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Alicia Britt Chole
Author, Speaker, Mentor

Alicia Chole's delight and effectiveness in ministry stems from her priority of keeping healthy her "inner circle" of key relationships — with God, her husband Barry, and her three children. This requires substantial time, but she finds that this actually enables the time she has for ministry outside the inner circle to become much more creative and decisive. Healthy core relationships result in greater health in the other areas of ministry. Indeed, for Alicia, the greatest satisfaction in ministry is enjoying intimacy with God by responding as He leads.

Alicia communicates God's love through multiple means. Earlier in her ministry, she codirected the Chi Alpha chapter at the University of Texas for 7 years. Later, she served as a national staff person for Chi Alpha. Along the way, she has written five books, with the latest, Intimate Conversations: Devotions to Nurture a Woman's Soul, due for release in September 2009 (Bethany House Publishing). She is also a gifted speaker, who combines personal warmth, vulnerability, and humor with deep biblical insights. No wonder she has widely traveled nationally and internationally in her speaking ministry. Even though she speaks regularly to large audiences, she learned through her own experience that one-on-one communication and nurture are fruitful investments. Besides, she says, that's what Jesus did.

In addition, Alicia mentors several younger women, usually for a period of several years. She credits the spiritual growth in her life to mature believers who mentored her as a young Christian in college and encouraged her to anchor herself in the study of God's Word, along with the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude. Through the years many of the women she mentored have matured and gone forth into their own ministries.

When asked what constituted her greatest challenges, Alicia referred to the times in her life when she had to wait for God's timing. In retrospect, however, she realized that through these periods God was purifying her character. She has not felt that being a woman has hindered her ministry. On the contrary, she has felt affirmed by men who believed in her ministry and opened doors of opportunity for her.

What does Alicia do for fun? Besides playing with the kids and her husband, she enjoys long naps. With all of her ministries, that's a good thing.

--by Yen Sha Lim

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