The Nitty Gritty of Becoming a Non-Profit

Last week I shared the exciting news of becoming a non-profit. But this week, I want to share a little more. A little more insight into why it felt like a burden was physically lifted off my shoulders when I finally saw the news that we were approved! The process of becoming a non-profit oftentimes felt like a battle. I am going to be very real & share my heart with you. . .even the ugly parts of it! It was a very long 22 months from the beginning to the end. After praying about it & researching through 2013, I knew in January of 2014 that Delight & Be needed to proceed with applying to become a 501c3.

So in January of 2014, I took the first steps and met with a lawyer to find out the logistics. Well, I left the lawyers office and cried all the way home. I was a mess. I was angry. I was confused. I didn’t know what God wanted from me. You see, as I was sitting across the table from the lawyer, I had the word “ministry” associated with Delight for the first time. And I am going to be very real here. I didn’t like it. At all. I had been calling Delight an “organization.” And I was fine with that. But when the lawyer called it a ministry, I felt like someone punched me in the gut.

I have had some heart struggles with people in “ministry” in my past. My childhood pastor was put in jail four months after he performed my wedding ceremony. My college roommate led a double life — on worship team and then at night on the streets. Our pastor after we got married lied to to congregation and the church dissolved. I could go on and on. The last thing on this earth I ever wanted to be is placed in a situation where I was “leading” a ministry. And the really crazy thing is that the lawyer I was sitting across from happened to be the brother of my friend who was molested by our pastor. This lawyer was sharing the legalities of becoming a 501c3 & the realities of what it is like to lead a ministry. And I hated it. There—I said it—-I hated it & hated that God was asking me to do this. I wanted to go back to my little bubble of homeschooling, being wife & mom and not deal with so much heaviness, paperwork, feeling responsible for girls.

But between October 2011 and January of 2014, my heart became passionate for teen girls. I believe that God gave me eyes to see inside a teen girls heart. . .and a little understanding of how they feel & what they deal with.He gave me compassion and this deep yearning to share what it means to live a life in wholehearted abandon to their Heavenly Father. So as much as I hated the thought of being in “ministry”, my love for the girls far outweighed it.

I battled so many emotions. I spent nights wrestling with God asking Him “why?”. I would NEVER want to be in a position where I could say or do something that would hinder someone’s relationship with Jesus. That felt like an immense amount of pressure. A few weeks after the initial meeting with the lawyer, God had strategically placed me at “For the Love” conference (I will share the backstory on the blog to this very soon!). During our small group one night, I shared my heart and my heaviness with being obedient to what I felt God was asking me to do. On the last night, a very sweet friend had written me a letter. . . and she handed me a rock. On one side of the rock, she wrote “ministry”. . .on the other side of the rock, it said “LOVE JOURNEY”. This rock has not left my nightstand since I arrived home. The words she shared were exactly what I needed & the rock is a daily reminder that I am exactly where God wants me!

This has been a love journey. This has been an incredible, crazy and wild journey that I feel so incredible blessed to be part of. If I need to call it a ministry (and I do!) that is fine, but the simplicity of Delight is all about Love. About a true God-given love. About discipling the girls so that they can come to the realization that they are a daughter of the Father, that they are loved intimately and deeply. . .beyond their wildest dreams. It is about taking one day at a time just trusting and knowing we serve a good, loving and faithful Father who knows what is best! And trusting Him in the process! I am now thankful it took so long as the journey endured makes that piece of paper stating we are official that much sweeter and more treasured! And because I trust Him, I know that He will guide the rest of the future of Delight. I can rest in knowing that He may take us through pain & suffering. . .but there is always beauty that comes from the ashes.

PS–For clarification: the actual process was interrupted due to the worst fire in Washington State History! So the reality is that we started the actual paper process in January 2015!