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Eniola serves as the Spiritual Health Coordinator at Behind Every Door in Dallas, TX. Eniola is passionate about mentoring and combatting racial injustice in the inner city. She shares her personal journey in a conversation about racial issues, and how mentors are called to steward God's heart for people in a divisive world.
Show Notes
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WELCOME
You Can Mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others.
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SHOW NOTES
- @eniola.anna
- Behind Every Door
- @g.oldheart
- @aloine.poetry
- Eniola’s Medium Blog
- Upperroom
- CFNI
- Ethiopia, Evangelicals, and the Fake Orphan Racket
- Just Mercy (Movie)
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Hi there. How's everyone doing today? Welcome to the You Can Mentor podcast. My name is Zachary Garza and I'll be your host today. And today we have with us Eniola Abioye.
Speaker 2:Yes. So hello, Eniola. Hello. It's very good to have you here today. I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 2:Eniola does does a ton of things. She leads worship at the upper room. She's a poet. She's a writer. She has her own thing, called Goldheart.
Speaker 2:Goldheart, which is awesome. But today, we kinda wanna focus in on her role at a nonprofit here in the city of Dallas called Behind Every Door, where she is the spiritual health coordinator. Mhmm. So we will get into that here in a minute. But first off, Eniola, can you just tell us a tad bit about yourself, about your background, about how you came to be where you are today?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I've been in Dallas for the past 10 years. And when I moved to Dallas, I literally moved because I only just felt like God said go to Dallas. And, I was 20 years old and I remember my parents just kind of being like, this is not a good idea. You don't even know how to pay bills.
Speaker 3:Like, why are you just going to move to a different city? And, you know, I rebelled and I just left. And and we're good now. They see the bigger picture now, but like, we I see the bigger picture now. But at the time, I just knew that I wanted to go wherever God was.
Speaker 3:And it felt like God was leading me to Dallas. I went to a bible school out here called Christ For the Nations. And over those years, I I just a desire in my heart grew again to just be close to him. I was like, what does it look like for me to be close to you in this season? I had a I have a history of, you know, kind of being, a children's, like, pastor, if that's what you wanna call it.
Speaker 3:I've done it my whole, like, child since I was, like, 13. I was, like, in charge of Sunday school at my parents' church. And then I love taking care of people's kids. Like, it's my joy. I do it for free.
Speaker 3:I started doing what something called residency at upper room. And while I was there, the lord just started to grit my heart more and more for the things that were on his heart. And it and that began to kind of flesh out into the racial, the racial divide in our country. The the messy racial past. And I just it just started to grip me because I was like, well, Lord, you have something to say.
Speaker 3:And everything you do is redemptive, and you want your kingdom to come. So what are we doing here? Like, what's happening in my heart? Like, I'm weeping. I'm getting angry.
Speaker 3:And the more that I sat with the Lord, the more He was like, I want you to mother. I would love for you to take what I've done in you and give it to children. And I was like, well, God, do I need to foster? I'm down. I'm a foster.
Speaker 3:I was like, I'm single. I'm I'm still living paycheck to paycheck, but I'll figure it out, God. I remember that I was just sitting with the Lord one night. It was like, actually like 3 AM and I was just mulling over all the things in my heart and I said, 'Alright God, what do you want me to do?' And I had started following this company called Behind Every Door and in my mind I thought it was in Chicago and I was like, if I could do something, I'd want to do what they're doing because they're so cool and they're doing what I feel in my heart to do. The way I want to commit and contribute to being the solution is by putting myself in this space.
Speaker 3:And then like, lo and behold, Behind Every Door is actually in Dallas and and long story short, I ended up getting a job there and and now that's where I am. But like, I think my whole life, everything is kind of in different places. Worship leading, writing poetry, serving kids in the in the inner city and doing creative design. All that stuff is all over the place, but I just sense that God's like, I'll bring it together in myself. And so, I don't know.
Speaker 3:That's a little bit about kind of what I'm doing and and all the things. And I think there will be a day when they all kind of culminate.
Speaker 2:Can you just kind of tell us what is behind every door and tell me how the Lord is using your organization to build relationships with kids from our place. Totally.
Speaker 3:So, we are Behind Every Door is a nonprofit, and we are, managing and stewarding a network of community centers in areas that are typically high in poverty to transform the narrative of poverty. That's our goal. Our goal is about stories. We believe that behind every door is a story, and everyone is not just a statistic. They are actually a person with a story with a history, and we want to change the narrative.
