May 2020 — pg. 27
urfm You are the church
her to another church, but she hadn’t heard of the new
church’s name apart from the dream.
“I went to the phone book, and I began to look,” said
Houston, who found the church and began attending.
“That church that He sent me to was such a loving
church. That’s where I found love.”
She also embraced teaching opportunities in the new
church. In addition, she felt a call from God to begin
cleaning the church building that was also home to a
Christian school where her children started attending
and she began working.
“Another day, there was going to be a wedding, and
God said, ‘Clean it,’ and I cleaned it for this wedding,’”
she said. “I didn’t know when I was cleaning that church
and that school, that was sowing a seed for my future.”
One day, she saw a young woman on a street near her
home in Seattle’s High Point neighborhood.
“I went over and talked to the girl. I could tell she
was being trafficked. I said, ‘If you ever need somebody,
I live right over here,’” she said. “In less than a week, she
knocked on my door probably at about 1 or 2 in the
morning. I opened my door, and the Lord said, ‘Feed her
and let her sleep.’ She woke up late that afternoon, and
the Lord said, ‘Feed her and tell her about Me.’ I used my
flannel board and shared how Jesus loved her and died
for her. I led her to salvation, and then she showered
and left.”
She eventually felt God leading her to a third
church where she met George Houston, who is now her
husband. Her previous church ultimately closed, and her
then-church purchased and moved into her previous
church’s building. George and Sheila asked permission
to hold their wedding and reception there. She said they
were the newly relocated church’s “first marriage in the
church that God made me clean for a couple of years, so
God is faithful.”
After her mother went home to be with the Lord, she
decided to return to school and get her GED diploma
because she had never finished high school. She didn’t
plan on higher education, but she then heard a church
testimony from one of George’s cousins who was the
student body president at a local community college.
After the cousin sat down, the pastor asked, “Who has
fear of education?” Sheila stood up. The pastor prayed
to break the stronghold off her, and she heard God
telling her to go to college.
She attended the community college and earned
an associate’s degree. Then she went to Seattle Pacific
University and earned her bachelor’s degree in
organizational behavior with a minor in communication.
She then enrolled in Seattle University where she earned
a master’s degree in executive nonprofit leadership, a
pastoral leadership certificate and later a post-master’s
certificate in transforming spirituality and a doctorate
of ministry.
Houston was offered a job as a director of the Late
Night Outreach program of New Horizons Ministries
that works with victims of sex trafficking and young
people experiencing homelessness. At a women’s retreat
before coming to New Horizons, she had a dream of
snatching women out of trafficking and helping them
return home.
“I had another dream. I
could see myself helping
young women come
off the streets from
trafficking.”
“Now before my second interview with New Horizons,
I had another dream. I could see myself helping young
women come off the streets from trafficking,” she said.
She accepted the job with New Horizons to
help women escape sexual exploitation and human
trafficking. She and her teams would stand on street
corners every Friday and every other Saturday night and
reach out to women.
+ Rev. Dr. Sheila Houston (center) and family members have their photo
taken with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (third from right) after Durkan pre-sented
Houston with the Anti-Trafficking Trailblazer Award. | Photo courtesy
of Superintendent Michael Forney
/www.lightandlifemagazine.com