August 9, 2026 • 38 mins
Rev. Sherri James is my guest. She is a mother, spiritual teacher, author and minister with a deep commitment to live practice. For the past nine years, she has been the Senior Minister of Understanding Principles for Better Living in Inglewood, California (“Up Church”). Her work is grounded in daily practices that quietly transform a life over time. She teaches spiritual principles the way they are actually lived – through disruption, repetition, patience and trust. She is also a wealth coach, a financial professional and founder of the Sherri James Company. Sherri is an avid student of ancient wisdom. She helps bring people closer to their lifelong goals.
Sherri is the daughter of a radical Mom (for the time) who is a thinker and a seeker. She insisted on Sherri being a thinker. Her mother - a single mother of three, is an active member of Understanding Principles now, but when Sherri was 13, her mother stopped going to church and told Sherri that what those people were telling her was not the Truth but was rhetoric. This influenced Sherri. Her mother empowered her to choose spirituality but reject the parts that didn't work. She exposed Sherri to Tony Robbins and Les Brown. She knew about Rev. Johnnie Coleman and knew that Della Reese was ordained by Johnnie Coleman.
Sherri felt the message of Della Reese was the message for the 21st Century. You could learn a spirituality that was embracing a faith and which embraced other traditions. Sherri attended the Johnnie Coleman Institute. This was deeply appealing to Sherri.
In the Summer of 1998, Sherri attended the Panorama of Truth with the intention of seeing Johnnie Coleman, but Mary Tumpkin was the guest speaker that day. And Sherri's life has never been the same. Sherri was a Rev. Mary "groupie". Sherri got grounded in L.A. and was routed there. Rev. Della told Sherri that she had prayed about an Assistant Minister, and God told her it was Sherri.
Sherri wrote a children's book based on the Bible story of Elijah and the widow with the oil. Reading that story led her to write on it every day. She came to understand the agency of prayer. Sherri wrote a book with Mark Allen in 2009 called "The Money Poems". The book gives the reader the opportunity to rewrite your money story.
Sherri's prayer journals changed her life. In October 2010, she took a job. As an entrepreneur, her identity was crushed by taking a job she hated. She was failing in a sales job at the time when Sherri became Assistant Minister at UP Church. She used the power of affirmations to help her improve her sales and build spiritual momentum. She got promoted several times and ended up with an expense account, and an office. This changed her life.
A teenage niece had a baby and needed help. Sherri became his mother when he was 14 months old. Her gestation period was one week. Rev. Della threw a party and Sherri came in late to find out that Della had turned over the church to her. Rev. Sherri had no village to help her raise him. He is now 12 1/2 years old. She has taken him with her while she does her ministry. He is gifted and becoming a young man of whom Rev. Sherri is proud.
Rev. Sherri came to "Celebrating Our Soul" ("COS") in 2022 because her peers were going. It was a rich, warm and inviting experience. She was a Master Class presenter in 2024. In 2026, Rev. Sherri said yes to coming on the Planning Team in 2026. She found the conference valuable for her to be in community with other New Thought organizations. It deepened her spiritual experience in New Thought.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:18):
You're listening to mystic magic, explore your
spirit to understand our lives.
I'm so listening for your host.
I'm an ordained minister whoembraces all things.
I've pastored a few spiritualcommunities, written a few
books, performed in variousmedia.
I write, produce, and perform.
(00:40):
I am a visioning facilitator, adiversity, equity, and inclusion
facilitator.
And with Mystic Magic, weexplore amazing guests to find
out what the divine revealsthrough us and how we may
benefit from this magnificence.
Stay tuned.
This is Mystic Magic, exploringour spirit to understand our
(01:02):
lives.
Hey, hey, Mystic Magic Podcastfans.
We are in for such a treat todaybecause today my guest is
Reverend Sherry James.
She's a proud mother, aspiritual teacher, author, and
minister with a deep commitmentto live practice.
(01:26):
For the past nine years, she'sbeen the senior minister of
understanding principles forBetter Living Church, Up Church,
in Englewood, California.
Her work is grounded in dailypractices that quietly transform
a life over time.
She teaches spiritual principlesthe way they're actually lived,
through disruption, repetition,patience, and trust.
(01:49):
And she is also a wealth coach,financial professional, and
founder of the Sherry JamesCompany.
Sherry is an avid student ofancient wisdom.
She draws on her decades ofexperience as an author,
spiritual leader, entrepreneur,financial professional,
minister, and mom to help bringpeople closer to their lifelong
(02:13):
goals.
So welcome to Mystic Magic,Reverend Sherry.
SPEAKER_01 (02:17):
Thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_00 (02:20):
Yeah, so I know stuff about you, and then I'm
discovering stuff about you.
So let's get into it.
Sure.
How did you become an avidstudent of ancient wisdom?
SPEAKER_01 (02:33):
Sure.
I was very fortunate to be thedaughter of a very uh radical
and radical for the time periodthat she was in, radical mom,
and she was a thinker, and sheinsisted on me being a thinker.
Um, she never made it to NewThought.
Now she's an active part ofunderstanding principles now,
(02:54):
but she never made it all theway to New Thought or even knew
that term.
But she was a seeker.
And when we were in Texas, youknow, growing up in Houston, all
you did on Sundays is you wentto church.
And when I was 13, my mom didsomething radical.
She decided not to go to churchanymore.
(03:16):
And she just, you know, said,you know, what those people are
telling you down there is justnot true.
And I, you know, that was justto give you a sense of the of
the how serious that is, thatyou know, there was nothing open
on Sundays except churches.
Um, they had what were calledblue laws, so even grocery
(03:37):
stores were not open, certainthings couldn't be sold on
Sunday.
Um, the the restaurants openedin the afternoon after church
let out.
So it was very much a culture ofnot going to church.
So there was no such thing asstaying home, not in the world
that I lived in.
And here was this woman, um,single mother of three, who was
like, Yeah, I'm not going there.
(03:59):
And that really influenced me.
Um, there was a part of me thatfelt like church matter or
something mattered, somethingabout it mattered.
I couldn't put my finger on it.
But the beauty is that becauseshe was so adamant, she was
like, I can read, I knowrhetoric.
What they're telling you thetext says, that's not what it
says.
And they're saying that'ssomething about women because
(04:19):
they just want women to besecond-class citizens.
And so it it empowered me tochoose spirituality but reject
the parts that didn't work.
Okay, good.
And um, and then she exposed me.
She exposed me to Tony Robbins,she exposed me to Les Brown.
Uh, somehow she knew that sheknew who uh Dr.
Johnny Coleman was.
(04:41):
And when I started attendingDelaware Church, somehow she
knew that um Dela Reese had beenordained by Johnny Coleman.
So, you know, she did a big partof getting me to where I am.
SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
Well, uh I'm presuming since you are the
senior minister of Up Church,that you also had a relationship
with Dela Reese.
SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
Yeah, that was an interesting relationship because
I I always say there were therewere two types of people that
were at the church.
There were the people who werethe Dela Watchers, you know,
they wanted to come see what theangel was doing.
Um but I was there for theteaching.
This this message I felt was thethe message for the 21st
(05:28):
century, that you could go tochurch and you didn't have to
put your brain in the trunk inorder to sit in the in you know
in the in the congregation.
You could learn a spiritualitythat was embracing of faith.
You could learn a spiritualitythat was embracing of other
traditions.
So while I may not practiceIslam, I don't believe that
(05:48):
people in Islam are going tohell.
Uh, I may not practice, youknow, uh Judaism, but I don't
believe that they're Christkillers or whatever, the the
stuff that I've been taughtgrowing up.
So that was deeply, deeplyappealing to me.
And so I immediately got intothe teacher training program.
I went to study at the JohnnyColeman Institute, and um, and I
(06:10):
just got on this path.
And probably the biggest thingthat made a difference was uh
summer 1998, I went to Panoramaof Truth in Chicago, Illinois.
And um, I was going, and thiswas gonna be a big thing because
I had just pledged aka and theboole was immediately following
Panorama.
And so I'm like, oh, we're aboutto have a whole party in
(06:33):
Chicago.
And wouldn't you know it?
