Pastors Thriving | Ministry, Leadership, Discipleship, Church Growth, Small Church Strategies · Kevin Elworth-Business & Ministry Coach, Passive Income, Entrepreneur Pastor, Ministry Marketing

086 - From Wilderness to Breakthrough: Meme Mulugeta’s Story of Redemption & Renewal

·47 min·1 clip

The church rejected her when she needed it most, so she walked away from God for 17 years.

The Monday dread is real. The host starts with the pastor staring at a resume, checking ministry job ads, or wondering whether stacking lumber at Home Depot would hurt less. Then the guest brings it close to home. A deal had been stuck for almost three years, long enough that she had mostly let it go. Then it opened. Across seven days, direction, provision, and practical clarity came one after another. She could see what was happening inside the company God had helped her start, and what needed attention in the next 30 days. The host gives that moment room. He stays with the wilderness language for people in a season they cannot name, much less manage. That part matters. A tired pastor could hear this and start hunting for the trick, as if copying the sequence would make God repeat the outcome. The episode pushes against that. The conversation keeps returning to timing, especially the temptation to treat God like an algorithm for breakthrough. Deadlines, bills, and the sense that time is slipping away make quick escape feel reasonable. The episode does not scold that desperation. It holds it beside the harder truth that the Lord's times and seasons do not bend around our calendar. The guest keeps the same humility. This is not a perfect model for leaving the wilderness. It is her testimony of God showing faithfulness. That is why the conversation lands. It offers a pastoral correction without sanding off the ache: blessing can lift a heart, but breakthrough still belongs to God. When ministry feels like a minefield, the next faithful move may be to slow down and stop turning every testimony into a technique.

As heard by us

A story of delay and provision that works best when it avoids turning one breakthrough into a template.

Kevin's story lands best as a plain account of waiting that finally gives way to movement. The long delay, then the brief stretch of clarity and provision, feels most credible when it stays rooted in lived experience instead of being dressed up as a lesson for everyone in the…

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Why you'd press play

You want a pastor-to-pastor story about waiting, provision, and getting unstuck.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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