Reflections...
20 Years and Beyond
With Pastor Tommy and First Lady Portia Stewart of Reach Community Church Pastor Tommy and First Lady Portia Stewart worked shoulder to shoulder with Pastor Lovelace to launch Center of Praise (COP). Today Pastor Tommy is senior minister at Reach Community Church in Lake Forest, California, where he and his wife Portia minister to a growing Orange County church community.
equipment, helped count the money… Portia: Yeah, we lived out of town at the time, so we would commute every Sunday. Tommy was on the music side and I just did whatever needed to be done, from counting the money to being the hostess and greeter. Whatever needed to be done for the ministry, we did it. CL: Recall your first worship service at COP — where was it? What stood out about the day? Pastor Tommy: We were excited! We were in a hotel, and we had a lot of work to do before, because Pastor is very meticulous about the details, so the first service was a lot of work. Portia: Deborah Broadway and I were the hostesses, so our focus was, what are we going to do? What are we going to wear? Will there be enough chairs? How many people were really going to show up? We just were not sure how things were going to be. Pastor Tommy: To me, the most significant thing about the day was that we started. That journey started, we were over the hump. We had our first offering, our first altar call, our first praise and worship service, our first sermon. That was a big deal.
Top picture; Brian & Deborah Broadway, Portia, Tommy, Pastor Lovelace Middle picture: Pastor Lovelace, Brian & Deborah Broadway and Portia and Tommy Bottom picture: Pastor Lovece
CL: How did you come to find yourselves at COP? What events led up to that? Pastor Tommy: Well, we went with Broadways to support Pastor Lovelace when he preached in Yuba City. After church, we all went out to eat and Pastor let us know he had decided to start a church. So we decided to do what we could to help him, and we were involved from the early planning stages. I played the drums, moved the
CL: What is your fondest or funniest memory? Portia: I’ll start with the fondest: I think the thing that really stood out to me was that we were a really small ministry and Pastor had this idea to put on this praise and worship conference. We had it in this small little building in Stockton, and he was bringing in this “big name” person and we were really just a very, very small church trying to do God’s will. It was really exciting and a really big deal that a church our size could pull this off. Pastor Tommy: My fondest would be the same. I mean that was Carlton Pearson, who was a big name. He had been doing the Azusa Conferences and now had come to the West Coast. No one would have expected him to come to Sacramento, let alone Stockton. That was really how our church growth started, because people were
expecting a very large church, and when they came to us the following week, they saw that we were just a “mom and pop” shop. The funniest memories would be some of our early pictures of the resurrection services at a hotel in downtown Sacramento. We had the flat top haircuts! CL: Where do you see COP in the next 20 years? Pastor Tommy: For us to be up there on staff! That’s number one! Number two --- I see COP as the place where people come to be healed. At the end of the day, filling an auditorium as a mega ministry does well, but does the ministry heal the peoples’ lives Monday through Saturday? The worship experience is the rehab center, the homeless shelter, those types of things make the worship experience. The mission doesn’t change — we train, reproduce and send out. Having been sent out, I’m a firm believer that what we’re doing at Reach Community Church is an extension of. I also believe that COP is too close to the Capitol not to have a significant impact on how the state is governed and how the needs of the people are met. The last thing I would want the CL readers to know is that the legacy of great leadership is for a lifetime. Continue to lay the foundation for the next 20 years, that’s thinking of terms of your grandkids and what the ministry looks like. With that type of thinking, you’re less likely to be switching ministries; you’re less likely to let the short term get in the way when you start thinking of the next generation. It would be nice for people just to think about that. Portia: Oh and please tell everyone we miss them! Page 3
A POWERFUL WOMAN ON THE MOVE By Larishia Johnson
Dianna Lovelace is the wife of Pastor Parnell M. Lovelace Jr., and the First Lady of the Center of Praise Ministries in Sacramento CA, where she’s affectionately known as “Lady Di”. She lovingly cares for her husband, her son, Mycole Tyrell, as well as her niece, Ahjenea. She’s also the leader of the Woman II Woman Enrichment Network headquartered out of Center of Praise. But there’s more than meets the eye with this dynamic woman of God. Centered Living sat down with Lady Di and had a revealing conversation about the person, life and ministry of Dianna Lovelace. CL: Many of know you as the wife of Pastor Lovelace and the First Lady of Center of Praise, but tell us a little bit about who Dianna Lovelace is – what makes you uniquely you?