I got to the Sunday serviceready to, you know, just be
thrilled by Reverend Dr.
Johnny Coleman, and someonewhose name I don't know got on
the platform and said, theReverend Dr.
Johnny Coleman will be speakingbefore the Alpha Kappa Alpha,
whatever the gospel brunch is.
And I was like, Are you kiddingme?
(06:55):
Like, and it was like thedistance, like we were at um, we
were off of Michigan Avenue, andit the other where we needed to
get to to get to Johnny wasMcCormick Place.
It wasn't gonna happen, like itwas too late.
And so they said the sermontoday will be delivered by the
Reverend Dr.
Mary Ann Tumpkin.
And I'm like, I don't know,Mary, I don't know, Tumpkin.
I'm irritated, like irritated.
(07:17):
And she got up there and I'mgrumpy, you know, because I I I
paid for Boulet, so I should beat Boole.
Um, I had no idea Johnny wouldbe at Boole.
I would have gone there.
And um, and Reverend Mary openedher mouth, and my life has never
been the same.
Like I was just, I was like, ohum, who is this woman?
(07:40):
And so I said teacher, and Istarted traveling around with
her, and that people would callme a Reverend Mary Groupie, and
I was like, that's fine.
That's not a bad thing, that'snot a bad thing.
Um, and then uh and I even toyedwith with relocating to Miami.
Like I was like, I'm gonna gostudy with this woman.
(08:01):
Um, but as life would have it, II got grounded in LA for
different reasons where Icouldn't travel as much anymore,
and so I was rooted there.
And in that time frame, the twoassistant ministers that we have
moved on for different reasonsto like the next level in their
career.
And Reverend Della approached meand said, you know, I prayed
(08:23):
about an assistant minister andGod told me you.
And I was like, Oh, okay.
I was like, sure.
And when I tell you I had noidea what I was saying yes to,
like, no idea what I was sayingyes to, because I knew what an
assistant was in theentertainment industry, which
was the world that I was workingin and living in.
So I was like, you know, I getyou coffee, I bring you the
(08:46):
trades.
I don't know what the trades arefor ministry, but I bring you
the trades.
Um and I keep you up on thegossip, right?
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
Assistant minister, not assistant to minister.
SPEAKER_01 (08:58):
Right, right, right, right.
I had no idea.
I mean, I like I understood as Idid understand that it was the
assistant minister, but I I hadno concept of like what an
assistant minister does, andthen it didn't help that
Reverend Della Style was shedidn't tell me.
It was like, make it up.
You're the assistant minister,may you make up what to do.
SPEAKER_00 (09:18):
And I'm like, Yeah, I get it.
I I had a similar experience,but I wanted to talk about uh
you as an entrepreneur, yeah.
What aspect of your life uhbrings you into being an
entrepreneur and what kind ofbusiness is that?
SPEAKER_01 (09:37):
Sure.
So when I was 15, I went to acamp uh offered by the Rotary
Club in uh Houston, Texas, whichis where I'm from.
And I I didn't know any of this.
I just I it was a camp.
I applied, I got in, I went, andthe guy said, Um, does anybody
(09:58):
know what an entrepreneur is?
And nobody can really answer.
And he said, Well, can anybodyspell it?
Well, I was coming.
So I spelled it correctly.
And um, and then he goes on, andjust that explanation of you
know, people who solve problems,people who make life better for
other people, um, people whowrite their own ticket, like
(10:18):
that just resonated with me.
And it was like I was hooked.
I was absolutely hooked.
And so it's just it's a part ofwho I am.
Um, I I believe that, you know,part of sitting in this role as
senior minister, um, you know,whereas maybe other senior
ministers kind of, you know, umare chafed by the administrative
(10:43):
part of church or the businesspart of church, um, that's the
part that I dive into.
Like, let's get into thesenumbers, let's figure this out.
Um, those are that's the partthat I really enjoy.
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
And that's part of part of the culture of Upchurch
because I I think uh Della wasvery much about prosperity.
SPEAKER_01 (11:01):
Yes, 100%.
And outside of being a minister,I am a financial professional.
So I am a licensed Californiainsurance agent.
Okay.
Um, so I work with retirees, Ihelp them to um basically take
what they have earned or saved,not earned, what they have saved
(11:22):
and set aside and stretch itacross the rest of their
lifetime.
Um, and I have a particularheart for women in but uh in
particular, one because weoutlive men.
Uh, and often when it's our turnto receive the caregiving,
there's no one around to do thecaregiving, uh, which means that
we often have to, you know, payfor some type of support.
(11:43):
Um and it means and then we'reoften the ones that come out of
the workforce to take care ofparents, um, which then cuts,
uh-huh, which then cuts into theamount of money that we put
aside because oftentimes inthose years where we have come
out of the workforce tocaregive, um, not only are we
not contributing to our um, youknow, 401k or 457B or whatever
(12:07):
your plan is, but now um, youknow, you're you're coming,
you're long lagging behind inskills.
So then when you go back intothe workforce, you're not
necessarily going back in at thesame salary rate.
You may have to take a haircutas far as like your pay.
Um, and all those things arejust a recipe for disaster.
(12:29):
Um, the other thing is, and thisis something I've just learned
just you know, being in the inthis industry, is the tax code
is written for married couples.
And and when I learned it, I waslike, I might need to get an
arranged marriage because and itI'm I'm joking, but I'm also
half serious because whathappens is that in the tax in
(12:51):
the in the tax code, the wayyour money is taxed in when
you're in the what I call theworking class, um, you just have
more money that you can shelteras a married couple rather than
as a single person.
Well, if women are outlivingmen, once they're widowed,
they're back in that single taxfiler bracket.
And so the same money justdoesn't go as far.
(13:13):
So I have a heart for helpingwomen to um make smart
decisions.
Um, you can't beat Uncle Sam,but you can make some smart
decisions to get around UncleSam.
Um, so that's some of the workthat I do.
SPEAKER_00 (13:25):
Wow, I need to have a conversation with you about
that kind of stuff.
Yes, and no, outside of thefinancial professional world,
you've been writing.
You got a book called The HairParadox?
SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
So um I love writing.
I'm a journaler, I journal everyday.
Um, it is the way that I learnedto pray.
So when I first became aspiritual teacher, I just didn't
feel comfortable with my voice.
And so praying out loud justfelt like, you know, like I
(14:02):
didn't like it.
But I I I stumbled across a bookfrom Catherine Ponder called The
Prospering Power of Love.
And in this book, she writesabout writing to the angel in
the other person, in anotherperson that you may be having
trouble with.
And I um I started doing that,and and I was at the time I was
going through my uh a divorcefrom my first husband, and I
(14:25):
started to write to the angel,or I I would use the term
Christ, angel really wasn't myterm.
I would write to the Christ inhim, you know, just really
trying to reach a state ofpeace.
And then it occurred to me, youneed to write to the Christ in
yourself, and that practiceturned into these daily letters
to God.
Um, they became really, reallyjust a phenomenal um healing
(14:49):
force in my life, and and I cameto see them as my daily
conversation with God where Iwould just sit down and write
out the letters.
Now, what's interesting is Inever looked back.
I only just wrote forwards.
I just had these piles and pilesof journals that I never went
back through.
And probably around 2005, 2006,I had the idea that these might
(15:10):
make a good book to helpsomebody because it had been so
instrumental in my life.
And for the first time, Iactually went back and
transcribed the journals.
And what blew my mind more thananything else was how many
things had come to pass.
That experience really taught methat every prayer is answered,
(15:31):
that prayers have what I callgestation periods, meaning that
a gestation period might be twoweeks, um, another one might be
two years, another one might betwo decades, right?
But every prayer has a timeperiod that it goes through
before it's fully a part of yourlived experience.
(15:53):
And the other thing that reallyblew my mind was just that there
were prayers that I had prayedthat I forgot about.
I just I just didn't think aboutthem.
You know, uh in the moment thatit was pressing and it was what
I desired, but then lifehappened, another fire popped
up, something else caught myattention and I moved on.
And I I found that there weremany times that I was actually
(16:13):
walking in the results ofsomething that I had prayed
about that I just didn'tremember.
And so um the prayer paradoxcomes out of that experience.
