Featured Preaching Woman

Have you ever experienced that feeling right in the pit of your stomach where you felt like something big was about to happen? You know, that feeling you get when you feel like you are right on the brink of something great? It's a funny feeling, because it can be exciting, but at the same time it can be daunting, because sometimes you just don't know what to do next. It's like you have this passion raging in your spirit, and one minute you just want to jump out there and get it done, but then a few thoughts later, mixed with a little fear from the enemy, you may find yourself questioning your ability to make it happen. Well, if that's you, today you are in for a big dose of encouragement! Find out more inside...

 

Have you ever experienced that feeling right in the pit of your stomach where you felt like something big was about to happen? You know, that feeling you get when you feel like you are right on the brink of something great? It's a funny feeling, because it can be exciting, but at the same time it can be daunting, because sometimes you just don't know what to do next. It's like you have this passion raging in your spirit, and one minute you just want to jump out there and get it done, but then a few thoughts later, mixed with a little fear from the enemy, you may find yourself questioning your ability to make it happen. Well, if that's you, today you are in for a big dose of encouragement!

Known for her jovial personality, infectious smile, and unadulterated teaching of the Word of God, Pastor Kim Outlaw (Pastor Kim) is a 21^st century cutting edge preaching woman who is committed to reaching those who are in need of a personal relationship with Christ, while helping them excavate all of the treasures that God has on the inside them. Having personally overcome a past riddled with many challenges such as sexual promiscuity, drug dealing and more, Pastor Kim is not only well-qualified to reach those in need of our risen Savior, but she does so, as she sits at the helm of Living Water Fellowship Church, which she, along with her husband, founded in 2008 with only 17 members and now, less than four years later, has rapidly burgeoned into a flourishing membership of over 1,000 faithful parishioners.

With the mark and authentication of God's anointing and the gift of faith evident upon her life and ministry, Pastor Kim will be the first to tell you if God has given you a passion to do something great, you can rest assured you will be well able to get it done. Accordingly, Pastor Kim has personally witnessed God's supernatural miraculous power within the short tenure of her ministry as they believed God and acquired their own 35,000 square foot Worship facility; and at present, have renovated a separate 16,000 square foot property in which the church paid off in less than one year's time by God's grace and doing what He required them to do.

Coupled with her responsibilities as a Senior Pastor, conference speaker, and revivalist amidst other endeavors, Pastor Kim is a devoted and loving wife to the love of her life, Pastor Stephen G. Outlaw, Jr., and exceptional mother to their three wonderful sons. Having attended Cross Roads Bible College as well as Indiana Bible College, Pastor Kim serves diligently and faithfully in the Body of Christ, and is very well respected, loved, and admired by her congregation and many others.

PreachingWoman.com's founder, Evangelist Nichelle Early (NE) enjoyed the opportunity to speak with Pastor Kim (KO) and desires to share their conversation with you!

NE: Pastor Kim, thank you so much for accepting our invitation to be featured, I'm so excited to have you!

KO: Evangelist, I'm so humbled and honored, thank you so very much for this opportunity!

NE: Pastor Kim, the pleasure is all mine. Well, let's get started!

Pastor Kim, it is well noted that your call to ministry came shortly after you dedicated your life to Christ, which is probably questionable for some. How did you know you were being called and what steps did you take to have that calling confirmed?  

KO: Well Evangelist, it was incredible. I was saved and gave my life to the Lord in 1996. Then, shortly thereafter in 1998, I accepted my call to the ministry. At the time, I was under a great prominent pastor here in the city of Indianapolis by the name of Pastor Jeffrey A. Johnson, Sr. In fact, he pastors the largest church here in Indianapolis. While serving under him, I started feeling compelled by God that there was more...and so, God began to pull on me and on my spirit, even while being a babe in Christ; I just really had a zeal for the Lord and His Word. Honestly, I couldn't put the Word down, the Bible was just so incredible to me, and there was just so much revelation in it for me. God filled me with the Holy Spirit and I was just sold out to him...