Speaker 3:And so my observation, the way that we're doing it in in Dallas and what I've seen as how it's fleshed out, is we're tackling injustices. Literacy or the lack of literacy is an injustice, and so we're tackling that through on-site programming every single day. Whether they like it or not, the kids are like, I'm here for snacks and and dinner. I don't want you I don't wanna do this. And I'm like, I know, but you gotta read.
Speaker 3:So, one of our kids, he, was with, one of our leaders. Her name is Suzanne. And miss Suzanne was like, hey. You've been coming late, and you haven't been showing up to our 1 on ones for literacy. What what's going on?
Speaker 3:You know? He was like, I just been playing with my friends. And she said, well, why do I show up here then? Why do you come? And he said, so I can read the contract.
Speaker 3:And he she's like, what do you mean the contract? He's like, my my football contract. Mind you, he's about 9 or 10 years old, but he's like, he had to take a moment and remind himself the reason he had to keep showing up for literacy. And that's what we're doing for all of our kids, not just for football, but for law school, for design firms, the things that God's called them to. Like, they have to be able to read, and it's an injustice that they don't know how to, and that some of them are on great reading level.
Speaker 3:There some of them are in food insecurity. I'm secure about food. If I wanna go Chick Fil A down the street, I could just go run through the drive through, swipe something, and get Chick Fil A. And our kids don't have that freedom, that luxury just because of living in high poverty. And there's a number of other things, but what we're the foundation, the overall arching of it is, discipleship.
Speaker 3:We wanna disciple them into a love for Jesus and an affection for Jesus. And underneath that, as the Lord is redeeming them to himself and bringing them to himself, we are tackling the injustices. And so, that's kinda what it looks like.
Speaker 2:You talked earlier about race. Right? And there's a lot of our mentors who are white, and most of the kids who we mentor are not white. Can you just kinda speak to that? Just kinda tell me how you've seen race issues play out.
Speaker 2:Is race as big a deal as people say
Speaker 3:it is? That's a such a good question. It's important to recognize that as a nation, we're young. We're about a little over 200 years old, give or take, and there are nations in the world that are that have thousands of years of history. And, unfortunately, in our, 2 century history, one of the most foundational things that happened was we as an and I say we because I'm American.
Speaker 3:You know? But as a nation, we had our leaders, our founding fathers prioritize, like, income and and putting down of a race that wasn't theirs, of taking people from their nation and and removing their humanity. At the core of it, it's just it's a campaign of the enemy to remove the humanity of people and remove unity amongst people. And it's played out. Because that seed was planted, it has played out so systemically in culture.
Speaker 3:And I could I could break down all the statistics, but I think the position God's given me is the heart the heart issue. There's a head part of it, and there's a heart part of it. And for me, the heart of it is it's about it's about looking at your fellow human being and saying, I love yes. I love your color. I love your ethnicity, but more than anything, I love that I can see Jesus inside of you.
Speaker 3:That's the core thing. To be honest, the concept of race can come against that, but even just the the putting down of another ethnicity for my own benefit, for our own benefit will all will ultimately mess up what God is trying to do. And so it is a huge issue, especially in what we do. It's kinda like when you have a conversation with people about people who do missions and they go overseas and specifically Africa. You know, they go to Africa and a lot of times, it is a it is a white person, you know, who is heading to Africa and to do something amazing there.
Speaker 3:And a lot of times without knowing it, we kinda take our manifest destiny with quotes on both sides and believe that we're the saviors of the world when actually Jesus is the savior of the world. But when we take on a savior mentality as opposed to co laboring with the savior, then we end up we end up looking at them like they're smaller than us. And then we and and instead of because Jesus, when he came, he was bigger than us. Jesus is more supreme than us. Like, he's better than me.
Speaker 3:He's perfect. Like, he's smarter. Like, there's a lot of reasons why Jesus is better. But he didn't even when he came, he did not lord that over humanity. He actually put on flesh, became fully human, sent into our space, and took on our experience to the point of death.
Speaker 3:What I've noticed about many people who wanna serve, and and it's not all white people at all, but what many people, it's it's a savior mentality. And so instead of putting on flesh, and what I mean by that is stepping in and becoming low like it like Jesus said, and not considering myself as greater, but considering another, my brother, my sister, my whoever, as as more than me so that I can love them well. Instead of doing that, we come in with our rights and what we think is right, and then we think we're serving, but what we're doing is we're, you know, p g 13 dehumanizing people. The way that I've seen healing in this space is to not hide it and to not hide behind it. I know that I'm in a very important position in my life because I have platform.