Um, the stories, all of thestories in the book are true,
like literally true.
Um, but I fictionalized it witha character named Tracy to you
know kind of tease that out andillustrate these principles.
(16:36):
Um and one last thing aboutthat.
The other thing that blew mymind about the prayer journals
and the the um what happenedwith them was the level of
detail.
So there were things that cameto pass exactly as I had written
them.
And that was mind-blowing to mebecause it really taught me one,
(16:58):
it was like I was writing mylife into expression, but it
also taught me that spirit isinto the details, and and it was
it was painstaking detail as ifit was like, okay, this is the
color that you want, this partof the picture, okay, this is
the texture that you want, thispart of it.
Like it was that level of uhexactitude uh that I
(17:20):
experienced.
SPEAKER_00 (17:22):
So when you've been writing, you did you write other
books?
I did, I do, I have tell us tellus just the titles of the other
books.
SPEAKER_01 (17:35):
Yeah, yeah.
So I have a uh a youth book uhcalled Elisha and the Widow with
the Oil.
Um, and and that really grew outof wanting to have uh brown
faces that our children can lookat for these Bible stories.
Um, Elisha with the Widow withthe Oil is actually also my
(17:56):
favorite story uh from theBible.
Um I I got turned on to it byReverend Mary, and when I was in
my kind of dark night of thesoul, uh I read that story every
day, and my challenge to myselfwas to find something new in the
story.
Um and living with that storyfor you know six months at
(18:19):
least, um, writing on it everyday and challenging challenging
myself to find something new,what I really began to see was
the agency that this woman had.
Um, I started to understand thatshe was not the destitute, it
was nothing that says she wasdestitute, she was broke.
But broke doesn't meandestitute, and broke doesn't
mean that you're like, oh law,she's the you know, forgotten
(18:41):
child.
No, she maybe she made some badfinancial decisions.
Well, I've been there, you know.
So it helped me to start to seeher as a whole person.
So I wrote this story, Elishaand the Widow with the oil, um,
mirroring the the story for foryoung children.
SPEAKER_00 (18:56):
And then I also wrote a book, um, the I want to
stop with that one and just Ilove that story too, and I've
done you know, some somematerial off of that in terms of
my sermons and stuff.
So um, I'm glad you're offeringthat to children.
Um and you know, you can talkabout faith, but she's like the
(19:17):
evidence of faith.
SPEAKER_01 (19:19):
She is the evidence.
My my my biggest insight fromher was that she too was a
disciple or a uh a prophetess ofElisha.
Um we think of her as just thewife of the prophet, but she
models for us the uh the way atrue student would, and she
executes to the letter, and noone executes to the letter
(19:42):
unless they've been a student.
Yeah, and and so it's justreally breathing life into her.
I'm I'm interested in that interms of scripture, breathing
life into the women because theyare often flat on the page and
sometimes hidden and they're onthe page, and so I'm interested
in breathing life into thesecharacters that are um you know
(20:02):
that really have been overlookedfor a long time.
SPEAKER_00 (20:05):
Okay, I'm I'm seeing spiritual cinema next.
SPEAKER_01 (20:08):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
You know, that's the thebackground is uh is um the
background is is in movies, andum, and I do well that that's
where that's the what mymaster's degree is in.
SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
So yeah, we'll we'll we'll talk we'll talk offline
about that too, because thatthat's been that's been uh in my
mind as is part of my finale.
So um uh other other titles youwant to share with the audience?
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
Yes, um, I wrote a book uh in 2009 called The Money
Poems.
And this book, again, same kindof format as the prayer paradox,
where there is a story and thenthere's the principle outside of
the story.
Um, and so these were poems.
I was working with an artist, uhMark Allen Felton, uh, his stage
(20:58):
name is Panther, and we weregood friends and we were
students uh of Della and he'sfrom Chicago, students of
Johnny.
And um it really just startedsitting down one day and
riffing, and out comes theseseven poems, and and and one for
each day of the week.
And uh, and then when we afterwe wrote them, we started
(21:21):
talking about okay, how do weutilize them?
And we built this story that waskind of an amalgamation of both
of our lives, um, thatintroduced the the poems and how
they uh could be used throughthis you know fictionalized
family that often pulls from youknow my life and his life as if
it were a mashup.
And um, and the this book hashas had an incredible life.
(21:46):
Um the uh Unity Church of Flintuh actually uses it as an
ongoing book study.
Um and and I I went to um to sitin on it because this book was
written in it was written in2009.
It was republished in 2017.
It was written in 2009.
And so I went and just sittingwith them, and this is like, you
(22:06):
know, almost two decades later,like, wow, like this, like it,
this life that this thing has,that like it keeps finding a new
audience.
Um, but it's a great abundancesystem to help reprogram the
mind to write new tapes uh on umto write new tapes on uh your
(22:27):
money story.
SPEAKER_00 (22:28):
Yeah.
So listen, I know that you havebeen in the new thought movement
for quite a while, and I imaginethat you have like some type of
elevator pitch in terms oftelling people what new thought
is.
SPEAKER_01 (22:44):
Sure.
SPEAKER_00 (22:45):
Um but here's my question.
Um, and this is the centralquestion for mystic magic.
Can you think of a mysticalmoment that changed your life?
SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
It would have to be my prayer journals.
The um so uh I in 2010, so beingan entrepreneur, um it is I can
the job is like a cuss word.
And in 2010.
SPEAKER_00 (23:20):
I'm not gonna work for nobody else.
SPEAKER_01 (23:22):
Just listen.
In 2010, this is this was twoyears after the housing bubble,
the industry had gone through aum a restructuring with like the
the writer strike and and theactor strike.
I mean, it was just a mess.
And so the two things that I wasdoing, real estate investing and
working in entertainment, hadground to a halt.
(23:46):
And I I had tenants, but I had atenant that stopped paying.
And um, which taught me thevalue of multi-unit properties
versus single family homes,because if you don't have the
cash flow, if they stop paying,where are you gonna get the
money from?
So it was just that's what Icall my dark night of the soul.
It was the worst.
(24:06):
This is when I was reading TheWidow with the Oil.
Because I'm like, the creditorsare at the door, and I don't
have two sons, but they comingto take whatever looks like two
sons.
And so I broke down in uhOctober 2020, 2010 and got a
job.
And I my a friend of mine wasworking at a call center, which
raised uh a nonprofit callcenter.
(24:26):
So we raised money for Habitatfor Humanity, uh, Oxfam, Doctors
Without Borders, organizationslike that.
And I took the job and I was solike it was an identity crusher
type thing, right?
Because my identity was I'm thisentrepreneur, but this
entrepreneur had failed.
And so I was working this job,hated it, like hated it, didn't
(24:48):
talk to anybody because I don't,it was like you're not my peer
group, and I and I don't want tobecome friends with y'all in
case I accidentally start becomea worker.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
Like I'm just like I'm not gonna invest my time in
you, right?
SPEAKER_01 (24:59):
Right.
And so um, you know, the thingwith that makes an entrepreneur
is sales, right?
Every you're in sales, um,because you're selling whatever
it is that you're trying to getsomeone to invest in or buy or
whatever.
I'm failing at this job.
This sales job, I'm failing at.
And so before they fire me, theybring me in to just kind of have
(25:20):
a little conversation.
I'm like, okay, all right, seeif they can salvage me.
And so at this point, I am a uhuh Reverend Della has asked me
to be her assistant ministerjust to give a timeline.
So I've got these principles.
I'm like, okay.
And what we diagnose was what'shappening is that when someone
would tell me no to a pitch or arequest for money, it would sink
(25:42):
my energy.
So that by the end of the shift,I'm like emotionally like on the
floor.
And so what we diagnose is thatI gotta get my recovery time
better behind the nose.
And I was like, okay, that makessense.
Well, I know something I can do,I know affirmations, I know the
power of affirmations.
And so I have these yellow legalpads, I would bring one in per
(26:03):
shift, and in and I'm on an autodialer, and in between calls, I
would write out affirmations.
Uh there's an affirmation at theend of Seed Money in Action, one
of my favorite, favorite books.
Um, just it's phenomenal.
I recorded it on my phonebecause again, these are not my
friends.
