“Amazing,” Angela said.

Now that was something I could agree on with this woman. This journey had been nothing but amazing...for Jeremy. His calling was obvious with the way he walked right into his gift. His sermons were filled with the hope of youth and the fire that was in his heart for God. He was so relatable, that many of the college students from the dozens of universities in the District began to attend.

But it had been work building this church. Reverend Donnell didn’t have a staff, so we’d had to hire people, though there wasn’t any real money to pay anyone. That meant that I had to jump in. And because of that, I’d never spent one day wearing a two-piece suit and carrying a briefcase into Walker-Hughes. Instead, I was in the church’s office, handling the business: answering the phones, setting up the systems, paying the bills, making sure we had supplies...and then, I put on my marketing hat, spreading the word about this new church with this twenty-one-year-old pastor.

Getting the word out was one place where I felt comfortable in the church. This may have been a religious institution, but it was still a consumer product, and I put my degree and my knowledge of digital marketing to work. I went straight to social media and Twitter, which was a new thing back in 2008, but a thing that had enough users, especially celebrities.

I had the idea to direct message celebrities, inviting them to New Kingdom whenever they were in town and even offering a private meeting with Reverend Williams if there was anything they ever wanted to discuss.

When I’d told Jeremy about the idea to use social media, he’d only kissed my forehead as if he was saying — bless your heart.

But then I’d blessed his. Two weeks after I’d sent the first invitations, Chris Brown strolled into the Holiday Inn conference room where we held our church services during praise and worship. It was a shock to everyone, though no one behaved that way, and at the end of the service, he was so moved, he tweeted about the young dynamic pastor who sounded just like him when he preached. He helped to put Reverend Williams and New Kingdom Temple on the map.

The rest, as they say, is our history. From managing a growing membership roll that doubled every few years, to finding space to rent (first, the hotel, then a school gymnasium, after that, an old utility building) to house our church as we built a massive twelve thousand seat sanctuary, I managed the business side of New Kingdom Temple so that my husband could live his calling.

Angela said, “Well, now that we know how you stay out of trouble, Reverend,” she giggled, “let’s talk about your family. You have two lovely children.”

This part of our interview wasn’t rehearsed. Both of us brightened as we glanced at the photo on the mantel that Angela pointed to.