Speaker 3:I have leadership and people are asking me questions. And like Daniel in the bible, like Nebuchadnezzar had questions. Belshazzar had questions. Like in the Bible, these kings that he was under, they had questions about things they had no grid for. But Daniel would go to the Lord and say, you're the one who has the secrets.
Speaker 3:You're the one who has the mysteries. You're the one who can solve the riddles and the enigmas. What is the answer to this? And so Daniel would show up and I think, I feel like I'm in a position similar in this very messy space of race relations. And so, in what we do, in the work that we do, I find myself, first of all, beginning with a heart of compassion.
Speaker 3:A compassion for myself, a compassion for the people who have the questions. Whether it's specifically white people or who are just like, I don't you know, you have the whole spectrum. You have, it's not my fault, I didn't do it. To, I don't know what to do because I understand where you're coming from but where do I start from here? To the ones who are like, I disagree.
Speaker 3:You know? So there's compassion there and love and each level has a different level of love that produces something in me. To my black, you know, brothers and sisters who are angry off the bat. Bat. You know?
Speaker 3:Or or who are like, I wanna be unified but I don't know how. Or who are just like, I literally don't know where to start here. Because on one side, I see, like, I have experienced the pain of racism. The Lord's going to open your eyes to things as we walk down this road of race relations. He's gonna open your eyes to things and you're and we're gonna have to wrestle.
Speaker 3:It's not this like, oh, you know what, God? We need a revival. I'm gonna figure it out. It's it's literally like, God's okay. I've been wrestling with this for eons And if you're connected to me, we're gonna wrestle together.
Speaker 3:And so there's that. So compassion, leaning into the tension, walking in wisdom, and lastly, like, staying at the table with people. My mentors, like, are my pastors as well. And when I was wrestling with anger when, in 2016, when there were, like, back to back shootings with police officers and and some of the people around me were either ignoring it or they were saying or they were almost defending the police, I was getting furious and I was like, God, it's becoming harder and harder for me to worship next to people who can't see that this is a problem. This is becoming a big deal for me.
Speaker 3:And so I, and so I had to bring it up to the people who love me and are pouring into my life and they're white people and they did not grow up like me at all with the same feelings that I have. And I remember, one of them saying to me, like any Ola, like, I don't think like that. I don't see that. I need to learn more. Do you have books that you could recommend to me so that I can learn?
Speaker 3:Because the willingness to learn is the warfare against this animal called racism. It's for a believer. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We're wrestling against invisible things that are working against unity in the body. And so we have to, like, lean in and say, how do I war with you in this?
Speaker 3:And it's like, well, education. Like, and staying connected and having the hard conversation, crying when you're like, I don't understand. I feel like you're blaming me. It's like, I'm not blaming you, but I'm letting you see what you haven't been able to see. Because you exist in a state of privilege that I don't have.
Speaker 3:And it's and I'm not angry. I'm not. Like, it's I'm bringing that before the Lord. I have a work to do on the inside of me. But, yeah, it's just it it not just, but it there is this space of staying connected, staying at the table, having the hard conversation, asking the hard questions, and then on my end, being willing to sit and receive it.
Speaker 3:Because at the end of the day, it's about connection Because it starts here. It starts between us 2, and then it extends out to the bigger picture. So
Speaker 2:Just that not being afraid to step into that tension.
Speaker 3:A 100%.
Speaker 2:And when things get get weird, when things get awkward
Speaker 3:Lean in.
Speaker 2:Don't leave the table.
Speaker 3:Don't leave the table.
Speaker 2:Stay at the table.
Speaker 3:Yeah. If you gotta sweat bullets, if you gotta drink some water, if you gotta wipe your hand over cross your forehead and wipe it on your pants so you can you know, whether it's anger or stress or whatever, you lean in. You have to lean in because nothing I think about the the analogy I have is, like, for a woman who's given birth, she in in that moment, she couldn't just stop because it got hard. Either she something would happen to her or something would happen to the baby. So in my mind, in moments of tension, you can't stop.
Speaker 3:The more intense it gets, the more you lean in, especially when it comes to connecting over very difficult, concepts.
Speaker 2:I wanna kinda focus in on that heart of compassion. Right? And I think you gave the the picture of 3 different types of people. Number 1, the person who doesn't believe that racism, race issues exist. 2, the one who knows that it exists, but has no idea how to step into that.
Speaker 2:Do you think that you could just kinda expound upon those just to to the person who's hearing this podcast who is in all of those different stages?
