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Science and Ministry

You’ve given yourself to academic and professional excellence. How do you view these areas and pursuits in light of your journey of faith?

Powell: The scientific and ministry threads in my life began at the same time. When I was eight years old, I read the King James Version of the Bible cover to cover, finishing by the time I was nine. I mention the version because it was a challenge for an eight year old to read. Yet I loved the word of God so much that I proceeded to read it on my own. This thread of preparation for ministry continued throughout my educational journey. The thread for interest in scientific research began with a desire to understand how the body works and how to restore health to bodies. I read through several books describing nutritional research during the same year that I was reading through the Bible for the first time. Both of these threads of my life, like phrases of music, continued to play in varying degrees throughout my life. While studying biochemistry in college, I ministered to student groups on campus and preached in churches. In my life, Christianity and science have been compatible.

We often don’t bring these two worlds together very well and we often seem intimidated by the world’s side. What advice do you have for the Body of Christ as we grapple with that?

Powell: Christians need to view science as the pursuit of truth about God’s creation, analogous to our pursuit of spiritual truth in the Word of God. There is a proper place for each pursuit of truth and the two can be integrated. God has revealed truth that we can measure. For example, if I were to ask you how many jellybeans were in a certain jar, it wouldn’t be something that you would have to determine by faith. There is a very simple God-given procedure that you could follow to answer that question. You could take the lid off the jar, dump the jellybeans into a bowl and count them. When you were finished and you determined there were 155 jellybeans in that jar, you would have come to God’s true answer for how many jellybeans are in the jar. God gave us that method of pursuing objective empirical truth. In Genesis 1:26, God gave man dominion over the created world, freeing us to explore and conduct research.

Hopefully we have people in the body of Christ who understand science and its place—people who do not exalt it to a place where it doesn’t belong, but who also do not fear it.

How can we better connect and demonstrate the love of Christ to the intellectual and scientific communities?

Powell: We need to build bridges of understanding to the scientific and intellectual communities near our churches. Our common bridge is the pursuit of truth. If we are careful to respect the work of the intellectual community and take a positive approach in communication, we will be much more effective in our Christian witness. We need to demonstrate humility in our discussion with intellectuals and be willing to admit when we do not have a good answer to a given question instead of trying to answer a question of faith with outdated information or overly simplistic answers.

On this journey, how would you describe God’s call on your life?

Powell: It’s a call to pursue and then communicate truth in both science and ministry.

I know you were recently ordained with the Southern New England District. Why did you feel this was important for you in light of your other professional credentials?

Powell: I did it simply for the benefit of the places I minister, because I wanted to make a statement that I am willing to submit myself to the accountability of this particular cooperative Fellowship. This way people who do not know me personally, but might be interested in hearing me speak, can know that I can be trusted theologically as an Assemblies of God minister even though I may bring an interesting perspective because of my scientific background.

Let’s come back to where we started regarding the integration of your faith with your professional calling. How do you see yourself as person of faith?

Powell: As a person of faith, I still see myself as the eight-year-old girl who entered into a relationship of love and trust with the Lord. The many roles and responsibilities that are currently a part of God’s plan for my life become easy to fulfill when I remember to find strength in a childlike faith.

Tell me about Life Impact Ministries.

Powell: The focus of my ministry is that God’s love changes lives. Sometimes that message can be communicated best by discussing the integration of Christianity and science. At other times, I deliver the message through a simple exposition of a passage from the Bible. While I bring to my ministry the unique perspective of someone who is a scientist, the message of my ministry is the ability of God’s love to impact lives.

You’re involved in your local church in what way?

Powell: My goal in service within a particular local church is to fulfill whatever role is appropriate to the mission of that local church at a given time. I have organized books on the shelves of church libraries; I have painted the walls of church facilities. Over the years, I’ve taught all ages from young children to teenagers to adults. At the moment, my husband and I are leading a class for new believers where they can learn the basics of the Christian faith and find answers to difficult questions.

What personal disciplines are most important to your life as a woman?

