What happens when God gives you a word for a season - and then life seems to become the exact opposite?

At the beginning of 2026, Shirley felt God give her one simple word: rooted. At the time, it didn’t feel particularly significant. But in the months that followed, Shirley walked through profound loss and transition - the closing of a church plant she and her husband had led for five years, changing ministry roles, a move, and the unexpected loss of her mom.

Everything around her felt uprooted.

In this deeply personal conversation, Shirley shares how God met her in grief, disappointment, uncertainty, and the places where she wrestled with shame and feelings of failure. She talks about learning that the things we call failure are not our identity - and that God’s definition of success may look very different from our own.

Ashley and Shirley also talk about the hidden work of becoming rooted: creating rhythms of quiet, learning to simply sit in God’s presence without needing an answer, and trusting that the roots God grows beneath the surface are what hold us steady when the storms come.

This is a conversation about grief, transition, identity, and discovering that even when everything around us changes, God does not.

Shirley puts it simply: I may not know the outcome, but I know Him.

If you’re walking through a season that feels uncertain, disappointing, or completely uprooted, this episode is a reminder that the hard chapters are still part of your story - and God’s grace is present there too.

EmpowerOne is a nine-month journey for women who are ready to grow - in their faith, in their leadership, and in who God created them to be. Through real community, deep curriculum, and coaching that actually goes somewhere, EmpowerOne equips women to step into the calling that has always had their name on it.

Click here to learn more!

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https://www.empowerww.org/

What's the first thing that cracks in a leader when the pressure gets high? In this episode of Unstoppable, Ashley sits down with her friend and fellow executive pastor, Dr. Jolander Headley, to talk about her HELP framework - Healing the soul, Equipping with excellence, Leadership with strategy, and Planning for purpose - and the leadership lessons behind her upcoming book, The Tightrope Principle.

Jolander opens up about the lies she's had to identify and break in her own leadership journey, including the moment she was told she wasn't qualified for a role God had clearly called her to. She and Ashley talk candidly about self-care as the foundation of healthy leadership, why leaders can't look down or look back once they've stepped onto the wire, and the practical first step to take when you feel like you're barely holding it together.

If you've ever felt the weight of leadership pressing in, this conversation will remind you: keep walking forward.

In this episode:

• The HELP framework for developing healthy, sustainable leaders
• Why self-care is the foundation everything else is built on
• The lies leaders believe under pressure - and how to break them
• A behind-the-scenes look at Jolander's new book, The Tightrope Principle
• One simple, practical step for anyone who feels like they're losing their footing

Guest Bio

Dr. Jolander Headley serves as Executive Pastor at Alliance Tabernacle in Brooklyn, where she leads as a servant leader across multiple areas of ministry. She developed the HELP framework out of her doctoral dissertation, using it to help leaders heal, grow in self-awareness, lead with strategy, and step into their God-given purpose with steady clarity. Jolander is preparing for her sacred ordination this September, and her new book, The Tightrope Principle — which explores how great leaders stay balanced under pressure — releases in January 2027.

https://headleyleadership.com/

EmpowerOne is a nine-month journey for women who are ready to grow - in their faith, in their leadership, and in who God created them to be. Through real community, deep curriculum, and coaching that actually goes somewhere, EmpowerOne equips women to step into the calling that has always had their name on it.

Click here to learn more!

Support the show

https://www.empowerww.org/

What do you do when you walk into a church out of sheer desperation - not really knowing what you're looking for, just knowing you need something to change? You might just find exactly what you didn't know you needed.

In this episode, recorded in April of 2026, Ashley sits down with her friend, PTA partner, and co-worker Jen Carlsen for a raw and honest conversation about what it looks like when God writes a story you never could have planned. Jen shares how she found her way to Risen King pregnant, exhausted, and quietly ready to file for divorce — and how a group of women with an unexplainable peace changed the trajectory of everything.

From her husband's sobriety journey to a women's retreat that finally broke something open, from leading a small group she felt completely unqualified for to stepping into EmpowerOne, to walking through the doors of her own church as the Children's Director - Jen's story is a testimony to what happens when you stop white-knuckling it alone and say yes to what God has been preparing for you all along.

Because the calling on your life isn't waiting for you to feel ready. It's waiting for you to be faithful.

EmpowerOne is a nine-month journey for women who are ready to grow - in their faith, in their leadership, and in who God created them to be. Through real community, deep curriculum, and coaching that actually goes somewhere, EmpowerOne equips women to step into the calling that has always had their name on it.