So on my on my break, my lunchbreak, I would go sit in my car
(26:24):
because I ain't playing withthese people.
They're not gonna be, you're notgonna turn me into a worker.
And I would go sit in my car andlisten to this affirmation just
over and over and over again.
And when the break was over, Iwould go back, sit at the
dialer, and write outaffirmations.
And what happened was that ithelped my energy to just stay
even.
So you could tell me no, but Iwouldn't sink emotionally, I
(26:46):
would stay even.
Um what happened that I didn'trealize was happening was that I
was building spiritual momentum.
And about six months into thisjob, which I had really taken
just to stop the financialhemorrhaging, is that I got
promoted.
And then I got promoted again.
And inside of a year, I'msitting in a corporate office
(27:09):
with an expense plan, uh expenseaccount, corporate profit
sharing, a door with a lock.
And the way that my trajectorywent, I became less and less
reliant on the legal padsbecause um it's just timing,
like the way the calls that Igot assigned, I got bigger and
bigger accounts, you know, so Ijust didn't have time to do the
affirmations the way that I hadbeen doing.
(27:31):
So when I'm moving into myoffice, I find these yellow
legal pads, and I'm like, oh, Iremember this.
This is when I was about to getfired.
And I go back through and I readthem.
And one of them says, uh, youknow, people love to give me
their credit card because we'redoing credit card sales on the
phone.
Um, I'm the number one caller inthis call center.
(27:55):
Like that became true.
Um, I'm promoted through theranks very quickly.
Um, the guy who trained me, whouh, you know, was there, we were
sitting down one day justtalking about, you know,
chopping it up.
And he says to me, Sherry, Ihave never seen anybody move
this fast of this company.
Like, it's my mysticalexperience has been married to
(28:16):
my writing, and I am confidentand convinced that anything I
put on paper is coming to pass.
The only thing I don't havecontrol over is how fast it
happens or when it happens.
SPEAKER_00 (28:30):
Well, great.
I know that um you have hadquite um a rich experience as a
career person in that you knowthat you're a mother now, and I
know that's fairly recent in thescope of things.
How did that change things foryou?
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
Sure, sure.
Uh it turned everything upsidedown, so I became a tell you
another story.
So February 2015, or a littlebit before I go and I go home,
my uncle has made transition andI'm officiating the funeral.
And my niece, who's a teenager,has had a baby and is not doing
(29:12):
very well with this kid.
And so when I see him, I pickhim up, I pray over him, and I
just let it go and I come backto LA.
And then in January, my familysays, Hey, you know, we need you
to help.
And I said, Okay, sure.
And so at this time.
SPEAKER_00 (29:27):
So help meant write a check?
SPEAKER_01 (29:29):
No, help meant, help meant take him.
Okay, okay, so I knew that part,and I was like, sure,
absolutely.
What about if I say, no, I'm notgonna watch this kid sink or or
fail or whatever.
So um, so I know he's coming inFebruary, that was February 6th,
and all of a sudden, so February6th, I had there was a baby,
like he was 14 months, right?
(29:50):
There's a baby who can't talk,like, you know, there was no
like getting ready.
The my gestation period was likea week.
Okay, you know, well, mostpeople get nine months, I got a
week.
And a week later, February 15th,Reverend Dello threw a party,
and she never told me when sheplanned to retire.
She threw a party on February15th.
(30:11):
I was late getting there becauseI was locking up the church.
And when I walk in, everybody'slike, Congratulations,
congratulations.
I'm like, for what?
She passed the tour, the churchto you, and I'm like, really?
She didn't want to tell nobodythat this is what was gonna
happen.
And so inside of a month, leastof all you.
Yes, it was completely upsidedown, and so um, you know, I had
(30:36):
gone to seminary, I had alreadydone that, and I finished my
practicum.
I had not yet been ordained, thethe ordination didn't happen
until 2017.
So I was still in the middle ofmy practicum when all this
happened.
Um, and I was like, okay, and Igot this infamous, and I am when
I tell you, Celeste, at the endof days, and I'm like, I'm
teaching Bible class, and andand and then the the corner
(30:59):
starts smelling, and I'm like,okay, hold on, y'all.
Let me go change this type of mybook, just the poop.
You know, and he went everywherewith me because I didn't I
didn't have a village, I didn'thave I didn't have any of that
because this was, you know, likeall of my friends' kids are were
like middle school or highschool, like they were just
(31:22):
older.
So, and then so then now I'm theold mama going to the school, to
the to the nursing school withthe um, you know, with the uh uh
the little 20-somethings withthe and I'm like, oh, this is
just not a good look.
And so um it was it's been it'sbeen a whole journey to like
build a village.
Like I get why people havechildren together because now
(31:44):
you can there was nobody tosquat with.
So he went to conferences withme.
He was always around grown-ups.
Um, we were at an INTAconference, and I'm up speaking.
I don't have no babysitter withme.
I can't, at that point, Icouldn't afford a babysitter,
couldn't afford to leave him.
And so he's at INTA with me.
And while I'm taught speaking,Celeste, he is running up and
down the aisle.
(32:05):
So I'm like, oh my God.
unknown (32:07):
Oh my God.
SPEAKER_01 (32:10):
Wow.
So, so yeah, so it's been a it'sbeen a journey.
But he's 12 and a half now.
He is gifted, he's talented, heknows who he is, and uh and he
knows the power of his words,and I'm extraordinarily proud of
the young man that he hasbecome.
SPEAKER_00 (32:25):
Well, the first time I saw him was at Celebrating Our
Soul in 2024.
Yes, and that is what I want usto talk about next before we
leave this conversation.
Celebrating our souls um, youknow, started back in 2022 for
the public, started for me in2020, but you know, um, this is
(32:48):
the third one that's biannual,and you've been, and now you're
part of the planning team.
And what made you first want tocome as an audience member and
then want to become part of thevisionary team?
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
So great question.
Um, so the first one, I don'teven know if I really understood
what was happening.
The um, but I had um people whowere in my peer group who were
going, and so that's what reallymade me decide to you know to
go.
Um, and so I I was a participantin 22 and then a masterclass
(33:29):
presenter in 24, and um uhReverend Jerry reached out and
asked if I would become a partof the planning team, and I
thought, I got so much on myplate.
Wow.
Yeah, I gotta, but you know,they said if you want something
done, give it to a busy personbecause they know how to figure
it out.
And so I said yes, and I saidyes to to just um contribute.
(33:53):
I think that uh gatherings likethis are important.
I believe that spiritualcommunity is important, and I I
really I believe that newthought, I just I feel like we
are the spirituality for the21st century.
I believe that the you know,this, you know, where science is
going, uh we're at the placethat we can regrow limbs, uh,
(34:17):
we're at the place wherescientifically there's no reason
that we need to exit the bodyshort of getting hit by a bus.
Um the the ability to clone, theability to travel to other parts
of the galaxy.
Um I feel like that's like it'sthe perfect time to be a part of
(34:38):
a spirituality that doesn'tthink that that's the work of
some evil force or you know, butjust understands that that it's
an expansion in the mind ofspirit.
It's an expansion in the mind ofthe I am.
Um, and so I, you know, I'm I amcommitted to seeing us nurture
that next generation, you know,that comes through and
(35:00):
encouraging them to pick thisup.
SPEAKER_00 (35:03):
Well that sounds like part of your like master
plan, but specifically in termsof celebrating our soul, yeah.
Um and and it's produced bypeople of African descent new
thought group.
So this is um this is somethingthat has only happened in like
this this decade, and it's kindof new, and so what prompted you
(35:29):
to come to the first one?
SPEAKER_01 (35:32):
Uh again, people in my peer group going.
SPEAKER_00 (35:36):
Um, but there was something and then when you
experienced it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:40):
Sure.
So when I experienced it, therewere it was it was such a rich
and warm and invitingexperience.
Um you know, so being in theUFBL, I have a version of that
experience already.
SPEAKER_00 (35:59):
Universal Foundation for Better Living.
SPEAKER_01 (36:01):
Right, exactly.
So whereas um maybe others inother organizations, they may be
in settings that are more mixed.