Speaker 3:I mean, first of all, like, again, like, I have compassion. Like, I'm not mad at you. And and I and I think for some, there are some people, and it's worth noting. There are some people who are angry at every white person they see. Because in the back of their mind, they're living in a deficit of life because of that white person's privilege.
Speaker 3:It's not fully true, but at some levels, it is true. And so I think there's there's a part where for the one who doesn't believe, I have compassion for you. If you're I'll I'll say this. If you're a believer, then I'm gonna hold you accountable to the faith that you're professing. Because at the end of the day, there's gonna come a day when we're all around the Lord.
Speaker 3:And every tribe, every it's not gonna be English, and it's not gonna be white because my Jesus is not a English speaking Caucasian man. He is a Hebrew speaking Jewish man. And what's important is I have to relate to him in that space. Like, that's the journey of my faith. He's not American.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean? He's he's Israeli. There's a call of, what's the word I'm looking for? Like like, I'm gonna give you, like, a harsh word, which is, like, you need to get over yourself, and you have to get out of where you've been your whole life and recognize that, you know, there are things happening around you that are that are breaking God's heart. And just because you weren't the one who actively did it, at least as far as you know, doesn't mean that you can, shut a blind eye to it and that you can continue to go about.
Speaker 3:Because here's the thing. When something like this gets in your ear and when you hear this, all of a sudden, you are accountable. And to be honest, the anger or the discomfort or the rejection or the defensiveness that one may be feeling in this, it's it's really a discomfort because you're realizing that something's been put in your lap that you didn't necessarily ask for. And now you're like, well, how do I handle this? I don't wanna handle this.
Speaker 3:Do you not know all the other things I have to to deal with in my life? And it's like, yeah. But as a believer, you're leaning into the pain. You're mourning with those who mourn. You're grieving with those who grieve so that you can rejoice with those who rejoice so that you can live in a reality.
Speaker 3:And when we're around the throne, and you're like, oh my gosh. We're all equal here. We are all equal here. Then you can eat that fruit and be in joy. And so I know that's super metaphorical, but I think very practically, it's just like, you're gonna have to wrestle with the tension and realize that the defensiveness is is a lack of education, a lack of understanding, and it's important to get to the place of understanding.
Speaker 3:And that might look like humbly, you know, maybe reading a book, ask God to bring people into your life who can sit with you with compassion, taking you as you are, as you take them as they are, and have this conversation with. And that's specifically for the ones who are just wrestling and maybe feel defensive or don't believe that race is an issue. I've seen this, use I think I can't I'm trying to think of when it when I see it. Maybe it's usually around Black History Month, that I see this timeline, and it shows the last time like, it shows the civil rights movement to where we are, and it just shows it over the years. And to be honest, there are people alive now.
Speaker 3:Some of them are are are very elderly now, but there are people who are still alive, who walked through Jim Crow era. That is a picture of how close we are to a season when me sitting here on a podcast saying what I'm saying would have equated to me, you know, being killed or lynched or something. You know? Like, it wasn't possible for my voice to be heard like this only 6 or 7 decades ago. So some people are still alive who experience this.
Speaker 3:Even I know there's a movie called Just Mercy that, recently came out. Beautiful movie. In the movie, like, I was watching it, and I was just like, man, it it's basically, the movie is about a man who was put in prison unjustly and about the journey of getting him out of prison. A lawyer who came from a black lawyer came from the north to to get him out. And as I'm watching the movie and I'm I'm you know, how the end does a montage of, like, this person, this happened to this person in 19 I'm looking at the dates and and I'm like, this issue was resolved when I was about 6 or 7 years old.
Speaker 3:Meaning, I was alive when there were racial issues, you know, and and it's so it's not that far back. And so, anyway, for the person who's like, I don't believe that there's racial issues. It's like, I have ton of grace for you, and and I wanna challenge you to to open your eyes and just be like, I I need to learn, and I need to I need to step out of what I know and learn. And then for the ones who are like, man, I I see that this is the issue, but I don't know I don't know what to do about this issue. Again, like, I will say my heart is open to you.
Speaker 3:My heart is open because I know sometimes the fear is like, I'm scared that I'm gonna open my mouth, ask a question, and be labeled as ignorant and a bigot and all these things. And I'll be pointed to as part of the problem when my intent was just I wanted to know. And I and I wanna say there are people around who want to, educate and who wanna explain. I wanna open their heart. It's more than it's more than because because for example, like I know someone who is white and is acquainted with the culture of, like, like black culture and what I mean by that is like hip hop and the vernacular.
