Also known as:
Shelley

TVC Responsibilities:
I lead the development and execution of the Care Advocate Ministry, recruiting, equipping, and overseeing both volunteers and participants. I respond to inquiries from members and attendees seeking information about Care Advocates or presenting with high-level care needs, providing pastoral care and oversight as appropriate.

When and how did the Lord save you?
I was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, yet have lived in Texas most of my life. My background in church was sparse beyond elementary school. I tried reattending church in my early 20s, but I walked away from it after a couple of years. I missed the gospel message entirely. I spent those few years striving to earn God's love and trying to live up to a standard I could not attain. It was exhausting and legalistic. In God's goodness, He did not walk away from pursuing me when I walked away from pursuing Him. Eventually, His love for me arrested my heart in my darkest moment about five years later and has never let go. When my then only daughter, at the tender age of only 3.5 years old, drew her last breath here on earth, God changed everything in my life all in an instant. It was as if He flipped on a light switch, and everything I had misunderstood all those years suddenly made sense. I instantly realized it was all about a relationship with Him. I suddenly understood grace and mercy. God walked with me through the grief I thought would emotionally kill me and brought me to a place of full restoration and tremendous joy. I am a living testimony to Psalm 34:18, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." I have been in love with the Lord since 2009, and since then, He has revealed other areas in my life that needed to be healed—areas of shame and performance-based self-worth where I had believed the lies of the enemy and relied too heavily on other people’s opinions. He healed those areas also. I have experienced that there is so much freedom made available through Christ, and my passion is to help others experience the same transforming power of Christ.

When did you come to TVC and what brought you here?
We came to TVC in 2020 after COVID. We had moved several times in a handful of years, each time moving farther away from our church in Cross Roads, Texas. We continued to make the drive north for 45 minutes because we were so plugged in. The Lord began convicting our hearts that we were not doing life where we lived. When COVID happened, we did not know the needs of our community because the church we were plugged into was so far away. We had podcasted TVC for many years and followed the Lord's prompting to visit it in person, as it was much closer to our home. We quickly found our new community of faith here and happily live just a few miles from TVC.

If you had to give a TED Talk, what subject would you choose to speak on, and why?
“Recovery from shame using biblical truth,” because I am passionate about grounding our identity in who God says we are, versus believing the lies from the enemy and the world. I want people to experience true emotional freedom and the abundant living promised in John 10:10.

If you were to have your childhood dream job, what would your job be?
An astronaut

Which fictional character would you be friends with in real life, and why?
Ruby Roundhouse from Jumanji because dance fighting sounds super fun, and I love jungle adventures.

Favorite Hobby:
Painting on large canvases