We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Delesslyn A. Kennebrew a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Delesslyn A., thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I did not know how exhausted I was until I stopped. I had been serving in my first professional ministry job full time for about five years when I resigned. It was my first “real” job with salary ad benefits and I was fully determined to give it my all. I was serving above and beyond because in my mind that was what I was supposed to be doing, after all, this was all for God. I was going early and staying late. I was taking calls and answering emails on my time off. I was planning and strategizing because I wanted to give my very best. And as I have come to learn, people will let you go and go and go to your own detriment if they are benefitting in any way from your work.

Then one day i was impressed in my own Spirit to ask myself the same question the church was asking itself, what is God’s vision? I was impressed to make it personal. What is God’s vision for my life? In order to seek the answer, i engaged int he spiritual practice of fasting and praying for 21 days and on day 22, I woke up early in the morning with an answer that would be clarified throughout that day.

I went to work as usual. I prepared for the staff meeting as usual. I went to the staff meeting as usual. The pastor called the staff meeting to order as usual. Then he began an unusual monologue that gave clarity to the answer revealed in my early morning prayer. I returned to my office after that meeting and prepared my letter of resignation. I will not go into the details of the monologue that pushed me to resign but suffice it to say, he made it clear that God’s vision for me was no longer going to be alive there.

I resigned. Effective immediately.

I went home and I went to sleep. I know that this sounds normal but it was a different kind of sleep. For two weeks, I was in the bed feeling the exhaustion of my mind, my body and my spirit that I had ignored for so long. I did not know how tired I really was until I stopped.

It is this experience coupled with the statistics that 84% of pastors feel on call 24/7, 65% have not had a vacation in five years, and 1out of 10 pastors will not retire as pastors that gave birth to the idea of Morning Glory Retreat, a place for clergy to rest.

I wanted to create a space for faith leaders to rest. Period. No agenda. No classes. No speakers. No name badges or swag bags. Rest. Period.

I thought that this dream would manifest in my years of retirement, decades from that moment of revelation in the fall of 2011 but it came a little early. I participated in a social entrepreneurship cohort that helped to give even more shape to my vision. Through that cohort, sponsored by the National Benevolent association of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I was able to get a logo, set up a website, gain approval for my 501(c)3, and a few other foundational elements to solidify the structure of my endeavor..

I still had no plan to fully launch until I was impressed again by the Spirit to purchase a house to host clergy much sooner than my original timeline. I went through the home buying process and I purchased a beautiful home to host clergy for their time of rest. Her name is Morning Glory.

I am so very excited and feel honored to host clergy and other faith leaders for a period of rest from their busy schedules. I did a soft launch as a host to a few friends and family. I am now preparing to increase promotion in this new year to host more beginning in Spring 2023.

I pray that Morning Glory will be a tremendous gift to those who choose to answer the call to “Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy laden, ad I will give you rest…”

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Rev. Dr. Delesslyn Audra Kennebrew, J.D., M.Div. is a Visionary Strategist, Faithful Innovator, Inspirational Essayist, and Energizing Preacher. For 16 years, she has worked to give life to the vision and mission of local churches and is currently intrigued by conversations that consider the intersection of faith, innovation, design thinking, and social transformation. Dr. Kennebrew has a passion for helping churches to discern, discover, and develop what’s next. She is on the board of Directors for The Daughters of the African Atlantic Fund and co-founder of The Orchid Project, a 501(c)3 non-profit which exists to invest in the lives of girls in Africa by meeting a basic need to promote healthy personal hygiene and cultivate positive self-esteem. She is the founder of The Living Room Christian Fellowship – an online ministry gathering on Facebook Live every Thursday evening and hosted Kids Korner Radio program every Sunday evening for the last ten years. Dr. Kennebrew has also learned the value of rest and has embarked upon a social entrepreneurship endeavor, Morning Glory Retreat, a place for clergy to rest. She hopes to welcome and host faith leaders into this sacred space beginning in Spring 2023.

She currently serves as the Regional Minister for Ministry Innovation in the Greater Kansas City Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) where she gives leadership to church planting, congregational transformation, ministry innovation, and church affiliation. Beginning March 1, Dr. Kennebrew will assume a new position and is looking forward to leading within the National Convocation as the Administrative Secretary and as the Associate General Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In this new role, she is determined to ensure that the issues, priorities, and constituency of all who make up the National Convocation are represented. She understands that she will lead as an inspiring visionary/advocate, strategic administrator, creative innovator, and faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Kennebrew is an avid writer and has written over 400 blog posts for her blog, Salvation and Stilettos hosted at www.SpiritedConcepts.net. She is also the author of two books: Step Out of the Boat: An Invitation to Walk on Water and The Power to be PERFECT: A Collection of Reflections on Spiritual Perfection. She is a proud graduate of Loyola University New Orleans (B.A. Mass Communications), the University of Arkansas School of Law (J.D.), Emory University – Candler School of Theology (M.Div.), and Columbia Theological School (D.Ed.Min., Doctor of Educational Ministry). Her Ministry Motto is Colossians 3:17 – And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My original idea was to purchase a retreat center with multiple rooms that can host multiple guests at one time. As the vision began to take shape through the social entrepreneurship cohort I participated in, I realized that I did not have to do it that way. I did not have to have the traditional retreat space and I did not have to host multiple guests at one time. I knew that I would be doing most of the work and I was not in a position to hire or enter into any major contracts and so I scaled the vision to my capacity. I also scaled it to honor the vision for clergy to rest in a way that was different from most clergy vacations.

At Morning Glory, we only host one person or one couple at a time. They have full access to Morning Glory except for the host’s suite. We are intentional about informing our guests that there will be no activities planned unless they decide to opt for one hour of Spiritual Direction and/or one hour of Ministry Consulting. I also enjoy the privilege of having one scheduled meal with my guests during their visit.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Being a wise steward of your personal finances is the starting point to managing one’s business funding well. Long before I joined the social entrepreneurship cohort, I had been very intentional about discovering a budgeting strategy that worked best for my income. I read a countless number of articles and watched videos in order to decide what worked best for me. I was consistent with my selected strategy for a few years before I moved forward with my business. Thus, when I was ready to move forward with my business through the cohort, in addition to the grants provided by the cohort, I already had savings that were available to invest in my own dream. While there are so many funding opportunities available for entrepreneurs to take advantage of to launch their business, I strongly encourage entrepreneurs to manage their current income well so that they are in the practice of budgeting, saving, and delayed gratification.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.MorningGloryRetreat.com
• Instagram: @drdakennebrew
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delesslyn.kennebrew
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/drdakennebrew
• Other: Email – [email protected]

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