Speaker 3:And, like, there are all these pieces of black culture that they're acquainted with, but I don't see them have the conversation that is required to actually make the connection. Because because of, a black person and a white person are more than their skin color. I am more than my color, and that's what this is all unto. There are parts of my culture that I've brought to the table that a generation of people have taken and received and said, I love this culture, but I don't want the person, whether that's like, you know, hip hop culture. And it's like, I love hip hop culture.
Speaker 3:I love hip hop music. I love all this stuff. And it's like, but then the moment that you're walking along the street and you see a black person in the street, you've already made a story about them up in your mind. And so it's just kind of being aware and having conversations again, sitting at the table with people breaking bread, asking questions, getting their perspective on political issues. Like, this political firestorm that we're we've been in for, like, 4 years is is wild because and and for me, it's not about the, the president who's in the White House now.
Speaker 3:It's about our heart's response to things we don't agree with more it's more about the person on the other side of the table than it is about the president in the office. Because we're having a hard time, like, when you say something that I disagree with, then all of a sudden, I'm like, oh, that's what you think? That's what you think? And then my fists are up, and I'm ready to fight and throw stuff across the table and accuse you and call you things. And this this thing, especially the racial thing, it will never be solved.
Speaker 3:It will never be solved by my mouth talking alone on social media. Even, you know, shit, this right here is, is a step in the right direction, but this will completely be solved. Sitting at a table with somebody breaking bread, looking them in the eye and saying, I don't understand. I disagree. I'm angry.
Speaker 3:I'm frustrated. It starts at the table. 1 on 1, 2 on 1, 4 people at table, 6 people at a table. And in my opinion, with food on the table, you know, I thought food makes everything better. It's about breaking bread and being able to reach over and hold a hand and say, okay, we're both hot right now.
Speaker 3:Let's take a deep breath and remember that we love each other. And remember that we're down to figure this out because both of us are navigating history, a history of mistakes, and so and a history of systemic issues. And then I think there's practical ways, you know, of, like, if you're a leader and you lead a business, you lead a group of people, you lead a church, you lead something, ask the Lord for ways to diversify your leadership so that because you will not see in your space. I won't if I'm the leader of a church, if I'm the leader of a business, a a company or whatever, I will not see diversity amongst the people I'm leading, unless I'm intentional about bringing diversity into my leadership. And that obviously starts with me.
Speaker 3:Maybe even sitting at the table of someone who's different from me, bringing that person into my own home, putting that person around my kids. You know? Like, it's it's this thing of, like, what you would do for someone else who's the same as you, what you've already said yes to, for someone who's in the same socioeconomic space as you, you do that for someone who's different from you. Again, I'm not saying go pull someone off the street. I'm more so saying, ask the Lord for his heart and follow his leadership.
Speaker 3:It is intentional. If, if I was in debt, for example, there are things I would do to get out of debt. That would be intentional. I would ask for the leadership of the holy spirit, but I would be pretty intentional about those things. And right now as a nation, I feel like we're in debt, you know, like we're, we're in the red in some areas and it's about being intentional.
Speaker 3:How do we get out of the red to the point that we're in the black and we're connected?
Speaker 2:The willingness to learn combats the spiritual warfare of racism. That attitude, that posture of I'm gonna be quiet and I'm gonna ask questions and I'm going to get the darkness out of my heart out into the light in humility to hear what you have to say. I just feel like the Lord is all over that because one it is being humble, which he loves. 2, it is submitting to you who has something to say. And then you're fighting for unity.
Speaker 2:You're asking for God's heart on things. God, give me your heart. God, break my heart for the things that break your heart. And then you're not leaving the table. You're not quitting on people.
Speaker 2:You're staying at the table, and you're gonna fight and you're gonna figure it out. But the one thing that you're not going to lose is connection.
Speaker 3:And you will see you will see fruit from that. It it's if I had a garden, you know, I planted all these seeds, then all of a sudden, like, it rained and it stormed and there was maybe a tornado. Like, all these things happened. You know, if it rained, that's actually a good thing. But, like, if, like, other things happen, you know, there was a drought, like, all these things happened.
Speaker 3:Like, I would be heartbroken, and I'd be like, oh my gosh. What do I do? But if I steward the land, well, I come back to the land and I, and I lean in for wisdom and I'm like, okay, what do I do now? I'm I'm in the middle of a drought. What does it look like to, you know, replant my seeds, retill my soil.