But in our organization, so I Iwasn't fulfilling that need, and
I think that that's an importantneed, which is we're in we're in
mixed company, um, and I have alived experience that people
that I'm worshiping with can'trelate to.
(36:21):
I don't have that experience.
But I think for me, it wasvaluable to meet other people in
New Thought that were not a partof UFBL, and to be in community
with people from centers ofspiritual living, to be in
community with people fromdivine science or unity or an
independent organization, Ithink that that is um powerful.
(36:45):
I think that it deepens my ownpersonal experience in New
Thought.
Um, I think that it's a centralpart of it and why it's um why
it's important.
SPEAKER_00 (36:56):
Well, I just want you to know that um even though
uh we haven't spent likepersonal time together, um, your
vibration is one that is alwaysfascinating, and that you know,
your your warmth is is palpable,and uh your leadership and
(37:16):
clarity is evident.
And so I appreciate all that youdo for yourself and for the
planet.
SPEAKER_01 (37:24):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I say the same for you.
You're right.
I haven't had a chance toreally, really hang out with
you, but I appreciate everyinteraction that we have had,
and it has been uh wonderful,and I'm I'm grateful to just be
a part of this and to be a partof this experience.
SPEAKER_00 (37:41):
Yes, this is Mystic Magic, thank you.
Exploring our spirit tounderstand our lives.
Thank you for tuning in today.
Be sure to check out our shownotes for more information about
today's episode.
You can find us on ApplePodcasts, Google, Spotify,
(38:04):
Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and allof your favorite podcast venues.
This is Mystic Magic.
Exploring our spirit tounderstand our lives.
You're listening to mystic magic, explore your
spirit to understand our lives.
I'm so listening for your host.
I'm an ordained minister whoembraces all things.
I've pastored a few spiritualcommunities, written a few
books, performed in variousmedia.
I write, produce, and perform.
(00:40):
I am a visioning facilitator, adiversity, equity, and inclusion
facilitator.
And with Mystic Magic, weexplore amazing guests to find
out what the divine revealsthrough us and how we may
benefit from this magnificence.
Stay tuned.
This is Mystic Magic, exploringour spirit to understand our
(01:02):
lives.
Hey, hey, Mystic Magic Podcastfans.
We are in for such a treat todaybecause today my guest is
Reverend Sherry James.
She's a proud mother, aspiritual teacher, author, and
minister with a deep commitmentto live practice.
(01:26):
For the past nine years, she'sbeen the senior minister of
understanding principles forBetter Living Church, Up Church,
in Englewood, California.
Her work is grounded in dailypractices that quietly transform
a life over time.
She teaches spiritual principlesthe way they're actually lived,
through disruption, repetition,patience, and trust.
(01:49):
And she is also a wealth coach,financial professional, and
founder of the Sherry JamesCompany.
Sherry is an avid student ofancient wisdom.
She draws on her decades ofexperience as an author,
spiritual leader, entrepreneur,financial professional,
minister, and mom to help bringpeople closer to their lifelong
(02:13):
goals.
So welcome to Mystic Magic,Reverend Sherry.
SPEAKER_01 (02:17):
Thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_00 (02:20):
Yeah, so I know stuff about you, and then I'm
discovering stuff about you.
So let's get into it.
Sure.
How did you become an avidstudent of ancient wisdom?
SPEAKER_01 (02:33):
Sure.
I was very fortunate to be thedaughter of a very uh radical
and radical for the time periodthat she was in, radical mom,
and she was a thinker, and sheinsisted on me being a thinker.
Um, she never made it to NewThought.
Now she's an active part ofunderstanding principles now,
(02:54):
but she never made it all theway to New Thought or even knew
that term.
But she was a seeker.
And when we were in Texas, youknow, growing up in Houston, all
you did on Sundays is you wentto church.
And when I was 13, my mom didsomething radical.
She decided not to go to churchanymore.
(03:16):
And she just, you know, said,you know, what those people are
telling you down there is justnot true.
And I, you know, that was justto give you a sense of the of
the how serious that is, thatyou know, there was nothing open
on Sundays except churches.
Um, they had what were calledblue laws, so even grocery
(03:37):
stores were not open, certainthings couldn't be sold on
Sunday.
Um, the the restaurants openedin the afternoon after church
let out.
So it was very much a culture ofnot going to church.
So there was no such thing asstaying home, not in the world
that I lived in.
And here was this woman, um,single mother of three, who was
like, Yeah, I'm not going there.
(03:59):
And that really influenced me.
Um, there was a part of me thatfelt like church matter or
something mattered, somethingabout it mattered.
I couldn't put my finger on it.
But the beauty is that becauseshe was so adamant, she was
like, I can read, I knowrhetoric.
What they're telling you thetext says, that's not what it
says.
And they're saying that'ssomething about women because
(04:19):
they just want women to besecond-class citizens.
And so it it empowered me tochoose spirituality but reject
the parts that didn't work.
Okay, good.
And um, and then she exposed me.
She exposed me to Tony Robbins,she exposed me to Les Brown.
Uh, somehow she knew that sheknew who uh Dr.
Johnny Coleman was.
(04:41):
And when I started attendingDelaware Church, somehow she
knew that um Dela Reese had beenordained by Johnny Coleman.
So, you know, she did a big partof getting me to where I am.
SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
Well, uh I'm presuming since you are the
senior minister of Up Church,that you also had a relationship
with Dela Reese.
SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
Yeah, that was an interesting relationship because
I I always say there were therewere two types of people that
were at the church.
There were the people who werethe Dela Watchers, you know,
they wanted to come see what theangel was doing.
Um but I was there for theteaching.
This this message I felt was thethe message for the 21st
(05:28):
century, that you could go tochurch and you didn't have to
put your brain in the trunk inorder to sit in the in you know
in the in the congregation.
You could learn a spiritualitythat was embracing of faith.
You could learn a spiritualitythat was embracing of other
traditions.
So while I may not practiceIslam, I don't believe that
(05:48):
people in Islam are going tohell.
Uh, I may not practice, youknow, uh Judaism, but I don't
believe that they're Christkillers or whatever, the the
stuff that I've been taughtgrowing up.
So that was deeply, deeplyappealing to me.
And so I immediately got intothe teacher training program.
I went to study at the JohnnyColeman Institute, and um, and I
(06:10):
just got on this path.
And probably the biggest thingthat made a difference was uh
summer 1998, I went to Panoramaof Truth in Chicago, Illinois.
And um, I was going, and thiswas gonna be a big thing because
I had just pledged aka and theboole was immediately following
Panorama.
And so I'm like, oh, we're aboutto have a whole party in
(06:33):
Chicago.
And wouldn't you know it?
I got to the Sunday serviceready to, you know, just be
thrilled by Reverend Dr.
Johnny Coleman, and someonewhose name I don't know got on
the platform and said, theReverend Dr.
Johnny Coleman will be speakingbefore the Alpha Kappa Alpha,
whatever the gospel brunch is.
And I was like, Are you kiddingme?
(06:55):
Like, and it was like thedistance, like we were at um, we
were off of Michigan Avenue, andit the other where we needed to
get to to get to Johnny wasMcCormick Place.
It wasn't gonna happen, like itwas too late.
And so they said the sermontoday will be delivered by the
Reverend Dr.
Mary Ann Tumpkin.
And I'm like, I don't know,Mary, I don't know, Tumpkin.
I'm irritated, like irritated.
(07:17):
And she got up there and I'mgrumpy, you know, because I I I
paid for Boulet, so I should beat Boole.
Um, I had no idea Johnny wouldbe at Boole.
I would have gone there.
And um, and Reverend Mary openedher mouth, and my life has never
been the same.
Like I was just, I was like, ohum, who is this woman?
(07:40):
And so I said teacher, and Istarted traveling around with
her, and that people would callme a Reverend Mary Groupie, and
I was like, that's fine.
That's not a bad thing, that'snot a bad thing.
Um, and then uh and I even toyedwith with relocating to Miami.
Like I was like, I'm gonna gostudy with this woman.
(08:01):
Um, but as life would have it, II got grounded in LA for
different reasons where Icouldn't travel as much anymore,
and so I was rooted there.
And in that time frame, the twoassistant ministers that we have
moved on for different reasonsto like the next level in their
career.