So, one Sunday, I can remember my pastor making a statement that he wanted to begin training new preachers...so during service, he simply stated that, "If you believe that you are being called to preach, I want you to stand." However, at the time, I wasn't sure I was called to preach, so I said to myself, "I'm not standing, because I don't really know, I just believe God's calling me."  Then, my pastor made another statement that I will never forget, one that I had never heard him make the entire time I was there; He said, "Even if you are not sure you are called to preach, I want you to stand." And at that point, I just felt like God lifted me up out of the seat, and that is where it all began.

So, my pastor started a class called "School of Ministry," and then the next class after that, for those that had an interview with the assistant pastor and He could sense that you had a call to preach, were then moved on to a class called "Ministers In Training," and for me, coupled with so much more prayer and training, that's how it all began.

NE: Wow, that is such a blessing and it's evident today that you heard God correctly.

So, how did you transition from that church to your ministry? What was that process like?

KO: Well, in 2001, that particular church I was attending planted a church under the leadership of the great Pastor John Ramsey, Sr. My pastor, [Johnson] made an appeal for about 300 of us to go with that church, New Life Worship Center, to help get it started. So, my husband and I were a part of the group that went; today I believe it's the second largest church in Indianapolis. And Evangelist Nichelle, I loved that church, I thought people were crazy to not want to go to that church, because it was such an awesome church; and, I think everyone should feel that way about their church. So, while I was there, I served in several different capacities to include writing the curriculum for new member's classes and Foundation for Living Classes; I served as a worship leader, predominant minister, and in various other capacities.  My husband was a second chair deacon at the church, and we served very faithfully, because again we loved God and we truly loved that church.

However, I believe it was around our seventh year of serving there, that the Lord began to speak to my husband and I and He said, "It's time to go!" Now, let me share this: three years before this point, my pastor asked me did I see myself pastoring, and at the time I actually said, "No, I don't, and in fact, I don't even believe in women pastors." And he said, "You don't?" I said, "No, I don't." And I started to rattle off a couple of scriptures to make my point, and he said, "You need to go back and pray because we know you are called, but what are you called to?"

NE: Wait! That's such a unique perspective coming from a woman. You didn't believe in women preachers? So what changed your mind? What did you see in the word that changed your mind regarding women pastors?

KO: Well, I did what my pastor said and I began to pray because honestly, at the time, I believed that I was called to be an evangelist. I had traveled some, but not extensively, and I felt that I was an evangelist who would go out every now and again, but primarily be there to push my pastor all the way. But, when my pastor told me to go pray, I asked God to order my steps, and three years later I actually went back to my pastor and told him that the Lord was calling me to pastor and that I had to leave. Now to be honest, I still wasn't quite sure about the call to pastor at the time I was getting ready to go...So, shortly thereafter, I remember one particular night that the Lord would not let me sleep, so I got up and got on the computer, and the Holy Spirit began to minister to me. I will never forget the question He asked me. He simply said, "Who was the first person to take the gospel back to the disciples?" And, then He led me to the scriptures where Jesus was buried and Mary went to the tomb. He also led me to the passage where Mary took the gospel back to the disciples and told them, "He has risen, He's not dead, He's alive!" And that settled it for me...!

NE:  Amen! He is certainly alive. So, today Pastor Kim, what do you believe is your assignment at Living Water Fellowship Church and in the Body?

KO:  My assignment is to let people know that God is a resurrecting, supernatural God! That is my assignment, which is literally my life. I am charged by God to let everyone I know or come into contact with, whether it's through preaching, telephone conversations, TV, radio, or anything else, that He is a resurrecting God and that He is alive and He can do anything but fail! Coming from a life of selling drugs and living a very promiscuous life, I can truly say God really resurrected me. And when I got saved, there were many others that got saved after me, because they said, "If God can save her, He can surely save me!"

NE: Wow! That's powerful!

Now, you are known as a very 21^st century focused, cutting edge pastor. What are some of the out-of the box things you and your ministry are doing to attract today's generation?