Speaker 3:I've learned that the Lord in the Bible, whenever God gave someone something to steward, he rewarded their stewardship with more stewardship. And in my mind, I'm like, if we, if I can reward connection, if I can steward the connection initially, the connection is okay. I need to figure out how to deal with the tension in my heart concerning race relations or whatever, fill in the blank. If I steward the connection we're having over that table, I will be entrusted with more. So, like the lord literally, the the reward of of stewardship is more stewardship.
Speaker 3:And so if I steward humility well, if I steward connection well, what do I think is a fruit of that? It it's certainly not gonna be what it's been. I'm not gonna be in the we're not gonna be in the red anymore. I'm I'm gonna have a hard time looking at someone different from me without seeing Jesus again now. And that's what we want.
Speaker 3:You know?
Speaker 2:I was a former teacher, and one thing that I had to fight with was whenever I got a new student and they walked into my classroom, I had to pick where I was going to have them sit. Right? And just as a teacher, you know, the kids who cause trouble sit in the front, the kids who are good sit in the back. Yeah. But as I was developing my walk with the lord and as I was becoming more aware of man, like there are some issues here that I had no idea about specifically race.
Speaker 2:I began to catch myself that if a kid walked into my classroom and they were a certain race and they looked a certain way. If a kid was dressed nice and he had his hair done and he was wearing brand new clothes. I was like, oh man, I ain't gotta worry about this kid. He can say whatever he wants. But if a kid comes in and he's got his pants pulled down, he just looks like a quote unquote bad kid.
Speaker 2:I caught my heart being like, oh, Zach, you've got to sit him in the front because he's probably gonna act like this. And I say all that to say one just I'm confessing that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And just saying that like like those are real issues that I had to deal with. Mhmm. And if I if I would have pushed those down deep and not dealt with them, then I think that the lord would have stunted my 100%. My leadership until I dealt with it.
Speaker 3:100%.
Speaker 2:But that's something that I had to face, man, Zach. Like, currently, what you're doing is you're judging a kid based on his skin, based on what he's wearing, based on his haircut, based on his shoes. And if I'm doing that, then I'm just like, man, how how many mentors out there? How many people out there are doing the same thing?
Speaker 3:Totally. I mean, from it's it's for 1 on one end, it's the it's a I'm gonna put rejection. Like, there's gonna be a level of rejection to that student or that child or that person that God's brought me to mentor. Or I'm gonna try and, like, manufacture this recipe for how I'm gonna change this child's life because of how they look and what they look like. When in all actuality, the Lord's just like, I I just want you to I brought them to you because there's gold in them.
Speaker 3:And, like, for me, like, the brand that I do is Goldheart, and the my heart behind Goldheart is to continually put before people's faces that there's gold inside of you. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, like hide it. It is a glory of kings to find it. And I and he called us a royal priesthood. And so in my heart, I'm like, if I wanna be royal, the way of royalty is to discover the things God has hidden.
Speaker 3:There are treasures. And, like, if I approach every person or automatically, no matter who you are. When I started to get angry about the racial stuff, it was in a season where I had a job in Highland Park. My job was at a in Highland Park. And I'm not gonna say where, because I wanna, you know, throw anybody on the bus, but it was there and it was one of the most difficult positions I've had working.
Speaker 3:That was hard because, Highland Park in Dallas is a very rich neighborhood. Like, I don't know how else to say it. It's like a and the majority of the people who you see there are white people. And for me as a black girl working a service job in a neighborhood that's rich and white, Somebody could have the most pure of intentions asking me to get their napkin. In the back of my mind, all I'm thinking is this is not why Rosa Parks stayed seated on the bus.
Speaker 3:You know? Like, all I could think is, like, this was not Martin's dream. You know? And so I would leave work, and people would drive past me in nice cars, and I would not have something I would have nothing good in my heart towards them. Whether it's like their car went in front of me when I was trying to leave, I'd be like, you're so entitled.
Speaker 3:And I knew the ugliness, the darkness is building in me. Someone could say you have a right to feel that way. Totally. But, actually, according to the Bible, he said, to those who believe he's given the right to become sons and daughters of Christ, any right I have is not attached to my patriotism or or my nationalism. It's attached to the king.
Speaker 3:And so, like, I'm just realizing, like, it's important. We all have this darkness in us. Anywhere that is hatred is dark. Anywhere there's no love is dark, and God is not seated there. So I need him seated there.
