One individual that truly has influenced me is my former Pastor, but still spiritual partner...Prophetess Jackie Banks. Her early life was essentially an atrocity tainted by drug abuse, promiscuous sexual activities, larceny, and tons of interactions with our nation's criminal justice system. She took on a career of being a criminal, and endured it for over twenty years. Eventually while “roaming the streets” she encountered an evangelist, and from that moment shifted her ambitions from felonious to divine. By the time her mindset changed,society had already marked her as a "pest" of society lacking no purpose besides living behind prison bars. She failed to let her past and the expectations of society restrict her from making a positive impact …show more content…
This included but wasn't limited to prostitutes,the sexually trafficked, and the homeless. The couple would open up their home to anyone who was willing to come providing rehabilitation, and having church services in their living room. Jackie oftentimes recalls having one pair of shoes, and a few dresses because of the fact that she essentially invested all of her finances into the group of individuals that she brought from the streets. This group started off with a population less than two, and today includes multiple hundreds of individuals, and now the ministry has sprouted from a small house to 15 different ministries across the nation holding the name “Spiritual Growth Center”. Evangelists are sent to the streets to recruit individuals, the recruits are brought into their local facility and stay for several months. Their stay includes prayer, daily classes, Group Sessions and Drug Group Sessions, and Biblical Counseling. After going through several months of rehabilitation, they are then connected with job opportunities and given the privilege of saving money while staying in the facility. They are then released back into “real” society with a clean slate, a career, and the finances for