Click here to learn more!

Support the show

https://www.empowerww.org/

What do you do when you walk into a room that doesn't want you? Whether it's a season of transition, a church that hasn't made space for you, or the quiet question that finds us all - do I belong here? - belonging is one of the most fundamental human needs we have. And when we don't feel it, it can feel like something is wrong with us.

In this episode, we sit with the story of an unnamed woman in Luke 7, known by everyone for all the wrong reasons, who walked into a room she had no business being in, broke open the most valuable thing she owned, and walked out completely transformed. Through the lens of her story, we explore three responses to the belonging question: recognize the resource in the room, break the jar of self-sufficiency, and saturate yourself in him.

Because the belonging you're searching for isn't something the room can give you. It's something you carry when you've been close enough to Jesus.

EmpowerOne is a nine-month journey for women who are ready to grow - in their faith, in their leadership, and in who God created them to be. Through real community, deep curriculum, and coaching that actually goes somewhere, EmpowerOne equips women to step into the calling that has always had their name on it.

Click here to learn more!

Support the show

https://www.empowerww.org/

What do you do when the rest you planned becomes the wrestle you needed? In this episode, we sit down with Jenn Hong, Executive Pastor of Family Life at Princeton Alliance Church, for an honest and tender conversation about hard seasons, unexpected encounters with God, and what it really means to be close to Him when life doesn't go as planned.

Jenn opens up about a sabbatical that looked nothing like she imagined - and how a moment on a playground, a toddler running into a pole, and a string of Christmas lights became unlikely windows into the presence and goodness of God. Together we explore what intimacy with God actually looks like in the middle of the hard, what we default to when the adrenaline stops, and why the places we'd least choose are often the places where we find Him most.

If you're in a season that feels more like a collision than a calling - this one's for you.

EmpowerOne is a nine-month journey for women who are ready to grow - in their faith, in their leadership, and in who God created them to be. Through real community, deep curriculum, and coaching that actually goes somewhere, EmpowerOne equips women to step into the calling that has always had their name on it.

Click here to learn more!

Support the show

https://www.empowerww.org/

In this personal episode, Ashley shares from her own life about navigating a season of transition, uncertainty, and emotion.

As she reflects on what God has been stirring, this conversation explores a deeper question many women are quietly asking:
“Is there a place for me?”

Drawing from both personal experience and the heart behind Empower, Ashley unpacks:

• Why so many women are feeling disconnected from the Church
• The truth that every woman has a place, a voice, and a calling
• How pain is not always an indicator of something being wrong
• Why we often avoid what needs our attention most
• What it looks like to bring real emotions to God in uncertain seasons

Through a simple but powerful story, she reminds us that what we fear most isn’t always where the problem is - and that God is inviting us to look deeper.

If you’re walking through change, carrying disappointment, or questioning where you fit, this episode is a gentle but clear reminder:
You are not alone. You are seen. And there is a place for you.

EmpowerOne is a nine-month journey for women who are ready to grow - in their faith, in their leadership, and in who God created them to be. Through real community, deep curriculum, and coaching that actually goes somewhere, EmpowerOne equips women to step into the calling that has always had their name on it.

Click here to learn more!

Support the show

https://www.empowerww.org/

In this special episode, we’re bringing you a powerful panel conversation from last year’s More & The Next Conference (2025) - a glimpse into the kind of moments that happen when women gather with open hearts and expectancy.

In a world that constantly pushes us to do more, achieve more, and carry more, what does it actually look like to experience true rest?

This conversation dives deep into:

• The difference between physical rest and soul-level rest
• How busyness, burnout, and striving impact our leadership and relationships
• Recognizing the signs that your soul is not well
• Breaking free from guilt, performance, and the need to earn rest
• Learning to live within God’s rhythms and boundaries

Through honest stories, wisdom, and vulnerability, you’ll hear how women in different seasons are learning to slow down, trust God with outcomes, and create space for what matters most.

Whether you’re in a season of full capacity, burnout, or rediscovery, this episode is a reminder that:
rest isn’t something you earn - it’s something you receive.

✨ This episode is a sneak peek into The More & The Next Conference—where women encounter God, grow in leadership, and are reminded that they have a place in what He is doing.

EmpowerOne is a nine-month journey for women who are ready to grow - in their faith, in their leadership, and in who God created them to be. Through real community, deep curriculum, and coaching that actually goes somewhere, EmpowerOne equips women to step into the calling that has always had their name on it.

Click here to learn more!

Support the show

https://www.empowerww.org/