"Lovely Ladies"

Pastor Sheryleteita McClendon in the

brown dress  & the "Lovely Ladies" of 

Judahfire Ministries International, City of Praise. 

She is sharing in the experience of being honored 

as a Mother with flowers. 

“Lovely Ladies”

A walk  in  the neighborhood Sam’s Club of  Bloomington MN,  give me the opportunity to meet  Pastor Sheryleita McClendon.  It was one of them Fridays that my clients, staff and I go to Sam’s to participate in tasting samples provided for the public.

Engulfed in the sweet aroma of tasteful items spread out in the store’s corridors,  I passed by  Pastor Sheryleita  at her stand and greeted her with a smile. She looked my way and returned my smile saying  “ you have a sweet spirit” I in turn said it’s by the grace of God.  The other staff I was walking with said you know, that she’s a preacher… I responded, Oh yeah?... as we  continued to walk around the store. I was suddenly urged to return and speak with the preacher woman. Back at her stand at least 10mins  later, I started a conversation with her before I knew  she was shamelessly holding my hand and praying thanking God for connecting us as we stood there. 

Baffled at her boldness and somewhat afraid that she or I might be violating the company’s policy of not  bringing religion into the workspace etc,  I half closed my eyes and opened them occasionally to see if we were in trouble. Trouble was far from this preacher lady’s vocabulary, fear was neither a foot away. Trouble was replaced by such boldness and enthusiasm that she said to the already passerby’s and onlookers at her stand…“ May they that watch us come neigh and ask us what we do and we will tell them of the glory of Jesus”… She continued to pray and would end her prayer. What a prayer!  What a women who was not afraid to take the gospel of Christ wherever she went...even at her work site. What a woman that would take a hand of a stranger such as I and want to pray for them.

That did it for me… I asked her if I could introduce her to my Pastor, the Apostle Judah Praise Martin, founder and overseer general of the Judahfire Ministries International, City of Praise located in Brooklyn Park MN.   Introduction made, in the preceding days after our encounter, she would soon attend some of  our prayer series and revivals to come.  Now 2-3months later she is asked to speak at our Mother’s  Day program  on the 27^th of May, 2012.

 May 27^th, she entered into the sanctuary, which she would later describe as a place that had “the presence of God” and she was standing, on “Holy Grounds”. she was wearing a robe that  was black with cream looking details done on the edges of the sleeves and the necklines. Her hair  was curled up and pulled back from her face. As she stood  behind the pulpit or podium,  she took several short breath saying “Ooh my God’  Oooh!  A few times she repeated that as she wiped her brows or shook her head. The spirit of God is strong in this place she would say. She introduced the title of her sermon  as “Lovely Ladies” and knelt to her knees and prayed , as she prayed , she asked  God to  take the glory as she ministered to His people, sweat began to trickle down her face by the end of her  prayer. She intelligently  introduced  her husband when the prayer ended  as he humbly came to help her off her feet. She would stand there for  a moment and shower  him with some love. “this is the man of my life “  Christ is the man in my life but  he is my earthly man”…

She went on to say  “as I walked into this room today starting at the door midway into the sanctuary,  I saw a open heaven over this space, my God”…” I don’t even stand in a place of worship with shoes but I can in this place because these grounds are holy” etc .  The audience cheered Amen! She began to  sing the song  “Falling in love with Jesus”.  She was so soft spoken in the beginning that it was difficult to quite get what she was saying, or where she was going with the sermon. So soft spoken that for a moment the audience who are usually accustomed to energetic and charismatic preachers who minister in this space looked on in what seemed like a “enh are you kidding”…  Hold up a minute… she was just warming up. Although soft spoken she would soon build up to  a medium mild  energy and get the audience captivated by her testimony about her path to finding Christ. It  was a tale that only someone possessed with the full knowledge of the saving power of Christ would be bold enough to openly  talk about!

Her words. “ this is a woman who would once go to a bar and pick out  which man she wanted to sleep with for the night.  “This is a women who will use the money given to her  to buy more drugs”… “drugs feed her addiction .  “ this is a woman who was left for dead twice she said “ I would later learn that those words spoken , those testimonies  shared were ones she’d experienced 20 years ago. She’d suffered an abusive relationship with an ex-husband who would assault her physically and left for dead by him twice. 20years later  She‘d come to recon with her past and she is fully aware  of the full redemption of her life through the blood of  Christ . She is a woman who beyond all doubts truly understands  the source of her existence. She is a woman who understands

Isaiah 55:7

King James Version (KJV)

7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

She said she would talk about the dark side of Christianity, of hell and  demons but that is not what she chooses to.  She choose instead to talk about the love of Christ,  “how he could save a filthy rag as I”…The love of Christ that He died to save sinners like her. This love  she wouldn’t trade it now for the world. It is the love she wanted to share  with the women of “City of Praise”. She ended on the her sermon telling  the “Lovely Ladies” of “City of Praise’ to come to the Alter as she quietly read 1 Corinthians  13. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13&version=NIV

This moment she said she will not ever forget moving forward. As bold as she was, unashamed as she is marks the role that if we truly come to Christ, we all should embrace, and practice as we spread the Good news of Christ. Our dirty rags could also be a testimony that would change another believer’s destiny. It is the kind of boldness that will challenge all believers to have a reason to serve God because of his saving power.

Catherine K.

Sheryleita McClendon was born in Springfield, Ill. 1963. She was raised in the Lutheran faith. She is married to Apostle Eric McClendon and has two children.

In 1984 she was led by the Holy Spirit to give her Life to the Lord. This was her first encounter through the television ministry of PTL Club with Jim and Tammy Fae Baker. She later moved from Springfield to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where  she attended church under the direction of Vernon D. Ross Sr.

By July 4th,1993, she moved to Minnesota where she later got married to her loving husband, Apostle Eric McClendon who was anointed for ministry under Highest Praise Ministry, by Harold and Lucile Echoles. Pastor Sheryleita was water baptized and  experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the Open Door House Of Prayer under the direction of Bishop Keith T. Jenkins with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

Pastor Sheryleita was ordained in 2008 in Springfield Ill under the ministry of New Life Christian Center under Bishop Howard Collier. August 2008, her husband, Apostle Eric L. McClendon received the vision for Faith Foundation Apostolic Outreach Ministry in Bloomington, MN where she serves as a co/pastor to her husband.