Lady Di: I think what makes me uniquely me is the fact that I love people and it’s loving people that allows me to fulfill the mission that God has called me to do. But I also like to have fun; I like to Page 8
laugh, and I love to dance. I’m just me. I don’t put on any fa32.lse pretenses – what you see is what you get. That’s Dianna Lovelace. CL: How do you balance being a wife and mother while still pursuing your goals?
Lady Di: (laughing) It’s not easy, but I have good people around me. People that I can count on, that don’t really want anything from me, but truly desire to help me. I had to get use to that; I had to relax and allow people to bless me. I’m understanding that it’s blessing them back to allow them to do what they’re called to do. I grew into that. CL: In your own words, tell us what it means to be a powerful woman on the move.
Lady Di: I think a powerful woman
on the move is a “ woman who might You have to get a little “off” have powerful at times due to and positive multitasking, but people around you in order to she knows where’s do powerful and going. I know positive things with where I’m going your life. and where I want ” to go. I know what it is that I want to do as a woman; as Dianna. That’s to motivate and encourage others to know that they can do whatever it is that is put before them. I desire to be a motivator, so I put myself around other motivators to learn the techniques then I just allow God to perfect it into what He really wants it to be. A powerful woman on the move understands destiny. In order to get to your destiny, you have to have what I call, your “Fav Five”, and powerful
CL: What do you think is the one women on the move need that. These five have to be powerful people and they thing men must know about women? have to be positive. You have to have Lady Di: (laughing) That we’re not powerful and positive people perfect! But we desire to be cherished, “I think around you in order to do men should really and commended for all the things powerful and positive that we do. I think men should resit back and look at things with your life; what we do in a day, ally sit back and look at what we especially if there are Powerful and positive do in a day, especially if care of conversations move you kids, and just say thank children is involved, and just say you a little more.” where you need to go. “thank you” a little more. Cherish, CL: In your observation, is there a secret to empowering women? If so, what is it?
Lady Di: I don’t think there’s a secret,
but I think there has to be a belief that a woman has to have about herself. She has to believe that she is God’s child first. She has to believe that she’s loved – if by no one else, by God. That belief is center. CL: If you were allowed to only choose one thing that women know about men, what would that be?
Lady Di: That they’re not perfect. There is not one perfect man out there, but Jesus Christ (laughing). If you’re looking for the perfect man, you won’t find him. But if you look to the Cross, you’ll find Him.
do.
appreciate and recognize all that we
CL: Tell us about what you’re doing now and how we can stay connect and support you.
Lady Di: I’m in the process of promot-
ing myself as a professional motivational speaker, and you can contact me at WiseLady1@centerofpraise.net. While I’m focused on what it is that God wants me to do, I ask for your prayers and encouragement, because the attacks do come – but I remain focused. I’m just going to do it (laughing). I’ve borrowed the Nike slogan, “Just Do It”. I’ve even purchased shirts that say, “Just Do It”. And that’s what I’m doing. I’m stepping into my calling and doing it with the confidence of the Lord, knowing that God created me for this time and this season to do what I do. The old me, as
you know was very quiet, but all that has changed, I’ve grown. CL: What is it that keeps you centered?
Lady Di: Good friends and mentors!
They check on me daily; feel me in the spirit when things are off. They’ll call and say, “Hey, what’s going on?” Family keeps me going and centered. And of course, my prayer time. I talk to the Lord in “breath prayers” all day – it’s a constant connection with Him. I need that connection with Him for everything to fall into place. CL: Lady Di, thank you so much for your time!
Lady Di: I appreciate you; you’re so very welcomed.
Right after our interview, in true mentorship, motivational style, Lady Di gave me a few pointers on maintaining eye contact with my interview subjects then began to encourage me and the magazine in our endeavors. I couldn’t help but smile and think, “What a true Lady”.
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