Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Sunday-morning Christianity just wasn’t enough to get Genelle Kora through her second divorce. “I remember sitting on the steps just crying and praying and begging God for help,” says Genelle. “And that’s when I surrendered to Jesus Christ. I knew the only way I was going to get through this was Him.”
She eventually remarried and started attending church with her husband, but never truly met the Savior to whom she had cried for help.
Genelle agreed to go to a Christian Women’s Club outreach. “I had a friend who invited me – not for days, or weeks, or months, but for years. …I kept telling myself I really don’t want to go to a luncheon where there’s a bunch of Bible-toting women. That is just not my cup of tea.”
But she was pleasantly surprised. “When I walked in, the Speaker was phenomenal,” says Genelle. “She was an older woman from Texas who had owned a strip club.” As the Speaker told her story of transformation from strip club owner to Christ-follower, some of the details made Genelle literally want to cover the other women’s ears.
“When I got home, I told my husband, ‘Honey, that’s a club I want to be in because they’ve got a bunch of sinners. … They’re not perfect.’” She became a regular attender, then a Financial Coordinator, then a Chair.
The Group began to offer Stonecroft Bible Studies, and for the first time, Genelle delved into Scripture. She says, “Through Stonecroft Bible Studies, I developed a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Today, Genelle serves as a Stonecroft Bible Studies (SBS) Guide and believes in it passionately, so much so that she’s also an SBS Coordinator.
33 women signed up for her latest SBS. “There are women who would never want to come to an outreach meeting but they wouldn’t miss the Bible study for anything,” she says. The participants don’t hesitate to invite their friends. One of her latest students heard about the Bible study while watching her grandson’s baseball game. Genelle says, “It just blows my mind.”
Through years of guiding SBS, Genelle has encountered many participants who’ve never heard what a Bible chapter or a verse is. Some students find their way back to God; others start to know and follow Christ. One 75-year-old woman had been a lifelong churchgoer but had never heard that she could have a close relationship with Jesus. When she did, she found Him for herself.
“My heart is in the Bible studies,” says Genelle. “The CWC Speakers plant the seed [of the Gospel message] but it’s our job to reach out to the women and get them to study the Bible.”