KO: Well, God has blessed us to establish some very unique ministries within our church. Our women's ministry is called, Sarah's Daughters, and our men's ministry is called, Abraham's Seed. Also, as a part of our core offerings, we teach bold classes such as, "From the Streets to the Sanctuary," and many others. We also offer a non-traditional Sunday School called, The Life Institute; in addition, we offer an exceptional Kid's Zone, different teen programs, and much more. In fact, we just had our first Back to School Bash, where we had a stage outside on the parking lot and had hot dogs, pop corn, cotton candy, and so much more and the newspaper came out and covered us. And, to be honest, I'm just crazy enough to do whatever God tells me to do in order to reach people for His glory!

NE: I believe you because in about three years, your ministry has gone from 17 members to over 1,000 members.

Coupled with God's grace and anointing, what is it that you believe has caused so many people to come to Living Water Fellowship?

KO: You know, God is just really blessing us. When people ask me that, all I can honestly say is that God did it! And, I truly mean that. You see, it is our job to walk by faith; therefore, whatever God shows us, we must walk by faith.  I'm reminded of Abraham when he was told by God to leave all of his family; can you imagine how hard that was? However, he did what God told him to do and God's promise was fulfilled in his life; and likewise, we have strive to do all that God has told us to do so that God's promise can be fulfilled over this ministry. And because of that, I believe God has blessed us.

NE: Now Pastor Kim, you are affectionately known by many as an Empowerment Specialist, what does that mean?

KO: While studying with Dr. Cindy Trimm during one of her life coaching sessions and reading some of her materials, there was a question that really stuck out to me which simply asked, "Who are you?" And, I began to ask God, "Who Am I?" And, I felt like He confirmed to me that I was an empowerment specialist. In other words, I empower people to go after their visions and dreams. And today, God has used me in that vein so much so that I can't tell you how many artists we now have in our church here at Living Water that maybe if they hadn't come, they may not have fulfilled their dream.

Also, within the scope of an empowerment specialist, I too consider myself to be a drill sergeant and a coach, because in my mind, I had to walk by faith to get where I am, and I want to empower others to do it too! And so I can tell you that if you are around me for any length of time, and you've had that book lying dormant in your belly for 10 years, you are going to write that book! {Laughs}

So honestly, I have asked God to use me to help people live life to the fullest. And, that is what I teach members at Living Water Fellowship to do is 'live life to the fullest!' Do everything that the Lord has commanded you to do; because anything that God has allowed you to be passionate about means you have permission to do it! That means the portals of Heaven are open on your behalf, giving you permission to go forth and do it!

NE: I know that's right!

So, what are three principles that you can share to encourage people to live life to the fullest?

KO:

NE: Wow! Those are great principles.

Well, Pastor Kim, I always ask this question: What do you believe God is saying in this hour?

KO: In this hour, I really believe God is saying "Go for it! Go for everything I have planted down inside of you. Just go for it, just trust me, and just do it!" And, I know it sounds simple, but it means so much when you see people standing on the brink of something great and they are trying to make up their minds, 'Should I?' or 'Should I not?" But just go for it! God has given you permission...go for it! This is the hour for the Body of Christ to be in our rightful position. We are the head; we were never supposed to be the tail. And, I believe there is a shift that is coming quickly, and that those you thought were going to stay and remain at the top always are coming down. God told Jeremiah, "I have chosen you to speak and tell them that I'm tearing it down, I'm uprooting it, and I'm going to rebuild it."  So, I believe in this hour, we are going to see some people that we've never seen before, and we will find ourselves saying, "Who are they? Where did they come from? Who gave them permission to do that?" Truly, I believe God is raising up people that He greatly wants to use; He's not taking any votes, He's not concerned about denominations, or anything else, He's just raising people up, so He can use them. Therefore, this is the hour I believe God is saying, "Go for it!"

NE: Amen!

Finally Pastor Kim, if there is anything you would want the world to know about Pastor Kim, what would it be?

KO: That I love God for real, and I am humbled and honored that He would use me to help spread and teach His Word to His people. I really do love God for real.