Today we’d like to introduce you to Kay Daigle.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
For many years, I volunteered at my church, primarily in the Women’s Ministry. Over time, it seems like I did every job there was to do; I excelled at some and was incredibly bad at others. But I learned a lot about organization and gifting. Teaching the Bible and leading small groups of women were my favorites, but my church didn’t offer any training for me. I was winging it and learning mostly through trial and error, helped by watching other leaders.
Eventually, I found training outside of my church, which propelled improvement doing the things I loved. In the time it worked out for me to access further training in seminary.
I spent the next ten years leading women’s ministry on two different church staffs in the area. One of my favorite things was to equip and train the women who volunteered as leaders. I was able to share with them my many mistakes and allow them to learn without making those errors.
When I left my full-time job in 2010, I first wrote a book From Ordinary Woman to Spiritual Leader: Grow your Influence, purposed to help Christian women recognize the great influence each of them has with those around them.
I wondered what to do next. I was still burdened to equip women as leaders. But where and how? I wasn’t in it to be a star or gain an audience. I simply wanted to give away my expertise and help. So, in early 2016, we founded Beyond Ordinary Women (BOW) “to prepare Christian women for leadership.”
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 vision for Beyond Ordinary Women or BOW, originally involved providing free training and coaching to women leaders in small or under-resourced churches. Over our first three years, however, we found that pastors in such churches were generally overwhelmed with too few people to carry the load. Thinking about ministry to women wasn’t happening. At the same time, we realized that there were women in those churches contacting us about what we offered through our blog articles, thanking us for the help we provided. Although we made two trips to Kenya and taught groups of women there, that direction overall wasn’t the best fit for our experience in American churches.
One day, a BOW Ministry Team member said, “Kay, you know there’s nothing wrong with an online ministry these days.” And that stuck with me as I prayed and considered what to do about not reaching under-resourced churches as we expected.
By 2016, our board adopted “preparing Christian women for leadership” as our purpose. Online ministry became our focus. We offered free resources — video training, online articles on our blog — and low-cost Bible studies in a unique format to appeal to all generations of women grouped together. Since that time, our video training has had 1,000s of plays, and hundreds of women have worked through one of Bible studies. We still freely coach and guide leaders when they contact us.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Beyond Ordinary Women – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We specialize in resources that prepare Christian women for leadership. All of our video leadership training is free and online. We offer great tips and guidance through our blog articles which cover leadership issues, encouragement, and challenge from women who have been there and become experts.
Our unique journaling Bible studies (not the kind where you draw pictures) is designed for groups that include women from Baby Boomers to Millennials, trying to balance the preferences and needs of all women. Our studies are very low cost, especially for groups.
I am thrilled that we have received enough donations year by year that we are able to freely give away training. Most groups and conferences that provide training charge a large free. All of our speakers are trained and experienced women who provide both theological and practical help — all for free.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our hopes and dreams involve continuing to offer videos of outstanding Christian women who are experts in their fields. Learning is a lifetime pursuit and we continue to find topics that need to be addressed for women wherever and in whatever roles they lead.
Contact Info:
- Address: Beyond Ordinary Women Ministries
2108 Dallas Parkway Suite 214-198
Plano, TX 75093-4362 - Website: beyondordinarywomen.org
- Phone: 214-505-2643
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://vimeo.com/beyondordinarywomen
- Twitter: @beyondwomen
Image Credit:
Sandy Sparks Art (sandysparksart.com), Julie Wolfe Photography
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