And Reverend Della approached meand said, you know, I prayed
(08:23):
about an assistant minister andGod told me you.
And I was like, Oh, okay.
I was like, sure.
And when I tell you I had noidea what I was saying yes to,
like, no idea what I was sayingyes to, because I knew what an
assistant was in theentertainment industry, which
was the world that I was workingin and living in.
So I was like, you know, I getyou coffee, I bring you the
(08:46):
trades.
I don't know what the trades arefor ministry, but I bring you
the trades.
Um and I keep you up on thegossip, right?
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
Assistant minister, not assistant to minister.
SPEAKER_01 (08:58):
Right, right, right, right.
I had no idea.
I mean, I like I understood as Idid understand that it was the
assistant minister, but I I hadno concept of like what an
assistant minister does, andthen it didn't help that
Reverend Della Style was shedidn't tell me.
It was like, make it up.
You're the assistant minister,may you make up what to do.
SPEAKER_00 (09:18):
And I'm like, Yeah, I get it.
I I had a similar experience,but I wanted to talk about uh
you as an entrepreneur, yeah.
What aspect of your life uhbrings you into being an
entrepreneur and what kind ofbusiness is that?
SPEAKER_01 (09:37):
Sure.
So when I was 15, I went to acamp uh offered by the Rotary
Club in uh Houston, Texas, whichis where I'm from.
And I I didn't know any of this.
I just I it was a camp.
I applied, I got in, I went, andthe guy said, Um, does anybody
(09:58):
know what an entrepreneur is?
And nobody can really answer.
And he said, Well, can anybodyspell it?
Well, I was coming.
So I spelled it correctly.
And um, and then he goes on, andjust that explanation of you
know, people who solve problems,people who make life better for
other people, um, people whowrite their own ticket, like
(10:18):
that just resonated with me.
And it was like I was hooked.
I was absolutely hooked.
And so it's just it's a part ofwho I am.
Um, I I believe that, you know,part of sitting in this role as
senior minister, um, you know,whereas maybe other senior
ministers kind of, you know, umare chafed by the administrative
(10:43):
part of church or the businesspart of church, um, that's the
part that I dive into.
Like, let's get into thesenumbers, let's figure this out.
Um, those are that's the partthat I really enjoy.
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
And that's part of part of the culture of Upchurch
because I I think uh Della wasvery much about prosperity.
SPEAKER_01 (11:01):
Yes, 100%.
And outside of being a minister,I am a financial professional.
So I am a licensed Californiainsurance agent.
Okay.
Um, so I work with retirees, Ihelp them to um basically take
what they have earned or saved,not earned, what they have saved
(11:22):
and set aside and stretch itacross the rest of their
lifetime.
Um, and I have a particularheart for women in but uh in
particular, one because weoutlive men.
Uh, and often when it's our turnto receive the caregiving,
there's no one around to do thecaregiving, uh, which means that
we often have to, you know, payfor some type of support.
(11:43):
Um and it means and then we'reoften the ones that come out of
the workforce to take care ofparents, um, which then cuts,
uh-huh, which then cuts into theamount of money that we put
aside because oftentimes inthose years where we have come
out of the workforce tocaregive, um, not only are we
not contributing to our um, youknow, 401k or 457B or whatever
(12:07):
your plan is, but now um, youknow, you're you're coming,
you're long lagging behind inskills.
So then when you go back intothe workforce, you're not
necessarily going back in at thesame salary rate.
You may have to take a haircutas far as like your pay.
Um, and all those things arejust a recipe for disaster.
(12:29):
Um, the other thing is, and thisis something I've just learned
just you know, being in the inthis industry, is the tax code
is written for married couples.
And and when I learned it, I waslike, I might need to get an
arranged marriage because and itI'm I'm joking, but I'm also
half serious because whathappens is that in the tax in
(12:51):
the in the tax code, the wayyour money is taxed in when
you're in the what I call theworking class, um, you just have
more money that you can shelteras a married couple rather than
as a single person.
Well, if women are outlivingmen, once they're widowed,
they're back in that single taxfiler bracket.
And so the same money justdoesn't go as far.
(13:13):
So I have a heart for helpingwomen to um make smart
decisions.
Um, you can't beat Uncle Sam,but you can make some smart
decisions to get around UncleSam.
Um, so that's some of the workthat I do.
SPEAKER_00 (13:25):
Wow, I need to have a conversation with you about
that kind of stuff.
Yes, and no, outside of thefinancial professional world,
you've been writing.
You got a book called The HairParadox?
SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
So um I love writing.
I'm a journaler, I journal everyday.
Um, it is the way that I learnedto pray.
So when I first became aspiritual teacher, I just didn't
feel comfortable with my voice.
And so praying out loud justfelt like, you know, like I
(14:02):
didn't like it.
But I I I stumbled across a bookfrom Catherine Ponder called The
Prospering Power of Love.
And in this book, she writesabout writing to the angel in
the other person, in anotherperson that you may be having
trouble with.
And I um I started doing that,and and I was at the time I was
going through my uh a divorcefrom my first husband, and I
(14:25):
started to write to the angel,or I I would use the term
Christ, angel really wasn't myterm.
I would write to the Christ inhim, you know, just really
trying to reach a state ofpeace.
And then it occurred to me, youneed to write to the Christ in
yourself, and that practiceturned into these daily letters
to God.
Um, they became really, reallyjust a phenomenal um healing
(14:49):
force in my life, and and I cameto see them as my daily
conversation with God where Iwould just sit down and write
out the letters.
Now, what's interesting is Inever looked back.
I only just wrote forwards.
I just had these piles and pilesof journals that I never went
back through.
And probably around 2005, 2006,I had the idea that these might
(15:10):
make a good book to helpsomebody because it had been so
instrumental in my life.
And for the first time, Iactually went back and
transcribed the journals.
And what blew my mind more thananything else was how many
things had come to pass.
That experience really taught methat every prayer is answered,
(15:31):
that prayers have what I callgestation periods, meaning that
a gestation period might be twoweeks, um, another one might be
two years, another one might betwo decades, right?
But every prayer has a timeperiod that it goes through
before it's fully a part of yourlived experience.
(15:53):
And the other thing that reallyblew my mind was just that there
were prayers that I had prayedthat I forgot about.
I just I just didn't think aboutthem.
You know, uh in the moment thatit was pressing and it was what
I desired, but then lifehappened, another fire popped
up, something else caught myattention and I moved on.
And I I found that there weremany times that I was actually
(16:13):
walking in the results ofsomething that I had prayed
about that I just didn'tremember.
And so um the prayer paradoxcomes out of that experience.
Um, the stories, all of thestories in the book are true,
like literally true.
Um, but I fictionalized it witha character named Tracy to you
know kind of tease that out andillustrate these principles.
(16:36):
Um and one last thing aboutthat.
The other thing that blew mymind about the prayer journals
and the the um what happenedwith them was the level of
detail.
So there were things that cameto pass exactly as I had written
them.
And that was mind-blowing to mebecause it really taught me one,
(16:58):
it was like I was writing mylife into expression, but it
also taught me that spirit isinto the details, and and it was
it was painstaking detail as ifit was like, okay, this is the
color that you want, this partof the picture, okay, this is
the texture that you want, thispart of it.
Like it was that level of uhexactitude uh that I
(17:20):
experienced.
SPEAKER_00 (17:22):
So when you've been writing, you did you write other
books?
I did, I do, I have tell us tellus just the titles of the other
books.
SPEAKER_01 (17:35):
Yeah, yeah.
So I have a uh a youth book uhcalled Elisha and the Widow with
the Oil.
Um, and and that really grew outof wanting to have uh brown
faces that our children can lookat for these Bible stories.
Um, Elisha with the Widow withthe Oil is actually also my
(17:56):
favorite story uh from theBible.
Um I I got turned on to it byReverend Mary, and when I was in
my kind of dark night of thesoul, uh I read that story every
day, and my challenge to myselfwas to find something new in the
story.
Um and living with that storyfor you know six months at
(18:19):
least, um, writing on it everyday and challenging challenging
myself to find something new,what I really began to see was
the agency that this woman had.