Speaker 3:And so in this space, even with what you talked about, it, it was the Lord saying to me, to you, Hey, I want to see in that space. I have compassion on those, on those. I, like, I have compassion in me on every person. And right now, society has put you above and giving you the opportunity. And if that's the case, I need you to go low and wash some feet.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean? I need you to get out of the place of sitting on the throne and and do what I did and go low. Put your dirt dust in the dirt I mean, your feet in the dirt and and begin to bring the mountains low and the valleys high and make things equal.
Speaker 2:You said something earlier that just caught me. You said the savior mentality versus co laboring with the savior.
Speaker 3:100%.
Speaker 2:Can you just kinda explain more about what is the savior mentality and maybe what are some stories that you've seen about people whose hearts were good and they wanted to serve, but, but it might not have turned out well. And then just you've talked about this some, but what does it look like to co labor with the savior in mentoring, in building relationships?
Speaker 3:Yeah. When I think of stories, I over the past over the, you know, couple years when some celebrities started to adopt kids from overseas, it became in a weird way and there's no condemnation and no shame. But in a weird way, it became trendy for people to adopt for for for, you know, white people to adopt black kids, specifically from overseas. Specifically East Africa or, like, Kenya, Ethiopia. You know?
Speaker 3:And it just it got really trendy. And as as it started to kinda build, I would see these news articles, and they would say that, sadly, some of these kids, the the in between of them going from their country to their their new American home, the in between of that would get weird because some of the people who were the middlemen were actually taking kids from their homes and trafficking them into being adopted in America. Some of the parents on one side had no idea, you know, in America. They're they're thinking they're adopting a child in love from a country that is having a ton of issues. But what's really happening is the mentality of from from years ago when when when England was colonizing Africa, the way that they would even present the gospel was as as though they were saving them.
Speaker 3:And they were like, oh, I'm a missionary, and I'm saving. And for me, I have no, like, qualms about being a missionary. I love it. My sister is 1. But I think that there's a mentality and and it's played out.
Speaker 3:And again, it's messy because sometimes God literally says, I want you to go to Africa. You know? And it's like, go do what God said. But the habit I think is I'm going into this space where there's a race that has been seen as lower than mine, and I'm going to save them. I'm going to change the way they live so that it matches mine.
Speaker 3:And so how that fleshed out was a colonized, you know, I think that's foundational in as a savior mentality is the colonization of a culture because you think you're saving them from their culture, but to your culture, if that makes any sense. You're not saving them to to Jesus. You're saving them to your culture. So whether that's, like, stepping into a space and being like, what what do I think about my life that's right? I speak English.
Speaker 3:I wear these clothes. I do my hair like this. Okay. And so what that does is it just creates a a terrible juxtaposition between your pure desire to do God's work and the impure part of you that wants to go in and change it so that you're satisfied with what you see. And so and that that's foundational in a a savior savior mentality.
Speaker 3:I can have a savior mentality. I don't live in the projects. I live in West Dallas in a nice apartment. You know? But where I work is low is, low income, high poverty area.
Speaker 3:I can step into that space and be like, don't dance like that. Don't talk like that. Don't do this. Don't do that. And think that I'm trying to save them, them knowing Jesus looks like them doing it like I do.
Speaker 3:Not at all. Something I was in a meeting yesterday, and we're talking about method versus message, and you hold the message tightly. And for us, the message is Jesus. The method, we hold it loosely. At the end of the day, this is not about me coming in and taking credit for what I want God to do.
Speaker 3:I want God. I want his spirit to do it, you know. As far as co laboring with the Lord, it's starting with God. The difference between the two of them is a savior mentality starts with me. I have decide I've put myself in the seat of a savior.
Speaker 3:The mentality of a co laborer with God is I'm sitting next to him. I'm seated in heavenly places next to him. I have been bestowed. I've been given the role of a co laborer. And because I don't know what it means to co labor, I'm still learning what that means.
Speaker 3:I know that he saved me. He's brought me into himself. He's made me we are 1. And now I'm like, okay, lord. What is your the burden you gave me this burden?
Speaker 3:I did not conjure this up. If it was up to me, maybe I would be, I would have went for auditions to act in Hollywood or something, you know, or I'd be trying to get my designs into Nike. I don't know. You know, I gotta be doing something completely different right now, but the burden, the it's a gift that you gave me. So now I'm, I'm not gonna let go of that.
Speaker 3:I'm not gonna be like, okay. Thanks God. Like the prodigal son, it'd be like, time for me to go. Thanks for the burden. Be back when it's run out.
