How Mon Ami Began
Mon Ami Ministries began simply by wanting to see lives changed. Through relationship-building I was able to encourage, support, and celebrate women all around the world. As a pastor’s wife, I recognized the need to support women who wanted to live their best life in Christ, but just didn’t quite know how to get there.
Life is both simple and complex, filled with many difficulties and joys. My passion was to utilize who we are as women, “nurturers,” to create a ministry that brings out the best of who we can be and enjoy God working His best within us as well as through us to others.
In 2001, I was praying about how I could more effectively reach the women in the church that my husband and I were pastoring and the women in our community. I asked God how I could become evangelistic and be an encourager to other women. His Word says that if we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4), and my desire was to help hurting and lonely women. God answered my prayer, telling me to do what I do best (which left me wondering and somewhat confused). He showed me that great ministry can happen over a cup of coffee or tea (I love coffee).
The key to reaching women was making a personal connection that opened the door to wounded hearts, deepened relationships, and brought healing and restoration. Mon Ami was conceived with the simplicity of a forty-minute visit and a “tea party.” I began to see God work in ways I had never experienced. Soon I realized that Mon Ami was more than expressing love and hope for the hurting, as well as celebrating them and reminding them of their self-worth and how much they are loved. God wanted to use Mon Ami to reach women across all spectrums of life. It would become the catalyst to remove emotional chains from the past and engage women with the concept that they can be more significant than they ever dreamed. They could be “unstoppable”—in their homes, careers, ministry, and every aspect of their lives. Over a simple cup of tea, I saw walls come down and hearts open up.
What began as developing connections through a telephone call and a one-on-one tea party in someone’s home soon created opportunities for others to join the ministry. As Mon Ami women began expressing their love to the ladies within their circle of friends and associations, the ministry grew beyond even my greatest expectations – and I had some pretty big expectations! The training was simple, repeatable, and fun. I was thrilled that women loved how Mon Ami expanded their concepts of what they could do for Jesus and others.
God loves increasing our ability to serve, and soon Mon Ami became a multifaceted ministry that trains women for the realities of their lives by building vital skills, renewing minds with possibility-thinking and creating opportunities to receive and give love. What began as a cup of coffee or tea became an expression of my desire to make a difference in the world. It would be my honor to open the same doors of ministry to you that Mon Ami has done for me…me and many other women across this nation and around the world.
Love & Blessings,
Leslie Callaway, Founder and Executive Director