Powell:Prayer and reading the Bible has been the key to getting through both the low points and high points in life. These two disciplines keep me grounded and keep me going. In addition, I’m learning more and more to pull away like Jesus did from times of public ministry and take time to be refreshed spiritually and physically. I bring my family along when I travel and we set aside time during each day to be together.

What helps you balance all of these roles?

Powell: Understanding the importance of my role as a wife and mother helps me balance my responsibilities. There will be other scientists who can do what I can do. There will be other ministers who can say what I will say, but I am the only one God ordained as the mother to my daughter.

There was a season of my life when I would work a 36-hour day in the research laboratory. That season no longer exists. What was appropriate for that season in my 20s was not appropriate for the season of pregnancy or the toddler-mothering years. As long as we do not try to cling to a season of our life that needs to change, we can be content. We need to release each season when its time has come to an end and be willing to embrace the good things about the season that follows.

I know you travel quite a lot. How do you see God using women today to minister to our world?

Powell: The need to bring in the harvest is so great that we need every available laborer working in the field. We need women picking up the sickle and working alongside the men. I believe that both men and women today are learning to focus on the harvest and work together effectively.

As women in the body of Christ, what are some practical ways to connect?

Powell: We should connect through friendships. Every human being, regardless of level of education, appreciates caring relationships with others. If you live near a university there are lots of practical ways to meet students’ needs, such as giving them a home-cooked meal, willingness to drive them to the airport or help them in finding local stores in town.

With your busy schedule, how do you maintain personal relationships? Do you have a mentor or a small accountability group?

Powell: I attend a weekly 6 a.m. prayer meeting at my local church, primarily attended by the pastoral staff and some of the local seminarians. Here I have a chance both to pray and be prayed for by other ministers.

With the world as it is today, what three words of advice would you give women in ministry who want to impact their world with Christ’s love?

Powell: 1. Fulfill your call by being exactly who God has made you to be at this moment. Don’t worry about the roles you may fill in the future. Don’t worry about being like someone else you may admire. Serve God right where you are. At times that may entail being faithful in a very quiet corner of the universe where it’s hard to see any results. It may mean being faithful in a place where you are misunderstood and perhaps even unappreciated. It may also mean stepping up to the plate to serve in roles that stretch your abilities and comfort level.

2. Trust God even when you can’t fully understand your current circumstances. Consider the life of Joseph. Joseph went from prison to palace overnight. God, who knows all things, knew when Joseph was in the prison that someday he would stand in the palace. Joseph chose to trust God and minister where he was. He was the very best slave that an Egyptian could have. While enduring unjust imprisonment, Joseph was the most faithful prisoner a jailer could have. I believe he didn’t worry about whether or not the palace promise would ever be fulfilled. He just was faithful. This principle applies in ministry and in our personal lives.

3. Don’t try to make things happen. If you notice, Joseph did not try to get himself out of prison. When the chief cupbearer, whose dream Joseph had interpreted favorably, forgot about Joseph for two years, Joseph waited on God. You do not need to promote yourself in ministry. By learning to leave matters in God’s hands, you will be free enough to handle the palace; you will be free enough to be happy in the prison.

At the end of your life, what do you want people to remember you for?

Powell: I want to be remembered as a person who modeled God’s love in my relationships, proclaimed God’s love in my ministry, and demonstrated God’s compassion through the pursuit of scientific knowledge

Is there anything you’d like to add to this interview?

Powell: I want to offer the challenge to have the faith to take care of the relationships with the Lord and the people that God has placed in your life first, then trust that the other things in life will come. If that means you sacrifice a professional objective to maintain the appropriate care in a relationship, then sacrifice the professional objective. God will bring that opportunity back into your life again if it’s meant to be. If you have that relationship with the Lord, you’re going to have the strength to pursue excellence in your profession. If you’re pursuing excellence in your profession to the point that you are neglecting your relationships, everything will unravel. Take care of the relationships first, and the rest will follow. God has work for us to do, but our focus must not be the work; it must be the people. In heaven there will be no work, there will just be people.

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