My name is Mellissa Lopez-St Louis and I'm the founder and pastor of Menorah Fellowship Tabernacle Ministries. I'm a servant of Jesus Christ and a Bible teacher whose boast is in Him.

My passion is twofold: to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have not yet encountered Him, and to equip fellow disciples to walk faithfully with Christ, according to biblical principles, through the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

With a heart surrendered to God's Word, I teach that true faith and not merely a confession of belief, but a live being actively transformed through obedience, spiritual growth and a daily walk with God. My desire is to see believers turn into disciples, by examining their hearts daily, grow in spiritual maturity and genuinely have a desire and the discipline to pursue relationship with Christ.

Through preaching, teaching and discipleship, the goal is to see lives restored, the church strengthened and Jesus get all the glory!

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Hi, I'm Angel.

This mission starts right in our home.

So for my wife and three sons, thank you for standing with us.

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God chose us to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Pastor Lopez.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I am in Trinidad and Tobago.

I'm in the Caribbean.

Thank you so much for having me.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

So this is where I'm from as well, Trinidad and Tobago.

Are you on Trinidad or Tobago side?

Trinidad.

I'm in Trinidad.

How did you come to meet Jesus?

Oh my, Jesus has been a focal point in my life.

Since I was a child, I loved reading the Bible.

I loved learning about God.

But you know, when we get to our teenage years, well for me, I can only speak for myself, we tend to do our own thing.

And I came back to the Lord seriously when I was about 19 or 20.

And I got married shortly after.

And being a very young couple, we struggled a lot.

And quite recently, I would say within the last 10 years, the Lord called me to serious ministry.

So yes, he's the love of my life.

That's who he is.

You put in that you struggled with marriage, is that something that fell apart?

Or is it better now?

Well, we are still married now.

And marriage is a work in progress every single day.

You know, I have a church mother that tells me marriage is an altar.

And just as a husband is supposed to sacrifice for his wife, a wife also sacrifice.

And her sacrifice may not look like his, but she also has to sacrifice.

And it's something that I've learned.

The Lord taught me how to travail in prayer for him, how to hold on for him, how to really intercede for him and what it means to be a helpmate for him.

Not just helping with finances or helping him pay bills, but being that support for him spiritually, when he could not support himself.

I've learned that through trial, through fire.

So we've been married 20 years this year.

And we continue progressing, we continue growing, we continue learning and maturing.

And I continue praying, and he continues praying the best way that he knows how, you know, and I keep holding on.

Because I have to believe God, if I am not there as a wife fighting for him, who's going to be fighting for him, the two shall become one.

Make sense?

100%.

So if he listens to this, what's a message you'd like to leave for him?

That I love him.

And at the end of the day, I want him to walk in the fullness of purpose that the Lord has called him to.

That is what I want for him.

Not as just a husband or just a father, but as an individual, as a person, you know.

And not only for him, you know, but I think for all men.

All men.

Because I think that the enemy has targeted men on a whole, you know.

He has men questioning their identity, who they are, their role, their function, their purpose.

And it's an entire attack on humanity.

That is what it is.

If you could scatter the men as the head, then you force the women to function in a role or in an area that they were not created to function in.

And then everything collapses under that weight.

So we need to protect our men.

I firmly believe in that.

I firmly believe in that.

And I think as wives, as women, we have a responsibility to pray for our men, you know.

Because I have learned in my journey.

I got married very young.

I got married when I was 22.

I've learned that a woman cannot teach a man to be a man.

I had to learn that the hard way.

Right?

A woman cannot teach a man to be a man.

I've learned that in prayer and submission, you know, we have to allow the Lord to have his way.

And it is tough, man.

It is really tough.

But God is good.

So tell me about ministry life and how it evolved after meeting Jesus.

When the Lord called me to ministry, I was studying business.

I was doing my bachelor's in business administration.

And I was not too far in.

I was less than a year in at university.

And one day I was taking a drive with my husband, a Sunday evening.

And the Lord told me, He said, look around at all of these people.

They're so lost.

People are so lost, you know?

And I said, wow, yeah.

You know, just within my heart, having a conversation with the Lord.

And He said, who am I going to send to all of these people to tell them about me, you know?

And I just fell for that line, hook and sinker.

I said, well, who do you mean?

Who are you going to send?

I am here.

You could send me.

I will go.

And He said, are you sure?

And I said, yeah, send me.

Send me.

And two weeks after, He told me to stop doing my bachelor's.

And I cried.

Because I always felt within myself that being married so very young, having a baby so very young, starting a family, working, I did not get an opportunity to do the things that I wanted to do in terms of my education.

So there was this, I want to call it, a desire inside of me to achieve a degree.

And within myself, I felt like if I did not have a degree, I didn't amount to anything.

And when He told me, you need to stop your bachelor's, I cried because in myself, I felt like if I was just giving up this thing that I wanted more than anything.

And that's when I understood I can't want anything more than I want to do the will of God.

Because that is the way that I prove I love Him, correct?

Jesus said, if you love me, you will do what I command or you will do as I say.

So I wrestled with it for a little while.

And then I dropped it.

I said, you know what, Lord, if this is what you want me to do with my life, go and tell the will about you.

This is what I will do.

This is what I will do.

So from there, I started completely by the way, because after that, I did not know what direction to take.

I got no further instruction from the Lord.

So I just spent time with Him, loving upon Him, praying, reading my word, just spending time with Him.

And a friend and I started to pray together once every week.

And two became three, three became four, four became 15, 15 became more.

And we did that for five years on WhatsApp.

And eventually, he expanded and he told me it's time, you know, to open ministry, physical ministry.

So he connected me with a pastor that I had known before, a very prophetic man of God, who also confirmed that word for me.

And within six to eight months time, I was ordained.

And this is where it is now.

This is early 20s.

Any children in between that time?

Oh, yes, I have three children.

I have a girl, my daughter.

She is 19.

And then I have two sons, one is 13 and one is 10.

So yes, I do have three children.

Five years from today, you're listening to this conversation, what's a message you'd leave for future you?

Don't give up, continue pressing and continue pushing, continue pushing.

I think I have had bouts of long periods where because of ministry, because of the disciplined life, that as disciples, we ought to walk with God.

The training to get there is not always very easy.

And sometimes we have to remind ourselves of the word.

When we have the word of God inside of us, we have to pull from that to remind ourselves.

So I will tell my future self, keep pushing in Romans 8.14. Romans 8.14. For those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

I would remind my future self of that because that scripture has kept me.

There was a point in time where I think I lived like the average believer, quote unquote.

Yeah, I believe in God.

And you know, you just go and do your own thing.

And when the Lord really impress upon me, it is not those who say they believe in me that is going to make it.

It's the ones who actually live the life.

The ones that do what I say, those are the ones that are going to make it because everybody will call Lord, Lord, but not everybody will enter into the kingdom.

So it's something that I had to hold on to and not get caught up in the service, you know, serving God with works, just works and no relationship.

That's a dangerous place to be.

So yes, Romans 8.14. That's what I will tell my future self.

Hold on to that scripture and live by it.

Again, Pastor Melissa, a pleasure.

I treasure.

Thank you for being on What Is Inspired by 12 Minute Conference.