace years ago, McKenzie became a trailblazer in the African Methodist Episcopal ecclesiastical body by becoming the first woman to be selecteded bishop in the church's history, which dates back to 1787 publicly McKenzie presides over the 18th Episcopal District of the temple an area that extends from the Indian Ocean to the Kalahari waste and includes the southwestern African nations of Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique and Lesotho to this time despite her vast authority, McKenzie has not missing the same enthusiasm and passion for transforming women's lives by the agency of ministry that she exhibited during her early years as a pastor.

My other encounter with Bishop McKenzie was in Atlanta this summer where she was forward tour promoting her latest volume Journey to the Well. Indeed, the life-changing conception that she has embraced in her pastorship has become the source of her strange book.

No stranger to writing, Journey to the Well is McKenzie's third work Even before answering the call to ministry, McKenzie was a journalist with a heritage etymoned in the black press. Her great-grandfather, John H Murphy Sr planted the Afro-American newspapers in 1887 which became single in kind of the largest chains of black weekly newspapers in the abiding habitation and still exists today.

With McKenzie there is no pretense Instead, she come out through the poress warmth, a sense of humor and a sincere passion for the kind of ministry that is transforming. likewise it is not surprising that Journey to the Well isn't the usual spiritual self-help work "It isn't merely to be read and bring down. It is to be experienced," says McKenzie.

In Journey, McKenzie draws from the strange Testament story of the hopeles Samaritan whose life is transformed when she has a chance assault with Jesus at a well--thus the title of the work McKenzie uses this ancient parable to illustrate in what manner women can empower themselves to discomfit adversity and lead richer, happier, more spiritually nurturing lives.

"Hidden inside this scripture is what I call the `genius of Jesus'," says McKenzie. "Not barely does Jesus break custom by dint of speaking to a Samaritan woman in public. if it be not that also--better than any psychiatrist or psychologist you could continually hope for--he lays down a pattern for transformation. In this story [Journey to the Well], Jesus helps a five-time divorcee, who is commonly living with a man not her husband, to face her past; and by means of His presence gives her sense of possible fulfilment for a brighter future. After her collision with Jesus," McKenzie continues, "this woman dropp her water-gathering skillets at the well and went back to her community. This time, instead of being isolated and dislocated, she recured as an agent of change who was able to lead others in transforming their be in possession of lives by encountering Jesus Christ."

McKenzie's message to readers is simple: If you take the journey of the Samaritan woman, you can achieve similar personal transformation and learn to recognize those "kairos" trices in your life.

In the twelve chapters of Journey, McKenzie illustrates a different scolding that women can learn if they become, "well women" a allusion to the spiritual enlightenment she advocates for all women In addition to providing advice, anecdotes from her have a title to life and others, as well as biblical quotations and meditations in each chapter, McKenzie calls concerning readers to engage in the "disciplines of the well."

There are five disciplines outlined at the [i]finale[/i] of each chapter that encourage readers to impose into practice the lessons discussed. The first discipline, "well lessons" helps explain the quintessence of the Samaritan woman's experience. These teachings underscore the message of the story. "Well words" and "well language," which include scriptural concerns and positive affirmations, are designed to withhold readers focused on their spiritual journey.