Speaker 3:You know? No. I'm sitting with my father. He gave it to me, so I'm a sit with him longer so I can know what to do with it. Moses said, I don't wanna go if you're not gonna go with me.
Speaker 3:Like, what's the point? I'm not trying to go like, I will sit right here. If you're fired by night and cloud by day is staying right here, then I'm staying right here on this mountain here. And God was the one who was asking him to go. And Moses said, no.
Speaker 3:Mm-mm. I'm with you. And I think that's what we have to do. This is serious work that we do. All the things.
Speaker 3:When we step into these spaces, I am not stepping into a project. I'm stepping into lives, like hearts, human people. Like like, I can think back to people who stepped into my life and changed the trajectory for me. I could think back to an English teacher who was hard, but she was she loved literature, and she held all of it. Beautiful woman.
Speaker 3:She had like pure white hair, powerful black woman who I fell in love with Maya Angelo because of her fell in love with, you know, Toni Morrison because of her, like these writers who are part of my history because she called it out of me. That's what we're doing when we step into the lives of the people that we're mentoring. We are, and we're joining a story. I'm not making I, when I step into your life, I'm not like, it's kind of like a family is having dinner and you know, someone's like, knock, knock, knock, you know, and then who is it? It's me.
Speaker 3:And it's like, okay, come in. All right. So now I know you guys are eating dinner, but we got something to do That it ends like, first of all, I don't know who you are. You know? Like, you don't get to just knock on the door of these people's lives and not introduce yourself and and take notice of the fact that, uh-oh, wait.
Speaker 3:God, you were already doing something in their life. Their life is a story. There's a trajectory here. I'm part of that trajectory. Big part, small part, I don't know, but I'm a part of it.
Speaker 3:And so I think co laboring with God is recognizing, Lord, you're the most important person in this story. Not me. I might be here. I might be important, but I'm not the most important. We pray this doesn't happen.
Speaker 3:But if I leave this life, I don't want them to leave their connection with you because it was about me. I want them to be so tethered to God that at some point, me and this person mature into friendship. Because now we're like, there's a give and take because they're being so fed by God. My simple job, that that for me is a difference between being a savior mentality. The Lord has called us like his bride.
Speaker 3:You know? So at some level, there's like a he's brought us up to where he's at. But as far as my heart is concerned, I am not a savior. You know what I mean? Like, I will never be equal, like, that.
Speaker 3:I know if I'm not equal, I have a lot, a long way to go, you know, to be perfect as he is perfect and holy as he's holy, but a savior mentality steps into the picture and ignores that before they got there, God was already doing something. And they're more so down to be like, doesn't matter what's been happening in your life. What's the most important is that I'm here and I have something to bring to the table. It's like, no. Like, that's not at all, the way to to do God's work in people's lives.
Speaker 2:It's almost like the Lord is authoring a story.
Speaker 3:He is authoring a story.
Speaker 2:And sometimes unintentionally as mentors. And keep in mind that this isn't out of a like, this is out of a pure heart.
Speaker 3:It's out of a pure heart.
Speaker 2:But sometimes we can be like, hey, God. I'm a take over this chapter Mhmm. And you could just chill, but I'm gonna be the author now. Yeah. And now this story is gonna, you know, da da da da.
Speaker 2:And so Yeah. That is something that I think all mentors really have to keep at the forefront because it is easy to make it about us whenever he has called us to make it about him and the kid whose life we're pouring into. Eniola, I'm just so thankful for you. Thank you. Thank you for sharing with us.
Speaker 2:If people would like to learn more about you, can you just tell us a couple spots that they can find you?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Atgoldheart. So atg.oldheart. On Instagram at aniola.anna. So that's eniola.anna.
Speaker 3:On both of those, I have links to websites. So on one, I have, like, a medium account, which medium is a a blog. And so I have a link to my medium blogging page, and then I have goldheart.shop, which is where I have, like, merch. I do poetry, so poetry prints are on there. There's, like, actual physical merch, like, you could get sweatshirts, things like that.
Speaker 3:Some of them have poetry on it. Yeah. Yeah. Those are, like, some of the coolest ways to get in touch.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. And if, you guys like to listen to worship music, check out upper room on Spotify or iTunes or anything like that. Yep. You can hear her sing on the on the last CD. Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'm on design. I'm on design and I'm on some of the Moments albums as well. So yep.
Speaker 2:If you've tuned in today and you didn't pay attention to one thing that we said, remember this, you can mentor.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:God bless.