1) Introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the wife of one wonderful man, mother to three gorgeous children. I did not grow up in the church, but approximately 7 months before I married, the Lord saved me! Fast forward to now– I’ve been married for 22 years, I have a BS in Nursing and a MS in Education, but walked away from the outside workforce to raise our children. I’m now a full-time home keeping/homeschool educating momma.

I lead two dance ministries at our church. This to me has the similar challenges as head coverings. In dance, you have to work hard to minister through movement of your body, without letting your body become the focus of what people see. With head covering, you do not want the focus to be on the covering- style/fashion.

I enjoy sewing, gardening and expanding my cooking skills. I am a reformed, big mouthed black female working hard to serve the Lord. 🙂

2) Where do you attend church? Tell us a little bit about it.

Calvary Revival Church Chesapeake. It is a predominantly black church, with an unusual high number of homeschoolers. We do not have age segregated services. We are a debt free church. Our church strives to follow God’s Word in every area. We have an orphanage in Cambodia, fight for the unborn (the least of these), local missions, and family discipleship.

3) What led you to start covering?

Our Pastor (my husband) teaches through the scripture. He was preaching through 1 Corinthians and chapter 11 was coming up. We talked a little together about the passage and the history. Even though I was not brought up in the church, I knew women used to keep their heads covered. I didn’t think much about why or the reason it seemed to stop. I was also aware that men should not wear hats inside buildings. Again, I didn’t know the reason, I just knew that’s how it was. But after looking at the scripture and what covering symbolized, I knew immediately that feminism had to be involved in this change. It’s a visible reminder that there is a God, that there is an order, and we are not FIRST! “Oh no, this cannot continue”, I thought. I was not going to allow a bunch of women who did not want to follow God influence me like that anymore! Just that point alone, I knew I had to cover. After I got over my pride of being duped by feminism, I focused on the Lord again and covered because He wants me to cover.

4) What was that first Sunday like when you showed up in a covering?

May 4, 2014 was the first Sunday I covered. It was the Sunday of the teaching on head coverings. I didn’t see a need to ‘wait,’ I had now studied the scripture for myself and knew it was what I was supposed to do. I felt ‘softer’ more feminine, which I did not expect. The funny thing is that I was not early to church that morning, I arrived just in time (God’s providence–unintentional on my part). It didn’t allow for any prior conversations to the message. I was laughing about that on the way to church, because I’m usually a little earlier. After the message, it was pretty clear that I was covered and not just wearing a scarf.

5) When we posted the sermon on our site, it went viral. There were over 5000 views in the first few days from our site and it got re-shared hundreds of times. People really enjoyed and appreciated the message. Can you give us any behind-the-scenes info on maybe the day before, day of or right after the sermon? It seemed to get really quiet at times during the sermon. What was it like being in the building after it was preached?

Well he took more time to prepare this message. He prepared for months. He was nervous that the message would bring discord. After the message, he went home, reviewed his notes and braced himself for whatever was to come. I believe the silence came from people listening. It was the first time many of us had received this teaching. After the message was preached, there was a kind of ‘wow’ feeling. One sister said, “I need to go home and study.” One brother looking quite shocked himself said, “We didn’t know.”

6) What counsel can you give to women that do not cover out of fear?

First let’s be practical, it’s a piece of cloth! You cannot let people who are afraid of fabric frighten you. It’s no different than sisters who decide not to have chemically treated hair, or women who decide not to wear pants. Women who are bothered by you covering are only wrestling with the Holy Spirit, who is working on their conscience for not covering. Do not be fearful of disobedient people.

7) Recently on our site we were writing about Paul’s arguments from our hair lengths (1 Cor 11:13-15). One of the objections to Paul’s teaching about “what nature teaches” is that some women cannot grow long hair and African hair textures are often cited as the proof. Is there anything you’d like to say about black women and hair length?

In general even black women’s hair is longer than men’s. ‎I would argue that African hair texture can grow long. I know sisters who do not chemically straighten their hair and it is quite long. It does not look long because it is curly. Having said that, scripture is scripture and individual experiences do not trump that.

8) What kind of covering(s) do you use? Where did you get them?

I have scarves and fabric in my home already, so I just go to my closet.

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