Um, I started to understand thatshe was not the destitute, it
was nothing that says she wasdestitute, she was broke.
But broke doesn't meandestitute, and broke doesn't
mean that you're like, oh law,she's the you know, forgotten
(18:41):
child.
No, she maybe she made some badfinancial decisions.
Well, I've been there, you know.
So it helped me to start to seeher as a whole person.
So I wrote this story, Elishaand the Widow with the oil, um,
mirroring the the story for foryoung children.
SPEAKER_00 (18:56):
And then I also wrote a book, um, the I want to
stop with that one and just Ilove that story too, and I've
done you know, some somematerial off of that in terms of
my sermons and stuff.
So um, I'm glad you're offeringthat to children.
Um and you know, you can talkabout faith, but she's like the
(19:17):
evidence of faith.
SPEAKER_01 (19:19):
She is the evidence.
My my my biggest insight fromher was that she too was a
disciple or a uh a prophetess ofElisha.
Um we think of her as just thewife of the prophet, but she
models for us the uh the way atrue student would, and she
executes to the letter, and noone executes to the letter
(19:42):
unless they've been a student.
Yeah, and and so it's justreally breathing life into her.
I'm I'm interested in that interms of scripture, breathing
life into the women because theyare often flat on the page and
sometimes hidden and they're onthe page, and so I'm interested
in breathing life into thesecharacters that are um you know
(20:02):
that really have been overlookedfor a long time.
SPEAKER_00 (20:05):
Okay, I'm I'm seeing spiritual cinema next.
SPEAKER_01 (20:08):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
You know, that's the thebackground is uh is um the
background is is in movies, andum, and I do well that that's
where that's the what mymaster's degree is in.
SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
So yeah, we'll we'll we'll talk we'll talk offline
about that too, because thatthat's been that's been uh in my
mind as is part of my finale.
So um uh other other titles youwant to share with the audience?
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
Yes, um, I wrote a book uh in 2009 called The Money
Poems.
And this book, again, same kindof format as the prayer paradox,
where there is a story and thenthere's the principle outside of
the story.
Um, and so these were poems.
I was working with an artist, uhMark Allen Felton, uh, his stage
(20:58):
name is Panther, and we weregood friends and we were
students uh of Della and he'sfrom Chicago, students of
Johnny.
And um it really just startedsitting down one day and
riffing, and out comes theseseven poems, and and and one for
each day of the week.
And uh, and then when we afterwe wrote them, we started
(21:21):
talking about okay, how do weutilize them?
And we built this story that waskind of an amalgamation of both
of our lives, um, thatintroduced the the poems and how
they uh could be used throughthis you know fictionalized
family that often pulls from youknow my life and his life as if
it were a mashup.
And um, and the this book hashas had an incredible life.
(21:46):
Um the uh Unity Church of Flintuh actually uses it as an
ongoing book study.
Um and and I I went to um to sitin on it because this book was
written in it was written in2009.
It was republished in 2017.
It was written in 2009.
And so I went and just sittingwith them, and this is like, you
(22:06):
know, almost two decades later,like, wow, like this, like it,
this life that this thing has,that like it keeps finding a new
audience.
Um, but it's a great abundancesystem to help reprogram the
mind to write new tapes uh on umto write new tapes on uh your
(22:27):
money story.
SPEAKER_00 (22:28):
Yeah.
So listen, I know that you havebeen in the new thought movement
for quite a while, and I imaginethat you have like some type of
elevator pitch in terms oftelling people what new thought
is.
SPEAKER_01 (22:44):
Sure.
SPEAKER_00 (22:45):
Um but here's my question.
Um, and this is the centralquestion for mystic magic.
Can you think of a mysticalmoment that changed your life?
SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
It would have to be my prayer journals.
The um so uh I in 2010, so beingan entrepreneur, um it is I can
the job is like a cuss word.
And in 2010.
SPEAKER_00 (23:20):
I'm not gonna work for nobody else.
SPEAKER_01 (23:22):
Just listen.
In 2010, this is this was twoyears after the housing bubble,
the industry had gone through aum a restructuring with like the
the writer strike and and theactor strike.
I mean, it was just a mess.
And so the two things that I wasdoing, real estate investing and
working in entertainment, hadground to a halt.
(23:46):
And I I had tenants, but I had atenant that stopped paying.
And um, which taught me thevalue of multi-unit properties
versus single family homes,because if you don't have the
cash flow, if they stop paying,where are you gonna get the
money from?
So it was just that's what Icall my dark night of the soul.
It was the worst.
(24:06):
This is when I was reading TheWidow with the Oil.
Because I'm like, the creditorsare at the door, and I don't
have two sons, but they comingto take whatever looks like two
sons.
And so I broke down in uhOctober 2020, 2010 and got a
job.
And I my a friend of mine wasworking at a call center, which
raised uh a nonprofit callcenter.
(24:26):
So we raised money for Habitatfor Humanity, uh, Oxfam, Doctors
Without Borders, organizationslike that.
And I took the job and I was solike it was an identity crusher
type thing, right?
Because my identity was I'm thisentrepreneur, but this
entrepreneur had failed.
And so I was working this job,hated it, like hated it, didn't
(24:48):
talk to anybody because I don't,it was like you're not my peer
group, and I and I don't want tobecome friends with y'all in
case I accidentally start becomea worker.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
Like I'm just like I'm not gonna invest my time in
you, right?
SPEAKER_01 (24:59):
Right.
And so um, you know, the thingwith that makes an entrepreneur
is sales, right?
Every you're in sales, um,because you're selling whatever
it is that you're trying to getsomeone to invest in or buy or
whatever.
I'm failing at this job.
This sales job, I'm failing at.
And so before they fire me, theybring me in to just kind of have
(25:20):
a little conversation.
I'm like, okay, all right, seeif they can salvage me.
And so at this point, I am a uhuh Reverend Della has asked me
to be her assistant ministerjust to give a timeline.
So I've got these principles.
I'm like, okay.
And what we diagnose was what'shappening is that when someone
would tell me no to a pitch or arequest for money, it would sink
(25:42):
my energy.
So that by the end of the shift,I'm like emotionally like on the
floor.
And so what we diagnose is thatI gotta get my recovery time
better behind the nose.
And I was like, okay, that makessense.
Well, I know something I can do,I know affirmations, I know the
power of affirmations.
And so I have these yellow legalpads, I would bring one in per
(26:03):
shift, and in and I'm on an autodialer, and in between calls, I
would write out affirmations.
Uh there's an affirmation at theend of Seed Money in Action, one
of my favorite, favorite books.
Um, just it's phenomenal.
I recorded it on my phonebecause again, these are not my
friends.
So on my on my break, my lunchbreak, I would go sit in my car
(26:24):
because I ain't playing withthese people.
They're not gonna be, you're notgonna turn me into a worker.
And I would go sit in my car andlisten to this affirmation just
over and over and over again.
And when the break was over, Iwould go back, sit at the
dialer, and write outaffirmations.
And what happened was that ithelped my energy to just stay
even.
So you could tell me no, but Iwouldn't sink emotionally, I
(26:46):
would stay even.
Um what happened that I didn'trealize was happening was that I
was building spiritual momentum.
And about six months into thisjob, which I had really taken
just to stop the financialhemorrhaging, is that I got
promoted.
And then I got promoted again.
And inside of a year, I'msitting in a corporate office
(27:09):
with an expense plan, uh expenseaccount, corporate profit
sharing, a door with a lock.
And the way that my trajectorywent, I became less and less
reliant on the legal padsbecause um it's just timing,
like the way the calls that Igot assigned, I got bigger and
bigger accounts, you know, so Ijust didn't have time to do the
affirmations the way that I hadbeen doing.
(27:31):
So when I'm moving into myoffice, I find these yellow
legal pads, and I'm like, oh, Iremember this.
This is when I was about to getfired.
And I go back through and I readthem.
And one of them says, uh, youknow, people love to give me
their credit card because we'redoing credit card sales on the
phone.
Um, I'm the number one caller inthis call center.
(27:55):
Like that became true.
Um, I'm promoted through theranks very quickly.
