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"You're a killjoy."
That's what
Takenya
Millhouse's
friends
would say as
they sat around
a table crowded
with half-eaten
stacks of pancakes and cold glasses of water beading sweat. After a night out partying the last thing they wanted to hear about was God.
"But if you died right now, do you know where your soul is gonna go?" she asked.
"Somebody please stop her!"
"Yeah girl, please shut that noise up!"
"No, no! Don't stop! I don't know. Go on, Takenya."
That unsure voice that always seemed to speak out at the table was the motivation Takenya needed to continue to remind her friends that this world is not our final destination.
Takenya Millhouse has known from a very young age that she would be doing work for the Lord. But her ministry is not in the walls of a church but in the chair of a beauty salon.
When Takenya was 17 years old, she opened her own salon. She worked with her family using her talented hands to transform everyday hair into fashion statements. But Takenya's mission was not only to transform looks, but hearts as well.
"My chair is my pulpit!" Takenya says. "I minister to people that may be overlooked in church. They need a relationship with God and I help them learn how to create that relationship."
Now Takenya admits she does have a diva mentality, but does not live a diva lifestyle. She knows she has
been charged to get women to see that God takes us through stages in
our lives. Those stages can be short or long, joyful or painful, but they must be completed.
"When you don't complete certain stages, it hinders your growth. You have to complete them and this takes work, but the reward is healing!"
Takenya's platform for her ministry is Christian Girls/Women Rock.
"I wanted to start a boutique in the salon, but I didn't want to Jesus people to death. I put a few shirts in the shop and they sold like hotcakes. I couldn't keep them in stock! Then people started sending me pics of themselves in the shirts. People started following me on Facebook and the momentum just started flowing!"
A Woman on Fire
for Christ!
Takenya Millhouse
photo by Johonathen Martin
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