by Lauren Morgan
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? (Name, education, life, job, ect)
My name is Lauren Morgan, I am originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’m passionate about evangelistic apologetics, music, and travel. I'm also greatly blessed to have married my best friend, Luke Morgan. He has always fully supported everything God has laid on my heart to pursue without hesitation. I can’t express how grateful I am for the ways he challenges me to be my best and unconditionally loves me at my worst.
I’m an Heritage Bible College graduate and hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education. I’m currently pursuing a Master’s in Apologetics. My academic pursuit has created a challenge beyond the logical defense of the Christian faith — To live out a practical, authentic faith and center who I am around the command to love the lost to Christ.
In 2021, this challenge led me to begin praying very intentionally about finding an opportunity to serve the lost in my community who desperately needed a relationship with Christ.
I had been praying in this mindset for around a year. In August of 2022, God opened a door that I will treasure for the rest of my life. The prayers that I had prayed for a year were answered in one week when I became the Spiritual Growth & Education Director of The Living Vine Christian Maternity Home. “The Vine” as the staff refers to it takes in homeless, expectant mothers who are coming from any variety of crisis situations. We freely house, clothe, feed and equip our mommas to return to successful, independent living. We provide biblical, Christian training daily in faith that our moms will eventually come to a transformational experience in Christ. Our vision for each mom is that she will begin a relationship with Christ that will allow her to then disciple her child creating a new, godly generation starting with just a tiny family of two.
What does it look like for you to live out your Christianity at your job and in your life?
My job as the Spiritual Growth & Education Director entails organizing all of their devotional and doctrinal material as well as their life skills such as communication, relationships, work ethic, financial integrity, etc. This very much creates a responsibility to model wholeness in Christ and relationship with Christ. It has been greatly humbling and convicting to recognize that the practices and integrity of my faith at home directly impact the quality of my testimony at work. While my prayer had been that I could serve others by leading them to Christ, I have found that pointing others to Christ creates clarity on the areas of my life that weren’t actually in line with the biblical path leading closer to God.
I began asking myself, can I honestly say to others, follow me as I follow Christ? Or do I have to tell them to follow me, but close your eyes around this corner. If believers don’t follow Christ authentically and practically enough to lead others to Him, they are cherry picking traditions of a faith they don’t deem powerful enough to fully live. Ironically, leading others to Christ is the one command all believers share without condition and it is the one command most often excused. I would like to reiterate this point. Specifically as women, we can dismiss verses that apply to personal evangelism and think it’s intended for the ministers or preachers.
However, reaching lost souls is not a preference, personality, or calling – it is a command.
When we tell ourselves otherwise we are quietly accepting some other story we enjoy believing more than the literal words of Christ. The degree to which you believe you have the spirit of God in your life should directly correlate to what you do to reach others for Christ.
Living out my Christian faith at the Vine has caused me to see the importance of practical, authentic faith.
When you are being looked at by broken women who are wondering if God is real, if He cares about them, and if He is really powerful enough to transform them, it definitely creates some pressure to put up a good front. Yet, modeling wholeness and a relationship with God does not equate to faking perfection. Following Christ fully doesn't mean we never fail, but it does mean we lean on God’s grace and restoration for the times we fall short. Believers can be so terrified to show any semblance of struggle or challenges in their walk with God.
Sadly, what many Christians are most reluctant to share are the most powerful testimonies of what God can and wants to do in the life of an unbeliever. The power of the Gospel doesn’t lie in making perfect people more perfect, it lies in making imperfect people a purer reflection of a perfect Savior.
Throughout Christ’s ministry on earth, His relationships with people were transparent and personal. He lifted them up with grace and made them accountable to truth. Life and work ought to be the avenues we utilize to be personal with people about our faith modeling the beauty of wholeness and relationship with Christ. You never know who God has placed in your surroundings that may need to see for the first time the faith you enjoy every day.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Seeing the rejection — and then the tiny moments revealing they are beginning to change through the transformational power of God. God’s work in a broken vessel happens so slowly at times it can feel like nothing is happening and then all at once you find yourself looking at an entirely new creature in Christ. There is no substitute for the miraculous growth of God’s spirit in a once sin stained life.
Don’t waste your Christian experience satisfied with awareness of what you think God could do in theory. Get involved in what God is actually doing in the world and be a part of God doing the miraculous in the mundane.
What part of your job has been the biggest challenge?
Accepting that I cannot reach everyone. In the short amount of time I have been at the Vine, I have seen girls reject the help and hope accessible to them. The heartbreak of watching someone place themselves back in the emptiness and brokenness of sin doesn’t go away quickly.
What is one thing you have learned from the girls at the Vine?
I have learned that Satan does not have the power to take a person beyond God’s grace.
However broken someone may be, they can always choose to find wholeness and restoration with God. If you are a Christian, don’t lose faith for someone who hasn’t yet accepted Christ. Every person has their season when they are ready to yield to conviction. Our job as believers is to be ready to be the Christlike model they need when they make the choice to let Christ in their heart.
A Note from the Editors: We would like the thank Lauren for taking the time to share her story and the work she is doing in collaboration with The Living Vine. If you would like to support the work they are doing, you can click the following links to learn more about the organization.
Website: https://www.thelivingvine.org/
Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/19RYH2HQQS3VW?ref_=wl_share