Um, the guy who trained me, whouh, you know, was there, we were
sitting down one day justtalking about, you know,
chopping it up.
And he says to me, Sherry, Ihave never seen anybody move
this fast of this company.
Like, it's my mysticalexperience has been married to
(28:16):
my writing, and I am confidentand convinced that anything I
put on paper is coming to pass.
The only thing I don't havecontrol over is how fast it
happens or when it happens.
SPEAKER_00 (28:30):
Well, great.
I know that um you have hadquite um a rich experience as a
career person in that you knowthat you're a mother now, and I
know that's fairly recent in thescope of things.
How did that change things foryou?
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
Sure, sure.
Uh it turned everything upsidedown, so I became a tell you
another story.
So February 2015, or a littlebit before I go and I go home,
my uncle has made transition andI'm officiating the funeral.
And my niece, who's a teenager,has had a baby and is not doing
(29:12):
very well with this kid.
And so when I see him, I pickhim up, I pray over him, and I
just let it go and I come backto LA.
And then in January, my familysays, Hey, you know, we need you
to help.
And I said, Okay, sure.
And so at this time.
SPEAKER_00 (29:27):
So help meant write a check?
SPEAKER_01 (29:29):
No, help meant, help meant take him.
Okay, okay, so I knew that part,and I was like, sure,
absolutely.
What about if I say, no, I'm notgonna watch this kid sink or or
fail or whatever.
So um, so I know he's coming inFebruary, that was February 6th,
and all of a sudden, so February6th, I had there was a baby,
like he was 14 months, right?
(29:50):
There's a baby who can't talk,like, you know, there was no
like getting ready.
The my gestation period was likea week.
Okay, you know, well, mostpeople get nine months, I got a
week.
And a week later, February 15th,Reverend Dello threw a party,
and she never told me when sheplanned to retire.
She threw a party on February15th.
(30:11):
I was late getting there becauseI was locking up the church.
And when I walk in, everybody'slike, Congratulations,
congratulations.
I'm like, for what?
She passed the tour, the churchto you, and I'm like, really?
She didn't want to tell nobodythat this is what was gonna
happen.
And so inside of a month, leastof all you.
Yes, it was completely upsidedown, and so um, you know, I had
(30:36):
gone to seminary, I had alreadydone that, and I finished my
practicum.
I had not yet been ordained, thethe ordination didn't happen
until 2017.
So I was still in the middle ofmy practicum when all this
happened.
Um, and I was like, okay, and Igot this infamous, and I am when
I tell you, Celeste, at the endof days, and I'm like, I'm
teaching Bible class, and andand and then the the corner
(30:59):
starts smelling, and I'm like,okay, hold on, y'all.
Let me go change this type of mybook, just the poop.
You know, and he went everywherewith me because I didn't I
didn't have a village, I didn'thave I didn't have any of that
because this was, you know, likeall of my friends' kids are were
like middle school or highschool, like they were just
(31:22):
older.
So, and then so then now I'm theold mama going to the school, to
the to the nursing school withthe um, you know, with the uh uh
the little 20-somethings withthe and I'm like, oh, this is
just not a good look.
And so um it was it's been it'sbeen a whole journey to like
build a village.
Like I get why people havechildren together because now
(31:44):
you can there was nobody tosquat with.
So he went to conferences withme.
He was always around grown-ups.
Um, we were at an INTAconference, and I'm up speaking.
I don't have no babysitter withme.
I can't, at that point, Icouldn't afford a babysitter,
couldn't afford to leave him.
And so he's at INTA with me.
And while I'm taught speaking,Celeste, he is running up and
down the aisle.
(32:05):
So I'm like, oh my God.
unknown (32:07):
Oh my God.
SPEAKER_01 (32:10):
Wow.
So, so yeah, so it's been a it'sbeen a journey.
But he's 12 and a half now.
He is gifted, he's talented, heknows who he is, and uh and he
knows the power of his words,and I'm extraordinarily proud of
the young man that he hasbecome.
SPEAKER_00 (32:25):
Well, the first time I saw him was at Celebrating Our
Soul in 2024.
Yes, and that is what I want usto talk about next before we
leave this conversation.
Celebrating our souls um, youknow, started back in 2022 for
the public, started for me in2020, but you know, um, this is
(32:48):
the third one that's biannual,and you've been, and now you're
part of the planning team.
And what made you first want tocome as an audience member and
then want to become part of thevisionary team?
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
So great question.
Um, so the first one, I don'teven know if I really understood
what was happening.
The um, but I had um people whowere in my peer group who were
going, and so that's what reallymade me decide to you know to
go.
Um, and so I I was a participantin 22 and then a masterclass
(33:29):
presenter in 24, and um uhReverend Jerry reached out and
asked if I would become a partof the planning team, and I
thought, I got so much on myplate.
Wow.
Yeah, I gotta, but you know,they said if you want something
done, give it to a busy personbecause they know how to figure
it out.
And so I said yes, and I saidyes to to just um contribute.
(33:53):
I think that uh gatherings likethis are important.
I believe that spiritualcommunity is important, and I I
really I believe that newthought, I just I feel like we
are the spirituality for the21st century.
I believe that the you know,this, you know, where science is
going, uh we're at the placethat we can regrow limbs, uh,
(34:17):
we're at the place wherescientifically there's no reason
that we need to exit the bodyshort of getting hit by a bus.
Um the the ability to clone, theability to travel to other parts
of the galaxy.
Um I feel like that's like it'sthe perfect time to be a part of
(34:38):
a spirituality that doesn'tthink that that's the work of
some evil force or you know, butjust understands that that it's
an expansion in the mind ofspirit.
It's an expansion in the mind ofthe I am.
Um, and so I, you know, I'm I amcommitted to seeing us nurture
that next generation, you know,that comes through and
(35:00):
encouraging them to pick thisup.
SPEAKER_00 (35:03):
Well that sounds like part of your like master
plan, but specifically in termsof celebrating our soul, yeah.
Um and and it's produced bypeople of African descent new
thought group.
So this is um this is somethingthat has only happened in like
this this decade, and it's kindof new, and so what prompted you
(35:29):
to come to the first one?
SPEAKER_01 (35:32):
Uh again, people in my peer group going.
SPEAKER_00 (35:36):
Um, but there was something and then when you
experienced it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:40):
Sure.
So when I experienced it, therewere it was it was such a rich
and warm and invitingexperience.
Um you know, so being in theUFBL, I have a version of that
experience already.
SPEAKER_00 (35:59):
Universal Foundation for Better Living.
SPEAKER_01 (36:01):
Right, exactly.
So whereas um maybe others inother organizations, they may be
in settings that are more mixed.
But in our organization, so I Iwasn't fulfilling that need, and
I think that that's an importantneed, which is we're in we're in
mixed company, um, and I have alived experience that people
that I'm worshiping with can'trelate to.
(36:21):
I don't have that experience.
But I think for me, it wasvaluable to meet other people in
New Thought that were not a partof UFBL, and to be in community
with people from centers ofspiritual living, to be in
community with people fromdivine science or unity or an
independent organization, Ithink that that is um powerful.
(36:45):
I think that it deepens my ownpersonal experience in New
Thought.
Um, I think that it's a centralpart of it and why it's um why
it's important.
SPEAKER_00 (36:56):
Well, I just want you to know that um even though
uh we haven't spent likepersonal time together, um, your
vibration is one that is alwaysfascinating, and that you know,
your your warmth is is palpable,and uh your leadership and
(37:16):
clarity is evident.
And so I appreciate all that youdo for yourself and for the
planet.
SPEAKER_01 (37:24):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I say the same for you.
You're right.
I haven't had a chance toreally, really hang out with
you, but I appreciate everyinteraction that we have had,
and it has been uh wonderful,and I'm I'm grateful to just be
a part of this and to be a partof this experience.
SPEAKER_00 (37:41):
Yes, this is Mystic Magic, thank you.
Exploring our spirit tounderstand our lives.
Thank you for tuning in today.
Be sure to check out our shownotes for more information about
today's episode.
You can find us on ApplePodcasts, Google, Spotify,
(38:04):
Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and allof your favorite podcast venues.
This is Mystic Magic.
Exploring our spirit tounderstand our lives.
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