Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Arrington.
Ashley, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Sometimes in life, we think we know God’s plan for our life and we know who we are but do we know our identity in Christ. I battled for six years not knowing who my identity belonged to. I felt alone not having a listening ear to hear me out. I moved from Mississippi to Texas in hope of finding my true self and love. Throughout those six years, I entered various relationships with women, knowing I wasn’t happy but instead I insisted on finding someone to love me as my mother loved me. In March of 2017, I lost my mother to complications of Type II Diabetes. While trying to process her death, I turned to drugs. I was thinking it would numb me to the reality I had to face. Along with my father disowning me due to the choices I made in life. During that time, I entered the last relationship with a woman and it surely woke me up to reality. I was mentally and physically abused in a year’s time. I was in jeopardy of losing my job due to me being late to work from having to fight myself out of my house. I battled with my faith in God. I felt as if church people would judge me, my family didn’t show me love and so I questioned how he could be real if I was going through all the drama, stress, and loss. I didn’t know I was serving two Gods.
November 1, 2017, I got the courage to say, ok, I’ve had enough and with prayer of many days and nights, God literally removed me from numerous situations that he wasn’t getting any praise in. He came to me during a time I was getting high, and he told me, “Choose this day whom you will serve. I chose him rather than drugs. All the Glory belongs to God. Once I seen him faithfully perform on my behalf, I told him I would serve him and only him for the rest of my life. I became more active and started fellowshipping with other believers. I missed the feeling of what it felt like to be in a church and everyone worshipping God. Not having someone to go through the wilderness with gave me the idea to form a life group. This life group serves all ages, races, and backgrounds. I wanted to show God’s love that he showed me while I was down and not being the best Christian I could be.
On April 28, 2018, God delivered me out of Homosexuality. He showed me my worth, he showed the queen I am, he showed me that he would supply all my needs. He showed me his heart posture, but most importantly, he showed me how to provide AGAPE. So now, I know you’re wondering who is I AM AGAPE! I AM AGAPE was founded on November 1, 2018, by Ashley Arrington that later transpired into AGAPE GLOBAL in June 2019. It is a foundation set upon love. We are a group of believers walking through our wilderness with Christ together. We are translating God’s heart through the community while enhancing our Christian experience in life. We want to share and be resourceful to individuals in need of various resources such as mental health awareness, grieving consoling, battered children and women, and ending hunger around the nation. We would like to provide workshops, and seminars and host health fairs to the community to help better educate how important our health and spirit is. We want to show that God will provide, and his resources are here to assist. We have held numerous meetings preparing our heart and spirits so that we will mirror God’s heart. We love everyone, no matter color, race, identity status, whoever, we are here to love you. Let’s make a difference in revealing God’s heart to his nation through AGAPE GLOBAL.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The journey of becoming a founder/ leader has been pretty interesting. Starting out, I knew I wanted to feed the community and give back whatever I could. Being that I’m a natural giver, I came up with an event to provide dinner plates to the homeless in Downtown Houston. My money was a little low to due to having to pay bills and having a personal life. I kept the faith and knew God would still provide. Once he assured me of his will, I came up with the concept of cooking the food for the community. It only took $20.00 to feed 20 people. Man, God is faithful. This reminded me of one God’s miracles of feeding 5,000 plus their families with 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread.
I’ve met a number of awesome people that have become mentors. Just being able to retain meaningful resources and information to keep a prosperous non-profit, has truly been a blessing.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the AGAPE GLOBAL story. Tell us more about it.
Agape Global, originally formed in November 2018 and incorporated in June 2019. The foundation was birthed by a hungry founder chasing after God’s heart that was ready to become a world changer. The ministry started in her own living room. Multiple meetings were held with planting the seed of prayer, outreach, studying the bible and growing as a family. While in the midst, we conditioned our lifestyles to resemble God’s heart in human form.
Agape Global mission statement is “Empowering the Community One Person at a Time”. We are a non-profit seeking to obtain the 501c3 credentialing. We are committed to strengthening individuals, families, and communities through education, prevention, and intervention to eliminate family violence, mental health, and other crisis issues. Our non-profit organization serves communities by being a resourceful aid in helping citizens of marginalized communities in need of economic assistance, health care, and MORE!
Agape Global has provided the homeless community with self-care bags. The bags were filled with, blankets, washcloths, water, soap, wipes, sanitizer, and many other personal care items. We have also fed a numerous amount of homeless in the Houston downtown area with food cooked and prepped by our founder. In the future, Agape Global plans to have multiple outreach events including health screenings for the homeless, a health reform, educating the communities about mental health, rehabilitation, clothes and shoe drive, a water drive, a continuation of supplying food to the homeless, and even a community bible study. One of the main goals will be to obtain a shelter/community center. The tenants will have access to a hot meal, a warm bath, a bed, along with resources to be re-established as a citizen (ID cards, social security cards, and even government assistance until they’re able to be independent).
One of our recent activity/services was partnering with World Arise Foundation non-profit. We blessed the Greenpoint community with a benefit concert/back to school drive. Also, with multiple communities being marginalized, we have partnered with the Acres Homes Community in August 2019 for a Back to School Extravaganza and Health Screening. Both partnering non-profits has similar missions when it comes to being a resource to the communities. We want to be able to give others a chance again, just like Abba Father gives us.
Agape Global wants to see our promised neighborhoods become alive again. Praying to see our people becoming nourished, employed, and having a safe, clean, and functional environment to live in and enjoy. We are Mental Health Advocates!
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’ve always gotten away from the word LUCK! I’ve often replaced it with the words, Love, Blessings, and Faith. All three of those words have shown up in AGAPE GLOBAL. Alot of doors to opportunities have been opened up because of Faith, Love, and Blessings.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.agapeglobalhouston.org
- Phone: 713-364-9088
- Email: agapeglobal19@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Wko0zHXru/?igshid=wpyqimsruhra
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AGAPEGLOBAL19/
Image Credit:
Ellalicia Bennett
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