Unmasking the Chain of Fools and Loosening Yokes of Bondage

Teneisha Ward-Finney 

            Recently for four spirit-filled days in September, members of Koinonia Worship center was given a testament and worthy testimony in breaking strongholds of perpetual bondage. The occasion was the annual Joshua Empowerment Conference.  The 2013 fare (September 27-29) added a new flavor to the mix. I say this because Divine intervention cannot be denied when the enemy is not given time to deny if you’re rooted and ready for the right message to be sent to you by God’s messengers. God uses a sense of timeliness promptness to allow light to shine where it would illuminate best. The Outlet, Koinonia’s young adult advisory team and the Kingdom Building Youth Ministry jointly wanted to make sure that the favored light and flavor not only would be different but pack a punch that would be noticeable, accepted and understood. They wanted a viable teacher tenable and tenacious enough to be taken seriously...someone who wouldn’t be rejected, and certainly one who’d be approved without reproach. They wanted a female preacher, Yes, THAT type of preacher! 

     She came with her own brand of fire and brimstone, ready to expose the chain of fools, and breaking other bondage that young and old folk alike are struggling with. The female pastorate often are much-maligned for equal parity in the pulpit, but one particular night of that week was an exception. Her name? Teneisha Ward-Finney. Write that down! She is the Youth Pastor and Assistant Fine Arts Director at the Boynton Beach Church of God House of Kingdom Worship. The holder of a Bachelor’s of Business Administration & Management degree as well as a Masters of Science in Education Leadership which gives allowance to her being well-endowed academically...but it’s her acumen for divinity and Christian fortitude that stood out most.

       The theme for the conference bordered on Isaiah 58:6 where there’s a basic example of how and why fasting is important where preparation for discernment in living right should be foremost. The verse is telling: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen, to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Pastor Finney was most astute and adamant in interpreting this scripture simply and with clarity. She gave examples of reason why people align themselves making the wrong decisions which precipitates failure. Moreover, she was most emphatic explaining recourses detailing rebuke, while aptly describing the difference between false and true religion; how someone can look "good" on the outside concerning religious ritual, but not have a right relationship with God. 

      I can honestly say that the audience was spellbound where the drop of a pin could have been heard. A chorus of amens and hallelujahs could be heard intermittently throughout her sermon, but the one constant theme she embedded was the need for deductive reasoning, logic and good common sense to  strengthen a bond in Him, loosen all chains, and eliminate the fools who would keep you from being the person not oppressed and free of yokes. If it was up to me, I’d have no reservations in coercing the pastoral leadership inviting her back, for she has shown through her message that she has a heart to preach and proclaim all that’s needed to make an election and calling surest. She admonished to pre-teens, young adult, and quite a few gray heads alike, postulating that it is the younger generation that has the strength to carry the vision of the wise into the future!