My WIML Journey by Racheal Mickel
The sanctuary is warmly lit, the atmosphere is cozy with blankets and soft worship playing around me and I feel a dozen friends’ hands outstretched or laid on my shoulders. The presence of God is evident and multiple people are actively listening to the Holy Spirit on my behalf, giving words of knowledge or encouragement. I feel the weight of self-inflicted expectation and incomplete freedom begin to break, the deeply rooted heart beliefs that I was on the “B” team - picked last, instead of chosen by the Father - finally sliding off of me. One of the leaders spoke Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery”, over me while another gave an admonishment that only the Spirit could have told her.
I still carry their words in my heart more than a year after that afternoon, and each one feels like a little gift from God given at exactly the time my heart most needed it.
This experience alone was well-worth the investment of intentional time and finances in the Immersion Leadership women’s cohort, but there were plenty of other experiences that were equally as invaluable, including engaging with some of my heroes in the faith, being stretched to share my history with Jesus, and developing a calling statement even when it felt jumbled at times. My understanding of my identity as a woman in ministry leadership was significantly different than when I started the cohort. Now, I see the Eden-like beauty of God’s plan for my identity and life and it continues to unfold each day.
Nearly 18 months after my Immersion Leadership cohort ended, the wisdom and encouragement I received as part of this experience feels just as relevant (if not more) than when I entered the cohort.
My journey as a woman in ministry leadership started about a decade ago when I accepted my first church staff role in Washington State. The Lord was so gracious to me in setting me in a place where I could safely grow and fail, but over the following years after leaving that church, when helping with a church plant and then moving to Arizona with my husband for an assistant pastor role, I found myself doing ministry as an activity, not a calling. I knew I was called, but I could not have articulated how or why. I was trapped in hidden self-deprecation and an unwitting agreement with a halfway fulfilled calling. Like Galatians 5:7-8 reads, I had allowed the enemy to “cut in on [me] to keep from obeying the truth. That kind of persuasion does not come from the One who calls you.” Spending intentional time in a safe community of other women listening to the One who called and continues to call me changed me forever.
It was through a chance (okay, I know it was the Holy Spirit) encounter that I decided to apply for the 2024 cohort even though I was located geographically far from most of the other women. Yet through Zoom calls, group chats and the culminating summit, I grew closer and more networked with women who shared very similar experiences and callings.
The beautiful thing was that each of the women I encountered shared hundreds of similarities to me. We were normal but redeemed women, consistent in serving but not always sure why, and we had the incredible opportunity to watch each other be reminded of our calling and the One who called us in the first place.
There is no doubt in my mind that God allowed me to do Immersion at exactly the right time. Less than a year after the summit, my husband and I became the lead pastors at our church in Arizona. Again, I knew I was called, but having the tools and reminders given so freely during Immersion is a treasure that I can hardly explain. So, if you feel called but need clarity; if you know that God is drawing you into a new season, I cannot encourage you enough to engage wholeheartedly with the women in your cohort. They will teach you, challenge you and grow alongside you as you explore who the Father has called you to be.
Racheal Mickel is a 2024 graduate of WIML. She and her husband pastor Rivers Church in north Phoenix, AZ.